Vote for your 2013 German GP driver of the weekend

2013 German Grand Prix

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

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

German Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Admitted he was struggling in the first sector during qualifying and that was where he lost the time that allowed Hamilton to take pole position off him. But from second on the grid he was quickly into the lead at the start. He came under pressure from Grosjean early in the race, then the Safety Car brought the other Lotus within range as well.

Vettel managed to pit to cover Grosjean in the second half of the race and get through traffic quickly enough to see off a threat from Raikkonen – a task not made easier by an intermittent KERS fault. Raikkonen came back at him in the final laps on soft tyres but Vettel had enough in hand to grab his first home win.

Mark Webber – Said the track conditions were “sensitive” during qualifying and was relieved to take third. Made a fantastic start, briefly nosing ahead of Vettel on the run to turn one, and stayed within range during the first stint. He led for two laps after Vettel pitted but his own pit stop was a disaster, a wheel coming off his car and hitting an unfortunate cameraman.

Webber resumed in last place but for the second weekend in a row his race was saved by the Safety Car. Webber not only got his lap back but was able to rejoin the queue of cars. From there he passed several rivals, finishing up with a move on Perez for seventh on the final tour.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Both Ferrari drivers qualified and started on the medium compound. But they didn’t get the strategic dividend they were counting on early in the race as the front runners made the soft tyres last longer than expected. Alonso had to pit for softs the Safety Car. That allowed him to attack Grosjean for third on the final lap but he dropped back and then stopped his car after the finishing line.

Felipe Massa – Out-qualified Alonso for the first time since Malaysia, then threw it away by spinning off at turn one on lap four. “At the moment when I braked, the rear wheels locked up and I couldn’t stop the car from spinning,” he said. “When the car came to a stop, it was stuck in fifth gear and I couldn’t stop the engine from stalling. It’s very odd that it got stuck like that, even if so far, the team has not seen anything unusual.”

McLaren

Jenson Button – Said his Q2 lap was “as good as it’s going to get for us at the moment – in fact, it was one of the best laps I’ve done in a very long time”. It got him through to Q3, where he elected not to do a lap.

In the race, having run a long opening stint on medium tyres he’d not long since changed them when the Safety Car came out. He passed his team mate after the restart but got held up by the Caterhams and Max Chilton, which allowed Hamilton onto his tail for a last-lap pass. “The Caterhams absolutely screwed us,” he complained afterwards.

Sergio Perez – Admitted he struggled to match Button in practice and lined up 13th on the grid. But starting on softs he passed his team mate early on, then took Maldonado after the Safety Car period. He tried to run to the end without a further pit stop but was passed by Hamilton and Webber, ending up eighth.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – Raikkonen said he didn’t get enough heat into his front tyres for his lap in Q3 which compromised him in the first sector. That left him fourth. He lost a lot of time behind the Mercedes after his first pit stop, despite passing both, but it was cancelled out by the Safety Car.

Radio problems made it hard for the team to work out whether to pit him again at they end. They eventually decided to – which might not have been necessary. However after Grosjean let him by on instructions from the team Raikkonen chased after Vettel, finishing a close second.

Romain Grosjean – Like his team mate he felt he should have been quicker in the first sector on his flying lap. He ran behind Raikkonen in the opening laps, complaining that his team mate was holding him up, then stretched out his soft tyre stint longer than anyone else to take the lead for five laps.

After his pit stop he closed on Vettel but the Safety Car wiped out then ten-second margin he’d built up over Raikkonen. The team tried to get him ahead of Vettel by ‘undercutting’ the Red Bull, to no avail. Was told to let Raikkonen through into second late in the race.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – “I was really shocked when I saw the times falling in Q2 today and realised that I was in P11,” said Rosberg, who believed he would have been in contention for the front row. He started on medium tyres but made little progress until the final stint. Took ninth off Di Resta with three laps to go.

