Start, Singapore, 2018

Vote for your 2018 Singapore Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2018 Singapore Grand Prix

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Which Formula One driver made the most of the Singapore 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 Singapore.

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 Singapore Grand Prix weekend?

  • No opinion (1%)
  • Charles Leclerc (1%)
  • Marcus Ericsson (0%)
  • Stoffel Vandoorne (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (15%)
  • Kevin Magnussen (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Brendon Hartley (0%)
  • Pierre Gasly (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (1%)
  • Sergey Sirotkin (7%)
  • Lance Stroll (0%)
  • Esteban Ocon (0%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Max Verstappen (23%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (0%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (51%)

Total Voters: 297

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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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57 comments on “Vote for your 2018 Singapore Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

  1. For that lap, I have to give it to Hamilton. Though I think Verstappen is a worthy pick also, and Alonso completes the podium for maximising his 11th place grid slot.

    1. Actually think that Max’s qualyfying lap was equally good if not better than Hamilton’s. There was a good comparision in Finnish MTV3: Hamilton vs. Verstappen. Shows the power advantage Mercedes has over Renault engine.

      1. Well yes, such an engine advantage doesn’t come as a surprise, but equally we arrived
        knowing Red Bull will have a downforce advantage and as such Verstappen’s gains in the corners can’t entirely be attributed to the driver.

        If you’d asked me before the weekend, or even moments before quali, whether I’d take Hamilton, or Verstappen with a -0.3s discount to qualify higher I’d have bitten your hand off for Max.

        1. Thank you. Red Bull fans are only capable of acknowledging power advantages, apparently. In their minds the cars race in vacuums that render aerodynamics irrelevant. Such a simplistic way of thinking, especially coming from “fans” of a pretty technical sport.

    2. I had to choose between Lewis, who drove faultless all weekend, and Max, who drove he wheels off his car with a troubled engine

      My vote: Verstappen – give him the seat next to Hamilton asap so we can whitness the greatest battle in F1 of all time

      1. witness ffcourse

        1. Good to see you enjoyed this marvelous idea

  2. DOTW: Hamilton.
    DOTD: Alonso.

    1. I’m sure Alonso deserves DOTD, but we did not see any of his racing unfortunately.

      My DOTW goes to Max as what he did in that car on Saturday and Sunday was even more impressive than the epic Saturday and stellar Sunday by Lewis.
      Sometimes I wish I had more than 1 vote (maybe get a 2nd account)..

      Some nice racing/defending by Sirotkin, not a DOTD by far though.

    2. @jerejj @coldfly

      I disagree on DOTD being Alonso. I’ve read it multiple times now in different threads, he was amazing. With the risk of being tarred and feathered as an Alonso hater: I’m not, but I just don’t see that. He started 11th, so that is first of the US runners. So that means Perez, Grosjean, Ocon and Hulkenberg in front of him. We all know what happened to Ocon (I blame Perez btw). Hulkenberg I had to rewatch the start. It just happens he had a pretty rotten one. He is slow to get away and is left in the dust by Alonso and Sainz who started behind Hulkenberg. So Alonso did… not mess up his start. Nice. After a few corners Ocon disappeared magically. Then after the restart the pace was low out front meaning the pack did not spread out. Now on lap 15 Hulk pits, Grosjean responds in lap 16 (too late, Hulk out in front), in lap 17 Perez responds (in time). Now that lot decides to go for a picnic behind Sirotkin. That leaves Alonso pootling around, making a sudoku and clipping his toe nails (ok added some effects here for drama element). Still. Sainz (US) behind him pits on lap 37 so Alonso reponds on lap 38… in time.

      That means he needed the blistering pace to keep Sainz’ Renault behind him… while being faster than Sirotkin. I’ll repeat myself, I don’t see the amazing performance. He did great. He didn’t mess up the start. Good. DOTD? No way.

      The 11th starting place was the key to 7th. But he did that on Saturday. So DOTW is maybe a different discussion.

