Which Formula One driver made the most of the Spanish 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 de Catalunya.
Driver performance summary
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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 2019 Spanish Grand Prix weekend?
- No opinion (2%)
- Robert Kubica (0%)
- George Russell (0%)
- Alexander Albon (0%)
- Daniil Kvyat (26%)
- Antonio Giovinazzi (0%)
- Kimi Raikkonen (0%)
- Lance Stroll (1%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Lando Norris (0%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (6%)
- Kevin Magnussen (6%)
- Romain Grosjean (1%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
- Pierre Gasly (1%)
- Max Verstappen (36%)
- Charles Leclerc (1%)
- Sebastian Vettel (1%)
- Valtteri Bottas (3%)
- Lewis Hamilton (18%)
Total Voters: 195
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When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.
2019 Spanish Grand Prix
- 2019 Spanish Grand Prix Star Performers
- Top ten pictures from the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix
- Another Mercedes one-two sets up Hamilton vs Bottas title fight
- Paddock Diary: Spanish Grand Prix day four
- Mercedes’ return to dominance makes Schumacher’s wins record realistic for Hamilton
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Neil (@neilosjames)
12th May 2019, 22:00
For both the race and qualifying, I thought Kvyat and Verstappen stood out. Magnussen as well, as he was only outqualified by a tiny margin.
Voted for Kvyat.
ColinChapman (@colinchapman)
13th May 2019, 1:47
I agree. Those three all did well. I’m not a fan of Verstappen but I had to give him my vote. Splitting the ferraris in qualy and then beating both is better than most could have done.
Hugh (@hugh11)
13th May 2019, 18:56
Voted for Kvyat above Max as he gave the race a bit more entertainment. Of course, it’s no fault to Max that he wasn’t able to do so, but still. Some nice moves by Dani, especially the one round the outside of Kimi at T4 will be one of the overtakes of the year.
ColdFly (@)
13th May 2019, 23:13
Same, plus Russell.
Voted for Verstappen. Very solid quali and race (and year so far)
TFLB (@tflb)
12th May 2019, 22:03
Went for Kvyat for an excellent qualifying and race, plus some good overtaking moves.
faulty (@faulty)
12th May 2019, 22:06
Not even Mayländer could have saved this abomination.
DAllein (@)
12th May 2019, 22:24
Lewis
He delivered perfectly when it really counted.
Of course I would like him to improve on Saturdays, which for some reason in the last 3 races are not going his way, but anyway the result for the Weekend – another win, fastest lap, front row start, no beached cars. Not perfect, but still on top and better than other contenders.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
13th May 2019, 6:48
it’s driver of the WEEKEND. On Saturday he was 0.6 sec behind Bottas.
F1oSaurus (@)
13th May 2019, 19:51
@njoydesign He took home 26 points from this WEEKEND.
Hamilton didn’t have the setup for qualifying, but he did for the race. Bottas had the perfect setup for Q3, but less so for the race. So who had the better weekend?
Big Joe
13th May 2019, 8:44
@dallein
He delivered perfectly for a short stint on fresh tires. Until his yet again lucky safety car, Bottas and Verstappen looked better. His plus point was making us forget what a bad starter he used to be.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
13th May 2019, 10:24
When the safety car came in, he pulled out 5 seconds in 2 laps.
Yet again, Big Joe, you embarrass yourself.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
12th May 2019, 22:54
Kvyat for the way he quietly and efectively went about performing in qualifying and several excellent overtakes in the race.
Deserved a slightly higher finish place, too, but that’s racing.
bosyber (@bosyber)
13th May 2019, 5:47
Well put, I too voted for Kvyat.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
13th May 2019, 6:49
Stand out performance, very happy for him. If not for the pit stop screw up, coould’ve fought for 7th I think.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th May 2019, 9:10
I’m with you guys on that. This is the kvyat that deserves to be on the grid. I hope he can keep that going.
Ronald (@mosquito)
12th May 2019, 23:11
For me it was Verstappen. Really maxed out all weekend. Ham did well today, but messed up yesterday, Magnussen drove a solid race but was outqualified.
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
13th May 2019, 3:25
Voted Lewis.
After what could have been a totally demoralizing Qually, he stamped his authority on the race and his relationship to competitors. Brundle said something like, in regard to Bottas, “he gave him some manners”.