Lewis Hamilton – Hamilton was surprised to be in contention for pole position after struggling with his car during practice. But the race showed Mercedes haven’t figured out how to make their tyres last in warm conditions – Hamilton was critical of the rubber after slipping back during the race. Rosberg was told to make way for his team mate at one stage and Hamilton wrested fifth off Button on the final lap.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – There were no new parts for Sauber who are having financial difficulties. But they made an appearance in Q3 for the first time since China, following which Hulkenberg chose not to set a time, to save tyres. Starting on mediums his strategy was compromised by the Safety Car. But making another pit stop with 11 laps to go proved the right thing to do as he was able to take the final points place off Di Resta.

Esteban Gutierrez – Equalled his best qualifying performance to date with 14th. Felt his car lacked straight-line speed during the race and never looked like challenging for points.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Neither Force India driver made it into Q3 as the cars lacked their recent pace. “Ahead of qualifying we completely changed the set-up to try to improve things and it certainly helped,” said Di Resta, who took 12th.

In the race he tried to get to the end without pitting following the Safety Car but slipped out of the points. Curiously did not get a time penalty despite delaying Vergne when he was released from the pits too early.

Adrian Sutil – Had a DRS problem in qualifying which he said cost him half a second per lap. He tried to run a two-stop strategy like his team mate but had to convert to a three-stopper which ended his chance of scoring points.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Only did a single timed lap in Q1 due to a water pump leak. Gained ground thanks to the Safety Car and was running seventh when he made his last pit stop with ten laps to go. But the stop was botched, dropping him to 15th at the flag. Had the stop gone according to plan he likely would have been 11th behind Hulkenberg.

Valtteri Bottas – Suffered doubly at the hands of Williams’ problematic pit stops and also had a poor start. Followed his team mate home.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Comprehensively beaten by Ricciardo in qualifying and admitted “I didn’t make any mistakes and I was hoping for much better.” His struggle continued in the race, he was held up by Di Resta when the Force India was released unsafely in the pits, and then the team told him to switch off his car, which had an hydraulic fault. “A weekend to forget,” he concluded.

Daniel Ricciardo – Sixth-fastest in qualifying for the second race in a row and ahead of both Ferraris again but said “we definitely had to pull something out of the bag to do the time”. Couldn’t get any performance out of the medium tyre in the race and slipped out of contention.

Caterham

Charles Pic – Beat his team mate and the Marussias despite being held up by a starter motor problem at the weigh bridge and getting traffic on his best lap. But a gearbox change penalty eventually relegated him to last on the grid. Nonetheless he led his immediate rivals home in the race, passing Chilton and Van der Garde in the second stint, but not without incurring the wrath of Button.

Giedo van der Garde – Couldn’t get the most out of his tyres and was eight tenths off his team mate in qualifying. Made a good start, passing Vergne and Bottas, but was never going to be able to keep them behind.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Rodolfo Gonzalez took his car for first practice but Bianchi was grateful for the respite having turned up at the track feeling unwell. He only did ten laps in second practice. By Saturday he was feeling better and extended his run of superiority over his team mate in qualifying. His race came to an end due to an engine failure, after which the car tried to continue without him.

Max Chilton – Slowest in qualifying for the second race in a row and was over a second off his team mate. Finished last, struggling with rear tyre wear.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mateLaps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel2nd-0.107s58/6031st-37.562s
Mark Webber3rd+0.107s2/6037th+37.562s
Fernando Alonso8th+0.083s0/334th
Felipe Massa7th-0.083s3/30
Jenson Button9th-0.664s52/6026th-10.31s
Sergio Perez13th+0.664s8/6028th+10.31s
Kimi Raikkonen4th-0.067s23/6032nd-4.822s
Romain Grosjean5th+0.067s37/6033rd+4.822s
Nico Rosberg11th+0.174s7/6039th+19.894s
Lewis Hamilton1st-0.174s53/6035th-19.894s
Nico Hulkenberg10th-0.779s54/60310th-10.268s
Esteban Gutierrez14th+0.779s6/60314th+10.268s
Paul di Resta12th-0.313s20/60211th-3.967s
Adrian Sutil15th+0.313s40/60313th+3.967s
Pastor Maldonado18th+0.014s54/59215thNot on same lap
Valtteri Bottas17th-0.014s5/59216thNot on same lap
Jean-Eric Vergne16th+0.881s0/221
Daniel Ricciardo6th-0.881s22/22312th
Charles Pic22nd-0.797s8/59317th-5.093s
Giedo van der Garde20th+0.797s51/59318th+5.093s
Jules Bianchi19th-1.035s16/212
Max Chilton21st+1.035s5/21419th

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 German Grand Prix weekend?