  3. Best: Hamilton, Alonso, Max.

    Worst: Perez. This guy must be kicked out of F1. He intentionally puts his teammate in the wall today and twice before at Spa and Baku. At wheel to wheel racing he is Maladonado-like (dangerous but at the same time having unsporting and evil intentions).

    1. Afraid I have to disagree with all of the negative comments about Perez.

      The incident with Ocon was a racing incident – we have seen countless times when a driver tries to overtake around the outside, the defending driver pushes the attacker to the edge of the track. He also did not put Ocon in the wall – Ocon had plenty of space to move wider if he wished, they made contact and then Ocon hit the wall.

      Regarding the Sirotkin incident, I imagine that, having got the overtake done, Perez was moving to the left to cover the inside and thought he was further ahead than he was – like Hamilton and Kobayashi at Spa 2011. At least, I sincerely hope it was this and not on purpose.

      1. I imagine that, having got the overtake done, Perez was moving to the left to cover the inside and thought he was further ahead than he was

        I honestly hope that Perez “thought he was further ahead”; because otherwise he deserved a Black Flag. But a racing, @minnis.
        An F1 driver should not just ‘think’ he is ahead; that’s why I judge Perez as a struggler (and the fact that he could not get past Sirotkin when he had fresher tyres and a faster car).

        1. @coldfly I entirely agree – my point was that although the Sirotkin crash was Perez’s fault, I feel it was more an error of judgement rather than anything vindictive.

      2. Another ‘I know more than the steward’ guy.

        It was the start, everybody was fighting most fiercely for positions. Ocon’s move was too rash and too aggressive. It was just a racing incident.

    2. @amg44 Baku? If it’s last year your referring to Ocon put Perez in the wall… Anyway regarding the Ocon incident, that was very much a racing accident. In fact Ocon, not for the first time, should have been much more careful on the opening lap Baku, Spa and Singapore this year he’s tried to do too much.

      The Sirotkin incident, on the other hand, should get Perez a race ban. Clearly intentional contact.

      1. I thought both incidents were Perez’s fault. The start was borderline, but moving over on Sirotkin when he was almost fully alongside on a straightis laughable. Strange as he is normally fairly reliable but this was hopeless. It must be even more frustrating for FI because Perez was actually very fast.

        1. @felipemassadobrasil I’d say the start was noone’s fault, just bad luck, but Ocon shouldn’t have put himself out there – like the Hartley-Stroll crash in Canada. Agreed on the Sirotkin incident though, that was worse than any of Maldonado’s intentional moves or Vettel’s in Baku.

  4. Has to be Verstappen. He made wonders with that faulty Renault engine and made Ricciardo look like a clown.

    1. @huhhii Adrian Newey said the engine issues had lost him one, maybe two tenths on his qualifying lap, so not enough to take pole. Close but I’d still put Hamilton first for the qualifying brilliance and the perfect race.

      1. @david-br It looked like a massively bigger deal to me. He also suffered from engine troubles in the race today. Verstappen criticised Renault quite heavily on team radio, so maybe Newey wanted to soften Max’s harsh comments. In F1 nothing is ever as simple as it first seems.

        1. @huhhii Newey said it in a quick remark with the look of someone who had a specific technical idea about the actual times, not making up a PR figure to make Renault happy rather than Max (which, let’s face it, wouldn’t make much sense). Personally I’m going with Newey telling the truth and Hamilton likewise in saying his lap was one of his very best. Like I said, two brilliant laps, but Hamilton edging it.

          1. @david-br Agree to disagree then. Verstappen really maximised the car’s capabilities and then some. Hamilton also had a fantastic weekend, but Verstappen it is for me.

          2. @huhhii +1 I did hesitate about voting for Max, so yep, I get it. I expect this to happen with more frequency in fact (strange that this was the first time Lewis and Max were 1 and 2 on the grid).

