Alonso wins close Hungary Driver of the Weekend vote

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso was voted Driver of the Weekend for the second time this year following his podium finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix, after one of the closest votes so far.

Unsurprisingly the other two drivers in the top three were Alonso’s fellow podium finishers Lewis Hamilton and race winner Daniel Ricciardo – in second and third respectively.

1. Fernando Alonso

Started: 5th
Finished: 2nd

Fifth on the grid has more often than not been where you find Alonso in recent years. But in Hungary that represented a particularly impressive achievement as he took advantage of some tricky conditions.

That fifth briefly became third at the start as the two Red Bulls got away slowly from the dirtier side of the grid, but Sebastian Vettel claimed his place back later on the first lap.

However Alonso’s elevated position worked against him as he was among the leading quartet which missed the chance to pit immediately after the first deployment of the Safety Car.

On the restart however he mastered the tricky conditions, getting the better of both Nico Rosberg and Jean-Eric Vergne. That put him in position to lead when the Safety Car came out again.

It was then up to Alonso to make a set of soft tyres last 32 laps to the end of the race, which he impressively pulled off, losing only a single position to the substantially faster car of Ricciardo.

Maximised everything, held back cars that were clearly faster, first of all the four that were stuck behind the safety car, in arguably the fourth, more likely the third fastest car of the lot. What a drive.
PhilEReid (@philereid)

I could have easily gone for Daniel Ricciardo, but he was massively helped by the Safety Car, and was out-qualified by his team mate.

I could have easily gone for Lewis Hamilton, but I’m unsure how much that spin cost him, he spent quite a long time behind slower cars too, like his team mate.

Instead, I went for a driver who not only out-performed the car in qualifying, but was the highest placed car out of those who were caught out by the safety car. While Vettel, Bottas and Rosberg were seventh, eighth, and fourth respectively, Alonso made it onto the podium.

An absolutely phenomenal drive all weekend.
@Craig-o)

If this were ‘driver of the race’, I really would not be able to choose between Ricciardo, Alonso and Hamilton. Those three guys made the race and did pretty much everything right (apart from Hamilton spinning on lap one).

However, looking at the weekend, Ricciardo was pretty much where one would expect him but didn’t beat his team mate. Hamilton’s qualifying can’t really be classified because of what happened.

Fernando put his pile of rubbish on a respectable fifth during qualifying and led in a car that only took one podium so far this season. As far as relative performance goes this weekend, I have to give it to Fernando.
Nick (@Npf1)

2. Lewis Hamilton

Started: Pitlane
Finished: 3rd

Having topped all three free practice sessions Hamilton looked a good bet for pole position, but those hopes were soon up in smoke – along with his car – as the latest in a series of mechanical failures struck his Mercedes.

With the need to replace a vast number of components Hamilton was condemned to start from the pit lane, and the lack of a formation lap ultimately cost him as he span off at turn two with cold brakes, incurring minor front wing damage.

He fought back however and was up to an impressive 13th when the first Safety Car appeared, although his restart was even better, passing four cars in the first racing lap. He then found himself behind Vettel – who soon spun out of his way – before performing a rather brilliant around-the-outside pass on Jean-Eric Vergne at turn four.

This allowed Hamilton to jump team mate Rosberg after his stop, and ultimately led to the team orders debate in which Mercedes requested he let Rosberg through. Unsurprisingly Hamilton refused and spent the final lap defending the final podium spot from his team mate, a chance he would surely never had got had he complied.

Epic drive from the pit lane to third on a track where overtaking is supposedly impossible. Brilliant overtakes on Raikkonen and Vergne and good blocking of Rosberg in the final lap.

He was only let down by the team and their odd strategy call to put him on medium tyres when he had fresh soft tyres available in abundance. With the right strategy (like Ricciardo used) he could have even won the race.
@Patrickl

This was a tough one but I have to give it to Lewis. He held up Ricciardo the first time. He made the right call to disobey team orders at a difficult stage in the race. He held up Rosberg on tyres that were 3.5-plus seconds faster.
Michael (@Freelittlebirds)

3. Daniel Ricciardo

Started: 4th
Finished: 1st

Ricciardo struggled to get his tyre temperatures up following the brief rain shower in Q3 and lined up in the now somewhat unusual position of behind his team mate for the race start.

He struggled to get off of the line but this ultimately helped him, as he fell back enough to ensure he was one of the first cars into the pits under the first safety car period.

This propelled Ricciardo into the lead and Red Bull opted for an aggressive Option-Option strategy, meaning their man would have to overtake to win, although Ricciardo was always confident as he showed on the radio.

