Vote for your 2021 United States Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

27 comments on “Vote for your 2021 United States Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

1. 

   Nimba (@nimba)
   25th October 2021, 0:13

   None other than Super Max. That pole, that Strategic call, That defence, That Victory, That simplicity.
2. 

   Kribana (@krichelle)
   25th October 2021, 0:23

   I will leave the others to vote for Verstappen since I expect him to be the winner. I’ll go with Leclerc for that lonely race he had and being best of the rest. Still, this is the best win Verstappen had out of all his wins.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      25th October 2021, 8:13

      Yeah those two were clearly a cut above the rest @krichelle, although knowing that Perez had a malfunctioning drinks bottle that meant he was quite clearly dehydrated from about lap 20 onward paired with him being really close in qualifying would earn him an honourable mention.

      Just like I guess we have to applaud Mazepin for battling through to the finish with his helmet somehow having a hole in the visor and the car burning his feet. He did not even impede anyone or spin out, so that is a good effort for him.
3. 

   Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
   25th October 2021, 0:27

   Very tough to choose this time. Verstappen, Hamilton and Leclerc all did very good this weekend.
   They all beat their teammates when they needed to and drove a strong and error-free race.
   1. 

      JL (@j-l)
      25th October 2021, 7:07

      Agree with that trio. I would also say Seb, Danny Ric, and Sergio (who was compromised with illness and no drink) all had solid weekends as well.
   2. 

      MacLeod (@macleod)
      25th October 2021, 7:50

      I had a very hard time to decide too as i had Leclerc, Lewis and Max but Sebastiaan V. and Daniel R. as a good second.

      I had to use a dice as i can only select 1 (maybe a suggestion for @keithcollantine we can select 3 or a nr. 1-nr3)
4. 

   sumedh
   25th October 2021, 5:23

   Hamilton for me this time.

   He had the slower car in qualifying. In the race, with the 2 vs 1 positioning of the cars and Mercedes’ poorer race pace, the only way he could win was 1) to grab the lead at the start, 2) create a tyre offset to counter the undercut (to which he was always vulnerable) and the offset would also overcome the pace difference and 3) hope to make a DRS overtake with a faster straight line speed on a difficult to follow circuit.

   And he almost did all the 3 things.
   1. 

      jff
      25th October 2021, 8:06

      Even as a Hamilton fan you have to give this one to Verstappen (as Lewis said himself).
      1. 

         sumedh
         25th October 2021, 8:21

         I don’t think Hamilton said Max was driver of the weekend anywhere.

         Both Hamilton and Verstappen were very very good yesterday, no doubt. It is a crime that we have to choose just 1 of them. But my vote does tend to go towards Hamilton, because like I said, Hamilton did all the things that were required of him, Max did not optimize his start as well as Lewis did.

         Also voted for Hamilton as personally, I end up voting for the driver who is not in the fastest car
      2. 

         grapmg (@)
         25th October 2021, 8:35

         I voted for Max (as Max fan) but you can’t deny Hamilton is as much DOTW as Max. He didn’t make a single mistake and maximized his performance.
         1. 

            rodewulf (@rodewulf)
            26th October 2021, 20:11

            @grapmg

            I voted for Max (as Max fan) but you can’t deny Hamilton is as much DOTW as Max. He didn’t make a single mistake and maximized his performance.

            On last race it was not much more than a tiny mistake, but he did in the penultimate lap when chasing Max. Not sure if it was Fernando with a car as powerful as that Mercedes in his place he’d have failed to win it (probably he would not have repassed Max as well if using the same strategy, which was actually the main problem for Lewis and Mercedes), nevertheless Lewis definitively played his A level game last weekend, whilst Max managed A+ and scored a cirurgically precise win.
   2. 

      rodewulf (@rodewulf)
      26th October 2021, 20:01

      sumedh

      Mercedes’ poorer race pace

      Who said that again?
5. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   25th October 2021, 7:48

   DOTW & DOTD: VER
6. 

   Jelle van der Meer (@)
   25th October 2021, 8:39

   Max Verstappen for making an aggressive strategy work and stay out of grasps of Lewis in faster car on the hard tires.
   A few drops of rain (Perez not starting 2nd) and a perfect start (from Lewis giving him the lead) gave the fans a thrilling cat and mouse race between by far the 2 best drivers on the grid.

   Max losing the lead on the start meant he could not utilize the Red Bull being faster on the mediums and forcing an aggressive strategy, made more difficult by a far aggressive out lap (thinking Lewis would pit next lap) resulting in having to also come in earlier for his 2nd stop as Lewis came within under cut window.

   Leaving Max to have to do 27 laps (nobody in top 10 did more laps on hards) while Lewis on fire was hunting him down for 19 laps. After the first 8 laps Lewis has the gap down from almost 9 secs to below 3 seconds with 11 laps still to go. Having track position in the end proofed to be more valuable than the having a faster car on fresher tires.

   Kudos to Lewis for doing anything he could do and giving the fans a thrilling race, first by taking the lead of the start and second by not giving up the chase.

