Vote for your 2015 Bahrain GP Driver of the Weekend

2015 Bahrain Grand Prix

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

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

Bahrain Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – Claimed his fourth pole position in a row on Sunday by a healthier margin than he enjoyed in China and Malaysia. Hamilton rarely looked threatened in the race as his team mate scrapped with the Ferraris. A last-lap brake-by-wire glitch might have proved disastrous had it struck earlier, but it didn’t stop him from winning his third race this year.

Nico Rosberg – Bumped back to third on the grid by Vettel and said after qualifying he’d tried too hard to preserve his race tyres in Q2. Having lost a place to Raikkonen at the start he took both the Ferraris in the first stint to take up second behind his team mate. When Vettel jumped back in front of him by pitting early Rosberg was always able to take the place back on the track, but he fell victim to a late attack from Raikkonen when he suffered the same braking fault as Hamilton, albeit slightly earlier.

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – Seventh on the grid behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams looked about as good as the RB11 was capable of, as did sixth in the race after Massa’s problems. Ricciardo’s Renault engine failed spectacularly as he accelerated out of the final corner and though he was able to take the chequered flag without losing a place there will inevitably be a price to pay for it later in the year.

Daniil Kvyat – Failed to make it out of Q1 after spinning in final practice. He gained two places at the start but lost them on the next lap to Massa and Maldonado. However from then on his recovery drive picked up pace and he brought his car home in the points, re-passing the long-running Massa with three laps to go.

Williams

Felipe Massa – Qualified behind Bottas but suffered a greater setback before the race began when a technical problem forced him to start from the pits. He suffered a further setback when he was tagged by Maldonado early on. An aggressive strategy helped him find clear air late in the race, but attempting to nurse a set of medium tyres proved too ambitious, allowing Perez and Kvyat to capitalise.

Valtteri Bottas – Completely free of back pain for the first time since being injured in Australia, Bottas took fifth on the grid ahead of his team mate and was well-placed to take advantage of Vettel’s delays. He held the Ferrari driver at bay until the chequered flag to equal Williams’ best result of the season so far with fourth.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel – Showed his potential in final practice and delivered on it by splitting the two Mercedes in qualifying, lining up on the front row. However he wasn’t able to keep Rosberg behind in the race – being passed three times – and was forced to make an extra pit stop after going off and damaging his front wing. That dropped him behind Bottas, where he finished.

Kimi Raikkonen – Despite being out-qualified by his team mate again it was Raikkonen who took the fight to Mercedes in the race by running an alternative strategy, saving his soft tyres for the final stint. He was catching the Mercedes at over a second per lap in the closing stages, and he was poised to strike at Rosberg when the Mercedes’ braking problem handed him second place.

McLaren

Fernando Alonso – There was a sharp contrast between the two sides of the McLaren garage in Bahrain. While Button toiled in vain, Alonso gave cause for cheer by taking the MP4-30 into Q2 for the first time, then finishing 11th in the race. Superficially that was no more than Button achieved in Melbourne – but this time there were six cars running behind the McLaren instead of none.

Jenson Button – A wasted weekend – electrical problems kept him from setting a lap in qualifying and despite being given a dispensation to start the race he was unable to do that either due to further technical trouble.

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Force India

Nico Hulkenberg – Force India were more competitive on a track which has traditionally suited them, and Hulkenberg delivered by taking his VJM08 into Q3, claiming eighth on the grid. The race was not as successful – he couldn’t make his tyres last and slipped to a disappointed thirteenth.

Sergio Perez – Force India’s simulations showed the downforce deficient VJM08 would not be able to use the same two-stop strategy as many of the team’s rivals. But Perez made it work and brought the car home in eighth place, a result the four-time podium finisher called “one of my best races”.

Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso reliability remains poor and Verstappen has borne the brunt of it. He hoped the understeer-prone set up which confined him to 15th in qualifying would help him in the race, but as he was unable to run full engine performance and later suffered an electrical failure it proved irrelevant.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – Bahrain was never likely to be a strong venue for the Renault-powered team so it was to Sainz’s credit that he got the car into Q3. Like his team mate, however, he was destined not to finish.

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – Continued his record of getting the Lotus into Q3 at every race this year, but in the race his two-stop strategy appeared inferior to his team mate’s three-stopper – though Maldonado’s early exit from qualifying meant he had more fresh tyres. Nonetheless Grosjean repeated his China result of taking seventh place, still on the lead lap.

Pastor Maldonado – In Q1 his front brakes were continuing to apply pressure even when he wasn’t using them, causing a loss of a straightline speed, meaning he was unable to progress to the next stage. He also picked up a five-second penalty for failing to take his place properly on the grid. But with plenty of soft tyres he was able to make rapid progress on a three-stop strategy and probably would have finished in the points had his engine not stopped during his final pit stop.

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson – Gained four places on the first lap to run ninth but his progress was stymied by a problem with his front left wheel nut which dropped him back to 17th and ended his pursuit of a points finish.

Felipe Nasr – Qualified ahead of Ericsson but fell behind him at the start. A problem with his power unit meant he was out-gunned on the straights, and he finished the race stuck behind Alonso’s McLaren.

Manor

Will Stevens – Was compromised at the start by Pastor Maldonado lining up in the wrong grid position, which meant he fell behind Merhi for the first five laps. After finding a way by he led his team mate home and his better race pace meant he was lapped once fewer.

Roberto Merhi – Slipped up at turn four on his final run in qualifying and ended up over a second off his team mate as a result. He got ahead of Stevens at the start but felt he took too much out of his tyres trying to keep his team mate behind at the start.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton1st-0.558s56/5721st-6.033s
Nico Rosberg3rd+0.558s1/5723rd+6.033s
Daniel Ricciardo7th-1.109s56/5626thNot on same lap
Daniil Kvyat17th+1.109s0/5629thNot on same lap
Felipe Massa6th+0.363s0/56210thNot on same lap
Valtteri Bottas5th-0.363s56/5624thNot on same lap
Sebastian Vettel2nd-0.245s27/5735th+40.609s
Kimi Raikkonen4th+0.245s30/5722nd-40.609s
Fernando Alonso14th0/0211th
Jenson Button20th0/0
Nico Hulkenberg8th-0.091s18/56313th+25.814s
Sergio Perez11th+0.091s38/5628th-25.814s
Max Verstappen15th+0.462s0/292
Carlos Sainz Jnr9th-0.462s29/292
Romain Grosjean10th-0.67s47/5627thNot on same lap
Pastor Maldonado16th+0.67s9/56315thNot on same lap
Marcus Ericsson13th+0.297s29/56314th+8.553s
Felipe Nasr12th-0.297s27/56312th-8.553s
Will Stevens18th-1.009s49/54216thNot on same lap
Roberto Merhi19th+1.009s5/54217thNot on same lap

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 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend?

  • Roberto Merhi (0%)
  • Will Stevens (0%)
  • Felipe Nasr (0%)
  • Marcus Ericsson (1%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (2%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
  • Max Verstappen (0%)
  • Sergio Perez (3%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Jenson Button (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (3%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (56%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (0%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (4%)
  • Felipe Massa (1%)
  • Daniil Kvyat (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (2%)
  • Nico Rosberg (3%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (22%)

Total Voters: 807

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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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153 comments on “Vote for your 2015 Bahrain GP Driver of the Weekend”

  1. If the poll was “Driver of the Race” would be Raikkonen, but since it’s “Driver of the Weekend” has to be Hamilton.
    Raikkonen lost the qualy duel from his team mate. Hamilton instead dominated Rosberg on every level and won a perfect grand prix driving like hell for the whole race.

