Vote for your 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Which Formula One driver made the most of the Brazilian 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 Interlagos.

Driver performance summary

DriverStartedFinishedRace changeLap 1 changeHighest positionLowest positionGap to team mate*
Lewis Hamilton204+16+41162.706
Valtteri Bottas12-1-125-2.706
Daniel Ricciardo146+8-351715.751
Max Verstappen45-1047-15.751
Sebastian Vettel21+1+113-4.6
Kimi Raikkonen3300144.6
Sergio Perez59-4-269
Esteban Ocon10
Felipe Massa97+2+3511Not on same lap
Lance Stroll16160+31216Not on same lap
Fernando Alonso68-2+1511
Stoffel Vandoorne12
Brendon Hartley18+61217
Pierre Gasly1912+7+91015
Romain Grosjean1115-4-41417
Kevin Magnussen13
Nico Hulkenberg710-3-1813-6.546
Carlos Sainz Jnr811-3-19146.546
Marcus Ericsson1713+4+61116-8.857
Pascal Wehrlein1514+1+111168.857

    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.

    This poll has closed

    Lewis Hamilton was voted Driver of the Weekend for the Brazilian Grand Prix. This is the sixth time he’s won the poll this year. Hamilton was chosne by 27.7% of voters. All of the last six Driver of the Weekend polls have been won either by Hamilton or Max Verstappen.

    An F1 Fanatic account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here or read more about registering here
    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...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    81 comments on “Vote for your 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

    1. I think it will be Lewis but he messed up his qualifier, Bottas gave the win away so i go for Max… Vettel :)

      1. Pretty strange if it would go to Hamilton really. Sure he drove well on Sunday, but most of the passes were with DRS or just from being miles faster than the backmarkers with his new engine. And while Stroll probably cost Hamilton a lap of trying behind Kimi extra, the chance he got was ruined by his own mistake (lockup). And yeah, he clearly did not do anywhere near the best job on Saturday, so just nope.

        Vettel did do a good job, although he didn’t improve on his second Q1 lap and got beaten, he made it all work in the first corner, and then was a bit lucky that Bottas has a 0,6s slower pitstop (would have likely ended up in front without that), but that would still be a solid choice.

        For me it was Massa – he finally showed what he can do with a car again in qualifying and managed to hold on to 7th in the race. Alonso and Perez would be closesly behind that for me, both on track and in valueing their efforts.

        Also a mention to Wehrlein and Hartley.

        1. Wehrlein was beaten by Ericsson. Again.

          Hartley was beaten by Gasly.

          1. @chrischrill
            That story again? Wehrlein was clearly the faster Sauber driver of the weekend, he lost out because of strategy. Wehrlein pitted at the end of lap 1, and his tyre advantage was absolutely negligible considering that Ericsson’s tyre had done less than half a lap at racing speed. Ericsson was 11th at the restart, Wehrlein was 15th. Even then, it took Wehrlein just 10 laps to get within DRS distance of Ericsson, and another 5 laps before Sauber issued team orders.
            In the end, Wehrlein’s race was spoiled when he ran out of tyre life with 15 laps to go, while Ericsson’s conventional 1-stopper gave him a pace advantage of several seconds per lap.
            => First stint: Same tyre compound, virtually identical tyre age – Wehrlein slightly faster.
            One driver slightly faster than the other, ceteris paribus: Most likely indicative of that driver’s performance.
            => Second stint: Ericsson on the softer compound, tyres 43 laps fresher – goes up to 3 seconds per lap faster.
            One driver going several seconds faster than the other, while on different compounds with vastly different tyre ages: Most likely nothing to do with the drivers’ performances at all.

            Long story short:
            The result of the Sauber team battle was about as meaningful as a coin toss. Which is what Sauber did when the Safety Car came into play. In this case, it was apparently the quicker driver who found himself on the losing end of that coin toss. Therefore, the fact that Wehrlein finished behind Ericsson is meaningless for the assessment of their respective performances.

