Vote for your British Grand Prix driver of the weekend

Debates and Polls

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Start, Silverstone, 2011

Who was the most impressive driver throughout the British Grand Prix weekend?

See below for my pick of the best drivers in the British 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 British Grand Prix weekend:

Fernando Alonso – Had the pace to challenge Vettel even without Red Bull’s pit stop problem.

Mark Webber – Put one over Vettel in qualifying and ignored Red Bull’s instructions not to race him.

Lewis Hamilton – Back to his best: great overtaking moves early on and brilliantly rebuffed Massa’s late attack.

Nico Rosberg – Did his usual quiet but solid job.

Sergio Perez – An excellent drive by the rookie for his best result yet.

Compare all the drivers

Review what happened to each driver over the race weekend and compare their performances with their team mates using the links below:

Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber
McLaren: Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa
Mercedes: Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher
Renault: Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov
Williams: Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado
Force India: Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta
Sauber: Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez
Toro Rosso: Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari
Lotus: Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen
HRT: Daniel Ricciardo and Vitantonio Liuzzi
Virgin: Timo Glock and Jerome d’Ambrosio

Vote for your driver of the weekend

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

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

  • Jerome d'Ambrosio (0%)
  • Timo Glock (0%)
  • Vitantonio Liuzzi (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Jarno Trulli (0%)
  • Heikki Kovalainen (0%)
  • Jaime Alguersuari (1%)
  • Sebastien Buemi (0%)
  • Sergio Perez (6%)
  • Kamui Kobayashi (0%)
  • Paul di Resta (1%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Rubens Barrichello (0%)
  • Vitaly Petrov (0%)
  • Nick Heidfeld (0%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Michael Schumacher (5%)
  • Felipe Massa (1%)
  • Fernando Alonso (53%)
  • Jenson Button (1%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (22%)
  • Mark Webber (8%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (2%)

Total Voters: 490

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European Grand Prix result

Fernando Alonso was voted the best driver of the European Grand Prix weekend:

1. Fernando Alonso – 32.6%
2. Sebastian Vettel – 27.6%
3. Jaime Alguersuari – 25.7%

Rate the Race: British Grand Prix

Don’t forget to cast your vote in the ‘rate the race’ poll as well:

2011 British Grand Prix

    Browse all 2011 British Grand Prix articles

    Image © Red Bull/Getty images

    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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    156 comments on “Vote for your British Grand Prix driver of the weekend”

    1. Narain Karthikeyan had a storming race this weekend… ;) Cant believe the overtakes he made!

      1. Yeah, he was brilliant, wasn’t he?

      2. Yep, he didn’t put a foot wrong!

      3. His best race so far!

      4. Not only did he not race, someone even voted him!

        1. Didn’t Ricciardo get a spot Keith? Not that he would win it, but he might have a chance at beating Narain to it :-/

      5. Apologies for the oversight of leaving out Ricciardo, have put him in and deleted Karthikeyan.

        1. Karthikeyan just refuses to go away, the HRT hyperlink under “Compare all the Drivers” still shows his name!

          1. Not any more it doesn’t :-)

            1. Sakon should be on the list too :D

            2. Seeing as how this is driver of the weekend, shouldn’t the Friday testers be on the list as well?

      6. So he pays to get on the polls as well. He never stops.

        1. So he pays to get on the polls as well. He never stops.

          LOL.

    2. Alonso for me. Previous victories against Vettel haven’t been as dominant as this. He was helped by the pit stop, but he kept pulling away. With Ferrari improving in previous races, I expect to see more from him in the remainder of the season.

      1. Agreed. Webber was great over the weekend as well, but a terrible start and not being able to make the move on Vettel lost my vote. Has to be Alonso.

        1. Yeah, easy choise this time. Webber beat Vettel to pole and called Horners bluf. Vettel snatched the lead at the start and kept Webber behind in the end and kept them both on track.

          Maldonado had a stunning qualification but his Williams faded away after that. DiResta’s cool crashed with Sutils tyres being prepared.
          Kobayashi had some nice moves, but it was a bit rough today. Perez did a very good job again to pop up in 7th. Both Mercedes cars look less hopeless. Massa had some solid moves and a very nice scrap at the end. Shame about the pitstop and debris wreaking his floor.
          It goes to Alonso, who got most out of qualifying the car would allow and won convincingly.

          1. I agree with what all of you have said, Alonso for me too.

            Hamilton by the way had a great race, did all he could there, but he didn’t do it on Saturday. I think that actually Button did a really good job getting 4th on the grid on Saturday; his race was also solid until his team let him down. But compared to Alonso, this weekend, he loses out.

            1. Button – 5th you mean?

      2. I say this as a Hamilton fan: Alonso’s drive was stunning and it reminded me of some of the all-time F1 greats. I was in complete shock at what he was able to do once he took the lead, and at a circuit with several high speed corners nonetheless. This was arguably the drive of the season.