  • Max Chilton (0%)
  • Jules Bianchi (0%)
  • Giedo van der Garde (0%)
  • Charles Pic (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Jean-Eric Vergne (0%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Paul di Resta (0%)
  • Esteban Gutierrez (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (2%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (2%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (28%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (16%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Jenson Button (2%)
  • Felipe Massa (1%)
  • Fernando Alonso (3%)
  • Mark Webber (6%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (39%)

Total Voters: 579

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2013 German Grand Prix

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    Images © Red Bull/Getty, Ferrari/Ercole Colombo, Lotus/LAT

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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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    70 comments on “Vote for your 2013 German GP driver of the weekend”

    1. Romain Grosjean. Qualified well, and was narrowly beaten by Raikkonen. Had a great start and showed consistent and fast pace throughout the race. He did all he could to bring the fight to Vettel and if it wasn’t for the team’s strategy he would have finished a close second.

      1. Grosjean was surprisingly fast and consistent throughout the weekend, he could have finished second even first at times, but ended a good third.
        He gets my vote for the first time in history (I’m french).
        Vettel would be second and Hulkenberg third in my podium votes. They’ve shown great drive, as most did.

        It was a pure race.

        1. (@colossal-squid)

          Anything other than Grosjean is silly, was great seeing his return to form.

      2. Grosjean for me as well.

      3. I’m just rewatching it now and I’m no Grosjean fan but he got my vote too. He was so close to taking vettel around the 35lap mark. Numerous times in the post race interviews vettel mentioned kimi being close but not once did he mention how close grosjean was.

    2. Going for Seb, great qualifying, great start, kept two faster cars at bay for the entire race and held his own under immense pressure ( including a KERS failure) to take his frist home win. Fantastic job.
      Also great job by Kimi and Romain and recovery by Mark

      1. To be honest, I rate RBR fabricate those “issues” to try and look even better.

        1. Maybe it is true but since its introducing in 2011 KERS means nothing to Adrian Newey in his cars , i have seen Vettel defending his position in Spain 2011 without Kers also Mark Webber in india last year succeeded to defend from Hamilton without Kers, the advantage of packaging the car’s component on the limit is bigger than to have good Kers

          1. That’s only because they artificially limit KERS. Next year when they double the power and increase the energy storage by an order of magnitude…NOBODY will even be competitive if their KERS is acting up. RBR better get their act together on the KERS front this offseason because next year a KERS failure will automatically take you out of the points.

            1. That’s why I think DRS should go next year.

            2. (@daved) I’m sure RBR will miraculously have no more KERS issues with Webber gone next year.

            3. @sgt-pepper You mean problems such as the one Vettel had on Sunday?

              I don’t see how Webber leaving will make a difference to that.

            4. Yes, Keith is right. I think Vettel has had more failures on his KERS than Webber. Webber just likes to use it as an excuse for his poor starts so it seems like he has more problems! LOL

            5. @JCost,
              I’m on a crusade to convince people, so here goes again :-)

              If they want to get rid of DRS, they need to allow them to shape the floor of the car for downforce and get rid of the huge wings. An inverted “lifting body” is not as sensitive to the air coming off the car in front and can get close enough to pass on corners.

        2. What’s wrong with ‘sandbagging’ to wrong foot the opposition?
          Sounds like a perfectly acceptable tactic to me….

      2. Seb made a great effort to land that one, but I don’t think he was slower than Lotus on same rubber, he managed his tyre sperfectly when Grosjean on fresher tyres mounted an attack just to fall short because his tyres didn’t last long enough to complete the pass and towards the end Kimi was on softs so, I think RB9 and Lotus were, at least, even on race pace.

