Vote for your 2011 Hungarian GP driver of the weekend

2011 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Start, Hungaroring, 2011

Who was the most impressive driver throughout 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:

Jenson Button – Button can always be relied upon to call these conditions correctly and did just that. But he was also quick in the dry part of the race.

Sebastian Vettel – Looked lost on Friday, transformed the car on Saturday, didn’t slip up on Sunday – and extended his points lead. Performances like this make champions as much as crushingly dominant victories do.

Paul di Resta – Delivered on the potential he’s shown in recent races with a mature drive in tricky conditions to finish ‘best of the rest’.

Sebastien Buemi – Gained nine places in the opening lap, and carried the momentum throughout the race to claim a useful eighth.

Heikki Kovalainen – His team mate may have been singing the praises of the revised Lotus, but it was Kovalainen who took the battle to the midfield. Shame about the switch to intermediates, though.

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 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?

  • Jerome d'Ambrosio (0%)
  • Timo Glock (0%)
  • Vitantonio Liuzzi (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (2%)
  • Jarno Trulli (0%)
  • Heikki Kovalainen (3%)
  • Jaime Alguersuari (0%)
  • Sebastien Buemi (9%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Kamui Kobayashi (0%)
  • Paul di Resta (14%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Rubens Barrichello (0%)
  • Vitaly Petrov (0%)
  • Nick Heidfeld (0%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Michael Schumacher (0%)
  • Felipe Massa (1%)
  • Fernando Alonso (1%)
  • Jenson Button (51%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (12%)
  • Mark Webber (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (6%)

Total Voters: 465

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Rate the Race: Hungarian Grand Prix

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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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102 comments on “Vote for your 2011 Hungarian GP driver of the weekend”

  1. I would’ve voted for Lewis had it not been his ridiculous decision to spin round in front of oncoming traffic. So I’ll give it to Jenson.

    1. i would have voted for lewis if the 01:19.978 pole time i had predicted for him had stuck, damn that Vettel!

      Voted for button in the end, great performance!

    2. me too. if he hadn’t made a call for inters.

      1. There’s no bigger fan of Webber than me, but come on guys, who gave him 1 vote??? :)

        My vote went to Buemi

      2. If you know how to read & listen then you would already know that Martin Whitmarsh confirmed on TV that THE TEAM made the decision about the inters. ALSO in all the reports, it has been confirmed by mclaren that it was THE TEAM’S decision.

    3. I think the call for inters was unlucky (although Button had the sense to ignore the order), the call for super-softs when the others went for softs was probably more the teams fault, but that spin- even if he couldn’t see Di Resta as he said- was his error. He seemed often the fastest driver, and without the spin he still wouldn’t have won but he would have perhaps earned my vote.

      As it is, Button gets it instead.

    4. I gave my vote to Buemi. He had a wonderful race, starting from qualifying 18th (he would have done better than that on super-softs), and starting 23rd. His race was perfect.
      Hamilton – was great until he spun almost into di Resta.
      Button – was great since he led, but he wasn’t first to begin with.
      Vettel – was good but had some offs and was way slower than the McLarens.

    5. Yeh how silly of Lewis!

      Surely he shouldve known to stay where he was, get his sarnies out and call the RAC!

      Its worth pointing out that Lewis wouldve been black-flagged had he drove round as he wouldve been driving the wrong way of the circuit (into the coming direction of other cars) – He had to do a 360….he did the race justice for not forcing a further delayed yellow-flag or even a possible safetycar (couldve happened if he waited long enough and his engine overheated).

      ALSO most impotantly…Lewis prevented a possibly very dangerous scenario, as if another car..say Diresta did the same and ploughed into Lewis.
      -Mind you that was a text-book 360 by Lewis!

      Listen riise.. they are racing drivers – Hes in a race – F1 is a race – Get over it!
      They are not there to wait for the green-cross-code-man to put in a guest appearance!

      1. My tendancy is to agree. He was stopped on the track, couldnt stay there. A drive through seems a bit harsh and add a bit of creedance to the idea LH is more harshly judged than others.

        It is my opinion that such stewart interventions are waaay to common. I would prefer to see “No Harm No Foul” but when penalties are metted out, they should be harsh.

