Who was the best driver of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?

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Which driver did the best job during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?

See below for my pick of the best drivers in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Review each driver’s race weekend in detail below and vote for who you thought was the most impressive driver.

For your consideration

Here are some of the drivers who impressed me during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend:

Mark Webber – Seized the opportunity to win when it came his way with an impressively fast stint on worn tyres.

Fernando Alonso – Quick enough to grab points off the Red Bulls when they made a mistake.

Sebastian Vettel – The fastest driver of the weekend and solved his start-line problems.

Vitaly Petrov – Beat Robert Kubica in qualifying, quick in the race.

Kamui Kobayashi – Qualifying was a disaster but he made amends with a terrific first lap and a vital – but unseen – pass on Michael Schumacher at the restart.

Rubens Barrichello – Thwarted by strategy but his overtaking move on Schumacher was seriously brave stuff.

Compare all the drivers

You can review what happened to each driver in the race and compare their race data with their team mates using the links below:

McLaren: Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes: Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher
Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa
Williams: Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg
Renault: Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov
Force India: Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toro Rosso: Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari
Lotus: Jarno Trulli and Heikki Koalainen
HRT: Sakon Yamamoto and Bruno Senna
Sauber: Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa
Virgin: Timo Glock and Heikki Kovalainen

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver impressed you the most in the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?

  • Lucas di Grassi (0%)
  • Timo Glock (0%)
  • Kamui Kobayashi (13%)
  • Pedro de la Rosa (0%)
  • Bruno Senna (0%)
  • Sakon Yamamoto (0%)
  • Heikki Kovalainen (0%)
  • Jarno Trulli (0%)
  • Jaime Alguersuari (0%)
  • Sebastien Buemi (0%)
  • Vitantonio Liuzzi (0%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Vitaly Petrov (21%)
  • Robert Kubica (1%)
  • Nico H?â??lkenberg (1%)
  • Rubens Barrichello (7%)
  • Fernando Alonso (13%)
  • Felipe Massa (1%)
  • Mark Webber (33%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (3%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Michael Schumacher (2%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (3%)
  • Jenson Button (0%)

Total Voters: 2,794

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German Grand Prix result

Felipe Massa was voted the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend.

2010 Hungarian Grand Prix

    Browse all 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix articles

    Image (C) Bridgestone/Ercole Colombo

    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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    144 comments on “Who was the best driver of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?”

    1. For me it has to be Alonso – no matter what we may think of his personality. I don’t care how unfriendly to overtaking the track is, the Red Bulls were easily a full second quicker per lap. Alonso kept Vettel behind lap after lap after lap through sheer smoothness under pressure, barely making the Ferrari so much as twitch the wrong way all the way through. Nerves of steel driving.

      1. Vettel made Alonso look good, anyone with a car that is a sec per lap faster and cant pass should go back to bed, i always wondered why he wears that stupid hat, its his night cap isn’t it?

        i thought Vitaly Petrov did a pretty good job considering his in inexperience in F1.

        1. Disagree… track is second worst for overtaking. Vettel just couldnt do anything besides pressure Alonso… so Alonso deservse the credit completly

          1. I think Schumacher was the best :D LOL, jk he was completely wack.

          2. and what about Barichelo and Schumacher

        2. Mark Webber made Alonso look good, anyone with a car that is a sec per lap faster and cant pass should go back to bed

      2. I think some people are being a bit hard on Vettel. We saw very few passes yesterday that weren’t in the first lap or two, or immediately after the safety car came in.

        He was just under 0.7s per lap faster than Alonso when he caught him. To put that into perspective Barrichello was 2.6s/lap quicker than Schumacher when he went past the Mercedes.

        I realise Vettel hasn’t exactly got a history for being good at passing, but I keep the context in mind.

        1. be kind to Vettel?

          i just read something i havent seen anywhere else today and it said Vettel hit a track display card on the way in to the pits at the end of the race with his cars front wing out of frustration, now that is getting very childish.

          1. He hit the sine #3 as he parked his car.

            1. That was HILARIOUS! I was still laughing through the ad break…

          2. Well, he is pretty young and relatively unexperienced – Alonso was annoyed at Valencia and Silverstone too – it happens.

            It would be easy to not be impressed very much with Vettels driving this weekend, comparing the amount of pressure Barrichello was able to put on Schumacher, but he was on fresher tyres, and Alonso was in a much better car than Schumacher was. Barrichello also had a lot of reasons to want to overtake his former teammate. Vettel had a third place and good points in the championship to lose. He did get the start right, and didn’t do much wrong – I know the Dutch commenter was quite surprised about that SC car rule, thinking it was only about the 1st car staying close.

