Vote for your 2015 Mexican Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2015 Mexican Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

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

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

Mexican Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Mercedes

Rosberg: Brake fire on Friday, top step on Sunday
Lewis Hamilton – Rosberg had the edge on him in qualifying for the fourth race in a row, but Hamilton indicated his set-up was more race-orientated. However being snookered behind Rosberg from the start gave him little opportunity to demonstrate whether that was the case. He told his team the decision to bring him in for his final pit stop was “wrong”, believing the tyres would last, but deciding against disobeying his team and putting his theory to the test.

Nico Rosberg – Despite missing time in first practice when his brakes caught fire Rosberg took control of proceedings from then on, heading the two remaining practice sessions and claiming his fifth pole position of the year. The small but important margin he built over Hamilton was wiped out by the Safety Car, but despite his team mate’s best efforts Rosberg always had an answer.

Red Bull

Kvyat: Close to second career podium
Daniel Ricciardo – Largely left his car settings alone in qualifying as he tried to make sense of the fluctuating track conditions. Under pressure from Williams with their high straight line speeds, Red Bull pitted Ricciardo later than the FW37s giving him a tyre advantage which he wielded to brilliant effect when he dived past Massa. However he was unhappy to use another set of soft tyres when the Safety Car gave them a free pit stop – he wanted to give mediums a try.

Daniil Kvyat – His engineer called his qualifying run a “solid effort”: he pipped his team mate by a thousandth of a second despite losing four-tenths in the final sector. Kvyat won further praise from Christian Horner after the chequered flag, having been on course for a podium until he was easily passed by Bottas in the first DRS zone.

Williams

Felipe Massa – “A terrible lap” reflected Massa after understeering off at turn seven on his way to seventh on the grid. Couldn’t follow his team mate past either of the Red Bulls in the race, losing out to a lunge from Ricciardo, and admitted afterwards he had struggled for rear grip.

Bottas: Survived another tangle with Raikkonen
Valtteri Bottas – A suspension breakage ruined his race in the USA, but in Mexico his contact with Raikkonen gave Bottas cause to thank the solid construction of his Williams. Having run behind both the Red Bulls at the start he beat them to the final podium position. He did so by making an early first pit stop, muscling his way past Raikkonen, jumping Ricciardo in the pits and out-dragging Kvyat at the restart.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel – Was within two-tenths of Hamilton in qualifying and believed he could have been closer. His race was a nightmare, however: first-corner contact with Ricciardo gave him a puncture, after which he spun twice. “The last one obviously ended my race and I am not proud of it,” he confessed afterwards.

Kimi Raikkonen – His problems began during final practice, which was disrupted by a power unit problem. Although quick work by his mechanics got him onto the track in time for Q1, a brake problem ended his running in Q2, and subsequent penalties relegated him to 19th. From there he worked his way past the slower cars and was on course for a solid points finish when Bottas appeared in his mirrors with fresh tyres. Raikkonen cannot have been unaware Bottas was alongside him at turn five, so exactly where he thought the Williams would go when he turned in is unclear.

McLaren

Fernando Alonso – Pointed to McLaren’s promising second and third-sector times after being eliminated in Q1. There was no positive spin to be found for his race, however, which ended after one lap. “We had an MGU-H rotation speed problem,” he explained afterwards. “We didn’t have enough time to replace it, so we were left with two options: to race or not to race. We went for the first option, and tried to do as much as we could, out of respect for the amazing fans here in Mexico.”

Jenson Button – The nadir of a particularly bad season? Power unit problems throughout practice meant he couldn’t take part in qualifying and racked up a record 70-place grid penalty. McLaren’s straight-line speed deficit was even worse than usual in the thin Mexican air, and Button came home a distant 14th.

Go ad-free for just £1 per month

>> Find out more and sign up

Force India

Perez: Home hero was undone by strategy
Nico Hulkenberg – Following a misunderstanding with his race engineer Hulkenberg lined up tenth, five-hundredths of a second off his team mate. They diverged on strategy in the race, Hulkenberg making a two-stopper which turned out to be the better approach.

