Vote for your 2013 Spanish GP driver of the weekend

2013 Spanish Grand Prix

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Which F1 driver was the best performer during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend?

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most during the last race weekend.

Spanish Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Qualified ‘best of the rest’ behind the Mercedes with a single run in Q3. But trying to run a three-stop strategy didn’t work out: pitting a lap later than Alonso cost him track position to the Ferrari and he was demoted by Raikkonen and Massa as well. Fourth keeps him in the lead of the drivers’ championship.

Mark Webber – Half a second off his team mate in qualifying, he made a somewhat typical poor start and fell to 11th at the end of lap one. He was in the pits six lap later and fell as low as 19th. But committing early to a four-stop strategy allowed him to aggressively exploit the advantage of the ‘undercut’ to make made up places and finish behind his team mate.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Alonso said he was reasonably pleased with taking fifth on the grid, despite having Raikkonen and Vettel ahead of him. He made light work of Raikkonen at the start, driving around the Lotus at the exit of turn two and taking Hamilton’s Mercedes for good measure. Pitting before Vettel for his first stop allowed him to jump the Red Bull. After that he took Rosberg in the DRS zone and was on his way to victory. Even a slow puncture at the end of his fourth stint couldn’t put him off his stride.

Felipe Massa – Fastest in the final practice session but lined up an unimpressed ninth after a three-place penalty for impeding Webber during qualifying. But he moved up two places at the start then passed Perez to join the leading queue of cars. He passed Hamilton just before his first pit stop and jumped Vettel with his second. However he faded in his pursuit of Raikkonen late in the race.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Was out-qualified by his team mate and failed to reach Q3, both for the first time this year. He looked set for a miserable day when he came around at the end of lap one with only the Marussias, Caterhams and Bottas behind him. But with many drivers using a four stop strategy his three-stopper allowed him to spend more time in clear air. So much so that his team mate emerged from his last pit stop behind him, and they stayed that way until the flag.

Sergio Perez – An excellent Q2 lap got him through to Q3 where he secured ninth on the grid despite failing to improve his time. That became eighth after Massa’s penalty, and he moved up to sixth after an excellent start. He ran a four-stop strategy to his team mate’s three, and felt he would have been better off not setting a time in Q3 and conserving his tyres instead. He was initially told to go after Button (and Rosberg) in the final stint, then reminded to look after his tyres. Judging by the difference in their lap times, and the similar difficulty Gutierrez and Di Resta had trying to make passes at this point, it seems Perez was more unable than unwilling to pass Button – though he may have been a little more circumspect after Bahrain.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – Believed there wasn’t much more in the car after taking fourth on the grid. He was outfoxed by Alonso at the start and lost some time in the opening stint getting past Rosberg. More time lost behind Vettel later on potentially kept him from challenging Alonso for victory with his three-stop strategy.

Romain Grosjean – Promoted to sixth on the grid after Massa’s penalty but started poorly and dropped back. He was optimistic of making progress but never got the chance to as his suspension failed on lap eight.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – Claimed pole position for the second race in a row with two laps in Q3 that were quicker than anyone else could manage. Repelled Vettel in the opening stages but after the first pit stops the floodgates opened and he was passed by three cars in one lap. However he found some pace on his three-stopper later on and held off Di Resta for sixth.

Lewis Hamilton – Said he wasn’t happy with the balance of his car after qualifying. He’d looked on course for pole position with a brilliant lap in Q2, but struggled to improve in the top ten shoot-out. Went backwards in the race and said he couldn’t understand why his car treated its tyres so poorly.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – Sounded astonishing on the radio when his team told him he had been knocked out in Q2 – he said he’d wrung everything out of the car. He made gains in the race and was moving into contention for points when his teamed waved him out into the path of Vergne’s Toro Rosso. Hulkenberg suffered wing damage and was handed a stop-go penalty which ruined his race. Without that he reckoned eighth was possible.

Esteban Gutierrez – Made it through to Q2 but a three-place penalty for getting in Raikkonen’s way dropped him back to 19th. He ran a “long” (13-lap) first stint which briefly put him in the lead. After his first stop he passed Vergne and his second moved him ahead of Hamilton. He ended up on Ricciardo’s tail but couldn’t pass the other Toro Rosso and missed out on a point by three-tenths of a second.

Force India

Paul di Resta – In the points for the fourth time this year despite being one of the first drivers to abandon a three-stop strategy and switch to four. This meant running a long third stint, which he did with impressive consistency, then pressing on in the latter two. He spent the final laps trying unsuccessfully to pass Rosberg.