    1. but I know for a fact that most people here supports Raikkonen (past polls showed it) so I expect Iceman to triumph on this one particular poll.

    2. won a perfect grand prix driving like hell for the whole race.

      He run wide in the first stint losing a couple of seconds, like Vettel.

      1. He didn’t lose a few seconds, more like a few tenths, and he pulled those back in the next couple of corners anyway.

      2. Yeah ok, not perfect, one error. But Vettel went wide more than once and did some mistakes here and there (almost crashed into Bottas too)
        But is it worse to run wide and lose a little bit of time in the race, or being smashed by your team mate in qualifying? Anyway, if not Hamilton then maybe Grosjean deserves to be DOTW, surely not Kimi

      3. That was on the first lap. He lost a couple of car lengths.

      4. @oletros
        are you seriously comparing Vettel’s forgettable drive with Hamilton’s?

        1. @blackmamba Are you seriously understanding that from my comment?

      5. @oletros

        Thats actually untrue. Hamilton ran wide on the very first lap. Vettel was already very close at that point, so he didn’t really lose anything. At worse he lost 0.3 – 0.4 . It was the timing of the replay which made it seem worse than it was.

      6. Raikkonen had a lock up here and there too.

        Agree with f190 that it looked worse in the TV coverage since they replayed it just after it turned out that Hamilton suddenly lost his 5 second gap and Coulthard was wondering what happened.

        1. @patrickl
          Yes it’s okay for Kimi to make mistakes but not Lewis.

      7. And Raikkonen was sleeping when Rosberg went past in the opening stint. He drove brilliantly, but if the bar being set is perfection, Kimi didn’t manage it either.

    3. Your well reasoned logic holds no audience among the kimi-faithful.

    4. Yep, my thoughts exactly. It was Hamilton’s weekend.

    5. I ended up with Hamilton, Raikkonen, Bottas and Alonso in my short list.

      Hamilton reasoning is easy: He just seemed to effortlessly be ahead of everyone throughout (although I’ve not seen the practice timings). On the downside, he made a mistake on lap 1, and didn’t seem to have to work very hard for his win. Don’t get me wrong, it was a superb performance again, but not perfect, and in a car which makes him shine, seemingly without effort (although I’m sure that this isn’t actually the case).

      As others have said, if it was driver of the race Raikkonen would easily clinch it for me. Yes, his strategy made it, but he put in an outstanding performance on Sunday. Given a few more laps, he could have won the race. However, I can’t say I think the rest of the weekend he was the best out there. I almost gave it to him anyway, but a step back from the emotions of the last stint made me rethink.

      Bottas out qualified his team mate and put in a great performance against Vettel, keeping the German behind him in the final stint. OK, Vettel was not on top form on Sunday, but he is still a 4-time champion, and Bottas’ performance was excellent.

      Alonso seemed to out drive his car. He made it to Q2, something I did not expect of the Honda so early given all their problems, and finished a whisker from the points. I think heart got the better of head when it came to submitting the vote, as I love to cheer on an underdog, and my vote went to Alonso.

      1. @drmouse – you have a good list and good reasoning – or at least, the same sort of view that I have.
        I’d add Rosberg for the entertaining overtakes, even though his qualifying wasn’t the best.
        Although it looked very smooth, I’m not sure Hamilton had it that easy. He seems to have done a lot of groundwork to be where he is.
        Pleasingly, Bottas was quietly excellent – good job.
        I’m looking forward to the race where I can confidently vote for Alonso or Button as DoTW.

    6. I’m a massive Raikkonen fan but the driver of the weekend probably was Hamilton, easy weekend for Lewis as I had predicted. The other man in contention would be Ricciardo, considering how much this track relies on power and drive-ability the Australian did a massive job.

    7. I’m a huge Kimi fan and I actually agree with you… To an extent.

      Hamilton did everything required of him and made life easy for himself in the race – all to his credit. However, Kimi’s second and third stints were sensational and made the difference for Ferrari. Due to that, I think he deserves DotW.

  2. I decided to give my vote to Grosjean. I think he did a great job in the equipment he had, starting 10th and finishing 7th, while Maldonado in the sister car was flapping around in the lower half of the pack.
    Honorable mention to Ricciardo, Hamilton and Raikkonen. I would have given driver of the race to Kimi, but he really needs to improve in qualifying which is part of the weekend, and seeing this is driver of the weekend, not just race, I couldn’t give it to Kimi.

  3. It should be Lewis again but I voted Kimi as his race was really good and I’m a massive Kimi fan….sorry (but also support Lewis too).

    1. So the bad luck had been transfered completely from Kimi Raikkonen to Jenson Button, wonder who brought that.

  4. I had three choices for DOTW.

    1. Hamilton – Again a perfect weekend for him. Fastest in qualifying, Error free race, faster than his “rejuvinated in race ” teammate.

    2. Raikkonen – Great in race and proved to many that he still is a top notch driver despite last season. Very comfortable in extending his stints and take its benefit in the end.

    3. Grosjean – Just like Hamilton, he also dominated his teammate throughout the weekend. Had a good race albeit it was a silent one for him, still getting good points for Lotus. Would be an intresting prospect for Ferrari, if they decide to part ways with Kimi at the end of season.

    In the end I voted for Grosjean.

    Shoutout to Bottas for defending brilliantly the 4th position from Vettel and to Rosberg – for being more aggressive in this race and overtaking the Ferraris in front of him. Hopefully he can continue with this aggression in upcoming races and brings more challenge to Lewis.

    1. I’ve got no problem with your vote, but dominating Maldonado isn’t that hard, you could be really slow and not make any mistakes and beat him. He is a good driver though, and definitely fallen off the radar a bit, but I feel he might be overshadowed by Verstappen if Ferrari were going to sign a new driver. While it would be a big step, he’s been very impressive and he will be at his cheapest after a year at Toro Rosso (still expensive as I assume Red Bull have a pretty massive release clause on his contract) and if he moves to Red Bull he’ll be even more expensive.

    2. @mjf1fan Grosjean did a great job, but I think you are a bit unfair on Maldonado, Grosjean didn’t really dominate him this weekend. Maldonado was ahead of Grosjean throughout practice (Grosjean didn’t set a time in FP1, but was a way behind in FP2 & FP3) and his Q1 exit was the result of a loss of electrical power in qualifying. According to Lotus, Maldonado was forecast to finish ahead of Grosjean by the end of the race before this pitstop problem – he seemingly had the better race strategy but still, he clearly had some pace. In a similar fashion to China – a race where he was running ahead of Grosjean and had better pace than his teammate in the middle stint, but ruined it with mistakes – Maldonado spoiled his own race again. He went wide twice in the early stages of the race, and hit into the back of Massa’s Williams (damaging Massa’s diffuser and ruining Felipe’s hopes of finishing 7th or 8th), but he was still forecast for a good finish around Romain’s position until his engine anti-kill kicked in during his pit stop – something that was apparently Pastor’s fault, at least partially (from what I’ve heard).