        He benefited from Vettel’s pit stop, but that shouldn’t go against him when considering who the best driver was. Alonso’s pace was so impressive that Horner believed Alonso would have won regardless of Vettel’s pit stop (BBC F1 Forum).

        There were some good drives today, notably Hamilton’s, but Alonso was by far the best driver of the day.

        1. Yup – Alonso, Hamilton, Webber would be my top 3 for Silverstone.

      3. Alonso is in an impressive shape for quite a while now. Just look at the drivers of the weekend votes for the last I don’t know, 20 races or so and Alonso is the name that (almost) always comes up. Really hope he will get another one or two titles before he retires.

      4. Alonso. Ferrari ain’t Red Bull but he kept their pace.

        1. Alonso’s drive was awesome, when he is on form no one can touch him. Agree with all the statements above. In any other circumstance I would have voted for him without even thinking about it, but I voted for Webber just for having the cojones to ignore team orders. Oh, and for getting pole of course, and keeping Vettel honest.

    3. Alonso, but I voted Hamilton because I’m feeling biased today.

      1. Laranja Mecanica
        11th July 2011, 21:15

        Who “brilliantly rebuffed Massa’s late attack” by ramming him out of the track, I guess with an onboard bazooka he would have been even more brilliant. Yup, my vote is also for Hamilton as the best demolition derby pilot. I would vote him as the worst F1 pilot ever if only he was one of them.

        1. Like Stefano Domenicali said, that’s racing.

          1. I agree that it’s racing and was fantastic to see such great wheel-to-wheel racing from both those drivers. But I still certainly wouldn’t characterise breaking too late and sliding into the side of the car trying to get passed as a “brilliant rebuff”. A great drive from Hamilton none the less.

            For me though, the race has to go to Alonso, fantastic drive from him, even without the mistake made by the redbull pit crew I feel he would have probably taken it, we were robbed of an interesting battle *sigh*. Now if only Ferrari can find a way to not compromise Massa’s strategy at the same time.

            1. Andy G (@toothpickbandit)
              12th July 2011, 9:03

              How did he brake too late? He braked before Massa. If Massa wanted to get past him he should have recognised Hamilton was going to go wide and undercut him, rather than cut across him at the corner leaving Hamilton with nowhere to go. Complete racing incident.

            2. Certainly it was a racing incident, just saying I wouldn’t have categorised it as a “brilliant rebuff”. Not to say it wasn’t good and exciting racing.

              Looking at the incident, Massa leaves plenty of room for Hamilton, Hamilton slides into Massa. This indicates to me, that Hamilton braked too late, had to break too hard in order to make the corner and locks up as a result. You can clearly see the lock up on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL9MKP_1GX0 starting at a bout 0:48

            3. All I saw was a car that was low on fuel, having to come of the throttle early in to corners for several laps, having lost a LOT of tire temperature having an inside front wheel lock up on the kerb. Something that had been happening every lap for a few laps before hand too. Something, no doubt, Massa would have been aware of before making the move to pass.

              For me, it’s a plain and simple racing incident. No need for ‘but Hamilton clearly braked too late blah blah’.

              As Keith put it, a “brilliant rebuff”.

              :)

            4. Thanks for the response, as you say, his tyres were probably quite cold by then, you certainly can’t fault him for pushing as hard as he can to defend his position. Let me state very clearly that this is not about assigning blame to anyone.

              I’m confused though as to why everyone insists on stating that it was a racing incident as if I was arguing the fact, clearly it was a racing incident. But stating that it was a racing incident and then concluding that therefore it was a “brilliant rebuff” does not follow. I’m quite happy for someone to disagree with me and argue that it was in fact “brilliant” but at least argue that point instead of the strawman argument that I’m trying to put it down to anything but a racing incident.

          2. Racing can be done without driving into a Ferrari too. Not the first time.

            1. Interestingly, this reminded me of Kubica & Massa shoving each other off the track at China two years ago, I think it was. Most people at that time loved it & thought it was great racing, but now that Hamilton is involved the tables have turned somewhat. Not a criticism, just an observation.

        2. Haha, why don’t you say simply “I hate him”? No need to explain your hatred or despise on him.
          I don’t mean to take side though sort of Hammy fan. But the first thing I envisaged after the race was Alonso fan’s fever about how GREAT ALONSO was kind of floods of words which exactly happened.
          Interesting to hear that when he was fell behind earlier rounds, it was all to blame the car, I agree. Now with his first win, it’s not at all by virtue of its performance upgrade but all his almighty skill? Come on, then please explain his past performance with his almighty skill and gut with the same car level performance of Massa.
          I went for Hammy not b/c I’m his fan but b/c he showed more than some scenes- early on overtaking up to Almighty Alonso, two spin offs followed by quick recover, Holding off faster RBR by Vettel, and last show with Massa.
          Alonso showed his skill but it’s close to Vettel’s cruising when his car dominated the race.

