Vote for your 2017 Italian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2017 Italian Grand Prix

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Which Formula One driver made the most of the Italian Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last five days.

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Monza.

Driver performance summary

Driver Started Finished Race change Lap 1 change Highest position Lowest position Gap to team mate*
Lewis Hamilton 1 1 0 0 1 2 -4.471
Valtteri Bottas 4 2 +2 0 1 4 4.471
Daniel Ricciardo 16 4 +12 +1 3 15 Not on same lap
Max Verstappen 13 10 +3 +5 8 20 Not on same lap
Sebastian Vettel 6 3 +3 0 3 6 -23.765
Kimi Raikkonen 5 5 0 0 4 11 23.765
Sergio Perez 10 9 +1 +1 5 9 3.748
Esteban Ocon 3 6 -3 +1 2 10 -3.748
Felipe Massa 7 8 -1 0 4 10 0.678
Lance Stroll 2 7 -5 -1 3 11 -0.678
Fernando Alonso 19 17 +2 +2 11 17
Stoffel Vandoorne 18 +2 7 16
Carlos Sainz Jnr 15 14 +1 +2 12 18 3.735
Daniil Kvyat 8 12 -4 -3 7 15 -3.735
Romain Grosjean 20 15 +5 +2 15 20 34.877
Kevin Magnussen 9 11 -2 -1 9 17 -34.877
Nico Hulkenberg 14 13 +1 +2 11 18
Jolyon Palmer 17 -2 11 20
Marcus Ericsson 11 18 -7 -3 14 20 Not on same lap
Pascal Wehrlein 12 16 -4 -8 15 20 Not on same lap

    Poll closed

    Daniel Ricciardo was voted Driver of the Weekend with 54.6% of the vote. This is his eighth Driver of the Weekend win:

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    86 comments on “Vote for your 2017 Italian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

    1. Riccardo. Hamilton was great but the Mercedes was so far ahead. Riccardo got the most he could out of the red bull.

      1. And got schooled by his teammate in qualifying. These votes are a joke.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          3rd September 2017, 17:28

          The margin wasn’t much between the 2 in qualifying. Ricciardo’s race was truly outstanding and Verstappen’s was rather a mess. I can understand why he is a contender for the votes.

          1. The unanswered question (for me) is how good the race performance really was. RB were (allegedly) expecting to get up to 5th/6th. 4th is a step up on that, but not a huge step.

            Max’s error means we don’t get a side by side comparison with another RB car; he was far ahead at the time but didn’t race for long enough to draw useful conclusions.

            Aside: Falling short in quallie (without a valid excuse) is a black mark for me, but not an automatic disqualification from DOTW, especially if the gap is small and/or conditions variable. tbh, I was actually more disappointed with Max for barely outqualifying Dan.

            1. The whole reasoning of OldIron is flawed. If RB were expecting 5th/6th, it means that Ric did better than his own team deemed reasonable achievable. Further more, though he acknowledges the gap between the pair was rather small (about one-and-a-half tenth and no car between them in quali), he doesn’t take into account that they might have been using a different approach to the race in terms of setup (dry weather config vs wet weather). Also, in those special weather conditions as they were in quali, the last one who crosses the line tends to have the (relatively speaking) best lap time bc of the track rapidly getting drier. And if I recall correctly, it was Ric first, then Ver and the last one to record a timed lap, was Ham.

            2. @krxx

              I probably haven’t been too clear, and in any case there are many possible criteria for judging, with no ‘right’ way. Now, the article asks for voting based on performance, so I tend to consider race and quallie results, plus particular ‘wow’ moments, and minus penalties (driver related only!).

              I’d intended finishing 4th (and exceeding team expectations) to be read as a point in favour.

              I don’t have any information about whether RB (or anyone else) tried differing setups, but its unusual to do so, and in the circumstances, reasonable to judge on the assumption that they are equivalent.

              Its hard to say if conditions were improving at end of Q3, it was still raining. Either way, the last para was meant to read that I wouldn’t read too much into a small time gap given the conditions.