        2. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
          2nd August 2010, 20:20

          I think that it should be either Kobayashi for his mammoth 14 place gain or Petrov for a fantastic 5th place

    2. I was going to go for Webber but after that gutsy overtake my vote goes to Barrichello – he drove an amazing long stint on medium tyres and of course his charge and overtake on Schumacher to get a point is surely one of the highlights of the season.

      1. I went with Webber, as he seemed to be staying cool on Friday and Saturday, even though he could not beat Vettel, and then gripped the race by the throat to make it a decisive win at this stage in the season to get the lead in both championships.

        But Alonso did a goed job of staying close and keeping Vettel behind, Vettel did a perfect qualifying lap, had a good getaway and drove some fast laps, but he lost the lead by his own making. Petrov had a very good weekend, giving him a solig chance for next year. Kobayashi and de la Rosa both made it work perfectly for Sauber. And Nico Hulkenberg finally got some rewards for a good drive as well.

        1. And Barricello might win back some fans from a great and daring pass on “cutoff” Schumacher

          1. All good points. For me it was between Petrov and Webber, they didn’t have a great qualifying, but they grabbed the chances they got when their teammates couldn’t put in their best performance.

            Huelkenberg is a bit similar, I think he has been improving together with the Williams, and stopped making mistakes during the race.

            I am wondering if a large part of performing well in the race is making a good start to get out of the 11-14 place fights, where a lot of the action happens in the first stage of a race, with people trying to get into points scoring positions, and the cars having similar pace.

      2. While Barrichello’s pass was brilliant, he’s not DOTD material because he didn’t make his late-stop strategy work. He couldn’t pull away from Petrov and Hulk, and he paid the price.

        My DOTD is easily Mark Webber – his performance yesterday reminds me of another Hungarian masterpiece – 1998 and Schumi.

        1. Well, it would have worked much better for him if it wasn’t for the safety car. Anyone starting on the harder tyres sees their strategical advantage negated (to the point where it is a disadvantage) once a safety car comes out at that point in the race.

    3. I put Webber over Petrov in this one. Webbo for his stunning stint on worn soft tires, Petrov for incredibly clean, smart and error-free drive, which is by the way a trademark of Kubica.

      1. come one, his car was miles faster than everyone else (except vettel who he was considerably faster still). mark just did a solid job after a rubbish start – in the best car in the field.

        i voted for kobayashi who was really unlucky to be blocked by senna in Q1 and once again was a real racer during the race

        1. William Wilgus
          2nd August 2010, 13:56

          I agree completely. Hands down, Kobayashi put in the best driving performance.

        2. And Vettel lost a sure-win in the same car. See the difference?

          1. the forum topic is best driver, not the luckiest or indeed the stupidest

    4. Alonso, for sure, To keeep Vettel behind like he did is not for anyone. He didn’t comit a single error all that time.

    5. Hamiton 3 for retirement? I think more vote will come from blind followers.

      1. Remember it’s not just about the race – it’s about the whole weekend and, compared to his team mate, Hamilton clearly got a lot more out of the car.

        Having said that, I didn’t vote for him!

        For me the real surprise is that two people have voted for Button. I can’t think of anything positive to say about his weekend other than he didn’t crash.

        1. … he also got some points…

          yeah, bad weekend for Button

        2. Button will finnish further up the leader board this weekend!!

      2. Now Schumacher got 10 votes. Wow. LOL

        1. Maybe some avid fans were happy to see him back to one of his strong points again, bullying the others off track?

        2. I was surprised with how Schumi fans were proud of his defensive move on Barichello. I really do not know how they can be proud of it. Firstly, it was dangerous, unsportsmanlike, and illegal, and secondly, he still didn’t manage to keep Rubens behind him. In my books thats an EPIC FAIL.

          But Schumi fans will be Schumi fans.

          1. Maybe he got 10 votes for apologising to Barrichello 2 days after the race. As far as I can tell this is the first time he has ever done anything like that, it shows personal growth.

            1. Personal growth for Schumacher would be, if he did not try to take another car out. His apology is just another way of damage limitation to his terrible reputation.

      3. Well he qualified way ahead of Button. Then there was the overtake manouver on Petrov on the outside into turn two and finally he closed the gap to Massa and overtook him in the pitstop.