    4. I’m going for Hamilton, it was pretty close but Alonso having the win handed to him on a plate by Red Bull sways the balance. Hamilton had probably the hardest job to keep faster cars behind him and did very well, plus he fulfilled my prediction after qualifying :D.

      Oh, and I know his qualifying was rubbish, but being a wet-dry one I’m willing to forgive him that.

      1. So his quali was rubbish, he fell off the track at Brooklands more times than most, and didn’t finish on the podium, compared to Alonso who finished 20 seconds ahead of, and therefore dominated, the Red Bulls? Whether they made a pitstop error or not, Alonso was simply faster than anybody else, and only made two mistakes all weekend, going wide at Luffield, and being a Ferrari driver, as this clearly rubs many people up the wrong way!

        1. I’ve voted for Alonso plenty of times before, fact is he won because he had the fastest car (as he showed by pulling away from Vettel). They both did very well, I just feel Hamilton had to work harder to finish where he did.

          1. I’ve voted for Alonso plenty of times before, fact is he won because he had the fastest car

            No he didn’t. Always look at Felipe’s performance to get a more balanced potential of the car’s pace.

            1. By that logic Liuzzi must be the greatest driver to ever hit the track… Neither his team mates could touch him.

          2. I’d be more inclined to believe Alonso is getting consistently close to 100% of the car’s potential than Massa.

            1. Do you really think the Ferrari is faster than the Red Bull? I wonder what Alonso would have done in the Red Bull.

            2. Massa can’t get 100% out of the Ferrari if his strategy sucks.

          3. Interesting this logic:
            1. The driver with the fastest car wins – nah, he doesn’t deserve it because he simply had the fastest car.
            2. A driver with a slower car wins – nah, he doesn’t deserve it because the guy with the faster car got unlucky and handed him the victory.

            1. Yep, as evidenced by 7 of the 9 races this year, to some people the winner can’t win.

            2. Well I didn’t say that, but it would still be possible.

              1. It doesn’t take much thought to see why the fastest guy in the fastest car might not get the driver of the day award. Obviously someone behind him could do an amazing race, in which case the guy that should win winning isn’t a great achievement.

              2. If the guy with the slower car is just tootling along in 3rd and the two in front of him crash then he’s getting a win for what would otherwise be a 3rd position, once again it’s possible somebody could have driven a better race than them.

              Having said that, I have voted for Vettel a couple of times when he’s won this season, although it’s usually out of pity because no one else will.

          4. He could have made less hard work of it by not running off the track so many times.

            Schumacher also did well to finish where he did, also duffed qualifying in tricky conditions, and also handicapped himself with a driving error.

            I voted for neither of them.

      2. For me, Silverstone showed one thing very clearly:

        Hamilton and Alonso are the class of the field!

        1. amen Jake!

    5. It was a dominant win by Alonso in difficult conditions. He only gained about five seconds from Vettel’s pit stop error, and used the advantage gained well.

      1. He also gained about 7 seconds for Vettel being stuck behind Hamilton and an uncountable amount for yet even more Kers problems on the RB7.

        1. 7 seconds from struggling to get past Hamilton fair and square? ;)

          1. 10.4s minus the gap after the pitstop actually.

        2. Yes he had other delays, but in clear track Vettel couldn’t get close to Alonso at the end.

    6. Sebastien Vettel, because he didn’t win this time and F1F DOTD poll needs to make up to him for the previous episodes.

      1. It was nice to see Pino Allievi on Rai Uno ask Domenicalli if the win was only down to the rules change. So my vote to Allievi for being a good journalist and asking the right questions.

      2. Good point. If Seb recovers from this weekend to win in front of his home crowd, he gets my vote automatically.

    7. Schumacher had a storming race despite his (in my opinion, unnecessary) penalty

      1. Yep. It was close for me, but I chose Alonso in the end for getting the result when it mattered

      2. Schumi has had as much knowledge of the DRS as all the other drivers, therefore another rookie mistake that took another driver out of the race completely. Therefore should get negative votes.

        1. Kobayashi was able to continue, and retired because of a mechanical failure.

          1. And the mechanical fault(s) were probably the result of Schumi’s actions.

            1. Your take on where the oil is placed inside a car is curious, at least.

            2. An oil leak isn’t caused by a front wing making contact with a rear tyre W-K.

      3. Has to be Lewis, cannot blame him when the team didn’t fill the tank.

        1. I learnt a long, long time ago not to make any assumptions as to where fluids might be routed on any mechanical device, such as Iveco trucks, Vickers tanks, Aircraft engines civilian and military, TBM’s, Mining equipment and submarines.