        1. A stationary vehicle is much easier to avoid than one doing a spin in the middle of a track.

          1. There was no way to pass that car when it was stationary on track.

      2. Could you be any more further up Lewis’s backside?

        No you listen, he performed a spin on the racing line, forcing Di Resta to go onto the wet grass, Paul could’ve easily lost control of that and put it in the wall. If you think that was the right thing to do from Lewis’s point of view then you are a terrible F1 fan. It was wreckless and could’ve took numerous drivers out of the race.

        The thing is he could’ve spun around the other way, he may have touched the grass but be he wouldn’t risk getting a penalty or causing risk to others if he had.

        1. I think you’re both half-right (and getting unnecessarily heated about it).

          From the replays it looks to me that Di Resta didn’t actually need to go off the track to avoid Hamilton. Had he stuck to his line I don’t think they would have made contact.

          This was not like Singapore ’09 where Sutil clean drove into the side of Heidfeld while recovering.

          But put yourself in Di Resta’s position: As he comes out of the corner he can see Hamilton spinning towards him and has no idea whether the McLaren’s going to spin into his path. The only sensible thing for him to do is take pre-emptive avoiding action.

          That’s why I believe the stewards were right to penalise Hamilton.

          As ever, when getting into the detail of these scenarios, it’s worth bearing in mind the drivers may well have been told various things about how to behave during the drivers’ briefings which we never hear about.

  2. Jenson Button will undoubtedly win anyway so I’m going for Buemi. He deserves a vote. 23rd to 8th is a great effort.

    1. I second your argument Sir!

    2. I voted for Buemi, too.

      1. Me too.

    3. second that!

  3. Jenson because he was fast, smooth and smart, winning made it even better. Honourable mention to the Mercedes boys for getting into the action early and DiResta and Ricciardo for good results as newbies relative to their teams potential. Oh and Lewis too, for being mostly brilliant.

    1. Di Resta got my vote as well. A great drive to seventh.

  4. I’ve voted for Jenson before and wasn’t that impressed with this weekend to be honest, so I went for di Resta.

    1. By which I mean, I don’t think he even did much of his Canada magic here, he just didn’t mess up in the best package. Even closing up to Hamilton was a compound-degradation thing, not his feel for grip, as Vettel was making similar time on Lewis too.

      Deserving of a win but not DotW, that’s just my opinion.

      1. Also went for diresta here, and didnt choose Jenson for the same reason. Basically I went for diresta because he could have had a serious accident, saved his own butt, saved his race, and kept a cool head when the team told him it was time for inters – he said no.

        Normally I am not a DIR fan but this was a good weekend for him, even if he did get beaten by his teammate in quali.

      2. I don’t think he even did much of his Canada magic here, he just didn’t mess up in the best package.

        Precisely.

  5. I voted for Heikki Kovalainen, who was holding up a Force India, a Renault, a Williams and a Sauber at one point. In fact, he was so impressive that the FOM director decided to watch him for a bit. Shame about the switch to inters, but McLaren and Red Bull also made that mistake so can’t hold it against him. The retirement for a water leak was incredibly disappointing after a great race.

    1. Glad for reading your post before voting. I agree and voted for Heikki as well.

      Button did great, he qualified well and did everything right, but nothig amazingly so. Vettel still had the fastest car, but it was more pitstop luck/good strategy than skill that got him ending up 2nd. Alonso was more impressive in the race, as he made the same bad choice as both HAM and WEB, but he got beaten in Qualifying. Massa had a great saturday and did some very special driving on Sunday, just its hard to make up for a blooper like the one costing him a front runner place and a dangerously looking rear wing.

      DiResta was good as well, Heidfeld made a great jump from the car. Buemi did fine to end up as far up as he did as well.

      1. Well said, I applaud giving it to mid-field or lower ranked drivers when they show better than could have been expected. Heikki might also win it for me bc. he seems to be so glad to do the job though.

      2. What makes you think that Vettel had the fastest car? There was no evidence this weekend of a dominant RB7.

        1. The Mclaren was clearly the fastest package.

  6. Buemi! Buemi! Buemi!

    1. You Sir are awesome.

      1. The New Pope
        2nd August 2011, 3:25

        Danke

  7. didn’t slip up on Sunday

    he slid off track whilst under pressure from Hamilton to lose the lead of the race! quite a big slip up if you think about it! :D

    1. also where have the tag buttons gone?

  8. themagicofspeed (@)
    1st August 2011, 20:00

    Not a McLaren fan at all, but i am a Button fan. He made the right decision at the right time re tyres, and it’s paid off, again. IMO JB is the ‘new’ rainmeister.