        He also managed to pull away from Massa after the pitstop despite the Ferrari clearly being the quicker car at the moment. He might even have managed a podium finish if the gearbox handn’t let him down, as Vettel only just managed to get out ahead of Massa after his drive through.

        All in all I would call it a good day at the office despite sitting in a slower car.

        Best regards
        Soren

        1. My point is that, we have to choose one driver and I think there were number of driver who did better than Hamilton/Schumi. For example, Webber great series of fastest laps to stay ahead of Alonso. Alonso’s effort to stay ahead of Vettel. Kobayashi, Barrichello, Petrov. Why Hamilton and Schumi? That is blindness.

          1. There’s no doubt that Webber had a very good drive, but then again he was in a very competitive car and was lucky to take advantage of Vettels stupid mistake.

            Alonso did ok to stay ahead of Vettel, but then again it’s not the most difficult track to defend your position on is it?. Vettel had to wait for a mistake from Alonso, but he didn’t make any, so that was well done by Alonso.

            In the end I value overtaking manouvers more than defensive driving, because it’s so difficult on Hungaroring. If I shouldn’t pick Hamilton for this one, my next pick would be Rubens for his gutsy move on Schumacher.

            Best regards
            Soren

          2. PS: I agree that Petrov drove a nice race, but he did loose a position when Hamilton overtook him, on a circuit that is quite easy to defend your position on. When Hamilton put some pressure on him into turn one, he did loose his cool and his back end slightly out of turn one, and that’s a small deduction i my book. I’m not saying it was a bad race from Petrov though. :)

            1. I’ve read I think it was on the ITV site where Petrov said his tires hadn’t heated up yet, so he decided to let Hamilton back past rather than defend and put himself offline too much and risk loosing two places. Very mature and prudent I would think, given Hamilton’s speed at that corner. As Brundle said, Hamilton was always going to go outside through that corner, whether Petrov was there or not. But with Petrov there, obviously the risk of a clash would have been there as well.

            2. It was an opportunistic pass by Hamilton. With all his overtaking, I have turned in a real Hamilton fanboy this year.

      4. And what has a retirement due to a technical failure got to do with the driver’s performance?!?

        1. Driving is about more than just being fast, you also have to be mechanically sympathetic. Have you ever noticed how Button has less mechanical failures than just about every team mate he ever has? Similarly, there are some drivers in the field I just wouldn’t back to get a wounded car across the finish line. Vettel also seems to be quite hard on his equipment, I think Webber used to be, but part of his improvement as a driver has been improving that trait.

    6. Mark Webber for me, after being stiched up by Red Bull at the safety car to push for a big enough gap to gain a free pitstop and then run of with the race.

      Alonso did a good job also. He was very nice and happy this race particularly after Hamilton retired!

      1. Well, Hamilton was the championship leader. Next time he’ll be happy when Webber retires. Everybody knows who is the dangerous one, as Vettel at Hockenheim, that he went to Alonso’s side and forgot Massa.

      2. Webber also made one of the best radio transmissions of the race “that feels good” or something alike when lapping Michael Schumacher!

        I also liked Massa asking weather they are going to catch Webber or whatever (when Webber was barging away from Alonso with a second per lap after his pitstop)

        1. That moment from Massa on the radio reminded me of Vettel in Montreal, asking if he needed to overtake anyone for the win and hearing that was everyone ahead.

    7. DEfintely Schumacher is the driver of the weekend by proving who really is

      1. Who really is what?

        1. schumi_the_greatest
          2nd August 2010, 13:57

          Slightly off topic…the shumacher-barrichello incident

          Keith have you noticed a growing trend of drivers who still try and overtake on the inside even when the driver in front moves to cover the inside line? Think Vettel-Webber turkey and the rubens-shumi incident yesterday

          Also on your point about button…he does need to learn how to get the maximum from the car even if it means abandoning his smooth style because when the car isnt quick enough he wont collect enough points relative to hamilton

          1. Barrichello went around the outside!

      2. Maybe after saying Sorry to Rubens there is some good part in him
        http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85828

        1. That amkes me feel a fair bit better about defending him ^^

    8. Petrov – he was right in the zone from the moment he stepped into the car. It was like a completely different person was driving the car compared to what we’d seen. There were flashes of promise in China and Turkey and again in Britain and Germany, but in Hungary the stars aligned and he showed us what he was made of. Hopefully it will come as a huge boost to his confidence and we’ll see more of it in the future; Robert Kubica plus the Petrov we saw in Hungary will make Renault a force to be reckoned with in the future.

      1. Agree, Petrov drove a nice race and deserved his points – I wonder how this will effect his “driving for his job” situation with the team.

