Vote for your 2013 Brazilian GP driver of the weekend

2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

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

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

Brazilian Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – If Vettel’s rivals were hoping rain would put him off his stride in qualifying they were to be disappointed, as he took his ninth pole position of the year by a comfortable margin. Not for the first time the year Rosberg beat him to turn one, but Vettel had edged ahead by the end of the first lap. Despite a delay during his second pit stop – the slowest of the race – he seldom looked troubled on his way to taking a record ninth win out of nine.

Mark Webber – “The car felt slow and I was struggling for grip,” said Webber after qualifying fourth for his last F1 race, over a second off Vettel. “I wasn’t too comfortable in Q1 and Q2 on the intermediate tyres, but that’s the way it goes.” Like Vettel he didn’t get off the line well, but in his last race he swiftly went on the attack, passing both Mercedes drivers and then Alonso. He had to re-pass the Ferrari after a slow pit stop to claim second place as he bowed out of F1.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Apologised to his team after taking third on the grid – an error at Subido do Lago potentially cost him second. He was boxed in at the start and slipped behind Hamilton but had dispensed with the Mercedes by the end of the first lap, after which he caught and passed Rosberg as well. Webber’s Red Bull was clearly faster so it was no surprise to see him slip back to third, and it’s hard to see how he might have finished higher.

Felipe Massa – His Ferrari swansong got off to a less than ideal start as he could only manage ninth on the grid. But he started well and was ahead of both Toro Rossos before the first corner, and was soon running sixth. He passed Rosberg on the track and jumped Hamilton in the pits, but when the pair complained he was repeatedly crossing the pit lane entry line – something drivers had been warned against doing – he was handed a drive-through penalty which left him a very unhappy seventh.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Despite being one of two drivers to start the race on the hard tyres, Button made up five places in the first two laps, then passed Ricciardo and Hulkenberg during his first stint. This moved him up to seventh, and he gained further places thanks to Hamilton and Massa’s penalties, and Mercedes’ conservative tactics. He took fourth, McLaren’s best result in a disappointing year.

Sergio Perez – Spun into a barrier at the end of Q2 while trying to grab a place in the final ten. He said the crash “looked bigger than it actually was – as soon as I lost the car, I went over the grass and hit the wall – but it was only a slight hit, and the car wasn’t too badly damaged”. However he made amends in the race, starting well then passing a string of cars, picking up ten places in fourteen laps. He wasn’t able to attack Rosberg at the end of the race as he was having to save fuel, but sixth was a strong result from the penultimate row of the grid.

Lotus

Heikki Kovalainen – Kovalainen’s second race for Lotus also failed to produce any points. He blamed no one but himself for failing to make the cut for Q3, saying he “just didn’t have enough pace”, and made similar remarks after finishing 14th for the second race in a row.

Romain Grosjean – Felt there was “probably just a little bit too much water” to use intermediates in Q3, and took sixth on the grid. His team said they should have held him in the pits for longer before beginning his final run. His race ended up lap two with a spectacular engine failure.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – His fastest lap in Q3 came on the second of two consecutive laps, meaning he was low on KERS at the end of the lap which explained part of the six-tenths deficit to Vettel. A great start briefly put him in the lead but he swiftly dropped back, struggling with rear tyre degradation and a faulty engine torque map. However his pace improved in the final stint and he was able to keep Perez and Massa behind.

Lewis Hamilton – “Wet sessions haven’t been too good for me this year,” said Hamilton after qualifying fifth, “although we made some changes going into qualifying, I’m struggling to get to grips with how the car works in these conditions”. He was in much better shape in dry weather in the race and might even have caught Alonso for third had he not squeezed Bottas too hard while the Williams driver tried to unlap himself. The contact gave him a puncture and led to a penalty which left him ninth.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – Said getting into the top ten in qualifying was a success having been unhappy with his car’s balance. He continued to grapple with it in the race, complaining of understeer, but by staying out of trouble was able to come home eighth.