    Hamilton – what was that all about spinning around in front of oncoming cars? Does he a) have a disturbing enjoyment of danger or b) enjoy meeting the stewards? What on earth?

    Ferrari (of whom i am a fan) had a typically crap weekend. I fear this is turning into a repeat of the 1979-2000 years, they just can’t seem to get it right consistently like they did in the dream team era. Im a fan, and always will be, but i find myself despairing of them over recent seasons. I know Fernando came 3rd but i am someone who beleives unless you came 1st, you are not just first of the losers, but you have failed. Who races with the intention of coming 2nd?

    1. I agree, but I think that Alonso would have done better with a cooler head. Without pushing so hard in the earlier stages, I think he would have finished ahead of Vettel.

      Although, this is mere speculation.

    2. Jeffrey Powell
      1st August 2011, 22:19

      Do you think that because you could see Di Resta from the camera over the air box ,that Lewis had the same view from 20″ from the tarmac, so you would to make the decision to stay in the middle of the race track and wait for somebody to run into you,’good luck’.The stewards made their decision based on a rule that does not consider ‘racing’, they were probably correct but it does not mean Lewis commited a cardinal sin.

      1. I don’t entirely disagree with the penalty, but I totally agree he had to get out of the middle of the track. If you watch the replay carefully, you can see that he did leave the normal racing line as clear as he could whilst doing the spin. It was a tough call for the stewards, and I think that whether he saw DIR or not, it was a dangerous maneuver.

        That said, I think he still drove a pretty good race and had no more ‘incidents’ than most of the other drivers. That spin couldn’t have happened at a worse point in the circuit, though.

        Although I really enjoyed Lewis’ driving all weekend, I’d still give it to Paul di Resta. I’ve been saying to my F1 friends since the beginning of the season that he is a force to be reckoned with. Outstanding drive from a rookie!

  9. bigbadderboom
    1st August 2011, 20:30

    Jenson for keeping it on the black stuff. Composure and skill, slightly rash on lap 51 when dueling with Lewis, but all in all the most complete performance on the day won it! I really admire his temperament.

  10. Has to be Jenson. He made all the right calls, kept it on the track, was quick in all conditions and took one of his best ever victories. Why can’t he do this every race?

  11. No one really stood out this week, think I’ll give it to Buemi.

  12. Would have given it to Heikki for his brilliant performance, but I’m sorry… Jenson just done what he did best, and pulled some very sweet overtakes on arguably the hardest person to overtake in Formula 1…

    1. Overtakes???

      He used the DRS on Hamilton – Sorry but DRS is a joke.

      He drove past Hamilton when Lewis spun out – wouldnt really class it as a fair overtake.

      -Wouldnt class them as challenging overtakes.

      On the subject of overtakes – the best overtake of the race without a doubt was Hamilton on Webber (3 abreast down that narrow straight) – truely brave as usual from Lewis as he went out onto the marbles & braked later!

  13. It’s really tough as pretty much everyone made mistakes in hindsight. I voted Paul for upping his game during the race but with hindsight I think I was really wrong and should have voted Button.

    1. Interesting. I voted Button and kind of regret it now! I should read the comments before I vote, because you all make very good arguments that most of the time change my opinion!

  14. Lewis’s mistake almost made me vote for Button (classy but humdrum) but Lewis was on scintillating form otherwise.

    Great quali and then passed everyone he needed to – great scrap with Jenson and then bullied Vettel into an error and drove off into the distance in a brilliant first stint. Then after his spin/inters/penalty he took Massa & Webber.

    Most exciting driver of the weekend, again…

    1. Clearly.

      If it had rained for 5 minutes, Hamilton would be acclaimed as smart, happens to be Button again, partly as HAM had the lead, so what in theory is preferable choice to pit sooner, Button was just lucky on that.

      The spin was ill-considered though.

  15. UKfanatic (@)
    1st August 2011, 23:12

    I wouldnt vote for Kov cause Trulli finished dnf again for some strange reason.

    1. Kov also finished DNF for the same reason…

  16. UKfanatic (@)
    1st August 2011, 23:16

    Apart from the race winner I chose Buemi, I always believed in his strength, he may not be the perfect Redbull face but he showed determination and commitement, very impressed with his bbc interview saturday. Di Resta is clearly a talent that should have arrived in F1 a couple years back, still dont know if that means much nowadays after seeing a pole sitter being dropped by a team.

