Vote for your 2016 United States Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2016 United States Grand Prix

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

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

Driver performance summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton1st-0.216s56/5621st-4.52s
Nico Rosberg2nd+0.216s0/5622nd+4.52s
Sebastian Vettel6th+0.227s11/3834th
Kimi Raikkonen5th-0.227s27/383
Felipe Massa9th+0.153s55/5537th-86.58s
Valtteri Bottas8th-0.153s0/55216th+86.58s
Daniel Ricciardo3rd-0.238s26/2823rd
Daniil Kvyat13th+0.305s1/55111thNot on same lap
Nico Hulkenberg7th-0.727s0/10
Sergio Perez11th+0.727s1/128th
Kevin Magnussen18th+0.233s48/55312th-5.641s
Jolyon Palmer15th-0.233s7/55213th+5.641s
Max Verstappen4th+0.238s2/282
Carlos Sainz Jnr10th-0.305s54/5526thNot on same lap
Marcus Ericsson16th-0.543s47/55114th-16.774s
Felipe Nasr21st+0.543s8/55115th+16.774s
Fernando Alonso12th-0.414s55/5525thNot on same lap
Jenson Button19th+0.414s0/5529thNot on same lap
Pascal Wehrlein20th-0.258s47/54217thNot on same lap
Esteban Ocon22nd+0.258s7/54318thNot on same lap
Romain Grosjean17th+0.255s7/16210th
Esteban Gutierrez14th-0.255s9/161

    Vote for your driver of the weekend

    Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

    Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

    Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.

    Who was the best driver of the 2016 United States Grand Prix weekend?

    • No opinion (1%)
    • Esteban Gutierrez (0%)
    • Romain Grosjean (1%)
    • Esteban Ocon (0%)
    • Pascal Wehrlein (0%)
    • Jenson Button (1%)
    • Fernando Alonso (44%)
    • Felipe Nasr (0%)
    • Marcus Ericsson (1%)
    • Carlos Sainz Jnr (33%)
    • Daniil Kvyat (0%)
    • Jolyon Palmer (0%)
    • Kevin Magnussen (1%)
    • Sergio Perez (2%)
    • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
    • Max Verstappen (1%)
    • Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
    • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
    • Felipe Massa (0%)
    • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
    • Sebastian Vettel (0%)
    • Nico Rosberg (1%)
    • Lewis Hamilton (13%)

    Total Voters: 468

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    When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.

    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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    91 comments on “Vote for your 2016 United States Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

    1. Alonso showing again he’s, by far, the greatest..!

      1. As a HAM fan….yeah, I can only agree. Fernando was awesome today. I was at the track and everyone was cheering for him as he was making that last pass on Sainz and going crazy.

        Lewis was clearly the overall crowd favorite based on the colors everyone was showing and the cheering throughout the race.

      2. You’re funny mate.

    2. Has to be Fernando. Pace above better cars and awesome overtaking, showing why he is still the best. Honorable mention to Carlos Sainz, holding a much faster Williams with worn soft tyres to get P6 with a Toro Rosso.

    3. Carlos Sainz. There’s no contest. Hamilton and Alonso (not including track extending) also did well.

    4. Its funny to see on formula1.com dotd going to verstappen… they should do something about the way dotd gets pocket.

      1. I commented on this a couple of weeks ago. Their way is fundamentally flawed. For example they pick it while the race is actually on, and close it at the chequered flag – don’t think the problems with that even needs explaining.

        1. Yeah but none of that has anythydo with the fact that every race Verstappen wins it.

          Like they start voting on lap 30, wasn’t verstappen out like 3 laps later XD

          1. But I’m glad Formula1.com found a reason for the DOTD being awarded to VES:

            A transmission failure may have halted his progress midway through the Austin race, but his charging drive up until that point was enough to earn him your nod for the third round in a row.

            The only problem is that his ‘progress’ and ‘charging drive’ was more like losing 1 position at the start and 2 when pitting too early.

            This DOTD actually devalues the ones he’s earned earlier this season.

      2. Maybe change the title to most popular driver of the day award.

        1. But that’s what this website has and it’s why Ricciardo wins disproportionately

          1. @hahostolze – Nature of the beast for this kind of website poll I suppose. At least Keith does wait for the end of the race before voting starts. :)

      3. The reporter on Dutch TV station Ziggo Sport called for a Driver of the Day vote for Max after his gearbox had failed, just to troll the system. Mission accomplished :)

        For me it is Carlos Sainz. Alonso manhandled Massa; if Verstappen had done what Alonso did there would be more fuming at the next drivers briefing…
        Verstappens passes on Räikkönen and Button were masterpieces btw. A pity it did not lead to a points finish.