            3. OldIron
              Two more remarks. First, it’s not unusual at all to have different setups. Every weekend they race in with (expected) rain, they have to decide how much they gonna set up towards dry or wet conditions besides the question they always have to deal with with respect how much they let quali weigh in.
              Second, the conditions probably were improving, and quite rapidly. You can tell by the massive improvements drivers made in their last lap in q3 in comparison to their first, especially Ham, a little less so Ver, and Ric improved only by three tenths or so (I do stand corrected regarding the order of completing the last hot lap, it was Ver before Ric). But they both couldn’t have done much better with second and third, so this is just a detail.

              But I agree with you in terms of assessing the performance bc Ver was out quite early. The thing is you came across quite sceptical while I don’t think he could have done anything more. Sound judgements, kept out of trouble, pushed hard and made a daring move stick. Top three were far out of reach, so P4 was max.

              So to me, in a nutshell, it’s hard to assess hów good the performance really was, but there’s no doubt whether it wás a good one.

        2. The problem is that Max needs to reign himself in, he keeps having contact. Yesterday I said that the race was going to be interesting because Max was going to know what’s like to race with the lower end drivers, I said he was going to get tangled and he did.

          1. To be fair, that was an easy prediction.
            But you were right, of course.

        3. Schooled here means 1.5 tenths behind his team mate. Which is about his average deficit to Verstappen this season, from my calculations. So if he got schooled, well it’s a lesson Ricciardo knows all too well already.
          Which is funny because Verstappen doesn’t seem to be learning his.

      2. they said driver of the weekend not race.

      3. I agree. I too voted for Ricciardo, he started in 16th place and finished in 4th. Only one other driver who finished in the top 10 started outside the top 10, and that was Max Verstappen. To get to 4th from being so far back on the grid is a real achievement.

        1. @drycrust so you think someone who cant qualify in the top 15 deserves dotw?

          1. Except Ricciard did

            1. Exactly, I can’t believe people would not only devalue Ricciardo’s achievement but complain about someone else’s vote for driver of the weekend (isn’t that petty) and get such a basic thing wrong. Ricciardo was in the drivers conference as well, it’s not like he snuck by in 4th place, he was 3rd!!!

          2. so you think someone who cant qualify in the top 15 deserves dotw?

            @cm-cm I hadn’t used Ricciardo’s qualifying result as a reason for my decision, but upon investigating this I am happy with how I voted. I’m lead to believe that Ricciardo achieved the third fastest time in Qualifying, a time of 1:36.841, which is approximately 1.3 seconds behind the time posted by Hamilton (1:35.554). So he did Qualify in the top ten places, as distinct from someone like Magnesson who failed to get from Q1 through to Q2, but started ninth. The reason why Ricciardo started 16th and not third was because he’d been given a 25 place grid penalty for exceeding the maximum allowed quota of certain monitored components. He was one of 9 drivers who received grid place penalties for the start of the Italian GP for exceeding the quota of monitored components or unscheduled gearbox changes.

      4. Comparison positions gain Ricciardo / Verstappen

        Ricciardo Lap 1 +1 Lap 3 +1 Lap 5 +1 Lap 6 +1 Lap 7 +1 Lap 16 +1 Lap 17 Ocon pits +1 +1(Perez) Lap 18 +1 Lap 20 +1 Lap 32 +1 Lap 41 +1. = +12 positions gain.

        Verstappen Lap 1 +5 Lap 3 flat tire falls back to position 20 resulting in a 70 seconds gap to nr.19(Gros.) > Lap 15 +1 Lap 18 +1 Lap 20 +1 Lap 26 +1 Lap 31 +1 Lap 33 +1 Lap 41 +1 Lap 43 +1 Lap 45 +1 Lap Lap 46 +1 = +15 positions gain.

        Ricciardo is called driver of the day and driver of the weekend with 54%
        Verstappen gain in the vote for driver of the weekend is 0%.
        While he has beaten his teammate in all practice sessions and in qualifying and gained 3 more positions in the race.