        1. Vettel
        2. Grosjean
        3. Raikkonen

        Props to Mark Webber who, with a clean pit stop, could’ve jumped Seb or get very close to his gearbox and provide us with the long awaited fight for P1 beteween those two “mates”…

    3. Seb did a good job at fending off a really strong attack from the Lotuses. Never put a foot wrong.

      2nd for me was Gros. I feel the team should have put Gros on the softs at the end instead of kimi, as Gros was in a better position to get in front of Vettel.

    4. I was hoping my favourite drivers Hamilton and Webber would go well at this track where they have shown good form before, but it wasn’t to be their weekend. It was particularly disappointing to see Webber thrown out of what would have been a four-way battle for the win, due to an uncharacteristic error from the otherwise so efficient Red Bull pit crew. And he had had such a great start!

      So I voted for Vettel. I was, surprisingly, happy for Vettel to finally win his home race, and in very deserving style. To hold off two Lotuses that were faster on race day was very impressive. His qualifying lap may not have been his best ever (he seemed to run a bit wide at turn 1), but it was still good enough for a front row, and from there on an early lead.

      Honourable mention to Grosjean, whose great first stint might have brought him into contention for the win, but the safety car wiped out his advantage, and he faded a little bit in the closing laps. Good to see him error-free and on the pace all weekend again, though.

    5. Of course it’s Vettel. Ouqualified Webber who is exceptionally strong on this track, had a flawless race, had a great start, with quick overtaking when needed, and was very composed under pressure.
      Grosjean was very good, but he wasn’t better. He seemed great only in comparison to his usual performance. He drove a solid race, but that’s it. It wasn’t like he was driving a dog of a car. In this race, his car was faster than Red Bull. And he was also outqualified by his teammate.

    6. Close one, but I’ll go for Vettel. Had to dig deep to deliver a great win in front of his home crowd, holding off both Lotuses, who were faster.

      Grosjean would be second. He drove his best race to date, and on top of that, it came after a tough run of races for him. I also admired the way he handled the team orders. Kimi had the better chance of going for the win (on option tyres), so I do not disagree with the team’s decision, but I wouldn’t have blamed RG for feeling a little irritated that he had to give up a position when the winner was 1s ahead. Rather he smiled and will hopefully use this result to spur him on.

      Narrowly in third would be Kimi Raikkonen, who indeed was a slightly bigger threat at the end for Vettel’s win.

    7. great race from Massa. he managed to lead his team mate during his 3 laps during the race

      1. Don’t forget the formation lap.

      2. Please don’t tell me you actually voted for him…

        1. @davef1 Massa already has 1% of the votes from the current total votes of 313. So already 3 people have voted for him ;)

        2. no, don’t worry, I voted for Vettel

      3. Another rookie mistake from Massa. Let’s give him another year or two to learn and I’m sure he’ll do better.

      4. Why oh why Ferrari are afraid to let him go… beats me.

    8. Vettel for me. Slower car and had to give everything to defend; I was especially impressed between lap 40 anf 50 where he had to both push for lap time to stop Kimi from undercutting him and at the same time defend directly against Grosjean in a faster car, while having to pass Hamilton and Button. Usually these fights slow you down a lot, but Vettel maintained the pace of Kimi.

    9. Grosjean. He is now under pressure in all the weekends and in this weekend he did well, after being in contention for the win, with similar pace to Raikkonen and a good qualifying, let’s not forget, until he was affected by team orders (once again).

    10. Definetely Vettel. His performance was just perfect. He resisted huge pressure during almost whole race and didn’t put a foot wrong, though he didn’t have fastest race car. His performance this year resembles lats year’s Alonso’s performance – consistent and perfect.

    11. Vettel. There was a barely a lap when he wasn’t under pressure and he didn’t put a foot wrong. Great drive from Grosjean but ultimately Vettel was the better man on the day than the two Lotus cars.

