Vote for your Japanese GP driver of the weekend

2013 Japanese Grand Prix

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

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

Japanese Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Didn’t take pole position for the first time at Suzuka but had his KERS been working he would probably have found more than the tenth of a second that separated him from Webber. From the outset he played the tyre management game to allow him to run a short, aggressive final stint. When the crunch time came he wasted no time passing Grosjean to clinch a satisfying win which puts the championship destiny almost beyond doubt.

Mark Webber – Webber hasn’t always been close enough to Vettel this year to take advantage when his team mate has a problem but he was at Suzuka and pushed his team mate hard for the victory. Said he was “surprised” to be switched to a three-stop strategy but was able to use his superior speed in the final stint to pass Grosjean. Had he done so more quickly he could have gone after his team mate.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Held his hands up after being beaten by Massa in qualifying and admitted he hadn’t been quick enough. His race pace was better but he spent the first stint stuck behind Massa. He took advantage of traffic in the second stint to get past Massa, then later demoted Hulkenberg when the Sauber driver’s tyres began to drop off. That gave him fourth place, and he felt no more was possible under the circumstances.

Felipe Massa – Would Massa “drive for himself”, as he told Brazilian media after being dropped by Ferrari, or would he “definitely help” his team mate as Luca di Montezemolo insisted? That was answered in the first stint when Massa repeatedly ignored Ferrari’s instructions to let Alonso through, delivered through the radio code “Multifunction strategy A”. Hulkenberg took advantage of the situation to jump both Ferraris, then Alonso finally found a way past his team mate, after which Massa picked up a penalty for speeding in the pits and fell to tenth.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Set the same time to within a tenth of a second on three separate occasions in qualifying and felt he’d wrung all there was from the MP4-28. Driving to the grid he chose to reduce the front wing angle on the car but quickly regretted the decision, suffering understeer which wasn’t cured until the last stint. Held off Massa for ninth.

Sergio Perez – Crashed at Spoon during second practice, which he said was his mistake as he’d touched the artificial grass on entry to the corner. Narrowly missed Q3 but started well, only to lose time when Rosberg came out of the pits immediately in front of him. Like Button he had a slow pit stop as well. His left-rear tyre was punctured in slight contact with Rosberg, which killed his chances of scoring points.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – Crashed in Friday practice – for the second weekend in a row – missing valuable race simulation time. Raikkonen’s been unhappy in qualifying since the new tyres were introduced and although he made gains in Japan he remained in the lower reaches of the top ten. Had wheelspin at the start which cost him places but he made progress from there on. A weekend which started poorly ended up with a brilliantly-judged pass on Hulkenberg for fifth place on the outside at the chicane.

Romain Grosjean – Surely his best F1 performance to date with a solid qualifying effort followed by an outrageous start from which he emerged as an unlikely threat to Red Bull. Led comfortably for almost half of the race and did well to hold off Webber as long as he did before taking another podium finish.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – An unsafe release from the pits dropped him back into the pack where he ended up scrapping with Perez. Like his team mate in Korea he spent the latter part of the race stuck behind a Sauber, Gutierrez limiting him to eighth.

Lewis Hamilton – The merest touch of his right-rear tyre against Vettel’s front wing was enough to give him a puncture as he dived between the Red Bulls off the line. From looking likely to take second at the start he was soon out of the race.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – Beat Alonso and Raikkonen in qualifying but couldn’t keep them behind in the race. However he held them off as long as he could until his tyres began to give up.

Esteban Gutierrez – Points looked unlikely when he lined up 14th on the grid but a superb start, gaining five places, brought him into contention. Gave away a position to Raikkonen though it was one he was always going to struggle to keep.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Ended his strong of retirements and took 11th, unable to resist Button in the latter part of the race. Still he was happy with the improved balance of the Force India.

Adrian Sutil – A crash in final practice forced him to change his gearbox, and after failing to escape Q1 he started last. Up to 16th by lap one, he gained two more places by the end of the race despite being passed by both Toro Rossos in one lap later on.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Went off twice in practice, but the first spin in Q1 was due to a wheel which hadn’t been attached properly and fell off. The stand-out moment of Maldonado’s race was his desperate lunge down the inside of Bottas on his final lap, signalling his eagerness not to finish behind his team mate.

Valtteri Bottas – Impressively out-qualified Maldonado on his first race at a real drivers’ circuit. But his tyres went off badly in the final stint, losing four places in the last three laps.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Knocked out in Q1 after a bizarre incident when he left the pits with both rear brakes locked – he thought his engine was down on power – which then caught fire. An early pit stop in the race didn’t work out for him as he became stuck in traffic. But three-stopping gave him the benefit of fresher tyres later in the race, allowing him to pass the Williams drivers and Sutil.

