Alonso and Button lead your Driver of the Weekend picks

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Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Monaco, 2011

Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have won the F1 Fanatic Driver of the Weekend polls more often than any other drivers this year.

But world championship leader Sebastian Vettel has not been voted Driver of the Weekend so far this year.

Guest writer Ewa Zaborska reviews your Driver of the Weekend picks for the 11 races so far this year.

Australian Grand Prix

Sergio Perez, Sauber, Melbourne, 2011

Driver of the Australian Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Sergio Perez – 36.3%
2. Vitaly Petrov – 32.5%
3. Sebastian Vettel – 12.0%

Sauber were disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix, but Perez’s performance in his very first F1 race was so impressive that he was still voted the Driver of the Weekend.

There was another close contender – Vitaly Petrov, who after a troubled rookie year delivered a mature race to grab his first podium finish in F1.

Easily Perez, going completely against the grain, keeping decent pace throughout the race and only pitting the once.

Hope this is a trend and wasn’t just complete, having one driver that’s able to double the life of the tyres would make for an interesting season.

On top of all that, it was his debut race… amazing. Pity the Sauber wing was illegal, he’ll have to come back strong in Malaysia
disjunto

Malaysian Grand Prix

Nick Heidfeld, Renault, Sepang, 2011

Driver of the Malaysian Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Nick Heidfeld – 38.4%
2. Sebastian Vettel – 16%
3. Jenson Button – 12.1%

In Malaysia, Heidfeld followed his team mate’s footsteps and scored a podium finish.

Dennis appreciated his efforts but also gave a nod to the dominant race winner:

Heidfeld for me as well. The way he kept the Renault under control with Hamilton and later on Webber behind him was wonderful to watch.

Although it’s a tough one yet again with the flawless weekend that Vettel put together.
Dennis

Chinese Grand Prix

Rubens Barrichello, Narian Karthikeyan, Mark Webber, Shanghai, 2011

Driver of the Chinese Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Mark Webber – 47.8%
2. Lewis Hamilton – 42.4%
3. Felipe Massa – 2.5%

Webber was eliminated in Q1 and lined up 18th on the grid, yet he managed to climb to the podium. His fightback earned him the title of the Driver of the Weekend.

However, it was a close call between him and the Grand Prix winner Hamilton, who was second in the poll with more votes than many winners this year have had.

Close call between Webber and Hamilton… probably should have gone for Hamilton to be honest because he was very good and more consistent over the whole weekend.

But Webber’s race really made up for his poor qualifying. Top six would have been a good result, a podium is excellent. And I was expecting him to flounder at the back and confirm the view of many people that he’s lost it.

In short, I’m going with my heart (which loves an unexpected comeback drive), rather than my head.
Mark Hitchcock

Turkish Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Istanbul, 2011

Driver of the Turkish Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Fernando Alonso – 37.8%
2. Kamui Kobayashi – 25.8%
3. Sebastian Vettel – 22.1%

After Ferrari’s bad start to the season, Alonso scored first podium for the Italian team, having started 5th on the grid.

Alonso’s performance impressed even his severest critics:

Best driver of the weekend overall has to be… *gulp*… Alonso

His performance was outstanding in the race. He was opportunistic in the first few laps, and his overall pace allowed him to bring the fight to Webber. After having troubles in practice, he bounced back with impressive determination and calm. He showed the kind of mental strength that I think was lacking in his performances last year (and arguably cost him the 2010 title).

I may loathe/detest/abhor/despise Alonso, but I have to begrudgingly admit that he was the most impressive driver of the weekend. Touche, Fernando.
Hallard

Spanish Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Barcelona, 2011

Driver of the Spanish Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Lewis Hamilton – 39.6%
2. Sebastian Vettel – 23.9%
3. Fernando Alonso – 13.3%

Hamilton won the poll due to his great pursuit of Vettel. But the choice of the Driver of the Weekend was much closer than the results suggest.

TommyB89 is one of many who couldn’t decide which driver to pick:

Too hard to call. I can’t remember a race where it was so hard to choose a driver of the day.

Vettel drove arguably one of his best races. He didn’t win from pole, had to overtake several cars after his pitstop and resist the huge pressure from Hamilton.

Hamilton drove an incredible race to finish 0.6 seconds off an unbeatable Red Bull on a Red Bull-favoured track

Alonso did amazingly well to keep Webber behind him for so long. His incredible start led to him leading many laps in an average car.

Heidfeld, while not making as many places up as Webber in China, drove a great race. He started from last on the grid and remember the Renault isn’t nearly as quick as the Red Bull.

Other shout-outs to Button, Schumacher and the Sauber guys.

All I know is that it definitely wasn’t Felipe Massa.
TommyB89

Monaco Grand Prix

Jenson Button, McLaren, Monaco, 2011

Driver of the Monaco Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Jenson Button – 33.1%
2. Fernando Alonso – 18.8%
3. Sebastian Vettel – 17.0%

Button chose a different strategy to other frontrunners, which could have given him victory if it wasn’t for the red flag.

