Vote for your 2016 Belgian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2016 Belgian Grand Prix

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

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

Driver performance summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton21st+2.014s0/4433rd+27.634s
Nico Rosberg1st-2.014s44/4421st-27.634s
Sebastian Vettel4th+0.198s43/4426th-15.715s
Kimi Raikkonen3rd-0.198s1/4439th+15.715s
Felipe Massa10th+0.651s33/44210th+5.722s
Valtteri Bottas8th-0.651s11/4428th-5.722s
Daniel Ricciardo5th+0.323s44/4422nd-57.025s
Daniil Kvyat19th+0.182s0/1214th
Nico Hulkenberg7th+0.136s43/4434th-4.753s
Sergio Perez6th-0.136s1/4425th+4.753s
Kevin Magnussen12th-0.403s0/50
Jolyon Palmer13th+0.403s5/5315th
Max Verstappen2nd-0.323s0/44311th+57.025s
Carlos Sainz Jnr14th-0.182s1/10
Marcus Ericsson20th+0.122s2/30
Felipe Nasr16th-0.122s1/3317th
Fernando Alonso22nd1/127th
Jenson Button9th0/10
Pascal Wehrlein15th-0.496s0/00
Esteban Ocon17th+0.496s0/0216th
Romain Grosjean11th-0.282s18/44213th+2.597s
Esteban Gutierrez18th+0.282s26/44212th-2.597s

    Vote for your driver of the weekend

    Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

    Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

    Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.

    Who was the best driver of the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix weekend?

    • Esteban Gutierrez (0%)
    • Romain Grosjean (0%)
    • Esteban Ocon (0%)
    • Pascal Wehrlein (0%)
    • Jenson Button (0%)
    • Fernando Alonso (43%)
    • Felipe Nasr (0%)
    • Marcus Ericsson (0%)
    • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
    • Daniil Kvyat (0%)
    • Jolyon Palmer (0%)
    • Kevin Magnussen (0%)
    • Sergio Perez (1%)
    • Nico Hulkenberg (17%)
    • Max Verstappen (1%)
    • Daniel Ricciardo (7%)
    • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
    • Felipe Massa (0%)
    • Kimi Raikkonen (4%)
    • Sebastian Vettel (0%)
    • Nico Rosberg (6%)
    • Lewis Hamilton (18%)

    Total Voters: 556

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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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    160 comments on “Vote for your 2016 Belgian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

    1. Best driver of the day: Fernando Alonso.

      Worst driver of the day: Max Verstappen.

      Hard to say who best driver of the weekend was, because there were no standouts, but I will go for Alonso as he was the best in the race in my opinion.

      1. Alonso is my DOW for his outstanding performance on Sunday.

    2. Obviously Verstappen! He was th..oh wait, driver of the weekend…I thought it said dotr (dummy of the race). My bad.

      My dotw is Alonso.

    3. Alonso for me – loved the way Williams told Bottas the Mclaren was a “sitting duck”, yet the class of Alonso showed

      1. @dvb78 How much I would’ve liked to see that guys face. “Sitting duck’, hah!

        1. +1 Alonso had some luck but he gets my vote for holding position at the end.

          Also mentions for Ricciardo, Rosberg and the force Indias.

      2. Alonso has had some noteworthy drives at Spa.

        In 2008, most fans were focused on the Hamilton Massa Kimi controversy but less known is that on the last lap he went from 8th to 4th (albeit in the rain on the correct tyres) .

        Last year he went from last to 14th by lap 1 Eau Rouge.

      3. Hunt Alonso down.

        Indeed, go get him. Bottas may be good, but not upto Nando. The guy gave Schumi a hard time.

        1. Only a hard time, you say, hm?

          He defeated him in equal machinery!

    4. Why is hamilton getting so many votes????
      He was clearly outclassed at restart

      1. +1.

        Don’t get it either. He has the best car on the grid by far (OK, maybe not that far this time), there was a SC period… which helped him, 3 of the fastest guys in front also “helped” him by compromising their race etc

      2. What I am more confused about is how Verstappen even has 1 vote?

        1. He was very entertaining… some people like the bad guy… i loved Verstappens race, but say Alonso today.

        2. Probably he has an account on F1Fanatic.

          1. You nailed it

        3. he might have an account on this site and voted for himself.

