Vote for your 2016 Russian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2016 Russian Grand Prix

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Which F1 driver was the best performer during the Russian Grand Prix weekend?

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most during the last race weekend.

Russian Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Mercedes

Rosberg won, Hamilton recovered
Lewis Hamilton – Despite a few spins on Friday – shades of Shanghai – Hamilton headed the times at the end of the day. He was in the hunt for pole position until a power unit problem struck him down – he also picked up his second reprimand of the year in the same session. Made a slightly slow getaway but avoided the turn two chaos, profiting to the tune of five places. Passes on Raikkonen and the Williams drivers moved him up to second, but a water pressure problem kept him from chasing down Rosberg.

Nico Rosberg – Quickest in the morning running on Friday, Rosberg didn’t manage to get a quick lap together on super softs in the afternoon. But in Q2 he produced stunning pace and looked capable of giving Hamilton a run for his money until his team mate’s misfortune gifted him pole position. The biggest threat to his race victory came from an MGU-K problem which he managed en route to his fourth win of the year.

Ferrari

Vettel’s weekend went wrong on Friday
Sebastian Vettel – Arrived in Sochi knowing he would take a five-place grid drop for a gearbox change. By the time it was announced he’d suffered another setback – electrical problems in second practice keeping him from doing a race stint simulation. Nonetheless he qualified second, which was clearly the best the car was capable of. Starting seventh put him in the firing line from Kvyat, however, who dumped him into the barriers after two hits in as many corners.

Kimi Raikkonen – Said he didn’t “do any proper laps” on Friday as he grappled with the low-grip track. He was struggling most in the final sector, and an error there cost him a front row place to Bottas. He took second from the Williams driver at the start but lost it at the restart, and Hamilton relegated him another place. However he jumped ahead of Bottas for good in the pits and claimed his second podium finish of the year.

Williams

Bottas took on Raikkonen
Felipe Massa – Was only a tenth of a second off Bottas on Friday and stayed within range of his team mate in qualifying. He wasn’t as quick in the early phase of the race on super-softs, and a late charge after a free pit stop didn’t help him progress.

Valtteri Bottas – At a track which suited the Williams and its Mercedes engine, and where Bottas has been strong in the past, he delivered, splitting the Ferraris in qualifying to claim a place on the front row of the grid. Having dropped behind Raikkonen at the start he reclaimed the position with a rapid restart. However he lost time battling Hamilton after his first pit stop and was jumped by the Ferrari again, dropping to fourth.

Red Bull

Quite a few people were unhappy with Kvyat
Daniel Ricciardo – Tested the Aeroscreen on Friday morning then got on with a typical programme, ending up within three tenths of a second of Raikkonen’s Ferrari. Red Bull didn’t appear to have the one-lap pace to beat Williams and Ricciardo duly lined up behind both of them. Contact from Vettel by way of Kvyat at the start left him with a badly damaged floor. A gamble on medium tyres didn’t work out ad he finished 12th after a second pit stop.

Daniil Kvyat – On good form at his home track, he ended Friday only a tenth of a second off Ricciardo. Qualifying was a close run thing – he only just made it out of Q2. He didn’t have time to do a warm-up lap in Q3, so ending up three-tenths off Ricciardo was reasonable. The race was a disaster, however – two major errors within seconds of the start ruined several drivers’ races, including Red Bull stablemates Ricciardo and Sainz.

Force India

Perez battled back
Nico Hulkenberg – Missed first practice as Alfonso Celis drove his car, but still ended up the quicker of Force India’s drivers on the day. However he was missing some pace on Saturday, failing to accompany Perez into Q3. He was then rammed by Gutierrez at the start and retired.

Sergio Perez – Another driver who tends to go well at Sochi, a solid qualifying performance from Perez plus Vettel’s misfortune yielded Force India’s highest starting position of the season so far. However he incurred a puncture at the start and had to limp back to the pits. He rose back through the field to claim points for ninth but spent his final stint stuck behind Grosjean and Magnussen.