Daniel Ricciardo – Tried to make an alternative strategy work, starting on the hard tyres. But he became the latest driver to be penalised for completing a pass by going off the track on the outside of the corner, which he was deeply unimpressed with. His drive-through penalty confined him to 13th place.

Caterham

Charles Pic – Already carrying a ten-place penalty into the race weekend, Pic committed much the same infraction he had in Korea – passing a red light without stopping – and earned an unprecedented drive-through penalty which was declared before the race had begun. Despite that he was quick enough to beat the sole surviving Marussia home.

Giedo van der Garde – Collided with Bianchi at the start, putting both out. “I was squeezed between both the Marussia cars and had nowhere to go,” he said. “I lost my front wing in contact with Bianchi and then the car went straight off and into the wall.”

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Hit the barrier at Degner 2 in first practice when his arm got caught against the side of the cockpit. Unfortunately that ruled him out of second practice as well. Beaten in a straight fight by his team mate in qualifying for the first time, he was taken out on lap one of the race. “As I turned into the first corner on the opening lap, van der Garde hit my rear wing which pushed me off track and into the gravel.” A wasted weekend in which he completed just 32 laps, most of which in Saturday’s hour of practice.

Max Chilton – Out-qualified Bianchi on merit for the first time the year. But despite Pic having a drive-through penalty he was caught and passed by the Marussia seven laps from home after his tyres began to go off.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mateLaps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel2nd+0.174s27/5321st-7.129s
Mark Webber1st-0.174s26/5332nd+7.129s
Fernando Alonso8th+0.287s37/5324th-43.658s
Felipe Massa5th-0.287s16/53210th+43.658s
Jenson Button10th-0.151s21/5239thNot on same lap
Sergio Perez11th+0.151s31/52315thNot on same lap
Kimi Raikkonen9th+0.319s0/5325th+37.415s
Romain Grosjean4th-0.319s53/5323rd-37.415s
Nico Rosberg6th+0.144s7/738th
Lewis Hamilton3rd-0.144s0/71
Nico Hulkenberg7th-0.215s52/5326th-20.015s
Esteban Gutierrez14th+0.215s1/5327th+20.015s
Paul di Resta12th-0.604s51/52211thNot on same lap
Adrian Sutil22nd+0.604s1/52214thNot on same lap
Pastor Maldonado15th+0.08s4/52216th-0.582s
Valtteri Bottas13th-0.08s48/52217th+0.582s
Jean-Eric Vergne17th+0.553s14/52312th-2.188s
Daniel Ricciardo16th-0.553s38/52213th+2.188s
Charles Pic20th-0.323s0/0218th
Giedo van der Garde19th+0.323s0/00
Jules Bianchi21st+0.638s0/00
Max Chilton18th-0.638s0/0219th

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 Japanese 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 (6%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (4%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (1%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (58%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Jenson Button (0%)
  • Felipe Massa (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (2%)
  • Mark Webber (4%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (25%)

Total Voters: 616

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2013 Japanese Grand Prix

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Images © Red Bull/Getty, Lotus/LAT, Sauber

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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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112 comments on “Vote for your Japanese GP driver of the weekend”

  1. Now people respects Grosjean..Now Crashjean no more.. This is big achievement from young fekka

    1. sorry…typo… Fella*

    2. “Young” fellow? He is older than a certain quadruple triple world champion and right in the middle in terms of age in comparison to the other 21 drivers.
      It’s a solid result, but he didn’t win! If he had done that, he would have been my driver of the weekend

      1. triple quadruple you meant? ;)

    3. @vivek I’m happy with his attitude and performance but Spa 2012 is still a vivid memory. I will need more time as he almost killed someone. I gave him my vote as his weekend was superb, he outperformed RAI, took a tremendous start and held both redbulls until the end. That was racing :)

      1. Your memory of Spa 2012 is as ridiculous as the reactions it received at the time. Yes, it was a big accident, but the size of the accident was not proportionate the the ‘move’ of Romain.

        If everyone just calms the hysterics down a bit and ACTUALLY looks at the move that caused the accident you will see that it was in fact only the SLIGHTEST of touches. It was PURE BAD LUCK that resulted – nothing more nothing less!

        In fact, it was one of the slightest touches that I have seen that has lead to any form of accident. Others have done FAR worse, but pure luck has meant that their accidents were not as severe.

        Just look at this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQifEREYBwk

        Alonso is a double world champion and basically barged Grosjean out of the way at Monaco the same year. The contact was FAR heavier in this instance but the only outcome was Grosjean being punted into Schumacher (which he was also unfairly blamed for) and Grosjean being put out of the race.

