Daniel Ricciardo was voted Driver of the Weekend for the Italian Grand Prix, taking his fourth victory in the poll this year. The Red Bull driver has topped the poll twice more than any of his rivals this season.
Ricciardo, who previously won in China, Moncaco and Germany, picked up 37.4% of a vote which many readers felt was difficult to judge after a fairly lacklustre grand prix.
Daniel Ricciardo’s Italian Grand Prix weekend
Having got off the line much better than his team mate, Ricciardo got ahead of the slow starting Hamilton, though this didn’t last long. Once Hamilton easily accelerated past Ricciardo kept the Williams of Valtteri Bottas in close sight. Crucially, this allowed Red Bull to go aggressive with his strategy, fitting super-soft tyres for Ricciardo’s final stint..
On a set of tyres one step softer than Bottas, Ricciardo quickly set about closing the gap to the Williams. When the pass came, it was one to remember. Ricciardo launched down the inside of Bottas from a seemingly impossible distance. That move, which put a lock on fifth place, was cited by many as their reason for voting for him.
Ricciardo had a decent qualifying, a decent race and a pass on Bottas that was a joy to watch.
hyoko
It cannot go to either Mercedes because of their performances in qualifying and the race. I think I will give it to Ricciardo for getting the most out of his car. Fifth was the maximum for Red Bull.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
Got to be Ricciardo. Absolutely maximised the position on the worst track for his car on the calendar. Destroyed Verstappen both in qualifying and race. Made an amazing overtake from way back on Bottas. What more could you ask for?
@Montreal95
Italian Grand Prix winners and losers
The consensus however was that no-one in particular stood out all weekend, with a number of readers citing this as a reason for not voting. With this in mind, from the next race Driver of the Weekend will include an option to vote for ‘no driver’.
Maybe this is the weekend I skip this part. I didn’t see anyone do anything special on both days to warrant a Driver of the Weekend award. Ricciardo maybe for his pass but it was too reliant on Bottas giving him a clean pass on the corner.
Gutierrez could have got it for his awesome qualifying, had he scored some points today. That hope was taken care of, at the lights.
@Evered7
Toughest one of the year this. Rosberg and Button were mighty impressive in the race but were beaten in qualifying by their teammates. Several drivers put in some decent performance to beat their teammate in qualifying and the race such as Vettel, Ricciardo, Bottas, Perez and Wehrlein. Also Hamilton and Gutierrez did excellent in qualifying but didn’t well in the race.
I’m going to sit on the fence for this one, pretty much an impossible job to choose.
Kavin Kannan (@lolzerbob)
No one stood out too much. Can’t give it to Rosberg as he got absolutely hammered in qualifying. Hamilton had a poor start and threw a win away. Ferrari were the second fastest by a long way so third and fourth was a given.
Ricciardo made a decent overtake and finished where you’d expect him to. I guess Ricciardo because of the overtaking manoeuvre but if there was a “no-one” option, I’d have gone for that!
@Petebaldwin
| Race | DOTW winner | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 Australian Grand Prix | Romain Grosjean | 61.0% |
| 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix | Romain Grosjean | 39.4% |
| 2016 Chinese Grand Prix | Daniel Ricciardo | 44.7% |
| 2016 Russian Grand Prix | Kevin Magnussen | 32.6% |
| 2016 Spanish Grand Prix | Max Verstappen | 68.5% |
| 2016 Monaco Grand Prix | Daniel Ricciardo | 49.6% |
| 2016 Canadian Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton | 28.5% |
| 2016 European Grand Prix | Sergio Perez | 67.3% |
| 2016 Austrian Grand Prix | Pascal Wehrlein | 43.2% |
| 2016 British Grand Prix | Max Verstappen | 55.2% |
| 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix | Kimi Raikkonen | 38.3% |
| 2016 German Grand Prix | Daniel Ricciardo | 45.5% |
| 2016 Belgian Grand Prix | Fernando Alonso | 43.3% |
| 2016 Italian Grand Prix | Daniel Ricciardo | 37.4% |
2016 Italian Grand Prix
- 2016 Italian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Fourth Driver of the Weekend win for Ricciardo
- Second-lowest rating this year for Italian GP
- 2016 Italian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Italian GP
Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
9th September 2016, 11:21
“With this in mind, from the next race Driver of the Weekend will include an option to vote for ‘no driver’.”