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Renault

Magnussen made the most of a strong start
Kevin Magnussen – Didn’t run in first practice as Sergey Sirotkin drove his car, but looked the more comfortable of the two Renault drivers from the off. Couldn’t make the cut for Q2 but profited from the turn two incidents to run ninth. He gained another place by pitting before Grosjean and using the benefit of the undercut, and kept the Haas driver ahead to the end for a solid seventh place.

Jolyon Palmer – Still unhappy with the balance of his car after China, Palmer was pessimistic about his prospects for the weekend on Friday. He turned it around on Saturday after changes to his floor, and was just a tenth of a second off Magnussen in qualifying. He stayed in touch with Magnussen in the first stint but pitted earlier, and his pace dropped off sooner on the soft tyres. He dropped behind Ricciardo and finished six places behind his team mate.

Toro Rosso

Verstappen retired from sixth
Max Verstappen – There was just hundredths of a second between the Toro Rosso drivers on Friday. Verstappen was vexed by too much oversteer but pipped Sainz into Q3 and qualified ninth. Having narrowly avoided the Vettel/Kvyat fracas Verstappen was well-placed in sixth until a power unit problem halted his run.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – Had a straightforward day on Friday, missed the cut for Q3 by four-hundredths of a second on Saturday, but that gave him a free tyre choice for Sunday. He got off the line well but collected Kvyat’s front wing at turn two which forced him to pit early to have it removed. His tyres began to fade at the end of a long second stint, which allowed Button past, and a ten-second penalty for forcing Palmer wide left him 12th.

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson – Ran through a range of set-up tweaks as he searched for a balance on Friday but ended up almost a second off his team mate. It got no better on Saturday, where he qualified last. Felt his car was better on high fuel but despite a trouble-free race he finished well outside of the points.

Felipe Nasr – With a new chassis underneath him Nasr immediately looked more at home and bat Ericsson by half a second in qualifying. However a puncture during the first stint spoiled his run and a five-second penalty for failing to obey the turn two run-off area rules while battling Wehrlein was unnecessary.

McLaren

Alonso grabbed a top-six finish
Fernando Alonso – Cautious about McLaren’s prospects after a solid Friday, Alonso wasn’t quite on Button’s pace in qualifying and lined up 14th. However he made great gains from the lap one confusion and emerged in seventh place. The car had the pace to stay there as well, and instead of being consumed by rivals on the straight Alonso finished a place higher up after Verstappen dropped out. He entertained himself with a few ‘push’ laps at the end, recording the fifth-quickest time.

Jenson Button – Eighth on Friday, Button reckoned Q3 was possible for the team, and although he didn’t make it he was within a tenth of a second at a track which wasn’t ideal for the car. He didn’t get away well and was immediately passed by Alonso, falling to 15th. From there he climbed into the points, passing Sainz for the final place in the top ten.

Manor

Pascal Wehrlein – Lost some time having his floor replaced on Friday, and had a quick spin on the slippery track as well, which was by no means unusual for any of the drivers. Pipped Haryanto in qualifying, but after a feisty scrap with Nasr in the race his tyres went off and a second pit stop meant a wasted race.

Rio Haryanto – Also had to play catch-up after losing time with a steering rack change on the first day. At turn one he was hit by Hulkenberg’s out-of-control Force India, forcing him out.

Haas

Grosjean was back in the points
Romain Grosjean – Felt there was still something wrong with his car after his problems in China. Despite struggling to get the tyres working on the smooth track he made it into Q2, and at the start he dived for the escape road and emerged in a strong eighth. He lost a place to Magnussen in the pits which he couldn’t regain on the track, but added more points with ninth place.

Esteban Gutierrez – Had similar tyre problems to Grosjean but also made it into Q2, albeit last. At the start he braked too late and took out Hulkenberg and Haryanto, earning a penalty and two points on his licence. He at least saw the chequered flag, albeit a distant 17th.