        1. While he has beaten his teammate in all practice sessions and in qualifying and gained 3 more positions in the race.

          And hit pretty much every driver he was near in the race *shrug*

        2. Verstappen did more overtakes than Ric merely because he found himself on the back of the field with easier drivers to overtake.

          Having said that, I think hadn’t he incurred in the puncture, he would have easily clinched the podium, ahead of Ric.

          Anyway, Dotw should be Hamilton this time, given the monstre lap in qualy and the perfect race. There’s nearly nothing he could have done better this weekend than what he did, while there is plenty Ricciardo could have done better (qualy for example). Amazing overtakes though.

    2. Driver of the Day – Riccardo (Got beat by Max in Qualifying)
      Driver of the Weekend – Hamilton (Second to none)

      1. David (@billyboltaction)
        3rd September 2017, 17:10

        This is my reasoning too. Not everyday someone takes pole by over a second to the rest of the field and 2 seconds to their own team mate. Lewis’ lap in the terrible conditions on Saturday setup his easy victory. So I’m giving it to Lewis.

        1. The Skeptic (@)
          5th September 2017, 13:01

          +1. Much as I admire Dan’s performance in the race, Max is consistently quicker in qualy. The pole position lap from Lewis was sublime. So smooth, and not attributable to engine power.

    3. Vandoorne. Q3 in the McLaren, would’ve qualified higher but had an engine problem that limited him to do 10th, would’ve probs come higher. Then engine penalties meant he started 18th, but worked his way back up to 10th and in the points and looked like he would stay there. Outperformed Alonso all weekend.
      And all this, in a McLaren-Honda

      1. Marian Gri (@)
        3rd September 2017, 17:26

        Kinda funny uh, a McHonda in top 10 on the most power track?! Doesn’t make sense at all…

      2. @hugh11 He didn’t beat Alonso, Alonso did only one run in qualifying because his penalties were predicted to be worse.

        1. He finished ahead, so he beat him. It’s still impressive what he did. And he was much better in the race, despite them starting from 18th and 19th, so next to each other.

    4. Ricciardo should walk this one.

      1. David (@billyboltaction)
        3rd September 2017, 17:12

        Maybe for driver of the race…but not the weekend. Does Saturday not count for anything?

        1. @billyboltaction

          Does it count for everything?

          Take Saturday and Sunday into account, weight up the driver’s relative performance on both days, and choose who comes out best.

          It would be hard not to give it to Hamilton based on Saturday. But on Sunday he didn’t exactly have to deliver one of his special drives. Ricciardo did. So despite the small deficit to Verstappen, on balance of the performance on both days some people feel it was Ricciardo who deserves the mantle.

          1. David (@billyboltaction)
            3rd September 2017, 21:10

            No it doesn’t count for everything but it was a very special lap and it meant Lewis set up his own Sunday cruise. It wasn’t handed to him, he worked for it on Saturday in the most difficult of conditions.

            Daniel was out qualified by his team mate, and I think it can be argued that Max’s own errors in the race benefited Daniel as he didn’t have his team mate to worry about. I don’t want to take his Sunday away from him as he was brilliant and made the race more entertaining so I do see your point. But the OP said Daniel should walk it and I disagree with that. I’d say using your own criteria on balance it should be close between Daniel and Lewis when taking the whole weekend into account. I understand some will give it to Daniel and fair enough. But It wasn’t a “walk it” weekend for him.

          2. @philipgb agreed, well said about the Saturday/Sunday weight, which lead me to say that a smashing margin 1.148 s over Max makes HAM driver of the week end, taking all the necessary risks to get pole in conditions which relies more on the drivers abilities and where you can be a hero or a zero justifies IMO the vote to HAM because then Saturday outweigh Sunday, also VET the “four time” world champion and direct rival was nowhere near HAM performance which mattered the most for him, no point of cranking up the engine just to look good and set fastest times plus risking blowing up the engine as in Malaysia, yes RIC had to work out his way up to fourth, but then we can argue that all the cars he overtook where less competitive than the Red bull bar RAI.