Sergio Perez – Force India expected better conditions at the end of Q3 and sent both drivers out then – only to discover the track had actually deteriorated. Perez narrowly won the intra-team contest this time. In the race he made two crowd-pleasing passes in the stadium (one aided by Sainz being told to let him past) but when the Safety Car came out Force India mistakenly believed they could gain him two places by not pitting. That didn’t pay off, but he held his position despite ending the race on 53-lap-old tyres.

Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen – Headed first practice, crashed at the start of the second, but was Toro Rosso’s only representative in Q3. He managed his cooling-troubled car to ninth place in the race.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – Was running well in the race until he picked up a tyre vibration after the Safety Car period and fell out of the points.

Lotus

Grosjean: Salvaged a point on tough weekend
Romain Grosjean – Terse radio messages throughout practice and qualifying indicated Grosjean’s deepening dissatisfaction at Lotus. He was consistently strong through the first two sectors but in sector three only the Manors were slower than him in qualifying. Despite his downforce deficit, Grosjean brought the car home for a point.

Pastor Maldonado – Lined up behind Grosjean as usual and kept it clean in the race – despite a brief off at turn 12 – and finished right on his team mate’s tail, albeit aided somewhat by the Safety Car.

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson – Having been plagued with braking problems caused by bottoming in practice, Ericsson nonetheless beat Nasr to be the only Sauber in Q2. He had more braking trouble in the race, and points never looked likely.

Felipe Nasr – Struggled with the low-grip surface and failed to progress beyond Q1. He wasn’t able to keep on top of his brake problem in the race and when the Safety Car came out they soon cried enough.

Manor

Will Stevens – The battle between the Manor pair was one of the more interesting features of the race. Stevens was ahead most of the way but he wa sunahppy with his switch to a one-stop strategy having been happier on the medium tyre.

Alexander Rossi – Got back onto the soft tyre at the end of the race and demoted his team mate to take 15th at the flag.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton2nd+0.188s6/7122nd+1.954s
Nico Rosberg1st-0.188s65/7121st-1.954s
Daniel Ricciardo5th+0.001s3/7125th+3.11s
Daniil Kvyat4th-0.001s68/7124th-3.11s
Felipe Massa7th+0.119s1/7126th+6.901s
Valtteri Bottas6th-0.119s70/7123rd-6.901s
Sebastian Vettel3rd-2.449s0/212
Kimi Raikkonen19th+2.449s21/210
Fernando Alonso18th0/10
Jenson Button20th1/1214th
Nico Hulkenberg10th+0.072s53/7127th-8.483s
Sergio Perez9th-0.072s18/7118th+8.483s
Max Verstappen8th-0.048s71/7129th-13.543s
Carlos Sainz Jnr11th+0.048s0/71313th+13.543s
Romain Grosjean12th-0.223s62/71210th-0.604s
Pastor Maldonado13th+0.223s9/71211th+0.604s
Marcus Ericsson14th-0.489s50/57312th
Felipe Nasr15th+0.489s7/573
Will Stevens17th+0.25s45/69216th+10.372s
Alexander Rossi16th-0.25s24/69215th-10.372s

I say

Kvyat deserved to be on the podium and would have been had it not been for his under-powered engine. That said, I can’t begrudge Bottas his top-three finish, especially after his forceful pass on Raikkonen.

However I was most impressed this weekend by Rosberg. Coming off the back of three consecutive pole-to-defeat races, he needed this result and had pressure from his team mate all the way. If this is the kind of performance we can expect from him in the future, 2016 should be much more competitive.



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 Mexican Grand Prix weekend?

  • Alexander Rossi (1%)
  • Will Stevens (0%)
  • Felipe Nasr (0%)
  • Marcus Ericsson (1%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
  • Max Verstappen (2%)
  • Sergio Perez (4%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Jenson Button (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (1%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (15%)
  • Felipe Massa (0%)
  • Daniil Kvyat (15%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Nico Rosberg (57%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (2%)

Total Voters: 461

 Loading ...

An F1 Fanatic account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here or read more about registering here

When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

91 comments on “Vote for your 2015 Mexican Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

  1. Rosberg. Finally got the chance to prove he’s able to hold Hamilton back.

    Of course, as per Brazil 2014 and (partially) Russia 2015, he’ll end up with far less credit than he deserves..

