Sebastian Vettel was voted Driver of the Weekend for the second time this year after fighting from eighteenth to fifth in the Canadian Grand Prix.
Vettel started 15 places behind the other Ferrari at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve but ended the race trying to catch Kimi Raikkonen for fourth position.
The Williams drivers also figured highly in your ratings – as did race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel’s Canadian Grand Prix weekend
While still being some way off on one-lap pace, free practice showed Ferrari could match – if not better – the Mercedes’ cars on race pace, and this set up the promise of a scrap for the race win.
However, while the weekend was initially looking promising for Vettel and Ferrari, a power unit problem sent him out of qualifying in Q1 in 16th place, and dashed all hopes of someone mixing it with the Mercedes’. He was further demoted by a grid penalty for overtaking under red flags during practice, leaving him 18th on the grid.
By his own admission Vettel had a steady opening lap, but from then on he made good progress. The race threw up several obstacles: his first pit stop was slow, Fernando Alonso proved an especially resilient rival, and Nico Hulkenberg spun as Vettel went toe-to-toe with him at the chicane.
Vettel took the chequered flag just over four seconds behind team mate Raikkonen, who started third. His efforts led 41.6% of you to pick him as Driver of the Weekend for the second time this year, following on from his Malaysian Grand Prix victory.
Such a brilliant racer, a couple of moves were a bit rash but that’s because he is just that, an out and out racer!
@psynrg
Great recovery despite all the misfortune he had all weekend. Great pace overall compared to his teammate, aggressive and determined driving.
@sven-d
A lot of things went wrong for him pre-race – technical glitch that put paid to his qualification in Q1; the 5-place grid penalty to boot; a questionably timed first pit stop that went badly wrong; losing further time in the fracas with Alonso. despite all that he overtook several cars, many of them twice and was actually gaining on his teammate when he ran out of laps. To finish 5th under those circumstances was excellent.
@loup-garou
However, a number of voters felt his red flag error was too serious to overlook.
It’s difficult because most drivers did what was expected, no more. I can’t vote for Vettel only because of his red flag incident – very clumsy.
@chrischrill
It’s the reason I didn’t vote for Vettel. It was a very basic mistake to make and almost arrogant to think the red flag didn’t apply to equally to him as the Manor he overtook. I’m generally a van of Vettel and no doubt over the course of the race he did a great job, but for blatantly and intentionally breaking one of the most fundamental rules (and as a result getting a deserved punishment which may have adversely impacted his race result) I couldn’t put him as my Driver of the Weekend.
@jerseyf1
Winners and losers in the Canadian Grand Prix
Race winner Hamilton received less than half as many votes as Vettel despite also taking pole position and seeming to have team mate Nico Rosberg comfortably handled. Many felt he had things too easy in Canada.
Hamilton should be discounted because Mercedes’ cars are just so good. I don’t think anyone would argue with the fact that it’s easier for any driver to win when you have a clearly superior car.
@smartrip
The Williams drivers were also highly-rated in the vote. Valtteri Bottas took 13.6% after becoming only the fifth different driver to stand on the podium this year, and Massa’s recovery effort earned him 10.3% of your votes.
I wanted to vote for someone who has been perfect all weekend, with zero mistake and a nice result. Only two drivers would qualify for that, and it was Hamilton and Bottas. But a victory would be expected for Hamilton, while third place for Bottas ahead of both Ferraris was more than his car was capable of.
@dan_the_mclaren_fan
In the end I gave it to Massa for his pass on Ericsson.
@adrianmorse
| Race | DOTW winner | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 Australian Grand Prix | Felipe Nasr | 60.6% |
| 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix | Sebastian Vettel | 66.4% |
| 2015 Chinese Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton | 44.5% |
| 2015 Bahrain Grand Prix | Kimi Raikkonen | 57.1% |
| 2015 Spanish Grand Prix | Nico Rosberg | 60.0% |
| 2015 Monaco Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton | 37.3% |
| 2015 Canadian Grand Prix | Sebastian Vettel | 41.6% |
However if there had been a 21st voting option for someone else who appeared on the track, we might have had a completely different winner:
And the best moment was the marmot on track! Good thing Massa weaved a little bit to the right, poor creature.
@gdewilde
That little brave animal deserves the DOTW.
