Vote for your 2015 Italian GP Driver of the Weekend

2015 Italian Grand Prix

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

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

Italian Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – Every session at Monza ended with Hamilton’s name on top of the times sheets. Some were closer than others: Ferrari turned the wick up for qualifying and were a genuine threat, but he delivered his 11th pole position of the season and converted it into his seventh win.

Nico Rosberg – Just didn’t get the rub of the green at Monza. First he had to switch back to an old engine specification, then he lost places at the start as he had to dodge around Raikkonen. Having passed Perez and then jumped both Williams drivers at a single pit stop, he was beginning to apply pressure to Vettel for second when his engine let go.

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – Emerged from a trying weekend for Red Bull – which included one Renault engine failing just a few laps after it had been installed – with points for eighth place. An excellent start from 19th on the grid and a very long opening stint on medium tyres was they key to his progress, and an opportunistic pass on Marcus Ericsson at Parabolica on the last lap capped a recovery driver which deserved a greater reward.

Daniil Kvyat – Like his team mate, Kvyat took a hatful of power unit change penalties as Red Bull had an eye on the opportunities offered by the next race at Singapore. He followed Ricciardo through the field but having fallen behind his team mate at the start he wasn’t able to get back ahead again, though he wasn’t far behind at the flag.

Williams

Felipe Massa – Couldn’t improve on his first run in Q3 but it proved good enough for fifth on the grid ahead of his team mate. His track position advantage proved useful at the end of the race when Bottas pushed him hard, but wasn’t able to find a way past.

Valtteri Bottas – Said he wasn’t able to get a good tow in qualifying and started behind Massa. His pace at the end of the race on worn medium tyres was far better and he was beginning to put Massa under pressure as the race finished.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel – Was pipped to second on the grid by Raikkonen by a few hundredths of a second, but easily took the place at the start and ran there until the finish. He might have had a more difficult time had Rosberg’s engine not failed, however.

Kimi Raikkonen – Followed up his best qualifying position in over two years with one of his worst starts. Nonetheless having fallen to the back of the field he climbed back up to fifth at the flag, thanks in part to a very long first stint on soft tyres.

McLaren

Fernando Alonso – McLaren split the strategies between their two drivers. Alonso kept his soft tyres for the end of the race and was shaping up for a pass on Button when his Honda let go.

Jenson Button – Qualified 16th, took a five-place grid penalty but started 15th as the back rows were filled with those who had taken even more penalties. He took advantage of the chaos at the first corner to briefly hold ninth place. However his car’s lack of straight-line speed left him “waiting for the other cars to come by,” he explained. “The other drivers were overtaking me in places that I didn’t previously think were possible.”

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Force India

Nico Hulkenberg – Having been hampered by more technical problems in Q3 Hulkenberg was one of the first drivers to pit in the race, leaving him with a long stint on medium tyres. His pace dropped of badly at the end: “I actually think we had a problem with the car,” he said, “it’s something we need to investigate because I was losing downforce, the car was sliding and the rear tyres were heating up too much”. Nonetheless he only lost one position – to Raikkonen – and crossed the line with Ricciardo and Ericsson filling his mirrors.

Sergio Perez – Briefly moved up to fifth at the start before Rosberg came past, then had to give up another position to Raikkonen who passed him easily in the DRS zone. Nonetheless collected a solid sixth place.

Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen – Went into the race knowing he would have to take a drive-through penalty after his team sent him out in qualifying without securing his engine cover fully, which shattered as he accelerated towards the Curva Grande. Nonetheless in his first Monza race he produced more of his late-braking flair as he recovered to finish 12th behind his team mate.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – Finally saw the chequered flag again after a string of failures in recent races, however a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage when he went off at the start cost him a shot at a point.

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – Out-qualified Maldonado as usual but a first-corner tangle spelled an early end to his race.

Pastor Maldonado – Both Lotus drivers were out early on as Maldonado also sustained damage on the first lap.

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson – Felt he produced “one of the strongest races so far this year”, holding eighth early on and keeping the press on Hulkenberg. However he lost eighth at the final corner to Ricciardo.

Felipe Nasr – Picked up a puncture in the first-corner melee which dropped him out of contention for points.

Manor

Will Stevens – Started from the rare heights of 13th due to other drivers’ penalties, but the Manors slipped back to their usual positions by the end of the race. Stevens had the measure of his team mate at Monza, beating him to the flag by 13 seconds.

Roberto Merhi – Felt there was room to improve on his performance and it looked that was as he was consistently shaded by Stevens.

Driver of the Weekend: My choice

Among the stand-out candidates for me this weekend were Vettel, who had another solid weekend, Massa, who continued to shade his highly-rated team mate, and Hamilton, whose emphatic domination of proceedings makes him a very strong candidate. But Hamilton faced even weaker opposition than usual last weekend due to his team mate’s power unit problem before qualifying.

I therefore opted for Ricciardo who made one of the best starts of the year, got the most out of the alternate strategy by running long in the opening stint, and brilliantly took eighth place within sight of the line. He was dealt a very weak hand at Monza, yet he played it for all it was worth.



Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton1st-0.306s50/5011stNot on same lap
Nico Rosberg4th+0.306s0/50117thNot on same lap
Daniel Ricciardo19th-0.109s52/5218th-7.568s
Daniil Kvyat18th+0.109s0/52110th+7.568s
Felipe Massa5th-0.187s49/5313rd-0.361s
Valtteri Bottas6th+0.187s4/5314th+0.361s
Sebastian Vettel3rd+0.054s53/5312nd-43.818s
Kimi Raikkonen2nd-0.054s0/5315th+43.818s
Fernando Alonso16th+0.096s3/47118thNot on same lap
Jenson Button15th-0.096s44/47114thNot on same lap
Nico Hulkenberg9th+0.691s0/5217thNot on same lap
Sergio Perez7th-0.691s52/5216thNot on same lap
Max Verstappen20th12/52212th+15.867s
Carlos Sainz Jnr17th40/52211th-15.867s
Romain Grosjean8th-0.077s1/10
Pastor Maldonado10th+0.077s0/10
Marcus Ericsson12th-0.441s52/5219th-48.353s
Felipe Nasr11th+0.441s0/52213th+48.353s
Will Stevens13th-0.181s50/51115th-13.094s
Roberto Merhi14th+0.181s1/51116th+13.094s

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 2015 Italian Grand Prix weekend?