        I liked Alonso’s defense against Vettal, but I think the track helped him a lot with his defense – still a good drive!

        Webber deserves credit for the long stint on the super-softs.

    9. I hate to admit it, but I found Vitaly’s performance to be almost Petrov-ying this weekend.

      1. Agree. It was a Vital-y performance.

        Rubens Balls-ichello gets the moment of the weekend though and Felipe was Mass-ively annonymous.

        Dammit Geoffrey, how are your puns always so smooth? :P

        1. HA HA!

          Good effort there, Steph!

    10. Webber, Petrov and kobayashi were all great but i’ll go with Webber. That middle stint with those consecutive fastest laps won the race for him. Brilliant driving…

      1. My sentiments exactly. Petrov impressed, Kobayashi continues to impress, but Webber was simply awesome after the safety car. Vettel was actually equally impressive throughout the weekend, but he really shouldn’t be making basic mistakes anymore at this point.

        Hulkenburg also did a very good job, but somehow he did it without being noticed (a worthy successor to Rosberg already in that respect).

    11. That’s a no brainer: Webber.

      I’d go as far to say one of the best drives of the season.

      1. Also, when Vettel wasn’t sleeping his speed and consistency was utterly captivating as well as devastating.

        Lewis out-driving what is clearly a dog of a car at this type of circuit. As ever a great team player and not complaining about the situation. Impressive maturity from little Hamilton.

        1. Floda Reltih
          3rd August 2010, 2:45

          *Yawn*……stop fawning

    12. Petrov – the best driver after RBR and Ferrari…

      1. You getting best driver and best cars mixed up surely ;-)

        Agree Petrov, he did the best job of his F1 career to date.

        I voted Rubens, drove well in a car that wasn’t up to much.

    13. Chris Goldsmith
      2nd August 2010, 13:09

      Alonso put up a brilliant fight. I’m a big fan of Alonso, but even I thought it would just be a formality for Vettel to pass him once he’d caught up. But he defended his position and used the strengths of the Ferrari to make it impossible for Vettel to overtake, to consolidate a solid second place, and proved that Ferrari’s decision to back him as the lead driver for the rest of the season was a wise one.

      However for me, the driver of the day was emphatically Mark Webber. He displayed an amazing consistency and speed in the laps following the safety car, not once looking like running wide or missing a braking point. Webber has put on some mesmerising performances this year, absolutely worth of the champion I think he’s going to become. He put in the hot laps when it mattered, and was able to do so because he had the sense to save fuel when he was held up in the opening part of the GP. A championship winning performance.

      1. Agree totally. Sure Webber is in the fastest car, but as Vettel proves so emphatically time and time again, being in the fastest car does not necessarily mean you will win. Alonso also did a fantastic job, and I think Rubens deserves a special shout out as well.

    14. I thought this was quite a tough one to decide, but in the end I went for Webber. Brilliant laps when it counted and didn’t put a foot wrong all race. For a weekend where Vettel seemed to have quite an advantage over Mark, it’s significant that he managed to win.

      Alonso also did a great job to split the Red Bulls, and even to be in with a sniff of the victory for a while but for the durability of the softer tyre.

      Petrov, Hulkenberg, De La Rosa and Kobayashi also had great races, and Barrichello would have as well but for the safety car spoiling the strategy somewhat. Also a shout out to Nico Rosberg, made the most of a diffcult Mercedes and drove the wheels off the thing…

      Oh, and according to the poll results, Senna has 0% with 1 vote, yet Di Grassi has 1% with zero votes. How?!

      1. “For a weekend where Vettel seemed to have quite an advantage over Mark, it’s significant that he managed to win.” T

        hat made it so tough for me to decide. I thought for a while but went for Alo as he was on it all weekend. Webber really deserved that victory yesterday though.

      2. That is a bad pun on Rosberg! But I laughed.

    15. Hard to call this weekend, Vettel was the king of qualifying again and probably would have won without his mistake behind the safety car, whereas the laps Webber put in to build a gap before his stop were just mighty and then Petrov out qualifying Kubica who has been very impressive this season and then achieving his best result in the race.

    16. Younger Hamilton
      2nd August 2010, 13:17

      Lewis Definetely got everything out of the car this weekend.

      1. Not going to blame it on Alonso?

        1. lol!

          And for me, it’s Webber by a hair ahead of Koby, Petrov, and Teflonso.

          If he wasn’t asleep during the SC period, Vettel would have been the best by a country mile. Sure the RB6 is quickest, but in his hands, it’s freakin devastating.