@omarr-pepper
Dodger Of The Weekend?
@njoydesign
2015 Canadian Grand Prix
- Fifth-placed Vettel wins Driver of the Weekend
- Even Montreal can’t lift F1 from its 2015 torpor
- Sponsor watch: Spain, Monaco and Canada 2015
- 2015 Canadian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix
BasCB (@bascb)
16th June 2015, 11:48
For me the needless ref flag infringement disqualified Vettel for DotW. Yes, Massa, Bottas had a very good race, as had many others (certainly shouldn’t forget Hamilton either), and did not make any such mistakes
Dan
16th June 2015, 11:51
Maybe in future we can have a ‘none of the above’ category?
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
16th June 2015, 12:18
It’s called ‘I don’t have an opinion’ and option for that is not to vote.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
16th June 2015, 12:26
+1 :)
Dan
16th June 2015, 12:46
You don’t see the difference between not voting and actively registering your opinion on what was a very poor show? Really?
Apologies if you don’t have democracy in your country, by the way.
mark p
16th June 2015, 14:10
No democracy, lucky people they will be certain of hosting a Grand Prix then
MarkM
16th June 2015, 14:30
@Dan
what “democratic” country do you live in that has a “none of the above” on the voting card come election day?
Steven (@steevkay)
16th June 2015, 14:55
I think what Dan is referring to is writing on the ballot that you abstain from voting; the difference between not voting and doing this is that you’re actively showing up and saying that you do not have any reason to vote for the candidates, as opposed to not showing up.
I’ve heard that you can do this (I personally have not), and whether this has any bearing on anything is debateable, but as a citizen, I think it’s correct to ‘vote’ in this manner if none of the candidates meet your needs.
It’s somewhat shameful, but I know more about racing than I do about how all this works, so perhaps someone else can elaborate.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
16th June 2015, 15:20
There isn’t a none of the above option, but you can spoil the ballot paper if you wish to. That way you are counted as voting, but you have not voted for any of the individual candidates.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
16th June 2015, 16:54
@debaser91 In Belgium you can vote ‘blanco’.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
16th June 2015, 14:41
+1
John H (@john-h)
16th June 2015, 19:22
Driver of the weekend is relative. You make no sense Dan.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
16th June 2015, 19:26
If you watch 4 hours of practice, an hour of quali and 90min of race AND you consider ALL 20 drivers performed exactly the same then something must be wrong with you and your vote can’t be legitimately considered. Or if you can’t be bothered to think who was better…same thing… don’t bother voting.
I can’t think of other scenarios…. oh wait I can you’re a Kimi fan, he was poor, you can’t vote for him so you’re not even considering others.
pele
16th June 2015, 22:16
The show being very poor doesn’t mean the drivers performed poorly which is what the DOTW is all about.
Personally I thought Vettel was the highlight of the weekend, though I am also not forgetting his infringement. I would add Massa too, but other than going wheel to wheel with Ericsson, his overtakes were too focused on DRS which might be a natural consequence of superior top speed. But in the end he had to work a little less for them since he also jumped some Mercedes cars in the pits. I found his performance more remarkable compared to Bottas, but not so much more striking in comparison to Hamilton.
Samhainhell (@samhainhell)
16th June 2015, 14:20
I bet you are saying the same since 1950..
Even if poor, there is always a “best” on the track..
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
16th June 2015, 16:55
I do put ‘no opinion’ as an option in most polls, but I don’t think it’s worthwhile here. On subjects like refuelling or three-car teams it’s useful to know if a lot of people don’t care one way or the other. But when it comes to Driver of the Weekend I suspect most people can usually find one competitor they were impressed by.
mateuss (@mateuss)
16th June 2015, 17:59
@keithcollantine “usually” being the key word there.
I agree with the suggestion of adding no opinion option.
hatae
17th June 2015, 12:28
I don’t
Mashiat (@mashiat)
16th June 2015, 23:22
Maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t make any sense to me. Driver of the Weekend means that you choose the driver who you believed performed the best as compared to other drivers, which means that it is relative. That means that it doesn’t matter if the standard of driving was poor or excellent, there is always someone who performed better relative to the others, as it is a dependant variable rather than an independant. If what you’re trying to imply is that you were confused who to choose due to a colossal number of drivers who qualified for Driver of the Weekend, then your only option is to open several accounts.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
17th June 2015, 9:16
Formula E should introduce an “I Don’t Care” option for Fan Boost.