Qualifying and race results summary

Driver Started Gap to team mate (Q) Laps leading team mate Pitted Finished Gap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton 10th +0.483s 0/53 1 2nd +25.022s
Nico Rosberg 1st -0.483s 53/53 1 1st -25.022s
Sebastian Vettel 7th -0.54s 0/0 0
Kimi Raikkonen 3rd +0.54s 0/0 1 3rd
Felipe Massa 4th +0.48s 2/53 2 5th +24.21s
Valtteri Bottas 2nd -0.48s 51/53 1 4th -24.21s
Daniel Ricciardo 5th -0.334s 43/52 2 11th -26.888s
Daniil Kvyat 8th +0.334s 9/52 2 15th +26.888s
Nico Hulkenberg 13th +0.489s 0/0 0
Sergio Perez 6th -0.489s 0/0 2 9th
Kevin Magnussen 17th -0.095s 52/52 1 7th -24.371s
Jolyon Palmer 18th +0.095s 0/52 1 13th +24.371s
Max Verstappen 9th -0.142s 33/33 1
Carlos Sainz Jnr 11th +0.142s 0/33 1 12th
Marcus Ericsson 22nd +0.501s 41/52 2 14th -22.243s
Felipe Nasr 19th -0.501s 11/52 1 16th +22.243s
Fernando Alonso 14th +0.106s 52/52 1 6th -16.076s
Jenson Button 12th -0.106s 0/52 1 10th +16.076s
Pascal Wehrlein 20th -0.064s 0/0 2 18th
Rio Haryanto 21st +0.064s 0/0 0
Romain Grosjean 15th -0.06s 52/52 1 8th -53.757s
Esteban Gutierrez 16th +0.06s 0/52 1 17th +53.757s

Review the race data

    Vote for your driver of the weekend

    Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend?

    Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.

    Vote for the best driver of the 2016 Russian Grand Prix weekend

    • Esteban Gutierrez (0%)
    • Romain Grosjean (3%)
    • Rio Haryanto (0%)
    • Pascal Wehrlein (0%)
    • Jenson Button (0%)
    • Fernando Alonso (22%)
    • Felipe Nasr (0%)
    • Marcus Ericsson (1%)
    • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
    • Max Verstappen (5%)
    • Jolyon Palmer (0%)
    • Kevin Magnussen (33%)
    • Sergio Perez (3%)
    • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
    • Daniil Kvyat (2%)
    • Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
    • Valtteri Bottas (2%)
    • Felipe Massa (0%)
    • Kimi Raikkonen (2%)
    • Sebastian Vettel (1%)
    • Nico Rosberg (19%)
    • Lewis Hamilton (7%)

    Total Voters: 491

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    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    84 comments on “Vote for your 2016 Russian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

    1. Joao Pitol (@)
      2nd May 2016, 15:00

      KEV for overtaking Ricciardo in a whell to whell battle over 3 coners…Stunning

      1. Although Ricciardo was on the medium tyres, he’s always hard to pass in sections like that. Hats off to MAG for getting it done all the same. DOTW for me.

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          2nd May 2016, 16:21

          Ric in a damaged car though

        2. @glennb
          Your profile pic perfectly sums up what Bernie thinks of Formula 1 and its fans.

          1. Tayyib Abu
            2nd May 2016, 19:40

            Glenn, is that a real picture, if it was where the hell was it?

            By the way I liked Magnussens performance, he’s my pick.

            1. I think it was a reaction to a cheeky birthday present from Red Bull on his 80th birthday.

            2. Tayyib, @2face is correct. Here is the full picture. https://au.pinterest.com/pin/5348093278429467/

      2. Just for that… Lacklustre weekend lacklustre dow

    2. Tough one this weekend. Between Valtteri Bottas (stunning qualifying, strong race), Romain Grosjean (solid qualifying, stellar race) and Kevin Magnussen (solid qualifying, truly exceptional race) for me, but the Danish driver edges it for me. Alonso’s race was very strong, as was Hamilton’s. However the poor reliability at Mercedes (and at Ferrari) is making it difficult to choose any of their drivers at the moment every week because we just don’t always have an event where we get a truly fair fight.