            1. I certainly think Wehrlein did do better this weekend, but not by a big margin. But Sauber do seem to risk these things and I honestly think it is worth it. They try things on both drivers. If it wasn’t for the safety car in Spain, Wehrlein’s strategy very likely won’t have worked and he’ll probably have finished behind Ericsson, resulting in them being even with 1 point. I think they made Ericsson do over 60 laps on softs in Hungary. And that didn’t work. It is worth the risk though as they proved in Wehrlein’s case in Spain, that risky strategy worked out really well.

            2. @thegianthogweed
              Ben, with all due respect, why do you have to bring Spain or Hungary into play? The only race that’s missing from your checklist is Mexico ’16. It makes you sound like a broken record, and that pains me because I think you’re a decent, knowledgeable guy. But I can’t not be annoyed here, because you’re completely missing the point.
              I don’t blame Sauber, I even wrote in another comment that this was a gamble that made sense to me.

            3. @thegianthogweed
              And one last remark about Spain:
              We’ve been through this and I know you like to talk down that drive, but you’re conveniently ignoring a few facts there. First fact: Wehrlein did one hell of a better job with his tyres than Ericsson did, conservation-wise and pace-wise. Ericsson already dropped back from Wehrlein, even though his strategy meant that he could push harder on the same tyres. And then he was only minimally faster in the second stint despite having tyres of the same compound, but 18 laps fresher. And he had to pit again before Wehrlein had even visited his crew once, because his tyres were breaking down yet again, and Wehrlein had gone back to outpacing him for the last 6 laps of Ericsson’s stint, so he didn’t even need to pit yet. You can’t just say he was simply lucky with the strategy, as he was doing this with his tyres that Ericsson clearly wasn’t. Had they given Ericsson the same strategy, the race would’ve been a disaster, and that’s no conjecture, that’s what the race charts unambiguously tell us.
              Second fact: The VSC didn’t help Wehrlein in Spain. It is true that Ericsson lost a lot of time because of his untimely pit stop. But Wehrlein isn’t just the Anti-Ericsson, so the opposite of Ericsson’s fortune’s doesn’t necessarily apply to Wehrlein. As for the comparison with Ericsson, who he wasn’t really competing with at that stage: they were separated by about 44 seconds when the VSC was deployed. Under normal circumstances, Wehrlein would’ve rejoined the track 21 seconds ahead, but the gap went down to 26 seconds instead. Rather underwhelming, if you ask me. Did Wehrlein gain any places due to his pit stop under the VSC? No. He lost a place to Hülkenberg instead, and incurred a time penalty for a belated pit entry, which had to do with the timing of the deployment of the VSC and Sauber’s reaction to it. As for all the drivers Wehrlein was racing, none of them was disadvantaged by the VSC. Hülkenberg jumped Wehrlein in the pits, like I said, and Grosjean, Magnussen, and Sainz were closer to him after the VSC than they ever were before.
              So, how was the VSC (decisively) beneficial to Wehrlein’s strategy? It clearly wasn’t.

        2. I was thinking of Vettel and Alonso but i don’t like him anymore so Vettel for me.

        3. Wehrlein? On lap 47, he was 24 seconds ahead of Ericsson but 23 laps later 9 seconds down (in spite of Ericsson being stuck behind Stroll for several laps after reeling the Williams in rather quickly after his final pit stop). That’s a massive 33 seconds slower over 23 laps. Yes I know, Wehrlein had old tyres because Sauber had used the early safety car period to give him a “free” pit stop, but 1½ seconds slower per lap? And a fastest race lap 1.146 seconds slower than that of his team mate? Not that Ericsson was one of the stars of the race, but Wehrlein really had a poor one.

          Also, as a reaction to how quickly Hamilton and Ricciardo got back in contention, some commentators (professional, not punters or fans) said it was a sad reflection on the state of F1 when the top three teams are able to scythe through the field with such ease, time and time again.

    2. Massa.
      Vettel will win it, but I can’t help but think back to the chickening out comment! Still, well deserved.

    3. For the race, Hamilton, but for the weekend, it has to be Vettel. Good qualification and beautifully snatched 1st from Bottas, and then controlled it to the end.

    4. Massa deserves this. Best of the rest…Cant believe I picked Vettel because my ipad slipped from my hands and its touch sensitivity just had to kick in

      1. Ric’s late braking was my pick…awesome when he drives from the back

        1. I have to agree with you, I did forget to mention Ric, but this guy is does it with true pleasure, and he isnt 20km/h faster then the other cars.