  • Roberto Merhi (0%)
  • Will Stevens (0%)
  • Felipe Nasr (0%)
  • Marcus Ericsson (5%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
  • Max Verstappen (3%)
  • Sergio Perez (5%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Jenson Button (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (13%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (9%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Felipe Massa (9%)
  • Daniil Kvyat (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (7%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (48%)

Total Voters: 654

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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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177 comments on “Vote for your 2015 Italian GP Driver of the Weekend”

  1. James (@jamesjames123abc)
    7th September 2015, 13:28

    I voted for Marcus Ericsson. I’d say it was probably his strongest race weekend of the season, whilst being under the radar. His 3-place grid penalty was deserved, but just happened to be behind another car on an out-lap, whilst also being very close to the fast-approaching Hulkenberg – a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    However, I do expect Hamilton to win the DOTW as he had a very dominant weekend. Ricciardo had a great race too.

    1. Had Ericsson got past Hulk when he was pressuring him he would have gotten some solid points. Looks like Sauber turned up the power in the engine for Quali and Race. They didn’t have any good top speed during the Practice sessions. 3 point-finishes in a row for Ericsson is impressive. I got high-hopes for Ericsson at Suzuka where he won a lot in the Japanese F3 championship

    2. Ericsson took out three cars in the first corner…

      1. My bad that was actually Nasr.

        1. You were right first time @rapid it was Ericsson. Started 12th and stayed right all the way down to T1.

          1. I see, thanks for correction.

    3. Boom, wrong. It was he who triggered the whole multi-car accident in Turns 1 and 2…

  2. Massa, for me. Solid throughout. Even if he thinks he’s getting too old for this!

    I might have voted for Kimi had he not made a sheep’s knacker of his start.

    1. I can’t decide between Ricciardo and Massa…

    2. Unbelievable. Raikkonen has twice as much votes as Vettel.

      1. Interesting to note how many votes Raikkonen has and yet I haven’t seen a comment from anyone saying why he was the best (apologies if I’ve overlooked any).

        Any Raikkonen voters out there care to chip in?

        1. I had to think long and hard about this one but eventually I went for Raikkonen @keithcollantine despite the likes of Hamilton, Massa, Ericsson, Verstappen and Ricciardo all being worthy candidates.

          Raikkonen did well in qualifying to topple Vettel, which has been a rare occurrence this season. The start did look pretty odd, and it wasn’t just a slow start – it looked from what I could see to be an issue with the car. Despite this, Raikkonen not only managed to carve his way through the field, but looked after his tyres better than any of the other front runners as well. Given what happened at the start, I felt that finishing behind the two Williams was the best he could have managed.

          However saying that, if Rosberg didn’t have his power unit give up on him in FP3, Hamilton would have been my DOTW, and it would have been an easy decision.

          1. His quali time was too close to Vettel’s to say he really was faster at Monza. Especially since he got the tow from Vettel. And I don’t remember a single overtake not heavily assisted by DRS.

        2. Raikkonen had a good qualy (think best result of the year for him.) As for the start, I haven’t heard anyone confirming that it would have been his fault. So I assumed it was technical. He had a strong race pace too, its a shame we haven’t got a chance to see what he could deliver from ‘actual P2’. My guess is that he would have out raced he’s team mate! (The Merc of Lewis was obviusly mission impossible on this track.)

          1. Your guess would have been wrong.He was not on his team mate’s pace. Like, at all.

          2. I remember when Vettel made the same kind of recovery (from P18 actually) in Canada this year, he even got voted driver of the weekend.

            Kimi did the best he could, he was never gonna catch the Williams no matter how fast he was gonna fly in the pits.

        3. It’s interesting people don’t realize Raikkonen’s pace in free air was much slower than his teammate. And that even his in-lap & the mistake with pit lane entry cost him valuable seconds.
          In no way he deserves higher votes than his teammate. Unbelievable.

        4. @keithcollantine Looks like there’s still legions of Kimi fans here.. :P

      2. Apparently no one’s aware how much off the pace Raikkonen was compared to Vettel. And it’s too much to explain with the couple of overtakes Raikkonen had to do. Especially considering he was in free air for most of the time.
        He also had a terrible in lap, lost around 2 seconds, and almost got rear-ended by Merhi.
        No one knows whose fault it was at the start. He might have botched it or saved it.
        But I wouldn’t give him twice the same score of his teammate just because he was 5 hundreds of a second faster in quali. And probably thanks to the tow he got from Vettel too.

  3. Lewis could not have had a better weekend

    1. @pastaman, his Q3 lap wasn’t that strong though, he even said so himself after the session.

      1. Ah ok, I will change my vote then

  4. Ricciardo for me. At the back of the grid through no fault his own and recovered excellently to salvage a few points.

    I would have gone for Hamilton for the Grand Slam but with Kimi stalling on the line and Rosberg with one hand behind his back (old engine) it was all a little too easy!

    1. Rosberg being at times 1 second of his team mates pace isn’t a result of the old engine, Yes the engine upgrade has some performance upgrade but it’s not worth anywhere near that much of a deficit. Not to mention Hamilton was managing to do the same time on his 23 lap old soft tyres as Rosberg was on his brand new mediums. Even with the new engine it would of been a uphill battle to match Hamilton on pace this weekend.

      1. and don’t forget Rosberg should have been faster than Hamilton since he had the advantage
        of 0.8psi lower tyre pressures. This surely demonstrates Hamilton out drove the car.