      2. Floda Reltih
        3rd August 2010, 2:48

        What is it with you fan boys?? he barely featured this weekend (with exception of a good qualy performance) and you still feel the urge to blather on about him

    17. why vote for webber? i was about to until i read that he thought it was an ‘easy’ drive to victory.

    18. keith how come some of the divers with ‘0 votes’ have longer bars in the graph than drivers with 1 vote?

      1. It’s just a CSS glitch.

        1. ah ok. no probs.

    19. Chris Goldsmith
      2nd August 2010, 13:35

      DiGrassi is on -2% now

      I didn’t think he had a bad race!

      1. LOL! He wasn’t that bad!

        1. And now he’s only -1%!

    20. Vettel: The fast driver of the week but he commited a mistake which costed him two positions (in my opinion he could regain the lead if he was not stuck behind Alonso after the drive through).
      Webber: He was slower than his team mate.
      Alonso: Faster than his team mate and no mistake. Although I don´t consider keeping a 1 second faster car behind you at Hungary an achievement, he was for me the best driver.

    21. I voted for Pedro de la Rosa for holding off the Current world champians McLaren-Mercedes. first points too

      1. McLaren the current world champions?

        Is that a prediction?

    22. schumi_the_greatest
      2nd August 2010, 14:04

      i voted for vettel because apart from that lapse behind the safety car he was blindingly quick all weekend! must be frustrating the last 2 grand prix hes been alot quicker than webber but he hasnt recored a victory and only 1 wins from 7 poles is a pretty poor return.

      Seems to be doing his best to throw this championship away….i know hes young but he needs to learn to convert his promise into points if hes to become the multiple world champion alot of people are predicting

      1. See to me, the reasons you mentioned are exactly why Vettel was *not* the driver of the weekend…

    23. Weekend: Vettel. A dumb error to lose position, if it really was an error, but he was fast over the circuit. However still a question mark as to why he couldn’t get past Alonso – or rather if someone else could have, given the RBR.

      Hamilton’s pass on Petrov was also pretty coolly done. Barrichello’s pass on Schumacher was courageous, no excuse for MS, but Rubens did have a fairly good idea he’d get squeezed but went for it anyway.

    24. Petrov. Felled the mighty Kubica for once. Except for doing little more than quietly thinking of England when Hamilton made his move, he did a good job.

      Can’t vote for Webber. A trained monkey, or I, could have driven that rocketship to victory. Practically.

      Honorable mention to Kobayashi, for taking advantage of every opportunity before him, though missing the weigh-in signal was inexcusable and should have had him excluded.

      Hamilton gets some points because he was getting the tenths out of that car that the Button couldn’t find with a flashlight, and was on his way to finishing ahead of a Ferrari until the car broke, which was far more than that team could have expected.

      Alonso gets some points for finally, a totally clean weekend, and thus being there to clean up the points that RBR always, always negligently leaves lying about. I don’t give him a rave for keeping Vettel behind. Vettel was flying off the track and flailing around behind the Ferrari, and did not look like a guy who knows how to set up a pass on an experienced defender with a massively superior car at his disposal. Weak sauce from Sebastian Vettel. He and Schumacher tie for goats of the race.

      1. So you could have done 27 laps on old tyres, making over 23 seconds on Alonso, with no mistakes?
        I’d be impressed to see that and why haven’t McLaren signed you up yet?
        Seriously, it’s very easy to assume anyone could do what an F1 driver does.
        Petrov had a great weekend, worked hard in practice to improve, excellent qualifying under pressure from his team boss, over took Hamilton at the start and his best finish yet.

        1. The point he was probably trying to make was that in that car, he shouldn’t have needed to leapfrog Alonso after a bad first half of the race- he should have been ahead of him anyway. On the other hand, we can’t get too silly with who could’ve won the race in the Red Bull.

        2. Think about this: If Yamamoto is roughly, supposedly 1 second off Senna’s pace, and even considering that Senna is no Webber, then Yamamoto could won or come second in that car. And I have no doubt that the RB6 was even faster than it showed in Hungary. Webber’s tires were just fine after his efforts to put a pit-delta gap on Alonso–no graining, no stripes.

          Webber is a very, very quick driver, but you don’t get driver of the race in my book for gallopping to victory on thoroughbred while your competitors are trotting on old plow horses (excuse the pun).

    25. Not sure how anyone can vote for either RBR driver after the both made fundamental errors.

      The car is just so fast one of them (or both) got away with it.