      1. Those were pretty much my choices, except I didn’t consider Grosjean this weekend. Considered Lewis but had to give it to K.Mag: he did what he needed to do – score solid points for the team and beat JP to the finish line. Superb drive even though he benefited from front runners and Verstappen dropping out. Hopefully we will see more of this from K.Mag in a suspected underperforming Renault. I’d like to see JP do well but this is F1 where you have to beat your teammate first. Magnussen deserves a decent whack at a good seat after the McLaren debacle.

    3. Brian Frank (@brianfrank302)
      2nd May 2016, 15:05

      Magnussen for me.

    4. Adam (@rocketpanda)
      2nd May 2016, 15:09

      Magnussen.

      That Renault isn’t a particularly good car but he did over and above what it’s worth. Decent qualifying, excellent overtakes and a strong race finish given he was actually pulling away from Grosjean’s Haas.

      1. Big Mag (@)
        2nd May 2016, 16:35

        I agree. It must be difficult to be a young leader in a team like Renault, where hes teammate struggles with the car, and apparently is not able set up the car properly. Magnussen got the car set up for race, and as a Formula driver you make your own luck but avoiding to be a part in the accident. The pace he set up trough the race to keep his place in front of cars that I think i better than the Renault was brilliant. Rosberg is a very close second. 7 victories in row – unbelievable.

    5. Was between Magnussen (brilliant seventh place finish), Rosberg (doing everything needed), Alonso (sixth in the McLaren) and Perez (sensational qualifying and good recovery). In the end I went for Magnussen as Alonso gained so many places by cutting across the runoff on lap one and Perez should have possibly passed Grosjean. I always prefer the underdog so it has to be Magnussen

      1. Spot on.

    6. K Mag for me
      That Renault is only better than Manor and Perhaps Sauber but Mag used the opportunity of what happened ahead of him and grasped his chance 100%.
      Honorable mention to Grosjean and Perez

    7. Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
      2nd May 2016, 15:27

      Magnussen, Alonso and Grosjean were the three best drivers this weekend. I’ll vote for Magnussen, as he did a great job getting that slow Renault well into the points.

    8. went for ROS: he didn’t have much trouble, but also he hardly put a foot wrong all weekend. he knew what he needed to do to cruise to victory and he’s done it flawlessly. nothing more you can ask from a driver.

      the FLAP in the end was a nice touch as well… ;)

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        2nd May 2016, 16:37

        Agree, ROS for me.
        One of the easiest DOTW decisions: Grand Slam, and kept the chasing WDC in the same car behind him (also before HAM had a PU issue).
        What else do you want ROS to do to deserve a DOTW? He even ignored the unwanted visitors in the winning room as much as politely possible.

        It seems that the fans here are desperately clinging on to the underdogs. Continuing to vote for Grosjean even though we know now that Haas is much stronger; voting for Magnussen when his overtake of RIC was purely due to the latter’s car being damaged (also outqualifying Palmer by merely 1/10th); voting for ALO because we feel sorry for him, and similarly for Verstappen.
        All decent drives, but it does not shout DOTW to me.

        1. Haha…lol.

        2. “He even ignored the unwanted visitors in the winning room as much as politely possible.”
          That alone was cause for DOTW!
          But i already voted for Magnussen.

      2. RP (@slotopen)
        2nd May 2016, 17:44

        I voted Roseberg too, because I don’t think the DOTW polls reflect his strong performances over the season.

        That said, I understand why he doesn’t get more praise. He basically just has to beat Hamilton to the first turn, and that hasn’t been hard this season.

      3. Yep, ROS for sure. If a Grand Slam doesn’t win you DOTW, what does?

        1. Agreed.

          ROS’s driving was stellar.

        2. @amail Grand slam and winning the title.

    9. This was one of those weekends when nobody really shined, but Rosberg was very strong with pole position, fastest lap and comfortable win by leading every lap so he gets my vote. Grosjean had also a decent weekend as he managed to grab some points for Haas and Magnussen did a good job too as he managed to get a good result after starting from P17.

