Start, Hockenheimring, 2019

Vote for your 2019 German Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2019 German Grand Prix

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Which Formula One driver made the most of the German 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 three days.

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

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.

Fernando Alonso's drive-through penalty for his driving at turn six was:

  • No opinion (2%)
  • Far too lenient (8%)
  • Slightly too lenient (5%)
  • Correct (36%)
  • Slightly too harsh (13%)
  • Far too harsh (36%)

Total Voters: 225

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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74 comments on “Vote for your 2019 German Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

  1. Vettel, after failing so miserably so many times in last year he finally got something done in difficult situation. From last place to nearly fighting Max for P1. Bravo.

    1. John Toad (@)
      28th July 2019, 22:55

      It’s ‘Driver of the Weekend’ not ‘Driver of the Race’.

      1. what did he do wrong in quali?
        @ceevee

        Voted for Stroll though.
        I’m not sure if he was better than Kvyat (or Vettel/Verstappen) but Stroll gets my point anyway.

        1. I agree with you, that’s why I voted for Seb. I had considered Stroll but Perez got much more in quali.

          I guess we went opposite ways.

      2. I also considered voting for Vettel @jureo, but then I thought about the aspect of the whole weekend, as @ceevee reminds us. And while Vettel never got a chance to do anything wrong (or notibly good) in qualifying, from the form of the FP sessions before that it is rather unlikely that Vettel would have been the Ferrari driver delivering @coldfly – remember this is about the whole weekend, not just the competative sessions.
        Maybe we should also include the crazy theory about Fans that have stopped coming for a decade are somehow not showing because of desicions in the last few races.

        Anyway, I then considered Verstappen, but he did have that spin he saved from. I would be happy to vote for him. But in the end I voted for Kvyat, because he did show his maturity, didn’t make mistakes when it counted etc.

        1. @bascb, it would be ludicrous to include free practice sessions unless there are some clear driver mistakes! You don’t know what programme they are on or even which parts or power unit are on/in the car.
          I’d even rate a spinning in free practice driver as he might be testing the limits of grip level.

          Stupid comments though can be included in the assessment. Hence, I’ll never make DotW (I won’t even get nominated).

    2. He wasnt even close to fighting Max.

    3. Why vettel, he did well but that was to be expected. Daniil, was unremarkable apart from the last pit stop. Max went for style points almost crashing as usual, that said he was at the sharp end and he won it, hard to vote for anyone else, someone voted on Hamilton so you never know.

      1. Sadly these days Vettel doing well is unexpected.

        Max was great, my second choice. I long ago started voting for drivers based on their performance but based on their show value they give to me. Vettel gained most places, was remarkably calm, showed most improvement in my eyes.

        Max doing well in the wet, having spectacular saves and slides, is somewhat expected. Best scene for me was Max coming out of the pits on slicks, fishtailing out on wet tarmac.

    4. F1oSaurus (@)
      29th July 2019, 18:09

      @jureo Seriously? Until the track finally completely dried and Vettel could just drive by the midfield cars, he was trundling around in P8 for most of the race.

  2. It’s almost impossible to rate the drivers objectively in such a chaotic race. I probably need to see it again to see how everything planned out and who was most impressive. But, based on initial impression and the most spectacular result I’m giving it to Kvyat. Awesome performance less than 24 hours after becoming a dad, double congrats to him.

    1. Well its not exactly the nobel prize here so i think you can get away with being subjective ;)
      I agree on Kvyat.

    2. I didn’t vote for this reason. Too many pit stops, too many last minute calls, too much chaos. Watching the race just once it’s impossible to tell how much of the result was down to driver skill, how much came from team strategy, how much from luck… It’s difficult enough to compare twenty drivers over the course of a normal race, in a race as chaotic as this one I don’t think it even makes sense.

      1. @alonshow And there should be more of them. Races should be scheduled to get a bit of inclement weather, perfect racing conditions are boring. In fact I’ll go as far to say if the drivers where asked to vote they would also want a mix of weather types through the season.

      2. @alonshow, I don’t get your comment. IMO the race result should have little to do with who gets your DotW point. Just focus on the actions you see on screen: attacking, defending, opening/clsoing a gap, chasing FLAP, early on slicks, offset by driver mistakes and it will give you enough data points to cast your vote in this fun-poll.
        Oftentimes we only see the top drivers, but at least in Germany we were treated with live shots or replays of almost all the drivers.

        1. @coldfly: In a race like this, with so many things happening at the same time, it’s not so easy to focus on the actions onscreen, there are just too many things happening at the same time. Take tyre calls: In a normal race most tyre calls are straightforward, there are just a few controversial tyre strategies and you usually have plenty of time to assess each one, and even then many times you end up discovering that what looked like a bad call was actually a good one (and viceversa) because you didn’t account for some important factor. In a race like this one you couldn’t assess any strategy at all. As soon as you started to try to make sense of a strategy there was a change in conditions that threw your assessment out of the window, then a safety car, then what have you.