ColdFly F1 (@)
16th June 2015, 11:53
4/7 race winners did not win DOTW.
I’m glad that fans do not automatically vote for the race winner and look at all the quality and action on track.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
16th June 2015, 12:17
I’m not. Winning normally means the driver achieved the maximum for the race. Together with pole – maximum for weekend. Vettel did not do well in quali ( not saying he got beat, just that we don’t know what he could have done so he can’t take part in rankings fully ), he had penalty all on his own, and has progressed in the race as you’d expect an average driver with current Ferrari. Yes he was better than Rai, but so were some many others.
ColdFly F1 (@)
16th June 2015, 13:48
@ivan-vinitskyy – my point was not about Vettel, but that a race win should not automatically give you DOTW.
To win the race do not necessarily need to be the best Driver of the Weekend. In many occasion a superior car and beating your team-mate can be sufficient!
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
16th June 2015, 15:23
Rather a simplistic view. If that were the case this whole vote would be pointless. You might as well just give to it to Hamilton every weekend before a wheel has even been turned, given he is the better driver in by far the fastest car.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
16th June 2015, 19:37
@debaser91, why? he may be faster than Rosberg but sometimes Rosberg does better (quali last year) and should win DOTW. As for other drivers, in slower cars, I’m not comparing them like for like….. The speed difference between Ferrari and cars Vettel overtook is probably greater than Ferrari to Mercedes yet you manage to appreciate the overtakes Vettel did and dismiss Mercs. It’s always going to be subjective but I at least have solid reason of what Vettel did wrong during the weekend that ,for me, rules him out of DOTW.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
16th June 2015, 21:17
Funny how you assume I voted for Seb. I make no mention of who I voted for. In fact I did not cast a vote this time round because nobody really impressed me. And if I had have voted, I wouldn’t have voted Vettel anyway because of his ignoring the red flag which was a grave oversight on his part.
I meant that driving a Mercedes to victory, when it is comfortably the fastest car in the field does not mean you are the best driver that weekend. Hamilton has won 5 out of 7 races to date, and that trend shows no sign of reversing, are going to you vote for him as DOTW every time he wins? It is your vote and you can do what you want with me but to me, that seems rather simplistic. Your previous comment made it sound like you would vote for the race winner regardless of the car’s dominance, or other more impressive performances through the field.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
16th June 2015, 12:43
Well this time it’s clear that Lewis deserves the prize, not vettel.
David-A (@david-a)
16th June 2015, 15:23
@peartree Why is that? Bottas, Massa and Vettel and Maldonado all had very good races, so aside from winning the race with no mistakes, which I’ve been told for years isn’t enough, what did LH do?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
17th June 2015, 17:07
@david-a Hamilton had flawless Saturday and Sunday. Vettel managed to salvage his weekend but his pace is an unknown quantity, as he didn’t had the chance to show it on Saturday.Sunday Vettel was scrappy but successfully carved up the field on a 2 stop strategy, maybe that was what Ferrari was perfectly able to do on a 2 stop, or maybe Vettel ringed it’s neck, we just don’t know.
Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
16th June 2015, 16:51
Is it? His practice sessions were messy and it’s only in qualifying and the race that he performed to his best (i.e. he got pole and won, as you would expect).
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
17th June 2015, 17:13
@jules-winfield Friday is not weekend, Friday is practice and practice is where you make mistakes not points. There’s no point in undermining the race winner, because winning the race as Merc has done so underlines the fact that no one is able to challenge them, and that is for me know fact. Whether Vettel individually had a great weekend or not is an unknown quantity because he and his car are not winning races therefore you have always to doubt if that is all they have.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
16th June 2015, 16:56
@peartree please tell that to everyone who systematically not wanted to vote for Vettel between 2010-2013. He had far more dominant drives in lesser cars.
Janh Kougan (@sameercader)
16th June 2015, 11:58
he drove a fantastic race, absolutely brilliant.
really deserves driver of the week win
lockup (@)
16th June 2015, 12:28
I thought Seb’s pace was terrific so although I didn’t vote for him myself I’m not arguing with those who did. It was such a pity he didn’t start at the front.