    10. I think Magnussen is going to win this one, and he certainly had a very good race, but I’m giving my vote to Max Verstappen.

      I don’t regularly vote in these polls but I felt he deserved something this time, especially looking at the lap time data from yesterday. He pipped his team mate to Q3 and got the car arguably as high on the grid as it could manage, and got huge amounts of luck to not be taken out in the Kvyat-Vettel tangle. His laps times were then comfortably in the rather large gap between Mercedes/Ferrari/Williams, and the rest of the field. He was in an absolute class of one and driving brilliantly, only to later have the good luck reversed with an engine failure while running in a fine sixth place.

      1. Yep

    11. I think this one will go to the safe and fast hands which bring the points back. This race highlights how much Magnussen and Grosjean are worth their paychecks compared to their team mates. Getting those precious points whenever they are available seems ever more important. Same goes for Alonso and Button, who knows where this car would be with two inferior drivers in the cockpit (how far back may be the best way to describe it). Out of the three (GRO, MAG and ALO), I went with GRO who managed to escape the scrap, and did two very opportunistic passes to then hold on to its place in front of a powerless HUL. Another great race for who is fast becoming my favorite driver of the pack (currently HAM and VER).

      In other news, Verstappen also had a great race, shame for the end. Kvyat and Guitterez on the other hand…

    12. Magnussen, for getting that pile of junk into the points. Honourable mentions to Alonso and to Hamilton for not engaging in embarrassing chit-chat with Putin in the cool-down room afterwards.

      1. @jules-winfield In that respect Alonso had the advantage of not being there :-)

    13. Hamilton, Magnussen, Alonso and Grosjean all deserve a shout for their respective performances. I ultimately went for Grosjean because while they all impressed getting their cars into their finishing position, he really had to fight to hold on to it.

    14. Voted Verstappen. He did really well all weekend, but ultimately got let down by when his PU failed.

    15. Nico Rosberg, no question about it. Even if Hamilton had continued in Q3, that Q2 lap he did was something else.

      His first Grand Slam, and a perfect score before the European rounds. Over the rest, Magnussen did very well in a car that doesn’t deserve to be so high up the field.

      I’m starting to feel that the sooner Haas replaces Gutierrez the better: it was already a mistake to give him a second chance after doing virtually nothing at Sauber in over 2 years (not even beating SUTIL!). Grosjean got 3 top tens in 4 races, and while Esteban had a lot of bad luck, once things get going he’s not quite there. I know it’s too soon, but I don’t expect him to turn fortunes that fast nor that easily.

      1. yeah, considering Lewis’ had a break down in Q2, and couldn’t set a proper lap, his performance is clearly unquestionable.

        1. @xsavior, Hamilton got beaten by half a second in Q2 in his first run. His MGU failure happened in the second run.

    16. Magnussen, Alonso and Verstappen were the best yesterday.

      But i’ll go with KMag.
      The car IS that bad and he still delivered it. They won’t be able to score points often this season, and if this helps him to stay within the team, that’s good news. It was sad to see Mclaren letting him go after just one season, it’s easier than ever to get burned on F1 and it’s nice to see him getting another shot and doing fine.

    17. K-Mag.

    18. Marcus Ericsson. Being able to deal with the problem on his cars with a cold head, & making the most of it during the race to climb from P22 to P14. Another brilliant drive with 0 recognition – the story of his life.

    19. Magnussen. Alonso brilliant too.
      Rosberg, Hamilton and Grosjean did great too.

    20. Can’t believe Rosberg scored a Grand Chelem and he’s still well behind someone else in the DOTW. Quite amazing actually.

      1. He picked up pole, fastest lap and the win uncontested though, there’s no benchmark with which to measure if he did in fact give an incredible performance or just netted the results the car was easily capable of.

        Until Hamiltons car developed a water pressure problem he was closing down on Rosberg quite quickly.