Despite having the advantage of quicker tyres it was still a gutsy move on the outside of Hamilton at turn two and his late lunge down the inside of Alonso at turn one a few laps later to take the lead and an eventual win provided yet more radio gold.

Ricciardo for me. Did a pretty good job in qualifying before beating both Mercedes in the race fair and square (passing two world champions in the process).
Peter (@Yapapi)

2014 Driver of the Weekend results

RaceFirstSecondThird
AustralianKevin Magnussen (48.4%)Valtteri Bottas (24.5%)Daniel Ricciardo (14.1%)
MalaysianLewis Hamilton (54.3%)Nico Hulkenberg (24.0%)Sebastian Vettel (6.5%)
BahrainLewis Hamilton (49.2%)Sergio Perez (25.7%)Daniel Ricciardo (16.6%)
ChinaFernando Alonso (47.7%)Lewis Hamilton (30.7%)Daniel Ricciardo (7.8%)
SpainSebastian Vettel (51.9%)Lewis Hamilton (20.5%)Romain Grosjean (11.0%)
MonacoJules Bianchi (60.2%)Nico Rosberg (11.5%)Daniel Ricciardo (8.8%)
CanadaDaniel Ricciardo (44.9%)Nico Rosberg (22.4%)Sergio Perez (9.5%)
AustriaValtteri Bottas (41.7%)Lewis Hamilton (15.1%)Sergio Perez (14.3%)
BritainValtteri Bottas (52.5%)Fernando Alonso (18.5%)Jenson Button (11.8%)
GermanyValtteri Bottas (37.1%)Lewis Hamilton (33.8%)Daniel Ricciardo (10.4%)
HungaryFernando Alonso (40.2%)Lewis Hamilton (29.3%)Daniel Ricciardo (25.1%)

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Browse all 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix articles

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

67 comments on “Alonso wins close Hungary Driver of the Weekend vote”

  1. I think there really is no proper argumentation to not vote for Alonso this weekend. Although we must not forget his teammate also drove from 15th to 6th in that same Ferrari. In Monaco they did well aswell.

    1. Apart from all of the reasons there are to vote for Hamilton or Ricciardo of course!

    2. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      5th August 2014, 21:41

      Was just about to say, Alonso had a good race but DOTW no.
      Hamilton and Ricciardo drove better races with more overtakes than Alonso made, I tend to favour attacking drives over defensive ones.

      1. Attacking With Mercedes Car with Fresher Tyres is very easy compared to defensing with Ferrari car with old Tyres.

      2. If Alonso had a car which could attack, I’m sure he would have attacked… unfortunately, he doesn’t; therefore, he had to defend.

        1. How many times people will say he doesn’t have the car..but somehow he managed to put the car where it doesn’t belong.
          He is a good driver, but without the car how he is defending or attacking in the race? In the speedtrap it is equal or more to RedBull.
          Media and some samurai fans are tend to project the F car is cow but somehow Samurai ride it as a horse!
          In that case, Dan is out performing Alonso and all other WC’s? No match to him?

          1. Agree. Every single Alonso fan says it doesn’t have a decent car, bla, bla, bla. Which is not true! Ofc, he doesn’t have a car to become champion, but he certainly has a car to fight for podium.

  2. A 10 percentage difference wouldn’t classify as close. Now the vote for the Germany race, THAT is close.

    1. The voting for Hungary was mostly split between three drivers, and this is one of the closest three-way splits we’ve had, hence the headline.

  3. Interesting to note that since Bahrain none of the Merc drivers have won the DOTW. And if we discount Ricciardo’s popular win in Canada its again Bahrain when the race winner won the DOTW.

  4. Exactly the same “podium” as in China. Been a long time Ferrari supporter (since 1996 when Schumi changed teams), but over the last decade it has been really difficult supporting them. Lots of moaning from management and very little innovation on the track. I’d not be happy if Alonso leaves, but I would completely understand that – he has been putting that car in positions where it doesn’t deserve to be on pure pace. Hungary was an epic drive from him.

  5. Deserved, I hope he gets more epic drives like this in coming races, he is such a fun driver to watch.

  6. i just could not get myself to like him when he was saying i am faster than him….

    but now, he sort of grows on you while he is the underdog,
    his diving has been incredible, his fights with other cars have also been excellent,
    yes he deserves to be in a better car, Ferrari are wasting his prime years away…

  7. Gideon Hadi (@)
    5th August 2014, 14:08

    I’m quite surprised that JEV only get about 2% of the Vote

    1. Same here, he deserved better

  8. Alonso driver of the weekend ?, what a joke. From 5th to 2nd makes you driver of the weekend ?, get real people, seriously. The Ferarri is not a bad car as some try to make it is.