      There were probably 6 drivers that didn’t make an error. I always try a weigh about 80% of the weekend to the race. Pointless Pole if you don’t convert it.

      1. What was Webber’s error?

        1. Maybe a bit harsh but didn’t get a clean lap in Quali (he admitted himself), resulting in a poor start from the dirty side of the grid, which I suppose was likely to happen, but there were others on the dirty side that maintained their positions, so I think others did a better job with inferior cars.

          1. He lost ONE position, and that was to Alonso, who’s a demon starter – and the RB6 is not particularly quick at getting out of the blocks.

            Webber and the team made the gamble – and it was a huge gamble, for all they knew those softs could have gone off after another five laps – and he made it work. Clockwork driving, reeling off fastest laps while ensuring there were no lockups, no oversteery exits (and there are PLENTY of those corners at Hungary) to ensure minimal punishment on tyres.

            Then again, if you were sensible, I wouldn’t need to explain all that, and the reason why he deserves a mention.

      2. @BBT: I think you’re forgetting that someone has to drive the car…

    26. As it is of the weekend I said Alonso. Petrov was clsoe to getting my vote though because he was absolutely nailing sector 1 all weekend and was looking very sharp across the three days and he has Kubica as a teammate.

      I expected 3rd from Ferrari. They had some luck but Alonso was at the maximum. I don’t think Felipe was that far off this weekend at all except unsuaully, quali seems to be his downfall this year while Alonso is banging out the laptimes. I thought it would be the other way around. It was a typical Alonso performance of getting everything from the car and then waiting for others to make mistakes and pick up the pieces.

      Webber- I think with Alonso he was tied for driver of the day on Sunday but he wasn’t at seb’s level in terms of pace. I so enarly gave him driver of the weekend because, as we saw last weekend, pace isn’t everything and he made a huge gamble work.

      It was very close between Webber, Alonso and Petrov but because he made no errors and did everything he could I’d say Alonso but only just. Webber was completely deserving of the win though and unlike last weekend, it was nice to see just how many drivers did well rather than pick the one who made the least mistakes.

      1. I agree that Alonso did a very good job, no mistakes, got everything out of it that he could have, always on the pace, and keeping Vettel behind, even if Vettel might have made that easier then it could have been. But I think Webber was being fast all weekend, even if not as fast as Vettel for most of it, and that long stint of his was absolutely great work, he kept driving until he was absolutely sure they could make the pit-stop. His tyres were about gone, but he still kept his pace up.

    27. For me, it’s definately Alonso. The Red Bulls had a significantly faster car, yet Vetel couldn’t even finish in the top 2. Webber scraped a win because his team didn’t bring him in under the safety car, leaving his “1 second a lap faster” car in clean air. Alonso, despite the disadvantage stayed with the Red Bulls and did brilliantly to take second.

      1. And its funny that despite not picking up a win this week, I feel that he did a far better job (and I’m more pleased with him) than at the Hockenheim.

        1. And on the podium, he looked more pleased with himself too!

      2. Honourable mentions: Hulkenberg, Petrov, Kobayashi, De La Rosa, Hamilton.

    28. I voted for LH (for the whole weekend) because: both RBR’s have so great advantage that it is a total failure when they don’t finish 1-2; Alonso held position, but as he said “you can drive the whole lap as you want, but you only need to be quick out of the last corner” – so it is really not much of an achievement IMHO, where Massa just drove around in the manner “looking for tyres, saving the fuel, collecting points bla bla”; Button is not worth mentioning as mush as a couple of guys who scored points just because some others like Rosberg, Kubica, LH etc. were not in the points; Kobayashi was great at the race (but only at the race); Petrov was excellent in many terms but he drove something similar to Alonso’s (hold everyone behind) – I wouldn’t like to be passed by LH like he was. So, LH tested on friday as everyone else, did far better then JB at saturday (JB was wondering where did LH find this pace in Q3 with the same car), he almost had a good start but made it up by passing Vitaly, passing Massa (pits) and maintaining the pace close to Massa (which is something, having in mind what car he has). If there were no technical issues, he might finish 3rd – which will then make it obvious who was “the driver for the weekend”.

      1. Yes, Schumacher showed just how easy it is to come out of that last corner consistently fast. Remember, he’d kept Barichello behind for four or five laps doing exactly that and Barichello stood no chance of passing anywhere else on the circuit.