      Long story short, Grosjean certainly did a much better job over the course of the weekend, no mistakes so clearly performed much better than his error-prone teammate, but he didn’t really dominate him in terms of pure performance (Maldonado is much quicker than people usually give him credit for, he’s just a complete mess when it comes to making mistakes and crashing).

      1. Oops, I was supposed to link this article for information on Maldonado’s pit stop issues. That article also reminded me that Maldonado made another mistake – he received a 5-second penalty for being out of position on the grid. How many mistakes can Maldonado make in one race?!

      2. Oops again, a correction (wish we could edit/delete posts!) is that Maldonado’s Q1 exit was caused by his brakes applying pressure when he wasn’t using them, as it says in the main post. I’d heard it was the brakes, but was confused by that article I linked… also, another clarification: Grosjean missed FP1 because Palmer was driving the car. So being behind Maldonado in practice was understandable.

        1. @polo
          I did not knew about Maldonado’s brake problem in Q1, I must have missed it and as you said that Grosjean lack of pace in FP sessions is due to him missing fp1 to Palmer so this point is closed as well. Now comes the race, where Maldonado makes mistakes after mistakes but on the other hand, Grosjean drives beautifully and bags points for Lotus. I heard on Ted’s Notebook after race that Lotus expected Maldonado to finish 7th ahead of Grosjean but expecting is something and performing is another thing. Probably @Philereid has given a better explanation for choosing Grosjean as DOTW below.

          @Williamstuart
          I dont think Grosjean was slow but that’s just my opinion. Regarding Verstappen, if RBR continues in F1 I dont see any other team having a chance to let him drive for them. But if they discontinue, I can see Mercedes and Ferrari going after him. He is an exceptional talent. I made my point reg Grosjean to Ferrari assuming RBR to continue.

  5. Ricciardo – for showing how to finish a race with a Renault PU like a boss.

    1. +1 as well. Thanks for the laugh!

    2. good one!!

    3. LOL good one. Go hard or go home

      1. Ricciardo – for showing how to finish (…) a Renault PU like a boss.

    4. Ricciardo doesn’t need a Renault PU to finish his race ;D

  6. Hard choice between Bottas and Hamilton, but went for Valtteri this time, since the way he kept Vettel behind was the most impressive performance of the race. Kimi had great race but it’s hard to vote for a driver who loses to his team-mate in qualifying (and by some margin if I remember correctly).

  7. Bottas. A really strong weekend by the Finn: out-qualifying his team-mate, 5th on the grid; holding Vettel for 4th, which is a place for a Mercedes or a Ferrari. Well done.

  8. Kimi, I feel made the difference in his car from it being 3rd and 4th and delivering 2nd. In this aspect he finished in a position he shouldn’t have. You can’t really say the same with Hamilton who was flawless none the less.

    Special mentions for Bottas, Riccardio, Perez and Alonso for getting into Q2.

  9. Lewis for another perfect weekend.

    What is surprising is that Lewis seems unbeatable at the moment, even with Mercedes losing ground to Ferrari.

    He is mastering and maximizing everything what is given to him at each weekend.

    Good to see Kimi is back, and it was great to see him applying real pressure on Vettel, who cracked.

    And I think Seb should be worried: Kimi seemed faster all race and looks like he can manage those tyres better than Vettel, who looked like that old Vettel from 2014.

  10. This poll gets more and more meaningless as time goes by (not Keiths fault).
    Even though people keep giving their reason for who they voted for, it consistently has nothing to do with what the actual poll is about; and amazingly they admit it with thing like ” Lewis is the DOTW for me, but i voted for Kimi”??
    It is for DOTW; and not your fave driver, team, DOTR, who you felt sorry for, who just caught a luck break, or any other miscellaneous criteria. Boring as this one may be, Hamilton should win it..

    1. It’s an internet poll. It has never had any meaning and will always be a popularity contest.

      1. @rcorporon Which has made me wonder on several occasions how interesting a poll ‘vote for your fav driver’ would turn out. Just to see how things are on this site. I expect a close one between Jenson/Hamilton and Kimi.

        1. We have those every year. IIRC Kimi got second last year.

          1. @austus Yeah, remembered it afterwards we indeed have had them.

    2. @kbdavies : Sometimes, its about getting more out of a car… Lewis has the fastest machinery, so its expected.. Someone with a dog of a car, “punching wayyyy above its weight” that’s what some people identify here.. Hence a Kimi or a Grosjean or Maldonado…

      1. I don’t think the 2015 Ferrari can be considered a dog.

      2. People often have the wrong assumptions of how good a car is though.

        Like Nasr’s performance looked incredible in Australie considering Sauber didn’t score a point over the whole season in 2014. Looking back he simply performed what the car was able to do (especially with so many cars ahead of him dropping out of the race).

        Or Vettel’s performance in Malaysia. People had the 2014 Ferrari in mind and don’t seem to realize that this is 2015 and Ferrari and Mercedes are now much more closely matched. At least during the race they are.

        In theory Raikkonen could potentially have won this race had he performed better during Q3, and had he (therefore) not been held up so much by Vettel in the first stint.

    3. Perhaps Keith should have more than one category to vote on? For example an overall Driver of the weekend based on merit and then a sort of an exciting/unexpected/notable performance of the weekend? Maybe even a third category for “Shocker of the weekend”for the kind of races where Maldonado is ramming everyone, Luca Badoer is trailing the field by miles or at Spa where Grojean took out Hamilton, Sergio and Alonso in that spectacularly dangerous looking crash.

      1. Good idea, multiple questions seems to somehow force people to think rather than autoclick.

        (And if the categories were sufficiently distinct that it could never all be covered by one driver, it would be easy to detect and remove the fanboy votes).

      2. @f1rampage: +1 from me! I’d like a “top three drivers” for DoTW, but your “Shocker” category sounds great.

    4. @kbdavies it’s a poll, the whole point of a poll is to seek opinion and in this case provoke debate. You seem to think your opinion carries so much weight it makes the answer a fact. I doubt we’ll ever see a 100% vote, the reason not being that people don’t vote right but rather because opinions differ.

      I voted Kimi: I get your argument about Lewis and other posters’ points about Kimi’s qualifying performance (actually he was generally up with Vettel through qualifying and in the end was not much slower) but I don’t think he even had to dig deep into his reserves in his race and it’s always hard to judge exactly how good a driver who won a lights to flags victory is. You cannot state that I’m wrong, it’s my opinion and that’s the only fact.

    5. For me the poll is about who stood out during the weekend, and Hamilton, however good his pace was in qualifying and race, didn’t really stand out. This is rather a poll that’s based on biased views. If you want a pole based on merit, then the official race result gives you what you need.
      I’d easily vote for a guy that started 13th and finished 7th rather than one that started first and finished first, after having the best piece of machinery out there.

      1. i’d easily vote for a guy that started from the pitlane then have his back destroyed by crashtor and finished 10 than one that started first and finished first. cheers :)

  11. What about Perez? Used his greatest strengths. beat his teammate and scored points in a car that struggles too

    1. Voted Perez. Outstanding drive. Made Hulkenberg look like an amateur, and that’s saying something.

      1. +1. This car is a dog and yet he managed to get it up to 8.

      2. +1 This comment…

        1. +1. also on the second stint he was doing laps at front runners pace with a car that as everybody knows is not that good.