Hans Herrmann (@twentyseven)
16th June 2015, 12:50
It’s definitely one of Vettel’s best seasons to date, first year with the prancing horses and he’s driving flawlessly.
However, it is hard to get too excited about driver abilities with the current set up. It’s equivalent to getting the worlds best soccer stars and paying them to play subbuteo!?!?! It’s hard to see driving talent through the fog of ridiculous rules and restrictions.
Anyway Vettel’s talent is a constant through this difficult time in F1
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
16th June 2015, 12:51
Sometimes, the result of the DOTW never cease to amaze me. How can someone who use the best car to the best advantage be discounted for that very reason, BUT another who used the 2nd best car to his best best advantage is better?
If any of the Mercedes drivers had driven from the back of the grid to win the race, no doubt it would have been “because they were in the best car”.
Vettel should have been discounted for the very same reason Lewis was discounted. This should have been between Bottas and Massa.
Bolide (@mim5)
16th June 2015, 13:21
They are in the 3rd best car and with your reasoning should also be discounted.
evered7 (@evered7)
16th June 2015, 13:22
Plus with a huge to speed advantage over the rest.
ColdFly F1 (@)
16th June 2015, 13:53
And to continue that reasoning Merhi should have won!
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
16th June 2015, 20:09
@coldfly Buuuuuuut, he was in the best car if you discount all others. Perhaps the gopher really stands a chance…
rm
16th June 2015, 16:18
People managed to discount it very easily, when it was Vettel winning in “the best car”. I believe he won DOTW something like three times in 2011.
Colin (@kairat)
16th June 2015, 14:41
Great race from Vettel, a deserved DotW.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
16th June 2015, 14:45
Less tables once again – no more top three for those who are interested.
I can see the point – more user quote to make them happy they are selected (and urge others to use the site more by commenting more) and shorter articles for the increasingly impatient median visitor.
So poor for those who ask for quality and more information…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
16th June 2015, 16:57
@atticus-2 We don’t regularly publish the ‘top three’ table any more because some people were misinterpreting it as a ranking of the drivers, which it wasn’t. However the article does explain some of the drivers who also received a lot of votes.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
16th June 2015, 17:10
Ah, indeed. (I posted just after scrolling down to find the current, slimmer table on the bottom.)
I may have been one of those who used this as a ranking, if you referred to those who, for example, gave drivers 3-2-1 points based on their “finish” in this voting and then aggregated them. However, I was and is still fully aware of how this thing works, in fact I think I would have to be pretty much degenerated not to… But I always fancied how these numbers would add up – luckily, the order is still in the article, as you said, so it’s fine.
Thank you.
Davej
16th June 2015, 15:12
Okay so many people are saying “can’t vote for Hamilton because Merc cars are too good”. This is only Hamilton’s 3rd constructors winning car (if you count 07 as well) and only the second season of Merc dominance yet some are already getting fed up. I am a Hamilton fan through and through- that much I will admit- but to make it seem as though Hamilton having the best car is somehow an exception is disingenuous to say the least. At least Lewis does not have number 1 status unlike some world champions like Alonso and Vettel. Last season Hamilton had to fight reliability and his team mate to become a double WDC.
It’s the name of the game, the best car always wins and the best drivers tend to find themselves in the best teams with the best car. In fact you would be hard pressed to find the last time a driver won a championship without a constructors winning car (ie the best car)- in fact the last time I think was in 2008 of which surprise surprise Hamilton is part of that exclusive group. Hakkinen, Schumi, Keke Rosberg (bizarre circumstances) and Prost also won the championship while not having the best car overall. But those are the few exceptions. So next time when people say “Hamilton won because he had the best car”…. Well so did Vettel, so did Button, so did Schumi, Prost, Senna and countless other world champions before Lewis. That’s the way F1 has always been and like I said to try and portray it otherwise stinks of having a hidden agenda.
Davej
16th June 2015, 15:17
Just to add on, nevermind the best car but Schumi even had his own, tailor made tyres during his Ferrari reign.
evered7 (@evered7)
16th June 2015, 16:55
Maybe Hamilton should have thought about it before mouthing off to the media :)
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
16th June 2015, 17:04
Alonso did not, he properly beat his teammates, so did Vettel. They both never had no.1 stauts like Schumacher did and there are plenty of examples to confirm that.
