Which Formula One driver made the most of the Canadian 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 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Driver performance summary
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 2018 Canadian Grand Prix weekend?
- No opinion (1%)
- Charles Leclerc (14%)
- Marcus Ericsson (0%)
- Stoffel Vandoorne (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (0%)
- Kevin Magnussen (0%)
- Romain Grosjean (0%)
- Brendon Hartley (1%)
- Pierre Gasly (0%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (3%)
- Sergey Sirotkin (0%)
- Lance Stroll (1%)
- Esteban Ocon (1%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Max Verstappen (18%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (2%)
- Kimi Raikkonen (0%)
- Sebastian Vettel (54%)
- Valtteri Bottas (4%)
- Lewis Hamilton (1%)
Total Voters: 250
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When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.
2018 Canadian Grand Prix
- Hamilton stays ahead but Bottas hits trouble in second practice
- False flags: F1’s three other chequered flag blunders
- 2018 Canadian Grand Prix Star Performers
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix
- Vettel evokes memories of Villeneuve by ending Ferrari’s wait for Canada win
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Vettel fan 17 (@)
11th June 2018, 13:00
Voted for Vettel, one of those races where he was on it. Also good weekends for Verstappen, Hulkenburg and Leclerc, and not to shabby from Bottas to be fair
Adam (@adamgoh)
11th June 2018, 13:00
Have to go with Vettel for this. Fast when it counted and a dominant victory. Due credit to Verstappen as well for dominating free practice and coming in a admirable third. His approach to this race weekend was a lot better than the previous races.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
11th June 2018, 13:10
@adamgoh – I was inclined towards a ‘no opinion’ vote, but gave it to Max for his good FP and qualifying performances, not to mention the race as well. Across the weekend, I can’t think of any truly standout performances, though for the race alone Leclerc and Hulkenberg were good, and Grosjean also did a good recovery.
Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
11th June 2018, 13:18
Vettel for obvious reasons. Guarded mention for Mad Max for keeping Bottas’ Merc honest and for NOT crashing into anyone or anything.
ColdFly (@)
11th June 2018, 13:20
A shout out to Leclerc and Gassly; they continue to perform very well, week after week.
Hugh (@hugh11)
11th June 2018, 13:39
Gasly went out in Q1? And couldn’t catch Leclerc despite Leclerc reportedly having issues, even though the Toro Rosso is a better car.
baasbas
12th June 2018, 10:50
About Gasly going out in Q1: it seems you missed STR needed to revert to the old engine on his car. He missed the performance upgrade… on a power sensitive circuit. I’d say because of that it maybe is not fair to compare them
Francorchamps (@francorchamps17)
11th June 2018, 13:29
Wow surprised by the amount of votes Vettel got. I feel like Bottas didn’t do a worse job this weekend, outqualified Hamilton on one of his strongest tracks, defended well at the start and had good pace during the race.
Alex De (@alexde)
11th June 2018, 13:50
Probably because he got the pole position on Saturday and won the race on Sunday while his teammate could finish just 6th on a track that is considered as Mercedes and Hamilton playground.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
11th June 2018, 13:52
@francorchamps17 – I particularly like Bottas’ defence against Max – perfectly assertive, stayed calm, without ever appearing aggressive.
Robbie (@robbie)
11th June 2018, 13:58
Definitely true about VB, but SV came through for pole in a real see-saw battle and didn’t ever trail in the race, and has also brought the WDC chase back to a tie for all intents and purposes, when going by history LH was quite expected to grab pole and 25 points in Canada.
I selected Max just because he responded so well from all the baggage over the last few weeks plus, and I pull for him, and I was relieved when he backed off and let VB have the position, or better worded, when he knew VB had earned the position.
MacLeod (@macleod)
11th June 2018, 14:22
+1 Max had a good weekend making the most of his car. I don’t think the RB could be faster without getting a Mercedes engine in the back.