        Was there calls for Alonso’s head after this incident??? Of course not, but it was a FAR WORSE move that the one Grosjean put on Hamilton at Spa. And talking of accidents and stupid moves – you need look no further than Hamilton for all the examples you need! Has he ever been banned for a race? Has Schumacher ever been banned from a race despite SEVERAL occasions where he has basically ploughed straight through back of other cars in his 2nd career?

        The reaction and despicable treatment Grosjean received after Spa was a complete joke!

        1. There’s a big difference between that and squeezing somebody off the race track, on a straight, with nobody of your other side. Alonso did no squeezing there. All he did was try to weave his way through, which there appeared to be space to do so. It is certainly not Alonso’s fault that Grosjean sat in such a silly position. Had Grosjean not gotten so unreasonably close to Alonso in the first place (by reacting as soon as he saw Alonso coming through and moving left), Schumacher wouldn’t have had room to be on his other side in the first place. Grosjean left a space for Schumacher and stayed far too close to Alonso on the narrowest start line when he shouldn’t have. Due to how fast it all happened I’d be inclined to forgive it as a racing incident, but using that as evidence of Alonso’s poor driving strikes of desperation.

          Also, you ignore that Grosjean’s race ban was partly the result of all the other incidents he’d been in that year.

          1. All he did was try to weave his way through, which there appeared to be space to do so. It is certainly not Alonso’s fault that Grosjean sat in such a silly position.

            Are you on crack? Did you actually watch the video? Grosjean moved over to defend on Alonso coming through, something he’s entitled to do. The door was already shut before Alonso decided to barge through. That accident was Alonso’s fault plain and simple.

            It is certainly not Alonso’s fault that Grosjean sat in such a silly position.

            Why is moving his car into a defensive position silly exactly? Grosjean moved his car into position before Alonso tried to barge through. The reason they had an accident was because Alonso was silly enough to forget that he had another pedal other than an accelerator!

            The door was closed before Alonso got there and he shouldn’t have tried to barge through! The only way that accident was in any way Grosjean’s fault was simply because he was on the race track!

            Due to how fast it all happened I’d be inclined to forgive it as a racing incident, but using that as evidence of Alonso’s poor driving strikes of desperation.

            Where exactly did I use that as ‘evidence’ of Alonso’s bad driving?? Seeing what you want to see…again.

            And if Grosjean being involved in multiple incidents was the reason he was banned, then explain to me how Hamilton was not banned at least once in 2011????

        2. @nick101 oh come on he almost beheaded the guy what are you talking about seriously… The Monaco incident is a stupid greedy move from Alonso but it is completely unrelated… And there is no need to SHOUT dude :) I can hear you correctly :)

  2. This is a tricky one. We saw Sebastian make more mistakes than he usually does – locking up his brakes and running wide – but when under massive pressure from one of the Red Bulls, Grosjean did the same. Mark Webber, on the other hand, did not have the pace to pass Grosjean quickly enough at the end. I’d put that more down to car setup though, as he couldn’t exit the final corner fast enough to get to Grosjean and pass him, so Webber it is! But as I said, it’s a close one.

    1. Having a broken front wing from the first lap and non-functioning KERS at qualifying made the result of Vettel impressive

    2. Sorry, I can’t see your logic.

      1. He was bringing a damaged car to victory.

    3. I think Sebastian was pushing hard, just as it was in Canada.

  3. Voted Vettel I thought He had the best across the weekend.

    Webber failed to convert his Pole into a an early race lead which lost him the DOTW

    A good show from ROman….. had he held his position in the final stint it would have been great.

  4. Went with Romain Grosjean. He got the most out of his Lotus in Qualifying, made one of the best starts I’ve seen in a while, led the race early on like it was business as usual and was the only one in the race to keep up with the might of the Red Bulls.

    Vettel lost out in qualifying (mechanical, but didn’t look unbeatable in other sessions either) and was given a bone by Webber eating his tyres and needing an extra stop, which is why I’m not voting for the pole-man either.

    1. @npf1 KERS is worth 4 tenths, possibly more in the Red Bull if the rumours are to be believed. Also, his Q2 (where he had KERS) was impressive, so I have no doubts his qualifying is up to scratch.

      The race is debatable though. I don’t think he was “thrown a bone” at all – he is just better at conserving his tyres, which is a skill, not a fluke – but he did make a couple of mistakes. When he needed to overtake it was done swiftly however, so he was better than Webber in that respect.

      But Grosjean was very good too. It’s a tough choice, and I’m not suitably convinced by either yet to vote.

      1. @vettel1 While I know KERS cost Vettel some time, I generally don’t do much of ‘what if’ in F1. His Q2 lap was impressive, but during Q1 and Q2 I had the idea Alonso might do reasonably well too, I don’t judge Q1 and Q2 for the people in the top 10, personally.