Adrian Sutil – Out of the points for the fourth time this year and once again there was little he could do about it. Sutil made a scorching start to take eighth place, then his race was ruined by a cross-threaded wheel nut at his first pit stop. Force India said it was unrelated to the problems they experienced in Malaysia.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Neither Williams driver made it into Q2 and Maldonado was fortunate to escape a penalty after holding up Button. Finished ahead of his team mate using a four-stop strategy, despite picking up a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Valtteri Bottas – Out-qualified Maldonado for the third time and was promoted to 16th on the grid when Gutierrez was handed a penalty. But persevering with a three-stop strategy didn’t pay off: he was slow at the end of his last two stints and fell to 16th ahead of the Caterham/Marussia battle.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Joined his team mate on the sixth row of the grid, made a better start but was re-passed by him on the second lap. He was blameless in the incident with Hulkenberg that ultimately ended his race.

Daniel Ricciardo – Made quicker progress in the race than his team mate as he tweaked his car during the pit stops to counteract the front brake locking he suffered in the first stint. He lost some time at the end of his third stint which had to be extended by a lap as his team were tending to Vergne’s damaged car in the pits. That may have cost him a place to Perez, but he was able to hold off Gutierrez for the final point.

Caterham

Charles Pic – Couldn’t get Caterham’s new parts working to his liking in qualifying but said the car felt right from the first lap in the race. He finished well clear of the delayed Marussias and was pressuring Bottas.

Giedo van der Garde – Happy to out-qualify his team mate despite not having the new upgrade package in full – only Pic had the revised front wing. However the team failed to attach his left-rear wheel properly during second pit stop which wrecked his race. He’d been running ahead of his team mate until then.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Damaged his front wing on the first lap and had to pit for a new one. He believed he could have joined the Pic/Bottas fight without that extra pit stop, and closed to within eight seconds of it in the final stint before backing off to preserve his tyres.

Max Chilton – Lost around six seconds at his second pit stop but finished much further than that behind his team mate who’d been delayed even more.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mateLaps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel3rd-0.516s66/6644th-9.69s
Mark Webber7th+0.516s0/6645th+9.69s
Fernando Alonso5th-0.001s66/6641st-26.049s
Felipe Massa9th+0.001s0/6643rd+26.049s
Jenson Button14th+0.565s29/6638th-2.232s
Sergio Perez8th-0.565s37/6649th+2.232s
Kimi Raikkonen4th-0.131s8/832nd
Romain Grosjean6th+0.131s0/80
Nico Rosberg1st-0.254s65/6536thNot on same lap
Lewis Hamilton2nd+0.254s0/65412thNot on same lap
Nico Hulkenberg15th-0.404s21/65515th+24.456s
Esteban Gutierrez19th+0.404s44/65411th-24.456s
Paul di Resta10th-0.327s58/6547thNot on same lap
Adrian Sutil13th+0.327s7/65413thNot on same lap
Pastor Maldonado17th+0.058s48/65414th-49.3s
Valtteri Bottas16th-0.058s17/65316th+49.3s
Jean-Eric Vergne12th+0.039s4/524
Daniel Ricciardo11th-0.039s48/52410th
Charles Pic22nd+0.409s2/21317th
Giedo van der Garde18th-0.409s19/212
Jules Bianchi20th-0.283s50/64418th-27.37s
Max Chilton21st+0.283s14/64319th+27.37s

Review the race data

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend?

Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix weekend?

  • Max Chilton (0%)
  • Jules Bianchi (1%)
  • Giedo van der Garde (1%)
  • Charles Pic (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (4%)
  • Jean-Eric Vergne (0%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Paul di Resta (1%)
  • Esteban Gutierrez (3%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (1%)
  • Nico Rosberg (3%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (10%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Jenson Button (1%)
  • Felipe Massa (11%)
  • Fernando Alonso (61%)
  • Mark Webber (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (2%)

Total Voters: 622

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2013 Spanish Grand Prix

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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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136 comments on “Vote for your 2013 Spanish GP driver of the weekend”

  1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
    13th May 2013, 12:29

    It has to be Alonso. It was a masterclass. Shout out to Esterban as well.

    1. What? Masterclass?? LOL.

      He’s had the fastest car all year except in Australia where he had the second fastest.

      1. i agree it was a masterclass, and disagree he had the fastest car

        1. The Ferrari wasn’t fastest on the weekend????

          It’s been fastest every weekend except Australia.

          LOL

      2. Shane (@shane-pinnell)
        14th May 2013, 6:10

        Overtaking 2 cars through turn 3 on the opening lap = Masterclass.

        1. yup, that was what sealed it for me ;-)

        2. agreed. … 2 cars… 2 world champions … definitely the best moment of the race :)

      3. I agree he had the fastest car, but it still was a masterclass ;)

      4. He did have the fastest car by a mile in the race, yet still he drove brilliantly and deserves driver of the weekend.
        Not quite sure if “masterclass” is the right word… But he certainly deserves it this time.