George (@george)
11th June 2018, 17:47
@francorchamps17
I voted for Bottas too. I felt like the Ferrari was the fastest car this weekend and the Merc and Red Bull pretty even, Red Bull possibly even faster in race trim (although hampered by strategy). Keeping Verstappen behind at the start was crucial, and his pace during the race was pretty good. The only mistake he made was losing the car while lapping Sainz, a big one admittedly, but he was clearly pushing 100% to catch Vettel at that point.
Quite a few drivers outperformed their teammates actually: Vettel, Verstappen, Leclerc, Grosjean and Ocon did well too.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
12th June 2018, 10:45
I’m a bit surprised that Bottas just has 2% of the votes Vettel has 55% and Verstappen with 18%. I don’t know what Vettel did what was far better than Bottas. He only just beat him in qualifying by under a tenth of a second in what was clearly a better car. And Bottas did about all he could in the race too. But I also can’t say Bottas did better than Vettel. So maybe that explains something. But does Verstappen have 18% of the votes compared to Bottas’s 2% because he’s finally managed a clean weekend? He did have a very solid race. But I think he only caught Bottas because Mercedes confirmed Bottas had to save fuel at the end of the race. Other than that, Bottas did some great defending at the start and kept verstappen behind who was on much better tyres. I think Bottas deservs to have more votes than verstappen. Amazing that Hamilton has 1% and Bottas barely any more. The difference between their weekend performance was pretty big.
Still not sure who I will vote for. Leclerc, Hulkenberg and especially Grosjean did very well also IMO. given the amount of time Grosjean lost due to really bad luck, he did really well to climb up and defend Ocon in the race. He needed this drive to show he still can be good.
Hugh (@hugh11)
11th June 2018, 13:40
Voted for Hulkenberg because… Well, not really much more he could’ve done. No bias at all ;)
Of course Vettel should win the poll, and honourable mentions for Bottas and Leclerc. Surprised Max currently has 18% and Bottas just 2%…
GeeMac (@geemac)
11th June 2018, 14:06
I’m not @hugh11. Bottas could have won the race driving backwards and on fire while being chased by lions and very few people would have noticed. Most “fans” seem to perpetually ignore him.
That said, Hulkenberg got my vote, like you said it’s hard to see what more he could have done.
ColinChapman (@colinchapman)
11th June 2018, 16:05
I agree. Bottas is having a good year yet people over look him. If only he didn’t get that flat…
krxx
11th June 2018, 16:31
GeeMac, so what could Bot have done more? (Or Vet, Max or LeC)
Big Joe
11th June 2018, 14:01
‘It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last five days.’
–
Vettel for a drive that had the English speaking media drooling over similar past wins by Hamilton in the dominant Mercedes. Yet Ferrari still don’t have a dominant car.
Verstappen for beating two faster cars and besting all weekend the team mate who’s been held in higher regard by most people this season.
EC (@dutch-1)
12th June 2018, 2:18
+1 !!
GeeMac (@geemac)
11th June 2018, 14:01
Vettel, Hulkenberg and Leclerc were the stars for me…hard to separate them really.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
11th June 2018, 14:04
The top 3 probably all maximised the potential of their cars. Also Hulkenberg, and Leclerc further down the field. I’ll give it to Verstappen since he beat his teammate fairly comfortably and beat both a Mercedes and Ferrari which were probably faster (possibly not in Hamilton’s case due to his engine issues but VER was well ahead before that became apparent anyway).
Phylyp (@phylyp)
11th June 2018, 14:15
@keithedin +1 to your views
FlatSix (@)
11th June 2018, 14:55
One of those races the amount of time a driver spent in the picture scrambles the view. LeClerc should be a shoe-in for this one, keeping Alonso at bay, and then he even went on to create a gap between the two, not so long and he’s the most successful Sauber driver since Hülkenberg.
Jere (@jerejj)
11th June 2018, 16:00
Vettel easy choice.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
11th June 2018, 16:10
Vettel, as he seemed to be in a class of his own and demolished his team-mate.