    1. Who would you say was better . Ricciardo? From 4th to 1st ? Or would you say Lewis… a driver who should have overtaken slower cars with more ease?

      1. How much easier would you have liked the overtaking? This is Hungary. Not a track made for overtaking.

      2. “Who should have overtaken slower cars with more ease?”

        Seriously, this is a ridiculous statement. Alonso driver of the weekend though I agree.

    2. Let´s not forget that this 5th place at the grid wasn´t give to him in some kind of lottery. HE put the Ferrari in 5th place and then at the race got P2.

      P.S.: Not to mention how the other Ferrari performed at qualifying.
      P.S. 2: Sorry for my poor english ;)

    3. Your position change doesn’t make you anything.

      The manner in which you do it, on the other hand, does.

      1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
        5th August 2014, 21:44

        If that is your argument Alonso should not be DOTW, what did he do that was special or stood out other than driving fast.
        Hamilton overtook Vergne the first lap he had a chance at an unusual place while his teammate was stuck behind it for laps.

        1. @jelle-van-der-meer

          So you overtake Vergne with a car that’s theoretically a second or two quicker and that automatically earns you the DOTW?

          I’m not arguing against anyone voting for Hamilton (he did a very good job) but let’s not pretend he was the only option out there. Alonso managed to score the best result of the season so far and put out an impressive drive while beating Räikkönen by quite a margin once again, and Ricciardo won the race with second best car and drove like a world champion once again (got beaten by Vettel on Saturday though, IIRC).

          Besides, anything less than a podium finish would be underachieving with this year’s Merc, start from the pit-lane or not.

          1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
            5th August 2014, 22:04

            People should stop saying Mercedes is 1 or 2 seconds quicker, they are not, certainly not during the race when they are driving in midfield.
            Makes a huge difference being behind someone or driving in free air.

            Like others already have said, Ferrari is not a horrible car, yet Alonso gets credit for driving it like it was a Caterham. Hamilton started in the pitlane and managed to finish 3rd with much more good overtakes and little to no free air.

    4. He started fifth whilst his team mate started 17th in the same machinery. Not only that, if you read my comment in the article, Alonso was hindered by the first safety car, but ended up ahead of the other three drivers who were also hurt by said safety car. @concalvez00

    5. From 5th to 2nd makes you driver of the weekend ?

      I think it’s a lot more relevant to look at position after first safety car rather than grid position, because that was an element of luck that threw the grid positions out of the window pretty much. Ricciardo inhireted the lead, so he went from 1st to 1st. Alonso went from 8th to 2nd.

    6. The F14 T is a great car, looks at all the wins they have, compared to their RB and Mercedes rivals, all two of their podiums, and Kimi Raikkonen amazing performance in the same car.

    7. You have to count with all the Alonso fans votes. Because fans keep saying that alonso’s car is slow, but he can makes wonders of it, almost fly, etc. Rubbish. His car is good to fight for a place in podium, almost in every race. That’s reality. But, with fans insisting that he has a bad car, they cannot say that, now and then, Alonso didn’t do his job well, or was to slow. You see, he is a god for them.

      1. “His car is good to fight for a place in podium, almost in every race. That’s reality”

        Joke of the year so far..

        1. @puneethvb, I’m glad that I can amuse you, but before laughing, check the results so far. His car is fast. Not so fast as Merc, or to guarantee a place in every podium, but fast enough to fight (I said fight) for a place in podium in almost (let me refresh) every race so far. Which means, he’s expected to finish around the podium places, like in 4, 5 or 6th placec. If he grabs a 3rd or a 2nd, even better. Is not a winning car, he’s not exepected to become champion, but is that a bad car? You probably want to believe that he has a car to fight for a 10th place, and he can, with magic stuff, grab a 4th or a 2nd place, now and then, but that’s not true. In 11 races, he got one 2nd place, one 3rd place, three 4th places, one 5th, four 6th, and one 9th place. Only once he finished very far from the podium.