          1. But that’s what you’ve done here- assume that the contact caused the oil leak.

          2. you didn’t learn about F1 car eh then?

          3. Iveco trucks, now with the same oil tank system as Saubers!

          4. Lewis was faster in the first part only because he started with lower fuel than everybody else.

      4. Agreed, he had 2 unscheduled pit lane trips, (1 for the penalty, and one for the extra time to change the wing when he came in the first time..) and could’ve been racing for far more than 2 points, possibly even the top 5…

        I know I’m a bit of a Schuey fan anyway, I put him as 3rd for this race! My predictions are going horrible!

    8. Ni brainer. Fernando Alonso.

      1. A man after my own heart :P

        1. Shh! Felipe might hear you!

    9. I want to say webber, for outqualifying Vettel; and for ignoring Red Bulls unnecessary team orders and having a go at his teammate towards the end. But he fumbled the start and made it easy for vettel to start dissapearing into the horizon, and vettel ultimately did get the best of him.

      I want to say vettel, for driving an impressive race that he surely would have won if it had not been for the slow pit stop. But he did very little to prove his wheel-to-wheel skills in failing to pass the much slower Hamilton on-track. Also, having confirmation that he gets preferential treatment from the team takes some of the shine away from his performance.

      I want to say Hamilton, for really outdriving his car in the race, making some great overtakes, defending firmly but fairly from Massa (even Massa agreed), and bringing a decent haul of points in spite of a poor showing from the McLaren team (really? You thought lewis would get stuck in traffic in mixed conditions, so you short-fuelled him? Really?!). But he really shouldn’t have qualified 10th to begin with, even if it was more of a team error than driver error; and he had too many off-track excursions this time out.

      I guess that leaves me with Alonso. Yes, red bull gave him this win on a platter with their pit stop error. And yes, lewis really did him a big favor by neutralizing the threat from vettel (although I’m not convinced Vettel could have been a threat at that point even if he had caught alonso). But alonso really did the maximum this weekend, both in Q and the race, to put himself in a position to benefit from red bull’s error, and he didn’t really make any mistakes. Credit where credit’s due.

      1. I entirely agree with the first 3 paragraphs and although undecided can’t see a fault with the fourth so: +1

      2. i dont think hamilton outdrove his car, he went off the race track a couple of times unlike other drivers, and in the first part of the race he was running with an engine set to maximum performance mode, which he paid for later in the race. also i dont think he defended fairly on massa, only massa doesnt want to start a media frenzy so was diplomatic at the end, hamiltons move to regain the position was just like the moves he has been penalised for earlier in the year, ie not halfway up the inside of the opposing car, but still going for the closing gap – the collision made massa lose momentum for the next part of the chicane. on the replay you could see hamilton locking his brakes, and he still couldnt slow the car down to avoid hitting massa, hitting massas car helped him slow down, and then was able to straighten his car quicker then massa who was pushed wide for the next apex. also massa gave hamilton enough room, it only looks to some people like he didnt because they collided, but it is hamilton that does the colliding not massa.

        1. Massa made the late brave overtaking attempt, Hamilton had cold brakes from having to coast.

          Even Massa himself saw no wrong in what happened, so I think on this occasion it’s pretty clear cut. Sometimes racing incidents are just that, and the racing is better for them.

        2. Hamilton didn’t try to repass him, he was on the inside line defending. He was already on the brakes when Massa went around the outside of him. I know this is an over-used expression, but here he really could not make his car disappear. Finally, I don’t think Massa losing out to Hamilton in the final corner can be attributed to the wheel banging they did. Massa had already straightened out from their touch, and just got massive oversteer after he seemed to have misjudged the final corner.

        3. and in the first part of the race he was running with an engine set to maximum performance mode, which he paid for later in the race.

          Wrong. The team short fuelled him because they didnt think he’d be able to maintain the pace he did. Whitmarsh said so. And even if you dont believe whitmarsh, what makes you think Hamilton has some kind of extra-thirsty-mega-boost engine mode that only he uses, and the other drivers simply let him past because they know he’ll “pay for it later”?

          also i dont think he defended fairly on massa, only massa doesnt want to start a media frenzy so was diplomatic at the end, hamiltons move to regain the position was just like the moves he has been penalised for earlier in the year, ie not halfway up the inside of the opposing car, but still going for the closing gap

          Massa hadnt seem too worried about causing a “media frenzy” with his criticisms of Lewis’ driving in the previous few weeks, had he? While you’re entitled to your opinion on whether or not you think his defense was fair, I think you’re being unreasonable. Watch the onboard again. Massa tried to overtake on the outside and turned in very sharply and left Lewis very little room. Lewis locked up under braking trying to avoid hitting him, but was unsuccesful. On top of that nobody – be it Domenicalli, the race stewards, or Massa himself – seems to share your opinion. It was a racing incident, full stop.