Also I find it quite a big load of ….. that Hamilton fans keep complaining about all the ‘it’s the car’ stuff as they were the bigger part of those who said so about Vettel.
Also winning the constructors is on guarantee you had the best car. Heikki hardly qualifies as a good driver in my book. Had they kept Alonso for 2008 there should be no doubt the constructors was going to be won by Mclaren.
It’s also getting quite old to act like Rosberg was ever a real threat. Reliability, yes, but that has had every driver down the entire field and harldy has anything to do with the title fight.
On top of that all it was Hamilton who most vocally expressed his disgust towards Vettel his winning ways even going so far saying he never would want it that way.
So let’s just stop acting like Hamilton is being treated worse than other champions; he is even treated better if you ask me because the senseless banter about his car has never been comparable to the banter Vettel received, and it’s plain nonsense to suggest they would not be equals.
Davej
16th June 2015, 18:56
So you don’t think Massa was Alonso’s #2? “Felipe Fernando is faster than you,” anyone? US GP in 2012, Ferrari even went so far as to sabotage their 2nd car to give their number 1 driver the clean side of the track. As for Vettel.. Well Silverstone 2010 (Winggate) and 2011 (Webber told to hold station) even though he was faster? See, you don’t need to go any further than hearing it from the horse’s mouth- Massa openly said he was treated as the number two driver, as did Webber. Whether it was official or not is another matter.Now you don’t need to go any further than that.
What is a load of….. Is attempting to make it seem as though Vettel has had a the same number of competitive cars as Lewis or Fernando. I stopped taking your points seriously when you said sometimes the constructors winning car is not the best because of driver X. I mean Kimi had an off season in 08 as well yet you selectively ignore that. But hey, maybe to expect to engage in an impartial debate with some people is a waste of time. My point was simply- Hamilton’s circumstances are not an exception but the norm. “Vettel is at least Hamilton’s equal”… Well we will never know until they have the same equipment. What we do know however, is that given the same equipment- Ricciardo was better than Vettel, at least in 2014.
David-A (@david-a)
16th June 2015, 23:16
Those are somewhat legit points, but the latter occurred when it was impossible for the second driver to fight for the title, Alonso (who I’m no fan of) had beaten Massa fair and square. Some would argue this was the reasoning for the former.
GB ’10: For the millionth time, Webber used the wing in Friday practice, but chose not to use it in Saturday practice, before Vettel’s part failed. Why is it a crime that RBR fitted an unused wing to Vettel’s car?
GB ’11: You conveniently forget the roles being reversed in Malaysia ’13 (where Rosberg was also held back from racing Hamilton, in only his 2nd race), and also the rarely mentioned Turkey ’09, where Vettel had to settle for 3rd to MW’s 2nd with team orders.
What does that have to do with anything here? And how many “competitive cars” have they all driven?
Nowhere near Heikki though, who finished behind both BMWs and a Renault.
Button in 2011? But like with Vettel in 2014, I don’t consider that representative of what Hamilton can do.
For the record, I think Hamilton is doing a marvellous job right now. But I can’t get my head around the claims of an “agenda” against Hamilton because some people are whining. Vettel got worse from the fans for doing the same.
Davej
17th June 2015, 7:28
In any case, no one is more qualified to comment on their placing in the team as the two drivers in question here- Mark Webber and Feliper Massa. Webber always said he was treated as the number 2, as did Felipe. We can have different views on how events unfolded but for you to dispute what these two drivers said, who were in the situation with first hand experience and use what only amounts to your opinion to rubbish such claims is pure fantasy. In any case, Helmut Marko was one of Webber’s biggest critics and you tell me, if a driver says he does not get equal treatment and one of the team chiefs clearly backs this up, who are you to say no this is not the case? Have a read (hope the link is okay and will pass through moderation) http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/01/what-to-make-of-helmut-markos-comments-about-mark-webber/
rest
17th June 2015, 12:34
What is also fantasy is disregarding the fact that some of those drivers were much favored by some British media in comparison to the German youngster. And James Allen himself also mentioned that fact.