          Don’t get me wrong, I wish all races were as exciting as this, but they make it virtually impossible to assess racecraft and strategy vision.

    3. agree with you Keith, the Russian for sure considering his machine and driving, will be interesting if Gas gets sacked or demoted in favour of one of the torro drivers over the Summer break.

    4. Is there a single driver that was quicker than their teammate this weekend, finished well, and didn’t make any mistakes? Verstappen had that one spin but for me he did the best of anyone really.

      1. @hugh11)

        Is there a single driver that was quicker than their teammate this weekend, finished well, and didn’t make any mistakes?

        Vettel.

  3. it has to be Kimi, he had race winning tempo in that car, just unlucky timings and strategy as always make him seventh and now DSQ

    1. It was hard for me decide whether to vote Kimi or Kvyat, but had to give it to Kvyat. They both were above anyone else this weekend.

  4. Very close between Verstappen and Kvyat for me. Kvyat’s drive from 14th to 3rd in a TORO ROSSO was more impressive than Vettel’s drive to 2nd from 20th in a FERRARI. Max once again proved that he & HAM are the two premier drivers atm, however I’ve given Kvyat the nod for the pace he showed in the final stint.

    1. Daniil didnt have a great race at all, actually. Certainly, his team mate looked faster during basically the whole race. The rest was pure circumstance, even the fact that he was slower than his team mate, which made the team risk strategy and win with him.

  5. Very hard to decide … Max Daniel maybe seb i go for Sainz

  6. Vettel, least mistakes in fact I don’t remember him making one. Kyvat next also Verstappen after a spin and 5 pit stops he still managed to get a win, very good effort.

    1. He made two in the last lap, but fair enough.

  7. Indeed, hard to pick a driver, I went with verstappen cause he always brings the fight to the front, he was the one putting bottas under pressure till the chaos happened, aside from that obviously the other 2 drivers of the podium deserved and front-bias aside, kvyat would probably be the most deserving.

    Also great race for stroll and a few other midfielders, definitely none of the top cars’ drivers, aside from vettel or verstappen, can be considered for this: leclerc serious and badly costing mistake, gasly slow like a turtle, must be replaced by kvyat, hamilton one of the worst races I remember from him and possibly the worst on wet track, though if I recall he had some not great ones back in red bull era or thereabouts, and bottas again serious mistake and otherwise not impressive, I think he was only on course for 3rd place, as in only overtaking stroll, not even kvyat, add to it vettel was coming, on course for 4th place with a mercedes!

  8. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    29th July 2019, 2:17

    I really think the safety car driver deserves to have his name on this list :-)

    1. isaac (@invincibleisaac)
      29th July 2019, 8:42

      + 1 It did about half of the race … more than quite a few of the drivers!

  9. Has to be Max imho. He qualified on the front row, made the least impactful mistakes amongst the frontrunners, nailed the restarts and managed to win the race.

    I am very happy for Kvyat getting a podium (and a daughter!), but to be honest Albon had the better race today and basically swapped positions with Kvyat due to poor timing for Albon of the final safety car. Stroll was another one who really benefitted from that timing and didn’t have as good a race as his finishing position suggests.

    As for Vettel, 20th to 2nd was great and he was mistake-free for once, at a time when so many others weren’t, but he didn’t have a great race really. He struggled pace-wise (especially on the inters) and couldn’t get passed most of the midfield innitially if not for people crashing out in front of him and safety car timing.

    1. @jeffreyj I think this is bang on.
      If not for the constant safety cars Verstappen laps Kvyat (who I voted for out of emotion) and Stroll before lap 40, maybe even Vettel by lap 50. Instead they’re on the podium. Obviously a lottery but a distorted race.
      Verstappen made the least meaningful mistakes of the drivers that had actual pace. I think that summarises the race very aptly.

    2. @jeffreyj @hahostolze Totally agreed. Climbing up the order from 20th to 2nd sounds great, but considering that Vettel had the fastest package under himself (maybe by not as large of a margin as the pre-sandbagging phase of Mercedes would have hinted at, but still), he had 4 SC and 2 VSC periods to catch up, gamble with strategy, and he had to overtake cars that he usually laps down at this phase of a regular race, with all those DNF’s helping him, it was almost nothing more than obligatory to finish P2.