Either that or Bottas, given he seemed the only guy that was even close to Vettel and also demolished his team-mate.
Azmo (@azmo)
11th June 2018, 18:08
Has to be vettel, max or leclerc.
Strugglers? Raikonnen is pretty underwhelming in that awesome car. And of course there’s Lance Stroll.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
11th June 2018, 19:16
Leclerc deserves the vote. Vettel is the other racer of the weekend.
Lolita
11th June 2018, 20:45
VETTEL.
bull mello (@bullmello)
11th June 2018, 21:44
Leclerc
Nice to see a driver exceeding the expectations of his equipment.
McF1 (@mccosmic)
11th June 2018, 21:55
Has to be Stroll. Making that level of sacrifice at your home Grand Prix and unselfishly attempting to make the race exciting. Hats off.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th June 2018, 18:34
My driver of the Weekend was Brendon Hartley. It seemed to me he was doing everything right when his car was hit by Stroll’s out of control car. That would have been an absolutely terrifying crash for Hartley. I think it was a miracle that he had no serious injuries.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
11th June 2018, 22:51
Went with vettel cause he was always in control of the race, and unlike his team mate, showed in these tracks with long straights (like baku) ferrari is the best car this year, and I didn’t see a single mistake.
Having said this, verstappen did a good job as well, I don’t know if the old verstappen would’ve kept trying to pass bottas when he backed off, had he managed to pass bottas in the end (was really close but had engine handicap) I’d have given it to him, was a good qualifying too considering the engine handicap red bull has.
Jon (@johns23)
12th June 2018, 1:34
I think Max should be driver of the weekend. Great race to bounce back after all the barrage and criticism. Shows he Has (sometimes) got an old head on his young shoulders
Robbie (@robbie)
12th June 2018, 1:50
@johns23 Agreed, and he also did the same in Spain after the barrage and criticism of Baku.
Balue (@balue)
12th June 2018, 6:59
Leclerc was outstanding, but Vettel had more pressure and dealt with it superbly.
Sham (@sham)
12th June 2018, 7:04
No opinion. There were some good drives, but with a race like this, it’s impossible to tell if there were any stand out ones.
For cars to not be able to get close enough to pass in Canada, with 3 DRS zones…. Just sad.
Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
12th June 2018, 8:15
Although I voted for Vettel as the DOTW and gave a nod to Verstappen for his performance, I felt that mention should also be made of Bottas. In keeping MV at bay at the aggressive start and then again towards the end, Bottas showed that he can fight for his place if he has to. Also, he clearly outclassed Hamilton in a similar car – old engine and all that – in this race and there can be no arguments about that.
Apart from a few forthcoming races like Hungaroring and Singapore, I do’t think either Red Bull driver will pose a serious threat to Mercedes or Ferrari. But Hamilton and Vettel should both be aware of the possibility of a challenge from Bottas. Without that unfortunate puncture while leading in Baku, the drivers standings would have been Vettel – 119, Hamilton – 113 and Bottas – 111 by now.
Martijn (@)
12th June 2018, 9:18
I agree. However if HAM decides to go for it again it all won’t matter. Strange season for him and imho not because of Bottas’ strenght, but something mentally with Lewis
bartvander (@bartvander)
12th June 2018, 14:38
Vettel, great job.
PJA (@pja)
15th June 2018, 20:17
My driver of the weekend was Vettel.
He delivered when it mattered in qualifying taking another pole position and after retaining the lead at the start was never troubled in the race on his way to victory.
Vertsappen finally had a trouble free weekend in 2018, he was quickest throughout practice and perhaps if Red Bull had the qualifying engine modes to match their rivals, as Red Bull often comment on, he may have managed to get pole and then probably victory.
Other drivers to mention were Hulkenberg who managed to be best of the rest again, Leclerc who achieved another points finish and also Gasly and Grosjean who both started on the back row but finished just outside the points in eleventh and twelfth.