For me Jenson Button did a great job. I think the red flag in qualifying did maybe flatter his starting position but still, I only think Hamilton could have improved his time.

I put Alonso on pole after his performances in practice, and was surprised to see Button ahead of him, especially as Alonso seems to own this track.

Button again went for a different strategy, and one that was looking like it was going to give him the win. The team did really well to put him in clear air every time and the red flag at the end really made a great end to the race vanish.
smifaye

Canadian Grand Prix

Jenson Button, McLaren, Montreal, 2011

Driver of the Canadian Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Jenson Button – 61.0%
2. Michael Schumacher – 27.8%
3. Sebastian Vettel – 2.2%

When the drivers had half of the race distance behind them, Button was in the last position, yet he still managed to achieve a remarkable victory. The McLaren driver made it two in a row in the Driver of the Weekend polls.

WasiF1 recalls all the adventures from this eventful race by Jenson Button:

For a driver who been hit by his team mate, got a penalty, was on the wrong tyres when the rain came heavy, had a puncture when crashed with Alonso to win by overtaking Webber, Schumacher and forced Vettel to a mistake he deserves it.

Schumacher was the second best, not sure what happened to him in the end of the race but he deserved a podium.
WasiF1

European Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Valencia, 2011

Driver of the European Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

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

Alonso rose to the challenge of his home Grand Prix and separated the Red Bull drivers on the podium, which gave him the title of the Driver of the European Grand Prix Weekend over the race winner – Sebastian Vettel.

For me it was close between Alonso and Vettel as both were flawless, but I voted Alonso because Vettel had the race under control and was cruising, whereas Alonso pushed very hard until the very last stages and still made no error.
Sharon

British Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Silverstone, 2011

Driver of the British Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Fernando Alonso – 53.0%
2. Lewis Hamilton – 22.3%
3. Mark Webber – 8.0%

Fernando Alonso once more impressed the F1 Fanatic readers with his pace. The Spaniard won Ferrari’s first race in 2011 on the 60th anniversary of Scuderia’s first ever F1 victory.

The Ferrari driver’s performance was once again appreciated even by his rivals’ fans:

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.

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

German Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Nurburgring, 2011

Driver of the German Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Lewis Hamilton – 76.6%
2. Adrian Sutil – 9.8%
3. Fernando Alonso – 5.6%

Hamilton withstood the pressure from Webber and overtook Alonso in a crucial moment to win his second Grand Prix this year.

There’s no real doubt this week, it was Hamilton’s weekend. He pulled out the a dream qualifying lap putting him between the Red Bulls then drove an near flawless race.

He made the most of out of the McLaren’s pace in the cold conditions and pulled off two critical passes on Alonso and Webber – who both had good weekends, but Hamilton had a great weekend.
Ads21

Hungarian Grand Prix

Jenson Button, McLaren, Hungaroring, 2011

Driver of the Hungarian Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three:

1. Jenson Button – 50.7%
2. Paul di Resta – 14.4%
3. Lewis Hamilton – 11.8%

Jenson Button called mixed conditions right once again and won his 200th race on a track that brought his first ever F1 victory back in 2006.

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?
Lin1876

Results so far

Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were voted Drivers of the Weekend most frequently – both of them have won the poll three times.

Another driver voted the Driver of the Weekend more than once is Lewis Hamilton, who was appreciated for his performance twice.

Surprisingly, despite his clear dominance in the championship, Sebastian Vettel has not yet been chosen the Driver of the Weekend.

But he has taken second or third place in the poll seven times. He was closest to winning the European Grand Prix poll, losing to Alonso by 23 votes.

Other drivers to get to the top three in the poll more than once were: Fernando Alonso (six, including three wins), Lewis Hamilton (five, including two wins), Jenson Button (four, including three wins) and Mark Webber (two, including one win).

Nico Rosberg is the only driver from the top seven teams in the constructors’ championship who has not made it into the top three of the poll so far this season.

Perez is the only rookie to win the poll so far. He did it for his performance in his very first F1 race, in Australia. The other rookie who managed to score a top three finish is di Resta, who came second in the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend poll.

Does Vettel deserve to have won Driver of the Weekend so far this year? What do you think of the ratings so far? Have your say in the comments.

This is a guest article by Ewa Zaborska, who will be reviewing your Driver of the Weekend picks after every race.

If you want to write a guest article for F1 Fanatic you can find all the information you need here.

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Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

132 comments on “Alonso and Button lead your Driver of the Weekend picks”

  1. I think that this topic shows the staggering unlikeability of the person who starts from pole and wins from pole.

    That man has been Vettel this year. Yet he was recently rated the best driver of the year so far by this website – and rightly so. In the wider context of the championship no one can dispute that he is doing the best job.

    Its strange therefore that he hasn’t won any driver of the weekends. I suppose that it emphasises that most people will support the underdog. An F1 fan wants a driver to do well in a car that shouldn’t be capable of doing that well. Button’s drive in Canada is a great example – where he not only blitzed the field but was lapping hugely faster than anyone else for most of the second part of the race.

    1. I think Vettel came close for his driving in spain, there he really had to fight to keep it. And Monaco and Silverstone were good races as well.