David-A (@david-a)
17th June 2015, 13:46
@davej
When did Webber/Massa “always” say he was treated as the number 2? There was that one quote after Silverstone, based on an incident where Vettel was using a part originally assigned to Webber, that MW already chose not to use. The article you quoted doesn’t really count either- it’s critical of Webber, yes, but not without foundation- even James Allen agrees with the points made about MW’s consistency.
Think about it… your remaining examples of “favourable treatment”, are Germany 2010, US 2012 and Silverstone 2011. Two of which, Massa wasn’t fighting for the title, so you should clearly get why Massa had to play a team role, the other of which, we’ve also seen team orders implemented against Vettel. Do you really think Vettel and Alonso didn’t beat Webber and Massa on track, fair and square in their time together? Because to suggest otherwise is the fantasy.
But most of all, and do not continue avoiding it: Why have you derailed a driver of the weekend poll where people didn’t vote for Hamilton to simply have pops at Vettel and Alonso? If anyone here is proving a “hidden agenda” it’s you.
David-A (@david-a)
16th June 2015, 17:08
Hidden agenda against who Davej? Do you really believe people didn’t complain about Vettel when he was winning? Likewise Schumacher?
Vettel won 16 races in taking his 2nd and 3rd titles. DoTW wins? Four. And a fair number of those votes simply went to Hamilton, Button and Alonso who were in the next fastest cars.
paulin
16th June 2015, 23:03
Not sure about Alonso/Vettel’s status in their respective teams. But Hamilton doesn’t need number 1 status even if he is given that or he wanted that. The more dominant the car is, the less need for a number one. It is a strategy to maximize the possible points for WDC.
On the topic of winning with a car that wasn’t WCC winner…. That doesn’t draw the whole picture now, does it? WCC standings depends on both drivers of all teams. Or do you think all drivers are equally capable? Not to mention, you can also say that Hamilton was the last driver not to win with the best car in 2012 which would also indicate Vettel won with a second-best car, because it was obvious McLaren was overall a better package than RBR and it wasn’t the least reliable thing like many claim if you care to remember Raikkonen’s McLaren days or take into account how many times Hamilton’s competition lost the lead because of reliability issues but still won the championship.
By the way, on Raikkonen having an off-season in 2008, were you watching at the time I wonder? He was leading the championship until he started having problems with the car and by the time it was mostly dealt with Massa was leading the championship. Then, according to your logic Raikkonen was Massa’s second driver. And Ferrari had 2 drivers fighting for title that year, Kovalainen was nowhere near them and McLaren had some questionable strategies for him in terms of race and qualifying which exacerbated the situation.
Davej
17th June 2015, 7:38
Well no and no- “Hamilton was the last person not to win with the best car”…. Perhaps you missed the gearbox failure in Singapore 2012 (Vettel inherited the victory), pit stop blunders, broken roll bar in Korea 2012, Abu Dhabi fuel pump issue etc etc. Perhaps you think that reliability is directly attributed to driver skill? Ultimately “ifs and buts” don’t count- the best car overall wins the constructors. Webber was nowhere near Vettel after 2010 yet Red Bull won the constructors still. Or is that an exception because it’s Vettel who did wonders?
Was I watching in 2008? Indeed I was. “Hamilton inherited victories”. You mean like the Belgium grand prix that year? What are these problems that Kimi had that year? Like maybe crashing out in the Belgian GP through driver error? In fact I would say that after the Belgian GP in 2008 Kimi was very much playing a supporting role to Felipe which could be argued that he was the second driver.
Now funny how you want to downgrade Lewis’ performances because of Heikki yet you cannot apply the same logic to Vettel who had a similar team mate for 4 years and preferential treatment. You probably blame reliability for Vettel’s woes last year as well but you will not apply the same line of thinking for Lewis in 2012. Very very consistent logic there.
paulin
17th June 2015, 12:53
Pit stop blunders are not reliability issues. But it is a legitimate reason for why McLaren didn’t deserve the WCC.
If you want to keep believing WCC standings don’t depend on both drivers and just the car, it’s your choice. Also Webber was around Vettel after 2010, he was generally 3rd in the standings.
I never said “Hamilton inherited victories”. I wasn’t talking about the leads lost specific to 2008. And I didn’t even say it was Hamilton who inherited the lead. Because to be frank, it was generally Alonso who got the lead from Vettel, or sometimes from Hamilton.