      5. I agree alonso and Ferrari have had the quickest car in all races but bahrain and malaysia both races where we couldn’t assess anything about the pairing. I wouldn’t say that the Ferrari is the quickest car but they seem to be extracting more and having better performances than the rest of the field.

    2. The thing about Esteban is he was in a car that was capable of points and he didn’t score any. He was 2 seconds a lap quicker than Ricciardo when he caught up and had 3 or 4 laps look at him and couldn’t make a pass. Personally I think Esteban is getting a much bigger wrap than he deserves for this one.

      1. I think he was very solid, considering he started 19th after the penalty. Also 0.2s off Hulkenberg in Q1 and 0.4 in Q2, no cars in between.

        The problem with passing was that the Sauber struggles with straight line speed, he mentioned it in the radio after the race finished and his engineer agreed. Also, he surely wasted some tyre to catch Ricciardo and surely didn’t have that much left when it was time to make a move.

        I would say it was a solid showing from him.

        1. @collective I never rate people who were slower than their teammates as haing driven better than them, unless the circumstances are exceptional. If they were slower, they obviously weren’t getting the best out of the car.

    3. Purely for that move on Hamilton & Raikkonen.
      Took them to school.

    4. Can’t believe Hamilton was LAPPED by Alonso… That is such a shame for a driver…

      1. Shane (@shane-pinnell)
        14th May 2013, 6:12

        I can’t believe that P2 in qualifying was lapped AND it was Hamilton. There is something seriously wrong with that Mercedes. One glimmer of hope, it can be very fast, that is probably the hardest thing put into a car. Making the tires last longer, they will get it.

    5. I just voted Nico Rosberg.. Did no Quali Sim in the Practice Sessions, yet beat the field comfortably come qualifying..

      Drove a brilliant 1/5th of the Race keeping Vettel behind and then defended later from Di Resta in a much faster Car.. Stopped only 3 times(?????) in a Car that digests Tires better than conc. acid.. Also beat his Team mate comfortably..

      1. I agree. I voted Alonso, although without a doubt Rosberg deserves a shout for what was, in my opinion, a very underrated drive.

        – Had a perfect qualifying lap.
        – Finished 6th in the race in a car slower than Ferrari, Lotus, Red Bull, Force India, and arguably McLaren and Toro Rosso.
        – Schooled his teammate who people consider to be the fastest man in the sport.

        Fantastic performance

        1. Schooled his teammate who people consider to be the fastest man in the sport.

          @kingshark Not many people are going to be happy with that

          1. Alonso seems to maximise as always.
            Rosberg did a great job, considering he out qualified his high quality teammate and held together what looks to be a hopeless car on tyres during a race.
            Ricciardo starting to look solid.

          2. Apart from the qualy, where Fernando made a mistake and was almost beaten by Massa. But the race performance was certainly good.

    6. I voted for Guttierez, not a perfect weekend (the blocking penalty) but he did do what was needed to show Sauber should not yet look for a replacement immediately.

      Alonso did a great job, Rosberg also did very well with beating Hamilton to pole and not losing more than 5 spot in the race. Not much wrong with Kimi either, and Massa really was a very good driver this weekend as well.

      Also a bit of a shoutout for Guido VdGarde, his car did not have all the new bits, and ultimately he had to park it. But I think he did show he can stand his own by beating Pic in qualifying. Also another good weekend from Sutil and Grosjean, shame they had to park it in the end.

  2. Wow, didn’t realise Bianchi did so well!!!

    1. I continue to be impressed with Bianchi. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to drive a better car next year so we can see.

  3. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
    13th May 2013, 12:33

    Who voted Max Chilton! lol

    1. The bro of the guy who voted Giedo van der Garde I presume!

      1. Mr win or lose
        13th May 2013, 16:15

        I don’t think their performances were similar. Chilton was yet again dreadful – Bianchi got past him very early in the race despite his unscheduled pitstop. Giedo van der Garde, however, did pretty well for the first time this year. He outqualified his teammate and he was giving Button a hard time in the opening stages of the race.

    2. At least 3 people voted for Chilton for him to get the freaking 1%

      1. Somebody needs to fess up and explain why they voted for him? I’m betting on Chilton’s mom, his dad, and Chilton himself! LOL

  4. A lot of strong drives, it’s difficult to pick. Stars of qualifying were unquestionably the Mercedes pair as well as Perez, if just for that mega Q2 lap.