    5. Fernando Alonso by a country mile! Qualified seventh with a car that is 20 kmph slower on straights and kept a mercedes powered car honest all through the race keeping Perez behind! I mean you can hate the guy all you want but he drove the wheels off of McLaren today! Rockstar performance for me. Notable mentions: Lewis (except for the last lockup) and Ricciardo..both jumping to the maximum that was possible.

      1. Well, giving someone the DOTD, for loosing a spot and unable to get it back due to a poor car…

        Kinda like saying Bottas was DOTW? Lost a place and unable to pass, due to poor car, yet qualified briliantly?

        1. @jureo

          He had a Honda engine at the back. There was no way he’d be able to stop a Sauber in Sector 3 of this circuit.

          I thought Alonso put that car ahead of where it should have been on Saturday and definitely maximised his race result on Sunday. He was hands down better than both Ferrari and Merc drivers this weekend.

          1. Fair enough, Alonso tends to do an awesome job, almost every race. It is just hard to judge his performance… is he always good? Is the car not that bad? Kind of like RBR, is their car that bad and drivers so good, or is their car actually decent and drivers just making use of it?

        2. @jureo– It is indeed DOTW! He qualified 6th (best of rest) on pure merit beating FIs which are certainly better in straight line speed. He only lost place to Massa coz of DRS or Massa would never have passed him. He might be arrogant but when inside the car I think he is the best driver out there right now alongwith Verstappen!

          1. DRS? It was at restart, DRS wasn’t even available.

    6. The driver of the race: Hamilton. The driver of the weekend: A bit difficult to choose, but Massa.

      1. @jerejj exactly my thoughts too

      2. My thoughts aswell.. Nobody really stood out, except Massa for making it to the podium despite 7th place…

    7. Gave it to Massa. Would’ve qualified higher if Sainz hadn’t messed up his lap, and did brilliantly in the race to finish best of the rest. Was also a few hours faster than his teammate.

    8. Hamilton binned it in quali and had the car to reach what he did.
      He’ll win this, though.
      Massa, Alonso more deserving.

      1. You underestimate the f1fanatic readership.

      2. @hahostolze I completely agree with all of that, but sadly so far he is winning this poll. He could’ve possibly been on pole and won this race, so he definitely shouldn’t be driver of the weekend (in my humble opinion)

        1. It’s such a fundamental part of motor racing, not crashing the car. It’s not like being out-qualified or even making an error that costs you a certain pole. It’s crashing. To suggest he should be DOTW is ludicrous.

      3. @hahostolze I agree. For example, Ricciardo only got 14% of the vote at Baku because he binned it in qualy, despite his brilliant drive to win the race (albeit taking advantage of others misfortune, but still).

    9. It’s tough to tell how much of the gulf between Massa and Stroll was Massa giving a stellar weekend and how much was Stroll fundamentally lacking the talent to be in F1 on merit, but Massa gave an impressive performance. He couldn’t have finished any higher and gave some staunch defending on the last lap to hold his position.

    10. Vettel will probably win this, but although SV had a great weekend IMO it was no match for the performance by Fernando Alonso. It’s crazy the performance he manages to squeeze out of that McHonda! Absolutely brilliant!

      Of the rest, LH had a great race but can’t be called the DotW for obvious reason. Ricciardo did the best he could with the RBR after penalty and being hit and spun at the start. Felipe Massa had a great race to finish best of the rest at his home race farewell. Perez, Hulkenberg and Gasly had good races for the car they had.

      On the other hand this was a bad weekend’s work by the Haas drivers, Vandoorne and most of all Stroll who seemed to revert to his early season form(=being utterly useless).

      To sum it up, there were some good performances through the field but no one was a match for FA sustained brilliance all through the weekend.

    11. Alonso for the weekend;
      Ricciardo for the race.

      1. How was any of Hamilton’s (14% of vote) overtakes more spectacular than Ricciardo’s (3%).
        Was Hamilton better on Saturday?

        Hamilton’s greatness is somewhat ‘cheapened’ by fans voting for him when he doesn’t deserve it.