        I’m not dismissing Vettel’s ability to maximize the Pirelli tyres, but I would have rated his race higher if he had more trouble with Webber. He put in a race as I expected of him, Webber did disappoint a little, but I found Grosjean to be relatively more impressive. I take these things quite relatively, which is why I don’t always vote for Vettel as race winner; I’ve come to expect that from him. I think I’ve voted for him for most of his race wins this year, though.

        1. @npf1 you cannot say he didn’t do well in qualifying, though: that is my sole point. That cannot be held against him – within a tenth with a KERS failure is impressive.

          1. I’m not saying he didn’t do well; I’m saying I found Grosjean’s relative performance in qualifying more impressive as well.

  5. Maybe we should be allowed to select 2 drivers every time…

    I’ll go for Grosjean. Very impressive form. He’s been doing very well since Germany, outqualifying his team mate, putting the car in the first 2 rows. A very matured drive.

    It took a while for this year to come to him, but the wait has done him well.

  6. By some distance, Romain Grosjean: outqualified Raikkonen by at least five positions on the grid for the third race in a row and had a fantastic start. The strategy was perfect – in the end he was simply outwitted by Red Bull, nothing he could do about stopping the Red Bulls from overtaking him. Well-deserved podium.

    1. It cannot be called out-qualify if your teammate doesn’t really care anymore. Off-course, you can be fast with easy car, but where were you when the car still difficult to drive?
      I am not against Grosjean, but what makes a champion is no single-lap Jarno Trulli, but 1 second slower in qualify but race consistent Alain Prost. He was OK with medium tire, but RBR setup their car for harder tire anyway, so nothing great, yet.

      1. It cannot be called out-qualify if your teammate doesn’t really care anymore.

        So Raikkonen has just stopped putting in effort?

        Off-course, you can be fast with easy car, but where were you when the car still difficult to drive?

        Where was Hulkenberg when the tyres were still 2013 spec?

        I am not against Grosjean, but what makes a champion is no single-lap Jarno Trulli, but 1 second slower in qualify but race consistent Alain Prost.

        I agree, you can be a champion by being a

        1. … poor qualifier – it certainly helps though (*cough Vettel). But you just can’t deny that qualifying is meaningless. Besides, I have given some more reasoning behind my decision to vote for Grosjean.

  7. Grosjean as he was the only man on par with the Red Bull machines on Sunday – very impressive, even though Vettel hasn’t lost a race since the summerbreak.

  8. I voted for Grosjean. Ever since Singapore, he’s been outqualifying Raikkonen, which is necessary for Lotus. Second, he had an unbelievable start, and lead the race. It’s a shame for him to lose out to the navy blue cars.
    Third, he kept his head cool. Improved a lot since last year. By the way, I hear and read rumours that Massa is going to Lotus and that Hulkenberg is going to Force India.

    Honorable mentions to: Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Nico Hulkenberg.

  9. I personally feel like it should be Grosjean, Vettel and Guttierez but knowing fans it’ll be the first two and either Fernando and Raikkonen. (Voted Grosjean)
    No disrespect to the last 2 but for once I feel like their performance wasn’t driver of the weekend worthy.

    1. I’m between Hülkenberg, Vettel, Gorsjean, Perez and actually Chilton. It’s a tough choice this weekend though @bosley I think!

      1. Eventually gone for Nico Hülkenberg: he was solid throughout the weekend, no mistakes yet again, great qualifying and has helped Sauber come ever closer to Force India.

        1. Curiously today in the printed version of the Gazzetto dello sport they have already put Hulkenberg in the Lotus. They have stated that Massa is no longer in contention and nor is Maldonado due to a conflict with Grosjean’s sponsor. I mean the article just flat out said Hulkenberg was at Lotus. Odd?

          1. good news if they are right. He deserves the chance more than Maldonado and Massa.

    2. I don’t see why it should be Gutierrez when he was beaten by his team mate.

      1. Isn’t Gutierrez the first rookie to score points this year? To be right behind Hulkenberg is a solid drive, especially starting from 14th. In terms of driving above his own standards, he nailed it and is definitely worth a DOTD look.

  10. I see Max Chilton is voting for himself again…

    1. Well he did out-qualify Bianchi…

      1. He still managed to come last despite van der Garde and Bianchi colliding and Pic having a drive-through. That’s pretty specialist

        1. @juan-pablo-heidfeld-1 Since Chilton has only managed to finish ahead of 3 drivers in any race this season and two of them collided and retired at the start this would actually increase the probability of his coming last so your logic is completely back to front.

          So rather than it being “despite” the collision it may have ended up that way “because of” the collision.