      But there has not been a weekend, where he really stood out for an amazing drive. He is just fastest and able to manage it to the finish from the front, doing a great job to win, but not the thing that gets most fans cheering.

      1. Spot on Bas.

        In some ways he could take it almost as a compliment…he’s calm and collected enough to lead the championship more than comfortably without drawing much attention to himself!

        1. It’s because we’re so used to him taking pole and win that when he does it is less outstanding than a second place by a driver in an inferior car. If he was first in every single session and took a Grand Slam with over 30 seconds on his closest follower, I’m sure he’ll be voted driver of the weekend, but the other drivers can be voted such without achieving such results.

          1. If he had driven the race of Webber in China or the race of Button in Canada I’m pretty sure he would have been DOTW.

      2. He isn’t the fastest anymore. Not by a long shot.

        In Qually the Red Bull is still strong, but now, only just ahead of their rivals. However, in terms of race pace. They are now the underdogs. If Vettel can beat the Ferrari’s or the Mclaren’s in the coming races without drastic changes to the Red Bull… He is a sure winner of the coming polls.

    2. As poetic as destroying your nearest rival is, consistently doing it will destroy your engines and compromise you come the end of the season.

  2. With each and every race people happily find an excuse to not vote for Vettel. In many occasions because another driver has a suprise result, or managed to luck out hard enough.
    The consistency with which Vettel manages to get into the top 3 shows how consistently good his results are. And afterall, that’s all what counts.

    1. I’m shocked that he hasn’t been voted as driver of the weekend yet, and he has still been voted by most fans as the driver of the first half of the season. He might have the best car, but just look at how he has capitalised on it so far.

      1. And not capitalised…

        Point is other drivers have done better than him on one weekend, his strength is that he has done quite well on MOST weekends.

        Not the best on any of them singularly but near the top eery weekend.

        1. Its hard to stand out and claim driver of the weekend when you start from pole and finish first. At the Malaysian GP, Turkish GP and the European GP he was untouchable, but people would still rather vote for someone else, as they see no challenge in winning a race from pole.

          1. I think he should have got driver of the weekend at Monaco: he kept his tyres alive for an unbelievable distance,and he soaked up huge pressure from Button and Alonso, both of whom had much faster cars at that time.

          2. I might have voted for him the first time he was dominant, but to me the fun and exitement of that goes away after the first 1-2 times.

            Therefore I have voted for Vettel only a few times this year, mostly it went to drivers who did supprise.

          3. Not to seem backwards but watching Senna win a race from pole was much more impressive most of the time. Why? Because he gave his everything in every lap in every corner. Even Schumachers dominations were sometimes really impressive especially in the rain when he crushed everyone around him.
            Vettel is managing his lead when he leads. That is very smart and I appreciate his skill but its not impressive or exciting, therefore others get voted over him. Hamilton and Alonso are more interesting to watch because they are always on the edge but of course that makes them more prone to mistakes.

          4. @SVettel – Had it of not been for the red flag he may have been in with a shot. I still believe he could have kept Button and Alonso behind him but he was denied the opportunity…as were Button and Alonso!

          5. I think Spain was his best performance and he definately should have won DOTW. His car was clearly slower, than Hamilton’s, he had no KERS, an engine disadvanatage and Hamilton is one of the most ruthless overtakers on track but he kept him behind all race.

            In Monaco he was lucky that the red flag allowed him to change tyres which could be why he lost.

          6. *why he lost driver of the weekend.

            Obviously he won.

          7. @ banarama – Watching Senna and Schumacher going all out all through the race was fun, agreed. But today’s regulations concerning the amount of engines and gearboxes the teams are able to use would make such a drive a complete desaster.
            In my opinion it is much more difficult to lead a race, find a rhythm that is fast AND not too bad on the mechanics, than simply going all out for it with an engine that you can throw away after 350 kms.

            We saw in Monaco what can happen to even an Ayrton Senna when you tell him to drive slower for whatever reason.

        2. It’s kind of a double standard. Whenever Vettel has the best car and he it’s no big deal, when he doesn’t (on a race distance or due to technical problems) and still manages a podium he’s done badly.

          I also don’t really see his “losses” as only his own mistakes. In China he was on the wrong strategy, nobody really knew how long the tyres would last. In Canada he was 10 seconds infront before the last safety car brought Button back to the fight and in the last few races he cleary didn’t have the best overall car anymore as he used to have, yet still consistently finished in the top 4.

  3. Great article. I’d also just like to note that regular commentor Dan Thorn has been keeping track of the full Driver of the Weekend results, and is making a championship table based upon it, giving F1 points to the top 10 drivers voted for each race.

    I do hope to see it sometime soon… c’mon Dan!

    1. Yeah, post it Dan, to show how it adds up for all drivers so far :-)

    2. Ooh, that will be interesting to see! But I think he’s on holiday atm so it might be a while.

  4. Looking back on these – I don’t think I disagree with the winner of any of them! Amazing that the Chinese GP was dominated by Webber and Hamilton, and Massa in third only got 2% of the votes!