          1. lol somebody said the same just above …

        4. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          30th August 2016, 22:54

          I am actually now thinking Verstappen hasn’t done quite as bad as I thought he had done now I have read about what Keith mentioned elsewhere. Even so, I couldn’t give him more that 2/5 for the race. I especially don’t see how anyone could vote higher than 3/5 even if you include all of the weekend. And 3/5 wouldn’t really count as driver of the weekend. If it is 1%, depending on how many people have voted here, that 1% could be several votes! If anyone has voted for Verstappen, it makes it even stranger that drivers such as Bottas or other drivers don’t have even 1%. Bottas any many others had far better and cleaner races than Verstappen. I’m just trying to make a point that it would make far more sense for whoever is voting for Verstappen to vote for one of the other drivers that don’t have any votes but that clearly had a better race than him. Of which there were plenty.

      3. The restart doesn’t constitute the “Weekend”; It accounted for a solitary lap, and holding position is hardly been “outclassed”.

      4. I don’t think he was outclassed. He was deliberately overcautious. Quite mature in my view, he did not need to win the race but collect as many points possible and to achieve that you must survive usual first lap chaos and driving a very quick car avoiding potential first lap crashes to start moving up when the pack is settled is a smart move.

        1. Hamilton’s “from 21st to 3rd” is not so impressive given that he already was 5th at the restart. He should have finished 2nd easily, but he even needed two laps to get past Alonso’s McHonda and then he was trapped behind Hülkenberg for quite some time. It just wasn’t his weekend I guess.

          1. Yeah, he didn’t even have to fight to progress to P5. Alonso started at the back of the grid with him, and he made it to P4 under the same circumstances. They were just extremely lucky with the tyre situation and Magnussen’s crash.
            After that, it was essentially a new race, with free tyre choice and Hamilton starting in P5. He struggled to make it past Alonso and Hülkenberg, and he wasn’t able to make an impression on Ricciardo, while Rosberg drove away into the sunset.
            The summary:
            – Cars overtaken: 4 (Marussia, Toro Rosso, McLaren, Force India)
            – Rolling re-start on P5, finished in P3
            – lost nearly half a minute on his team mate after the race was restarted
            With reversed roles, (next to) nobody would be considering for Rosberg for DotW, instead, the discussion forum would be full of posts declaring that this shows Rosberg’s inability to overtake even slower cars, as well as his general lack of speed.

            1. Exactly my thoughts! +1000

          2. F1 in figures. Watch the race again. And this follow Hamilton, particularly the red flag situation and the yellow flag incident.

            The difference between Hamiltons and Alonso’s rating on this site recflect their cars more than they achieved. The Mercedes is a car better therefore people fell Hamilton is lucky, while Alonso is skilled.

            1. Button put that McLaren quite high up in in quali too and Vettel took care of ramming out two of the guys who would have been in front of Alonso.

              Also they really messed up Hamilton’s strategy. I guess in an attempt to attack, but the tyres simply wouldn’t hold with these pressures. he would have been better of going for medium like Alonso did instead of a second stint of softs.

          3. Difficult race to do any overtaking as the tyres were so fragile even for the Merc, the second half of the race everyone was just limping around with most of the field running nearly 10 seconds a lap down from the pole time. You can see on the lap charts where people put a decent lap in then had to cool the tyres the next lap, typical really.

            Lewis did what he needed to do, professional job but no more than that.

      5. Because you don’t understand/l risk minimizing on a track where overtaking is easy.

    5. I voted Hulk. For me Alo and Ham benefited a lot from the stupid red flag rule. If not for that they wouldn’t have finished as high as they did. Hulkenberg did a supreme job all weekend, and I think he is being overlooked due to the amount of positions gained by the other two drivers

      1. @johnmilk Hulk pace is outclassed by Perez on the race though. He’s also pretty lucky being the only one not behind Alonso and Hamilton on the red flag.

        1. Outclassed by Perez? He had the same pace and even increased the gap to Perez in the latter stages of the race.

        2. @sonicslv Hülkenberg pretty much had no pressure: Hamilton was simply too quick and no one behind him could catch up, so he sort of managed his race to finish just ahead of fifth place. And you make your own luck I suppose, can’t discredit him for taking second place at the start ;)

          1. @andae23 Fair enough. But I still don’t see why he’s DOTW candidate because as far as normal weekend concerned, Rosberg is doing better than him IMO.

        3. What are you talking about @sonicslv, Hülkenberg beat Pérez in the race and was unlucky not to be on the podium because of the red flag.

          1. @rob91 Perez is faster throughout the race. Hulkenberg is 3rd because he’s benefit a lot from 1st turn drama (which is fair to him, but you can call that a “bit” luck.

      2. Voted Hulkenberg for the same reasons, Hamilton and Alonso just had massive luck today with the strategy. Meanwhile Hulkenberg made the most of it at the start and actually lost places due to the red flag.

        1. Hulkenberg had massive luck with the first corner incidents.

          Hamilton had bad luck with his strategy. Mercedes never got the softs to work, yet they made him do two stints on those.