  17. Really? Scintillating pace? Yea he had a gap, but despite him always pitting a lap before Button that gap stayed pretty much the same throughout two or three stints before the rain came. His pace was only slightly faster than Buttons for most of the stints but in the last few laps of each stint Button reduced the gap to about 3 seconds, but it increased back to about 8 after pit stops. So from a pace point of view, if Button had been in the lead and got to pit before Hamilton, he would have beaten him comfortably I think.

  18. From FP1 till Q3, Lewis was the fastest man on the circuit (soft or supersoft you name it). He drove brilliantly except one mistake which was the spin during the race.

    I voted for him since unlike other drivers, he did drive quicker and better at the same time. The spin was the only weak side, so maybe Button did drive a much more clean race but to me he didn’t have a comparable pace to Lewis throughout the weekend.

    The race was fascinating nonetheless.

  19. I accidently voted for Vettel, when i was going to vote for Jenson

    Jenson drive brilliantly through the whole race and was quick and conservative when he needed to be, and was good to watch him and Lewis battle for alot of the race

  20. Ricciardo… only because in an interview beforehand he said he’d probably have to wait a while before he started “Kicking Tonio’s ****.”, and then he went and kicked it by 54 seconds or so.

  21. I find it interesting that last year we heard lots of people saying Jenson’s wins in the wet/dry were “coincidence” and that he’s not as good in changing conditions as some would suggest.

    He’s now hit 4 wins for McLaren, all in wet/dry races. Still a coincidence?

    1. I don’t think that’s a coincidence no.

      Without some luck involved he doesn’t really have the pace to beat a Red Bull nor Hamilton.

      Like in Canada where he blundered along, switching to the wrong tyres, ramming into his opponents (or maybe that was the clever bit) yet with all the safty cars, it didn’t matter and only the last 10 laps counted.

      Or in Melbourne 2010 when everybody was waiting for a rain shower which turned out to be a poor weather prediction. Button had ruined his tyres already and was far down the field anyway so he took a gamble. Then Webber got held up by Vettel and Vettel himself dropped out (turning P3 into P1).

      It’s not like he’s always stunning in these conditions either. Like in Korea 2010 when he just kept going from bad to worse. In Spa 2010 he was also slow and Silverstone this year as well.

      Hungary was a well deserved win though. He could have won that one even in the dry.

  22. Button for sure,had the pace,understood the condition & raced hard with Vettel & Hamilton.Buemi is the second best.

  23. I think Jenson had a reasonably large portion of luck in the race by not going onto inters when Lewis did. As ever, he excelled in the conditions and didn’t put a foot wrong, where most of the others did.

    However, Paul Di Resta was the standout of the field, even though his race wasn’t featured heavily in the broadcast. He didn’t make any errors in the race and he was on the right tyres at the right time. 7th place in a Force India is impressive.

  24. I believe Paul Di Resta will get in one of the top teams, in the next or the other seasons after that.

  25. Ricciardo. Stepping in a dog of a car and keeping up with his teammate.
    Plus I didn’t know who else. I mean, good sunday for Button, but it’s about the whole weekend.

  26. I voted for Button because he looked to have a good chance of beating Hamilton even without his problems. Button was the only one of the front runners capable of preserving the super softs, and it meant he was able to gradually close the gap to Lewis while going a bit longer in the stints. In the end he didn’t have to prove it, as Hamilton’s switch to super softs on lap 40 ended his winning chances.

    For the first 20 laps of the race, though, Hamilton was definitely the man. Never putting a foot wrong and faster by seconds than anyone else, he was looking good for another brilliant win.

    What still completely mystifies me is the tyre choice of not only Hamilton, but most of the field. For the first dry stint, on a drying track, I understand that you need the softest possible compound. For the second and third dry stints, Hamilton should have been put onto the softs, especially given Hamilton’s talent to get the tyres up to temperature quickly. On the super softs, Hamilton managed only around 9 decent laps, after which he had to try to eke a few more laps out of them, with Button catching him quickly.

    Shame about the spin, his only moment of the afternoon, and although his spin-turn was dangerous, it was also the quickest and most efficient (he basically turned around on the spot) I ever remember seeing.

  27. I do wish that Keith would allow a 1,2,3 on this vote. Then I could vote for 1 Button, 2 Buemi, 3 di Resta.

    You spin and end up sideways across the track, you have very limited vision sideways, so do you;
    drive forward, possible hitting car going past in front
    drive backwards, possible hitting car going past behind you
    spin on the spot

    So you decide to spin and get a penalty. Where is the Justice.