    Several others impressed me in the race. Alonso (obviously), Massa, Webber, Ricciardo, Gutierrez… But I have to give it to Raikkonen. In a weekend with the typical whines about the tyres, he simply shut up and got on with it (unlike many others), doing fewer stops and a surprising number of laps on the softer compound. Good on him.

    Also an honourable mention to van der Garde. Far and away his best performance of the year so far, a real shame to see him not finish.

    1. I was going to vote for Alonso, but I knew he was going to win anyway – he is currently at 63% – so I voted for van der Garde :)

  5. Alonso.

    His move round turn 2 and 3 at the start was just incredible ! He was so far behind Kimi that it was ridiculous how easily he got in front of not only him but Lewis aswell !

    Keeping up with Rosberg and Vettel was no hard job but when he pitted and got ahead of both of them, it was already game over.

    With pole being less and less relevant with these tyres, Driver of the Weekend might well end up being Driver of the Race. Specially if the ones that do well on saturday suck so much on sunday.

    1. Alonso passed both Kimi and Lewis because a matter of timing and strategy. Timing because he caught Kimi behind Lewis who was kinda very slow at the corner and Kimi was unable to pass because Alonso saw the opportunity and put his car by Kimi’s side. Strategy because he knew he was on 4 stops so he needed to be more aggressive. Kimi knew he had to be cautious, as he was on 3 stops. So, it’s not a matter of genious of Alonso. It’s just an occasion.

      1. So, it’s not a matter of genious of Alonso. It’s just an occasion.

        I had a good laugh, thank you. The hate or love for someone, really pushes people to all kind of statements and excuses.

        1. It has nothing to do with hate or love. Watch the start again. Alonso gets off the line well, but makes no gain in t1. The first four cars are bunched going coming out of t1 which makes them a bit slow, then Kimmi takes a line directly behind Hamilton which opens the door for Alonso who makes the double pass thanks to Lewis being incredibly slow through t3.

          Alonso showed the correct amount of aggression, but most of all he was the beneficiary of Hamilton’s slow car, and Kimi’s conservative line.

          Now Vettel on the other hand… ;)

      2. Ben (@scuderia29)
        13th May 2013, 16:58

        @rogercamp sometimes even if you dont like people you still have to give them credit when they deserve it

      3. Alonso passed both Kimi and Lewis because a matter of timing and strategy. Timing because he caught Kimi behind Lewis who was kinda very slow at the corner and Kimi was unable to pass because Alonso saw the opportunity and put his car by Kimi’s side. Strategy because he knew he was on 4 stops so he needed to be more aggressive. Kimi knew he had to be cautious, as he was on 3 stops. So, it’s not a matter of genious of Alonso. It’s just an occasion.

        @rogercamp ofc, that’s nothing to do with skills or anything. If the others failed to do it, well, Alonso did it.

        Really, Some people..

        1. Not only that pass, but the intuition in anticipating Vettel’s move at the of the start… genius. That and *effortlessly* slotting behind Rosberg after his first stop… he makes it look easy.

          Driver of the weekend, no matter how you see it. Except I’m voting for Guti, he finally got it right, and Nando’s got such a big gap, so why not?

  6. Few standout drives yesterday. At certain points during the race I thought Guitierrez and Ricciardo were going to finish higher up and if they had, I might have voted for one of them. I was also impressed with Webber finishing relatively close to his team mate despite being so far back initially, although he should have qualified better on one of his “form tracks”.

    So I went for Alonso, again. He was untouchable on race day, and one gets the feeling many more victories like these will follow this season.

  7. I’ve gone for Rosberg: a dominant show in qualifying, setting two laps fast enough for pole, and held his mettle for the duration of the first stint with pretty significant pressure from behind. If past form and Hamilton’s degerdation levels are anything to go by also him managing a 3 stop (and being able to resist the pressure of a four-stopping Di Resta at that) whilst the leader had to do a 4 stop shows he had a very decent performance in the race also.

    By the way, I’ve voted for him because I think he deserves cerdit where it’s due: Alonso has plenty already!

    1. I’m with you here, outqualifying and outracing Hamilton is no mean feat.

    2. @vettel1
      I’m agreeing with you, this world is coming to an end!

      1. @kingshark no worries, the world has already ended quite a few times with people agreeing with me that never do ;)

    3. I voted for Rosberg as well – although it was close between him and Alonso. I think his qualifying lap was spectacular, and he did well to keep that car as high as he did in the race. His first stint was pretty good under pressure as well, considering the race pace he had to work with!

  8. Has to be Kimi for me. Driver of the WEEKEND.

    Both him and Alonso were perfect in the race with Kimi maybe having to fight a bit more for his position. But what makes the difference for me is that Kimi was also perfect in quali and beat his team-mate by a country mile while Alonso was only one thousand of a second faster than Massa in Q3. With the dominant pace the car had he maybe could’ve been higher.