          1. Massa is not the driver to make a big fuss out of it. Or to call his opponents stupid, like others do.

            1. Like I said, Massa has been highly critical of Lewis’ driving in recent weeks (to the media), so if he felt that he was done wrong in silverstone, it stands to reason that he would have said so. You guys dont need to fight his battles for him.

        4. Jeffrey Powell
          13th July 2011, 16:00

          Quite correct racing drivers should not drive their cars so hard it is unsporting and causes constertnation amongst the tacticians.All drivers should drive at the prescribed speeds as failure to do so can result in genuine excitement,which god forbid might cause older viewers hearts to race,this is of course contrary to health and safety, and I for one am totally against this sought of behaviour.Drivers putting undue strain on the superbly crafted Pirelli tyres should be castigated and made to stand in the corner with a Dunce hat on for the next two races allowing more carefull and responsible drivers to find their rightfull position in the World Championship.

      3. Excellent post, this is a close one, but I have to put it as

        1. Hamilton
        2. Vettel
        3. Alonso

        Alonso had the fastest car and won. Most of Hamilton’s errors were actually team errors, including the choice to go out with used soft tires in quali 3 having run with them in quali 1.

        Just to make Alonso look even better, Ferrari completely screwed Massa on strategy.

        Vettel was just edged by Webber in qualifying, but dominated him during the race despite a kers issue and Webber getting the better pit stop calls.

        Hamilton did run off the road a couple of times, but it was at a time when he was driving at the absolute limit (look at his speed compared to Button) and a corner where it didn’t actually matter that much. He lost less time going off than he gained by lapping faster than his team mate. He also made the most overtakes of any driver I saw in the top 10, and possibly of any driver in the race.

        1. I dont blame you for voting for Hamilton, especially considering that I loathe Alonso, and you make good points there. I just felt like I couldnt vote for anybody other than Fernando without showing bias.

    10. Alonso didn’t do anything special. His team beat Red Bull in the pits. Give Ferrari the “team of the weekend” award – very well deserved. They accomplished what Mclaren and Red Bull couldn’t. Vettel also was able to build a cushion (on the inters) – nothing special there. Going by all the previous Driver of the Weekend Polls where Vettel didn’t win the award even if he was “flawless” and won the race, Alonso shouldn’t win here either. Without the pit stop issues, I expect Vettel would have won.
      My vote for this race would have to go to Hamilton – gutsy moves to come back to the front after a bad qualifying session and a smart race considering his fuel load issues.
      Slow clap for Webber for not managing to pass Vettel at the end. Way to show you’re the #2 driver!

      1. Way to keep your drive for next year!

      2. Alonso did pull away from “gutsy” Hamilton at a ridiculous rate after being freed. That I’d call pretty special and contributed to me voting for him.

        Though I can see where you’re coming from with Vettel going unappreciated in these votes for his 6 wins.

    11. Fernando Alonso for me. Once again dragging his car into positions it probably shouldn’t have been in. Yes, the Red Bull pit error gave him the lead, but after that, he pulled away from Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at a second a lap. That’s why he’s got as many wins as Sir Jackie Stewart.

      1. …Also because his team cheated in Singapore 08 ;-)

        Sorry, couldnt resist!:-)

    12. Fernando Alonso. No doubt about it.

      I’m actually ticked off that Red Bull botched Vettel’s pitstop, as I’m pretty sure Fernando would have overtaken him anyway.

      1. Feeling robbed again?

        (The first time being Monaco)

    13. Alonso should and will win, but I had to vote for Hammy, he gave it his all and still managed to get 4th despite massive fuel problems

      1. Exactly my reasons for voting for Hamilton.

    14. I voted for MSC because I wanted him to be noticed, look how fast he was, despite starting behing Rosberg and stop – and – go penalty he finished in points only about 16 seconds behind. Hope he maintains the form for Germany and avoids mistakes like that collision.

      1. or is that…
        ‘I voted MSC because I like to see crashes and he keeps providing satisfaction in that area’.

        Only joking, but I don’t know how anyone can vote for someone that makes a big error resulting crashing into someone. Although his overall pace was good but so was Di Restas in a worse car.

        1. Nah, don’t worry, crashes aren’t something I like seeing :-)
          I explained my choice, and for best drive overall I would pick Perez or Alonso. I think Heidfeld also earned a notice, but his performance wasn’t good enough at Saturday.

      2. Michael did have a great race, his pace was good and like I said in another article the crash with Kobayashi could’ve happened to anyone.

        Still went for Fernando though. =D

    15. I voted Webber. I don’t think (or expect) he’ll be a crowd favorite though. But I think he deserves credit for his qualifying performance and his push at the end against orders.