  2. Voted for Kvyat, who was on course for an impressive podium until the safety car screwed him. Other good races were Rosberg and Perez. But difficult to know who did well in the race, safety car voided all tyre strategies.

  3. Between Bottas and Rosberg. Kvyat and Verstappen are also good shouts but I eventually went with Bottas. Perhaps he did get lucky with the timing of the safety car, but he had the opportunity to deliver and he delivered.

    Rosberg also had a very strong weekend. Hamilton had no answer for him whatsoever.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      2nd November 2015, 14:24

      @craig-o I’m not so sure that Hamilton or that the track had no answer. It’s possible that the Mexican track is Monaco-esque in its lack of air. These cars really like air and the effects of the dirty air might be stronger with less air due to the higher speeds that they can achieve. Denser air might also create a totally different vortex than 20% less dense air – there’s no way to know which one is better from an aerodynamic standpoint but one thing I noticed is that no car managed to touch their teammates’ car once the race started.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        2nd November 2015, 17:59

        Maybe true for race result but for FLAP or Q Hamilton had no answer indeed! Michael

      2. @michael, omg seriously? one if the funniest made up nonsense I’ve seen to why the God Hamilton lost!!! Thanks for the laugh :)

    2. Red Bull gambled wrong on Bottas taking a pit during the SC, this had Kvyat lose out on 3rd, my driver of the race.

      Verstappen did well also considering the engine overheating issues, still managed to fight off the Mercedes powered Lotus’ and bring home a few points.

    3. I agree, Bottas did well what the pits told him “jump him at the restart, because the soft have a harder time to warm up…
      He did, and did it well.

    4. @craig-o I don’t think you can categorically say Hamilton had no answer for Rosberg. Ham started the race 1 sec behind and finished 1 sec behind. Considering it’s harder to follow and Rosberg had an option to pull ahead I would say they were even in the race. It’s true Nico did a better job at quali and he is therefore a better driver this weekend. Let’s just not go overboard and claim total domination.

      As for overall, I would disagree with majority that he was the best driver this weekend. If anything the poll shows our expectations of Nico were quite low and him proving lots of ppl wrong makes his stand out that much more. I’d probably give DOTW to Kvyat.

  4. I voted for Rosberg. Didn’t allow himself to be intimidated by hi team mate and saw off his challenges.

    Really good drive and hopefully will give him more confidence for 2016.

  5. Bottas for me, especially getting payback on Raikkonen.

  6. No one stood out for me, so I’ll give it to the champ as default; he’s basically testing extreme set-ups for next year’s demolition of his team-mate. The fact that he was able to pressurise his team-mate in a troubled car is pretty impressive. Shout out to the Hulk for beating his team-mate at home, shout out to Mercedes and Vettel for securing Rosberg’s 2nd place in the championship,and big up to Bottas for not yielding to Ice-man. Senna, Schumie, Ham, Vet and Alonso would be very proud of him. Average performance from Kvyatt for finishing 2s behind a Williams despite being on options.

    1. A troubled car?

      1. Heard that he was running a Honda engine apparently. That was a scintillating race for Hamilton who used ‘Flintstones’ style paddling to substitute for the lack of power in the Honda PU.

        Hence his doubt when the team asked him to pit, for he knew his heels were not burnt and could easily carry on for another 50 laps. :)

    2. No one stood out for me, so I’ll give it to the champ as default; he’s basically testing extreme set-ups for next year’s demolition of his team-mate. The fact that he was able to pressurise his team-mate in a troubled car is pretty impressive.

      That’s a lot of just guessing…

    3. What troubled car are you talking about?

      1. The one that exists in his head only.

      2. Hamiltons car was much heavier than Rosbergs as he is now carrying Ayrtons batton.

    4. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      2nd November 2015, 21:58

      This is why we can’t have nice things.

      1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        3rd November 2015, 10:51

        @come-on-kubica people with that logic (or lack of it) are the reason why polls have an error margin. I am particularly surprised to see Vettel has 1%. Even being his fan, you can’t deny he was mistake-prone during the race.

        1. @omarr-pepper

          I’m guessing the vote(s) for Vettel were ironic – in the sense his mistakes livened up an otherwise unexciting race.

          It would have been great to see how he did had he not punctured in turn 1.