I think he gave the whole field some “manners” today.
Big Joe
13th May 2019, 8:46
@kcrossle
You mean by blistering his tires and getting a lucky free pit stop at the perfect moment?
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
13th May 2019, 11:49
He was the class of the field all day, had a big pace advantage over Bottas and everyone else.
Why do you do this?
F1oSaurus (@)
13th May 2019, 19:53
Lol Hamilton was miles ahead of everybody when he made his stop. A stop that was already set before the SC came out.
BTW Do you do parties? Maybe it would be nice to have a ranting crazy person instead of a clown.
Patrick (@anunaki)
13th May 2019, 6:47
Max. He’s has to do it all by himself at redbull at the moment but delivered an above par result again fighting with Ferraris.
F1oSaurus (@)
13th May 2019, 19:56
@anunaki That’s a good point yes. Gasly is no help at all. I doubt Verstappen even has any benefit from Gasly’s set up work during free practice.
To be fair, Ferrari handed Verstappen that spot though. Vettel had one of his classic red mist episodes where he convinces himself that the first corner was what would be deciding the whole race. And low and behold it ended in tears again. Tehn Leclerc got rammed off by Vettel and Ferrari put Leclerc on the wrong tyres.
It’s like they are actively trying to lose.
Todfod (@todfod)
13th May 2019, 7:32
It was a close one between Max and Kvyat for me. Had to go for Max.. his qualifying was outstanding and he finished in front of both Ferraris with ease.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
13th May 2019, 8:40
I mean, it has to be Verstappen. Kvyat a close second, Sainz was quality too.. But really, Verstappen was pretty much flawless, a none too great start aside
erikje
13th May 2019, 9:47
Yeah. Those starts are strange. He used to be one of the best starters. It looks like a combination of engine and grip.
Let’s hope they solve this when he gets his first pole.
Big Joe
13th May 2019, 8:47
Verstappen.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
13th May 2019, 9:38
I was going to vote Kvyat, but remember that Magnussen not having upgraded car but still on par with Grosjean at qualy and drive better race than his teammate.
erikje
13th May 2019, 9:49
As I understand the upgrades were available to Magnussen on Saturday.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
13th May 2019, 20:43
@ruliemaulana
But in almost the entire race, Magnussen was behind. It was only the safety car that resulted in him being close and then getting past (in a bit of a clumsy way if I’m honest). Most of the race, Grosjean was ahead between 5 and 12 seconds…. Hardly better when you look at most of the race. The pace difference was almost as large as Bottas and Hamilton. I very much doubt that the upgrade to Hass brought this much difference.
Vincent (@vinnivinni)
13th May 2019, 12:05
I am a fan of Max and he drove flawless this weekend … but gave my vote to Kvyat. I feel he punched way above his weight.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th May 2019, 13:54
A difficult choice, I ultimately voted for Hamilton although that isn’t precisely how I view it.
DOTD: Hamilton, but DOTW: Bottas except for the race itself, of course. Honorable mentions to Magnussen, Sainz, and Kvyat.
Matn
13th May 2019, 17:00
So your either chosing for the driver that ruines his quali or the driver that ruines his start as driver of the weekend…?
Wat a way to choose a winner, wouldn’t it be better to choose for a driver that actually outperformed his team mate and better cars?
Realisticly some driver did have a better weekend than the Mercedes drivers..Magnusses did okay, but lost quali, Sainz did ok, but alos lost in quali, Kvyat qualified ahead and had a good race…though Verstappen did outqualify his team mate with great margin and beat two Ferrari drivers of wich one in quali… Objectively only Verstappen earned DOTW… but you can aslo choose the sympathie road and go for Kvyat…. Mercedes driver both weren;t flawless this weekend…their car was though.
F1oSaurus (@)
13th May 2019, 19:57
So “your” choosing the driver who has the worst team mate? What a way to choose a winner …
Matn
13th May 2019, 20:45
Is that fair to Gasly…?
Gasly proved last season he’s good enough for 2x P4…something Leclerc could not achieve in a more or less similar car. Gasly is alright, not outstanding, to my opinion Leclerc wasn’t either. If you care to look at jr. series Leclerc was not as dominant as other driver in F1 were, good…but not next level good.