      4. Ha, yeah the Formula1.com voting is all based on hype.
        Quite mind-boggling actually that VES could get that vote. After basically doing nothing special on track, scrxwing up his pit crew by entering for tyre change unannounced, loosing massive time and track position as result. And then not go much further in the race and DNF due to technical issue. How can that get any votes?

        To me this one should be easily Alonso… with Sainz 2nd, Hamilton 3rd. Potentially Ricciardo 4th and Grosjean 5th. Probably a couple more as well before even remotely considering VES to be in the mix.

    5. So F1’s fan-voted DOTD goes to Verstappen.

      Time to get rid of the award if it’s going to be hacked by an army of Maxbots. Honestly, it just makes a mockery of the sport.

      1. When Verstappen retired the commentator on Dutch tv said it would be funny if Max would retire from the race and still win DOTD. That must have triggered a few voters from the Netherlands.
        Went for Sainz myself.

        1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
          24th October 2016, 0:43

          It’s also because mainly dutch people are voting (i heard 25 procent each race weekend which is massive for such a small country) .. why are there not more people from other countries voting? This DOTD becomes a joke this way .. i am a massive Verstappen fan but DOTD was obviously either Sainz or Alonso this weekend. They might as well get rid of it all together this way.

          1. Thankfully Holland hasn’t discovered f1fanatic’s driver of the weekend

          2. Dutch people don’t have the criterion to decide who is the best driver on the race? Maybe people for other countries do vote but they do vote for the best driver, not their favorite. But the reality is probably that people in general is voting for their favorite driver -and I do believe people, in general, don’t have the criterion for most thing that requires them to think a little-. FIA’s absurd voting system doesn’t help either.

            1. It is mostly due the voting system. You get during the race after 16 laps the call to vote. At that point Verstappen had the most overtake and closing Rosberg at that moment. So it is logic to vote him. Besides who are you to jugde about criterion of Dutch people?

        2. Max Verstappen would win F1.COM driver of all time if there was a vote

      2. @tdog It’s really not that unusual. He was the one driver doing clean overtaking and had his great little battle with Vettel.

        1. How would you rate then e.g. Alonso or also Magnussen who both actually overtook more than others?

          1. They didn’t do it cleanly, did they? Not saying I would have voted Verstappen but considering this vote is open half the race, I don’t think in this particular case it’s that unbelievable he’d be voted for.

            1. Out-qualified by his teammate, overtaken by Raikonnen at the start, took too much out of his tyres in the second stint, and had the embarrassing pit stop fiasco.

              He’s a super talent, but we don’t have to deny reality.

              In my view it was his third worst race of the year (after Monaco and Spa) and there were at least a dozen drivers in this race who were better.

    6. By the way, does anyone know how the winners of our Driver of the Weekend poll so far compare to who won the F1.com Driver of the Day poll? I’m curious to know.

      Here’s who’s won all the Driver of the Weekend polls so far this year:

      https://www.racefans.net/2016/10/17/second-driver-weekend-win-rosberg/

      1. Hasn’t Max won most/all of the DoD’s ? ;-)

      2. I was joking (slightly) about Max, but he has actually won 7 DoD including today.

        http://www.formula1.com/en/championship/awards/driver-of-the-day.html

      3. @keithcollantine, @bullmello, @tdog, etc…:

        I took the liberty of making this comparison table between F1.com’s DOTD and F1Fanatic’s DOTW

        https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2McAts52wZ-UkNwaElOZlhrUUk

        (had to post the link because I couldn’t paste the table)

        1. PS: Highlighted in green are the races where DOTD and DOTW where the same!

        2. @gordess – Excellent! Thanks.

          Interesting comparison.

        3. @gordess Very interesting, thanks for that. Early in the year it seemed to me the outcomes were often similar but that’s definitely not been the case recently. There’s more differences than similarities.

        4. @gordess @keithcollantine

          There are several differences which may explain the differences.

          Firstly, this site is UK based. I would hazard a guess that the viewership is predominantly British. I may be wrong of course. The FOM one is international.

          Secondly, there is the wording. FOM do driver of the Day, F1f driver of the Weekend. F1F makes people think about the entire weekend, so a stunning race after terrible practice and qualifying will make a difference.

          Thirdly, F1F viewership tends to be hard-core F1 fans, who are more likely to consider the subtleties of the performances rather than just their gut feeling. FOM poll will include many who are just race viewers.