          1. I’m sorry, I don’t know if this is a joke or not :p

            If it isn’t then it doesn’t make any sense

      2. Nick Jarvis (@)
        14th October 2013, 18:52

        @Diceman @juan-pablo-heidfelt-1 I think his qualifying was more luck than skill, he was over HALF a second up from the next slugmobile. I also noticed in the qualifying speed trap he was the 3rd fastest car. Bianchi was way down ~20th. Maybe he tried a radically different low drag setup and it worked?

    2. Max chilton = Max jacobson :-P ( @vettel1 ) . But he would not have the time to write voluminous posts on vettel so nah . Not him :-P .

    3. I’m actually considering Max Chilton – he did have a pretty decent weekend all round. This is a tricky one though: I think I’m going to give it a bit of thought @hamilfan @full-throttle-f1.

      1. Although his race was pretty terrible, so maybe I shouldn’t. I didn’t actually realise that 19th equated to last!

  11. What is it with everybody ignoring Mark Webber?? He got pole and was going to win the race until his team decided against it…
    Usually the driver I vote turns up to be the one voted by majority, so this time I don’t get this 4%..

    1. He got his pole… only because Vettel’s KERS failed.
      His “team decided against it”… only because he was unable to make the tires last.

      Context is a valuable thing ;-)

    2. @alfa145 Vettel got the better of him yet again. And he’d not have got pole had it been for Vettel’s KERS issue.

      While Mark suffered plenty of KERS failures, and it’s not as “hollow” as he put it, he did fail to get off the line quickly, he failed to make the tyres last, he failed to build a gap big enough in the middle stint, and he failed to overtake Grosjean on much faster, and much newer, tyres.

      I don’t think why anyone would vote Mark. And this is from a MW fan, btw…

      1. I didn’t get to see the race live, i had already read who won and how, just bits and pieces and i saw that webber was stuck too long behind Grosjean which cost him a chance to take on vettel.

        So i was thinking it was like 1-2 laps, maybe a 3rd, that’s enough to kill your tires and loose you a lot of time.

        But after watching the race, he was just stuck there for what seemed forever, barely was able to challenge or get close, lap after lap it looked like he was just going to stay there.

        Vettel was aggressive, pushed hard and got the job done. Vettel won it by driving better. As much as i wanted webber to get the win on a track he likes, he didnt deserve it at all after that performance.

  12. I am going a bit different, Esteban Gutierrez. He took his first points by finishing in 7th! Amazing start from him, and great pace throught the race and under pressure, after many thought he wasn’t delivering at all. A great comeback from Sauber, and more so for Gutierrez who has reduced his gap to Hulkenberg in the last races :)

  13. Grosjean gets my vote. The way he has improved since Germany has really impressed me. I hope Lotus build good car next year too.

  14. Romain Grosjean for sure. He’s finally found his pace again (and now he doesn’t crash into anything that moves!)

  15. Toss up between Seb & Grosjean… went with Grosjean for that stunning start.

    1. True, Vettel had a very poor start. With that car I could have been done better myself ;)

      1. We got a bad ass quadruple champion challenger here. :P

        1. with a newey designed car I am sure I can get a couple of them ;)

  16. grosjean, by quite a margin.
    granted, he is my favourite driver on the grid, but in the end he was the only one that was able to challenge the bulls. on equal terms that could’ve been his first victory. the way he launched himself off the grid was spectacular. he has matured a lot, throughout the whole year (except monaco, that was a one-time off i reckon) he has been increasing his skill level and definately deserves a contract extension for 2014!

    honorable mention to gutierrez, whose start was also brilliant. he has also matured a lot since the beginning of the year and i’m sure we’ll see him scoring points again!

  17. Vettel made some errors during the race, Webber took to long to overtake Grosjean …

    I was hesitating between Grosjean and Hülkenberg: Grosjean did a perfect weekend: out-qualified his team mate and had a fantastic start. I really thought he could win this one … and he would have merited it! But I saw Grosjean already had a 50%+ score so I went for Hülkenberg: out-qualified his team mate and was 4th during a long time in the race, only giving his position to Alonso and Raikkonen after some good defensive driving!

  18. Grosjean, great quali lap, amazing start, good race, holded Webber for 8 laps even if he was 2s/lap slower.

    Special mention to Vettel, great race and quali lap, great push when needed and a quick, good pass which ultimately gave him the victory. Loses the DOTW to Grosjean because of the very bad start.

  19. David not Coulthard (@)
    14th October 2013, 16:23

    Went for Vettel – he made his strategy work nicely.

    1. ….his strategy or Newey’s car?
      Poor poor starting compared to Grosjean.

      1. Why is Newey so special? Everyone seems to refer to Newey’s car as if it’s some sort of automatic winning device, but it clearly isn’t, otherwise Red Bull wouldn’t have only two 1-2’s and they wouldn’t have been clearly worse than Mercedes in qualifying for half the season and Ferrari in a third of the races.