            1. @abdelilah

              It was a mind blowing qualifying by Hamilton. I suspect a lot of drivers will be reviewing that lap footage.

              In the race though, given how Bottas made his way to second and then the gap they both had over Vettel, Sunday wasn’t really asking much of either of the Mercedes.

              Ricciardo was in damage limitation mode and pulled out some blinding overtaking to finish where he did. It takes nothing away from Hamilton who’s weekend was flawless, but Ricciardo’s race had that special extra something that deserves praise.

        2. @billyboltaction
          It depends on who you’re asking and when you’re asking them. For example, last year when Ric mostly outperformed Ver in quali, Ver-fans had us believe that Saturdays don’t matter at all, bc “you only get points on Sunday.” Now that Ver has had the upperhand in quali, they are constantly claiming that Ver is the better driver based on him outqualifying Ric and that Ric, therefore, can’t never be a DOTW. Same goes for, although to a lesser degree, ’15 and Sai whenever they come up.

    5. Daniel because Lewis said he was cruising.

    6. I think it must be Stroll.He put the Williams at P4,only 3 tenths behind the RBR,in his first full wet qualy in F1.His race wasnt that great,but he had a nice battle with Felipe in the end,which he won.He should have passed Ocon,but this weekend was the first proper weekend Lance Stroll did,as an fully competitive F1 driver

    7. I forgot to say,Ricciardo & Hamilton were amazing as well,amazing drive from both,but for me today was Stroll.

    8. It’s tough not to vote for Hamilton here. That qualifying performance was on another level, and he never looked like he wasn’t in control of the race. But he didn’t look to be working for it. Ferrari was way off the Mercedes pace, Red Bull was afflicted with grid penalties, and I suspect both Hamilton and Bottas were driving with their engines turned down in bringing it home mode.

      Ricciardo did his usual trick of qualifying behind Verstappen and not making as much headway on lap one. Things looked set for Verstappen to finally have some good luck and deliver the drive we’ve been promised all season. But ultimately, Verstappen couldn’t keep out of trouble. Ricciardo, however, gave a brilliant race to split the Ferrari’s. Without the grid penalties maybe he and Verstappen would have been fighting for third. But from the weekend we got, by dragging a result like that from it no one achieved more than Ricciardo in my mind.

      1. @philipgb I still don’t get why people will vote for the likes of Ricciardo while being beaten by his teammate during qualifying.
        It seems to me that Verstappen has to calm down a bit, he somehow manages to undo a good qualifying performance by being impatient during the first lap, it comes to bite him more and more frequently these recent times.

        1. Marian Gri (@)
          3rd September 2017, 17:31

          Cause it’s Driver of the Weekend, not Driver of the Quali.

          1. Well if it’s driver of the weekend, then it can’t be Ricciardo, because he was out qualified by Max & fortune smiled on him yet again. Driver of the day, sure, but definitely not the weekend.

            1. He was out qualified by a tenth, it was hardly the drubbing Hamilton gave Bottas.

              And weighing up both performance on Saturday and Sunday to arrive at the best overall performance for the weekend doesn’t preclude someone who came second to their team mate on Saturday. That fact obviously doesn’t help their case, but I think it’s still fair to argue for driver of the weekend when the Sunday performance is so far above everyone else it more than makes up for a marginally inferior qualifying.

              I found it very hard not to vote Hamilton after his masterful qualifying and flawless victory. Ricciardo just subjectively impressed me more.

        2. I do feel like in this case, both Red Bulls went into quali knowing it meant very little in the grand scheme of things so it does make sense that people are not really taking it into account when voting.

        3. @abdelilah

          He obviously lost out in qualifying but by a small margin and with the penalties they had to suffer it was far from a critical performance.

          And while performance in qualifying obviously counts towards a drivers performance over the whole weekend, ultimately what they deliver on Sunday is the more crucial part of the performance.

          So Ricciardo came out second best to his team mate on Saturday, but on Sunday outclassed the rest of the grid. Especially with Hamilton only having a safe cruise to the finish line to deliver.