          Finally, and most importantly, there is the timing. FOM vote closes at the end of the race, whereas F1F opens at the end of the race. The FOM poll, therefore, is more likely to get an emotional reaction with no time to consider, and will also get votes which ignore the end of a race. F1F, on the other hand, allows people time to consider and will garner a more objective viewpoint. As an example, I rarely vote immediately after a race. I wait till the next day so that I can vote with head and not heart.

          Overall, it’s not surprising to see differences. I prefer the methodology of @keithcollantine

          1. @drmouse, I agree that “Weekend” and “Day” might make some difference but I think the importance of the race outweighs the rest of the weekend (take Hamilton’s Malasyan weekend. Great quali, great race up until the engine blow-up but didn’t win DOTW, whereas had he won the race he might have won DOTW)

            Regarding the statement that the “viewership is predominantly British” I agree, but again I think that because “F1F viewership tends to be hard-core F1 fans” the voters are a lot more imparcial and vote on the drive, not the driver’s nationality (there has only been one british DOTW – Lewis Hamilton, Canada).

            But I think we can all agree that @keithcollantine‘s methodology is the best!

            1. @gordess

              The weekend/day distinction, I agree, tends to balance out that way around. However, the other way swings many peoples votes (as attested by the comments on many): If a driver had a great race but an awful practice/quali they often loose votes for it in DOTW.

              Agreed, also, that the hard-core viewership tends to cancel out nationalistic tendencies, but it doesn’t mean it has no effect that the viewership is British. I would expect that there are differences in views due to culture rather than bias towards/against the nationality of the driver… I don’t know what difference it makes, but it would be unwise to discount it’s effects completely.

      4. Keith, do you know who is the all time dotw holder since F1F records began? I reckon Alonso must be leading.

        1. @john-h At the beginning of the year it was Hamilton:

          https://www.racefans.net/2016/01/08/your-top-ten-drivers-of-the-last-five-years-revealed/

          Since then he’s only won once, but he’ll still be top ahead of Vettel and Alonso. But I think Riccairdo will now be tied for fourth with Button.

    7. Alonso, because he overtake Carlos in the end which i must say very nice last stint. And i don’t like Alonso..

    8. Carlos Sainz. Going through Q3 and qualifying 10th was outstanding, but finishing a solid 6th really was impressive in a car that’s under-developed with a 2015 engine.

      1. I also voted for Sainz for the same reason: starting 10th and finishing 6th place in a car using a 2015 engine is a very commendable feat.

    9. Sainz, of course. Hamilton did a good work. But Sainz! he drive a Toro Rosso!

    10. Fair play to Alonso for his finishing result, I just don’t like how he got it. He drove a driver off the track and made a mockery of the track limits.

      Hamilton was solid all weekend, he would be a fair vote to cast. Sainz was close to taking 5th and I don’t think Alonso took that from him cleanly. The other 4 ahead were untouchable.

      1. I agree about the track limits, although I would add that I’m not going to let that change my opinion given that almost every driver was doing it, or did it at some point in the race.

        I don’t understand how it has become so terribly wrong with these race stewards. Either they don’t shut up about them, or they don’t care whatsoever. It seems like a total mess.

        1. I have to say that this race had the worst abuses of track limits I remember seeing in a long time. It makes you question why they even bother with them.

          Drivers will not, on purpose, exceed track limits unless it gains them an advantage. Therefore, the fact that everyone exceeded them at many points consistently tells me that they gained an advantage* in doing so.

          I honestly think they should be much more strict over track limits everywhere, especially in quali: If you exceed the limits, your time is deleted, full stop. Only by being harsh over them will they stop the free-for-all which happened this weekend.

          * Not an advantage over another driver, perhaps, but and advantage compared to staying within the limits. Maybe it was slightly quicker, or better for the tyres, or easier on the engine or fuel. Whatever the advantage, there must be one for a top driver to consistently use that line.

    11. I find Hamilton’s drive today really hard to assess. After the first corner, he had very little to do (but he did it well enough).
      On the contrary Rosberg was clearly no DOTW. Fought hard for pole but lost, and after a decent start he lost 2nd place after a pointless drift to the outside (but got it gifted back).
      Ricciardo had a pretty good race but was undone by the VSC, maybe he should have taken the decision to pit on his own. He did much better than Max anyway.
      Kimi gets at least a honorable mention, he was getting the most from his Ferrari but the team shafted him for the umpteenth time. And Vettel was clearly not doing better than Kimi.
      Another honorable mention for Perez (and I’m quite definitely not a fan)
      I’d give DOTW ex aequo to Sainz and Alonso. Sainz was really solid, did a great defense from Massa. And Alonso, well, he took advantage of the lack of enforcement of track limits (and why shouldn’t he?) but his last few laps showed him at his aggressive best.
      And Button, where was he? Maybe he’s not quite that motivated, but Alonso is giving him a serious spank this year.