        1. Look again, the only laps Hamilton closed were when ROS was in traffic, then when Lewis hit the same traffic the gap opened up again & before that stayed at 13 seconds for many laps in a row when both were in clean air. That was just another Lewis whine about ‘its not me its the car’. Of course his fans gobble it up, but the lap time charts don’t lie…

          1. A big chunk of the gap was taken from Rosberg being in traffic but Hamilton was still consistently faster once he’d gotten ahead of Bottas right until the message came over the radio about the water pressure problem and he slowed down.

            And it has been a typical complaint because in 3 out of 4 races this season Hamilton has had a damaged car through no fault of his own.

            1. @PhilipGB – No he wasn’t, the lap time charts don’t lie and its quite clear to see there. Also do all he HAM fans just blindly ignore the fact that ROS can easily choose to not stress his engine and go for quick laps when 13 seconds in front, whereas HAM had his turned all the way up in an effort to close down 1st. More power = more chance of something going wrong, so can’t say its definitely not Hamilton that caused the issue in the 1st place by overstressing the engine trying to prove a point. (Remember Mexico last year and how hard the team struggled to get him to run in the same engine mode as Nico? This year they cannot even tell him to do that, its up to him to realize this until they already see a big problem, then they can tell him ‘hey you’ve hurt the engine, turn it down!’, which they did. But as usual with him and his fans, ‘its not him its the car’.

              Lovely controlled race by ROS only using his pace when he needed to and forcing his hot headed teammate into ANOTHER engine issue whilst looking after his own car to the best of his ability.

    21. Well, it has kind of been Kvyat. Because without Daniil (ok, and a little Esteban), there would not have been much action. Drivers like Maldonado, Grosjean and now Kvyat, they all have been called idiots, but in all honesty, I did enjoy their silliness.

      But without the ‘entertainment’ value, I’d go for Verstappen. Yes, he did not finish, had a godawful start from the grid, but he did manage to get out 6th as best of the rest after a few corners. But the pace he showed on his old Super Softs was amazing. Where others wrecked their tyres, Verstappen’s set didn’t seem to degrade at all. Alonso and Magnussen also did a superb job.

      Biggest disappointments aside from the obvious, I’d say again Williams and especially Bottas. If you go in earlier than your competitors, you have the advantage of fresh tyres and thus being faster on the track, but he still lost places to both Hamilton en Raikkonen, the last one showing a slower pace than Bottas. Bottas should have beaten Raikkonen and at least give Hamilton a decent battle.

    22. Magnussen for me. Maximum performance from the car, qualy and race. And that re-pass on DR of all people was sublime

      Very close second is Bottas

      Honorable mentions to Rosberg, Hamilton, Alonso, Verstappen, Grosjean , Perez and Nasr

    23. Obviously the driver of the day was Putin :) The only guy to give Nico any problems on the day.

      “If you can call it a job” … lolz.

      I didn’t mind the profanity from Vettel either, so top marks from him. The fuel consumption at this track, I believe, pretty much caused the traffic to spread out. No real racing, just drama.

      1. Lol, good argument.

    24. Toss up between Rosberg and Bottas for me. Rosberg’s Q2 lap was stunning, and he might have gone even faster in Q3 and not blown it with that show off lap if it was for real. Then he kept cool when Hamilton was closing, keeping his powder dry while letting his opponent burn his. The 1:39.0 lap at the end told the story. He even managed to chat with Putin without fawning unlike Raikkonen..

    25. Nico Roisberg for me. Also Magnussen, Grosjean and Perez have good weekend.

    26. lockup (@)
      2nd May 2016, 20:36

      Rosberg? He totally lost to Hamilton in the Vlad-blanking stakes. Not sure if the TV didn’t cut away because Lewis’ absolute lack of interest was in danger of becoming awkward.

    27. Mag for me. Rosberg will have to beat hamilton and vettel in a straight fight before i vote for him as DOTW. So far he is just cruising from turn 1.