      Nods to Alonso as well. Did well in changing quali conditions and to pull away from Vettel.

    16. 11th, 7th and 10th in practice and 6th in quali? In his 9th race in the conditions we’ve had all weekend? My vote goes to Paul Di Resta in the lacklustre VJM04.

      1. If the team hadn’t wrecked his race in the pits and he’d finished in the points I would have agreed with you.

        He did very well in quali and drove a great race and I really hope he gets a good points scoring finish soon !

        I wasn’t sure if Paul was going to be good enough to make it in F1 but I’ve been mega impressed with his performances so far this season.

    17. Its a hard job to drive in F1 for anyone. Having a near perfect car makes it easier, so I have to go again for Alguersuari who managed to move up 7 places in an under-performing car. Even though his qualy times are a struggle he manages to pull it out in the race and PASS and IMPROVE POSITION, which is what F1 racing is supposed to be about. Alonso didn’t win the race as much as Red Bull lost it. So, in my opinion, for Alonso to get the best driver I would have expected to see him overtake at least a couple of times. And spectacularly. It didn’t happen. Behind the leading procession was some serious racing. Thats where the driving was.

      1. He overtook lewis :)

        1. Laranja Mecanica
          11th July 2011, 21:34

          Only overtaking real pilots counts. So, no overtakes at Silverstone for FA.

          1. Hamilton isn’t a real pilot? (or driver?)

      2. 8 places for Jaime this time…:)

    18. Alonso for me closely follow by Hamilton who remember overtook Alonso earlier in the race before fuel saving and then followed by Di Resta if you ignore him loosing his head after the pitstop, followed by Vettel.

      1. He was overtaken by Alonso a few laps later. He only overtook alonso because it was Alonso’s outlap on cold tires. Once both were on up to temp tires, Alonso destroyed Hamilton.

        1. lewis overtook alonso off line in a much wetter situation.. alonso breezed by hamilton in a drying track

    19. Narain Karthikeyan did have his best race aside from USA 2005. Brilliant drive from a stop go by Schumacher who never has luck here! Alonso a close 2nd

    20. I´m going with Alonso, and even with Vettel´s pit problems he would have past him on the track. Lets not forget Vettel couldn´t overtake Hamilton which Alonso did.
      Liked very much Hamilton´s race, as usual very agressive, his 1 lap was really good, never gave up a fight as we could see on the last lap with Massa and if not his fuel issues, he cuold have gotten 3º place, at least given to the fans a big fight betweeen him and Webber.

    21. My vote goes to Lewis Hamilton.

      1. Easily the best driver in the opening laps on wet track. Especially how easily he passed his team mate and was over a second quicker than him at the time.
      2. It was amazing that he was fighting the far quicker Ferrari of Alonso for P1 till the second pitstops and for P2 against Vettel till the third pitstops.
      3. If there was no fuel issue he definitely would have been on podium beating a 2 second a lap quicker Redbull and Ferrari on the way.
      4. Last lap defense against Felipe was stunning as well.

      Alonso’s performance was good as well but it is hard to compare his performance with Redbull or Mclaren drivers. He is clearly the No.1 driver in Ferrari. He is the main focus of the team, gets the best strategy and team even use Felipe as a joker card for him sometimes.

      I like this qoute form Planet-f1.com “Apparently, the team under-fuelled Hamilton because they expected him to spend the start of the race in traffic because he was tenth on the grid. Perhaps they hadn’t heard about Hamilton’s skill in the wet or realised that he was only tenth because of their bungling”

      1. I think this was an unexpectedly good race from Hamilton. After quali turned out to be a big disappointment I really figured he’d do some stupid stuff during the race.

        But he was very composed without losing any of his usual aggressiveness. His maturity when it came to dealing with the fuel issue really stood out.

        It would have been nice to see him up on the podium, but the fights between Vettel and Webber as well as the one between him and Massa were probably more enjoyable. :)

        Still, I went for Alonso as driver of the weekend. Didn’t put a foot wrong when it mattered and had a nice duel with Hamilton. Glad we’re up to 3 different teams winning, rather than just two.

      2. I don’t rate Planet F1 especially when we have this glorious site :P so I can’t comment on that part sorry JUGNU!

        Lewis was one of the best drivers of the race but his Saturday performance means I just coulodn’t consider him for driver of the weekend. I’m glad he got a decent race though after all the stick he’s got recently.

        1. Whenever I end up discussing F1 on the Independent website I always direct the nice guys to this site and the not so nice guys to Planet F1 :-)

          1. Like it :-)

          2. Sounds like a perfectly good strategy beneboy :-D

          3. Excellent :D

    22. Alonso again. He simply drove away from the best two cars in the sport and was flawless. He did use DRS to get by Hamilton, but Vettel had DRS too and could not deal with Hamilton’s properly defensive driving. This was decisive, because it was Vettel’s need to pit early to jump Hamilton that put him totally on the back foot in the late stages. I’m reminded here of how Alonso got by Hulkenberg at Brazil last year while Hamilton could not follow him through.