        [ joke for the humour impaired ] :)

  5. Lewis Hamilton CLEARLY is the driver of the weekend. He led EVERYTHING FROM START TO FINISH. Case closed.

    1. We wouldn’t have the debate and poll if sheer statistics decided it. Hamilton had no one in equal machinery to measure against, no one in superior machinery to over come.

      Case open again people.

      1. Nope, case definitely closed, people (and other creatures.)

      2. Hamilton leading te poll by 50%.

        Case closed!

      3. If it was that bloody superior, Kimi wouldn’t have posted a time within 0.234 seconds in Q3, now would he? And Vettel was only .064 seconds behind *that*.

        Less than 3/10ths a lap doesn’t equate to a 15 second gap after 24 laps, and it certainly doesn’t mean a 25 second gap after 53 laps.

        Senna has fastest car– Senna’s a world champion driver. Schumacher has fastest car– he’s a world champion. Vettel has fastest car– he’s a world champion.

        Hamilton has fastest car– It’s all because of the car, or his teammate, or luck, but never the driver.

        1. Were you not around for the Vettel era? You couldn’t move for people saying it was all down to RB/Newey.

        2. I’m not taking away from Hamilton as a driver, I’m not even saying it isn’t fair to say he has a claim for driver of the weekend. But it’s not open and shut just because of statistics.

          And qualifying pace and race pace are not equal. Quite a few times in 2013 the Mercedes had great qualifying pace but fell away in the race.

          Even Rosberg who qualified behind both Ferraris had superior race pace on the old engine.

  6. The weekend was all about Hamilton lets be fair. But I was really impressed by Massa. He out qualified Bottas and managed to out race him as well, even under intense pressure in the dying laps. Given the odd limbo position Williams find themselves in at the moment it was just about as well as he could have hoped to have done, so he got my vote.

    1. Just because you dare to use “lets be fair” in a sentence, it doesn’t make you right or fair.

      1. Just because you dare to use “lets be fair” in a sentence, it doesn’t make you right or fair.

        @paul It also doesn’t make him wrong or unfair.

      2. Let’s be fair: his right!

  7. For me it was between HAM, RIC, VES and PER. I was impressed by Verstappen; his overtake on Button was great. I fully expected him to collide with Button who had the inside line, but Verstappen left him a cars’ space and overtook without touching.

    Ultimately I voted for Ricciardo. He has been stunning lately, and his race from the back of the grid was impressive. If he ever gets a capable and reliable car, I can see him winning the WDC. He’s on the same level as HAM, VET and ALO.

    1. It’s just a same we didn’t see the move on Ericsson on the last corner on the TV Coverage!

    2. To be honest, overtaking Button is not that big of a deal..lol

  8. Nobody really stood out for me on this one. Hamilton naturally did well, got the best out of the best car. Vettel did the best the Ferrari was capable of. Massa and Bottas did what the Williams could do. Both Force India’s ran decently and well, and I expected the Red Bulls to come charging through. Raikkonen for a good fight back? Nah.

    In the end I gave it to Marcus Ericsson. He’s brought it home in the points a few times lately, and even here starting behind his higher-rated team-mate due to a bit of a harsh penalty still managed to get himself into the points. Have to admit I’ve always considered him a bit of a non-entity pay driver but am quite impressed he’s doing well in that Sauber.

    So I gave it to him. Someone I didn’t expect to do well at all, actually did quite well all things considered.

  9. Very hard not to choose Hamilton, on results he couldn’t have done any better. But given Rosbergs loss of the updated engine he didn’t have any challenge really. He admitted himself the pole lap wasn’t as good as his lap in Spa. Can’t help but feel the car did this one for him.

    But Ricciardo was faster than his team mate in qualifying and had to fight fight up the field for what by rights should only have been 11th and was rewarded by other drivers misfortune making that 8th.

    1. “But Ricciardo was faster than his team mate in qualifying” – Ricciardo didn’t set a lap for quali?

      1. In Q1 he did, and he was faster than Kvyat’s time in both Q1 and Q2.

  10. Voted for Vettel. He is always in charge to gather maximal points for the championship. He would been so close to rosberg if he did’nt had the tyre blow-up in belgium. In my opinion Vettel is a genuine threat to rosbergs “safe” runners-up title. Solid good race for him, reminds me a little bit on alonso in his ferrari years
    Also credits to verstappen, riccardo and massa

    1. To be fair to Rosberg, he also is not guilty for the engine failure. So I would say Vettel and Rosberg are equal on reliability issues that forced them to retire.

      1. you’re right .. but rosberg had a technical issue (mercedes fault) and vettel had a tyre issue for which ferrari isn’t responsible

        1. Yes I agree.

      2. No. They are not. Did you forget Canada? Vettel lost lots of points because of his team. They had botched pit stops in 2 races too.

        1. @hamman,

          That is why I said “equal on reliability issues that forced them to retire (the car)”. I didn’t want to make it too complicated by summing up every issue. Of course you are right, I also think in total Vettel had more issues he couldn’t influence than Rosberg.

  11. Hamilton had a flawless weekend.

    FP1, FP2, FP3: Fastest in every session.

    Q1, Q2, Q3: Fastest in every segment whilst registering three laps which were fast enough for pole position.

    Race: Led every lap with the fastest lap and a 25 second gap to second on pure pace. Grand Chelem.

    Bellissimo!

    1. More than half of this isn’t mentioned in the driver-by-driver summary.

      I wonder why.

      1. @shrieker – because it’s covered extensively elsewhere on the site? I don’t read anything into it myself.

    2. Good stat. I hadn’t noticed that. I know that Vettel never managed that – he once came close I think but he wasn’t fastest in Q1 due to using the harder tyres.

      1. And he built most of that 25sec lead whilst saving the engine. At least we know he was saving it from about lap 35 onwards.