          1. Dude… You are assuming a lot of things which I never said… I dint say he has a car which is only good enough for 10th …
            But I think It’s fair to say In almost all races so far he’s had the 3rd fastest car at best.. sometimes Williams are ahead of Ferrari and sometimes Redbulls are… and on a few occasions the Force Indias and Mclarens were equally good … considering all this when he finishes on the podium it’s a good performance and You also have to consider the way he’s beating his team mate who is no slouch either … A good performance by anyone is a good performance whether you like them or not(maybe something you need to understand)…

          2. @puneethvb, I have only justified my affirmation (the one you considered a joke). Didn’t try to assume anything. It was you who left an enigmatic comment.
            On topic, Alonso is one of my top 3 f1 drivers. However, in Hungary, and even with that good performance of his, Ric was better than him, imo. And the “car argument” is no valid for me, for the reasons said.
            To finish, I know he delivered a good performance, and he’s above Kimmi this year. And, Alonso is Alonso. He’s very determined and charismatic. But, his performance was not good enough to beat Ricciardo’s performance. It would, if the “car argument” was valid, which is not.

  9. Right after the safety car:
    Alonso – 8th
    Vettel – 7th
    Rosberg – 4th

    Two laps later:
    Alonso – 3rd
    Rosberg – 5th
    Vettel – 6th

    ‘Nuff said IMO.

    1. Bear in mind Red Bull admitted they put Vettel’s car on the wrong settings for the restart @kingshark.

    2. Have you ever not voted Alonso kingshark?

      (Sorry, a little unfair I know ;)

      1. Have you ever not voted Alonso kingshark?

        Every race apart from China and Hungary. ;)

        (Sorry, a little unfair I know ;)

        Nah, not at all.

        1. Hehe. Well he has been excellent again this year so makes perfect sense.

          1. (If you had).

  10. Hamilton went from pit lane to podium at Hungary of all circuits and he got outvoted by someone who didn’t make any overtakes and owes his result solely to Vergne and Rosberg. F1 fans these days…

    1. When in a Merc, you should finish ahead of everyone driving a different car, regardless of starting position. So whilst Ham certainly was stronger than Ros (who was incredibly poor at some points of the race), it wasn´t really that strong a drive. The overtake on Vergne outside T4 was good, but other than that, normal racing, a mistake at the beginning, some luck through safety car…
      The current Ferrari on the other hand is weaker than the Merc and, on a circuit like the Hungaroring, the Red Bull (on other circuits it´s the Williams ahead, and sometimes even the Force-India and the McLaren are in the same mix). So if one finishes ahead of both Merc and one Red Bull, while he was disadvantaged by a safety car (and the only Red Bull in front went lucky there), that´s quite a strong feat.

      1. The Ferrari is a good car for race pace. Alonso just talks it down for his own ego.

        1. I don´t think he talks it down for his ego, he just thinks everything that isn´t the best is bad. Putting it as the 3rd-best-car on most tracks is pretty realistic, I guess. On slow tracks the Red Bull is ahead, on fast tracks the Williams, as I said.
          Furthermore the Ferrari-engine is the thirstiest, so its pace on the occasions where fuel-consumtion is a problem suffers even more (and thus puts it in reach for FI and McL), so overall they can be pretty happy to be in P3 at the WCC right now, the car would belong to P4 at WCC, which would mean P7 for the better driver in WDC. Alo is P4, so 3 positions ahead of that.

        2. Oh, and btw: 5 overtakes in 2 laps after the safety-car, on drivers with tyres of the same age, some of them were in better cars.

        3. @surface

          The Ferrari is a good car for race pace. Alonso just talks it down for his own ego.

          Do you know where a world champion in Kimi Raikkonen is currently in the standings?

          Exactly.

          1. That’s because Kimi Raikkonen is overrated.

          2. @Traverse By that logic he’s worse than Chilton, he’s the only driver who is 0-11 against his teammate.

          3. Kimi’s had an eventful season to say the least so far.

    2. The graph of the race pace for each car has been put up by Keith after the long runs in P2 and for the race. You can come to your own conclusion based on that. If you think the Ferrari is faster, please provide some facts other than simply pouring your hate here.

      1. I look at the graph you are talking about every Friday afternoon of a race weekend. I was thinking about it when writing the comment – but novices take these times as the true pace. You have the big unknown of fuel. The difference of 20kgs (1/5th of a tank) of fuel is 1.2s (roughly) over the period of 100s (depending on circut) and the teams may indeed use fuel differences of this or even more. Ever since Spain where the race pace was abysmal, the pace is stronger. They were competitive in Monaco, Britain (sort of – Kimi’s pace was explosive), Austria in particular and now Hungary.

      2. @evered7 I’ll be happy to answer anything else.

