Sebastian Vettel voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year 2015

2015 F1 season review

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Sebastian Vettel has won F1 Fanatic’s annual Driver of the Year poll.

The Ferrari driver won three times this year and was the only non-Mercedes racer to take victory all season long.

Vettel also won the Driver of the Weekend poll four times, as many as world champion Lewis Hamilton. The other drivers to win Driver of the Weekend more than once this season were Max Verstappen (three times), Nico Rosberg and Sergio Perez (twice).

Felipe Nasr, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean took a win each.

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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 Belgian Grand PrixRomain Grosjean52.0%
2015 Italian Grand PrixLewis Hamilton47.6%
2015 Singapore Grand PrixSebastian Vettel56.8%
2015 Japanese Grand PrixMax Verstappen29.4%
2015 Russian Grand PrixSergio Perez52.0%
2015 United States Grand PrixMax Verstappen37.6%
2015 Mexican Grand PrixNico Rosberg56.6%
2015 Brazilian Grand PrixMax Verstappen39.9%
2015 Abu Dhabi Grand PrixSergio Perez27.0%

2015 F1 season review

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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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38 comments on “Sebastian Vettel voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year 2015”

  1. Vettel has also the highest percentage for a single race (MALAYSIA 66.4%)

    1. And three over 50%. Hamilton’s were all under 50% (not that it necessarily translates into anything meaningful).

      1. It translates into Hamiltons wins not being especially impressive.

        1. As long as they were impressive enough to clinch the World Drivers Championship,
          I guess it’s ok.

          1. Funny isn’t it, how the people who currently devalue the WDC the most are the people who devalue Hamilton the most.

            Let me ask you this: are you capable of driving a 220mph mid-engined 850hp car for the best part of two hours with a cabin temperature in excess of 50°C and pulling G-forces up to 5G?

        2. Probably a result of how good his car is perceived to be. If a perceived underdog gets a win, like Vettel, then of course the accolades will flood in. But Lewis is expected to win, he’s the best driver in the best car right? So, if he wins it’s just another day at work. I suspect that’s a factor anyway.

          1. Spot on Mike.

          2. The Merc maybe half a second to 1 second faster but even very good club racers who are well above the average road driver would be more than the Merc advantage slower than an elite driver like Hamilton. Very disrespectful how some give the impression that anyone could win in that car. Merc spend millions to make tenths of seconds difference and they will put the best driver in there which they believe to be Hamilton. If any driver could do it they could save millions a year on an unknown driver. Merc are not a charity and do not pay Hamilton a lot of money for nothing. Same with other top level drivers. Nice Vettel won this poll but he would swap this poll fir the title.

          3. If a 17 ears old kid could do that, I think i can pull this thrick out as well

        3. Hamilton’s Great Britain win only got 44% of the vote and that was probably the most impressive win of the season in one of the best races of the season. He did not even get the majority vote for the American race. Says that people generally don’t like Hamilton no matter how objectively exciting his wins are (if there is such a thing).

          1. @david-beau
            It’s nothing to do with people not liking Hamilton. It’s the car that colours people’s votes. Hamilton actually won DOTW more times than Vettel in 2011. The year when Vettel was the best & Hamilton repeatedly floundered.

          2. Driver Of The Weekend is (meant to be) independent of the race result; it’s about who performed the best with the equipment they have and the expectations placed on them. So someone who puts the fastest car on pole and then wins didn’t do anything special, but someone who got a podium from 14th on the grid did, especially if the car’s poor.

        4. For some they may not be “impressive victories” but the truth is that it has earned him several championships. All drivers have bad seasons, but Vettel continues to grow.
          By the way, I don’t know which helmet to choose, but I’m sure that a Sebastian Vettel helmet should buy!

  2. It sure was an unremarkable year.

    1. For who ?

      1. For F1 and the people who watch it.

        1. I agree. I couldn’t even bring myself to vote for DotY.

          1. But you can still comment on it. Would of been quicker to vote.

  3. Deserved then… No wonder Ferrari signed him.

  4. This just underlines what a dismal season it’s been. I can’t think of a single moment that Vettel had me out of my seat this year.

    1. Apart from the 3 superb wins, epic pole and the podium from midfield in the US, I suppose.

      2015 was hardly a classic, but he, Hamilton and Max had plenty of highlights.

    2. ‘Hating on Vettel for no reason is so 2011’

    3. I suggest you re-watch Singapore qualifying. He had pole in the bag, but put in another stunning lap just for the fun of it. He truly crushed his team-mate in that session.

      1. Yeah his Singapore pole was incredible, that was probably the moment of the year for me.

    4. Dan –

      I can’t think of a single moment that Vettel had me out of my seat this year.

      you mean taking both Mercs at the start of the Hungarian GP didn’t do it for you? Or Brundle saying that no one would be able to go under 1:34 for pole in Singapore and Vettel crushed was over a half second clear of Ricciardo (who nabbed fastest lap in the race, so you know the RB was mighty). Or the last lap in Malaysia – even Vettel had to keep it together going for his first win in Red.

      Not a lot of real out of your seat moments in F1. I mean most of Hamilton’s poles were almost to be expected (same with Vettel in the RB – fastest car with one of the fastest drivers). Though Hamilton coming out of the pits in 3rd at Monaco – that was stunning. The gust of win at the USGP was an out of your seat moment. As was Verstappen’s shunt into Grojean at Monaco.

      Thinking about it, it’s usually when something spectacularly goes wrong is when we jump out of our seats.

  5. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    25th December 2015, 18:12

    His Hungary start deserves an “Unbelievable Start Of The Year 2015”.

    1. @iluvsoundtracks It was good, but nothing really special, let alone “unbelievable”.

    2. Ahh that was superb!

  6. I think Verstappen deserves better place in front as well.

  7. Good job Perez! Wonderful season!

  8. Well deserved. Moving from RBR has enabled Seb to show that his 4 WDC’s were as much driver as they were car. Far and away one of the best drivers in the current group, if not the best.
    He’d be completely untouchable if he was in the silver car.

  9. Thank God for Seb – it would have been an unbearable year without his involvement (both in races and off-track, where he livens up press conferences and the like no end).

  10. No One Better (@)
    26th December 2015, 22:09

    Meanwhile….

    Red Bull, Illien, and particularly Ricciardo are licking their chops while Ferrari and its fans go bananas over Vettel and dreams of topping Mercedes in 2016.

    2016 isn’t going to be about Vettel’s attack on Mercedes, its going to be about Ferrari fending off Red Bull and Vettel trying to prove that Ricciardo does not have his number :)

    1. Kyvatt beat Ricciardo who has lost half the time to his team mate. A 1 season wonder is more likely praying his young team mate does not beat him again.

  11. Vettel best driver?! Based on 3 wins but actually more based on Alonso not delivering the year before I guess. Strange outcome but the majority has to be respected. I can think of at least 4 other driver showing much more determination and talent but ok. The votes have been casted, let’s just hope next year we all pay more attention on what is happening beyond the top 3… Still baffled with this outcome…

    1. Who are those four @mayrton ?

      1. @david-a Just a Dutch who is unpleased VES didn’t win.

  12. If Kimi continues to perform the same way he has been doing for the last two years Vettel will be driver of the year 2016 for sure. lol There is just no hope for Hamilton, Alonso or Verstappen to get a look in because their teammates wont allow them to stand out as much in the driving stakes.

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