Vote for your Indian GP driver of the weekend
Debates and polls
Start, Buddh International Circuit
Who was the most impressive driver throughout the Indian Grand Prix weekend?
See below for my pick of the best drivers in the Indian 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 Indian Grand Prix weekend:
Sebastian Vettel – By any measure, a faultless performance. And all the more impressive for there being two different cars between him and his team mate at the end.
Jenson Button – A strong opening lap paved the way for another ‘best of the rest’ result.
Fernando Alonso – Kept Mark Webber under pressure to take third place and withstood pressure to hold onto it.
Jaime Alguersuari – Squeezed into Q3 by the tiniest of margins, scored more valuable points in the race for Toro Rosso’s late-season climb up the standings.
Adrian Sutil – A solid job under some pressure given the speculation over his future at the team.
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 team review – Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber
McLaren team review – Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari team review – Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa
Mercedes team review – Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher
Renault team review – Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov
Williams team review – Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado
Force India team review – Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta
Sauber team review – Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez
Toro Rosso team review – Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari
Lotus team review – Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen
HRT team review – Narain Karthikeyan and Daniel Ricciardo
Virgin team review – Timo Glock and Jerome d’Ambrosio
Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver impressed you the most throughout the Indian Grand Prix weekend? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the Indian Grand Prix weekend?
- Sebastian Vettel (48%)
- Mark Webber (0%)
- Lewis Hamilton (2%)
- Jenson Button (14%)
- Fernando Alonso (5%)
- Felipe Massa (2%)
- Michael Schumacher (12%)
- Nico Rosberg (0%)
- Bruno Senna (0%)
- Vitaly Petrov (0%)
- Rubens Barrichello (0%)
- Pastor Maldonado (0%)
- Adrian Sutil (2%)
- Paul di Resta (0%)
- Kamui Kobayashi (0%)
- Sergio Perez (2%)
- Sebastien Buemi (0%)
- Jaime Alguersuari (8%)
- Heikki Kovalainen (3%)
- Jarno Trulli (0%)
- Narain Karthikeyan (2%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
- Timo Glock (0%)
- Jerome d'Ambrosio (0%)
Total Voters: 456
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Rate the Race: Indian Grand Prix
Don’t forget to cast your vote in the ‘rate the race’ poll as well:
LexBlair (@lexblair) said on 31st October 2011, 20:14
No love for Heikki ? :( LOL:)
Dizzy-A (@david-a) said on 31st October 2011, 20:18
Kovi ran in the top 10 for a while, so Lotus could have had their first point if Trulli brought out a red flag :)
sozavele (@formula-1) said on 31st October 2011, 21:01
Voted for the reason that he out-shone Trulli actually had pace for time and was generally competitive.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 1st November 2011, 6:18
@LexBlair @David-A
Ah, good point! I forgot about him. Why is it that he shines in the Lotus but was mediocre at McLaren? Or has Trulli just lost it and makes Heikki look good? :P
DaveW (@dmw) said on 2nd November 2011, 17:53
I don’t think Kovy was that bad in the McLaren. He was about .2-.3s off Hamilton qualifiying. I.e., about where Button has been for two years. Button has found comparable race pace in his second year at McLaren. But unlike Kovy, Button did not have to deal with a horrible unbalanced car in his second year. Button has had a stable, strong platform to work out how to maximize the car this year. Also, in 08-09, Hamilton was not making such major errors.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 2nd November 2011, 17:58
@dmw One moment that stands out in memory as being particularly bad was his first lap at Monza in 2009.
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey) said on 31st October 2011, 20:36
Sebastian Vettel. Grand Chelem.
tmax (@tmax) said on 31st October 2011, 21:05
Vettel. Happy to see him get some votes.
If the Team principal is upset with his driver for going for the fastest laps, that says it all. On hard tires, with KERS off, with engine toned down they could not stop him from the fastest lap.
Now in all fairness what is really helping Vettel are these criticism that he can only win from pole, he has good machinery etc. All this is driving the kid to up his game everyday. He is able to make his tires last better than Jensen nowadays. I guess all these criticism is making him stronger in an effort to prove. Good for him. Bad for the opposition.
Look at 2002 and 2004, Barichello won a few times. He even had to give up his win in 2002. In 2009 again Barichello could win a few races with the superior Brawn Machinery. Fast forward to 2011. Mark Webber has not won a single race and for that matter never even seen challenging Vettel for a the victory except for that “hold position” from Horner which he did not accept anyway.