  12. WHY: do people keep insisting that Kimi Raikkonen was the driver of the day when it was easily Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton made the best start and controlled the race pace and despite his 5 second lead being wiped out as Rosberg and Raikkonen closed on him at the 2 stint, Hamilton still pull out another margin and comfortably controlled the race. It was an amazing display of tire management without going too slow. Rosberg looks like he was listening and reading all the negative comments about his being a weak driver, and then he responded well on Sunday by being overly aggressive in trying to copy a lot of Hamilton’s aggression. Raikkonen drove a good race but don’t forget his race was about being on the right tire at the right time.
    He was on softs at the end while everyone else was on the prime tier. His second place was a victory for good strategy rather than brilliance on his part.If you have better tiers than everyone else then going past people on dying tiers does not make you an excellent driver.Hamilton was again the best driver in the race.

    1. Simon (@weeniebeenie)
      20th April 2015, 14:30

      I think you are forgetting that he drove his second stint on the harder tyre and matched the others on the softs. That stint is really what gave him the opportunity to take second.

      1. @weeniebeenie Driver of the WEEKEND.

      2. @weeniebeenie: So Kimi wins “Driver of the Second Stint” (DotSS).

    2. Raikkonen drove a good race but don’t forget his race was about being on the right tire at the right time.
      He was on softs at the end while everyone else was on the prime tier. His second place was a victory for good strategy rather than brilliance on his part.

      That is exactly why people voted for Kimi: he had a better strategy than the others, they gambled, he calculated. He knew his car could keep up with Mercedes on the medium tire, and even better on the soft. He made less significant mistakes than the others, and got second place for it. Whether he’d have actually got a podium if Vettel and Rosberg hadn’t made their mistakes is debatable, but they did make mistakes, he didn’t, he crossed the finish line second, they didn’t, and that is all that matters.

    3. It’s a subjective matter, the quicker you grasp the concept, a healthier and happier life you will have and so will the people around you.

  13. Been a Kimi fan for a long, long time… yet ended up voting Grosjean. This guy did get the maximum possible from the car, maybe a bit more than that.

    Kimi needs to improve on qualifying, maybe then he’ll get my vote. After all, this is “driver of the weekend”, not who had the best race.

  14. Kimi for me. Hamilton’s car is at the level where he is expected to win and take pole (sound familiar?)

    1. But Rosberg in the same car is not?

      Comments like these make no sense…

      1. You got it. It does not make sense.

        Yet still you had to hear those comments a lot from 2011 – 2013 with Vettel/Webber- ironically often by Hamilton supporters.

        1. @xenomorph91 – I thought part of the Vettel/Webber intrigue was that they were not always “in the same car”. Webber certainly expressed his dissatisfaction with what he saw as inequalities in the underlying hardware. But Hamilton and Rosberg are treated painfully equally at the moment. This may have to change soon; Mercedes may need to run split strategies to cope with the Ferraris. Fireworks ahead I think, not provided by Renault this time.

  15. Once again another poll that has multiple candidates, this time being, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Grosjean, Ricciardo and Bottas.

    5th. Raikkonen. The reason Raikkonen can’t, and shouldn’t, be any higher is that whilst I think he had the second best race out there, his qualifying was not good enough. It was no means a terrible lap, but there was always the chance to beat Rosberg into 3rd. Granted, he did that straight away in the race, but still it could have been Vettel he did that too instead. As it’s a weekend poll, he gets 5th instead of 2nd.

    =3rd. Ricciardo. For the first time, I actually struggled to separate 2 drivers. Ricciardo had a very very good qualifying lap, completely outclassing Kvyat by a large margin. Then in the race, Ricciardo had an incredibly solid race, finishing higher than I’d have predicted and also not too far off the Williams of Bottas, who was fast enough to hold off a Ferrari, which is the same car which finished 3.4 secs behind the leader. So, overall a very good drive from Ricciardo.

    =3rd. Bottas. Very similar to Ricciardo. Bossed his team mate in qualifying (and we know Massa is know slouch, and to come back from being beaten 3 times in that fashion is very good to see), and he had a great race, holding back a faster Ferrari and finished ahead of him. Yes his top speed helped, but he still had to do the business, making no mistakes under pressure and took home a great result for the Williams team. Both he and Ricciardo I think finished a place higher than their cars should have been (Ricciardo was helped by Massa stalling on the grid, and Bottas helped by Vettel having a really poor race, but both deserve praise).

    2nd. Hamilton. Utterly destroyed everyone in qualifying with an absolute belter of a lap. His race was then everything it needed to be, calm, cool, collected and fast where he needed to be, to get that gap and then maintain it, get the gap and maintain it over and over again. It was pretty much the most perfectly controlled race out there. Even with other drivers ‘challenging’ him, he doesn’t crack under any pressure, and just gets on with it.

    1st. Grosjean. While his team mate was once again having an absolute nightmare, Grosjean was able to put on an incredibly strong performance, finishing well inside the points for some highly needed, and well deserved points. Based on how far he finished behind Hamilton, I think it’s clear that he must pretty much have been on the limit of what the car/tyres on his car could do almost all race. Good stuff. Oh, and getting through to Q3 was a very good result. It’s a shame he couldn’t match his Q2 time as he’d have qualified 8th.

    Now, the only reason I have put Grosjean ahead is that I believe both we almost perfect, but Grosjean exceeded what I expected.

    1. @philereid This is the kind of quality, analytical comment that I love from these DOTW polls. I think you make a very good case for Grosjean.

      1. @willwood @philereid He also lost FP1 to Palmer too, so one session less for Grosjean compared to everyone else.

    2. Apparently Lotus are really annoyed with Pastor, his stall was completely his fault, coming into the pits too fast etc and that meant that he sat motionless for a long time, meaning he was overtaken off track and on top of that the lack of movement cooked his brakes and nearly led to his retirement.

    3. @philereid You contradict your own logic. Grosjean screwed up his Q3 lap. Everyone reported it and he himself admitted it. The car was fast enough for P7, yet he ended up behind the real qualy stars Sainz and Hulkenberg. You seem to think that it’s the last year’s Lotus and it’s a grand achievement to get into Q3. It is not in the slightest

      Bottom line: No way Grosjean>Hamilton for DOTW. By your own very sound logic too. I agree with the rest of your conclusions but not this one

      1. @philereid It’s a good point, but I disagree that it’s not an achievement. It was still a great lap to get him into Q3, and whilst his Q3 lap itself wasn’t the best, I thought his Q2 one was absolutely mega. I agree that Hulkenberg was fantastic in qualifying though, but by your logic, I’d also suggest that Sainz was, whilst better than Grosjean in Q3, wasn’t particularly a star.

        And the way I assess it is how much I expected. Driver performance is relative, and to my mind, Grosjean, relative to his car and his own normal performances, was way above what I expected. Whilst I agree, the overall better drive was probably from Hamilton, I expected it. I like to rate these things with drivers ‘average’ performances in mind, and increasing/decreasing my ratings based on this. I don’t think it’s the way a lot of people do it, but it’s how I like to do it, mostly because it throws up different results instead of it just being the same driver every time. So far, I think Hamilton has probably been the best driver in 3/4 races so far, but have only voted for him just the once (China). I gave Nasr it for Australia, not because I think he was better than Hamilton, but because he was so far ahead of what I expected, and also had a great drive.