    With Kimi and Alonso both maximizing their results in the race, quali has to be the deciding factor.

  9. Alonso has a fantastic race but I’m bored of him and Kimi get a gazillion votes every time so I went for Massa.

    9th to 3rd, beat the Red Bulls and kept Kimi honest. Don’t think he could have done much more…

    1. Traverse (@)
      13th May 2013, 13:57

      Same here, Massa is slowly returning to form.

    2. @davef1 and I reckon he would’ve beaten Räikkönen had it not been for the grid penalty. That was a very good performance indeed also and I agree with the fact it’s better to vote for someone who put in a top 3 performance at this stage rather than the best (who was Alonso really): he’s already got more than the lion’s share!

      1. Agreed. Without that questionable penalty, which is kind of hard to move out of the way in a chicane, he probably would have been 2nd, maybe first. Hard to say due to the different starting positions.

        1. I still think Massa did deserve his penalty, which is why I didn’t vote for him, but had he not be so unfortunate I think second was pretty much a certainty judging by his pace.

    3. dodge5847 (@)
      13th May 2013, 17:06

      Not even a Ferrari fan, I was spilt between alonso and massa, if Massa’s qualifying was clean, he would have been driver of the weekend

  10. I voted for Alonso, but I think it’s unfair Vettel loses when he does exactly the same thing. People use double standards when voting and that is not okay

    1. You are stretching it a little bit, aren’t you?

      1. Well, Vettel made many drives like that in the past years and didn’t win dotw. People should vote the perfoemance, not the driver they like

        1. I think that’s a bit old. Vettel has won enough dotw last year for me to feel that, on the whole, F1 fanatics are quite equitable.

        2. I think most people here are quite fair in their opinions. I also think that now that the Red Bull is turning out to be a less than dominant car, and we will see people give Vettel his due when he has a strong race.

    2. Oops, here is the link

      1. lol, once! I was shocked by that one :D
        But you surely noticed the percentege by which he won?

  11. Trenthamfolk (@)
    13th May 2013, 13:41

    Eyebrows for me… he was incredible, and so was that Ferrari…

    1. Traverse (@)
      13th May 2013, 13:55

      I was disappointed with Finger and Jawline…and the less said about lipstick and shades the better!

      1. Dion (@infinitygc)
        13th May 2013, 14:57

        We need names like these for all the drivers!

          1. Dion (@infinitygc)
            15th May 2013, 15:46

            Hahah, I already read that article a while ago, but thank you anyway!

      2. lipstick = nico shades = hamilton ?…..kimi obviously iceman …any names for massa , grosjean , diresta , button

        1. @hamilfan Grosjean – banzai, Massa – the one on the side, Di Resta – cardboard, Button – whinger.

          1. @vettel1 I think Grosjean = Crashjean, and why cardboard and the one on the side?

          2. @palle they were just really spur-of-the-moment names! Di Resta because he has as much personality as a piece of cardboard (I got the inspiration from people complaining of things tasting of cardboard i.e. bland) and the one on the side was really a referral to the fact he is Alonso’s (I’ll let you complete the sentence).

          3. I also don’t use Crashjean intentionally because Pastor Maldonado = Chrashtor, or Bastor ;)

      3. Captain, who is Jawline? I though DC retired! Please enlighten me!

        1. It’s Webber I gotcha! He was so non-existent during the weekend I completely forgot about him. Surely he is Jawline 2.0 though as no-one comes close to the glorious Jaw that is the Coulthard . Poor Webbo, looks like he’s going to be second in everything he does.

          1. And Alonso = Teflonso
            ;-)

    2. yes it was…….and he made the maximum of it…….nothing of masterclass except the first lap overtaking

      1. You could also have Webber as ‘bike boy’ due to his luck (and love) with Mt Bikes. All the names are great though! :)
        What name would Sutil get (hate to think)?

        1. @ivz M1NT – after the night club!

  12. It was a tough call, but I voted for Rosberg. His pole lap was near perfect and he drove a good race considering how hard the mercedes is on it’s tyres when it’s hot. Outclassed Hamilton both on saturday and on sunday.

    Drives from Alsonso, Raikonnen and Di Resta were impressive as well imo.

  13. Alonso for me. His brave move on first lap was beautiful to see, and later on he made his strategy work. It sounds easy, but I am sure it is not.

  14. This should be a landslide for Alonso. As impressive as Raikkonen was on his three stopper, he made a meal of getting past Rosberg and Vettel and that ultimately cost him a shot at the win. That said, it was still a terrific drive.