    12. I really cannot vote for any driver outside the top 3 here: Alonso could have been in contention for the lead if he would have made his first stint last longer. He could have easily made it to lap 23 (much less deep into the race than for instance Di Resta in Canada), which could have given him the lead or second place if Vettel would have overtaken him before the safety car. So no Alonso vote. Button is the only other driver I’d consider, but I think he benefited from the safety car massively (a bit like what Alonso could have done).

      Let’s compare the top three: all three of them admitted they made a mistake in qualifying, so if I were to choose any of them, I cannot base my decision on that. Sebastian Vettel immediately took the lead and had to hold off pressure from the Lotus guys throughout the race. Lotus seemed to have benefited the most from the tyre regulation changes, it reminded me of how well Raikkonen did in Australia (doing just two stops instead of three). I’d say if you compare the Lotuses, Grosjean slightly had the upper hand, but both did really well.

      Voted Vettel in the end: the car was less good on its tyres than the Lotus cars, but he still managed to stay ahead of the two, despite them running two different strategies. Really impressive performance from Vettel, probably one of his best victories.

    13. I voted Hulkenberg. Did well to get into Q3, set the fastest lap of the race at one point, and despite the safety car ruining his strategy, took the final point at his home race. He needs to replace Massa basically asap.

    14. People are voting, but not commenting. What’s up with that? Grosjean had an excellent weekend, but Vettel was better on both Saturday and Sunday.

    15. Voted Vettel. He had to defend from Mark, Romain and Kimi throughout the race. Had a KERS issue for some laps in the race. He and his team had to react to the strategies from the Lotus team multiple times in the race and they managed to get it right every time.

      Honorable mentions also for Romain, Kimi and Mark.

    16. Vettel grabs this one for me. As mentioned, he managed to hold of two faster cars on 2 different strategies. Not to mention he did it with KERS issues for several laps.
      Glad to see Grosjean have such an excellent race though, hopefully we’ll see more of this Romain. Sad to see he had to give his position up, though it’s very understandable why.

    17. This one is difficult. Vettel, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Button and Webber all had credible weekends, even on Sunday Alonso, Hulkenberg and Maldonado all too did decent jobs.

      However it has to be Vettel. I personally rate this win as his best since Monza 2008. It’s not mean feat keeping your cool as a driver of Raikkonens calibre is closing the gap to you with every lap. Even with KERS issues he kept a cool head. I thought Seb was going to choke it away like he did at Canada 2011 but he proved me wrong. Vettel is on Alonso 2012 form at the moment and it’s going to take something special to beat him.

    18. I voted Mark Webber. Made a place at the start, and was pushing Vettel hard during first stint, keeping him honest.

      Through no error of his own had a disaster in the pits and ended up over a lap behind. Plugged away and got big time lucky when the safety car came out. However, he still was plum last and managed to come through to 7th in the last 10 laps. Good stuff.

    19. i voted grosjean, simply because he could’ve been a way more serious contender for the victory if the safety car didn’t completely ruin his strategy. honorable mentions to vettel, button and hulkenberg.

      1. Grosjean did run a good race, but still don’t understand why the safety car stayed out for so many laps?

    20. Many strong contenders this race, but it still has to be Vettel. The only foot he put wrong was losing out narrowly to a brilliant Hamilton in the qualy. But he corrected that with a bullet-start. For 60 laps he was constantly under pressure from Webber, Grosjean, and Räikkönen and didn’t make a single mistake. Not a slide, not one lock-up. And he still didn’t overstress his tyres. He kept enough distance between himself and Grosjean even when KERS was at fault.
      While Räikkönen wasted 4 laps behind Hamilton, Vettel was aggressive enough to overtake as quickly as possible, only losing a minimum of time. He did not have the fastest car this time around, yet still kept his cool and brought the victory home.
      Flawless.

    21. Voted for kimi. Clean and two extraordinary overtakes on both Mercedes. If lotus believed in team orders , he would have won the German gp.

    22. Vettel. He qualified second and took the lead as soon as the lights went out. First he came under pressure from Mark Webber, then from Grosjean, and then from both Grosjean and Raikkonen. He even had a KERS failure, but didnt lose first place.