  12. As per tradition, one of the biggest gaps between teammates is Vettel vs Raikkonen.

  13. Hamilton, Vettel, Massa.

    Funnily enough.

  14. I had to vote Daniel Ricciardo. The reason is simple – I expected Hamilton to dominate when Rosberg changed his engine pre-qualifying. I expected Ferrari and Williams to battle it out for the podium. I did not expect Ricciardo to charge through to finish just behind a Force India.

    A shoutout to Marcus Ericsson who produced a strong race. Had he just passed Nico (he was way faster but lacked the top speed) he would have been a certain P7 because Ricciardo would not have caught both Hülkenberg and then Ericsson.

  15. Jelle van der Meer
    7th September 2015, 15:20

    For me Lewis was Driver of the Weekend all the way simply because he was the best in every session.

    When was the last time a driver finished 1st in every session held during a Grand Prix weekend and set the fastest race lap? I can’t recall such a feature in recent history.

    1. Vettel did it 4 times …

      1. Nope, he got 4 Grand Chelems. But in each of his, another driver was fastest in at least 1 session over the weekend. In the current format of 3 practice sessions and 3 qualifying sessions, this was the first time a driver was fastest in every session, led every lap on his way to winning the race, and set the fastest lap. Hakkinen in Brazil ’98 was apparently the last to do the same, though the weekend format was different back then.

        1. And this is why I gave Hamilton my vote. He did something that has NEVER been done in the current weekend format! Incredible display from him this weekend.

      2. No Vettel has 4 “Grand Chelem’s”, which is not the same thing. In fact, surprisingly, Vettel has never achieved what Hamilton did last weekend.

        Of the 4 times Vettel achieved a Grand Chelem:
        – 2011 Indian GP: Vettel was not top in P1 or P2
        – 2012 Japan GP: Vettel was not top in P1
        – 2013 Singapore GP: Vettel was not top in P1
        – 2013 Korean GP: Vettle was not top in P1 or P2

        1. Yeah. Really big achievement. NOT

        2. 2011 Indian GP : Petrov was fastest in Q1
          2012 Japan GP : Grosgean was fastest in Q1
          2013 Singapore GP : Hamilton was fastest in Q1
          2013 Korean GP : Raikonnen was fastest in Q1

          So what exactly is a grand slam : “A Grand Chelem or Grand Slam is scored in motor racing if a driver scores pole position in qualifying, the fastest lap in the race and then winning while leading every lap of the race in the same weekend”

          So what hamilton did deserve another name a super grand slam or something like that.

    2. the last driver to record a grand chelem and top all other sessions was Mika Hakkinen in 1998

    3. Who the hell really cares about who tops the “practice” sessions??? Apparently the same fans who keep emphasizing that Hamilton’s won races in each season he’s been a part of.

      1. Merabella – many of us here are “stat freaks”. It’s important. Now please excuse me, I have to check that all my office furniture is properly aligned…

        1. I m aligning pencils already, you are so slow…

    4. Imo, 2 grand chelems in a row is a much bigger accomplishment.

  16. Hamilton was unbeatable this weekend, but… I’m a sucker for comebacks.

    I feel like Massa deserves this one. He’s actually shown glimpses of his old self this race, plus his season is coming together nicely this time around and he seems to regain the upper hand over Bottas fair and square and quite confortably. On top of that, if he can keep it up he’s looking at his best championship position since 2008.

    Not that bad for guy that’s constantly been labeled as a walking relic by a large majority of the paddock and fans for years now.

    1. well said.

    2. @tony031r
      I’ve got to admit that I thought we’d see Bottas on the podium once Nico retired, but Felipe drove really well in the last few laps and deserved to keep his position. One of the best drives Felipe has produced in quite a while.
      He’s looking very happy at Williams, and has possibly been the most improved driver of the last season and a half. I feared he’d disappear into obscurity after leaving Ferrari, but if anything he’s come back better than ever. The old boy did well !

      1. Bottas has been really disappointing of late

        1. @johns23
          I’m not sure about that, for me Felipe has been back at his best since the end of last season. And if we consider that in his younger days he was often a match for Schumacher (team orders aside), and would have beaten Fernando far more often if it hadn’t been for team orders, then effectively he was (at his best) at least as fast as two of the best drivers of the last twenty years.
          As such I think it’s more a case of Felipe performing better, rather than Bottas being disappointing.
          The real disappointing thing for me is that Williams haven’t been able to keep up with the development race, obviously there are some good reasons for this (mainly financial), but I’d hoped they’d be able to keep improving and give their drivers a car that was better able to take the fight to Mercedes and Ferrari this season.

          1. @beneboy

            As such I think it’s more a case of Felipe performing better, rather than Bottas being disappointing.

            I thinks it’s a case of both. Massa has performed better on average this season, no doubt about that.
            On the other hand can’t help but notice that Bottas is getting absolutely demolished as of late. Massa beat him 3-1 in quali and 4-0 in the race on 4 of the last 5 occasions (Hungary aside). I call that a textbook slump in form.

    3. That’s why I decided on Massa. I loved his comment at the end about his fight with Bottas: ‘I’m too old for this!’

  17. Has to be Hamilton this week.
    Cannot fault him except when he said on the radio “that wasn’t cool guys!”. I thought it was ‘cool’ especially when he was asked to race the clock at the end!
    Well done also to Marcus, and there was some good racing by the RBR and TR guys as well coming from the back. Verstappen again overtaking in places you wouldn’t expect it!

    1. especially when in the end he ended up 25.042 s ahead with just enough to survive a
      25s penalty if awarded….. could have been very dramatic and those laps could have made the difference by a whisker which was quite an amazing display really.

  18. Has it ever happened before that a driver dominates every single session of the weekend plus takes the grand chelem? maybe @keithcollantine can help here.