  15. Voted Alonso, the only driver I seen pushing most of the time in the race…

    So many failed trying to conserve the tyres when they should’ve just gone for a 4-stopper and push. Mercedes should have thought of that first, they had nothing to lose. Same for RB, who had to adjust their strategy later in the race, to miss the podium..

    It just looks to me that ferrari was the only team to approach the race with this intention of pushing to compensate for the extra stop, and it paid off really well also because others were too concentrated on “managing” their tyres

    1. LH went for a 4 stopper and still could not push …they were off by the first stint itself . NIco got passed by everyone that the only way he could get points is by 3 stopper … so merc is chewing gum at the moment

      1. Wasnt LH switched from a 3-stopper like Vettel? Nico was holding position rather well until his tyres went off. And this is when they should’ve brought him in, copying Webber. Also, hards obviously didnt work for them, why not try running more on softs?

        I’m not saying it would surely get them higher, no. But I would like to see them try

  16. Counting only the race:

    1. Alonso
    2. Kimi
    3. Massa
    4. Webber
    5. Button

    1. Webber and Button in front of Vettel and Perez… I see what you did there.

  17. Had to vote for Alonso, no one really matched him yesterday. Also great race from Felipe from 9th to 3rd, looking good for Ferrari if they can keep their current pace.

  18. I got bored watching this one so really, I voted Alonso by default. He was fast, he was controlled, and he delivered in front of his public. It would have been too much pressure for many, and it is a credit to Alonso that we don’t even imagine him being influenced by such aspects of stress management. Sure, he was probably in the best car but still.

    Honorable mentions to Massa, Webber (despite the usual abysmal start) and Bianchi. Vettel’s overtake and Alonso’s start were probably the best parts of the race and nothing special comes to mind from other drivers. I wonder who is going to be voted second and third best.

  19. This is a no brainer. Alonso all the way!
    Topped a practice session, looked set for pole in q1 and q2 but hit a bump in q3 and ended up 5th. His raw determination at the start is what got him the win disposing of Kimi and Lewis on the outside of turn 3. Got the drop on RBR and MERC in the pitstop and after that, it was just a matter of pushing and being perect.

    It was great to see Massa on podium again.

    It myst be frustrating for merc locking front row and not being able to do anything about it and move down the grid.

  20. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    13th May 2013, 15:54

    Alonso (great move at the beginning, then (as somebody has already stated) made a “Vettel” race (and I vote for Alonso the same reason I vote for Vettel when he wins in the same way)

  21. Will the following people please raise their hands?
    1. Those who voted for Hamilton
    2. Those who voted for Button
    3. Those who voted for Chilton(really beats me how Chilton got votes and Bianchi didn’t)…

    1. Add to that, who voted for Webber?

    2. Ben (@scuderia29)
      13th May 2013, 17:01

      @wsrgo hamilton was the strangest vote to me :S started 2nd – finished 12th + finished a long way behind his team mate

    3. @keithcollantine I assume there was a malfunction because aboutan hour-and-a-half ago, Chilton had three percent votes and now, after 55 more people have voted, he has ZERO percent…

    4. What would be so strange voting for Webber or Button? Both did a great job in the race regarding their grid positions, especially Webber if you compare him to Vettel.

    5. @ wsrgo I voted for Button. What of it? You’re all wrong about him.
      I find it strange that a driver who elevated himself significantly up the grid in a less than perfect car on dodgy tyres gets the same number of votes as one who steadfastly sailed backwards, complained about having no grip moaned every time someone who he deemed beneath him overtook and, as a bonus, was soundly beaten by his teammate.

      1. @baron

        @ wsrgo I voted for Button. What of it? You’re all wrong about him.
        I find it strange that a driver who elevated himself significantly up the grid in a less than perfect car on dodgy tyres gets the same number of votes as one who steadfastly sailed backwards, complained about having no grip moaned every time someone who he deemed beneath him overtook and, as a bonus, was soundly beaten by his teammate.

        But Driver of the Weekend? After getting pummeled by Perez(not known for his one lap pace) in qualifying? Come on…

  22. Wow, that was difficult!

    (F. Alonso)

  23. yuya (@john-locke)
    13th May 2013, 17:29

    no.1 driver must be Alonso.
    His overtaking was supreme. Martin repeated “Brilliant Brilliant”

    1 Alonso 2 Kimi I can’t rate others. Massa got a podium, but he could not Match Alonso’s pace.
    I know he said he was trouble in final stint, but he was already far behind Alonso about 20 sec in his forth stint.

