Vettel wins Driver of the Weekend for third time

2015 Hungarian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend result

Posted on

| Written by

Sebastian Vettel was voted Driver of the Weekend for the third time this year following his Hungarian Grand Prix victory.

The Ferrari driver’s second win of 2015 was every bit as surprising as his first, and earned him more than 50% of the Driver of the Weekend vote.

Sebastian Vettel’s Hungarian Grand Prix weekend

Vettel didn’t have the best of starts to his weekend. He was out-paced in both Friday practice sessions by Kimi Raikkonen, despite his team mate experiencing various setbacks.

As the weekend progressed however, so did Vettel’s pace. He narrowly beat Daniel Ricciardo to the ‘best of the rest’ grid slot behind the un-catchable Mercedes.

Come Sunday however, it appeared as though no-one could touch him. A fast start – made to look all the more impressive by the slow starting Mercedes – saw Vettel into the lead by turn one, with his team mate in tow. From there they eased away from Nico Rosberg, and Vettel in turn was pulling clear of Raikkonen when the Safety Car appeared.

As Raikkonen dropped out of contention with an MGU-K fault, Vettel lost his rear-gunner but kept his head, and just when all around appeared to lose theirs. At one stage it looked as though his rivals were lining up behind him ready to try a move, but as they wiped one another out one-by-one Vettel drove calmly to the flag for his second win of the season, forty-first of his career, and probably the most emotional yet.

Flawless start, great pace compared to Raikkonen and Rosberg on softs. He was unlucky with the Safety Car, when all his efforts were nullified and he was put under pressure. He had the slowest car out of top three and managed to keep Rosberg out of his DRS zone. Just brilliant.
@Kairat

Despite a few niggles during the practice, he got third on the grid and made the best use of a good start by overhauling the Mercedes and going on to win the race. It could have gone astray with the Safety Car situation but the team and driver keep their collective heads.
@Loup-garou

I had a small tinge of doubt about his abilities but not to the point of continually questioning him. None here any more. As others pointed out, his opening lap and breaking of the DRS of Rosberg was brilliant.
@Jabosha

Go ad-free for just £1 per month

>> Find out more and sign up

Hungarian Grand Prix winners and losers

The last race before the summer break offered several drivers who’ve had difficult season the chance to capitalise. Among them were Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso, who claimed third and fifth places respectively, and also figured highly among your top picks.

For me, the driver of the weekend is Daniel Ricciardo. He out-qualified his team mate, and would have definitely finished ahead of his team mate, and possibly fight for the win if it wasn’t for the two stupid Mercedes, Rosberg and Hamilton screwing up his race.
@Ultimateuzair

Alonso was quietly brilliant this weekend. Showed strong pace in practices where team mate Button was languishing in McLaren’s usual position. Alonso was very unlucky not to progress further in Q2, given his promising pace in the improving McLaren-Honda. Steadily making progress in the race, and stayed out of trouble when everyone went crash-happy.

His fifth place was indeed a massive morale boost for McLaren!
@Robertthespy

Did Daniil Kvyat deserve more credit for his best-ever finish of second? His engineer wasn’t that impressed with his drive and nor, it seems, were most of you:

I’m not at all unsurprised by the lack of votes for Kvyat. He was ordinary all weekend, slower than his team mate, and picked up a time penalty in the race for an off-track overtake. He really lucked into second.

Though if I can say one positive thing, at least he was there to pick up the pieces, but that doesn’t constitute a Driver of the Weekend vote.
@Mathers

It was a strange weekend for Lewis Hamilton, who dominated proceedings on Friday and Saturday only to suffer a disastrous race. Nonetheless he still attracted 3% of the vote from those who pointed out his Hungarian Grand Prix wasn’t a complete write-off:

Hamilton drove the worse race we could have predicted, and he still extended his points lead over Rosberg.
RP (@Slotopen)

2015 Driver of the Weekend winners

RaceDOTW winnerVotes
2015 Australian Grand PrixFelipe Nasr60.6%
2015 Malaysian Grand PrixSebastian Vettel66.4%
2015 Chinese Grand PrixLewis Hamilton44.5%
2015 Bahrain Grand PrixKimi Raikkonen57.1%
2015 Spanish Grand PrixNico Rosberg60.0%
2015 Monaco Grand PrixLewis Hamilton37.3%
2015 Canadian Grand PrixSebastian Vettel41.6%
2015 Austrian Grand PrixNico Hulkenberg34.9%
2015 British Grand PrixLewis Hamilton44.4%
2015 Hungarian Grand PrixSebastian Vettel51.9%

2015 Hungarian Grand Prix

Browse all 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix articles

40 comments on “Vettel wins Driver of the Weekend for third time”

  1. Ricciardo […] fight for the win if it wasn’t for the two stupid Mercedes, Rosberg and Hamilton screwing up his race.
    @Ultimateuzair

    Not sure if it wasn’t Ricciardo himself who ‘screwed up his race’. He made quite some mistakes in Hungary, the move over Rosberg was bold but he really went for it from too far and in so doing rushed his own downfall.