    Although meaningless opinion polls it is interesting to analyse and good to note that there has been seemingly no bias in the overall results! A good feature, thanks Ewa!

    1. I’d also understand UK people to vote for UK drivers more often, but it’s seems that’s not the case. Kudos!

      I can’t vote for Vettel, because I’m yet to see exceptional driving skills from him this year – this is the root of the question: What’s the definition of the “Driver of the race”? Most of the time it’s about the car, not the driver, right?
      I’ve always said that: put Vettel in a middle-runner car, and watch him … finishing in the middle, like starting 10 and finishing 8.

      The coolest driving moment this year, so far, to me, was Lewis Hamilton pushing Vettel in the wet Hungary race. There, I, the Alonso supporter, said it. It was absolutely lovely to see the aggressive precision from Hamilton against Vettel. Well done, Lewis.

      1. I’ve always said that: put Vettel in a middle-runner car, and watch him … finishing in the middle, like starting 10 and finishing 8.

        That doesn’t make sense. Vettel is a driver who has been in a midfield car and put it in the top 5. That’s why he was promoted to Red Bull. Unless you’re advocating that all of the current front runners should drive midfield cars and the midfielders should driver the better cars.

        1. Such as Singapore 2008, Monza 2008 and Valencia 2008

          1. And, umm… he did win a race in a Minardi too.

      2. Except Keith constantly reminds people that British readers aren’t even half the site. I think they’re like a third. But that doesn’t stop people from deciding otherwise.

        It’s also driver of the weekend – for some, qualifying results count a lot for them. I personally don’t care unless someone outqualifies where they should be and makes some noise.

        1. it’s one third of the site’s visitors, but that does not mean the other two-thirds are visitors from just another nation, they are from all over the world..British visitors are a majority

          1. Oh joy, this wretchedly tedious debate again. The numbers are in the forum if you want them.

            I’m just glad those who are fixated on nationality as being the explanation for why anyone does anything are in the minority.

          2. I wasn’t insinuating anything, I was just saying that even a third still might represent a majority

          3. By definition a majority is more than 50%. Your statement is therefore logically incorrect.

          4. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
            11th August 2011, 9:43

            “I was just saying that even a third still might represent a majority”

            The word you’re looking for there is ‘plurality’.

  5. I believe that the poll results rather show “the surprise of the weekend” or “the entertainer of the weekend” than “the driver of the weekend”.

    Sebastian Vettel has never got the award because most people expect him to do very well in every race, at least this season it is so. It is never a surprise if Vettel takes pole position and then goes on to dominate the race. What is more, it is pretty boring to see a driver lead every lap of the race and take a convincing win. Fierce fights, last lap lead changes and fightbacks from the back of the grid is what we want to see.

    For instance, Webber deserves a big respect for his performance in China on the race day. But he shouldn’t have found himself in the back of the grid after Saturday qualifying in the first place. Passing a lot of slower cars and fighting back to the top 3 while using an additional set of fresh tyres meant a lot of entertainment for the spectators but I don’t think that Vettel’s dominant performance in, let’s say, Australian GP, deserved less admiration.

    And Nick Heidfeld did a very good job in Malaysia, I have no doubt about that. But I tend to think that he was voted the driver of the weekend rather because people hadn’t expected him to do so well, it was a nice surprise to see him on the podium.

    Nevertheless, this vote is a great feature so thanks Keith for running it and thanks Ewa for making a nice summary.

    1. Indeed

      DotW is more like a prize for who got the best result with their car relative to the performance of the car, otherwise the winner would win every one of these. If you lap everyone else from pole you might win driver of the weekend I guess.

      The guys who win most DotW are those who get a better result than the car deserves.

      1. If you lap everyone else from pole you might win driver of the weekend I guess.

        Has a driver ever lapped all other cars in the race?

        1. I went crazy with the formatting there.. I’d be curious to know can anyone remember a driver lapping every car in the race..

          It seems like something Fangio might have achieved but are there any recent occurances?

          1. Yes there are, I guess Damon Hill was even two laps ahead of everyone else as he won 1995 Australian Grand Prix. Maybe there are some even more recent examples but I am not sure.

          2. But I wouldn’t have voted Hill as driver of that weekend as it was only him and 7 “backmarkers” finishing that race at all.

          3. Schumacher Spain 1996?
            I keep forgetting whether his win was by 12 minute or 1 lap. I’m sure its one or the other

            But the most impressive pole to win race for me was Belgium 1965. I didn’t see it, but I heard Clark won by 5 mins or so.
            Great drive

    2. Completely agree

    3. There certainly is an element of truth in that Girts.

      Great work on the article Ewa to summarize and analyze it for us. Thanks.

  6. Cześć, Ewa :)

    It’s quite interesting too look back and see that the-most-dominant-driver-of-the-year’s performances where never impressive enough to grant him an award.

    What also strikes me is that the Hungarian Grand Prix was the only race weekend where a pair of team-mates were voted in the top 3 (McLaren).