        Also, this doesn’t work with everyone. If Maldonado was just to finish a race, that would be better than his average, but it wouldn’t give him an instant DOTW… Although, maybe it should? ;)

        1. @montreal95 (not 100% sure why I tagged myself there).

        2. @philereid Ok I understand. Thanks for clarification. Though with such subjective criteria it can be anyone. If I’d rate like this my driver of the weekend might just be Will Stevens. He’s so much better than I expected it’s frightening. Or maybe Alonso? To get that Mclaren so close to the points and ahead of the Saubers and Hulk? Very impressive indeed.

          But I can’t give it to any of them. Not to Stevens because last year in equal cars Merhi wiped the floor with Stevens. His junior career is also exceedingly more impressive. So to assume that WS suddenly became a beast is illogical. There must be something goin on there behind the scenes for such results. And not Alonso either because a) we don’t know what Button could’ve done and b)we don’t know how much better Mclaren really is from previous race, they’re improving all the time

          And why Sainz is not a star of Q? STR were always awful at this track (exactly opposite to Force India actually who always went relatively well here, but given how awful FI car is P8 for Hulk in qualy and for Perez in the race are every bit as good a performance as what they did here last year). When Ricciardo put his car in P6 in 2012 here while his team-mate was 15 th everyone was going nuts. So why not Sainz? IMO both Sainz and Hulk did amazing in qualy, though not in the race

          Grosjean did well to get to Q3 but nothing special. The car is at worst fifth on pace so should be in the top ten in qualifying. I rate Grosjean very highly, he’s a potential top tier driver so am not expecting anything less from him

          I also voted for Nasr in Aus but for entirely different reasons. Lewis was in by far the best car and had had a smooth weekend. Nasr came in as a rookie, to a track he’s never been on, had to miss FP1. Did a perfect job in qualy regardless and kept Ricciardo’s superior RBR behind him with no mistakes like a veteran. He looked at one with the car which under the circumstances was unbelievable. I was expecting him to do well as I had followed his junior career and knew that the pay driver tag was nonsense. But his Aus GP was better than Hamilton if you consider all the variables. I don’t think Grosjean’s Bahrain performance, great that it was, qualifies

  16. Bottas. Was comfortably faster than Massa in quali and never put a foot wrong in the race. Masterful defensive driving against Vettel at the closing stages of the race.

    1. “Vote for your Bahrain driver of the weekend”

      a: Kimi Raikkonen
      b: Kimi Raikkonen
      c: Kimi Raikkonen
      d: All of the above

      1. Definitely a problem with the question. It’s not correct!

  17. My vote goes for Perez. He did an amazing race, his tyres conservation was superb and overall he made no mistakes.

  18. Great drives from Kimi,grosjean,alonso and rosberg.But Lewis Hamilton was a class apart.Hamilton Is my pick for DOTW.

  19. I don’t understand how Kimi can win this with such poor quali, but driver of the race for sure.

  20. Has to be Lewis. Absolutely dominated qualifying and won the race.

    If Kimi had qualified where Vettel did i think the win could have been possible, so I can’t rate him higher than Lewis.

  21. Nearly went for Grosjean, but somehow ended up clicking on Bottas. Too close to call.
    Ricciardo and Hamilton also had good weekends. Not at all surprised by the exorbitantly high number of votes for Raikkonen, it seems his fans still rule the roost here.

  22. My vote goes to Kimi Raikkonen. Guy is driving his heart out knowing he may very well be replaced by Lewis next season & will be out of F1

  23. Hahahhh Alonso has mpre votes than Vettel :p

    1. And well deservedly. Alonso got from that dreadful McH everything it had to give, and his overtaking (unlapping himself from) Kimi was one of the highlights of the race. On the other hand Vettel made lots of uncharacteristic mistakes, it was really not his day. Maybe a win was too much to ask but he clearly had the potential to be 2nd, and he screwed it.

      My DOTW? Not Lewis (did OK but didn’t sweat it a bit). Not Kimi (best guy in the race but poor quali). A tie between Romain Grosjean and Valteri Bottas (superb job holding Vettel).

    2. Did you think Vettel was better than Alonso this weekend? Were you watching f1?

      1. @todfod: Vettel qualified well ahead of his teammate. Alonso — ah. Nobody to compare against.
        In the race, Vettel went backwards (not literally). Alonso went… forwards?
        So it’s a draw!

        Seriously though, Alonso wrestled his car up the order in quite an impressive display. Such a shame Button wasn’t there to add to the spectacle (and make comparison easier).

  24. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    20th April 2015, 15:19

    Räikkönen

  25. 3: Marcus Ericsson – Great start, aggressive but controlled overtaking. Pit stop messed up but he still challenged Nasr for best Sauber finish. Strong.

    2: Nico Rosberg – Sure, he lost to a Ferrari but he was aggressive and finally tried to fight for his right to.. party? I enjoyed watching him drive.

    1: Lewis Hamilton – Utter domination from start to finish. He is by far the best driver this weekend. Lovely job.

  26. Voted for Grosjean. Outqualified his teammate, finished in 7th despite having to miss FP1 by giving the car over to Jolyon Palmer. Great result from him.

  27. I wish I had access to results data so could cross reference driver preferences to vote result.

  28. Kimi. For his second stint and the final stint flying laps. The suspense of whether he will catch the Mercedes or fall off the cliff was a thriller.

    Added points for his comment that he is faster and will try to overtake. Brownie points to Ferrari for keeping their mouths shut.

  29. Lewis knocked it out of the Park !!!!

    Kimi a close second !!!

    Too many unforced errors from Vettel !!!!

    Good Job By Alonso

  30. I would have to say for the way he handled all pressure and drove so smoothly all through the weekend that Lewis gets my vote for Driver of the Weekend. Others of note would be Raikkonen who with a great second stint and a solid Sunday got a deserved first podium since returning to Ferrari had he not been well off Vettel in qualification he would have been DOTW. Ricciardo maximized the Red Bull’s compromised position to bring it home in sixth and looked very solid in qualifying. He’s showing that he’s definitely a step above Danii and is doing more with less – it’s unfortunate the power unit is so weak now.

    Likewise Grosjean’s consistency to bring the Lotus into Q3 every time and convert points ahead of his qualification position is commendable. The Lotus is capable of a regular top ten finish and with a driver who stays out of trouble in quali and the race they will continue to improve. Unfortunately, the other side of the garage is reaping the karma of a fast but extremely undisciplined driver with bags of oil money who cannot stay out of trouble one way or another.

  31. There is only one obvious choice. Jenson Button.

    He didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend.

    1. @ben-n: Best comment award.

  32. I think we should have Driver of the Race instead of Driver of the Weekend.
    The result does not reflect Driver of the Weekend at all.

    1. Does it matter really? The race result is the culmination of what they did over the entire weekend.

      Personally I fail to understand the logic in “Oh yes he drove a superb race and won in dominating fashion, but I can’t vote for him because he was a tenth slower in Q3” (hypothetical example that keeps coming up every “weekend”)

      Setup is always a compromise anyway. So who says he didn’t set up the car for the race and therefore was a tiny bit slower in Q3 knowing he could win the race that way?

      1. Nothing personal against you but since you asked yes it does matter, to me at least. ‘Weekend’ and ‘Race’ mean two completely different things that I take different criteria in to account when thinking about.