    28. Neil (@neilosjames)
      2nd May 2016, 21:02

      It was between Rosberg and Magnussen for me – any driver who gets a grand slam is very worthy of being DOTD. But again, all he had to do was drive around in the best car and he had zero challenge in either qualifying or the race…

      So I went for Magnussen – great drive to seventh in a car that I don’t rate at all.

    29. Who voted for the Torpedo?

    30. Beyond (@lello4ever)
      2nd May 2016, 22:38

      Kvyat deserves this, amazing performance in just 2 corners

      1. Lol, I was tempted to vote for him just because I don’t like Vettel! if he takes him out three races in a row I just might.

        1. I’m hoping he re balances the championship by wiping the Mercs out in the next few races. He could be the convergence a lot of people are after, he is the chosen one and will bring balance.

        1. spot on Pink Peril

    31. I was gonna vote for Lewis since he made so many places.. But then I realised, he only drove around the trouble and waited for some DRS and fresh rubber.

      I should have voted for Nico, he did do a hat trick, for sure achievement of the weekend. Great drive, great car… But honestly it looked to unchallanged. If lewis was 2s back, unable to pass him… That would change my mind. But even then we would complain about aero.

      But then I watched Youtube(yup take note FOM) rewatched some overtakes, rewinded a bit… And noticed rather superb job, if you can call it that, Magnusen did.

      17th to 7th. That is something. And not like he was in Mercedes with engine change… No he was 17th after Q before that was all the car had. And bagged 7th.

      We gave Grosjean DOTW for similar feats…

      1. The Skeptic
        2nd May 2016, 23:24

        I think Hamilton’s passes were better than that. In particular, the pass on Raikkonen was exceptional. The pass on Massa was without DRS (straight off the restart). The pass on Bottas relied on DRS with fresh tyrs.

        Nevertheless, Rosberg was clearly DOTW, and is clearly DOTY so far. Why? Well – he has put himself in the position to win every race. Hamilton has only himself to blame for being out of position in Australia and Bahrain with slow starts. He has experienced bad luck only in China and Russia.

        I say all of this as a Ricciardo fan!

        1. RP (@slotopen)
          3rd May 2016, 0:48

          DOTY? Come on, he is 0/2 qualifying against his teammate. He hasn’t beaten his teamate. Hamilton beat himself. He’s starting so poorly anybody could have bet him.

          Don’t get me wrong, I think Roseberg is very good. I even voted for him this weekend. But I doubt we could agree on two drivers who would have done worse.

        2. @TheSkeptic, his move on Raikkonen was nothing special. Kimi was slow on the exit off T4 and even a rookie can pull something like that off. Textbook restart though from HAM.

    32. I voted, then read the comments. I went for Alonso in the end although it was close between he & Rosberg. I think I voted Alonso just out of relief actually that he has finally been able to do something with that McLaren. But on reflection, I think I should have gone Rosberg. He is making his 3xWDC teammate look pretty ordinary this year.

      1. In the 2 qualifying sessions Hamilton has been in Q3 he’s taken pole and in every race other than Australia Hamilton has had car problems preventing them from being able to actually race each other.

        He deserves credit for Australia as in beating Hamilton through turn one he secured the victory for himself, but it’s getting a bit carried away to suggest he’s making Hamilton look average when the other 3 races it’s been simple bad luck causing Hamilton car issues.

        1. @Philipgb – Twisting facts and ignoring what doesn’t suit the ‘Hamilton is the best’ story, watch me have a go, its as easy as saying ‘In the 2 races HAM has not made it to Q3 his teammate has looked like securing pole anyway, so whilst ROS was denied a fair fight at pole the safe bet is that he would have easily outpaced Hamilton on those occasions. Unless you have some wonderful excuse as to why HAM was nearly 1/2 second slower on his 1st run in Q2 than the stunning time set by ROS at that point in Sochi. Wasn’t that a fair fight?