  28. This was a tricky one for me. None of the top guys really stood out – even though Button merely kept his head and made savvy decisions to (deservedly) win the race, it doesn’t really mask the fact that Hamilton was faster than him all weekend…

    The Ferrari boys drove well when they were on the track, Vettel was solid and Webber was compromised by his bad qualifying.

    In the end I had to decide between Buemi and Di Resta – and I voted for the Swiss driver. Recovered strongly from his penalty and drove with aggression and precision to beat his team mate, who was also having a great race, to pick up 4 points off the back of a difficult few races for him. Great job Seb!

  29. EASILY – Hamilton. Best qualifier, best racer.
    Why would anybody vote for Button over Ham is beyond me. The only thing that works in favour of Button is that he crossed the finish line first. Hamilton was unlucky with the inter tyres change (until which, Button could only watch Hamilton’s rear), that’s it. Yet he still managed to come 4th, despite the additional pitstop and the penalty.
    When you look at the whole race weekend – and the race itself – he was the most impressive driver: fantastic pace, fantastic overtaking, fantastic drive to beat everybody on the track and win.

    1. Look at the lap time comparison between drivers, disproves your fantastic pace “theory”.

    2. Yes, but the spin and subsequent penalty was his own doing and a critical error. Without that he’d have been third and probably given Vettel a run for his money for second. Also he made a mistake on his qualifying lap which cost him pole. Yes, he was the quickest package all weekend, but he underperformed. Had he won the race I’d have voted for him, but those errors in the race were far too costly for him…

    3. How can he be the best qualifier and racer if he didn’t get pole position, and didn’t beat his team-mate, let alone finish the race.

      Hamilton made the call to change to inters, which everyone amongst the leaders (besides Webber) chose not to do. He was also the only driver of the leaders to spin.

      Having pace is one thing, but to be the best driver of the weekend, you do need to connect a whole bunch of dots, and of course, get a decent result (4th for Hamilton in the race, considering his earlier pace…isn’t a good result).

      I think it’s funny that Hamilton is getting more votes than Vettel and Alonso, who both outdrove Hamilton.

      Hamilton is a good driver, no denying it…but the Hungarian GP wasn’t that good of a performance.

  30. Button was great this weekend. He was within a tenth of Hamilton’s qualifying time and held the pace throughout the race. If it hadn’t have rained Button would have run away with the race as Hamilton would have had to pit again.

    Really impressed with the pace he was showing as for more than half of the race he was faster than Hamilton.

    Honourable mention to Sebastien Buemi and Paul Di Resta.

    I voted for Button btw

    1. if it hadn’t of rained, i think that seb v would’ve disappeared into the distance.

      1. Sorry I meant to say if it hadn’t rained during the race when Lewis was in the lead before he spun.

  31. This was a tough one for me to choose. Hamilton had a great weekend but made two very costly mistakes which lost him the race. Button drove very well, and while always looking like the second McLaren, drove well, didn’t make any mistakes, swapped places with Hamilton a few times after his spin and went on to win the race, a level headed and mature drive. Vettel drove a nice clean race, didn’t look to have the grip in the first stint but showed a good sense of maturity and brought the car home in second which is great for his championship.

    But for me, the really standout performances were slightly down the field, Buemi drove a fantastic race to recover from his starting position to finish in the points, beating his team mate who’s had the edge on him in the last few races. My vote though went to Paul Di Resta, who has impressed me greatly from the first race of the season, really taking the fight to his vastly more experienced team mate and showing his class. After a few rookie mistakes and a little bad luck, Paul bounced back in Hungary with a fantastic drive in tricky conditions, a drive more expected of a seasoned veteran than a rookie in his first year.

  32. I voted for Vettel. Really good on saturday, in what effectively was the second fastest car. No that impressive in the race, but he clearly got as high as the pace of the car could get him.
    Button was better in the race, but he was just average on saturday, and his race didn’t impress me much either, since he had the quickest car and the decision to go on hards was just because he followed what RB did.

  33. I am a fan of Button but this was a classic Button win, he drove brilliantly but it felt a bit ordinary compared to his Canada standards. So he’s my second choice.

    My first choice is Di Resta, hauled that Force India above the works Mercedes who supply his engines and above his teammate. It’s easy to forget he’s just a rookie, but the avoiding action he took to get past Lewis whilst being blue-flagged for Jenson coming up behind (presumably) showed really good decision making under pressure.