    1. @jeff1s This debate could go on for the rest of the year but I think it is quite clear that the contact came after the corner, not when he was going for it. Obviously it wouldn’t have happened had he not gone for it, but it didn’t cause it either.

      1. I just wanted to point out that at the point Rosberg took the racing line, Ricciardo was on the outside, and almost completely behind. As far as the rules go, that makes it Rosberg’s line to take. Ricciardo should have yielded, as most others would have at that point. I doubt he did it on purpose, as he probably thought he was clear of Rosberg’s wheels. Just a silly mistake, but it waas Ricciardo’s mistake. Rosberg did nothing wrong at all. Ricciardo went for a full on dive bomb down the inside, which saw him lock up and run way too deep. Rosberg switched back with ease and was almost completely clear on the inside when they touched. Stewards calling it a racing incident was the right choice, but if anyone was to blame, it would be Dan.

        I’ll also note that I say this as an Aussie and a big fan of Dan Ricciardo. He’s one of the ballsiest drivers out there. I also have a particular dislike of Rosberg’s entitled attitude, I think he’s a tool.

        As far as Hamilton’s contact with Dan, that was 100% Hamilton’s fault, and it was a good call to give him a penalty for it.

        1. As far as the rules go, that makes it Rosberg’s line to take. Ricciardo should have yielded

          No it doesn’t. Nowhere in the rules does it say that in that situation the driver behind (i.e. Ricciardo) has to make way for Rosberg. If it did, he surely would have been punished.

  2. Has this ever happened before? Has he ever won the DOTW for the 3 times in 1 season? And this is only the first half of the season! What’s going on??
    :P

  3. Deliver us from Mercedes!

  4. a very deserving winner he is. But if we wins in Monza, it would be quite interesting to see the TIFOSI’s reaction as 2 years he was booed by the TIFOSI after winning the race for res bull but now drives for the home team. I am very sure that he WIL NOT BE BOOED THIS TIME!!
    Id be shocked if anyone Booed Vettel but maybe they will BOO LEWIS HAMILTON AT MONA. If they did that it would be TRULY TRULY AWESOME!!

      1. Thank you for sharing this! An interesting view which I agree by and large.

      2. Vettel is more than simply an underdog. For the first time in his F1 history he is actually proving himself against a universally loved and aknowledged driver.

        1. That must be “for you”. Do you realize “who” you are talking about?
          Very funny these people who think that Vettel has to prove himself against someone or succeed at things they expect of him for them only to move the goal posts. If you don’t want to acknowledge his brilliance your choice. Whatever he does won’t make much of a difference anyway.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      4th August 2015, 13:51

      The Tifosi don’t deserve a result from Vettel to after they treated him as they did. For once, I’d be absolutely delighted with a dominant Mercedes win and a double DNF for Ferrari.

      1. LOL. I think Vettel would like a better result than that as I don’t think he holds a grudge as much as you do. But I cannot say you are wrong!

    2. At the moment Monza doesn’t suit Ferrari at all. Or I should say it suits others much more than it suits Ferrari. So, don’t hold your breath.

      1. I would not be to fast in saying so. Williams did not look that impressive in Austria either. Vettel only fell behind because of an external reason, had nothing to do with the car. He was sailing to third as Massa could not really hang on. If Q is wet and the Ferrari cars have another great start in a dry race we might possibly have another classic setup straight away. Vettel has all the chances he needs to win in Monza, he won there in cars much slower in a straight line three times already.

        1. Difference between Williams and Ferrari were so tiny in Austria that it might have been entirely down to drivers. Williams were in another league in Silverstone anyway.
          You are waiting for a wet quali and a great start for the race in Monza. If that’s Ferrari’s best chance, than yeah, good luck indeed!

          1. Difference between Williams and Ferrari were so tiny in Austria ..

            Tiny? Vettel outqualified Massa in the leading Williams by about four tenths. If not for the 13 second pit stop he’d have finished a good ten seconds ahead of Massa. That’s not a tiny difference in F1 terms.