    29. Has to be Petrov for me, i have criticised him all year for not performing and this weekend he had to deliver and he did, performing strongly in practice, out qualified his team mate for the first time, and had a solid race on top of that. Just wish he could have kept lewis behind for a bit longer.

      1. He probably could have kept him behind longer, but he knew he had no chance to finish the race in front of him and didn’t want to risk losing more places.

    30. Vettel: Incredibly fast.
      Webber: Awesome laps on the worn tyres, seized the opportunity.
      Petrov: Flawless race, well-deserved 5th.
      Hulkenberg: -||-
      Kobayashi: Awesome start.

    31. Red Bull drivers have to do an awful lot to stand out given they have such a superior car. Webber did some fast laps? In the RB? Even Schumi could be fast in that car.
      Alonso merits consideration for a good start, for making no mistakes and for coming 2nd in 3rd-fastest car. But no greatness.
      Petrov had a good weekend, but we know now that the Renault is a decent car at some tracks.
      Kobayashi did a great job moving up so many places, but that included passing a lot of weak drivers.
      That leaves Rubens. The commenter who called his pass on Schumi a certain highlight of the year got it right. An utterly fearless move against a man with on obvious complex about being passed by his former underling. One driver still has it; the other clearly does not. Rubens is star of the race.

    32. I voted Senna, he pulled out a second a lap on his team-mate and almost lapped him in a car that looked horrifying to drive this weekend.

      Petrov and Hulkenburg had great weekends also and hats off to them, but let’s face it, they have quick cars and should be in and around those positions.

    33. Charles Carroll
      2nd August 2010, 16:32

      I voted for Kobayashi, for how well he sliced through the field and into the points.

      Reminds me of two other drivers who have driven their way through the field after bad qualifying runs, ending up in the points. One was Alonso, the other was Button. Both are world champions.

      Coincidence? Perhaps. But either way, Koby is exciting.

      1. I agree wholeheartedly.

        1. Me too. I hope that either Sauber improve their car dramatically or young Kamui moves to a team like Renault or Mercedes next year. I really want to see him battling in the top 10 all the time.

    34. Milka Duno award goes to Schumacker…Vettel will walk all over everyone in Spa.

      1. Michael Schumacher is doing terrible by his and his teammate’s standards.

        Milka Duno is terrible by junior go-karting standards.

        1. ya but Milka is still nicer to look at…but Mikey will always be the rain master

    35. For me the best was Webber. He did an incredible job, putting more than 20 secs.

      Sure RBRs were untouchable this weekend… But VET was TOUCHABLE.

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/idrs/

      1. Lol, funny pictures there.

    36. Seriously, who keeps voting for Yamamoto, or as Will Buxton calls him DJDNF?! Is someone just pulling shenanigans? Three votes!

    37. Odd that Hulkenberg get so few votes comapred to Petrov. Hulkenberg finished closely behind Petrov in what is arguably a much lesser car.

      1. and well ahead of Rubens too.

    38. I voted for Kobayashi because I figured nobody else would. Turns out I was wrong. Mark Webber, however, is turning out to be the driver of the year for me.

    39. Hülkenberg has only 1% of the vote… he was immense!

      1. Charles Carroll
        3rd August 2010, 14:21

        Nico had a good race. But because I think it was a rather quiet race for him, not as many paid attention.

        A nice drive for him, to be sure, but not the most exciting.

    40. It pains me to say it but Vettel. Plonker of the race for the third GP running, yes, and I loathe the guy, but he was so fast this weekend as a whole. Webber was better in the race but I’d be lying to myself if I ignored Vettel.

      Petrov drove a peach of a weekend also.

      1. How can Vettel be the best ‘driver’ after he made such a bad driving error?

        Yes, he was bloody quick as always, but being a racing driver means using your head sometimes as well.

    41. It was Mark for me. He drove brilliantly on those tyres for 43 laps … It was risky and it paid off. Also have to mention Petrov and Kobayashi.

    42. Jenson Button.

      No I’m joking. Petrov.

    43. The best in that race: Adrian Newey

    44. Defensive driving has to be much more difficult particularly when defending a position,Alonso did this for 32 laps against a car much faster.

    45. STRFerrari4Ever
      2nd August 2010, 21:10

      I voted for Vettel despite all the bashing he’s been receiving on many forums and websites. Ever since the cars hit the track during FP1 you knew that he was going to be on it throughout the weekend. Qualifying proved it, the lap he did was just sensational.
      The race at first was a walk in the park a masterclass by Vettel. Then the drive through penalty and the built up rage, he did pretty well to stay in control other drivers would’ve just rammed into Alonso or pushed way too hard and sent it into the tyre wall but he didn’t. I don’t care if other people disagree I think Seb was fantastic during the entire Hungarian GP weekend and was unfortunate not to get the 25 points he deserved.