      1. Buttons qualifying seriously hurt him, the VSC didn’t help either. He has been killed by strategy this year, usually with VSC’s and SC’s coming out at the wrong time, and the car breaking when he is looking good.

        1. @ambroserpm Button’s pace was just poor today. He fell from 1 second to 5-6 seconds down in the first stint to Alonso, despite the fact he was on SS compared to Alonso’s softs.

      2. Nice to see you’ve stop your blatant hate for Perez for no reason.

        1. Oh, whatever, blatant hate. I have been quite unimpressed by some of Checo’s moves (particularly the serial divebombing at the chicane, 2013 Monaco GP) but hate? what a waste of mental energy. I have a dislike for some other drivers, such as Sebastian Vettel who never impressed me in his WDC years (but I do reckon that he was easily the best driver in the 2015 season, way way better than the bloke who won). Or Max the Weaver, or the aforesaid bloke. But seriously, since the San Marino 1994 GP I have hated no driver. I did hate with a passion some guy who used to bully everyone before that GP, though.

      3. Button started on the medium tyres @hyoko, @mashiat that would easily account for the time lost compared to alonso. And he did finish 10 places ahead of where he started, not that bad at all IMO

        1. Button started on the super softs @bascb

        2. @bascb Button started on super-softs

        3. sorry, my mistake – it was only Nasr and Ocon on mediums @lolzerbob, @mashiat

      4. Duncan Idaho (@)
        27th October 2016, 8:09

        Riccardo had just changed tyres a lap or two before the VSC but I guess that still wouldn’t have taken the prize for most stupid pitstop this race.

    12. Alonso for me. It’s great to see him “hungry” again.

    13. Sainz over Alonso seeing as Fernando has a better car and was making up his own track the whole race.

      1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
        24th October 2016, 0:46

        Well Sainz was quicker in quali so the car pace was good against mcLaren and Alonso gained 7 places (instead of 4 by Sainz) and Fernando had better overtakes then Sainz so that’s why i voted for Alonso.

    14. Sainz, great job all weekend.

    15. IMHO the vote must go to Sainz. He drives a car that has not received an upgrade in 10 races, not to mention the year old engine (2 seconds slower). He did it great in qualify entering into Q3 finoshing in a solid P6. Alonsos did great too, but he is a double world champion and Sainz was on par. Sainz deserves a better car.

    16. Tough choice between Alonso and sainz, sainz gets it for me, because I feel he seemed pretty frustrated at times this year with the progress and now he showed what he is worth

    17. Well… Hamilton for me. He was flawless all weekend from the first press conference.

    18. Pretty straight forward for Lewis on Race Day. Fantastic Qualy Lap also. Also could of given it to either Sainz or Alonso to be honest

    19. Alonso. I’m not a fan, far from it, but he deserved it.

    20. Alonso. Honorable mentions Sainz and Grosjean.

    21. Sainz. But honorable mention to Alonso, although that last overtake on Massa was foolish, and Verstappen, for the best overtakes AND defending of the race (but pitstop and retirement)

      1. Verstappen, really? by any chances did you vote for him as driver of the day on F1.com?

    22. Well obviously Sainz managed a great race to cap off a good weekend . So did Alonso.I’ll give it to the younger spaniard. Also kuddos to Grosjean managing, again, to score. Climbed up the order right up to his team mate from four positions afar and probably would be racing him come end of the racee. Decent pace too.

    23. For me it was Lewis Hamilton. Beating his teammate by .216 sec. Leading the race from start to end with so much control in race speed. Don’t understand that people say it’s easy. Look at his ass when he climbed out of the car. He worked very hard and that in reminder of all the bad luck he had with starts and engine failure. He might rised up again.

    24. Sainz was superb all weekend, he seems to have regained some form with a faster car this weekend. Shoutouts to Alonso, Hamilton and Ericsson

    25. Most likely the first Spanish 1-2. I don’t agree Alonso escaped a penalty so that’s why my vote goes to Sainz rather than Fernando.

    26. Sainz had a great qualifying, gained places as he avoided trouble at start, lucked into a favourable position by pitting under VSC and then held off faster cars for a long time until finally running out of tyres.

    27. I’m feeling a little sorry for Massa, as he should have a comfortable 5th. Sainz and Alonso pitted during the VSC, while Massa stopped just the lap before and lost 10 sec or so. He started alongside Sainz, just ahead of Alonso and was well clear of both (untile the VSC), still Alonso gets 40% of the vote, Sainz 35% and Massa 0%.