      Hamilton has to get a nod because in the half of the race where he was not forced to conserve fuel, he was brilliant. He stormed from tenth into podium position more or less immediately, going past his teammate in the process. But you can’t win DOTR on half a race.

      Webber does not belong. He got pole in the quickest car, but lost the position immediately. He finished third, having no pit problems, behind his teammate. Weak sauce. He did a lot of jawboning post race about how he totally would have passed Vettel, except he didnt.

    23. By the way, I also thought that Vettel did really well. I’m not sure I should hold his lack of pole against him, with Webber just doing a real good job and with the changeable weather, but it is one of the reasons I don’t think he should be driver of the weekend.

      In the race he had a great start (but maybe Webber was unlucky with the pole side being wetter) and did his very best. He couldn’t get past Hamilton, so again he didn’t prove to be great at overtaking, but others also didn’t have it easy passing, so it doesn’t automatically demote him. Had a difficult time with the pits, and defended well from Webber at the end (only in the last lap did Webber seem to relent, and both kept it on the track, with Vettel ahead).

      But again, Alonso didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend and had to fight his way to a position to profit from the misfortune of Vettel, and showed that he had the speed to maintain that lead, so he did better than Vettel with what he was given.

      1. He did a good job, agree. Very nice start and good to keep it on track and in front of Webber those last laps.

    24. Simply has to be Falonso – pure class. Quick and cool.

    25. I could be quite annoyuing and simply say “Fernando because he was the best” but I’ll give some sort of an explanation.

      Massa had looked quick all weekend but when push came to shove in qualifying, fly or crash, Alonso got everything right again and put the car where it should be. The Ferrari struggled to get its tyres up to temp but once they were he calmly repassed Lewis. Vettel’s dodgy pit stop was a gift but Alonso finished so far ahead he would have been in contention for the win anyway. The times he was pulling out were staggering especially in sector 2. It was crazy stuff. Things came his way but it’s about time Ferrari got some luck this year and Alonso absolutely made the most of it.

      JB had a good qualifying but his race was fairly average. Paul had a sensational qualifying but he’s still showing he’s a newbie in the races. Lewis was great for the majority of the race but should never have been so far back to start with so it just has to go to Fernando for me.

    26. I just love the reason to give Webber a vote is because he defied Horner’s instructions-it just proves what people want to see, racing car drivers RACING, not being puppets.

      1. very true.. unlike Massa.. But TEAM ORDERS are perfectly leagal this year..

    27. I vote for Webber: the paladin of F1, in spite of probably being an inglorious struggle, one Don Quixote – (hahaha…)

    28. It’s a tricky one. There were a lot of great performances in a thrilling race. Boiled it down to Alonso and Hamilton, but ultimately Hamilton’s couple of errors into Brooklands made me realise that Alonso did not do a single thing wrong for the whole weekend. So he gets my vote. Shame we did not get to see an on track battle between him and Vettel. Hamilton was impressive though, and I too thought he would have a scrappy race after that poor qualifying.

      1. Alonso went off the track during qualifying.

    29. Hamilton for me, we saw that only Hamilton that day,aggressive & fast,& wasn’t ready to give a quarter to Massa on the last lap of the last corner.But the true hero to me is Webber not caring what will happen but ignored team’s instruction.

    30. defineatly it has to be either Alonso or Hamilton. Too close to call. hamiltons driving was impresive. Think May be Alonso deserves to be the best driver considering the complete rece week end.

      wonder why people still keep voting for Vettel. He was not in POLE,Didn’t win the race not got the fastes lap.

      Voting for Webber can be justified. @ least he was on pole for this race.

      1. Oh, yeah, like people even vote Vettel when he does win or take pole. Webber in his RB7 got votes for starting 18th in China too.

    31. UKfanatic (@)
      12th July 2011, 4:43

      Vettel didnt had the pace on damp conditions anyway the car born from his womb, Webber is unfortunately missing all chances, best drive for perez

    32. A lot of voters on this site need to get over the RB7. It’s not always the fastest car. You’ve got two damn good drivers behind the wheel, if they don’t always come 1-2 it doesn’t mean that Lewis or Fernando outdrove them by miles. Clearly on race pace the Ferrari was the car to beat, and it’s often the case that the McLaren is a match for the Bulls on Sunday. I mean, has Vettel even won a DOTD poll yet? Ridiculous!

      Fernando did drive brilliantly though, so a very deserved winner.