      At the end of the day it’s the points haul that matters, and Vettel certainly delivered this today, and one can argue that very wisely he waited for his chance for the circumstances to fall into his comfort zone, making no mistakes at the cost of lapping conservatively (slowly?) in the rain. In the same rain that provided the chance for ballsy drivers to outshine their inferior technique and gain a lot, and yes, sometimes make a mistake and throw away everything they gained. I believe for Vettel it’s not the mistake-free (but otherwise a bit uninspiring) race performance and the fat 18 points tally that make him relieved, but the fact that even though his young gun teammate was significantly faster again, Leclerc made a mistake too this time, and this somewhat might have restored the original order at Ferrari. I’m really looking forward to see how the battle of the pair plays out at the end of the season.

    3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      29th July 2019, 13:21

      @jeffreyj Very tough to vote… You can’t say that Max drove better than Lewis.

      1. I guess you can and you should.

      2. @freelittlebirds Ofcourse Verstappen drove better than Lewis!

        Lewis did fantastic up until the first pitstop. You could argue that his team put him on slicks at the wrong time but Lewis was the one crashing into the wall and then cutting the pitlane entry, causing himself a penalty. Now, his team cost him lot’s of time in the pitlane but he was only pitting last minute because he crashed. After that, he didn’t have great pace and spun again.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          29th July 2019, 17:46

          @jeffreyj well, who went on the slicks and didn’t crash? At least Lewis was the only one who complained before he went on the slicks which cost him the race (although there was no guarantee he’d win even if he made no mistakes and outdrove everyone).

          And by the way, did any of the Toro Rossos and Red Bulls spin like Max did? Why weren’t those cars spinning if their most seasoned driver Max lost the car? DOTW with a spin that even rookies didn’t? I’m not saying that Max wasn’t DOTW, it’s a tough one to pick Max over Lewis. It’s like picking the ace of spades over the ace of clubs…

          1. Max was put on a wrong tire… He said it on the Radio…. To hard and no grip.. Red Bull has admitted this.. Its a miracle he didn’t put it in the wall with those tired.. Also Terrible race by Hamilton… Lost it a few times what a disaster.. You must be a Absolute Blind Hamilton fanboy to have a opinion like yours…

          2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            30th July 2019, 3:55

            Obviously you didn’t watch the race cause you would have known that the Merc was doomed on that corner that both Lewis and Valtteri lost the car and that almost all drivers lost the car especially on slicks. Apparently Max was the only Red Bull driver out of 4 who lost the car.

            But hey, your eyesight might be better as I’m getting old:)

  10. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
    29th July 2019, 6:46

    There are so many drivers that deserve it to be honest. Verstappen, Vettel, Kvyat and Stroll were all great in the race. Voted for Kvyat though cause to grab a podium in a TR (the second in their history) is impressive.

  11. No opinion for me. He qualified high up, did mistakes but not race critical and managed to pick some place and put points on the table. I think voting here and in F1.com, has gone downhill.

  12. Kvyat for sure

    Became e father on Saturday and got on the podium on Sunday

    Can’t beat that

    1. @anunaki, you know that becoming a father the day before isn’t a great feat, unless the race was 9 months ago ;)

    2. Well, his girlfriend did all the hard work on that one and what’s worse: Kvyat basically left his wife-in-labor behind for work…. (JK)

      1. Sorry but if your an F1 driver you cannot skip a race ever.. Else you may lose your seat/job.. Even Hamilton who was sick this weekend didn’t skip racing. But Ocon was put on standby apparently just in case.

  13. Qualifying P2 in a Redbull, having a bad start, doing a 360 spin and still winning the race with a comfortable lead says enough, Verstappen was on fire the whole weekend.

  14. isaac (@invincibleisaac)
    29th July 2019, 8:45

    I voted for Kvyat – the only driver who made no mistakes throughout the entire race and got to the chequered flag with a deserved podium. Other honourable mentions; VET, STR, ALB and VER.

  15. OK, who was the 1% that voted for Hamilton? Show yourselves!

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      29th July 2019, 13:27

      @mashiat that’s a very low percentage especially compared to Max – Max and Lewis drove about the same so the 38x differential is stunning. Lewis needed a 1 minute pistop to lose after the 1st spin.

      1. @freelittlebirds that is not even close to fair. Lewis had a good first half, and then it all went wrong because of his mistakes. He was even lucky that the 50s stop only made him go back to 5th and that there were plenty of SC phases after that to give him a shot for some decent points, but he had a horrible time after that first shunt. So, no comparison between the two in the 2nd half of the race.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          29th July 2019, 17:36

          @magon4 Well, Verstappen didn’t look that hot on the medium either and he did a 360 that could have been race-ending…

          I guess they were both terrible. So no votes for either? :-)

      2. @freelittlebirds Drove about the same? Hamilton cost himself that race by spinning and crashing, and if he wasn’t behind Bottas after the safety car, he wouldn’t have had to stay out for the extra lap on the inters.