Esteban Gutierrez – An error at the last corner on his first lap in Q1 cost him dearly – after that the rain came down and he was unable to set a time good enough for Q2. A very good start saw him gain six places in the first two laps, but he was then passed by Perez and both the Force Indias as his hard tyres started to grain. His pace was better on the mediums, allowing him to regain lost ground, but it wasn’t quite enough to reach the points.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Lost five places on lap one due to a dreadful start with too much wheelspin. “Unfortunately these starts are out of our hands,” he said, “they’re all down to the guys, they’re trying to optimise as much as they can and we never got it right”. He made reasonable progress from there, passing Kovalainen’s Lotus in the final stint to take 11th.

Adrian Sutil – Was one of few drivers who had to make three pit stops, though after the last one he was also able to pass Kovalainen and finished 13th.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Was knocked out in the last minutes of Q1 on his last appearance for Williams. The stewards judged his collision with Vergne to be a racing incident and didn’t punish either driver, and although it cost Maldonado time he was well out of the top ten at that point.

Valtteri Bottas – Out-qualified Maldonado again and a good start lifted him into the top ten, until he was passed by Perez. Williams continue to lose more time than most with their pit stops and Bottas fell to 19th after his. But his pace after his second stop was strong – so much so that he caught Hamilton to un-lap himself from the Mercedes. Hamilton, perhaps taken by surprised, collided with the Williams as the pair were side-by-side, sending Bottas out of the race.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Persevered in the wet conditions of Q1 and made it out of the drop zone in the dying moments. After that he joined Ricciardo in Q3 and was only narrowly out-qualified by him in their last race as team mates. However both drivers made poor starts and Vergne’s was particularly bad. An early pit-stop – his first of three – then dropped him to last. A late-race tangle with Maldonado capped a miserable race.

Daniel Ricciardo – Like many drivers found his right-front tyre was graining badly during the race, but unlike most he preferred the hard tyre for his two longest stints. He couldn’t keep Hamilton behind at the end of the race but finished his Toro Rosso career with a point for tenth.

Caterham

Charles Pic – Overtook Bianchi and was doing his bit for Caterham’s slim constructors’ championship chances when the right-rear suspension failed on his car, ending his race.

Giedo van der Garde – A drive-through penalty for not obeying blue flags dropped him behind Bianchi.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Rather like Alonso, Bianchi admitted he “made a big mistake at the end of my one quick lap” in qualifying. That left him behind Van der Garde on the grid, and although he passed the Caterham at the start their positions were reversed after just four laps. The Caterham drivers’ troubled meant Bianchi eventually won their private battle.

Max Chilton – Started and finished last but the latter was significant as it meant he had reached the chequered flag in all 19 races during his debut season.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mateLaps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel1st-1.093s71/7121st-10.452s
Mark Webber4th+1.093s0/7122nd+10.452s
Fernando Alonso3rd-0.57s71/7123rd-30.197s
Felipe Massa9th+0.57s0/7127th+30.197s
Jenson Button14th+0.039s69/7124th-6.691s
Sergio Perez19th-0.039s2/7126th+6.691s
Heikki Kovalainen11th+1.295s0/1214th
Romain Grosjean6th-1.295s1/10
Nico Rosberg2nd-0.575s35/7125th-33.855s
Lewis Hamilton5th+0.575s36/7129th+33.855s
Nico Hulkenberg10th-1.374s69/7028thNot on same lap
Esteban Gutierrez17th+1.374s1/70212thNot on same lap
Paul di Resta12th-0.788s31/70211th-0.889s
Adrian Sutil15th+0.788s39/70313th+0.889s
Pastor Maldonado16th+0.577s16/45216th
Valtteri Bottas13th-0.577s29/452
Jean-Eric Vergne8th+0.029s0/70315th+28.199s
Daniel Ricciardo7th-0.029s70/70210th-28.199s
Charles Pic18th-0.477s26/581
Giedo van der Garde20th+0.477s32/58218th
Jules Bianchi21st-0.584s64/69217th-55.403s
Max Chilton22nd+0.584s5/69319th+55.403s

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 Brazilian Grand Prix weekend?

  • Max Chilton (2%)
  • Jules Bianchi (1%)
  • 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 (1%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (1%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Heikki Kovalainen (0%)
  • Sergio Perez (9%)
  • Jenson Button (33%)
  • Felipe Massa (1%)
  • Fernando Alonso (12%)
  • Mark Webber (14%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (26%)

Total Voters: 570

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2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Images © Red Bull/Getty, Ferrari/Ercole Colombo, Renault/DPPI

Author information

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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98 comments on “Vote for your 2013 Brazilian GP driver of the weekend”

  1. Vettel by a huge margin

    1. There’s certainly a good case why Vettel should be dotw but saying by it was by a huge margin is silly and a bit fanboyish. Other drivers also had excellent races that were arguably better.