    1. But I guess Vettel would win the year for being consistently there on the podium!

  7. I’d like to request a worst driver award too – could be some good debate on who tops that one!

    1. Taking into account the race results I’m pretty sure there are some Indians and Italians involved. On the other hand when thinking about driver vs. car capability one former champion name springs to my mind inevitably…

  8. Could we have a summarized “driver of the season” so far results?
    Lets say 100 people voted for each race so far. So for Australia, Vettel gets 12 votes whereas Perez gets 36 votes.
    So of the 1100 votes, who has got the maximum votes so far? This will help in seeing if Vettel atleast wins on the season terms or not. He has finished in the top 3 seven times (more than any other driver) but has he got the maximum votes so far?

    1. I would also be very interested in such approach. It would be interesting to compare it with Keith’s mid season ranking for example.

      1. Indeed. Although this is an interesting analysis we seemed to have Bernie’s medal’s system!

    2. I’m not sure that’s fair though. On a race-by-race basis I think I’ve only voted Vettel once. Maybe twice. I’ve voted for Hamilton more times, and probably Alonso and Button too. However, If I were to answer a separate question- ‘driver of the season so far’- I would undoubtedly say Vettel. I believe the others have had more stand-out performances, but have had several races where they didn’t impress, whereas Vettel has been consistently brilliant.

    3. Looking only at the top 3 teams it looka approximately like this:
      21% Hamilton
      16% Button
      15,5% Alonso
      12% Vettel
      6% Webber
      1% Massa

      The Championship would be about:
      Hamilton 161 points
      Vettel 146
      Alonso 140
      Webber 91
      Kobayashi 64
      Perez 53
      Schumacher 50
      Massa 49
      DiResta 43
      Heidfeld 37
      Sutil 27
      Rosberg 26
      Kovalainen 26
      Petrov 24
      Alguersuari 23
      Buemi 18
      Liuzzi 10
      Maldonado 8

      And the rest I couldn’t readm my notes anymore :-P

      1. Great great job! Supprised Schumacher gets twice as many “points” as Rosberg. Love where the Sauber boys stand!

      2. Forgot Button at 121 points .. oops.

        By the way, if two drivers had equal amounts of votes in a race I put them at the same position so there might be more points than were available so far.

  9. I disagree with the Monaco GP results most. Jenson Button has been made driver of the weekend based on the conjecture that he would have won had the race started without allowing Vettel to change the tyres. This is as far-fetched as the claim that people will buy SKY and not watch any sports other than F1.

    Vettel had managed to fend off Alonso and Button very well for the 15 laps before the red flag. In addition, between laps 38 to 48 (if I remember correctly), Button was on Vettel’s tail with tyres that were both softer and fresher (by almost 10-15 laps) than Vettel’s tyres.

    Button had more than enough chances to win the race but he couldn’t. That was Vettel’s most hard fought win of the season and its a pity that he was chosen third in the DoTW poll.

    1. Nope, the most hard fought of vettel’s victory was Spain. Spain might be one of the worst track to overtake but its still better than Monaco. In Moncaco he just needed to place his car in the middle of the track and his car was always fast in corners.

      He should have been the driver of the weekend in Spain.

    2. I agree. I’m very surprised Button won Monaco. Sure a brilliant qualifying, but he didn’t seem to do that much in the race, and we cannot make assumptions that he would have passed him.

      1. Unfortunately because Vettels’ tyres were due to go off the cliff just as the red flag came out, it gave the appearance that victory had been handed to Vettel. This made people less keen to vote for him.

        1. That Vettel would get overtaken in SPECULATION.

          That Button couldn’t overtake Vettel inspite of the advantage (As stated above) is a FACT.

          1. Yes, but I was stating why people might have not chosen to vote for Vettel.

          2. I can’t believe Button won Monaco, by such a long way as well.

            I think Vettel was a driver of the day but even Alonso deserved it more then Button. Button didn’t even try to overtake to win the race, at least Alonso had a go.

            The ‘Button would have one’ is ridiculous to me. If Alonso got passed he’d be long gone and Button wouldn’t have had a chance.

          3. @TommyB89 I agree. I don’t see what he did that was so impressive? He had a good qualifying, but he did just about nothing impressive in the race.
            Vettel kept a car behind which was way over a second a lap quicker and his tyres just kept getting worse, and he made sure to only give it the beans where there was a risk he would be overtaken. A great and very intelligent drive, yet for some reason a lot of people thought that the red flag was enough to give Button their vote.

          4. I agree with Tommy as well. I actually went for Alonso on that weekend, as I was more impressed by his efforts and aggressiveness in the Ferrari that was lapped in Spain than Button coasting around in 3rd in the best car.

            Alonso should have won for what he achieved with his car, or Vettel should have won for soaking up all the pressure in the race having ben unbeatable on Saturday again.

          5. Yeah, I agree with Tommy as well. Alonso was ahead of Button, so therefore even if Button had have passed Vettel, he wouldn’t have won. So the “Button would have won” argument is nonesense.