Well if you watched 2008 and didn’t know what problems Raikkonen had with the car, then that’s your problem. There is Google, you can search. Obviously he was supporting Massa for the championship after he lost the lead.
How did I downgrade Hamilton’s performances because of Kovalainen? If anything he did a good enough job unlike Kovalainen whose performances were questionable. I was talking about Kovalainen’s effect on WCC standings, and the fact that it doesn’t mean McLaren was worse than Ferrari that year. McLaren and Ferrari were indiscernible during 07-08 period.
I didn’t even talk about last year and Vettel, you are just guessing to prove your insubstantial points about my judgment. Do you blame reliability for Vettel’s woes last year as well then, since apparently you apply the same line of thinking for Hamilton in 2012. Since otw it would be inconsistent for you.
Btw, lol, did you really compare Kovalainen to Webber?
rm
17th June 2015, 20:55
To say that Hamilton merely has “the best car” is what’s disingenuous. Of course he is driving “the best car” on the current grid, but more to the point he’s driving the best and most dominant car in F1, ever. Vettel received far more condemnation for driving “the best car” even though his cars were not nearly as dominant as the current Mercedes.
menes
17th June 2015, 22:08
Or wasn’t even the best car at various points…
lethalnz
16th June 2015, 15:50
funny as hell this, people voted for Vettel for passing and making it back up to 5th from near last,
yet at the same time they want to get rid of the thing that helped him manage that passing, DRS,
yes i voted Vettel, for no fault of his, the car would not perform in Qualifying, plus one stupid move he made by passing a car under red flag.
this week i am looking forward to what he can do with that car that missed last week when he Qualify’s closer to the front.
watch this space, we could have a blinder of a race which we where robbed of last race.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
16th June 2015, 16:15
Yes, but the Red Bull Ring is not as much of a Ferrari track as Montreal was – Montreal was among the top 3 or 4 best tracks for Ferrari this season (hence their overwhelming, unexpected and unlucky underachievement, which even Mercedes acknowledged publicly), and while the Red Bull Ring will still be good for them, it’ll not be great due to that third sector and – if – it’ll be high downforce again in 2015. (Last year it was, pre-2003 it was usually medium in the race.)
Problem is, Ferrari is still behind Mercedes and they need faultless weekends and some circumstances to finish ahead. It’s so sad they probably had better chances in both Bahrain and in Montreal then they had in Sepang, yet it was exactly these two weekends they’ve managed to mess up the most.
evered7 (@evered7)
16th June 2015, 16:51
Not sure about Ferrari not being able to challenge Mercedes in the Red Bull Ring. It is not something like Spain with a lot of corners nor is it like Monaco.
It has 4 long stretches where engine power will count and Ferrari don’t seem to be lagging there. Montreal was an opportunity but the lack of running on Friday might have hampered their chances of fine tuning their package.
They still haven’t go enough running of the new aero updates introduced in Spain. So I am optimistic for Austria based on this year’s form and last year’s results. @atticus-2
beneboy (@beneboy)
16th June 2015, 19:10
Go to the driver of the weekend poll and you’ll find lots of people saying they didn’t vote for Sebastian because of DRS, as such your argument doesn’t really stand up.
His “stupid mistake” was passing under a Red Flag, which would get you disqualified from quite a few motor sport events as it is actually quite a serious rule to break. Flags are there to protect the marshals and other people who are working at the track, as well as the drivers, ignoring them should always be considered serious, as should the penalty.
John H (@john-h)
16th June 2015, 19:25
You can still be driver of the weekend in a poor series of racing. What’s so complicated to understand?
dour
16th June 2015, 23:20
Well, compared to Massa he had to work harder for overtakes. Despite the good move on Ericsson, Massa breeze passed everyone with DRS or jumped some point runners in the pits. Vettel had his record number of overtakes and some of them he had to do twice. His pace was similar to that of Mercedes. Had a poor pit stop. Still managed to finish 5 secs down his teammate and only 10 secs down the podium.
You can argue he should have been smarter and waited focusing on DRS breeze passes every time. But I dislike DRS which in itself is not so much the problem as the symptom.
John H (@john-h)
16th June 2015, 19:24
Surprised that Kvyat isn’t on the podium to be honest. Thought he had a great weekend.
dour
16th June 2015, 23:21
I agree with you.