        I completely see the logic in your ‘hypothetical example’ (although I hope no one is that extreme about their reasoning); Rosberg easily had the most exciting race of the front runners but his terrible qualy performance cancels him out of the running of DOTW. If it were DOTR it’d be him no question, BBW failure included. But alas its DOTW so for me it had to be Bottas considering where he qualified/finished and for holding off the 4x WDC (Lewis very close 2nd).

        Semantics help us all understand one another and when we go around whimsically changing the meaning of things it becomes rather difficult to draw any real conclusions or reach common ground, even from a ‘meaningless’ online poll.

  33. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
    20th April 2015, 16:23

    I voted for Kimi, besides a slightly lacklustre qualifying session he was brilliant. He made intelligent use of his strategy and overtook decisively. Lewis has a perfect weekend too, but he didn’t seem to be really pushing during the race and so had a much easier job.

  34. Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari’s pace was mind-blowing, but he both managed to stay close enough to them to capitalise on Vettel’s mistake(s), and to deny him the slightest chance of overtaking during the final stint. Brilliant driving, in addition to beating Massa for the first time in qualifying this season, with a healthy gap.

    If I’m really honest, there might be another reason why I voted for Bottas: I’d rather be a woman in Saudi Arabia than vote for a certain compatriot of Bottas’s. It’s personal.

    1. I think Ferrari’s race pace is more hype than mind blowing.

  35. DoTW definition is different for anyone, but I think more or less it’s weight on race more than any other session. While some drivers is not quite great for qualifying, some drivers race pace are very good, and vice versa.
    For that reason, I pick Raikkonen for DoTW. Yes he was outqualified by his teammate by few tenth. But that’s hardly a reason to do otherwise. Current generation of cars ensure him not to be the fastest in Saturday, but now he got what he wants of the car, he shows you what he capable of. Race paces is his strength, and it’s good for him to build he’s result on that.
    I know sometimes, race pace doesn’t always win you a race, but his performance was really stand-out. He capable of nurturing the mediums then attack on soft in optimum way.
    As he promised more to come, I should braced myself of what could be happening in the rest of the season.

  36. I didn’t vote for him but Will Stevens has been very impressive against Roberto Mehri so far this season, easily beating him in almost every session. Clearly the best driver vs ‘team mate without any technical problems’ of the Bahrain weekend.

  37. The DOTW can’t be Rosberg because he had a bad qualifying, and it can’t be Vettel because he had a bad race. Those two then, are eliminated. That leaves me with Hamilton, Raikkonen, Ricciardo or Grosjean for my DOTW vote. Hamilton was pretty much faultless for the entire weekend but he had the best car, so for me that was to be expected. Both Ricciardo and Grosjean outclassed their teammates with excellent performances, with Ricciardo almost losing it through no fault of his own at the finish line. Raikkonen had an excellent race and totally outshone his teammate Vettel and had a decent qualifying. It was really tough between Raikkonen, Ricciardo and Grosjean but in the end, I had to vote for Raikkonen because he has been unlucky this year and produced his best performance in a while!

  38. I wasn’t sure who to give driver of the weekend to this time.

    Hamilton again got pole on Saturday and the win on Sunday and seemed in control during the race, the only worries were when he lost most of his cushion after the first his pit stop and the brake problems at the end.

    Raikkonen was impressive in the race running an alternate strategy to those around him, especially his pace in the middle stint on the medium tyres when the others were on the softs. If he hadn’t been out qualified by his teammate it would have been an easier choice, but in the end I still voted for Raikkonen.

    Maybe it was because I thought this was the best race so far this season but I felt there were quite a few other impressive drives which deserve a mention with Bottas, Grosjean, Perez and Alonso all deserving a mention.

    While he still hasn’t got the better of Hamilton this season it was good to see Rosberg putting up a fight in the race, it has been a while since we have seen that from him.

    There was also a good recovery drive with a damaged car from Massa and likewise another good recovery drive from Kvyat but the reason he was out of position was because of a poor performance on Saturday.

    Kvyat did well in his rookie season last year but I feel the promotion to Red Bull has come too soon and that he would have benefited more from at least one more season at Toro Rosso, but with Vettel leaving for Ferrari Red Bull didn’t have much choice unless they wanted to bring someone in from outside their driver program.

    1. I think for Kyvat, being at TR wouldn’t have done it any better than at being at RB. In Australia he didn’t even start the race, In Malaysia he finished ahead of a good driver in Ricciardo, In China his engine blew up and in Bahrain I understand his qualifying position wasn’t all his fault. Yes, he has been thrown into the deep end and aside from the car he’s been doing well. His confidence might take a hit with Ricciardo as a teammate but overall he’s been outstanding.

  39. I gave my vote to Rosberg. Except for the last moment where he had the braking problem and lost a place, I think he had a great race. He pulled a couple of great moves at the start. It looked like he’d finally taken the bull by the horns. In this respect I do also wonder what the point was in his team constantly hassling him over the radio about the shrinking gap between him and Raikkonen. It looked a bit to me like a lack of confidence in their driver which probably won’t have good impact on Rosberg in the medium term. Or maybe it will keep him psychologically on the attack. He should have pulled a Raikkonen on them and told them he knows what he’s doing. Or something like that. That would have been the right thing to do. I really hope he keeps

    It’s easy to say that Hamilton ‘dominated’ over the weekend but I find that comment really very harsh. Hamilton dominated qualifying but once he was away from that pack that was pretty much it for him. Indeed, he dominated the race but more by default. He didn’t have to slug it out with the Ferraris.

    1. It’s easy to say Hamilton dominated the weekend, because in no uncertain terms, he did. He didn’t have to slug it out, because he had enough pace within himself to constantly pull out the gaps he needed. He led comfortably almost every lap, with pace in hand to respond to any threat from behind, after a blistering pole lap. How, in anyone’s mind, is that not a dominant performance? People don’t dominate by default, just because they get pole. Plenty of polesitters fall back into the clutches of those behind. It’s not an easy thing to lead an entire race just because you get pole, however Hamilton made it LOOK easy this weekend, and that’s because he was dominant.

    2. I just don’t understand how anyone can vote for Rosberg. Firstly he was frankly embarrassed by his team mate on Saturday. This is a track where Rosberg usually shines and yet he was beat by 0.6, which is huge in F1. His start was sloppy, losing a place to Kimi was needless. He made a couple of overtakes which were good, but nothing we didn’t see from others out there. He was given advantage over Hamilton and was spoon-fed a 6 second advantage, and despite being less than a second behind after the pit stops by the end of the stint he was more than 6 again. Had Mercedes kept their strategy as normal Hamilton would have pitted first, meaning he would keep his original lead of 6 + gain the undercut of 5-6 and then pull the same advantage in the middle stint, again around 6 seconds. Thats 18 seconds + over the race, which again in f1 terms is huge.