Blah, even if no one has a perfect weekend, someone is always the best. If we must have the ‘no driver’ option, at least it should be named ‘I can’t decide’ or something like that. Allowing users to vote multiple drivers would be a better solution to the difficulty of choosing – although I wouldn’t want that either, I think the current DotW poll in all its simplicity has been good enough.
Craig
9th September 2016, 11:40
Personally I consider Monza to be an anomaly in the way no one stood out (I don’t think Riccardo’s one good move was enough to warrant a full driver of the day award). It’s nice to have the option, but I suspect it won’t be used that heavily.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
12th September 2016, 0:20
wasn’t just his one good move
Will Wood (@willwood)
9th September 2016, 11:55
@hotbottoms If I honestly cannot pick a single driver out after the weekend, I usually just abstain from voting.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
9th September 2016, 12:01
@hotbottoms
I think that would make things too complicated. Not least because different people would want to vote for different numbers of drivers, raising questions about how to weight their voting.
Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
9th September 2016, 12:10
@keithcollantine
I agree, that’s why I said that I prefer the current DotW poll :)
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
9th September 2016, 12:12
@keithcollantine Maybe we can rank all the 22 drivers in order of how they performed for each weekend. Then we could get an average to see who wins. And then we could use the results to create an f1 fanatic user championship. I think it’s too much to ask now, but maybe for ’17?
VMaxMuffin (@vmaxmuffin)
9th September 2016, 15:15
@lolzerbob ranking all 22 is too much – it would take too much time and effort. Plus trying to distinguish between so many drivers is difficult. Usually finding a couple of standouts (either for their above or below par performances) is easy, it’s the middle ground where people have mediocre, run-of-the-mill weekends that would be hard to rank.
I wouldn’t mind ranking my top 3 drivers of the weekend though.
Daniel
10th September 2016, 1:17
I would also keep it like it is: one single vote to the best driver of the weekend. If no one stood out, at least the voter could keep it simple and pick the winner
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
12th September 2016, 0:23
I agree with you Daniel, why is everyone trying to make a meal out of this?
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
12th September 2016, 0:32
Keith no need for wasting your time on bothersome polling, just give it Daniric every weekend, he deserves it with “The Crusty Helmet ” now saying he is backing Max!!
See Keith we could work well together.
mystic one (@mysticus)
9th September 2016, 12:05
DotW on this site selected based on personal hate for others… If A merc driver wins, it is considered boring… If a merc driver comes from the back to podium, it is boring… If some midfielder gets a few positions based on others’ miserable weekend, they are praised highly… This is pretty screwed up as majority of the votes are based on personal hate/taste rather than pure performance… it s sad…
petebaldwin (@)
9th September 2016, 14:49
@mysticus – How can it be based on pure performance though when we don’t know the comparative performance of the cars? How can we compare Wehrlein finishing 15th in a Manor to Rosberg finishing 1st in a Mercedes for example based on pure performance?
In regards to Mercedes winning – I don’t think it’s necessarily a case of it being boring. It’s more a case of if Alonso, Button, Wehrlein, Perez, Bottas, Sainz and Grosjean all drove the race of their lives and were could not have extracted an additional tenth from the entire race distance, Hamilton or Rosberg would still win the race with their engines turned down to 50%.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
9th September 2016, 19:22
@mysticus A glance at the pre-2014 results is more than enough to prove that isn’t the case.
mystic one (@mysticus)
10th September 2016, 18:16
What was different pre 2014? and which point was to prove what case?
Daniel
10th September 2016, 1:31
Anyone driving a car as dominant as Mercedes is today is expected to win and has the obligation to finish second at worst. To be Driver of the Weekend, he would need to convincingly beat his team-mate both in qualy and race, without a surprise pole, podium or points finish for another driver… Personal preference might explain odd 1% or 2% for a particular driver, but not the general trend…
mystic one (@mysticus)
10th September 2016, 18:08
Havent seen that is the case when it is Ham? When he beat Rosberg, or Rosberg beat Ham…
Everyone can paint a different pic, and this is becoming more obvious by day… Results almost always reflect personal taste or hate for against dominant drivers… If Ham wins fighting Ros, vice versa it is called boring racing, if a mid fielder jumps a few position in a random weekend, it is called extraordinary… sighs, gimme a break… apart from 1-2 guys in mid field non of them are consistent… But people still paint them wonders…
George (@george)
9th September 2016, 17:19
If I can’t choose between a few drivers I just go for the one I think is likely to get the least votes.
Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
9th September 2016, 23:44
+1
There has to be at least one driver that someone feels did a better job than the rest of the field.
If nobody stands out simply abstain from voting.
I fear the “nobody” vote could be abused and used as a protest vote to ensure nobody wins, instead of a driver you don’t like.
Have another think about the nobody option Keith. Personally I think the poll works perfectly well at the moment.
ColdFly F1 (@)
9th September 2016, 11:49
I didn’t know there were 2 races last week, @Montreal95!
In the race I watched:
1) RIC ‘destroyed’ VES in quali by 2/100th
2) RIC ‘destroyed’ VES during the race by having the same pace (VES only lost time at start & first laps when in traffic)
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
9th September 2016, 12:13
@coldfly
Verstappen is hated on this website consistently now since Spa by some users. Ricciardo and Verstappen were closely matched this weekend I think
Strontium (@strontium)
9th September 2016, 14:55
+1, all of a sudden he is as bad as Maldonado, is going to cause death to another driver, doesn’t deserve to be in F1 with his racing attitude, is being destroyed by Ricciardo.
That’s a selection of the things I’ve heard said or implied on here, over the past few weeks.
Mike (@mike)
9th September 2016, 22:28
Aren’t you just doing the opposite of what you’re complaining about?
Nonna Verstappen
10th September 2016, 4:22
making up for the gushings that he is the reincarnation of Senna perhaps?
Matthijs (@matthijs)
9th September 2016, 12:19
@coldfly Verstappen currently causes so many ‘pro’ and ‘anti’ sympathy that it is very difficult to have a normal discussion about him and his results. Real shame, but Hamilton and Vettel went through the same phase and there will also be future drivers that will be surrounded by so much buzz.
Guybrush Threepwood
9th September 2016, 13:07
Verstappen didn’t have the pace of Ricciardo in the race – but it was difficult to tell when both were held up by other drivers for a good part of it. When they were in clear air on the same tyres – which wasn’t for long – Ricciardo was lapping faster than Verstappen and was able to get more out of his soft tyres, hence the SS final stint whereas Verstappen had to do a second stint on the soft tyre.
ErwinUDB (@euitdebos)
9th September 2016, 13:17
+1 for Coldfly and others defending VES. VES had a nice pas just after RIC passed BOT, but it seems to go unnoticed.
Not trying to take anything away from RIC. I believe they were both at the same level this weekend. Again. Looking at lap time charts, I can not find any proof that one was quicker than the other.
Nonna Verstappen
10th September 2016, 4:26
They have a black and white tool that grossly measures this.
Matn
10th September 2016, 9:16
Guybrush Threepwood didn’t have the same pace…? After the first stint where Ves had his bad start he fell behind 8 seconds in total, at the finish that distance was still 8 seconds. Second stint Ves was slightly faster, third sting Ric on ss slightly faster. The gap mantained troughout the whole race, they are just about equal.
Both driver did about the same time in Q, 0.022 sec difference, both did some nice overtaking… Ric on Bottas, Ves a couple mre on Hulkenberg, Alonso and Perez.. he especially like his overtake on Hulkenberg which was round the outside (not shown on tv). Overall Ric was in front on the grid and had a better start, therefore a better race
Matt
9th September 2016, 12:04
Alonso is the driver of the day at every race for putting up with performance of the McLaren – and for his comments on the radio, eg laughing in response to being told he is being caught by a Haas
Gabriel (@rethla)
9th September 2016, 17:53
Well deserved, hes the best driver on the grid.
Tristan
10th September 2016, 4:53
Surprised it wasn’t button really. I think it further goes to show really how abysmal the broadcast was at actually presenting the race as opposed to just following the top 6 around the track.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
10th September 2016, 8:28
Also, if we’re doing the whole Verstappen – Ricciardo comparison thing, Verstappen had a terrible start, but ended within ten seconds of Ricciardo. Hamilton ended further back from Rosberg. Totally arbitrary comparison, but Hamilton is better than Rosberg, no?
Not saying this signifies anything but neither does Ricciardo finishing ahead mean he had better race pace. Also obviously not saying Verstappen should be DOTW but neither should Ricciardo.