    2. vettel impressed me in qualifying, but in the race he was not as dominating as previous wins. and other drivers were better throughout the weekend.

      1. Winning the race even though he was stationary for 13 seconds and still have almost 10 seconds in the bag.. No, he wasn’t as dominant at all..

    3. Not really, anecdotal the decision to vote for Button, the mclaren was set for the dry therefore they qualified poorly, I’m more amazed by ferraris pace on the dry that said Perez fought bravely despite tge quali and the penalty, also outpaced his teamate and if it wasn’t for some issues he should have beaten Button. I like you Button but its time to retire, lets stop with the sympathy.

      1. Button serves a key purpose in his role at Mclaren. He’s always a mature racer and reasonably quick, ensuring reliable constructors championship points every race. He certainly isn’t a Hamilton, Alonso, blah blah blah, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to retire.

      2. Shoulda coulda woulda but he didn’t.

    4. Vettel by far, he made an excellent lap in Qualy 3, dominated the race, got time to look for a missing tire, what else you need?

  2. For me its Alonso. He qualified better than I had expected, and really as good as the car would allow, and in the race he got as far forward as possible.

    Sure, Button did very well in the race, but arguably he had his car setup to profit from dry-ish running far more, that also explains why Perez did as well, even though he started even further back and it tells us why the Mclaren couldn’t qualify inside the top 10. I would think the opposite was true for the Williams of Bottas and possible for the Mercedes cars as well.

    1. @bascb: what about Alonso’s mistake in qualifying?

      1. hm, not sure but i don’t think he was close enough to improve even without that. But you do have a point.

      2. he made a huge mistake on his fastest lap
        he went off the track in turn 4, lost like 5-6 tenths. he locked the rears, so couldn’tmake the corner, lost a TON of time
        he said the same in the post Quali press conference about turn 4, so i think that hude time loss was on his fastest lap

      3. @malik
        What about Vettel’s mistake at the start ?

        1. That was more of Rosberg’s briil\int start than any ‘mistake’ by Vettel. And Vettel passed his man with ease without DRS.

          But I voted Button for his big comeback after a miserable season.

          1. @loup-garou
            My point is that a simple driver mistake is not a reason to judge the driver performance during the whole weekend, i know that Vettel start was not that bad but i was trying to be ironic, i mean i can say “hey Vettel lock up a wheel or went wide in the race so he is not the driver of the weekend”
            @malik
            By the way you can have a very good clutch system and you can still have poor starts, in the start there are so many variables that the driver should take care of to get it right, the reaction after the lights, the feeling of the grip level in the formation lap, the engine torque and so many electronic procedures

    2. I agree, Fernando Alonso. Not the perfect wualifying, but he held on very well in the race and he didn’t do badly in qualifying at all.

  3. My candidates:
    Vettel – Perfect all weekend
    Perez – qualified well, ahead of Button, fantastic drive from 19th to 6th, only 6.7 ahead of Jenson who started 14th
    Alonso – Good job in qualy although his mistake cost him a front row start, but that wouldn’t of made much difference, strong race and finished where he was expected to finish

    Perez gets it

    1. behind* Jenson

    2. Same. He pushed like hell in Q2, and despite the error still had a better best than Button, and gained the most positions over the race.

      As a Perez fan, I’m glad he played the hand he was dealt as well as he could. Shame about the fuel, it made the difference on closing the season level with Hulkenberg.

    3. I agree mnm, we watched the same race, I respect unbias decisions.

  4. Sergio Perez

    Out-qualified Button but lost the grid advantage due to no mistake of its own. Finished just 6 seconds behind his teammate in spite of that setback. Good clean racing as well. Sure, he did not have that amazing lap Button had of passing 3 cars in 1 lap, but Perez was more consistent.

    He did no harm to his chances of getting a 2014 seat. Also loved his maturity in wishing the team good luck for next year inspite of the team having dropped him this late in the season.