    2. Probably the 0.5% who only watched Saturday plus @freelittlebirds.

  16. Shoutout to anyone who kept the car on track really. Only 13 drivers finished, but of those 2 were penalised 30 seconds. Out of the 11 others, many of them had offs, including a one-minute pit stop after a crash, plus a later narrow miss, for our world champion. Perhaps this illness they spoke of was real, and Ocon would have kept his cool better than Lewis.

    Driver of the week? That’s a tough one. Just surviving in these conditions is strong. Anyone in the top 6 could have been DOTW on another weekend, but I had to put it at Verstappen courtesy of being the only one up front to get there by merit rather than luck. Vettel, Kvyat, and Stroll all got elevated due to good timing with SCs, but Verstappen won due to starting at the front and not crashing out when others did.

  17. These things are rapidly turning into a Max fan club fest, much like the official F1 driver of the day.

    As far as I’m concerned, those in the midfield, especially a rookie like Albon (who had never driven an F1 car in the wet ) deserve far more consideration than Max who frankly just did his job in a superior car and great strategy.

    Gave it to Kvyat – would’ve been Albon but he lost positions at the end by not overtaking Lewis when he should have.

    1. @dbradock
      Racefans=Maxfans…….the kid is a frikkin’ racing monster so what’s not to love.
      But hey, salty tears I guess, so if not giving it to Max makes you sleep any better, go for it!

    2. charlie (@dorisrcharlie)
      29th July 2019, 13:51

      @dbradock You’re right.
      Lots of drivers did a lot of overtaking too; max simply stepped up bc others fell down. He couldn’t even attack BOT.

  18. Alex Albon – a rookie who had never driven an F1 car in the rain before. Who was also drafted in late to join the RB junior team. Well done a star is born!

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      29th July 2019, 14:52

      I gave it to Albon – it’s very impressive considering he’s a rookie and it was his 1st race in the rain. I think he lost the positions mostly because of the situation with Lewis. He wasn’t planning to overtake Lewis which was sensible given the conditions but he was forced into it and it worked out incredibly bad for him but he didn’t collide and still managed to keep his cool after that dreadful moment.

  19. If you look closely, strip all the shake-ups, and really dig deep, you will notice that the driver of the Weekend was Alexandre Albon

  20. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    29th July 2019, 12:06

    It had to be either Verstappen, Vettel or Kvyat. Verstappen for winning despite 360’s and maximising that Red Bull-Honda, Vettel for bouncing back from no fault of his own in 20th to take 2nd, and Kvyat for the redemption of taking a podium for Toro Rosso and outperforming the other Red Bull. I picked Verstappen, as what he’s doing in that car is magnificent.

    Was tempted to give it to Albon though. For a guy that’s never driven an F1 car in the wet before, to finish 6th and at one point running 4th on a day where even the best wet weather drivers tripped up – and outperformed a Red Bull, he did amazingly.

  21. DOTW – Max
    DOTD – Seb

  22. I voted for Max for DOTW, but the DOTD is a bit harder to choose since quite a few drivers stood out, so I’m going to go for VER, VET, KVY, STR, and SAI.

    1. STR had a horrible day out there, together with Gasly he was probably the worst driver in the whole race.

  23. That’s an easy one.
    Mac, leafing from halfway and lost his gaps each time as a result of the SC. Had three brilliant restarts and disappeared on the horizon each time.
    His 360 on yellow tires was luck and talent.
    Deserved win.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      29th July 2019, 14:54

      That 360 with a broken wing or a broken suspension over the kerbs would have been a very different outcome for Max.

      1. Max isn’t Hamilton so he didn’t put it in a wall. He saved it and won the Race.

  24. Nobody seems to vote for Sainz and he was pretty good, maybe not the best but hard to tell in such a chaotic race. he gets my vote.

  25. Vettel of course. Who else? Last to second!

    1. F1oSaurus (@)
      29th July 2019, 18:10

      @jorge-lardone Just becasue of a lucky safety car in the end and then after that the track was dry. Before that he was mediocre.

    2. Vettel was good, mostly because he did no major mistakes. But not exceptional.
      Even from the back of the grid he is expected to overtake all the F1.5 drivers, plus Kvyat who is subpar for a F1 driver. That would make him easily 5th.
      Add to that the crashes of all the other F1 drivers except Max (who was pretty close to crashing out but managed to avoid it) and you have a 2P finish. Deserved because he didn’t crash out when so many other drivers did. But not much above competent.

      1. plus Kvyat

        meant Gasly obviously

  26. All drivers took their positions on the starting grid after three practises and a qualification. All chances were equal because of the weather. Ves and Vet did it for me. Those should be in one team. I strongly feel to vote for Seb but in the end I gave it to Ves.

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