        1. Ricciardo’s passes were great but Lewis’s charge through the field was simply spectacular – he was behind Alonso and Massa in 10 laps after the safety car and soon after that he was leading the race and keeping a distance to Vettel who was on newer tyres.

          It had a magical quality to it and had it rained on lap 40, it would have been a pretty amazing race. I think Hamilton would have left the Ferraris behind to the tune of 30 seconds.

          1. I totally disagree, @freelittlebirds.
            Most of Lewis’ passes were simple stronger PU + DRS passes.
            Ricciardo on the other hand really had to fight for it. DRS oftentimes only helped him to offset the power deficit, and he had to do a daring move on the inside of turn 1.

            I wish that fans would focus more on the Driver part of DOTW and not make it a ‘Best-driver-within-the-team-with-the-fastest-Car of the Weekend’ poll.

            Hamilton has rightly won many DOTW this year; but Brazil should not be one of those.

    12. It is baffling that Hamilton has 14% of the votes for driver of the weekend

      Did the people that voted him notice that over the weekend, Bottas on the whole did the job better as he finished 2 places ahead in the race. The reason why Hamilton didn’t beat Bottas was because he crashed heavily on Saturday. Saturday is part of the weekend isn’t it? Therefore Bottas was a better driver of the weekend, but there were several that were better than him on the whole so I can’t vote Bottas either. But the fact he has 0% and Hamilton has 14% is really strange.

      1. @thegianthogweed I think it’s because Hamilton cut through the field like we’ve almost never seen before. There was a safety car and less than 10 laps after that, Lewis was behind Alonso and Massa who were P6 and P5 at the time and were probably in shock when they saw Hamilton behind them. You could tell from the cars how they felt – there was no point in fighting. It was almost like a magic trick especially when he somehow started leading the race and was keeping Vettel at bay with newer tyres.

        Obviously Lewis’ car was setup better and Lewis was fortunate to have found pace unlike Mexico where the car had no pace after the incident with Vettel. But still it was incredible to watch and reminded me of last year’s race in Brazil.

        I do have to wonder if Lewis didn’t have to pit to conform with the 2 compound regulation, could he have won the race driving the entire race on a set of softs? Maybe if it had rained on laps 40-45 which would have saved him from having to switch, he might have won and complied with the regs.

        1. @freelittlebirds
          I can agree with you on what you’ve been saying about Bottas on other pages. But Hamilton did have a slight advantage in the race in some ways. As in the 2nd corner, when Hamilton was coming through the pit exit, Ricciardo, Vandoorne and Magnussen clashed. So he got past them lot easily as he was off track. Then because of this incident, the safety car came out, they bunched up and he caught the pack as Ocon and Grosjean clashed. He then had an easy pass on both of them. Then, he pitted. Wehrlein had a bad stop and Hamilton managed to jump him. He was behind before he pitted. So effectively, those 6 free passes and the safety car certainly saved him a bit of time and effort. From then on when the race was on, indeed as you say, he did climb to Massa and Alonso in 10 laps. Overtaking 11 cars in the progress. That was very good, but 11 cars in 10 laps in what is easily the one of the best 2 teams this weekend won’t have been that difficult. So unfortunately I can’t agree with it being something like we’ve never seen before. In a car like that from 14th just after a safety car (so they are all really closely packed ahead of him) when you are on fresh tyres and all ahead of you are in slower cars isn’t really that amazing.

          And then the main reason why I said I couldn’t understand the vote is because Saturday is part of the weekend. He crashed that day and that was the reason he finished 2 places behind Bottas. So in terms of who did better over the weekend, Bottas certainly did better, but don’t think Bottas did enough to get DOTW either.

    13. I think the Hamilton drive was good but also to be expected as he had the fastest car by a considerable margin. If He had started from pole he conceivably could have lapped most of the field. Ricciardo did well to move through the field but again pretty much expected from him, he seemed to have issues towards the end?
      Verstappen was ordinary, after an OK start he did not make any impression on the top three. With new tyres he did one very quick lap then lost pace, maybe he thought it was qualys. I gave it to Hartley. still very new and in a dog of a car. Issues with the engine all weekend. In the race he kept his nose clean and gained 6 places.