          1. I agree with Phillip. The margin was tiny, he was still 3rd overall, plus it barely mattered with the gtid penalties. He far outperformed his teamate in the race.

            I actually voted for Ocon, but Ricciardo isn’t a wacky choice.

        4. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          3rd September 2017, 18:59

          Qualifying is not as important as the race is it? Ricciardo wasn’t that far behind Verstappen in qualifying and they both did a good job. However, in the race, Ricciardo was far better. Just being a bit slower than your team mate in qualifying shouldn’t instantly prevent them being driver of the weekend.

          1. “Qualifying is not as important as the race is”…..

            Go revisit Spa and then ask Seb & Lewis how important qualifying was.

            1. But we were at Monza, where the driver who qualified 6th came 2nd, the driver who qualified 8th came 3rd, and the driver forced to start from 16th came 4th, so what happened in Spa isn’t relevant because they were at Monza.

        5. Ms Appropriate
          4th September 2017, 2:53

          Agreed, Ver should at least get Learner Driver OTW.

      2. Marian Gri (@)
        3rd September 2017, 17:39

        There’s no suspicion, Mercedes turned down the power indeed after only 27 laps. Also, no suspicion that RBR would have got 3rd and 4th if it wasn’t for those big grid penalties. The big question remains: what happened to Ferrari to lose even to RBR in dry conditions too? They had no idea yesterday, pretty sure they don’t know today either.

        1. @corrado-dub

          Yeah, I caught that. I was referring more to me suspecting both drivers were instructed to bring it home in their current order to allow the engines to be turned down. I’m pretty sure Bottas was making no attempt to close in on Hamilton.

    9. Lewis Hamilton, got pole by a smashing margin, in the rain, where the conditions “nullifies” the car performance and where the drivers abilities matters the most, was untouchable during the race, and broke a record of poles.

      1. An important detail that seems to have been missed is the fact that Hamilton’s pole time was set on brand new tyres – no other driver pitted for new tyres at the end of Q3, AFAIK. Not saying his lap wasn’t superb, just that I don’t think 1.1 s is a true reflection…

        1. If Hamilton did get new tyres and was able to exploit them in those conditions, then isn’t that good strategy and good tactical decision making? In the changing conditions things could just as easily gone wrong for him while he was getting the new shoes leaving him somewhere like 5th place.

        2. Bottas pitted for new boots too. Any of the other drivers could’ve pitted as well for new tires.

    10. “Schooled” by just a tenth, as I see both Red Bull drivers were sensational in qualifying, and in such tricky conditions defeat by that margin doesn’t disqualify Ricciardo from the DotW running. Compare Bottas who was over two seconds behind his team mate.

      I gave it to Ricciardo as he was so impressive in the race, which bears the most weight in the weekend. But it was very difficult to choose between him and Hamilton who didn’t do anything much wrong.

      1. Apologies, this was meant to be in reply to a specific comment – but I suppose serves as a general rebuttal to all those losing their minds over Ricciardo getting lots of votes

      2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        3rd September 2017, 19:34

        I’m not sure how impressed I was with the Red Bull drivers in qualifying. I don’t think is was sensational. The car usually is way closer to Ferrari and Mercedes in the wet. Stroll was just 3 tenths off Verstappen who had Ricciardo between. A williams nearly being as fast as the Red Bull with Stroll driving either makes his own lap sensational or the Red Bull drivers nothing special. I also don’t think it is that realistic to think that Bottas wasn’t capable of being far less than 2 seconds behind Hamilton. Bottas was fastest in Q1 by 2 tenths, then 4 tenths behind Hamilton in Q2. Then his first lap was ok in Q3. It was just the very final one that he messed up in the middle sector.

        I certainly can see Ricciardo being one of the most voted drivers for DOTW though. He did more than enough in the race and a decent enough job in qualifying to deserve this.

    11. It’s easy to vote on Hamilton, but on the other hand there’s no track this favourable to Mercedes, it was an easy 1 2 for the team they didn’t need to push at all, so Lewis beat one car, hard to actually include him on this race.