   Honorable mentions to:
   Perez: qualify P3 (finally!!!) and somehow surviving the heat without a drink)
   Vettel: finish in the points despite starting from the back

   Loser of the race is Alonso & Alpine for their ridiculous behavior, Alonso pushed Kimi wide and Kimi actually still managed to nearly stay on the track. Alonso/Alpine whining on the radio. Not much later Alonso ran massively wide himself, overtook Antonio and somehow Alonso/Alpine thought that was justified. After that Alonso pushed Antonio wide while trying to overtake him but somehow the stewards deemed Antonio in the wrong which still baffles me.
   1. 

      rodewulf (@rodewulf)
      26th October 2021, 20:30

      @jelle-van-der-meer

      After that Alonso pushed Antonio wide while trying to overtake him but somehow the stewards deemed Antonio in the wrong which still baffles me.

      He gained advantage when going off-track, that’s why he had to give the position back, just like Alonso had to do earlier. He was entitled of a racing line for being fully alongside Giovinazzi, so why the fact that they touched wheel-to-wheel automatically mean Alonso pushed him off the track? The stewards have no reason to be fond of the guy who criticised them a lot, so for it to be deemed a completely legal move is a big statement, unlike that one with Raikkonen, in which there was margin for interpretation between should have taken a tighter line vs. should not have gained advantage outside the track.
7. 

   Sam
   25th October 2021, 8:47

   This is the first race since Bahrain where I felt Hamilton was superior to Verstappen. Superior start, kept Verstappen behind during the first stint, kept good pace on old tyres after Verstappen’s second stop and finished the race just short of a second behind in a marginally slower car, and arguably after Mercedes took the worse strategy.
   1. 

      Balue (@balue)
      25th October 2021, 12:48

      He did make a mistake in qualifying
   2. 

      F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
      25th October 2021, 13:25

      Hamilton aced the start and possibly Mercedes should have pitted him early to avoid an undercut, as he wasn’t particularly fast on the yellow tire. That would have been a risky strategy, though, and Mercedes at that time didn’t know how competitive he would be on the white tires. So in the end they gave him more or less the optimal clear-air strategy, but that meant he lost track position. Verstappen’s riskier strategy required a lot of tire management, though, especially in the final stint. Two very evenly matched driver-car combinations, two slightly different strategies and a battle for the lead at the end of the race: this season continues to be great.
   3. 

      rodewulf (@rodewulf)
      26th October 2021, 20:36

      Sam

      This is the first race since Bahrain where I felt Hamilton was superior to Verstappen. Superior start, kept Verstappen behind during the first stint, kept good pace on old tyres after Verstappen’s second stop and finished the race just short of a second behind in a marginally slower car, and arguably after Mercedes took the worse strategy.

      How it’s easy to take for granted Max’s efforts to keep his tyres in good shape for the end, and at the same time that he smashed a considerable advantage against his title rival, so did Lewis in the third stint. No clear machinery advantage was seen on this race between Red Bull or Mercedes. They matched each other almost perfectly as a matter of fact and hardly it could be any different this time.
8. 

   hahostolze (@hahostolze)
   25th October 2021, 9:15

   I think Hamilton did all he could. I think Verstappen drove as good, if not better, a race after the first lap, but the first lap did happen. To me, that makes Hamilton DOTD.
9. 

   F1 frog (@f1frog)
   25th October 2021, 9:55

   Both Verstappen and Hamilton were excellent in Austin and both gave us 10/10 drives. But I voted Leclerc, who finished so close behind Perez and a pitstop ahead of Sainz and the McLarens. It could have been any of the three, but Leclerc just edges it for me.
10. 

    Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
    25th October 2021, 9:59

    Nobody really drove a 10/10 this weekend for me, most drivers stayed roughly where they started. Vettel fought into points from far back, but Verstappen won from pole. The Red Bull looked faster, but almost threw it away by pitting so early. Still, I’ll go for Verstappen since he did score the 25 points he needs to score.
11. 

    Balue (@balue)
    25th October 2021, 12:48

    Like others a toss-up between Verstappen, Hamilton and Leclerc, but the last lap defence of Verstappen was something special with purple vital first sector, more than making up for his average grid launch. Add his coldly saving tyres for the last lap showdown too which not many would have been able to.
    1. 

       Esploratore (@esploratore1)
       25th October 2021, 22:38

       True, forgot about that purple first sector, I and the italian commentators had noticed too during the race.
12. 

    JohnH (@johnrkh)
    25th October 2021, 13:05

    Both RB drivers had a great weekend Hamilton did what he could, Leclerc for me this time.
13. 

    Sacha Gortchakoff (@gosac)
    25th October 2021, 16:23

    if you can vote for Kimi, always vote for Kimi
14. 

    Esploratore (@esploratore1)
    25th October 2021, 22:19

    Max Verstappen (67%)
    Charles Leclerc (12%)
    Lewis Hamilton (8%)
    Daniel Ricciardo (4%)
    Sergio Perez (3%)
    Valtteri Bottas (1%)
    Sebastian Vettel (1%)
    Fernando Alonso (1%)
    Carlos Sainz Jnr (1%)
    Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
    Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
    Mick Schumacher (1%)
    No opinion (1%)
    Total Voters: 156

    Omitted the 0% and ordered them, I went for verstappen eventually, but it was too close to call between him and hamilton, my vote is in the sense he is more deserving across the season, there was imo nothing to choose between the 2 this particular race weekend.

    Leclerc is ofc also an obvious candidate but he didn’t really end up fighting with perez, so don’t know, I also liked raikkonen up until the mistake in the end, looked like he was gonna get another point on the track where he also got the last win.

    Perez was decent although he wasn’t really in the mix with the top 2 and ricciardo outperformed norris on a rare occasion, although sainz would’ve been ahead of him if not for the slow pit stop.

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