      1. If [Hamilton] had started from pole he conceivably could have lapped most of the field

        @johnrkh Hamilton started from the pit lane, out of parc ferme and with a full race setup on the car, so he was significantly faster than he would’ve been had he started from pole (or anywhere on the grid)

        1. The first start was a wright off. Hamilton started from p 14 on the second start to finish 4th after storming through most of the field as if they were in go carts.

    14. Felipe!!!!!His Q3 wasnt great,but in the race he made perfect start & restart and he made no mistakes,despite having a car less than a second behind him for 65 laps…

    15. Alonso for the weekend.
      HAM VET VER RIC MAS for the race.

    16. Massa was fantastic this weekend. Yeah the spotlight was on him, but the car shouldnt of been where Massa put it this weekend. Congrats Felipe!

    17. Vettel, of course.
      Hamilton on sunday, for sure, but it is driver of the weekend.

      1. Vettel, of course.

        Of course. Wouldn’t expect a different vote from you.

        1. And I though that the guy with the camera would vote for Alonso ;)

    18. Vettel, great job, Hamilton was outqualified by his team mate so cant really give it to him

    19. It’s between Vettel, Massa and Alonso for me. I hesitate a bit because between himself and Sainz he messed up his Q3 lap, but after watching the onboard of his start I voted for Massa. He really is pretty special round this track and he got the maximum result after fending off Alonso all race long, keeping a faster Force India behind too. Fitting send-off for him, “for sure”

      1. @keithedin Why Sainz??

      2. @keithedin Sorry, I misunderstood your sentence.

    20. I have to pick Alonso. Great qualifying, start, and race. Managed to keep ahead of Force India and without SC restart who knew if Massa would be able to pass him since Williams tire degradation is really bad.

      Shout out to Massa, Vettel, and Hamilton. Massa and Vettel drove a good race and Hamilton if he not crashing in qualy probably getting easy DOTW vote from me.

    21. Fernando Mariano
      13th November 2017, 4:02

      It has to be Massa, tho… he outperformed that terrible Williams and showed to Williams that they have made a terrible mistake. Felipe made Stroll look like an Uber driver.

    22. It is difficult to rate a driver of the week this time.
      As it is seen from the ratings, it was fairly even between Hamilton, Vettel, Massa, Alonso, and except Massa, they all made mistakes during the week. Bottas, Raikonnen, Verstappen did nothing spectacular.
      The only performance that caught my attention was that of Gasly. Started 19, finished 12 and was in the point at one time during the race. Kept a level head and the car out of trouble, and even overtook a Mercedes powered car. Considering Torro Rosso cars are having their set of problems, and comparing the performance with his teammate, I think, it was praiseworthy and therefore voted for Gasly.

      1. I dont remember Alonso making any mistake during the weekend!

        1. @pinakghosh @architjain07
          Neither did Vettel, as far as I know.
          Massa, however, did make mistakes in Q3: Once after being more or less impeded by Sainz, so I guess he gets a free pass on that one. But he made another mistake in his second run. He qualified 10th, but 6th could’ve been possible.

          1. Vettel made a small mistake in his second Q3 run (hence lost pole).

        2. Alonso gained at the start, but then lost out to Massa. It is understandable to defend against a Mercedes powered car with a Honda powered unit is difficult, but he could have made it difficult for Massa.

    23. If there was an option to rate the worst performer, it would be Grosjean.

      1. Stroll was probably worse. Probably his worst race since his glorious 4 to 5 races at the start of the season.

      2. What about Vandoorne? Off the pace of his teammate in qualifying and then managed to hit 3 cars in the first corner.

        1. and then faultlessly sandwiched by 2 cars in the second corner. (FTFY)

    24. Whilst Vettel had a good quali and an overtake for the win, it was Massa who impressed me most. Hamilton had an excellent race but binned it in quali, so he can’t possibly be driver of the weekend.

    25. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      13th November 2017, 7:09

      I’ve given it to Massa because it was such a nice moment and that Williams doesn’t look the easiest to drive. Alonso was incredible though, even the intelligence of sitting in DRS to make up for his power deficit was brilliant. Vettel was textbook and best of the big teams.

    26. Massa delivered under pressure from his home crowd, best of the rest. Utterly destroyed Stroll just like he did the first third of this season where he looked so dominant. Strong goodbye, I’m impressed.