  24. Alonso but Massa equally deserving.

  25. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    13th May 2013, 17:46

    Guess who I voted for…

    1. Ah-AH ! So you’re the one who voted for Chilton ! ;)

  26. Despite being only fifth in qualifying and just pipping his team mate, I have to give this to Alonso. He’s shown once again that talent in F1 can come in many forms, and although he’s not the best qualifier or the most aggressive on track, he knows how to get the most out of himself and the tools at his disposal every time the lights go out.

  27. Alonso, Raikkonen, Massa, Rosberg and Gutierrez are my short list of nominees. Alonso had a great race, but had the advantage of starting four positions ahead of Massa who was capable of lapping on his times during the race and also showed great speed in practice. Raikkonen was never the quickest but took all he could from the car both in qualifying and in the race. Rosberg was impressive in qualifying and very good in the race considering he finished 6 positions ahead of Hamilton and with that car 6th is a great result. Gutierrez improved notably, and although his fastest lap was aided by new tyres he beat Massa’s, and the Brazilian had also just changed tyres; his result was also positive.
    So hard to pick one…

    1. Picked Rosberg in the end.

  28. I’m a big Kimi fan, but voted Alonso.
    Alonso just looked that little bit more racey yesterday and it never felt that Kimi would get the job done, it took him too long to overtake Hamilton and lets face it, Button managed to do that later on!

    I think the Lotus strategy didn’t help though, still don’t understand the tyre choices and Kimi was losing a lot of time in the pitstops.

  29. Rick Lopez (@viscountviktor)
    13th May 2013, 19:28

    Massa’s performance was great,and I still think his penalty was stupid. How could he move in that position? If he had moved to the side, he would have crashed into Webber, so tight is the track. I feel Webber should have driven past him, apparently he wasn’t on a good lap anyway. If it hadn’t been for the penalty he might have won. Great to see Felipe back in form. Forza Massa!

  30. Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
    13th May 2013, 19:51

    There can only be one! Maybe we should just vote him for driver of the year now too!

  31. Vettel is racing against Pat Fry…

    …and he is still not backstabing his own team?

    who was the driver who did that when he was racing Newey?

  32. Really cannot think of anybody who isn’t Alonso who deserves to be DOTW.

  33. Alonso, drove a spectacular race. Measured, calm and on the money at all times. He passed when he had to, saved tires when he needed to and put the pedal to the metal when required to. It’s been quite rare over the last couple of years to get a landslide win for the vote, but this week, there can be no other. What really struck me was the confidence Alonso has on the Catalunya track, it’s like he knows every inch and every kerb. The start was especially impressive with those commited passes he made. I’m not a big Alonso fan, but I wonder if I should really been one.

    The second driver who impressed was Massa. What a turn-around for this guy. From a horrible start last year with only a couple of decent performances towards the end, it seems like he has the confidence in him to fight. I believe the team are also showing greater trust in him and It is showing in his driving. More relaxed and comfortable. Maybe Ferrari realize it takes 2 to win the WDC and have thus been focusing much more on Massa much more.

  34. If I could I would have vote for four drivers ex aequo: both Ferrari drivers, Raikkonen and Gutierrez.

    – Alonso for commanding performance and masterpiece maneuver on Raikkonen & Hamilton
    – Raikkonen for showing you can go fast with these tires and still have a three stop strategy
    – Massa for showing he’s not only a mere shadow of Alonso and taking his Ferrari from 9th to podium
    – Gutierrez for simply very good drive, almost scored points, all of this despite grid penalty and very little experience.

    In the end, the winner takes it all. Alonso has it.

  35. Alonso. I’ll disagree it was masterclass, as we’ve seen him score better (or at least more spectacular) wins, but it was a pure example of a driver in complete control, that understands his car and manages to get the most of it. Sort of a Vettel-esque performance. Also, beating Raikkonen by a clear 10 seconds with the low degradation on the Lotus and an extra stop, has to count for something.

    Other notable mentions, in order:
    – Massa: he did an excellent job all weekend and if it wasn’t for his penalty I believe this would have been a certain Ferrari 1-2.
    – Rosberg: stunning pole and a much better race than expected, if we are to take Hamilton’s performance as a marker.
    – Ricciardo: I don’t know if it’s the news of Webber leaving / a seat opening up at Red Bull, but Ricciardo is a different driver ever since Malaysia. Decent performance once again.

  36. Voted Alonso: not a perfect weekend, but still gihly impressive stuff. The overtake on lap one was the best one I’ve seen in a while, simply because it was so clever and wel prepared.

    Surprised nobody voted Hülkenberg so far: had an excellent qualifying and was running a perfect race, on course for some good points, before he unfortunately hit trouble – which was not his fault.

    1. *gihly? highly!

      1. Ah, I was already questioning my English vocabulaire…

        1. Vocabulary whoops

  37. In all honesty? Bianchi here.

    Watching that stint of his hard fight not to go more than a couple seconds more than a lap down earned my respect.