    23. Went for Grosjean. He was fast all weekend and it surprised me he didn’t manage to qualify in front of Kimi. It’s a shame he got team orders twice, but I don’t think he could have won regardless. A very good drive from him, he impressed me the most.

      Vettel made a more costly error in qualifying imo and to be honest, I’ve come to expect this sort of quality from Vettel. Hard decision, though.

    24. Can I go with Hulkenberg? He seemed to have a great weekend, so much that his results don’t reveal the true situation Sauber is in at the moment, you can see it only by scrolling down the classification to find Gutierrez…
      It was another positive weekend for Nico, pushing the car to its maximum and putting it higher than where it deserves to be.
      Ricciardo also had a good weekend, and so did Vettel and Grosjean.

      1. I also choose Hülkenberg. That car isn’t good enough to be in Q3 and then to score a point.

        Ricciardo started 6th, finished 12th. Not really impressive.

    25. Voted for Grosjean but liked Raikkonen, Button and Webber … no idea what rally happened to Massa and Rosberg ….. my usual guys that I root for…… BUT the voting instructions are: Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend? It would seem to me that the driver that did the best job was the winner, however like in the MS days …………… Next item: Broken DRS, broken kers, tyres OK this time but then next year it will be all this stuff plus broken turbos or whose turbo was set higher or which software was tweaking the boost and so on. Less rules, less contraptions, more racing!! Thanks, Ray

    26. I went with Vettel as he did really well to fend off the attacks from the two Lotuses. Both Lotuses are also up there, as well as Hulkenberg who is wringing the neck of that Sauber. I just want to see him in a competitive car now.

    27. Vettel before Grosjean. By the skin of his teeth.

    28. Voted Vettel : good show on the FP sessions. Qualified well though missed out pole to Lewis. Good clean start in the race. Kept the cool. Worked through back markers and others who are on different strategy. Fended off the lotus really well. At around lap 50 when kimi and Alonso went on to the softs. I thought better might eventually finish 4th and miss the podium. But a good drive in the last lap. I saw him maturing in this race. Sometimes that is what good competition can do to people.

      1. I thought better might = I thought Better might

        1. Oops …this annoying autocorrect on the phone

          Better = Vettel

    29. Although I would seriously love to give it to Sebastian Vettel, Romain Grosjean takes it.

      Seb was fantastic the whole weekend but I still feel that the pitstop problem for Mark, strategic error for Kimi and Lewis getting held up for a good 7 laps by Rosberg gave him a marginally better opportunity to win. Although he nursed a KERS issue for a while and fended off the Iceman attack, he still got a bit better opportunity with the above mentioned problems for other drivers.

      Romain Grosjean qualified within 0.67 of his team-mate’s time, went fairly long on the options (which Kimi could have done if not for the error from the team) and was very quick on them. Was super consistent, pressurised Seb, fended off a late charge from Fernando and only lost 2nd place when told to do so but still spoke in favour of that decision from the team (which was impressive).

      I just wish Romain keeps performing like this. He truly has immense potential!

      1. I agree with you @neelv27, voted for Grosjean too.

        Apart from perhaps the start, Hamilton actually did pretty good this weekend, getting the best out of the car. On Saturday it was even great, but the race was hard to judge, without a car to race with.

    30. Vettel. Good qualifying, great start, and drove a fantastic race defending against Webber, Grosjean, and Raikkonen. Was composed, focused, and held his nerve all throughout despite the pressure from the faster Lotuses. Well-deserved win at home.

      Special mentions to:
      Grosjean – drove really well and made nary a mistake
      Webber – great recovery to finish 7th from last
      Hulkenberg – squeezing everything out of his car by finishing in the points

    31. Normally when Vettel wins and he doesn’t get DOTW it seems a bit unfair, but on this occasion it would be more than fair. Webber was on track to leapfrog him in the first pitstops – RB brought Web in early to try to prevent it but the wheel guaranteed it. And then if the safety car hadn’t come out Grosjean had Vettel easy on a 2-stopper.
      Not this time. Grosjean (at least) easily ahead of Vettel.