    12. Ocon for me. Amazing quali along with stroll and ham and a tidy race defending from the 2 Williams. Was never going to keep Ric, Bot and the ferraris behind.

    13. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      3rd September 2017, 18:36

      In truth the only option is Fernando Alonso. Livened up yet another dull day of F1 racing.

    14. There’s a lot of good contender this weekend, but ultimately it has to be Hamilton. His qualifying is superb and this is just another race where he’s just untouchable. Strong candidate is Ocon, Stroll, Vandoorne, and Ricciardo.

    15. Had Ricciardo not made his climb through the field I’d voted for Hamilton, but I feel like someone who could just cruise through the whole race does not necessarily deserve DOTW (then again, being so far ahead that you can have a comfortable Sunday drive is a merit in itself).

    16. I went for Hamilton, blew everyone away in quali then won at a canter.

      The Red Bull drivers were hard to judge this race. Ricciardo was close in qualifying and did some great overtakes, but Verstappen was faster in quali and well ahead in the race until he came together with Massa, which I attribute more to Massa running wide. Obviously hard to judge Verstappen’s race after that point. I think it’s possible Verstappen could have been on the podium without the accident.

    17. I went for Ocon because he was faultless, got the all important tenth of a second over his teammate to make q3 and then with stood pressure all race. Hamilton, Stroll and Vandoorne also had strong weekends as did the Red Bull drivers.

    18. Lewis for me. What a qualy and what a race.

      Stroll and Ocon had a pretty good weekend as well. TBH if you have a merc PU you would always do well on Monza.

      RIC was stunning today but he got out qualified by Max ones again

    19. Superb qualifying, faultless victory, driver of the weekend: Hamilton.

    20. Difficult one this weekend. How Ricciardo managed to finish between the Ferraris despite starting 10 places lower and being in an inferior car is unbelievable.

      But then you couldn’t have asked Hamilton to do any more than he did.

      Massive props to Stroll and Ocon for the sheer skill showed in qualifying and for a couple of very mature drives in the race.

      Vandoorne deserves far more than what he got. He just looked better than Alonso all weekend, and it’s not often we say that about one of Alonsos teammates. Perhaps his strongest performance of the year, but he gets nothing for his efforts.

      I think I’ll give it to Stoffel.

    21. Put Ocon in one of the front running teams and he would not be out of place

    22. Definitely RIC for me. If you wanted a showcase for why he is one of the best racers on the grid, you couldn’t do better than watching this race. He is just such a clean racer – his judgement is impeccable. He is fast when he needs to be, cautious when circumstances require, and one of the best overtakers out there.

      Granted, VER seems to have his measure in qualifying at the moment, but on Sundays, VER still has a lot of learn, I reckon.

    23. Stroll. He was mighty in qualifying in conditions which caught out much more experienced drivers in a car which has historically struggled if so much as a drop of rain touched the track. He put in a solid performance in the race too, getting as much out of the race as the team were expecting.

      He gets a lot of flack, but you have to admire the way he keeps plugging away and improving.

    24. Riccardo, cool, calm collected worked hes way to the top 4
      Verstappen crashy crash crash as usual, clumsy a bull in in a china shop.

    25. Thought Stroll and Ocon did a great job. Lewis pretty much was in his own category this weekend. Hard to choose though

    26. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
      4th September 2017, 8:57

      It would be nice to split this: Hamilton was on a different level from anyone else during qualifying, but in the race it was too easy and Ricciardo (who was pipped by his teammate in qualifying) is more deserving. On balance, it goes marginally to Hamilton.

    27. Ricciardo for mine. Solid qualifying in tricky conditions, and only a whisker from his teammate. Thrown way back in the grid with penalties, but seemed convinced he could challenge at the front – and did. Good start, and the most, best, and cleanest passing of anyone in the race. Pushed his tyres further than anyone without dropping his pace, and came closer than anyone would have predicted to a podium on race pace. Whatever positive ratings Monza enjoys he can claim the lions share of credit for.