    5. +1, no one stood out

  7. I voted for Kvyat, his best race of the season.
    He deserved podium.

  8. Kvyat – Robbed of a podium by Mercedes power and tyre choice that made him exceedingly vulnerable at the restart. He may have only enjoyed a lone thousandth of as an advantage over his teammate in qualifying, but in the race he looked to enjoy a far more comfortable margin in what was, for the most part, going to be a sublime drive to a podium. All evidence that questions the viability of a driver system that now places the 21 year-old Russian under pressure from an eighteen year-old.

    1. Robbed of a podium in the same way Forc India are robberd of a podium due to having a lesser chassis than RedBull. Car is a package if it is not fast enough tough luck, maybe Rossi and Stevens could get a podium if they had the chassis and engine.

  9. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    2nd November 2015, 14:16

    Can someone tell me if there were any similar car-on-car passes during the race? Even Vettel seemed to have a hard time with Maldonado (Ferrari on Lotus). The only passes I remember were Bottas on Kvyat and Bottas on Raikonnen and the last one was more of a crash than a pass.

    Ricciardo couldn’t close up on Kvyat, Hamilton couldn’t close up on Rosberg (lost 1 second trying to do so at some point radioed that it’s hard to keep up in that sector), Vettel couldn’t even pass Maldonado. Same goes for Perez and Hulkenberg, and the same for Maldonado and Grosjean.

    Is it fair to say that it’s almost impossible to pass at the Mexican track despite the ridiculous low downforce and crazy speeds?

    1. @freelittlebirds They were driving Monaco like df levels.

      ridiculous low downforce

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        2nd November 2015, 14:30

        @xtwl My understanding is that they were driving Monaco-like rear wings to generate Monza-like downforce which has the lowest downforce. We’ve seen passes at Monza but it seems like the air prevented drivers from making any move on a teammate. Even Maldonado almost hit the wall without another car:-)

        Many cars were lined up with their “sister” cars but none managed to come within wheel distance. That was weird because you’d have expected at least 1 of those drivers to be in a position to “outpace” their teammate or be quicker. None were and the fact that Vettel couldn’t pass Maldonado speaks volumes.

  10. One of the more easy picks of the season to me. Drove a superb qualy lap to beat faster cars. Had a great start and for sure the pace for third after Vettel was out of the mix. Bottas was no match for him even in his much faster car. Kvyat was on his way to a very deserved podium and the Williams cars were never going to catch him with their early stops. Bottas got very very lucky with the SC as it saved their desperate attempt at a one stop. Kvyat was the man on form in Mexico, not Rosberg or Bottas.

  11. Roseberg, hopefully he carry this performance and attitude not only for the next 2 races but the next season as well.

  12. Bottas and Kvyat both had pretty decent races, but I’ll give my nod to Rosberg. He simply outclassed Hamilton all weekend and gives some hope for 2016.

  13. Bottas was my pick as he moved up the grid and managed to give Kimi some payback while doing it. Voting for Rosberg is basically saying you’re the driver of the weekend because you didn’t screw up or blow up. Not my criteria for the vote.

    1. I’d add to that: beating your world champion team mate fair and square on pace

      1. 3 times world champion who many think is a legend (I would not disagree) so hell of a job to beat him to pole, fastest race lap and the race victory.

  14. Obviously Rosberg. Have the perfect weekend, always having answer to Hamilton pace and I’m sure he still have few tenth in the pocket.

  15. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    2nd November 2015, 15:01

    Rosberg.

  16. Rosberg. Brakes on fire in P1 but he was on fire all through the weekend to claim pole, fastest lap and the win eventually.

    His restarts from behind the safety car have been superb, at least in Austin and here. Controlled the race and replied to Hamilton’s FPs by setting one himself a lap later. Did a mistake running across the grass but other than that, a perfect weekend for him cementing 2nd in the WDC.

    If he ever wants to win the WDC, he has to Eat, Sleep, do a Mexico, Repeat!

    Kvyat had a good race as well but was unfortunate to see his advantage erased by the SC. But I felt that Ferrari were the only cars to remotely even match Mercedes here. Unfortunate they decided to have the rotten race of the season here.