    1. Jim Clark holds the all-time record with eight grand slams (or grand chelems as they are sometimes known), but Sebastian Vettel has the most of the current grid. The German has completed the set of pole position, fastest lap, every lap led and victory on four Grand Prix weekends in his career, most recently at Korea in 2013.

      source: formula1.com

      1. Does that include leading all practice sessions too?

        1. As im sure lewis has several grand chelems himself… The unique thing about this weekend was that he lead every session priorvto the race as well as a grand chelem. Maybe that is included in vettels stat though?

          1. Several? This was the second. First one was last year I think?

        2. Dean, to quote Joe (in comments above) –

          “this was the first time a driver was fastest in every session, led every lap on his way to winning the race, and set the fastest lap. Hakkinen in Brazil ’98 was apparently the last to do the same, though the weekend format was different back then.”

      2. Obviously I wasn’t talking about just grand chelem (aka grand slam). I was talking about leading every sigle session of free practice, plus every single session of qualy, plus grand chelem. I believe it never happened before, but I might be wrong.

        1. How long has there been 3 practice sessions and 3 quali sessions? Why don’t you share that too?

          1. @gary the format is not important. The answer I was looking for arrived from another comment: last guy to dominate every single session in the weekend was Hakkinen, almost 20 years ago, in 1998.

  19. if we are looking for someone that spiced up the race i guess Kim is the man 2nd on the grid screwed up the start end up last by the first corner and 5th by the end of the race,
    he managed to pass over at least 15 cars one way or another, not bad for a number 2,
    why he has such a bad day every time he competes is beyond me?
    either screws up qualifying or has a big off or bad start, Kim please put one race together so everyone will vote for you..

    1. He still got twice the votes of his teammate. That’s tragedy.

  20. petebaldwin (@)
    7th September 2015, 15:52

    I went for Hamilton this time. I actually think he’s less deserving of it this weekend than he has been on others when I haven’t voted for him but no-one else really caught my eye.

  21. (P1+P2+P3) + (Q1+Q2+Q3) + Grand Chelem == Driver of the Weekend. Regardless of circumstances.

    First time ever?

    1. How are you going to evaluate that? P1, P2, P3, Q1, Q2, Q3 haven’t existed since the beginning of the championship. It’d not been that hard or impressive for Hamilton to have accomplish that.

      1. Nevertheless, first time ever then…

        There are many “first time ever’s” from the beginning of the championship. All probably due each time to change in the make-up of the formula. True it would have been quite the feat seeing Will Stevens achieve this result, but since the beginning of the championship, that’s not how it has ever worked…

        1. @psynrg Probably. But it’s as pointless as saying that Vettel is the first driver to get 1796 points, due to the lack of actual comparison.

      2. It’d not been that hard or impressive for Hamilton to have accomplish that.

        And what kind of experience behind the wheel do you have in order to make that judgement? I suppose you are a regular at Monza driving around at 200mhp+.

        1. @woodyd91 If we’re going to base every and any comment on how much we’ve driven at those speeds in F1 circuits, then comment sections would be completely empty ;-)

          1. Albert, @woodyd91 – Hyperbole used for emphasis shouldn’t be taken literally.
            Paul’s comment

            “It’d not been that hard or impressive for Hamilton to have accomplish that.”

            is easy to refute – in all the races under the current regulations, it’s the first time it’s ever happened.

    2. Jim Clark holds the all-time record with eight grand slams (or grand chelems as they are sometimes known), but Sebastian Vettel has the most of the current grid. The German has completed the set of pole position, fastest lap, every lap led and victory on four Grand Prix weekends in his career, most recently at Korea in 2013.

      -Formula1.com

      I’ve heard quite a few people here saying its the first time so …

      1. Grand Chelem plus other bits is what we’re investigating. Of the modern era it appears HAM is the first for the P1, P2, P3, Q1, Q2, Q3, GC?

        I’ve read elsewhere (Reddit I think) that Schuey managed all practice sessions, pole + GC, but that was a different qualy format…

    3. @psynrg It’s a shame though that the only machinery able to match his is Rosberg’s one, and unfortunately he was switched back to an old-and-about -to-die engine.
      I’d probably go for him had he at least some battle but on lap 3 he already had a 2 second advantage, he just cruised around with his new incredible PU.
      It was a perfect weekend for Hamilton, but certainly not a hard one for him, so this time I went for Massa instead who bettered everything his teammate did.

  22. Michael Glasgow
    7th September 2015, 15:59

    When I say that people still underrate Felipe and they be offended:

    “Felipe Massa – Couldn’t improve on his first run in Q3 but it proved good enough for fifth on the grid ahead of his team mate. His track position advantage proved useful at the end of the race when Bottas pushed him hard, but wasn’t able to find a way past.

    Valtteri Bottas – Said he wasn’t able to get a good tow in qualifying and started behind Massa. His pace at the end of the race on worn medium tyres was far better and he was beginning to put Massa under pressure as the race finished.”

    When I commented in a post here, that it’s always like that, Felipe never gets the credit he deserves, and the guy who wrote was offended. It always goes: “Felipe finished in front, but was the slowest of them two.” “Felipe outqualified Bottas, but just because Bottas has had cramp.” “Felipe should have let Bottas pass.”.

    He needs to prove you guys wrong EVERY SINGLE RACE, and I am amazed that you guys never learn, I am waiting to see what’s the next excuse for Massa be beating Bottas. But what makes me say this is that when it’s the opposite, it goes: “Bottas was perfect to claim the podium.”, “Felipe was outpaced by Bottas.”

    1. Felipe a good driver indeed and he has his great moments, but his inconsistency over the years has somewhat dulled the perception of him as a great driver.

      Bottas is still in his start-up phase. Massa no doubt in the twilight of his career…

      1. Bottas is in his third season and is 26. I don’t class that as a start up phase.

        I agree with you Michael Glasgow, I think Massa drove a great race and I voted for him, and I think his season is one of the best he’s ever had, 4th in the championship and beating his teammate.

        1. I guess I’m qualifying “start-up phase” with “not quite made the jump into a contemporary tier 1 team with lead driver status, yet”.