  34. For me it was a hard decision between Buemi and Di Resta. I went for Di Resta in the end because he’s a rookie so his performance seems even more impressive.

  35. Lewis Hamilton. His team messed up a certain victory.
    At the start Lewis was so fast and managed to pull a big gap. He overtook Vettel in 5 laps and Button couldn’t pass Vettel for so many more laps. Than Hamilton came out on top when he was fighting with Button from Lap 47 on wards. He was ahead of Button when the team called him for intermediates.

    Also the penalty was a joke. Hamilton was in the middle of the track if he hadn’t moved his car, others would have to go off-track onto the grass to pass him, so Hamilton actually made it easier for other cars after spinning. So if he got penalty for spinning well than all fans can understand why some fans think Lewis is unfairly treated by some stewards and FIA.

    Button was also good, didn’t make any noticeable mistake but got lucky and Hamilton was extremely unlucky.
    3 pitstops compare to 5 pitstops + penalty.

    1. But McLaren didn’t mess up a certain victory. Hamilton finished 48 seconds behind Button, a much larger gap than the time it takes to complete the two pitstops involved with the wrong tyre choice. Besides, the pitstop was a gamble; If the rained continued then Hamilton and Webber could have potentially finished much higher then they did, but they didn’t. With regards to the penalty, Hamilton had his car pointing AWAY from the racing line when he was backwards, towards the grass. Therefore, all he had to do to avoid a collision and/or penalty was to spin to his right, where he may just clip the grass, but would not impede any other drivers.

    2. I think you are making things up here. When Hamilton spun he blocked traffic slightly, yes. Therefore he should have rolled forward, to make a gap behind him, since the racing line is right at the very edge of the right side of the track.
      When he spun the car around he got out of the way at first but then dived nose first into traffic, which Di Resta had to dodge by going off the track. It wouldn’t have been pretty if Di Resta had driven straight over the top of his car.

      1. If he’d rolled forward he’d be stuck there.

        he couldn;t stand there either because he was completely blocking the track

  36. I’ve given it to HokeyKokeylainen. I don’t usually like voting for the winner unless they’re done a proper sterling job, as it’s just too easy to vote for them. But the Lotuses were running fairly well all weekend and managed to get up into the lower midfield at points. I think that warrents at least a handful of votes.

  37. From P18 to P8, Buemi was the star of the race, no doubt about it

  38. The aim of the game is to get around the correct number of laps, fastest, without crashing.

    Hamilton was faster than Button in the initial damp phase, but even before the second rain shower, the disastrous spin and decision to go onto inters he was already in trouble because he needed to build a gap that would have enabled him to get a pitstop in ahead of Button, who had the primes on and was going to the finish.

    By contrast, Button made the moves he needed to, kept it on the track (one slight excursion at T2 excluded) and brought it home. Being a racer isn’t about being the fastest guy around a track – or we’d have 25 points awarded on Saturday. It’s about winning the race.

  39. Button was probably smoother and no major mistakes but Lewis stirred up RBR’s team all weekend long and what a driving esspecially in the first stint.
    Hamilton by far for me.

  40. How come Hamilton did get so many votes? Strategy-making is a driver skill as much as handling or braking. That’s why I think that Button has been clearly superior to his team-mate at Hungaroring.

    1. He had a radio problem. Strategy is the strategists job, the driver can make part on it, but the main desicion is in the team.

      1. On the other hand… the greats in all sports (I’m thinking of rugby) play what’s in front of them, rather than slavishly following a plan.

        1. They don’t slavishly follow a plan. There is a whole team of strategists working out what the best strategy is based on weather predictions and other car positions. It’s nonsense to suggest that a driver could even remotely achieve the same sitting alone in his cockpit.

          1. No-one suggested that a driver can achieve the same understanding on his own as a team of strategists, Patrickl, or even that there isn’t a constantly evolving strategy (although in-race decisions are more tactical than strategic I’d have said). A4P said strategy (or tactical decision-making) is a driver skill (I agree). Anthony then said that the main decision rests with the team, and also that HAM had a radio problem. My view is that, in that case, it was incumbent upon HAM to make some decisions for himself. Surely that’s not nonsense.