    1. Yeah. Great race for both the McLaren drivers but I would say Perez deserves more credit than Button for out-qualifying him for the tenth time this season and then making up more places than the former champion did in the wet.

    2. lost the grid advantage due to no mistake of its own.

      Destroying the car was his fault.

      1. He didn’t trash the gearbox.

        1. @spdoyle17 Not that I don’t believe you, but what’s your source?

          1. @TheBass https://www.racefans.net/2013/11/24/perez-starts-19th-after-grid-penalty/

            Maybe I’m wrong after all, but the contact didn’t look to be fatal to the gearbox. I just read it as a cover for taking the at-the-time wet race assumption and giving him a better chance to press all weekend. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.

  5. a tricky one it’s pretty much a tie between Vettel and Alonso – Button, Perez and Webber had good races but disappointed a bit in qualifying.
    Qualifying was also the tie-breaker for my vote, ALO did great but probably missed out on P2 due to a mistake and Vettel’s lap was just phenomenal.

  6. Sebastian Vettel is my driver of the weekend. He mastered the wet conditions on Saturday by taking pole position by a large margin. And he mastered the (almost) dry conditions on Sunday as he skillfully managed the race from the first lap until the end despite an average start. Another proof that he is a deserving multiple world champion.

  7. Strangely, but not many in the press talk about Button’s drive. It was his best race throughout whole year, just storming. Of course, his qualifying performance wasn’t great but he more than made for it in the race. And smaller wing angles helped here too. But those cracking moves were so enjoyable and he looked unstoppable at one moment. I’m not Jenson’s fan and I often critisize him, but this time he made me eat my words.

    1. Why are so many people impressed by Button? Perez qualified better and gained more positions than Buttie …

      1. He didn’t destroy his car in qualifying and ended up ahead :P

        1. Yep an amazing fourth place in a Mclaren (a team who won the first and the two last races of 2012) with dry set-up. Amazing job …

    2. I really wanted to do what many people do and vote for my fav driver, after all it was his last race, he set fastest lap, he gained places in the race, and was only beaten beaten by the God of F1 SV, but Button gave us a masterclass of making the most out of what you have so he got my vote, sorry Mark ( and sorry Sergio, you showed that the McLaren on this track in these conditions could compete but Button got the result ).

  8. Driver of the race was Perez or Button, but after all I ended up voting for Alonso, because both Mclaren drivers failed in qualifying. Alonso did everything he could with that Ferrari the whole weekend.

    1. @diceman I’m pretty sure McLaren had a dry set-up :P

  9. I`m a Vettel fan, but Perez was the best on this race !

    1. JENSONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!

  10. Considering how short the BBC highlights were, (less than an hour), it’s hard to judge. Maybe webber for the helmet and since he won’t be back next year.

    1. Not only very short but also very poor quality @yoshif8tures – missing out on some important things which happened in the race and often not making sense because of the way the commentary and pictures were cut. I unfortunately wasn’t able to watch live and in that situation I normally record it to watch in full later but completely forgot on Sunday. I tried watching the BBC highlights in the evening which were so bad I had to rewatch the whole race later to make sense of it.

      1. Agreed. It was probably one of the worst highlights packages yet. It felt rushed without any geniuine effort. Shameful.

  11. Button gets my vote. Sure he messed up his qualifying but to some extent that was down to Mclaren not running in practice. His first stint was amazing, slicing through the field on primes and doing some brave moves on others was pretty exciting to watch. Probably the best way to end a very frustrating season.

  12. Button for me.

    Perez was the only person who crashed his car in qualifying. So how he can be driver of the weekend I don’t know.

    1. @infernojim

      He crashed his car after having set a lap faster than his team-mate. For me what’s important for the DOTW is the quali compared with the team mate and the race itself, Perez did a great job in both …

      Btw if I’m right Perez won the qualification battle this year against Buttie :)

      1. @paeschli

        Indeed, he did – 10 to 9. :-)

        However, he only just out qualified Button in Brazil and shoved it in the wall, causing cost to the team, monetarily having broken at a minimum the front wing and front right corner, and probably damaged the floor too. Also costing the team time wise too as they had to repair his car…

        He had a good race, but no better than Button’s really, and whilst he was marginally quicker in qualifying he still stuffed it into the wall, hardly the actions of a driver of the weekend?! ;-p

        BTW I like Perez and think he was harshly done by Mclaren dropping him…

  13. Voted Vettel, for this weekend, but also for ignoring him sometimes in other races where he was top notch :P I understand people saying Button, and ehdid drive evry well. But he qualified badly, and imo kinda lucked into 4th

    1. I agree.
      If MAS and HAM haven´t been penalised, BUT would have ended 6th. Not mentioning GRO engine failure…

      1. Random events should never be taken into consideration, as there always will be many beyond anyone’s control. It’s the final result that counts.