  10. My, my. Nice to see a fellow Pole as a guest writer :)

    1. Hello,
      Nice to be a guest writer as well ;-).

      1. Ha, thanks for the work, looking forward to see more Ewa :-D

        1. US Williams Fan
          10th August 2011, 21:04

          Agreed! I enjoyed your analysis of the polls.

          Perhaps you can make it a regular article…. “Poles on Polls”? perhaps :)

          just kidding. I’m half Polish so I can joke.

          Didn’t realize that the Sauber drivers were fan favorites in multiple races until now.

          looking forward to the next one!

          1. Sauber has a reputation for being a breeding ground for young talented drivers. It surely gets noticed by the fans.

  11. I wouldn’t read too much into what is voted to be good weekend performance, since Hamilton is 4th in the Monaco poll, with 61 votes

    1. Just because other people don’t share your point of view doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

      1. Unfortunately on the internet it does with many.

        1. US Williams Fan
          10th August 2011, 21:30

          Quite right. People who disagree with me are always 100% wrong….. at least on the internet.

          To be fair…. I’m an American, I’m not a Mclaren fan (could you tell from my user name :) ) and I picked Hamilton on more than one occasion…..

          food for thought.

      2. Also means that people can unite even when showing bias, hatred, dislike and utter contempt

      3. I did not express any personal point of view regarding the race, who I considered to be the best driver or even if Hamilton deserved those 61 votes or not. I was merely pointing out the relative lack of reliability for these poll results, given some amounts of subjectivity..the same goes for the fact that Vettel has not been voted driver of the weekend in any of his perfect weekends this season

        1. You could have chosen a better example than Hamilton at Monaco. He drove an appalling race there, repeatedly crashing into people.

          1. that’s my point

      4. I don’t see how Hamilton (expected to fight for the win) did a better job or surprised people in the right way more than for example, Kobayashi, who got 5th in the Sauber.

      5. But the point of view could be based on dislike, fanboy/girl, nationalism etc so @Glue have a point wouldn’t read too much into it, at least in some occasions i guess.

  12. Can we see a ranking just based on total votes overall?

    Vettel might be top of that one.

    1. Not just total votes, total votes weighted for each race.
      Otherwise races with more votes get higher weight-age(Like Ewa mentioned, Hamilton finished 2nd in the poll at China but got more votes than winners of other races).

      1. Both would be interested. China got many votes because it was a brilliant race! Featuring well in a great race has to be worth more!

      2. You could just take the % votes from each race and then take your total for each driver as a percentage of the 1100% possible… That would be fair I reckon…

    2. Such a system already exists, it is called the WDC.
      How desperate are you to see SV given more accolades.

      1. I didn’t realise the WDC was decided by subjective opinion of race performance.

        1. Not subjective as the DOTW is but results on track which is the basis for Vettels fans complaint that he is hard done by.

  13. Guess the general view is it’s more the car than Vettel.

    1. On a separate note, with the whole sky thing annoying most of us take a read http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Pay-TV-industry-loses-record-apf-4130291642.html?x=0

    2. If it is all down to the car like so many people have been saying, wouldn’t you have Vettel and Webber first and second every race because the car is that good? But Red Bull have only had a single 1-2 finish this season. Now Webber is anything but a bad driver yet he just can’t seem to put his ‘super fast car’ at the front of the grid and keep it there like Vettel can.

      No matter how good or bad the car may be, you need something special to squeeze the most out of it. Vettel has clearly shown us this season that he does indeed have that special ability and I think he isn’t quite getting the respect he deserves for it.

      I mean, Senna, who is constantly labelled the best F1 driver ever was renowned for getting pole and capitalising on it, and this young German is doing the same thing yet he doesn’t get any recognition.
      Forgive my dry humour, but maybe Vettel needs to suffer a tragic death before he can get the respect he deserves??

      1. As a Webber supporter it pains me to say that Webber has shown how fast the car can be but has totally failed to master the start. Vettel has mastered the start but that alone is not enough to be considered DOTW.

        1. So a driver can be topping the times in practice, get pole and completely dominate and win the race (aka being the best driver of the weekend) and not get voted driver of the weekend?
          Surely I’m not the only one who finds that absurd…

          1. I agree with you Julian. You don’t simply have to get a ‘good start’ you need to consistently lap as fast as possible.

            Good point about Senna to. Remember Senna had a car that was about 1.5 seconds quicker than anything else. The Red Bull is hardly that much quicker and if it is it’s by way less than half a second.

          2. It’s called DRIVER of the weekend, not CAR or WINNER so as I said above, the WDC is the place for the winner to get recognition.

      2. please do not compare a real racing driver with a playstation boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        1. Yes, we won’t compare your efforts on F1 2010 wih the real world champion.

  14. For me to vote for Seb, he needs to do more than start from pole and drive away.
    Go into anti-stall at the start and lose 10+ places or fail to make Q3 and then come through to win or at least a fighting podium position.

    We need to see that he is better than a good, but not exceptional driver, in very best car of the season.

    He could have had more votes, but at Monaco, the red flag which allowed tyre change and work spoilt it. And in Canada he cracked.