      Honorable mentions go to everyone in the top 4, but I would like to once more raise my voice in support of Marcus Ericsson. He fought back from a long way down to overtake both Stroll and Wehrlein near the end. That’s what caused Stroll to destroy his tyre trying to fight back. Ericsson has been extremely solid in the last 4-5 races.

    27. I voted Vettel, who did great and won in the second best car. But I had forgotten that Massa had been impeded in qualifying. If Massa wins it, fine with me too.

    28. Take away those drivers enjoying a clear advantage and it’s Alonso or Ricciardo. I’ll say Alonso as I can’t imagine any other mug putting up with what he has. Even with his rants, he still has the patience of a saint giving increbible consistancy for zero reward.

    29. Vettel has the third best car, he’s in the 2nd best team. He makes the difference over Bottas not his car.

    30. I’ll go for Alonso. Most drivers his age are in their peak, but the guy looks on fire. Good luck next year.

    31. Massa for me, drove well despite Sainz’s ‘block’ in q3 so he probably should have qualified higher. He made no obvious mistakes during the weekend and finished ahead of Alonso and Perez who were quicker. He claimed it was a perfect weekend for him and it’s hard to argue that. Williams needed more weekends like this from the outgoing Brazilian.

      Hamilton had a good race, finishing around 5 seconds behind the leader after starting last, though the safety car sure helped with that. But obviously he binned the car in qually.
      Vettel should have been on pole, he didn’t improve on his final lap and was beaten by less than a tenth.
      The Renault drivers seemed to maximise their weekends with an uneventful weekend, clearly held back by the engines being tuned down.
      For me, it’s hard to judge the Toro Rosso drivers when they are so compromised by the engine and its reliability, and they have no experienced benchmark. Would Sainz have got it into the points if he was still there?

    32. A lot of happy drivers yesterday – Vettel was happy, Hamilton was happy, Alonso was happy, Massa was happy, even Kimi kept a light face.

      I hope Massa gets the position! It’d be a good way for all the F1 fans to say goodbye to him!

    33. It was a good race, Iliked it, and it is hard to find the DOTW, or even the day. I do have a couple of candidates for the position, and still not sure who I would pick. Massa was racing at home, did a good qualifing and race, was the first of the others and did hold Alonso at his back despite all the trys Fernando had. Also Kimi did a great job holding the last place in the podium, he did those last 5 laps without a single mistake holding the WC at his back, no matter waht Lewis try, he couldnt over take the IceMan, he had a faultless drive and tyresave race too. Also Vettel did a good job, gaigning the 1st place at the Senna’s S’s and controling the race till the end. And a last word for Hamilton from Pitlane to P4, but with car that shows 20km/h faster in the straights…

    34. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
      13th November 2017, 14:26

      Hard to pick between Hamilton, Vettel or Massa, but I’ll take Hamilton because he went from P20 to almost a podium.

    35. Difficult who to vote for driver of the weekend. Massa, Vettel or Alonso I think. How Hamilton now has 22% is just silly IMO. He is the 3rd highest rated driver for driver of the weekend. On Sunday, he was great. On Saturday, which is still the weekend isn’t it? – He crashed and was the only one to do so. He cause a huge amount of damage and had to get a new engine too.

      If there was no limit to vote for drivers of race day, I think I would vote Massa, Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton. If there was just one option, I think I’d go for Massa. I now think the only think that is better about that Willimas compared to Mclaren is the speed. But that is mainly down to Mercedes. Massa got past Alonso and then managed to defend him for virtually the whole race when Alonso will have had DRS all that time. Some of Massa’s defending today was brilliant. Such a shame he’s retiring really.

      Driver of qualifying would go to Bottas. Ferrari looked like they possibly may have been quicker. But Vettel made a small mistake and then Bottas managed to improve enough to get pole and beat Vettel by a tiny margin. Great day for him. His start to the race wasn’t very good, but from then on, there was nothing bad about it. He kept close and considering the Mercedes usually struggles in dirty air of car with similar pace, I don’t think he could have done much more. 2.7 seconds was hardly a disaster. Solid weekend, but wouldn’t vote him as a driver of the day.