  14. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    25th November 2013, 13:46

    Jenson.
    Easy choice.

  15. Paul di Resta – Lost five places on lap one due to a dreadful start with too much wheelspin. “Unfortunately these starts are out of our hands,” he said, “they’re all down to the guys, they’re trying to optimise as much as they can and we never got it right”. 

    Another worthless bit of snide, derogatory, team-bashing self important rhetoric from the man who makes pastor maldonado look like a class act.

    The starts are *entirely* in your hands, it’s up to you to work *with* the engineers to get them right. Webber has a problem with starts, but if he doesn’t feel like admitting he’s got a problem he certainly doesn’t shift the blame.

    Did your team mate lose six places off the start? He must be driving a different car if not.

    I cannot wait to see the back of this arrogant, brainless, self indulgent whinger.

    1. So, not a fan then?

    2. @hairs @baron @palle

      I’m not British but it seems nationalistic sentiments and patriotism can only go so far :P

      1. @woshidavid95
        I simply don’t understand Your comment, please enlighten us as to where the links to “nationalistic sentiments and patriotism” can be found in the above statements? If You accuse any of us for being overly nationalistic or patriotic I would like to know on what basis?

        1. @palle
          Whoa there, take a chill pill will you >_> What I’m saying is given that F1Fanatic is based in the UK, you’d expect more love for Di Resta as he’s also from the UK but turns out that it’s quite the opposite.

          1. Ok, thank You for the enlightening. I just got a bit baffled over Your comment. I sometimes see some tendencies towards anti-German sentiment on this forum, but generally I think people are trying to judge drivers and teams irrespective of nationality, ethnicity etc. which is very positive. I also think that many members are not British, but come here because Keith runs the best F1 fan forum on the internet;-)

    3. Top post. The guy is going out not because of a lack of talent, and only partly because of a lack of money.

      It’s mostly because of his lack of any sort of a brain, ability to think before he speaks, team working, and general likeability.

      Wasted his talent by being a whining idiot.

      Not saying he was that talented, but he certainly deserves his place on the grid and has talked himself out of the whole sport by looks of things just by being miserable and a rubbish team player.

      And yep, I’m British.

  16. Button for an awesome drive to 4th, notable shouts to Alonso, Vettel, Perez, Massa, and Rosberg.

  17. I’d love to say Webber, or Massa, but both were inconsistently fast. Vettel was amazing as always, but perhaps who striked me most was Alonso, who overcame the car’s weaknesses once more after a while he hadn’t.

    1. Or Button and Perez (the latter more for the race but less for qualifying) for their incredible recoveries, but they had a bad qualifying. Or even Chilton who finished 100% of his races.

  18. Sebastian Vettel is not just the driver of the weekend, but also the driver of the year imo: he’s fast, consistent, hardly makes mistakes and has an incredible will to win! Definetly the driver of the weekend.

    Second, I’d place Felipe Massa (simply because he was fast, he drove very good in the race at least, defending greatly against Hamilton, if he would have driven this good in the last 3 seasons, he probably would have kept his seat still and keep in mind that this comes from a Raikkonen suporter!), third Webber.

    1. Sebastian Vettel is not just the driver of the weekend, but also the driver of the year imo

      Not just in your opinion. I doubt many people could present a valid argument for saying he wasn’t the driver of the year: the only driver to be almost faultlessly fast all year, with fast being a bit of an understatement at times.