Yes we can attribute the entire vicotry on Newey’s machinery. But ultimately it is the team and driver that help Newey. Newey spent 9 years in Maclaren with just a single title. Yeah even Jensen’s 2009 win can be considered Brawn magic. Again for Vettel he won in Monza on a Mindardi err typo Torro Rosso. No one want to remember that. He won the first race for Red Bull too. I think this kid is heavily underrated by all which actually serves as his strength now. Something same going on with Jimmie Johnson in Nascar. He was almost ignored by everyone everytime. But the guy has been champion for the last 5 years.
91jb12 (@91jb12) said on 31st October 2011, 21:27
thats a reasonable comparison because although i don’t watch that many of the NASCAR races (maybe a third of them this year) all I hear is Dale Jr, JPM, Carl Edwards
Icthyes (@icthyes) said on 31st October 2011, 21:06
It’s about time I voted for Alguersuari, so I did.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 1st November 2011, 6:19
@Icthyes
I haven’t voted for Trulli yet this year. I think it’s about time I did… ;)
Tim Katz said on 31st October 2011, 21:07
I wathced the first part of the race on Sundy. What a bore. Not sure if any of them deserve Driver of the Day.
Disappointing. I think I’ll vote for Kobayashi or Massa.
James_mc (@james_mc) said on 31st October 2011, 21:22
It was a weekend under pressure for the come back driver. But he successfully reclaimed his title of “world’s fastest Indian”. Go Narain! :-P
Seriously though, Vettel deserves it.
Tim Katz (@timkatz) said on 31st October 2011, 21:34
Nah. This bloke’s the Worlds Fastest Indian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakesh_Sharma or maybe it was this tragic lady http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpana_Chawla.
Jai Hind!
91jb12 (@91jb12) said on 31st October 2011, 21:25
For once its looking like a landslide Vettel victory!
But think about this
2nd in FP1 to a lap done under yellows
2nd in FP2 to light Ferraris
1st in FP3
2nd in Q1 to a Renault on softs
1st in Q2
1st in Q3
1st in Race
Fastest lap
Lead every lap
How can such a dominant weekend NOT get driver of the weekend?
91jb12 (@91jb12) said on 31st October 2011, 21:29
Honourable mentions though to Kovalainen (first stint pace was amazing), Alguersuari, Button, Alonso, Sutil, Narain and Perez
Paul A (@paul-a) said on 31st October 2011, 22:26
I already said it on another thread, Vettel is the obvious choice by a big margin. But I also believe that Alonso deserves more than an “honourable mention”; he’s driven extremely well this year with a car that is obviously not capable of winning. Massa after all is no slouch (despite hitting high kerbs twice this weekend) with the “same” car — but Alonso seems to be consistently able to score more points when it counts. I can hear the muttering coming about team orders, first drivers, experimental front wings (maybe more), but Alonso has shown true, way above average talent driving a “third rate” (1=RB, 2=McLaren, 3=Ferrari/Mercedes) F150Italia.
It will be interesting to see if he can make a dent in Buttons lead for “best of the rest” in the WDC.
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys) said on 31st October 2011, 22:35
+1
nikolaymk (@nikolaymk) said on 31st October 2011, 23:17
Who voted Massa? I can’t think of a reason except maybe for providing entertainment in the form of crashes.
STSCM (@stscm) said on 31st October 2011, 23:36
Has to be Vettel, he pressed every single ‘win’ button to be had this weekend, whether I actually liked the race or not. Honorable mentions of course to Button, driving a stellar ‘drivers’ race and Alonso for putting lipstick on a pig and making her fly.
Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher) said on 1st November 2011, 1:06
Surely, this is going to be the biggest winning margin for driver of the weekend this year.
Rath (@rath) said on 1st November 2011, 1:26
Seb was flawless…agree..we expected him to win and he delivered. The fact that he keeps growing the distance between himself and team mate is also worthy of mention. I voted for shumi though. based on from where came and the fact that he took Nico in the pits. He had a good race and did some solid laps when needed…
Funkyf1 (@funkyf1) said on 1st November 2011, 1:55
Vettel of course! Faultless except for the fact that he talks to much in the press conferences. This guy will soon be the most successful driver in the history of F1.
Oliver said on 1st November 2011, 2:02
Karthikeyan
wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 1st November 2011, 2:09
Vettel for sure pole, win & fastest lap,you can’t ask for anything more from him.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 1st November 2011, 6:20
@wasiF1
I’m not so sure about that… He could have lapped the entire field. That’d have been more impressive! :P
BasCB (@bascb) said on 1st November 2011, 7:33
@wasif1, I would kindly ask him to cut out the lame lines after winning, and talking for hours in the press conference. But I guess that is about it for improving himself!