      1. I agree with this post. Vettel and Webber are very good drivers, and the Red Bull probably is a bit better when it has virtually no fuel, and able to use DRS at any point (i.e. qualifying). The Mclarens and Ferraris are as good if not better with limited DRS and a tank full of fuel (race conditions). Spain, Monaco, Canada, Europe, Britain being the best examples.

        I did vote for Alonso as he did a great job in the conditions though.

    33. ALL of hamiltons overtakes were outside the drs zone.

      he pulled off the best overtaking move in the race when he overtook alonso which was a risky move.

      alonso only overtook lewis in the drs zone which made his overtake alot easier.

      lewis made the race exciting.

      and lewis did well to keep vettel behind him.

      plus he did well tobeat massa who was about 3 secnds quicker.

      lewis gets my vote.

      1. Damn that Hamilton guy is Fast!
        (even in a **** car.)

      2. All totally admirable. However, he qualified 10th which is why he wasn’t the best driver of the weekend for me. Alonso by a nose.

        By the way I’ve never seen Vettel drive like Hamilton did at the weekend.

    34. I voted Button – that pass around the outside of Massa was the best overtake of the race in my opinion – a lesson in how to do it bravely, elegantly and cleanly. OK, so he got his right and left mixed up (!), but he was calm and magnanimous after his pitstop problem in a way that I think many drivers could learn from.

      1. Too true!

        But would still give it to Alonso.

      2. What about the first 10 laps. Button just went backwards as far as I can remember? Including being overtaken by his teammate.

        1. Ah, well I only started watching at 1:20 because I thought the race started at 2pm…

        2. Somewhat strange then that he had managed to catch up to everyone else when his wheel fell off.

          Agreed that Button went backwards on the wets, which probably explains why he would usually always be one of the first to go to dry tyres.

          He was also heavier on fuel than his team mate at the time that he was overtaken.

          Still would vote for Alonso, anyway. :)

    35. Voted for Alonso, of course. Qualified third, and jumped Webber and Vettel, overtook Hamilton, won the race with a comfortable margin, what else ?

    36. Well it certainly wasn’t hamilton, once again showed his inability to go a whole race without running into someone, he belongs in touring cars

      1. Obviously the Arnoux-Villeneuve battle is not one of your favourite F1 moments then.

    37. Alonso for me – the guy drove his much improved Ferrari to the very limit, got as much out of it as he could in quali and then made the most of every situation in the race.

      Notable mentions go to Button, Hamilton, Di Resta & Webber though – all four of them could have got my vote had their race not been compromised by their teams in one way or another.

    38. Ricciardo 0 votes. Hmmmm.

      1. and why would you expect him to get any?!

    39. As much as I hate the ground he walks on, I had no other choice other than Fernando Alonso, who did a fantastic job this weekend.

      I still think he is a Mitsubishi Pajero though!

    40. If Massa had ‘brilliantly rebuffed’ Lewis like this, then Hamilton fans on this and other forums would have crucified the Ferrari driver by now!

    41. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      12th July 2011, 15:45

      Hamilton was skillful so he gets my vote. Starting 10th and finishing fourth was good. I’m sure he would have finished third with more fuel. Vettel lost because of a team mistake. It shows the oly way to beat him is with random situations… Alonso took his place, just like that. He made a big breach only because Vettel didn’t need to push for victory. A second (even third) place was OK. So Webber tried to overtake him and made a reat final battle. But his losing places at the start is terrible and it’s not first time Web loses ground. Well, to sum up Hamilton was the best average.

    42. im surprised very few f1fanatics voted sergio perez. i think he did great, had difficult times, was tidy on the wet part of the circuit, again managed his tyres very well. i was very impressed.
      i know both fernando and lewis were great too. but sergio perez definitely deserved more than 20 votes
      anybody agree??

    43. Alonso gets my vote

    44. I´ll give it to daniel.

    45. Webbo for me. Hammy a close second due to brilliant strategy by Mclaren (I believe they underfilled his petrol tank to give him the edge to make some overtakes at the start – played out brilliantly)

      Regarding Ferrari’s pace: They did bring a raft of updates to this GP, so we can assume the pace is at least somewhat real. However, is some portion also due to the single-race hot blown off-throttle diffuser ban at Silverstone? The cars will be reverting to Valencia-spec in Germany, so can it be that Ferrari might take a half-step back? That is, if we want to think that part of the Ferrari pace was helped by the regulation change?

      1. Hammy a close second due to brilliant strategy by Mclaren (I believe they underfilled his petrol tank to give him the edge to make some overtakes at the start – played out brilliantly)

        Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not?

        Many saw it has a strategy blunder. But you have to ask yourself: Would he have made so much progress with the same level of fuel that Button had? Bearing in mind that Button was probably going to be right up there with him at the end of the race. You can’t have it both ways.

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