  40. Note to F1Fanatic poll voters: this is the driver of the weekend poll, not the driver of the race poll. As great a race as Kimi’s was and I had to resist my illogical urge to vote for him, the DoTW is still Hamilton. Perfect qualy, perfect race. Kimi’s weeekend: yet another loss in qualy, perfect race. Easy to see who had the better weekend

    I like Kimi very much but he has to rediscover his qualy form from the first half of his career in order to be fighting regularly at the top. Otherwise it’ll still be flashes here, flashes there, inconsistency everywhere

  41. I think Hamilton is a clear winner again this weekend. Faultless and in control all weekend long.

    But, i’m having difficulties to understand people who picked Kimi. He was not good enough to beat his teammate in qualifying, again he struggled until his medium stint, he lost his calm again behind backmarkers at the end of the race, and Alonso overtook him (that was so ironic one week after China). Vettel was just so bad, and that helped Kimi.

    1. @bnwllc3 Why does qualifying affect your decision making more than the race?? That’s what I don’t understand, aren’t points handed out on Sundays and not Saturdays?

      1. Of course i’m considering race mostly, but, it’s a truth that half of the race is won in the qualifyings. RAI raced well but not in control like HAM, not aggressive like ROS, not on top pace like MAS. 2nd place was a result of a great tyre management in the middle stint with a perfect strategy by pitwall, which RAI has had doubts at first, and full attack at the end with softs, where he struggled with the backmarkers.

        So, yes i picked HAM, because he topped FP3, qualified 0.4 secs clear than the rest, made a good start, always had the pace to make the gap, in the end he grabbed the victory safely despite a little last lap problem. So, i cannot see anyone who deserved DoW all weekend long.

      2. @mim5: Driver of the weekend = driver of FP, Quali AND Race. It’s cannot be about points. If it was, whoever won the race would get all the votes. But interpretations vary of course.

    2. Alonso overtook him because he was on new soft tires and Kimi on rank old mediums due for change at the pitstops in a couple of laps. You make it sound as if Alonso did it in a Honda Civic.

      Also repeated mentions about qualifying. He lost 2+tenths to Vettel who himself did a phenomenal job to get 2nd ahead of Rosberg. Kimi was fourth and more or less the spot he would have had normally as Ferrari is not the fastest car on track yet.

      Kimi did attack Vettel in the first stint, letting know the team that he would go for the overtake if he was any closer. The race is over at the chequered flag and not the first/second/third stint. He was on pace all through the race.

      Finally, one week Hamilton fans are all up in arms about how poor Rosberg is and is not deserving of the seat. Next week, they want everyone to vote for Hamilton because he beat that ‘poor’ Rosberg with the fastest car on the track.

      Make up your mind people.

  42. The 2% to Alonso must be a joke. MUST be a joke.
    Raikonen with 55%? Was superb in the race, but (as 200 folks said before me) the poll is for driver of the WEEKEND, and it seems to me that overall he wasn’t the best of the weekend.
    IMO, Lewis was completely out to reach the whole weekend. Maybe Kimi in far second, with Bottas in far far third.
    With a not for Massa, who saved a point after starting from the pits.

    1. The 2% to Alonso must be a joke. MUST be a joke.

      I didn’t vote for him, but why MUST it be a joke? Did he do anything wrong? Is it his fault if the McH’s pace is so far from the lead?. I think he deserves at least a “honorable mention” this weekend.

    2. This whole “the poll is for driver of the weekend” thing is starting to become annoying. Drivers race for POINTS which they depending on where they finished in the RACE.

      Now unless someone can remind me the last time points where awarded for qualifying, allow me to ignore a 0.1secs difference, and vote for Kimi who had an amazing perfomance when it mattered, beating his teammate and Rosberg for 2nd. If the race had a few more laps, he could even get Hamilton, his soft tyre was spotless at the end of the race. Closing 10secs in 5 laps is never easy, not matter what the circumstances. It was great driving, it was exciting, and he deserves every vote.

      Second best in my opinion, Lewis Hamilton, he is at the top of his form and unless Ferrari matches Mercedes somehow he will get the championship. He always kept his cool, even when the team had to sacrifice his 5+ secs difference to cover for Rosberg, and was never in any actual threat, great stuff.

      1. unless someone can remind me the last time points where awarded for qualifying

        The implied answer is “never” and I believe you are right. But 1 point was awarded for the fastest lap in the first decade of F1 and I’m not absolutely certain that the pole position didn’t get 1 point also somewhen.

      2. @afonic: Imagine that Kimi had dominated practice, cleaned up in quali and was leading the race by a big margin – but then his ICE went pop (I don’t mean that he lost his cool) and he scored no points, maybe a lap from the chequered flag. It would make a lot of sense to vote for him as DoTW anyway. It’s not about points.

        1. @tribaltalker all I was saying is that being 0.2secs behind his teammate in Qualifying doesn’t mean he CAN’T be DOTW. People seem to be obsessed with Qualifying when it doesn’t really matter that much.

          His race was amazing, and he managed to beat 2 of the 3 drivers that qualified above him. That’s what matters.

          1. @afonic: I understand that it’s irritating if you value the race much more highly than the preceding sessions. Others on this site take a different view and look for consistent performance across three days. It’s down to personal view.

          2. If you see most polls, you’d agree that most members share my view, and giving first priority to the race itself. And of course, if a driver has a very bad Qualifying performance (like Malaisia where Kimi failed to get into Q3), it should be taken into account.

            Besides that, performance in practice sessions is totally irrelevant…

      3. I agree with you, but that doesn’t change the fact that the website’s owner decided to do a poll about the best of the weekend. You are always welcome to organize your own poll on the best driver of the race.
        I think that it makes sense to consider the whole weekend, and not only the race. Rain, crashes, yellow flags, mechanical failures are elements that can have a direct influence in the final result, but the poll tries (I think) to focus on the way a driver approaches a GP, how he tests his car and different options to maximise the results during the race. Take Massa during last sunday: did a good job preparing his car for the race more than just the Quali, so was beaten by his temmate. And at the start a electrical failure put everything in the rubbish bin. To make things worse, he rear of his car got damaged and still he managed to save a point. How do you consider that? Today, I would say, could be easy to beat your teammate in quali if you are ready to sacrifice pace at the race, so I truly don´t think that the fact that Bottas qualified ahead means a lot.
        You mention Kimi and he did an awesome job during the whole weekend: he was beaten by Vettel at quali but his consistence and amazing pace took him to second.
        Alonso? So some folks here believe that he was THE BEST of the whole weekend? Well, then yes, that IS a joke.
        Among the guys that impressed me, I would also mention Nasr: solid pace, good fights with Massa (who had a faster car), solidly beating this own teammate.

    3. It’s not a joke, he made it to Q2, P14, and an impressive P11 in the race. Guys, the Honda PU is far below its potential; Alonso made the impossible.

      So, I am sure he won’t be elected as DOTW, but… a solid one, and well deserved a mention. He has my biased vote ofc :)

      1. the Honda PU is far below its potential; Alonso made the impossible.

        How do you know that? Honda is improving the engine, and Alonso is getting more comfortable with it. But the impossible?
        Again, the myth of the man faster than his own car.

  43. I think Kimi deserves this title, finallly he had a very good race.

  44. Has to be Nico, Kimi cruised on a different strategy in clean air, Lewis had any easy drive, blocking everyone else, and Vettel’s race ended up behind a Williams after sucking up dirty air for so long. Nico actually had to overtake people and would have finished 2nd had his brakes not failed.

    1. driver of the weekend would be Lewis, home run all the way, Nico owned it in the race.