        And it’s extremely discrediting to the rest of the team, the divers and the stargetists.

        1. Sorry but it seems you just starting watching F1 in the last year. Adrian Newey did create “automatic winning devices” in ’90 for Williams and in 2000 for McLaren.
          Look were these teams are now and wonder where RedBulls will be when Newey leaves.

      2. Newey didn’t make the car to drive itself. He’s a human not a god to make a machine work by itself!

        1. …if we follow this reasoning we can affirm next race max chilton is competing for winning…

  20. Romain Grosjean. Always at the top, far ahead of his team mate, in qualifying and in the race especially. Gutierrez was my man of the race by little. Hulkenberg was impressive as usual, but Massa also had a good race, as I only regard the speeding incident as “misfortune”. That to say he didn’t drive badly, not to rank him up with the best.

  21. Grosjean, easily.

    The other candidate could have been Vettel if it was not for his whining in the closing stages of the race (something like ‘keep him [Webber?] away from me’) and his numerous minor errors in the braking zones, primarily on his quali laps (both).

    Otherwise, so many error-strewn performances for once. Usually there are a lot of praiseworthy, impeccable drives in the field, but this time, a lot of driver made error(s) somewhere during the weekend.

    Hulkenberg also pops into my mind as one, who made almost zero. He should have been my second choice, had there been such, with Vettel third.

    1. (@atticus-2 For the record, Vettel didn’t whine about anything, He was coming up to lap Perez who spent two laps holding him up, so he was asking for blue flags

      1. Ah, thanks. Must have misunderstood it then.

      2. Yup, that’s what I read too. Vettel’s message was somewhat intended for Charlie W since there weren’t blue flags shown. I wonder though why blue flags weren’t shown immediately.

  22. Gutierrez. First 13 end 7.

  23. Grosjean for me. I don’t think he did a single thing wrong all weekend. Trounced Raikkonen in qualifying, had a fantastic start, and was able to hold that for a rather long time, until the superior Red Bull’s came hunting. I think he drove a better race than Webber, who in-turn drove a slightly better, but marginally so, race than Vettel.

    On Guttierez, finally scoring points for rookies, and made the most of penalties ahead of him. He did however flop at the one moment coming out of Spoon where he demonstrated a lack of race-craft, and also his ‘push to almost pass’ on Massa at the hairpin. So really, he had a good finishing result, but by no means the greatest race.
    Another strong result for Hulkenburg again, only really hampered at the end by possibly pushing too early on the tyres on his final stint, but still proving he’s worthy of a top drive.
    And again, both Raikkonen and Alonso had good races, but such poor qualifying’s, with a very similar margin behind their team-mates.

  24. Wanted to give it to Grosjean for a classy and fast drive, but Vettel made such short work of him at the end (and did it so much better than Webber) that I have to vote for him. It still seems…convenient that Grosjean’s doing better now Kimi’s announced he’s leaving – I’d like to see him repeat this kind of performance more consistently.

    1. @tomsk

      but Vettel made such short work of him at the end

      You can’t compete with a sprinter by wearing high heels !

  25. Can somebody please explain to me why Gutierrez has 3 times as much votes as Hulkenberg while he is outqualified and outraced by his teammate??

    1. Well Gutierrez scored his first points in F1, while Hulkenberg has been very consistent with these results, especially in the recent races. Also, considering this season for the rookie drivers only, scoring points is a big thing if you ask me

    2. Gutierrez is a rookie and he has reduced the gap in the last races :)

    3. @andae23 fully agreed: unless it’s highly exceptional circumstances (came back from a crash to finish just behind or something akin to that) I never vote a losing teammate above the winning one, as they therefore cannot possibly have achieved the best result possible and clearly their teammate was a better driver over the weekend.

      I don’t understand the x3 margin, either.

  26. Grosjean is my driver of the weekend. The fact that Bruno Senna managed to beat him at Suzuka last year in race pace – even overtaking him on the outside at 130 R – just reminds me about what the brazilian could do in a second full season with a good F1 car. In the WEC he has already 4 poles and 2 wins in his class, while Kobayashi has 0 poles and 0 wins. The japanese has more points (72 to 71) just because Bruno was very unlucky at Le Mans. He deserved the win but his team mate crashed while in the lead, at the 19th hour. He lost 50 points there, otherwise he would be leading the GTE Pro class and probably would be world champion at the end of the year.

  27. Grosjean for me! Good qualifying and a fantastic race, kept the lead for as long as possible and couldn’t really finish higher than where he did, was the only car in contact with the Red Bulls.