      His overtake on Raikkonen was the racing highlight of the day.

    28. For some reason Hamilton fans don’t get that qualifying on pole and winning a race from the front in a car that is vastly superior than anything else out there, plus a complicit under-skilled team mate does not make you a great driver.

    29. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
      4th September 2017, 14:09

      Ricci.

    30. absolutely Dan is the man of Monza #3

    31. Ricciardo easily. The Mercs were so much faster than the other cars that just about any pair of drivers (with possible exception of Mad max, who would have had a DNF for one reason or another) would have had a 1-2 at Monza driving them.

    32. Ricciardo for me. Hamilton barely raised a sweat, as you would expect from a very good driver in a top car. Ricciardo needed to wring the neck of the RedBull to make it to 4th. He did it with some very smart driving and a couple of good passes.

    33. This race, and this season so far, would both have been significantly more dull without the presence of Daniel Ricciardo.

    34. Interesting to note that Dan always seemed 5kph faster in the speed traps than Max. If he had a lower downforce setup than Max for the race… I makes his tenth and a half deficit to his team mate in a wet qualifying much less of an issue. He chopped them up all through the race. A master class. Rud Bull were running their car way ouside its supposed design envelope and it actually performed excellently. A real surprise. Mercedes is just plain fast and it seems like their latest spec engine in out of this world…. again…

    35. Lance Stroll

    36. There were four contenders for driver of the weekend in my opinion Hamilton, Ricciardo, Ocon and Stroll.

      Because of the conditions on Saturday, the drivers performances in qualifying counted for me than they usually do when I was deciding on my driver of the weekend.

      Hamilton was supreme in the wet qualifying session to take the all time pole record.

      When he pitted for fresh wet tyres before his final run in Q3 I wasn’t sure if that was the right call as he was the quickest out there and his main rivals had stayed out.

      While Hamilton was on his in and out laps others set quicker times but with the grid penalties due for both Red Bulls he would still have started on pole, that would have felt wrong if he took the pole record if was second or third fastest so I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case.

      But Hamilton didn’t need the misfortune of others to grab pole and he put in a stunning lap on his one run at the end of Q3 to set the fastest time by over a second and secure pole.

      The race was relatively straightforward for Hamilton he was never troubled and took a comfortable victory.

      Engine component change penalties meant Ricciardo started well down the grid but he put in a great recovery drive employing an alternate tyre strategy to the leaders along the way to great effect.

      A few times this season a strong result for Ricciardo has coincided with reliability problems for Verstappen when his teammate had been the quicker of the two, meaning that although Ricciardo has achieved the better results, plenty think Verstappen has performed the better of the two this season.

      While Verstappen was again the quickest Red Bull driver in a testing qualifying, this time Verstappen’s problems in the race were of his own making with an over optimistic move on Massa resulting in a puncture which dropped him down the field

      In comparison Ricciardo executed some perfectly judged overtakes in his drive to fourth.

      In challenging conditions in qualifying two of the standout performances were from two of the least experienced drivers who both put their much more experienced teammates in the shade, Ocon has just over a year of F1 racing while Stroll is still in his debut season.

      Stroll was fourth fastest in the wet qualifying with Ocon fifth, and considering all the criticism Stroll has received this year his was the more surprising qualifying performance of the two.

      In a dry race neither driver was realistically going to be able to finish as high as they started, and even with the Red Bulls starting quite a bit back it was always going to be a battle to be best of the rest behind the top three teams.

      Ocon won this battle by getting ahead of Stroll at the start after which they both predictably lost places to the quicker cars as the race went on and they finished sixth and seventh.

      Although Stroll was better than Ocon in qualifying I thought Ocon was more convincing in the race.

      It was a tight decision but in the end I voted for Ocon.

      I feel Ocon was better over the whole weekend than Stroll, Ricciardo was the most impressive in the race but was beaten in qualifying by his teammate, Hamilton was again on top form throughout the weekend, but he had the car advantage and while it should probably not influence my decision I voted for Hamilton last time out and so was reluctant to vote for the same driver two weekends running.

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