      2. Well Max was already improving 0,2 sec in his 2nd Q3 run in sector 1 and 2 but sector 3 was completely ruined by the engine issue

        1. I voted for Max partly because I’m a fan but also because what he did, including on Saturday, was in a distant third place car, not nearly the WCC leading car. Beat two Ferraris, a Mercedes, and the other RB car. Excellent.

  5. Sirotkin :P For the entertainment.

    1. Yes, Sirotkin. Without his dogged defence that race would have been even more boring. Hamilton, Verstappen and Alonso all drove very fast but only one driver was racing.

  6. Szakacsi Ferenc (@)
    16th September 2018, 17:05

    Definitely Hamilton,Verstappen a close second.

  7. For his fighting spirit Sirotkin get my vote . Disturbing is that almost every fight worth watching is punished with a time penalty.

    1. His defense was great up until he decided to Rosberg Hartley. Neglecting to input any steering until the other car has no where to go but the wall is over the line, and 5 seconds were given for that, which means no DOTD from me.

      I don’t feel Grojean’s penalty should have been given. I hate that real racing is being penalized in favor of the front runners’ procession. They should be a bit more lenient when an actual battle is underway.

  8. If it was driver of the race, I’d have picked Sirotkin. But for driver of the weekend, it can only be Hamilton.

  9. There’s only one driver in Verstappens way to become an absolute legend…Hamilton.
    The Hamilton-Vettel battle has lost it’s thrill-factor, there must be at least two DNF’s for Hamilton before Vettel has a realistic chance of winning the title.

    Sure we can give Hamilton the DOTD/W, he hardly put a foot wrong, considering the power deficit of an odd 75hp and taking P2 (back) with a stuttering engine, Verstappen did the real magic.

    1. How come? Verstappen is only 20 years old FFS haha ;) Get Verstappen in the Mercedes or Ferrari and he will demolish Lewis his achievements

      1. I truly think Verstappen can beat Lewis, if he comes this close with 75 hp down on power….
        We’ll have to wait for what Honda can bring in the next two years… if they can close the gap to around 20 hp deficit maximum, we’ll have a real battle.

    2. Sure, Verstappen had a better weekend than Lewis, since he had an engine problem.

      But… Dismissing Vettel as done and Verstappen better? No way. Vettel is done why? Because he threw away too many points? Verstappen threw away more at the beginning of the season. If he was in a Merc or Ferrari he would be 2nd or 3rd.

      In fact, he and Vettel are very similar this season – great drivers who are struggling to keep it together.

      Flashy weekend or not, on the season he is somewhere near Vettel, but not as great as Hamilton.

  10. Lewis Hamilton without a doubt.

  11. I’d give it to Verstappen.

    The star of qualifying yesterday. Got everything he could from his car in the race, dealing with mechanical problem.

  12. Max for me. His car was definitely not the best of 2nd best this weekend (look where RIC was and look at the way Vettel passed him on pure torque power). Plus he had mechanical issues all weekend in all sessions including Q3 and the race.

    Sure Lewis did a stellar lap in qualy and did a perfect job today. But he had a better car without issues that looked to be the best out there (Bottas was leading the 2nd driver train as well)

    1. +1 Both i found stellar but Max had the problems So i choiced him.

  13. Hamilton and Verstappen were both very good throughout the weekend, maximizing their packages, but I gave it to Alonso.

    That McLaren has been a very bad car for some time now, having traded places with Williams and Toro Rosso for the past couple of GP’s. To almost reach Q3, thrashing his team mate on the way (no news, but an even bigger margin than usual), and drag it onto 7th, the only car not to be lapped by the leaders besides the top 6 is quite remarkable.

  14. Hulk! Because the tyres are stupid and I feel my intelligence has been offended by Pirrelli

    1. @johnmilk hahahaha, yeah…all things considered, Hulk did drive well to make his way back into the points, overtaking the two Williams in the process.

  15. Can’t stand either of them but it’s got to be between Hamilton and Verstappen, Hamilton got my vote. Honourable mentions to Alonso, Leclerc and Sirotkin.