          Of course, that’s not to say that’s guaranteed and he may well go the way of a Massa, i.e. a safe pair of hands, but not the one you’d necessarily bet the lot on.

          1. Honestly I think Bottas just missed the shot at Ferrari.
            He is clearly not in start-up phase anymore.
            I don’t know if he will ever make it to a big team, and certainly not with the kind of performance we see now.

        2. By 26 Vettel was 3xWDC, was he not?

  23. Who is giving those votes for Raikkonen? Considering no one’s mentioned how brilliant he was in the comments, I am guessing – his fans?

    1. He was the fastest driver who wasn’t Hamilton during qualifying and beat his team mate on merit(for the first time this year?). And yes, that stall was painful to watch and Raikkonen just can’t resist recovery drives, but last to fifth is awfully impressive and he passed almost everyone on the way. He won’t be the driver of the weekend, but he’ll get a few votes.

      1. He passed everyone using DRS. They were all awfully boring overtakes. And he didn’t pass the cars on par with his, just the ones like Sauber, STR etc. He passed some in pits. That’s been the story whole season so far. It was nothing like Vettel in Canada. I remember Raikkonen getting stuck behind cars his teammate managed to get past.

        1. When it’s a boring overtake that means he’s doing it right.

  24. Tricky one. Ericsson put out both Lotuses at T1 with a GP3 move so he’s out of it afaic. Kimi blew the start. Massa was caught by his teammate. Bottas was outqualified by his teammate. Vettel was outqualified by his teammate. Lots of drivers you just can’t tell really. Lewis has enough going for him already tho I loved thos ‘uncool’ hammertime laps at the end. Checo, why not.

    1. @lockup That was Nasr, not Ericsson.

      1. Ant on the Skypad said it was Ericsson @psynrg

        I’ll take another look

        1. Yeah Erisson started 12th, Nasr 11th and they each stayed on their grid side into T1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnPshzMx_uU

          It was Ericsson. Good drive otherwise.

        2. @lockup fairplay, thanks for the lookup :) I think someone needs to tell Grosjean too!

    2. Vettel getting outqualified didn’t irk me one bit. Considering Raikkonen got the tow from him…. And the difference was half a tenth…

  25. Hamilton, grand slam, it’s not possible to do better. Case closed

  26. Hamilton. Honourable mention to Pérez, who had a very strong weekend and couldn’t conceivably have finished higher. And hats off to the Williams duo for their racy (pun intended; let me know if it worked) finish.

  27. Gave it to Kimi. Outqualified Vettel for the first time and to do it at Monza was special.

    A real let-down in terms of the race start but used the pace of the car to manage a respectable 5th. Wouldn’t have challenged Hamilton for the win anyway but might have provided Ferrari with some options on the pit strategy.

    Nevertheless, a good qualifying and a good race for Kimi. Hopefully he has had a taste of all the misfortunes and continues his good form into the end of the season.

    Great drives from Hamilton, Massa, Bottas and Vettel as well but Kimi gets it despite the goof up for beating his team mate on raw-pace on Saturday and making most out of the race after falling to the last spot.

    1. @evered7 Kinda hard to be DOTW when you can’t even finish ahead of your teammate. He did indeed a better lap in qualy, but that means very little when you lose 18 places at the start.

      1. Hard to beat the team mate after being last at the first corner while the other guy is 2nd and having an uneventful race :)

        I haven’t heard anything about the start yet, but if it was Kimi’s fault, bad on him. But he made best use of the equipment to come back to the front with a clean race.

        1. @evered7

          Hard to beat the team mate after being last at the first corner while the other guy is 2nd and having an uneventful race :)

          Ferrari suspects driver error.

    2. Did he put it in neutral at the start though? Haven’t heard what actually happened yet but sounds like something he might do to be honest… maybe I’m too harsh?

      1. @john-h: I saw a discussion on a less reputable site where a thread was proposing that a vodka bottle was jammed under the clutch pedal. My first reaction was “what clutch pedal”, then my sense of humour caught up with me.

  28. I think Kimi’s gotten unfairly hammered for his start– It was obvious on the start replay that he dropped the right clutch lever and nothing happened. His qualifying was spectacular, and his race was impressive.

    I’d say it’s got to be very close between Raikkonnen and Hamilton.

    1. It’s quite possible he didn’t select first gear….

  29. Hamilton deserves to be 5th driver of the weekend, now after Rosberg’s retirement, he’s on way to celebrate his 3rd title in F1 which he extends 53 ahead of Rosberg. So I wonder if Rosberg is saying goodbye to the championship and that means Hamilton is alone or if he isn’t given up. The luck is still there, Rosberg.

    Hamilton could be the driver of the weekend because:
    – He topped every sessions so far (FP1, FP2, FP3, Q1, Q2, Pole, Win, FL)
    – Not only that tifosi are booing him, because he doesn’t drive as Ferrari and tifosi wanted Ferrari on top step, but he denies the Ferrari for top step cause he needs to break the records.
    – At the start he made an awesome start in the first corner, when Vettel didn’t find the way to overtake him, he just dominated the Italian GP by 25 seconds and that mean like it’s 2011 all over again when Vettel dominated with Red Bull.
    – I’d like to see some kind of a repeat for Hamilton as Vettel in 2011, he made is real confidence that his car is so serious quick ahead of these rivals. My bet is is they can’t beat that guy, he’s pretty unbeatable all day long. Great Britain has some awesome drivers like Nigel Mansell, Jenson Button, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart etc.

  30. I really don’t know how Hamilton to a big extent and Raikkonen have the majority of votes. Hamilton was just on a Sunday afternoon cruise, and Raikkonen had one o the worst starts in Formula 1 history.

    This is why I went for Daniel Ricciardo. He did well in qualifying or the situation that he was in and had to start almost at the back due to the Renault engine letting him down once again. He managed to finish in the points, which was something that I did not expect, especially on a high speed track like this.