          1. I’m not the one twisting facts. In 2 out of 4 qualifying sessions Hamilton has been unable to contest pole for technical reasons. The other 2 he took pole. That’s just presenting the facts. You want to present the Q2 times as argument Rosberg was faster anyway, but that’s hypothetical. The commentators theorised maybe Hamilton was saving the tyres he started on, or perhaps the power unit was already experiencing power loss, who knows. You’ve already drawn your own conclusion so you will interpret the facts to suit that. I’m not even saying Rosberg isn’t the man on form, just that from one race where he did outmatch Hamilton in a fair fight there is too little to draw a conclusion he is making Hamilton look average.

            1. I like how the starts suddenly have absolutely ZERO relevance in the comparison just because it suits the narrative, even though they are more important than the relative qualifying positions here, which both you and everyone else obviously knows..

          2. “Twisting facts and ignoring what doesn’t suit [you]”

            Haha that is all your comments do EF1 ;)

            “Unless you have some wonderful excuse as to why HAM was nearly 1/2 second slower on his 1st run in Q2”

            Engine failure doesn’t count in your head does it EF1?

            “looked like securing pole anyway”

            Er how do you figure? Look at Russia: Hamilton fastest FP2, FP3, Q1, and then when he Merc turned the engines up for Q2 his failed. Rosberg was far away from looking like securing pole until Hamilton’s engine went.

            1. Hams engine failure happened AFTER their first q2 runs. It happened on their second q2 runs. That’s fact. Rosberg was 0.5s faster than Hamilton on their first q2 run when their engines were both ok. The facts are facts. Not sure if Hamilton got a clean lap though

    33. Hamilton, this is not question.

    34. I went Alonso, very solid weekend I think.

    35. Sergio Perez. He out qualified Hülkenverg by half a second to start 6th in a Force India that has struggled to score points. Then he scored points despite being caught up in the first lap incident. It wasn’t like he got lucky like Alonso, Magnussen, and Grojean he actually fought his way through the field to 9th. And he did that with a Force India that has normally been outside of the top 10.

    36. Has to be Rosberg from the moment he dominated Q2 to the way he finished with the fastest lap. He never put a foot wrong.

    37. Driver of the weekend has to be Vettel with his impassioned exquisite outburst

    38. Nico Rosberg. Grand Slam, 7 in a row.. That’s just impressive.

    39. Was very tempted to go for Magnussen, he was great in the race and managed to show Palmer the way in quali despite losing track time to Sirotkin.

      But for out qualifying a Ferrari and racing to a very comfortable 4th, the best the car could do and without ever looking like he was bothered by his teammate, it was Bottas for me.

    40. I vote Kevin Magnussen as well , but this poll is for the driver of the weekend not for the race, so i think probably we must have 2 poll’s, one for the weekend and one for the race!

    41. Silas fennec
      3rd May 2016, 10:52

      Vote for Mclaren Honda

    42. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
      3rd May 2016, 19:43

      Kevin Magnussen. He was just un-be-lie-vable.

    43. I thought there were quite a few contenders for driver of the weekend but for one reason or another most of them had something to discount them.

      Rosberg took pole and victory again but again problems for Hamilton meant he was unchallenged, so with the car advantage Mercedes have this is the minimum you would expect and so it is difficult to tell at what level Rosberg was performing at, also before his car problems in qualifying Hamilton did look the quicker of the two.

      Bottas was strong in qualifying but I don’t know whether it was just due to the highlights I saw but I didn’t really see much of him in the race.

      Verstappen was a close to being my choice for driver of the weekend after a strong performance in qualifying and the race until his car let him down.

      I thought Alonso had a very good race and the only thing that stopped me really considering him was that his teammate beat him in qualifying.

      In the end my driver of the weekend was Magnussen, a great race bringing home Renault’s first points of the season.

    44. Fernando (@fernanzazpi)
      4th May 2016, 18:20

      Rosberg: Pole, Fastest lap, all laps led…. and WINNER.

      How could this driver not deserve the DOTW? Ok, it’s a Mercedes, but… c’mon!

    45. A grand slam under any conditions warrants a driver of the weekend endorsement in my books. Well done to Nico.

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