  28. A little bit of a dilemma between Gutierrez and Grosjean but i went for the Mexican. First rookie this season to score points. It’s a big think and that battle with Rosberg at the end was very cool. As for Vettel, didn’t feel like he deserved to win the race. It looked like Red Bull planned it all to give Vettel the win with Webber’s strategy :/

    1. As for Vettel, didn’t feel like he deserved to win the race. It looked like Red Bull planned it all to give Vettel the win with Webber’s strategy :/

      Here’s a nicely written article by Keith presenting the data and explaining why the 3-stop strategy of Mark wasn’t a way of gifting a win to Vettel.

      1. @xenif1 – The ides that Webber was robbed in any way is just nonsense. The article from Keith covers it.

        1. Yeah i know, i read that but it just doesn’t seem fair for Webber and yes i checked all the data in the article as well. He used his tires much more than Vettel and either one of them had to go on a 3-stopper. Red Bull opted for Webber because he was using his tires more than Vettel.

  29. Went for Vettel because he called for the tyre strategy himself for the last stint. It shows that he knows his thing well.

    Follow closely behind is Gutierrez for his stellar drive which earned him 6 well deserved points.

  30. Vettel for me. Very good effort in qualifying. Even without KERS, he was really close to his team mate.
    His race was quite clever as well. He had a terrible start, but he carefully prepared his last stint after the first few laps. Some minor mistakes here and there, but in the end he had a better pace and better tyre management.

  31. Romain Grosjean for out-qualifying , out racing his celebrated teammate and for having a terrific race . He had a fantastic start , perfect first stint . Tried his best to fight the mighty bulls and ended up a well deserved podium . Most notably for silencing his critics ( including myself ) to such an extent as to deliver a perfect drive .

    Vettel was second best for me . Managed the tyres extremely well , made sure he won after that bad start and also out raced his hungry team mate . He made some slight errors compared to his near flawless drives this year .

  32. Gro all the way.

  33. Kind of difficult week to choose for a stand up performance, every body was here and there. So why not Vettel? He missed the pole position, but that was also down to KERS problem, then he missed a good start. But the others that gained from his misses failed to materialize on them, and Vettel wins again.

  34. Zantkiller (@)
    14th October 2013, 18:48

    It has to be Grosjean.

    The Red Bulls were mighty this weekend and were always going to get a 1-2 if it was a clean race and they had no mechanical issues.
    Romain was the only driver to keep up with the Red Bulls. Alonso was 35 seconds behind him.

    A brilliant drive from Grosjean.

  35. Grosjean was taking the fight to a soon-to-be 4 time WDC and racing on par with the best cars on the grid when no one else seemed able to. Even Vettel was praising him in the press conference, which says a lot. Easy pick.

  36. Gro 1A for me 1B would be Vet….

  37. I chose Grosjean without blinking, but now… I am actually not so sure.
    He qualified brilliantly, had a MASSIVE start and had by any standard a good race.
    But should I have given Vettel the vote instead? To get that close to Webber in qualifying, without KERS, was quite brilliant. His start was poor though. But in the race, his pace, tyre management an the crucially a swift and perfectly executed overtake on Grosjean made him come out on top. He actually did perform really, really well.

    So Grosjean or Vettel? I stand by my vote. Not so much because he was better, I felt they both were excellent in their own slightly different areas, but more so because of where Grosjean has come from.
    He has been an actual risk on track, clumsy starts, clumsy overtakes, a race ban resulting in a massive lack of confidence.
    He has been called all sorts of names by fans, drivers, journalists. The lot.
    He has been forced to be the number two driver to Kimi on several occasions, and here he is.
    Performing at a level where it is hard to choose between him, and a driver who is on the verge to win his fourth title in what is proving to be one of his best seasons yet, on track where he is at his absolute best.
    Fair play Grosjean. Well done.

  38. Chilton as if I read correctly was running without car ahead of Pic then Pic pass him, fortunately chilton was catch by his own Marussia but unfortunately was to late to catch Pic again.

    If I missread then Grosjean is really showing he deserves a seat in a top team Mercedes or Redbull can use this guys speed, no doubt Grosjean can do a Vettel in the RB9 and leading the pack there is no one to crash with ever again, seriously Grosjean is as fast as Vettel and Hamilton but has much better race pace.

  39. Driver of Practice (DoP) – Lewis Hamilton
    Driver of Qualifying (DoQ) – Mark Webber
    Driver of the Race (DotR) – Roman Grosjean

  40. LoL, who voted Lewis

  41. Considering Red Bull finished ahead of Grosjean due to strategy alone, easily Grosjean.

    He’s the only driver who hasn’t given up (at least he’s still trying to win): Take note Ferrari!

  42. Grosjean, obviously, for taking the fight to RB.

    And I see Keith no longer bothers to hide his obvious dislike for Pastor.