    Alonso had the best car and had one highlight-reel sector. After that, he did his job.

    Looking at what they had to deal with, DOTW was either Rosberg or Bianchi, and I went with the rookie in the backmarker rather than the veteran who has had to learn how to “drive with a torniquet on.”

  38. 2% for Chilton at the time of writing this… nice one. Clearly DOTW is Grosjean and anyone who says otherwise just didn’t watch the race properly.

  39. I am a big big Alonso fan but voted for Massa as the guy deserves credit and he too competed against Bulls and Lotuses and we dont really give him chance against KImis, Vettels, Hams and Webbers let alone Alonsos. Well done massa and btw, l ove ur son,,, too cute.. and love Dasha tooo….. It has been a while since I saw Jessica, miss her too ,,, jenson podium is needed.

  40. Alonso for making it so hard for Artur Mas (the Catalan president) with all those Spanish flags and hymn in Barcelona

  41. It should be a straight forward win this week for Alonso so voted Massa.

  42. Has to be Alonso. It wasn’t for me the fact itself he overtook Kimi and Lewis into turn 3 (which was great though) but more the raw intelligence behind it, aborting KERS on the run to turn 1 because the other drivers were slip-streaming away and using it in turn 3 with a better line from turn 2. Ironically, he’s seen that move in GP2 and used it perfectly in the most difficult situation of the race.

  43. Melchior (@)
    14th May 2013, 11:32

    I was thinking of voting for the tyres but ended up voting for Raikkonen

  44. Alonso all the way. Pure talent and intelligence on that lap 1 turn 3. I don’t think he could have qualified any higher despite the small error in his last Q3 lap with that sunday-set up-7th very long gear-Ferrari. New record in Montmeló and most home victories in current line up
    Honourable mentions to Massa and Raikonnen

    1. Although starting to doubt about Raikonnen’s overtaking capabilities, too conservative in many ocassions IMO

  45. Massa 2nd with 11%? Ridiculous. When was the last time someone with the best car and no technical difficulties or harm from other drivers finished third in the race and yet managed to take 2nd position in DotW vote?

    Got to give it to Alonso. For me it’s a tie between him and Räikkönen and thus I got to give my vote to the winner (even though Ferrari was a better car).

  46. …my vote is for Gutierrez, a rookie made the fastest lap, overtaking Alonso, Kimi, Masa, those with better cars, Gutierrez is now the second youngest driver to achieve and the history of F1, … this does not happen every day, well done Gutierrez.

  47. There are quite a few drivers who deserve credit for their efforts.

    Fernando Alonso – Pulled out a brilliant effort in the first few corners in the first lap to negate the effect of qualifying on the third row of the grid. Had a good strategy flummoxing the likes of Sebastian Vettel. Did well to stay ahead of the pack and take the chequered flag.

    Nico Rosberg – Absolutely fantastic qualifying. Did well to hold off the charging faster cars and maintain P1 during the first stint and coming home in P6 in a car that was literally chewing the tires. Definitely a hugely underrated driver on the grid.

    Felipe Massa – Fastest in practice and came 6th in Q3. Did remarkably well to come back from 9th on the grid to take 3rd on the podium. Had the impeding incident and the penalty not happened, he would have had the chance to challenge for victory and definitely made a Ferrari 1-2.

    Kimi Raikkonen – Had a decent Qualifying. Even though he lost position to Alonso in the first lap. His spending of rather a long time behind Vettel probably cost him a go at win.

    Other drivers who deserve credit are Paul Di Resta, Esteban Gutierrez, Daniel Ricciardo and last but by no means least Jules Bianchi.

    I’m a little split between Alonso, Rosberg and Massa. But I go ahead with Felipe Massa :)

  48. This is rather easy: Alonso.
    He took control of his strategy from Turn 3 on lap 1 when he passed Kimi and Lewis on the outside and just pushed (as much as the tyres allowed him to) until he had built a good gap on Raikkonen. Perfect race, surely :)

  49. Alonso gets over 60% of the vote for doing effectively what Vettel did in Bahrain, when he only got 30% of the vote… OK….

    1. I think in Bahrain GP, there were few more good performers such as Paul, Fernando etc. so the votes were split. But in Spain, well I don’t need to explain it I guess.

  50. Alonso and Kimi got the most out of their respective cars. Honorable mentions to Massa, Rosberg and Gutierrez.

  51. I voted for Alonso, another great start and opening laps put him in a position to dominate his home GP.

    Other drivers who I thought had a good weekend, in no particular order, were Raikkonen, Massa, di Resta, Ricciardo and Gutierrez.

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