  41. They didnt “outdrive” hamilton, he got a penalty, wich cost 20+ seconds, and an unnecesary stop for inters (another 20+ seconds). He was faster the whole weekend, and forced Vettel into a mistake in the race, THEN opened a gap of over 9 seconds in the first 2 stints.

    1. Well, Hamilton may have been faster, but made a mistake in qualifying to give away pole, and a mistake in the race which lead to the penalty.

    2. Then got slowly reeled in by both BUT and VET as his tyres went off. Not sure how you’re defining “outdrive”, but in the sense of “go faster”, I’d say HAM was outdriven during the race a few times.

  42. None of the top drivers deserved it. Vettel + Button gained from Haimlton’s mistake(s). I’d have to give it to buemi for finishing in the points after starting 23rd and it’s not the first time he’s doing that

  43. Whilst I have been impressed by the Torro Rosso’s of late, and Alguersuari in particular, this race was not as spectacular for them, a silly mistake by Jaime cost him places and Sebastian was a bit lucky to move so far forward, albeit still an excellent race for both. So I’m afraid this week I have to follow, not the majority, but close, Mr Di Resta. An outstanding performance. To finish just behind the top 3 teams is an achievement. The top 6 drivers I discount anyway, Vettel proved that he will break under pressure, not championship material really, and the Brits and Alonso, just as should be expected of drivers of their calibre.

  44. frog in a bog
    2nd August 2011, 16:15

    I have a feeling that Toro Rosso is deliberately staying at the bottom in terms of qualifying so that they can judge how good their drivers are in coming up the field. It makes sense if they want to find the next RB driver with good strategy/overtaking skills.

  45. Hey! Schumacher came to the page and voted for himself. Hi Schumi!!!

    It’s an easy one: Button.

    Earlier in the season I’d have gone for Buemi, but in virtually every race now we have someone with tons of free soft tyres that comes from behind to get points.

    It almost looks like the ideal strategy if your car is not going to get you to at least 12th in Q2… don’t even go to Q1, just sit there, save your fresh tyres for the race and you get at least a point.

  46. For me Hamilton fastest driver for most of the weekend fastest in practice unlucky not to get pole and if the team opted for prime instead of option I’m sure race winner he was the fastest driver in the race even when he was in 4th with race gone so wrong he was still setting fastest laps

    With the spin what else was he suppose to do if he stood still he would have been run into or still forced the drivers off the track with even less room. If he had spun it round right hand down he would have smashed the rear of the car into the lotus performing left hand down gave the drivers on the racing line more space due to the angle of the car. best decision in that situation well the best would have been to drive forward on the grass/gravel but no f1 driver would think about doing that

  47. I went for Button, as this is a driver of the weekend poll. Button had his best quali since Monaco (albeit he was still outqualified by Hamilton), and put himself in a position to be able to fight (and deliver) the win on sunday.

    Shout outs to Di Resta and Hamilton though. He had a brilliant, error free race and may have got my vote had he qualified closer to or better than Sutil on saturday. Hamilton (minus the spin) had a brilliant weekend and was unlucky with strategy not to win but as Lewis himself put it after the race, thats motor racing! You win some you lose some, and thats why we love it. I personally thought the penalty was harsh.

  48. Hello All I’m new here!
    Six pit stops and still forth place.
    Pa…..leese it has to be Hamilton
    Without the drive thru he may nnot have won I agree but he would have given Button a run for his pennies!

    1. Hi and welcome. He spent more time in the pits than out of them! ;)

      Lewis certainly did have a good race and it was great to see him apologise to Di Resta as soon as he could.

  49. tough call.
    Hamilton good qualy very good in race but spun and had a Drive thru for an impatient move
    Button solid qualy, great race, good calls
    Vettel great qualy, solid race, good calls
    Alonso, ok qualy, good race lots of errors though
    di Resta ok qualy, very good race
    Buemi, no attempt in qualy due to grid pen, great recovery
    Biased, i chose Vettel. but really i could have chosen any of 4 or 5. No-one did a 10/10 performance but plenty were worth 9/10

  50. JB gets my vote this time.

    For a number of reasons…

    Great tussling for position between himself and Lewis, very fair but very entertaining.

    He didn’t make a mistake all race if I recall correctly.

    Another brilliant snap-decision tyre choice that ultimately got him the victory that a number of drivers deserved but JB took it fair and square.

  51. A hard one this time as although there were plenty of good performances no one really stood out head and shoulders above the rest for me, I narrowed it down to between Di Resta and Buemi and went for Di Resta in the end.

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