      1. Sorry everyone! I posted this and it disappeared. Then rewrote it again as well as I could remember and then posted it, only to find that the one before had reappeared. Don’t bother reading both!

    36. I’m stuck with several options for driver of the weekend. Massa, Alonso or Vettel probably. Hamilton had a great drive on Sunday. But Saturday is part of the weekend to is it not? He crashed heavily and noone else did. Caused himself to need a load of repair work and a new engine. So how he’s now got

      Drivers of the day could certainly be several. Massa, Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel. If I had to go for one, I think I’d quite likely go for Massa. I really do think that at this time, the only advantage Williams has over McLaren is the speed. Massa did an overtake on Alonso, and then had to cope with Alonso in DRS range getting incredibly close for virtually the whole race. Massa did some top level defending this race. Great drive.

      Driver of qualifying goes to Bottas I think. Ferrari looked to be slightly quicker, but Vettel made a tiny mistake which cost him a very close pole. Bottas did a great final lap. But unfortuantly, his start lost him the race. But he was close to Vettel the whole time. He certainly hasn’t has as bad a weekend as many people seem to be saying.

    37. My driver of the weekend contenders where Massa and Alonso.

      Alonso had a good qualifying but given the limitations of the McLaren Honda it wasn’t a surprise come Sunday when the Williams Mercedes of Massa passed him at the restart down the straight, what perhaps was surprising was that he managed to hang on to Massa throughout the race.

      Massa’s qualifying was hampered by his dispute with Sainz in Q3 and he would have been disappointed with only being tenth quickest on Saturday.
      Massa has usually performed well at his home Grand Prix and did so again this year, sealing best of the rest behind the top three teams, although Hamilton and Ricciardo started well down he was never realistically going to stay ahead of them for the whole race so seventh was the best he could have expected.
      It was a much better final home race than he had last year when he crashed out in the wet.

      It was close but my vote went to Massa, I admit my decision may have been influenced by the fact it was his final home race before retiring with all the extra coverage, attention and everything else that came with it.

      It was mentioned in the highlights show that Hamilton was voted driver of the day in the official F1 poll and he is currently second in this driver of the weekend vote.

      I can understand why he won the driver of the day poll because he did have a good race starting from the pit lane and finishing just off the podium in fourth, but this is poll is for driver of the weekend, the only way I would have considered him for driver of the weekend after what he did in qualifying would have been if he had come from his pit lane start to win the race.

      The reason he started from the pit lane was because he crashed out on his first hot lap in qualifying so had the worst qualifying of anyone. Practice had shown that he was probably the quickest this weekend and Interlagos is a circuit you can overtake if you have a big enough pace advantage so his result in the race wasn’t all that surprising.

      Vettel is the other driver with a significant share of the vote at this moment but I didn’t consider him as I don’t think he maximised his weekend, with Hamilton out of the reckoning pole was there for the taking and he was quickest with his first run in Q3 but didn’t follow that up on his next run and was beaten to the top spot by Bottas.

      In the race he made the better start to take the lead, but after that he the only time he was troubled was when Bottas tried the undercut, apart from that he seemed to have a straight forward and easy victory.

    38. Very interesting that Hamilton is at 22% whereas almost none of the comments are from the people voting for him.

      1. @michal2009b
        Hamilton is in the lead now with 2% over Massa with 28%. People just don’t understand the definition of weekend. Saturday is part of it. Hamilton’s qualifying was the worst out of every single driver as he was the only one that crashed and the only one who didn’t set a time. And he finished the race not even on the podium and 2 places behind his team mate. And why was that? Because of his qualifying… How can he even be close to driver of the weekend with his Saturday performance and end result on Sunday in mind. If Bottas had qualified 3rd behind Hamilton and Vettel and finished 4th, that will have been a far better “weekend” than Hamilton and yet I couldn’t see him getting any votes. But I don’t think he should if that was the case. Therefore I think Hamilton should have none at all. Driver of the day is totally different. You are certainly right about the lack of comments by those who voted him. Maybe the voters are doing this to wind people like me up! :D It makes little sense though.

        1. I’m messing up my words now. I meant if Bottas qualified behind Kimi and still finished 4th, that still will have been a better weekend than Hamilton. I didn’t mean to say Hamilton because he didn’t qualify.

    Comments are closed.