    1. Why should he make a mistake and correct it to get your vote when is already doing a better job?

      1. I never said he had to make a mistake, there are many scenario’s where he could fail to make it into Q3, without it being his fault. And his team mate has had problems earlier this seasons which were put down to anti-stall or clutch-bite not working correctly.

  15. Great article! Some great debate in the comments and certainly brings back a few memories from earlier in the season so thank you for that, Ewa.

    It is surprising that Vettel hasn’t topped at least one of these but consistency is key and if we were judging performance based on that I have no doubt Vettel would be flying away with it.

    1. People don’t like dominance. A driver who has a few collisions, drops back down the grid and then makes a comeback is seen as a much better drive than someone who tops FP1, FP2, FP3, then puts it on pole and wins.

      1. So very true. I think people go looking for a more romantic drive as they expect the guy who tops all but a few sessions to be dull.

        Thankfully for me I can take pleasure in both situations.

        Truth be told from a technical view point they’re hardly comparable.

        1. I agree. For me, drives like Vettel’s in Australia (just as an example) are just as good as Button’s in Canada, which is an over-rated drive.

          1. Agreed. Button didn’t deserve to win that race, or be voted driver of the weekend. The Safety car kept allowing him to catch up, that’s not the result of good driving or decision making – that’s luck. We might as well vote the next National Lotto Winner Driver of the Weekend.

          2. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
            11th August 2011, 9:51

            If it didn’t deserve to be Button in Canada, which of the others did deserve it, and why?

          3. I don’t agree. Vettel in Spain was top notch and If I remember right, i gave him the vote there.
            And in Valencia he did a great job of pacing himself excellently to keep the lead, that was fascinating in itself.

            But in Australia it was deservedly Perez who got Sauber that far with saving the tyres as as Rookie! And if Button was over-rated in Canada, tell us who do you think did a better job there?

            Vettel slipped up under pressure, Alonso ended beached on a kerb, Webber took ages to get past Schumacher and Schumacher in the end did not have the car to hold these guys back (so was it Schu doing better than Button?).

            Its easy to say something is over rated, especially Button. But had he not had the technical glitches and pitstop error by his crew, he could have 2 more podium finishes.

            And in Canada he did a great job to recover and win and in Hungary he was just the one making it work best for him in the race.

            Vettel did worse there, even if he is doing a marvellous job for the championship so far.

  16. Trust me when i say Vettel will NEVER win a driver of the weekend, not even when he gets a Grand-Chelem or goes like 2 seconds quicker than the next guy.

    Sometimes i wonder if the vettel haters are taking it too far….

    1. Shomir, isn’t that obvious? Of course if he does that the counter argument will again be that it is the ‘CAR’

    2. Rather than seeing comspiracy theories and Vettel haters this poll just shows me what I already knew; Jenson has had some very impressive drives this year and Fernando is one of the most entertaining and exciting drivers in F1 at the moment.

      Sebastian is doing a very good job this year and picking up lots of good results; unfortunately he’s doing it in a way that is particularly boring and as such he’s not going to be many people’s driver of the weekend.

      1. Just like Monaco and Spain. Yeah sure that was super boring races.

    3. I wouldn’t go as far as ascribing this to hatred towards Vettel. It’s very common in sports that if someone is dominating, then his performances gradually get less appreciation. Sometimes the situations gets to the point when winning is nothing more than an obligation for a competitor and even if he fulfills it, it gets less appreciated than the same result from anyone else.

  17. For Vettel’s situation there’s also the perception that the RB7 is dominating all the other cars, while Spain, Monaco, Silverstone, Nurburgring and Hungary all clearly showed that this is not always the case. When Vettel does well, we point to the car. When he has a bad drive (which in has case is ending 4th) we put it down to him succumbing to pressure or finally showing his true face.

    Winners of the DotW have unexpected performances (Perez, Heidfeld) or drive a spectacular race due to previous errors or accidents (Webber, Button). Vettel does neither. The unexpected for Vettel would be a no-point finish. Either that or he’ll have to crash or go out in Q1 and have race like Webber had in China. I’m guessing he’d rather not win a single DotW on F1F but just be a ‘colourless’ (in terms of DotW) double WDC.

  18. I think Button’s dominance in these polls comes down to : “How on earth did he manage to be there -ie : first or third”. Expectations are generally lower for him than say Alonso, Hamilton or Vettel.

  19. But all this begs the question, what on earth has Vettel got to do to be voted driver of the day? :O Come from last on the grid and win or what?

    1. It’s just that he’s not a “spectacular” winner, and that for some reason stops people from wanting to vote for him. He gets the job done, but as it’s not really as spectacular or exciting a drive as some others in the race, it often gets overlooked in favour of a gutsy drive through the field, in the case of Webber, or an unusual strategy, in the case of Perez.

      1. No it’s more than that, it’s that when he has been back in the field he has made a mess of it. When he shows me a great drive I will vote for him.

        1. No it’s more than that, it’s that when he has been back in the field he has made a mess of it.

          He is very rarely near the back though. Even when he has been there, at Silverstone 10 he went from 24th to 7th, and Brazil 09, from 17th to 4th.