    3. @surface

      Hamilton went from pit lane to podium at Hungary of all circuits and he got outvoted by someone who didn’t make any overtakes and owes his result solely to Vergne and Rosberg.

      And that, kiddies, is what happens when you make comments before actually watching the race.

      1. You should watch the race again and follow a driver other than Alonso? @kingshark

        1. @surface
          I did. I saw Hamilton spin like an amateur before he even reached Turn 1, while Ricciardo got out-qualified by Vettel and was very lucky with the SC.

          Alonso on the other hand, nearly won a race with the frigging 4th fastest car.

    4. I’ll give the title of ‘most relevant username’ to you, though, @surface.

  11. I think what we all should do is be a greatful that we are watching a true legend in his prime fighting like an animal against faster cars with very talented drivers. What sets Alonso apart from his contemporaries is his grace. There is class in anything he does. He is fast and remorseless anytime, anywhere, he has driven from V10 to V6s and never gave any sign that he has any problem to adapt. Though what really sets him apart is his masterful ability to fight furiously either defending or attacking and never losing his resolve, he doesn’t make mistakes or deploy dirty tricks. He wins his fights on merit on track and does it most of
    the times.

    1. There is class in anything he does.

      I’m an Alonso fan, but he isn’t all class all the time. ‘F1 is no longer a sport’, his role in spygate, calling his teams geniuses ironically on the board radio last year at Monza.. I’d say Suzuka 2012 was his own fault as well, while the trick he pulled at Hungary in 2007 during qualifying wasn’t all too clean of a tactic.

      I like Alonso because he’s a very good driver. I don’t care all that much for the person Alonso. Maybe if he’d be a bit more like he was during his interview with Webber on BBC last year all the time. I don’t care if it’s Schumacher, Irvine, Barichello, Massa, Raikkonen or Alonso, I know Ferrari-sanctioned PR talk when I hear it, and I’ve heard it a lot from Alonso these past 5 seasons.

      1. Contrary to popular belief, Alonso is actually bad at politics.

      2. Mostly Agree with @npf1 except 2006 Monza episode… Alonso was unfairly punished there IMO..

    2. @philby Didn’t he struggle to adapt to the Bridgestone tyres in 2007?

      1. I do not disagree with you, I meant that there is class in anything he does on track. He can be a politician and all other allegations may have some substance but I was referring to the 2 hours every other sunday.

      2. I don’t believe that is tangible I mean I always thought that in 2007 Mclaren had a slight advantage over Ferrari and in 2008 happened the exact opposite and given how lucky were in succeeding Raikkonen and Hamilton it may very well be true. Alonso though I think that wasn’t himself that year apart from very few occasions wasn’t the Alonso we know.

      3. @craig-o

        Didn’t he struggle to adapt to the Bridgestone tyres in 2007?

        Depends on what you define as “struggle”. Alonso won the 2nd and 5th race that season (Malaysia and Monaco).

        If Alonso “struggled” in 2007, what do you label Raikkonen and Vettel so far?

  12. Ricciardo has six times placed third in the DOTW poll, in eleven races (with one win, for Canada).

    It’s becoming a bit reminiscent of Alonso’s favoured P5 grid slot….

  13. How about a championship of DOTW podiums? 25 for 1st, 18 for 2nd and 15 for 3rd:
    Lewis Hamilton 140
    Daniel Ricciardo 115
    Valtteri Bottas 93
    Fernando Alonso 68
    Sergio Perez 48
    Sebastian Vettel 40
    Nico Rosberg 36
    Jules Bianchi 25
    Kevin Magnussen 25
    Nico Hulkenberg 18
    Jenson Button 15
    Romain Grosjean 15

    Odd how Perez got that high up seeing how he pretty much gets obliterated by his team mate. I guess it’s better to have a fluke now and then rather than being the consistent better performer but only scoring 5th and 6th places.

    Other than that, I’d say it makes perfect sense.

  14. This guys are the best in F1 AT THE MOMENT.

  15. Why is it that Rosberg gets no love?

  16. I know this is bit late, but I think some of you guys are similtaneuosly under-estimating the pace of the ferrari, under estimating how hard it is to overtake at the hungaroring, and overestimating the pace of the Mercedes, Alonso raced well, as good as he always does, the only reason it looks like he raced the best is because of his finishing position, and that was due to the circumstances, for me, Hamilton has to win…Alonso fans rave about how he beats Raikkonen every race, well Hamilton beat rosberg starting from the pitlane when rosberg started from pole. To sum up, what Alonso drove in Hungary was nothing special, he does it every race.

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