  16. The first time I have ever voted for Hamilton as DOTW. Absolutely excellent

  17. Lewis was stellar as he has been for quite some races lately. You can’t touch him when he’s not in his rare “off” days. So, yes, DOTW should be clearly HAM.

    But VER was also unbelievable in that car, making RIC (still my favorite driver) look pretty average. Also, Max put Vet, Bot and Rai to shame in faster cars, both in qualy and race.

    Alonso was also very good, but his 11th starting grid place was pretty important especially in Singapore and with the tyres selection, so it was a very big advantage to those who started in the lower end of the top 10.

    1. IMHO, Lewis has is on his peak atm…I’m scared to think what Max will bring to the table when he reaches his.

      I truly believe Verstappen, in the right car, has the potential to be the GOAT

  18. Given the engine issue and performance over the entire weekend, Verstappen. I mean he came so close to matching Hamilton’s ‘magic’ pole time in qualifying and drove carefully and brilliantly during the race – got the maximum out while totally shading Ricciardo.

    Though, Sirotkin driving the widest and slowest Williams was pretty entertaining too. Maybe in future we should park Sirotkin in front of the pack, give him a head start and see how much chaos he can create when they catch him up.

    1. Anyone watched Channel4? Interview with Horner, DC, MW and EJ? They had the overlay of Verstappen vs Hamilton’s Q yesterday, and calculated that Verstappen, with the same horsepower as Lewis, would have been 0,1/0,2 seconds faster

      1. They also did the same test with Red Bull’s aero and calculated that Lewis in the Red Bull with the same aero as Max would have taken pole yesterday over the Mercedes with Max driving it.

        They also calaculated that Sainz was as fast as Max and Hulk is faster than both Sainz and Max but they couldn’t tell if Lewis was faster than Hulk.

        1. @freelittlebirds Sainz being as fast as Max isn’t really a surprise given that that was more or less proven during their time together. Likewise Hulk having a slight edge on Sainz.

        2. They also did it with stroll in a Ferrari and concluded he would be world champion.

  19. It’s gotta be Perez – never have I seen so many actual overtakes and overtake attempts on the same driver in a single race :-)

  20. Hamilton…just. He did a great job controlling the race but in a faster car. Also his qualy was excellent. Verstappen next as he did very well in qauly with a some issues and had a clean race and maintained his start position.

  21. Hamilton made it look easy on track. That’s a mark of total control. I wished he sometimes were more bullish and stopped saying how hard it is. There’s no shame in rubbing it in sometimes. My son is 4 and he knows after a few weekends intently watching gps that ham is great. And he was rooting for Raikkonen just because he managed to go faster than the grey car in Monza. So yeah, Ham. He had two things to do during the race and he did them brilliantly (start well, defend smartly when overtaking the lapped cars)

    That’s said, I can’t wait to see Ham and Vet being joined by Leclerc and Verstappen in a championship fight.

  22. No driver stood out head and shoulders above the rest for me this weekend, with how the circuit is and how the race developed I don’t think anyone had the opportunity to shine during the race, but here are my main contenders.

    Hamilton continued his recent form with a great lap in qualifying to take a pole which didn’t seem to be on the cards before Q3, this provided the foundation for him to control the race and take a straightforward win.

    Verstappen had driveability problems with his engine all weekend but still delivered a great lap of his own in qualifying to take second on the grid, he lost out to Vettel at the start which seemed to be more down to the car than anything he did, but he managed to get back into second after the pit stops.

    Alonso managed to get the favoured spot of 11th in qualifying for mid field teams, which meant he had free tyre choice for the race which he used to help him finish best of the rest in seventh.

    In the end I voted for Verstappen, if I was looking at this weekend completely on its own I probably would have voted for Hamilton, but I voted for Hamilton last time whereas I haven’t voted for Verstappen this season, so that had an impact on my choice for this weekend. I suppose it may not be completely fair but that is one of the factors I take into consideration when it is a tight call.

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