    32. I voted for Kimi, but have to agree that Vettel drove a stellar race. Of course he has the best car, but the car still requires a good driver to win. I would love to see the F1 guys race in an IROC type race where they all have the same equipment.

    33. I voted for grojean .He did a brilliant opening stint and pushed for victory till the end . It was so close with vettel or grosjean for me . I think grosjean taught me a valuable lesson not to underestimate anyone in f1 .

    34. Voted Vettel for the first time though it’s tougher for me to do than it was for him to win the race. He get’s it for staying strong under unusual pressure which I hadn’t expected.

    35. Couldn’t choose between Webber, Vettel and Grosjean, so voted Webber purely because of personal preference. I was very close to throw something on the TV when RBR screwed Webber’s big chance for victory again. Hate them with a passion and will wish them lots of ill luck next year. To see them relegated to midfield in 2014 is my second best thing on the wish list, the first being Crashtor Walldonado’s getting a licence ban for his stupidity and dangerousness.

      Now let’s look at Webber’s qualy and race: in qualy he was half a tenth ahead of Vettel after S2, but lost a tenth and a half in the last sector so ended up a tenth behind. But this was due to him catching pits-bound Alonso at the exit of the chicane which must have lost him a tenth, though he never complained and certainly Fernando couldn’t do anything about it. Without it the qualy would be ascloseasthat between MW and SV. In the race, brilliant start, on SV’s gearbox throughout the first stint, driving a brilliant 2 laps in the lead after SV’s pitstop. the live-timing showed that MW would be ahead of SV if his pitstop was normal(though that’s partly because Vettel encountered traffic when out of the pits). And then RBR screw him up. After that, a brilliant comeback-got the absolute maximum of what was possible

      There wasn’t anything to choose between MW and SV this weekend. they both drove brilliantly in a car that was second fastest both in qualy( to Merc) and in the race(to Lotus). Advantage Webber here purely because of RBR’s screw up

      Grosjean was faster than Kimi in the race, and got unlucky with the safety car, otherwise he could’ve won, so he’s joint second for me with SV

    36. Antonio (@antoniocorleone)
      9th July 2013, 12:09

      First of all, I am a Ferrari-Alonso fan. I voted for Vettel but I honestly think that Webber was on course for the win today if it wasn’t for the pit stop error. Sebastian has got really mature over the years and it will be really difficult for someone to beat him. This was Seb’s greatest victory in terms of maturity that he has shown. I just hope that the WDC doesn’t end early…

    37. Perhaps now people can stop complaining that Vettel never gets DotW… struggling to see how Grosjean and Webber had a much worse weekend. All three were top class.

      1. struggling to see how Grosjean and Webber had a much worse weekend.

        They both qualified and finished behind Vettel, which pretty much by definition means they had a “worse weekend” then he did. Except in rare extenuating circumstances I would expect that the driver who qualifies best and/or finishes best would be “DOTW”. And being named “Vettel” should not be one of those extenuating circumstances.

        1. Not for Grosjean in a slower (on Saturday) Lotus, I think@jonsan!

          Otherwise only the podium guys would be the only ones in contention ever, while now people are voting for, for example Hulkenberg, because he did a great job in a sub-par, though raceable here, Sauber.

    38. Voted for Grosjean, for many of the same reasons as everyone else.

      On a side note, another killer start from Massa; just a shame it was ruined by such a rookie mistake. I was not surprised when Ferrari signed him for another year last season, but I will be surprised if they keep him on for 2014.

    39. Hamilton for me, An excellent great pole. His race was destroyed by Pirelli tyres he should have finished 1st not 5th. Travesty ;)

    40. Sigh. As much as I’m not a Vettel fan, I had to give it to him. The guy had a fight on his hands and still held Kimi off even without his KERS running. I just can’t deny he had the best performance of the weekend.

      OK, but can someone PLEASE explain to me how Webber actually gained spots at the start?!? LOL

    41. I voted for Vettel. Hamilton may have got the better of him during qualifying but Vettel put in another great display in the race to finally win his home Grand Prix.

      I would put Grosjean second, nice to see his return to form, hopefully he can maintain it.

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