    Brazil can’t be any worse :)

  17. Vettel. Stand-out performance – have never see him drive like this before.

    Hold, on is this for worst or best “driver of the weekend”?

    1. Just joking, I voted Kvyat. But I see 2% did vote for Vettel!

      1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        3rd November 2015, 10:58

        @mike-dee it wasn’t me. I swear! :)
        But it is surprising how some people take the time to vote despite knowing deep inside they are not being objective.

  18. It has to be Rosberg. Nobody else left much of a mark. The whole race was very dull, despite an amazing atmosphere. Mexican fans 10/10, but in the race only Rosberg impressed me much.

    1. I’m impressed by the big gap between Nasr and Ericsson in qualifying though. Ericsson kept that up in the race. Good drive from him, but what does that matter when it happens so far down the order?

  19. Going for Verstappen again. Perhaps not such a headline grabbing result, but he was much better than of Sainz again.

    Unfortunately his car overheated at the end. Would have liked to see him at least try to take on Perez and his Mercedes powered FI.

    Funny how Hamilton taking a win is “easy because he’s driving the fastest car”. Yet when Rosberg does it he’s DOTW? Underdog effect I guess.

    1. Seeing that Hamilton has won it 4 times this season and that he has ‘the natural speed’ and what with him being the best thing since sliced bread (according to a few Hamilton fanatics), beating a ‘poor’ Rosberg in a machine that is in a league of its own shouldn’t really be much of an event. The reverse on the contrary though is worth mentioning and hence all the votes to Rosberg.

      1. Well in this case they wouldn’t even let Hamilton try to take Rosberg on. So yeah.

      2. @evered7 You just answered your own question.

        1. @mashiat I asked a question?

          1. @evered7 Apologies, it was meant for the comment above you which asked the question as to why a Rosberg win is voted so much more, and my reply was exactly what you stated

          2. @mashiat cheers! No issues :)

  20. Keisoglou Alexandros (@)
    2nd November 2015, 16:09

    Between Kvyat and Rosberg. Ultimately i went for Nico. Finally faster than Hami, not just on Friday and Saturday, but come race day as well. He kept his head down, focused, and delivered a masterclass. For once, his nerves were bigger than his heart, and his speed was at least on par with Hamilton’s. The 8 meters he won by clinching Pole Position was pretty much his margin of victory, so it was a throughoutly deserved victory for him. Kudos.

  21. Rosberg. After a silly mistake in Texas and some understandable glove-throwing, he bounced back very strongly. If he’d driven like this all year, Lewis might have had a proper battle for the championship.

  22. For once I voted for Rosberg, he won on merit this time, a wind guts free race, everything Hamilton tried he had an answer for, but the team helped him a lot with the two stops strategy, Hamilton managed his tyres to prepare for the end but his plans were cancelled by his team, to bad cause we would have had a great fight in the end, also overtaking in the same car seems very difficult in this track.

  23. In my opinion, Rosberg is easily driver of the weekend. He beat Hamilton in all areas this weekend, and was very consistent. Who on earth voted for Hamilton and the two Ferraris? Dreadful performances from all of them. I haven’t seen Vettel drive like this since 2010! Raikkonen is the new Maldonado, having crashed out for the third race in a row. Why does he still have a seat in Formula 1? And Hamilton was just off the pace.

    1. @ultimateuzair I voted for Rosberg but I am not that optimistic (own opinion though), having not been saved by the second pitstop the outcome would have changed as he struggles more with old tyres than Lewis.

    2. Don’t be silly, Raikkonen was driving beautifully from lower down the grid and would undoubtedly have had the podium until Bottas decided to wreak his revenge and smash the Finn off. (wasn’t me though!)

  24. My DoTW vote goes to Lewis purely on the basis of his sportsmanship. If he wanted he could have overtaken Nico at any point of the race, but decided to throw a bone, a win and a WDC 2nd place to his “angry” teammate to preserve the peace within the team. Smart driving IMHO, since he is already a champ and there is nothing left for him to prove this year. He was thinking for next year and I’m sure those fastest laps he kept putting out constantly will stay in the back of Nico’s mind for a long time. The 2016 Mercedes intra-team mind game is already in Lewis’ favor.