    2. Massa ??? Come on, I don’t want to bash him as I’m a Ferrari fan, but thank God they finally got rid of him !!!!!! Alonso delivered again this race, Massa wasn’t bad either before the penalty, so Ferrari had a chance to regain 2nd in the WCC ! And guess what… he screwed it up again ! Given HAM’s penalty, GRO DNF etc, there were big chances he could have finished 4th (or 3rd if ALO would have let him pass for 3rd), so with a 3rd and a 4th, Ferrari would have been 2nd in the WCC. But, he screwed it up big time on a childish mistake, and he was even warned about it ! Not only in the end his race was mediocre, but he screwed up the team chanches to take 2nd back. He fails a lot in my opinion for a driver with such big “dreams” as his (dreams = to drive for a top team, win races etc, maybe even champs). So, thank God Ferrari finally fired him and hired a driver of ALO caliber.

      1. Massa’s helmet was the most beautiful I’ve seen for a long time. But You’re right, Massa has been yesterdays talent ever since his accident. Credit to Ferrari for giving him time to come back, but why they gave him more time than an average F1 pilots career length, is beyond me.

  19. Remarkable job by Perez in the race, I must say. He got my vote.

  20. Vettel had a bad start, Alonso made a mistake in qualifying, Button didn’t go as fast as he could have in Q, so it could go either way.

    I voted Button.

  21. Jenson Button for me, and I’ve never voted a McL driver before nor had any love lost for the team since Kimi left it. And not bad from Sergio Perez also.
    Too much RBR dominance to vote for Seb Vettel or Mark Webber, but Mark did a decent job and I’m sorry to see him go. And Seb had to work for a full minute to win the race when his job is usually done after 5 seconds, he must be exhausted.
    Pretty good weekend for Fernando Alonso, came very close to a rare perfect quali (meaning front row, the pole was out of reach) and his race was just about perfect (not unusual). Anyway he might have started from 2nd, passed Seb and lead the race for maybe a few minutes but there is no way (excluding mech failures, accidents, major brain fades or heavy rain) he could have beaten the RBRs.
    Big disappointments: Felipe Massas penalty, not undeserved but inconsistent and maybe excessive, Romain Grosjeans incident, Nico Hulkenbergs average race, and of course, no significant rain.
    And happy that a dreadful season is over.

  22. Since its the driver of the weekend but not race, else it would have been Button for bringing McLaren this season to finish 4th.

    Why Vettel?

    In Q3 during qualifying, his pace in the wets on the first stint with the blue-marked wet tyres saw him setting a time 1.0s faster than anyone else out there. Then came the improving track conditions which saw the session ran on intermediate tyres. Vettel improved his timing and to finish 0.6s ahead is just amazing. He has that little extra that stands out from the rest.

    During the race, he had a decent start, but was unable to fend off a charging Rosberg down into Turn 1. But then he was not taking chances to wait for the DRS overtake and finally got the work done just before crossing the line on Lap 1. After which he just led all laps.

    With pole position, led all laps and won the race, he was just short of a fastest lap that was spoiled by Webber, else that would have been his 5th Grand Chelem, 3rd in the season.

    What more can you ask for when he scored his 9th victory in a row and 13th of the season to match Ascari and Schumacher’s record in a so called “dry-wet” tricky condition?

  23. Perez outqualified Button, and managed to gain more places than the Briton in the race. Had to save fuel near the end of the race. I’m surprised Button is trouncing him thus far.

    1. @ He also destroyed his car, lost valuable places because of the penalty the crash caused which finally cost him race positions. Good race, but not that great a weekend.

      1. He went from 19th on the grid to 6th in a car which was a dog all year round to finish 6.7 seconds behind his teammate. Sure, in quali he bashed the car but still wound up being faster than Jenson in murky conditions, which we all know he loves. Voted for Perez as DotW, great job from him, hope other teams see it that way as well.

        1. It matters little how much faster you are on a race if you destroy the car in qualifying. When all was said and done, Button got a better result.

          1. Perez is overrated.
            Driver standings at the end of this season show clearly that.

  24. Webs for no helmet ride) Goodbye, amigo, enjoy your new wheels))))

  25. Vettel, because he made everything right and made no mistakes.

  26. It’s a toss up between Vettel and Alonso for driver of the Weekend (Qualifying and Race). Didn’t expect Alonso to be P3 and almost P2 on the grid, or to hold his own against the Mercs. I also like that he had a pre-race agreement to give Felipe a podium if the situation worked out.