  45. Gave mine to Grosjean for a competent Qualifying and Race but honourable mentions to Alonso for a fantastic race and dragging the McLaren into 11th and Manor/Marussia for again completing the race and proving Bernie that they do deserve to be racing

  46. I voted for Ricciardo. He stuck the Red Bull in 7th in qualifying whilst his team-mate didn’t make it out of Q1 and then gave Red Bull another 6th which is the best that package is capable of right now. His engine deciding to join in with the fireworks at the end was amusing, but unfortunately it will cost him soon. Hamilton, Raikkonen, Grosjean and Perez also had strong weekends.

    Just a sympathetic mention to poor old Jenson. That has got to be one of, if not, the worst weekends of his F1 career. Just a mere 30 laps(?) completed and really only active in Practice 2 and 3. With engine upgrades for Spain, surely things can only get better…

    1. Kvyat is an inexperienced rookie who got the RBR seat just because someone didn’t like JEV and they had to promote someone into the second seat. Saying that Ricciardo did better than Kvyat is like saying Grosjean did better than Maldonado. Thats not too hard.

      He would have probably finished 7th if Mr. Crasher hadn’t crashed into back of the recovering Massa.

  47. I don’t think Button can really be included in this poll, he didn’t actually do any driving this weekend!

    1. Technically, he drove on Friday, though it would mean we need to also include the other FP1 drivers then!

  48. petebaldwin (@)
    20th April 2015, 23:13

    I didn’t vote for Lewis last weekend because I felt he had it too easy and wasn’t tested. This weekend, he had to sacrifice a gap he’d built up for the benefit of Nico at the pitstop, and managed to pull a gap again. He’s got it absolutely right with the car at the moment like Vettel did at Red Bull having been challenged early on by Webber.

    Not everything went right for Lewis this weekend but he didn’t make any mistakes and asserted his dominance.

    Kimi had a great race but he can’t take any credit for the strategy. He repeatedly asked what was going on over the radio and the team had to explain he was in good shape!

  49. Driver of the weekend? Hamilton no doubt about it.
    Pole, controlled race.
    Raikkonen was superb on the second part of the race, but he will win the pool.

  50. Raikkonen made it a much more intriguing race to watch. Seemed to be quick all weekend too, from what little I saw of practice.
    So many cars had issues, it’s hard to judge many of the drivers, or their team mates.
    Smart move by Nico Hulkenberg to arrange to drive something more competitive in his next race (the third Porsche, at Spa in 2 weeks!)

  51. It was between Hamilton, Raikkonen and Bottas primarily for me.

    Bottas defended 4th from Vettel but considering Vettel was far from error-free on Sunday, that was probably not exceptional. We’ve seen Hulk do that with several champions on several occasions in the past.

    Hamilton had a good Friday and Saturday but the fact that Mercedes was not confident in Hamilton and Rosberg to guarantee them a win with their existing set up and requiring to run a compromised set up on Saturday and Sunday shows a strange lack of self-confidence. He had clean air throughout and still ended up with brake issues. Brake issues with Nico is understandable considering the fights with red cars but why for Hamilton? If he couldn’t manage his brakes when he didn’t have any direct threat, that is negative points in the race. He was lucky that there were no safety cars in the second half, else he might have been sitting duck.

    Raikkonen went ahead with a strategy that most (including himself) believed was not the fastest and made it into the fastest strategy in retrospect. He split the Merc pair even in practice sessions. Another point to note was that he was the fastest on the hard tyre even during Q1, though everyone used softs towards the end of Q1. The signs were already there. Other than a couple of tenths off in the Q3, his remaining weekend was really good, considering Ferrari is still behind Mercedes in terms of performance. Considering HAM didn’t have a perfect weekend either, Kimi gets my vote.

    1. When you factor in lapping backmarkers, Hamilton probably didn’t do significantly less following other cars than Nico. Nico made his way pass the Ferraris fairly quickly.

    2. @zenren: Seems a bit harsh. Hamilton downgraded for a mechanical/electrical problem and Kimi upgraded for a strategy he didn’t choose and didn’t want. Bottas compared to Hulkenberg as though that’s a bad thing. You’re hard to please! I enjoyed reading your comments though.

  52. It’s a hard one between Lewis, Kimi and Fernando for me.

    Lewis was pretty flawless, other than a small mistake early on in the race where he nearly lost position to Vettel
    Kimi, wasn’t super stellar in quali, but was the driver of the race on Sunday. His pace and tyre management on the 2nd and 3rd stint was phenomenal
    Fernando had a great quali by putting that GP2 car in P9 in Q1 and P14 in Q2. Although he had to manage fuel during the race and fight a serious power deficit, he nearly got into the points. He had some great pace on the softs in the last stint as well.

    In the end I had to go with Kimi

  53. Shoutout to Hamilton, perfect as always. But as Kimi held the upper hand on Vettel all weekend, with the usual exception of qualifying, and pulled out an incredible race, after an year of getting thrashed by Alonso and being outshadowed by Seb so far this year, Raikkonen gets my vote today. The Iceman truly is back!

  54. Well i vote for IceMan for the above reasons people mentioned here for his good performance on sunday but i have a reason of my own which is his rally participation…i think i was one of the greeks that was only going in Rally Acropolis to get an autograph and speak to him lol and the guy is not how he is appeared in the media, we had great lauphs and he is very good.
    I really enjoy him in Sunday .. i just only hope that he will step up a bit in qualifying.

    1. @bluechris: What a great comment! Nice to hear that about Kimi.

  55. Zak Misiuda (@)
    21st April 2015, 10:49

    I think perhaps running two separate polls; one being “driver of the WEEKEND” and the other being “driver of the RACE” might help some of the less intelligent on this site. I Agree that Raikkonen had a solid race, however he was out-qualified by Vettel on Saturday and had the Mercedes not developed their BBW issue then arguably would have finished third on Sunday. For the time being the poll is so named because it is intention is to establish the most consistently quick driver over the weekend. Whilst I appreciate this is run entirely on people’s opinions, I do wish that everyone could learn the difference between a weekend and Sunday, before going on to make an informed decision on whom they feel performed, most importantly, better than expectation (surely ones team mate is an indication of expectation). With that information, I can’t conceive the mind of an individual who would look at the weekend performance and think that Kimi was the “driver of the weekend”. A more appropriate candidate would be either Hamilton, who trashed his team mate, or Grosjean, whom for most of Friday was slower than Maldonado, yet come Saturdayl out-qualified him and then moved further up the order with great race pace. I mean no disrespect to anyone, it is however becoming rather frustrating.

  56. My vote goes to Kimi..

  57. I am a Kimi fan but this one goes to Lewis, great drive all over the weekend.
    I expect Ferrari drivers to challenge him a bit more after Barcelona, would be great for the championship. Nico did his best but was unlucky at the end, good to see him more aggressive on the track.

  58. Bottas for me.

    Valtteri has been somewhat absent from the last couple of races (and quite literally from the season-opener!), so it was great to see him back to the kind of performance we saw so many times last year.

    Got himself into a position to capitalise on Vettel’s misfortunes, and then did an awesome job defending the position when the German came charging back up behind him in the latter stages of the race.

    Hopefully once the development season gets underway proper Williams can unlock more pace to get Valtteri and Felipe into a position to fight for podiums on outright pace, rather than having to rely on a little bit of bad luck for their rivals, as they are having to do at the moment

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