          The fact he isn’t at the back is clearly a good attribute, and is why he’s likely to be a back-to-back champ.

          1. Yep,he will be a deserving WDC even without any spectacular drives.

    2. I think that if we would not see him doing it each week it would give him far better chances. I was considering voting him for Valencia and voted for him in Spain.

      Possibly if he gets it on the first or second row in Spa and dominate that or just win after fighting on track in probably changeable conditions I do not see any reason why he can’t win DOTW.

  20. Its more than normal to vote in the driver that overcomes alot of challenges and for that reason we see Vettel has the friver with less challenges in front of him usually everything works his way, the best car, a team exclusively dedicated to him, and a big lead in the champ. Despite being the most likely champion this season we cant say that he is over driving, over achiveing.

    1. “and a big lead in the champ” Oh yeah how unfair.. He drove him self to that advantage. It wasn’t like the 83 points lead was an award for having the most famous finger in motorsport or something.

  21. I took the liberty of counting every single vote for every single race so far. Bear in mind I might have made a mistake somewhere but the results look like this so far:

    Lewis Hamilton – 1206
    Fernando Alonso – 835
    Jenson Button – 691
    Sebastian Vettel – 649
    Mark Webber – 503
    Sergio Perez – 339
    Vitaly Petrov – 267
    Kamui Kobayashi – 263
    Nick Heidfeld – 241
    Michael Schumacher – 232
    Jaime Alguesuari – 130
    Adrian Sutil – 58
    Felipe Massa – 47
    Pastor Maldonado – 43
    Paul Di Resta – 34
    Nico Rosberg – 25
    Narain Karthakeyan – 12
    Heikki Kovaleinen – 12
    Vitantonio Liuzzi – 12
    Sebastien Buemi – 10
    Jerome d’Ambrosio – 9
    Timo Glock – 8
    Rubens Barrichello – 4
    Karun Chandhok – 2
    Daniel Ricciardo – 1
    Jarno Trulli – 1

    Total – 5634

    1. I know it’s a flawed way of looking at the overall consensus, since I know in general that Rosberg is considered to be driving better than Schumacher but Schumacher had one great race which brought his votes way up, whereas Rosberg’s has been consistently quite good which doesn’t give many votes.

      It’s the same for Perez vs Kobayashi I think.

    2. Can I just point out, the reason we’ve not put this data in the article is because it’s potentially misleading as not all races received the same number of votes.

      1. I know, plus people voting deliberately facetiously (which also applies to the main article) but I still think it’s quite interesting to compare the numbers.

        And the ranking system is made in relation to the total number of voters in every race, regardless of whether it’s even or not.

    3. I used a weighted average method (in other words, adding up the percentages of votes earned by every driver).

      Of the 1100 votes (100 votes per race x 11 races), following are the number of votes obtained by the top 5:

      Vettel: 129.41
      Webber: 75.48
      Hamilton: 224.80
      Button: 167.39
      Alonso: 169.66

      Interesting to note is that Webber got 47 out the 75 votes for China itself.
      Hamilton got 76 votes for Germany, 42 for China and 39 for Spain, 22 for Britain and meager numbers for rest.
      Button 33 for Monaco, 61 for Cananda, 50 for Hungary.
      Alonso got 37 for Turkey, 32 for Europe and 52 for Britain
      Vettel never got more than 30 in any race. His top three races are 23 for Spain, 22 for Turkey, 27 for Europe.

      The trend as I see it is people are more generous to the other 4 than they are to Vettel. Vettel’s best performances (Spain and Monaco) earn him 40 votes in total whereas Webber’s one China performance earns him 47, Hamilton earns 76 for Germany, Button earns 61 for Canada, Alonso earns 52 for Britain.

      I hope F1Fanatic makes it up to Vettel in the 2nd half of the season.

  22. Surprised at Button as he’s had a few good races but his qualifying hasn’t been anything that special. The drivers that have given me a real headache with these polls are Fernando and Vettel as it feels like every time I’m struggling to pick between the pair so I’m also quite surprised that Seb hasn’t won one DOTW poll yet.

    1. Button has been pretty amazing this year. I love it when he silences his critics. He’s always there or thereabouts and never (apart from Canada) gets involved in silly incidents.

      1. Amazing? He’s still got less points that his team mate iirc and Hamilton’s not had the smoothest year :P Some of JB’s Sunday drives have been terrific but I don’t think anything more than that about him.

  23. Nico always have a silent race,seems like here also despite good performance in some races he is silent.

    1. There’s no poll for 2nd. or 3rd. best drive, but I gave both Mercedes drivers an honourable mention for Hungary.

  24. Well, the fans said so.

  25. Sebastian Vettel has definitely been underrated, a lot of people are saying that it’s just the car. By any chance have any of you seen Seb’s lap on Top Gear? Definitely showing he’s got skill there. I only refer to Top Gear because it provides a somewhat level field to compare driver skill.

  26. I’m no fan of “Finger” Vettel, but it’s a bit much to expect him to do much passing when he starts from pole. Yet I suspect passing moves are a major factor in deciding who the DOTW is…

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