    1. I don’t dislike him and I don’t know what I’m supposed to have said that indicates otherwise.

  43. Grosjean hands down. Honorable mention to Esteban Gutierrez, great drive by the Mexican.

  44. Esteban Gutierrez. Great star and solid drive. The only rookie in the points this year. Also good weekend for Grosjean, Vettel, Webber & Hulkenberg.

  45. Easily Grosjean for me. While both Red Bulls were sleeping at the start, he made the most of it to sneak into the lead and hang on for as long as possible. He did lose out to the Red Bulls in the end, but given that the driver right behind him in 4th place (Alonso) is about 30 seconds behind, it is a pretty impressive feat to even be challenging them in the first place. In fact, he might have even fended off Webber for 2nd in the inherently superior Red Bull were it not for the lapped cars. Both Vettel and Webber did a good job, but given Red Bull’s superior machinery to the rest of the field, it just feels criminal not to vote for Grosjean, especially when you take his reputation into account.

  46. Are there any doubts ?

    Romain Grosjean

  47. Romain Grosjean of course, he drove much better than both RBR pilots, this was not a near-perfect race for Vettel as most, and certainly wouldn’t have won in equal machinery.

    Kimi and Fernando had an awful saturday but a pretty good sunday, both maximized their chances. Also good effort by the Hulk and Gutierrez.

    For the record, I don’t usually consider that Vettel wins “just because of the car”, the RBR is certainly the best car but usually Seb is also at the top of his game. But not in this race.

  48. I’m voting for Esteban, for getting in the points. Nothing flashy, but a very solid race for the rookie.

  49. Grosjean, then Vettel, then Webber.

  50. Fikri Harish (@)
    15th October 2013, 4:40

    Experience was the only thing lacking in Grosjean’s performance at Suzuka.
    I was hoping he could repeat what Alonso did in Germany last year, where he paced his slightly inferior car perfectly so that his two pursuers at the time (Vettel and Button) weren’t able to mount any serious attacks.
    It’s hard to overtake at Suzuka and I can’t help but think that with proper pace management and car positioning, Grosjean could’ve at least nabbed 2nd place or even a victory.

    That being said, it was quite a mature performance by the Frenchman, so my vote goes to him for this one.
    Props to the Red Bulls and the Saubers as well. Alonso and Kimi need to seriously sort out their qualifying issues, I don’t want to spend 2014 hoping that the Ferraris will somehow be able to fight their way through the pack all over again, I’ve had more than enough of those moments.

  51. Grosjean for me. Great start after impressive qualifying, and lived with the Red Bulls like he was supposed to be there.

    Hard to believe this time last year he was the first lap nutcase in this very race.

  52. It’s a close one between Seb and very proudly Romain (he’s come of age) but for me it’s Seb.

    It wasn’t a usual Sebastian bore-fest. He had the KERS problem in qualifying and yet qualified within 2 tenths of his pole sitting team mate. His quali lap was superior than Mark’s to some degree.

    The race wasn’t as easy as other weekends for him. Lost a place at the start but then strategically played the game very well. When the time was right, he jumped at the opportunity of passing Romain and create a gap. Although Mark was tougher against him than he has been all season he still couldn’t stop Seb from raising his finger.

    I generally hate it when he raises his finger as it adds fuel to the fire to the already dominating performance but this time I also raised my finger at the screen in applause of a great performance by a great driver in a great car.

  53. billbranch (@)
    15th October 2013, 13:59

    Simply no contest: Grosjean. RBR are the superior chassis, anything less than a win for Vettel or Webber must indicate foul play. The Frenchman is a likeable guy, too, not obnoxious, not waving the finger about.

  54. For sure Grosjean…. Vettel had a poor start, made a lot of mistakes, and only was in fornt of webber, because the team choose the get webber in the worst strategy [again]

    Great race by Hulkenberg, and I got surprised by massa, wasn’t too bad either… but too bad that Ferrari teld to let Alonso pass… Alonso is not a contender for the championship for quite a few time

  55. I ended up voting for Grosjean, but there were a few drivers who put in a good performance which I could have chosen instead.

    Grosjean was good in qualifying and had a great start, but it was probably inevitable that he wouldn’t have been able to hold the Red Bulls back the whole race.

    Vettel put in another top class performance and if his car had been 100% in qualifying he probably would have been on pole, but he didn’t let it hold him back as he looked after his tyres then pushed when he needed to.

    Finally I thought both Sauber drivers put in a good showing, Hulkenberg continued his recent good form, but I would probably choose Gutierrz ahead of him this weekend after he managed to pick up the first points of his F1 career.

  56. Who is the phantom Max Chilton voter????? I love it

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