          2. There wasn’t that much difference in race pace. Only 1 tenth or so. No more than the difference between Vettel and Raikkonen in Hungary.

          3. More than a tenth, since he was ahead of Massa by a lot more than 3-4 seconds before the botched pit stop.

          4. Check the lap times. Max 2 tenths the difference, not more. By the time they pitted it was 30 or something lap.

          5. Vettel was about six and a half seconds ahead of Massa after thirty laps. After some really complicated calculations we can conclude that Vettel was on average a bit more than two tenths of a second a lap quicker than Massa in that opening stint. That’s not a trivial amount on a short lap circuit – over a 70 lap race it would add up to being about 15 seconds ahead at the finish line.

          6. You are splitting hairs, just over 2 tenths just under 2 tenths, whatever. There was 8 seconds between two Ferrari drivers in Hungary, which is not a long circuit either, by the time Raikkonen starting having problems. That would too make 15 seconds at the finish line. Such a difference doesn’t automatically mean one car is slower than the other.

      2. Iirc, Ferrari is bringing an engine upgrade to Monza. That could be a big difference. Then Singapore plays back into their strengths.

    3. What is the ‘TIFOSI’?

      I recall the booing, and negativity re. Vettel by a lot of fans since he appeared, (it was horrid), but team Ferrari have a massive fan base – whoever is driving – red flags-a-waving. Ferrari fans know they’ve got a good driver in their midst and value him.

      I’m a big fan of Seb and hated the nasty unfounded comments about arrogance etc. Now he is in a new chapter, he must have been welcomed into Montello with radiating positivity, which must have felt great after the past few years and has brought out the best in him.

      You won’t be able to hear yourself think for the cheering when the race goes to Monza. Looking forward to it. Go Seb!

      1. @jan54321

        not to mention Seb’s brought two wins in the first half of the season that were very much unexpected.

  5. Daniel Ricardo was the one that brought the race alive. Great pushing in a 4th place car. Going for the win always and not second place.
    Didn’t even see Seb did he have to work as hard for it. Just because he was on the top step and not Merc should default this award.

    1. Wow. You don’t just comment, you also need to belittle others with contempt. Way to go.
      Do you also think Hamilton’s been the “default” winner for the 3 times he won the DOTW?

      1. Sean sounds jealous lol

    2. Congratz to Ricciardo who finished the race 3rd in the car he placed 4th on the grid and he could have even won the race thanks to the SC that closed down the forty something seconds gap. He had to do some hard work what with another trademark start to the race and the power deficit of his car on the straights. He had some scraps with others, but it happens and everyone seems to have their own idea about who was in the right. In any case, great lucky strategy and driver management by Red Bull pit wall.
      Also congratz to Vettel who finished the race 1st in the car he placed 3rd on the grid and he could have easily lost the race thanks to the SC that closed down the twenty something seconds gap. He had a brilliant start, more than just a great launch, as he had to position his car for a better drive and also made way for his teammate to overtake the Mercs. But, later on had to defend against some mightily faster cars after SC period, don’t know how he managed to get out and stay out of DRS zone when Rosberg was already within 1 second.
      Which driver you think had a better weekend is debatable. Hamilton had the fastest car and had the best pace with that car, and he had to work maybe the hardest. How many people think he deserved to be the DOTW though?

    3. Do you think if it wasn’t for Vettel Mercedes would have had such a torrid race anyway?

  6. I think he could have won in Canada, I don’t know. Very unlucky what happened there, though great race for Seb.

  7. Ferrari needs to use different strategies to win races. Like what they did with Raikkonen in Bahrain. But the problem is, they couldn’t have done it without Vettel as a buffer. So maybe they need both drivers at the front of the grid to do something different.
    Are you listening to me Kimi?
    Or it’s gonna be a LOOOOOO….OOOONNGG second part to the season.

  8. I expect a MASSIVE support for Vettel in Monza. Schumacher-esque.

    We should hear the crowd cheering over the engines (thanks V6) if things goes well for Ferrari at Monza, along with most of the Power Unit updates.

    Fingers crossed for a good one, as i’ll be there :D

    1. PU update ?= reliability problems e.g. Canada

      1. PU update at Spa…. Problem solved at Monza. :)

  9. He looks so happy in that photo LOL. Wish him the best.

  10. Good result.

  11. That would be Vettel’s second win at Monza with a Ferrari, engine anyway. Many forget that he won with Toro Rosso at Monza before going to Red Bull.

Comments are closed.