    Honourable mentions to Vettel, Ericsson and Massa.

  31. Ericsson. Scored points again and fought with Hulkeberg during the entire race (who has a better machine). Impressive for a guy with an underdog Sauber.

  32. Is it possible the results for Hulkenberg and Raikkonen are switched 12% seems like a lot of comedy vote for Raikkonen. 0% doesn’t seem right for Hulkenberg who had a good weekend is generally well regarded on this site.

    1. @slotopen
      Getting out-qualified and beaten by your team mate doesn’t sound like my definition of a good weekend.

  33. “Don’t ask questions. Just execute.”

    I liked the way he handled himself. I’m a big fan, so a little partisan maybe, but as it’s been said and written countless times before, a few years back and Lewis would have imploded at this command.

    He didn’t ask questions. He just executed… immediately setting the fastest lap. Beautiful. I know the car he’s driving is the best on the grid, but not every one of those drivers on Sunday would have reacted with the discipline and sheer pace that Lewis did, even if they’d been in the Mercedes. For me that was a multiple WDC performance.

    I loved it. I think I must have panicked more than he did! And of course, his “I have to say, those last few laps were not cool, man” comment, was, perfectly balanced I think. And ever so slightly amusing.

    Honourable mention to Massa. Didn’t think I’d be writing that…

    1. @bad_whippet

      He didn’t ask questions. He just executed… immediately setting the fastest lap. Beautiful. I know the car he’s driving is the best on the grid, but not every one of those drivers on Sunday would have reacted with the discipline and sheer pace that Lewis did, even if they’d been in the Mercedes. For me that was a multiple WDC performance.

      Let’s not overreact. He drove extremely well, indeed. But he followed a relatively simple order (“push, don’t ask”). Remember they are a team that work together 7 days a week, it’s simple naive to think that the drivers aren’t prepared for these kinds of scenarios.

    2. I dunno @bad_whippet

      a few years back and Lewis would have imploded at this command

      Lewis was brought up in the McLaren way of letting the team do the thinking. Paddy was talking about it the other day. Hence China 2007 of course, and Monaco 2015.

      Anyway an instruction to go faster would have been music to the ears of the young Lewis Hamilton! It was being overtaken and ‘frickin terrible ideas’ stopping him winning that used to wind him up (and still do to some extent).

      Anyway I agree his reaction was perfect. Especially pointing out to Bono that going hard necessarily involves more risk! As Nico unluckily proved of course. Then to stay cool and not try too hard to get past Hulk at Ascari was impressive too, I thought.

    3. I guess you didn’t hear his reaction to those commands….

  34. Much as I might hate to admit it, it has to be Hamilton, he drove a flawless race with absolute perfection. Yes, I know no one was really pushing him after the first few laps, but to maintain that level of performance for that long is something else.

    1. But why would you “hate to admit it”? This isnt the “driver i’d like to admit is the DOTW” poll is it? Just being facetious.

  35. I don’t always vote for the winner, but a Grand Chelem and leading every session? That’s mighty.

  36. Voted for Hamilton. Q1 + Q2 +Q3 + Grand Chelm. I did not include practice sessions because teams are doing their own programs. What amazed me was that Lewis was putting fastest lap after lap when he was given instruction to build a 25 sec gap to Vettel. This Mercedes car is a rocketship and with the final homologated PU, they are very far ahead of other teams.

    Good drives by Massa, Vettel, Ricciardo , Verstappen .

  37. Well that may be harsh for Hamilton, Vettel, Massa, Perez and Ricciardo. That may look a weird choice that still surprises myself. I voted for the least charismatic, least spectacular driver in the field: Marcus Ericsson.

    With a Sauber that is the third slowest car of the grid, he qualified in the top ten and finished some dominating 48 seconds ahead of his team-mate.

  38. Maybe Hamilton should win this but maybe he shouldn’t. Rosberg wasn’t doing that bad until his upgraded PU stopped working. Yet I’ve seen comments saying that Rosberg shouldn’t have been beaten in Q3 by the 2 Ferarris who had upgraded PUs themselves. Anyway, Hamilton simply had no competition, and his car was found to have irregularities and only got of due to technicalities
    Ericsson and the 2 Red bulls did a superb job and so did the 2 Force Indias
    Okay, Bottas got beat by his teammate in qualifying and in the race but he didn’t do much wrong
    Kimi beat his teammate in qualifying but its worth noting that he did this during his 2nd run in q3 when they didn’t swap places. Seb was 1 of the first guys to do his 2nd lap in Q3 and gave Kimi a massive tow. Seb ,Kimi actually improved during their 2nd runs in q3.
    Maybe Vettel should win this.

    1. @mim5

      “Hamilton simply had no competition, and his car was found to have irregularities and only got of due to technicalities”

      The technicality being that the pressures were measured at the wrong temperature? That the pressures were correct when the tyres were fitted (at the right temperature)? The FIA got it wrong, not Mercedes, not Pirelli. Technicalities indeed.

  39. L.Hamilton who else? Fastest in every FP 1-2-3 , every Q 1 2 3 and finally gran slam , pole-win-fastest lap and leader on any lap!!! What left ? A perfect weekend for Lewis. no one could do anything, even Rosberg. Lewis when needed to pick up some quick lap haded in his pocket for fun!

  40. It’s easy to pick Hamilton, he was perfect, but we didn’t have anyone, not even Rosberg, with equal machinery for comparison. Massa was great, though not improving in Q3 and benefitting from Bottas’ tow certainly helped. He’s turned the tables around at Williams.
    My pick was Ericsson. Qualified high up, stayed there during the race and his team mate was nowhere to be seen. This time Ericsson deserved his place fully.

  41. I believe that this exercise should be for the number two driver of the weekend for almost every race of the year, because there are no better driver than Lewis Hamilton, and what we did in other races, was to select another driver different than Lewis, during this race we can choose Vettel, Massa, Riccardo, even Perez to be the number two, but definitely Lewis is the driver of this weekend.