    While Vettel was mega in qualifying and dominant in the race, he seemed a little flat – though that could be a result of going for 9 consecutive wins. We forget that these guys aren’t autobots. :)

    I’m leaning towards Alonso at this point.

    Drives of the day? A toss up between Button and Webber who had to pass and repass Alonso, not to mention Rosberg, then needing to hold off Alonso after the last pit stops, when Alonso went on the mediums and Mark went on the hard tires.

    Kudos to Chilton for running the table. Keeping it on track for an entire season, pretty good for a veteran driver, even better for a rookie.

    1. @uan I personally felt he was lucky at Monaco, and his misdemeanour there led to his teammate retiring.

  27. Gotta be Seb. Despite not moving for an eternity during that pit stop he still led every lap and won by a large margin. Total domination.

  28. Vettel, of course. Also good job by Weber, Button, Perez,Hulkenberg, Massa.

  29. Definitely Button as he shows what he can do when given the right equipment which suits his driving skills

  30. It has to be a British driver this weekend.
    Hamilton would have finished higher without the interference of the mad stewards.
    Button finally got the McLaren moving with some pace.
    Then Chilton completed the entire season seeing the chequered flag at every race.
    OK. So he’s not at the sharp end mixing it with the big boys. But he’s not thrown his car into the walls at a single race through a whole ROOKIE year. Monaco included. Perhaps as well as money, he has a bit of ability also.

  31. As much as I’d love to vote for Button, he just didn’t do well enough in quali to warrant being driver of the weekend. For me he was absolutely driver of the race though.

    At first I was thinking that Vettel deserved it, given the margin in qualifying, and how well he controlled the race, and it was this same style which made me vote for him in most of the races since Belgium. However, this time I’ve given it to Alonso because he was able to get the Ferrari into third place in quali, where it probably should have been behind both Hamilton and Webber, and was able to capitalise on that into the race to be Red Bull’s only challenger.

  32. Why Jenson Button? He was outqualified by his team mate who has been fired by McLaren. If Button is so far ahead, we need to consider Perez as well who has been more impressive in my eyes despite his gearbox penalty.

    Jenson Button would have finished 6th under normal circumstances (no Hamilton fault and Massa being himself). That isn’t too impressive if you think he was on a dry race setup all along.

  33. Massive Ferrari fan, but it has to be Button. He drove like a mad man! Excellent drive, and proud to see a Brit driving with such class.

  34. Trevor Simpson
    26th November 2013, 9:14

    The great Jenson Button, by an English country mile!!!!!

  35. Driver of the race I’d give to Perez, started 19th and finished 6th in what has been an awful car all season.

    Much as I hate to concede it, driver of the weekend has to be Vettel, by a mile.

  36. Initially I couldn’t think who to pick for driver of the weekend, not because several drivers stood out and it was hard to choose which was best but because I thought none of them really shone, however thinking about it further, this was partly because I have become so used to how good some drivers, such as Vettel and Alonso, are each weekend.

    It has become the norm that Vettel puts it on pole and dominates the race, while Alonso outperforms his car.

    So in the end I decided to vote for Vettel.

    Having looked at the current results I am surprised that Button is currently leading the vote with 33% as for me his teammate Perez was more impressive over the weekend and he only has 9% of the vote.

    Perez did crash in qualifying but he had set a faster time than Button, and after Perez’s grid penalty for the gearbox change he made up more places in the race than Button.

    Personally neither driver was in my consideration for driver of the weekend and I can understand people saying Button had a better weekend because of Perez’s crash but I would never have thought the difference in votes would be so much or that Button would be on course to win the pole.

    This reminds me of something I read a few years ago, probably in F1 Racing Magazine, I can’t remember the name of the driver but he raced against Button in the junior formula and he said something like that even when he beat Button and put in a better performance, Button would still receive more praise in the press after the race.

  37. If there was a doubt this place’s full of JB supporters, driver of the weekend? common…

  38. no option to choose Kimi, Keith?

  39. Hülkenberg for just hanging in there once again, not getting disheartened by the limited options and wrenching something out of the Sauber that makes anything in the points a personal triumph. For not letting Sauber bully him into staying/not looking after himself, which disappoints me about them after not even paying him. Worse behavior than Lotus. Still he pushed that thing into better regions…

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