      1. he did pretty well to stay in control other drivers would’ve just rammed into Alonso or pushed way too hard and sent it into the tyre wall but he didn’t.

        He did throw the car off the track at turn four and squander his best chance of passing Alonso though.

      2. Jraybay-HamiltonMclarenfan
        3rd August 2010, 1:04

        :P it was a good weekend for vettel. he was fast. But what other drivers would run into alonso or send it into the tire wall??

      3. “was unfortunate not to get the 25 points he deserved”

        but he was not unfortunate, he made a driving mistake in the race behind the SC and then complained petulantly as he drove down the pit lane. If that’s what the best driver of the weekend did, I must have missed what all the others’ actions.

    46. Hamilton simply because he pulled everything out of that mclaren in quali. If you imagine he didnt retire he might have managed a podium 3rd with vettels 10 second penalty.

      1. Floda Reltih
        3rd August 2010, 2:51

        Seriously??….you gotta be kidding?…over Webber, Alonso, Petrov, Kobayashi?……

        fan boys…. *rolling eyes*

        1. Far outclassing his teammate and doing pretty well to be in P4 when he retired and indeed Vettel might have ended up behind him giving him a podium finish.

          I guess one could ask the same of you. What did Webebr do that was so great? Drive in the fastest car needing a lucky safety car to get him back in front?

          Alonso? Actually can’t even think of anything there besides being slightly faster than Massa.

          Petrov sure he did well, but this track particularly suits the Renault. So maybe he actually underperformed. For instance Hulkenberg did better being right behind Petrov in a slower car.

          So why mention petrov and not Hulkenberg? Fan boy maybe?

          Kobayashi? Best for missing the weigh-in throwing him to the back of the field? How can such a blundering driver be the best of the weekend?

          So you see, there is always something to say for or against every driver. In the end most people will vote for the guy with the most points (even if he is in the fastest car by at least a second lap)

      2. According to your definition, Why don’t you pick anyone from new teams, who are getting most out of slowest cars?

        “If you imagine”. LOL. You will live in “imaginations” and “IF” for your god Hamilton.

    47. US Williams Fan
      2nd August 2010, 22:14

      Picked kobayashi.

      I was quite impressed with his race – though his qualifying was sub-par.

      certainly think that sauber, as a team, has come a long way since Bahrain.

      I was also impressed with Webber, Alonso, and Petrov.

      Good race overall….. many surprises/

    48. Jraybay-HamiltonMclarenfan
      3rd August 2010, 0:58

      Kamui with a charge through the field in a sauber : D

    49. Jraybay-HamiltonMclarenfan
      3rd August 2010, 0:59

      Oh also I liked webbers race too. The laps he put in to stay in front of alonso were excellent

    50. Jraybay-HamiltonMclarenfan
      3rd August 2010, 1:05

      Hey Yamamoto 4 votes :P

    51. It should be Webber but I voted Barrichello.

    52. Voted Webbo. He was given one shot at victory in the race and seized it. Pretty much everyone jumped in the pits to get fresh primes. Webber made his options last half a race and looking at his times, he might’ve had a few more laps in them. I don’t think this should be taken for granted really. Williams kept BAR out on his primes as long as possible because they were afraid the options wouldn’t last long enough.

      It’s the Hungaroring, everyone knows beforehand that there isn’t going to be much overtaking.

      If everyone is going to keep on moaning the rest of the races because the RB6 is ridiculously fast (let’s wait and see about that in Spa and Monza though), have fun with that, but take a moment to breathe, and think of how many WDC were won in a car that wasn’t worth a top-3 ranking teamwise. You can’t blame a team of engineers for developing a fast F1-car. If people believe it should be all about the drivers, then a spec-car series is your best shot I guess.

      1. Charles Carroll
        4th August 2010, 14:43

        I’m not sure the Yam would win in Webber’s car though.

    53. For me it has to be Webber. *Yes* he has the fastest car, but he took a huge risk by not pitting and drove spectacularly for lap after lap, risking punctures to his (very) worn tyres and risking the chance of another safety car (which if it had been timed badly or come before he had enough lead to make his pitstop would have cost him him everything) in order to gamble for the lead.

      He took a huge risk and it worked. Yes some luck went his way (with Vettel’s penalty) but how often does a driver win a race (or world championship) without some luck?

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