      1. With RB+Ferrari a car less any mercedes-engiend car (except manor) could be expected to be 5th. Hulkemberg was out, Perez also smashed out, and Bottas (for whatever reason) out of the picture. So Massa 5th is not exactly a super achievement, just the natural order of things.

        However, having more durable tyres he was unable for 10+ laps to overtake Sainz, which has also a slower car to begin with. I don’t see much reason to vote Massa up…

        You could feel sorry and vote Kimi too, he was there for a 3rd-4th, nothing wrong done at all and did not even finish.

      2. You’re right, but Driver of the Day isn’t only down to driving. It’s down to circumstance too. Massa got unlucky through no fault of his own, but it happened and his finish was affected by it. These things are taken into account too.

    28. Sainz dragged his quicker wearing softs in the last stint for almost 25 laps and were dead at the end.
      Showed why Red Bull wants to keep him in their program.

      Honorable mentions: Alonso deserves it as well if it wasn’t for the divebomb.
      Hamilton for doing what he had to do. Never looked troubled.
      Raikkonen had the measure of Vettel until Ferrari stuffed it again.

    29. Sainz for me. P6 in a Toro Rosso with a year-old engine which only gets more obsolete every race.

      Honorable mentions to Alonso (of course), Massa, Hamilton, Ericsson and Grosjean.

    30. I voted for Sainz, that Toro Rosso is worse than the McLaren, and he got it into the top 10 ahead of Perez in the Force India, and came 6th in the race. He’s a really good driver, hopefully he moves away from Toro Rosso at the end of 2017, as Ricciardo and Verstappen could be there for the next 10 years or so, and Sainz deserves a good car.

      Alonso is proving he’s still the best driver on the grid, as he has been for the last 10 years, truly an all time great. Only didn’t vote for him as I almost expect these kinds of performances from him now. Was entertaining saying the Jaws theme when we saw him creeping up towards Massa and Sainz.

      Perez did well to recover from being speared into oblivion by Kvyat.
      Button got up 10 places, showing he does still have pace, even if his qualifying was ruined by traffic.
      Grosjean getting Haas’ first point in a while is impressive too, as they looked pretty poor this weekend
      K-Mag made his strategy work very well, shouldn’t have been giving a penalty imo as Kvyat pushed him out wide, but 11th or 12th is still a great result for him, put Palmer to bed again today.

    31. Was between Alonso and Sainz, went for the former in the end. The move on Massa was brilliant, and as for track limits… if the FIA says the drivers can do it, why not do it? You should make the most of whatever tarmac you’re allowed to use…

    32. Sainz stood out for me.

    33. So many people voting for Alonso…
      I mean, come on, the guy keeps getting lucky with that stupid VSC. Plus, he should have been penalized for the collision with Massa.

    34. Voted for Sainz although it was close between him and Alsonso. Surprised to not see Ericsson mentioned here as he was half a second faster than his teammate in quali and would have finished higher up if his team didn’t screw up his strategy.

    35. Fernando Alonso gets my vote. Honorable mentions to Carlos Sainz Jr and Romain Grosjean.

    36. It’s got to be Sergio, others who ended up ahead of him did have some luck.
      He did not participated in the 1st practice, had a technical issue in Quali and carried damaged floor since lap one after the mistake from Kvyat.
      He/team called their pit stops perfectly to undercut Grosjean and Jenson.
      Finally was ahead of Jenson by 10 seconds.

      1. Yeah and without the undercut he wouldn’t have made it past jenson, he couldn’t get near him even with Drs

    37. Sainz. Superb qualy even better race result with his horsepower missing car

    38. Am I correct in believing Max was voted driver of the day on the official vote during the race?? If so then I think it was only Jos who voted!

    39. SAI, ALO, HAM, ROS, RIC, MAG, ERI, PAL must be the order for the finishing drivers…

    40. In the closing stages of the Grand Prix I said to myself that whoever won the Alonso and Sainz battle would probably get my vote for driver of the weekend, it was Alonso who finished ahead and after looking back at the rest of the weekend I decided that Alonso would be my choice for driver of the weekend.

      Alonso had another one of his good starts to move up the field and then managed to finish fifth with some forceful overtakes late on.

      Sainz managed to get into Q3 and then followed it up with a great finish in sixth.

      Hamilton got pole and didn’t seem to make a mistake in the race to take a comfortable victory, but he didn’t totally dominate the weekend, and unless no other driver stands out that is what usually needs to happen when someone with the car advantage Mercedes have wins for me to consider them for driver of the weekend.

      1. Voted my man Lewis this time.

    41. Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz

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