    1. You seriously believe what you are writing?

    2. My DoTW vote goes to Lewis purely on the basis of his sportsmanship.

      Whaat .. ?

      If he wanted he could have overtaken Nico at any point of the race

      Whaaat … ??

      there is nothing left for him to prove this year. He was thinking for next year and I’m sure those fastest laps he kept putting out constantly will stay in the back of Nico’s mind for a long time.

      Whaaaat …. ???

  25. I was greatly impressed by two drivers who’ve been a little off their team-mates this year… Kvyat and Rosberg.

    Went with Rosberg, though.

    1. kvyat was in the 2nd half of the season faster than ric

      1. Kvyat has certainly scored more points in the second half of the year, but I think Ricciardo has been driving far better lately. I can recall a brief period in which Kvyat was on top, but that’s about it.

  26. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    2nd November 2015, 17:01

    I’m beginning to think that Hamilton’s biggest weakness might be his safety car starts. I wonder if he does it on purpose so he can pass “on pace” but he seems to never capitalize on the closing of the gaps as soon as the race starts. We witnessed Rosberg capitalize on Ricciardo – almost questionably so since during VSC they are supposed to keep the gaps but how they would do that is beyond me since you’d need a supercomputer to do that:-) Ditto for Bottas, he pounced immediately after the end of the Safety Car, granted Kvyat’s car was slower but he still positioned himself, tried it and pulled it off.

    1. I don’t even recall the last time the leader was overtaken on a SC restart! I don’t think it is a Hamilton weakness particularly, it is just that the leader gets to put his foot down first and the others are all reacting to it.

      1. @asanator The most memorable one that springs to mind is Montoya on Michael Schumacher at Interlagos in 2001. It must have happened since then, though. Can anyone remember a more recent one?

        1. Melbourne 2002, Coulthard led under the SC but went off 2 corners before green with a gearbox issue. This left… well… MSC leading and Montoya 2nd to the restart. And you can guess which one of them came out of the first chicane in P1. JPM of course.

        2. @keithcollantine @asanator Button passed Ricciardo after the restart in Hungary last year: Button was on intermediates, Ricciardo on slicks.

        3. @keithcollantine I seem to remember in 2006 Button being passed a couple of times on SC restarts, 2006 Australian GP lap 4 restart, Alonso overtook him.

      2. @asanator @keithcollantine Button on Ricciardo, 2014 Hungarian GP? Button was still on inters on the drying track, so he was faster for about 2 laps, and I think he overtook Ricciardo into turn 1.

        1. @hunosci Haha didn’t see this comment :P

    2. during VSC they are supposed to keep the gaps

      The intention is for the gaps to remain the same, but the only rules are not to exceed the maximum time allowed. If the driver ahead drives slowly (as Hamilton did) the field will close up under the VSC. Overtaking is not allowed (full course yellow flag), but the following drivers are under no obligation to drive slower than the permitted maximum time.

    3. I had a similar thought, Hamilton tends to drive along side the car in front, but when it’s time to put his foot down he’s not on the racing line, doesn’t have as much grip and the car behind him seems to get a lot closer to him.

  27. ColdFly F1 (@)
    2nd November 2015, 17:53

    I do not easily vote for a Mercedes driver winning a GP this year.
    They have to show something special.

    Rosberg did exactly that: he was on fire (pun intended), and beat his WDC team mate with a hat-trick.

  28. Bottas. Although I always think media say he is greater than what I think he really is, this weekend he was undoubtedly with the best pace excluding Mercedes’ cars.

    1. Nah, both Ferrari Drivers were on Mercedes pace and quicker than Bottas!

  29. Daniil Kvyat impresses me every time I remember he’s fighting against a 3-time Grand Prix winner.

  30. This one is for BOTTAS . for the payback, and then a podium to top it off.. SUPERB . That’s what an F1 racer should be like.

  31. For me it was Kvyat, also considered Bottas and good drives from both Force India drivers.

    I’m surprised by the strength of the Rosberg vote. Not denying he did a reasonable job and overall better than his teammate over the weekend but I think people are judging him against his own poor standards which isn’t how I judge DOTW. Hamilton had a fairly lackluster weekend and Vettel was really poor leaving Rosberg a free win. I don’t think it was anything to write home about. His main plus point was outqualifying his team-mate and 50% of the grid did the same. He ought to be doing this as a minimum every other weekend just to justify his place in the team. If Rosberg deserves this one then it would be hard to argue against Hamilton for just about every other race this season and that’s not how I’d call it.