If you look at the way max defeated Ricciardo last season, there’s not much of a difference…well tbh there’s some, but Dan simply had no answer to Max’ quali and racepace, Dan beat him only 3 times on pace…
The gap between Max and Dan has been far bigger than between Lewis and Valteri… Gasly may be younger, but up against one though team mate to beat
dorisrcharlie
14th May 2019, 0:43
LEC has had a better junior career than max.
RIC beat VER, just last year, without any doubt. It wasn’t a contest really. He dominated him in AUS where max couldn’t even get past ALO in the last 29 laps, the only instance a top car couldn’t get past a midfield car for that long. He dominated him in BAH-quali, max would’ve never reached the top-4 and max had a driver error-DNF on top of it. He absolutely thrashed him in CHN. He was faster in AZE but got binned by the team and got DNFd by max who couldn’t handle the pressure bc of the beating he was suffering by the hands of RIC. He absolutely destroyed him in MON. He was faster than max and would’ve caught him in FRA up and untill the pit stop after which RICs FW mysteriously broke down. And all the while he had a wrong setup bc of RB, also in quali. In JAP he was again dominant, finishing only 5s behind max while starting 12 places behind bc of a tech-grid penalty, and bc of this, strategy-wise, was put on worse tyres too. So basically he absolutely smashed him. He was way faster again in BRA and I’m sure he would’ve won it had he not have the 5-place grid penalty bc of yet another gearbox issue. He beat max in ABU too, got into Q3 with the slower tyres whereas max couldn’t and was faster and had grid position too in the race, but got binned again by the team, as was predicted.
He thrashed him in USA-quali once more and would’ve surely beaten him in the race, having qualified 14 places in front, but had a tech-DNF once more.
He beat him in RUS-quali, but in the race was compromised by having to drive 50% of the race with a broken FW once more. Once he pitted, he could drive the car faster than max.
He was faster also in Silverstone, but max had grid position, after a quali in which RICs DRS malfunctioned in his best lap.
AUT was decided in quali, in which RIC was obliged to tow max all the fast runs in Q3, without max returning the favour.
Also no comparison can be made in HUN (quali of RIC was ruined by STR-induced yellow and subsequently rain, and in the race max was quickly out), BEL (RIC was one of the casualties of HUL at the start) and ITA (back-to-the-grid-pen bc of tech issues for RIC and tech-DNF for RIC in race).
You could say the same about GER bc of the same reasons as in ITA, but max was terrible in that race when it started to rain. He was about to get lapped by the top of the field when the SC helped him out massively. Losing 9-11 seconds to VET in the rain in just 2 laps, and even more to HAM.
RIC also had a lower spec engine in both HUN and BEL.
Now we finally get to the weekends in which max beat RIC, as in had genuine better pace. At least apparently.
MEX after RIC beat max once again to pole. In the race RIC only got beaten bc of the worst get away I’ve seen without an obvious stall or something. RIC didn’t understand it himself and the practice starts all went ok. Later in the race he DNFs bc of a faulty gearbox.. so definitely the cause of that worst getaway, dropping from pole to 4th.
SIN was decided on Saturday. No changes in the top-6, although VET actually overtook max in the race, but RB beat FER in the pits, so max got his place back. The difference between max and RIC in quali was 0.662s for two drivers who are about equally fast, when circumstances are the same. RIC had no idea how. Didn’t have any trouble with tyres or whatever. Meanwhile max, as always, was complaining about engine braking. Doesn’t add up.
In CAN RIC actually was clearly faster than max before the stop, but max had grid position bc of a better quali. RIC still managed to overtake RAI and pass HAM by pits, after which he was directly behind max. But then he had to defend against a much faster HAM the whole race, which costed him pace, so he couldn’t go after max.
And finally ESP. The only weekend max truly beat RIC in terms of race pace without grid penalties, DNFs, tech glitches and/or differences in race and/or quali, team orders etc.
It isn’t even debatable who is the better one. Conclusively beaten by the same man for 3 years in a row out of 3.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
14th May 2019, 15:50
@keithcollantine suggestion for Driver of the Weekend – can you a cumulative score by adding all the votes per driver of each race in the season.
Would be interesting to see who got the most votes over the whole season and you could add # of votes (or % of votes) to your mid season and end of season driver ranking articles.