  42. Led all practice sessions, led all parts of qualifying. Led all laps, fastest lap and won by 25 seconds.
    Hamilton easily.

    1. It’d be dishonest to give it someone else.

      He’s not my favorite driver and I am not a fan of his, but he was far ahead of everyone else, he left no room for ambiguity.

  43. i gave my vote to ericsson. he’s always been faster than nasr lately. maybe he read keith’s mid-season ranking and wants to not be in last by the end of the season. so far, he did everything right to do so.

  44. Massa.

    The reason I dislike Hamilton getting it now is the same reason I disliked Vettel getting it during his dominant runs. Let’s see, a great driver in a car that is waaaaaay out in front, who suffers no incidents while his teammate suffers (effectively) an engine failure dropping him back to an old spec and far less powerful engine, and who is behind a stalled car at the start, and who’s only competition into the first corner was said stalled car. And he avoided a penalty that could have rightfully been given.

    I get that he drove very well, and I’m not a Hamilton-hater, but other drives in lesser cars were more impressive in my opinion.

    1. I disagreed with you until your comment about the penalty (or lack thereof). Now you’re simply wrong.

      The only ones who did anything wrong regarding pressures is the FIA, for taking a pressure reading at an inappropriate point in an inappropriate way.

      1. @fluxsource – +1 Be prepared to defend against that slur on the Merc engineers again and again, I’m seeing it a lot (although not so much on this site where people seem more able to read before commenting).

  45. I voted for Massa because that was one more chance that he proved to be at least a bit faster than Bottas and also a great skills on defense once more (remember Austria this year against Vettel). Hamilton is a great driver with a great car, no doubt about it. I just think Rosberg is off on luck this season. I don’t remember last time they had a blown engine.

    1. He did well in Austria, his defensive driving is well. Though he didn’t have to do too much for too long as Vettel barely caught up with him at the end.

  46. In light of the psi mess, Hamilton is this time excluded from my picks. The Mercs are on a league of their own hard to judge Ham’s race. Kimi I believe in him, about the start and his pace was there.

    1. @peartree – the PSI mess caused by the FIA not sufficiently training its technical delegates you mean?

      1. @tribaltalker Santa what? I knew this is a grey area, and I think Mercedes had no need to be so cautious they would explore the grey are on the psi. Smedley said .3 would take much more than minutes to decrease, let alone 1.1. There’s no way you can mess up a read.

        1. Smedley can’t fit four of the same tyres to his cars so I wouldn’t take him as an authority.

  47. Lewis by a long way as no one else caught my eye this weekend. Was very happy for Ericson as he had a solid weekend. Good on him

  48. Give it to who you want, but to say Lewis doesn’t deserve it BECAUSE no one was in equal machinery is just plain silly.
    The upgraded engine is not 1 sec faster than the old one. And Lewis would still have gotten pole, and probably still won – IF he had the old engine (reliability aside).
    When they both used the new engine in FP1, he was miles ahead of Rosberg. And using his last Q3 lap as a comparison of how Ferrari challenged for pole is missing the picture. he was up on both S1 & S2 on his last Q3 run before something happened at S3. And Rosberg alluded to it that Lewis’s engine may have been turned down at that point.
    This point is, he had the pace to get pole and win this race – irrespective of what engine he used. I mean, Rosberg, who was off the pace all weekend was challenging Vettel for 2nd after falling back to 5th at the start!

    1. @kbdavies
      The poll is always going to be subjective, and everyone has their own way of judging who was the driver of the weekend.
      I didn’t vote for Lewis, it’s not that I think he did a bad job, I just thought he did what I’d expect any driver with his car to do, which is qualify first and win the race.
      He had no competition from his team mate, and his only challenge in the race came from his own team.
      It’s not Lewis’s fault he’s got a dominant car, and I think he’s driving well and will deserve to win the Championship, but unless he’s got someone to race against, or some other obstacle to overcome it’s unlikely I’ll vote for him this season (just like I rarely voted for Sebastian when he was in a similar situation a few seasons ago).

      1. Of course.

  49. Ericsson ,solid weekend

  50. Lewis hamilton was awesome.yes he did it in a dominant merc but I doubt at this form any other driver in the grid in a second merc can match Lewis may be Alonso can.

    1. And Vettel, but that’s it really. The rest wouldn’t do much better than Rosberg.

      1. By that I mean the best of the rest, as over half would do worse.

  51. Hamilton unlocked the ‘Sublime Talent’ acheivement on F1 2011 (!) at this race; setting the fastest time in every session.

    I don’t recall that ever happening before (maybe Vettel did it once or twice – please tell me if so) for that reason he gets my vote.

  52. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    8th September 2015, 18:52

    Hamilton.

    From the start, he could pull away from the whole grid. Vettel could also pull away from the whole grid in some of the first laps of the race.

    But Hamilton pulled away much more than Vettel.

  53. The driver of the weekend for me was Hamilton.

    He was dominant all weekend, quickest in every single session, and the only thing which would have stopped him winning was either reliability problems or if the stewards had decided to punish him after their investigation into the tyre pressures.
    When the team asked him to increase his pace late on, even though he already had a considerable lead, we saw that he still had plenty in hand.

    Second would be Ricciardo, starting at the back because of all the engine penalties he still managed to end with a decent points finish.

    Mentions also for Vettel and Massa who probably got the best results they could have hoped for in the circumstances.

    I would have put Raikkonen among the runners up for driver of the weekend but I have not read for definite if he was the cause of his bad start or whether it was the car.

  54. In my opinnion, the best driver of this grand prix was Marcus Ericsson.
    With a 3 tenths per lap penalty, finishing ahead of Kvyat, and both Toro Rosso it’s amazing.
    At the start of the season, I believed that this driver was absolutely terrible, but I think that, since Silverstone, he has improved a lot.
    My best wishes for him.

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