  32. Bottas. Massa was miles off his pace until the final runs in Q2 and Q3, but then the Finn had such a strong race that he came back in the fight for my vote. His attempt to pass Raikkonen was way too risky and could’ve ended in tears for him too, but with that bit of luck everything else shone brighter. Kvyat did well, nothing spectacular but solid. Rosberg kept Hamilton at the same distance behind him but he was ahead, all weekend, and deserved his win.

  33. It has to be Button. He started the race 90th and finished 14th!!

  34. Nico Rosberg for me.

    Rosberg showed quicker pace than Hamilton in qualifying. In case, Hamilton’s setup was truly more race-oriented, then Rosberg should be given even more credit as he also had Hamilton under control in the race before the 2nd stop – similar to how Hamilton had Rosberg under control in Australia, Canada and Spa 2015. Hamilton never could stay within 1s despite a potential better setup oriented for the race. Once he seemed to break in the 1s range, he made an error which indicates he was also trying everything to catch Rosberg.

    The 2nd stop was unnecessarily early for both their drivers. And an overtake from Hamilton in the pits thanks to the SC (like Hülkenberg on Perez) would have made his win certainly lucky.

  35. Nico Rosberg, fastest in quali, multiple times, good enough first lap, fastest lap of the race… Beating Hammertime on first pitstops easily.. Solid performance allaround. Always had pace to answer Hamilton..

    He basiclly did a Hamilton like race, and that is quite impressive, on a low downforce track with lots of uneaven grip…and like Hamilton said… No gust of wind.

  36. Hulk had a good weekend didn’t he? He seems rather under-appreciated so I went for him.

    1. Hulk was a little bit lucky with the SC, he was on a 2-stop strategy and had a “free” pitstop in contrast to Perez.

  37. Kvyat impressed me most. He would in all likelihood have had the podium if not for the safety car gifting Bottas the position right on the Russian’s rear wing.

    Rosberg didn’t impress me all that much as Hamilton was seemingly effortlessly keeping right on his tail. Too many echoes of past champions letting their second driver have a win for me to be really convinced.

  38. Went with Kvyat. Very solid drive and well and seemingly had his team-mate covered all weekend (granted I don’t know if Ricciardo had damage during the race). Made up for his error at Austin too.

  39. I wanted to vote Button for making up the most places ever in a race… Qualified 20th (by not taking part), took a 70 place penalty – therefore started 90th? Finished in 14th, thus making up a total of 76 places in the race – surely?!?! ;)

    But that would be silly – of course it has to go to Rosberg

  40. Had to be Rosberg. He was down and out after Austin, but to come back strongly after that race, surely he deserves DOTW this time.

    Kvyat was a close second. Mentions to Verstappen and Hulkenberg as well. Hulk also really needed a clean weekend after few bad weekends on trot.

  41. I voted for Rosberg as driver of the weekend, he had the edge on Hamilton in qualifying and after he managed to retain the lead after the first lap he was never really troubled on his way to a deserved victory.

    Although I voted for Rosberg I think some of the reactions to his weekend in the media and from fans have bit a bit over the top and I think this is because generally he is underrated and so whenever he beats Hamilton people think he must have put in a mega performance, whereas what he did this weekend came as no surprise to me.

    Rosberg may not currently have that bit extra that is needed to win a title but I think he has shown on enough occasions that he is a good driver and that there are Grand prix where he is faster than Hamilton in qualifying, gets pole and maintains that advantage in the race itself.

    I suppose part of the problem with people’s perception of him is that his pole conversion rate has not been that good especially lately

    Having said that about Rosberg, Hamilton is still obviously the better driver of the two and while I was thinking about every drivers race and who to vote for it occurred to me that this was the sort of race where if the performances over the weekend between Hamilton and Rosberg were reversed then I would have been less likely to vote for Hamilton as I would have dismissed it as another standard performance and him just doing what was expected with the car he had.

    Other drivers who I thought deserved a mention were Kvyat and Bottas.

Comments are closed.