      3. Can I counter that Hamilton would’ve finished higher than 3rd if not for the red flag. Bear with me for a bit here.
        My reasoning: He was on new mediums for the beginning of the race and the field had been bunched up during the SC period. Mercedes and RBR didn’t pit ROS or RIC who were on qualifying softs and would have had to pit in the first 5-7 laps after restart. Lewis would have been closer to ALO(he was right behind right out of Eau Rouge before the SC was brought out) and had the pace to pass HUL who was on new softs(HUL was lapping the same as RIC on SS when RIC was on softs so I don’t think it’s farfetched to think HAM would have had him for pace). If ROS and RIC pitted after the SC without a red flag they’d surely have come out in traffic giving HAM, if he did indeed took HUL and ALO 1-3laps after the restart, a very good chance at a victory.
        By my reckoning, the red flag was a saving grace for ROS and RIC more than it was for HAM(it still helped him massively) because of their respective teams’ bizzare choice not to pit under the SC.

        1. +10,000

        2. Not pitting was a strategic choice due to the race almost certainly being red flagged. You can’t give Hamilton the advantage of the safety car and then say oh if the red flag didn’t come out x would have happened… It’s the same incident and the incident warranted a flag. Hamilton got a massive boos regardless, hulk got the call wrong and moved behind ricciardo, rosberg and ricciardo called it spot on.

        3. As the track was damaged it was safe to assume the race would be red-flagged, so therefore some teams didn’t pit their drivers. Based on Hamilton’s performance in the race, he probably wouldn’t have been much of a threat without the red flag either. He just seemed slow.

          1. He was slow because he was on the wrong tyres, which the team failed to see. Initially when he was on the medium he was doing 55s mainly because he was behind other cars and there was so much chaos to avoid. But that was the right tyre to be on not the softs. Had he gone Soft Med after the Red Flag he would have finished second

            1. Indeed. It’s odd how Mercedes failed to see this. I was stunned when he put on softs again after the first failed stint on those softs.

              Oddly enough, Hamilton felt the medium tyres were slower and he had wanted another stint of softs. he could have saved himself a pitstop if he had done one longer set on medium instead of those two sets on soft. P2 would have been attainable that way.

      4. Hulk was beaten by Perez in Qualy…then he doesnt get DOTW…Nico Rosberg was the best!

    6. Alonso. His start was superb, ends up 2 place ahead of Hamilton at the end of lap 1. Provide great driving all around, even the battle with Hulk at pit-lane, which thankfully not interrupted by stewards. Also finishing ahead of Williams and Ferrari which much faster than a McLaren all weekend except on the race.

    7. Voted Rosberg, he clearly delivered.

    8. This is a tough one. Only Rosberg, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Alonso didn’t lose a position to someone who started behind them. Rosberg deserves a nod as he was the only driver to create his own result rather than benefit from incidents or lucky strategy. But I think Hamilton just edges it, only just.

      1. I’m not saying Ros didn’t deliver but Rosberg benefited from Hamiltons engine troubles through no fault of Hamiltons, early in the season. Ham now should have enough engines. Upgrades at Suzuka may also benefit Rosberg due to Hamiltons engine problems.

        This last part isn’t directed at you. Any driver can be affected in the championship based on his luck with engines, which is unfair to me. Why should anyone be penalised for something he didn’t break, later in the season? Not many complaints on the engine point but there’s complaints about stewards affecting the championship even if they are correct. Makes no sense. If a driver makes a mistake and the mistake warrants a penalty or a DQ, he should be penalised regardless of the championship. Some people will say, I don’t believe the stewards should be deciding the championship, it’s bad enough one team is dominant. The stewards aren’t influencing or deciding, the driver/team that breeched the rules are. Protecting/leniency “for the sake of the championship/show” kills credibility of the actual competition and governing body of said competition.

        1. Voted Alonso. I thought he did the best he could with what was given at Spa. Happy my boy finished 7th. I was like, crap watch These three pick off this McLaren. Was worried until the end.

        2. @jabosha How do you propose they stop teams from using 3 new engines every weekend?

          1. you take 10% of their constructor points away per power unit.

            force manufactures to sell the power units at 500,000. Poor teams that don’t accrue as many points have less to risk by getting another power unit, the team that can’t lose loses the most. It actually balances out. Move the allocation of power units to 8, and don’t allow teams to replace power units (team gets barred from racing that round) until after the 9th race.

            1. while you are at it, drop the minimum weight to v8 era (pre KERS enforcement) levels, don’t require ERS, and get rid of the unlimited boost and 100kg per race rule. If you want to get real exciting, allow manufactures to produce which ever kind of power plant under 2.4 liters, as long as it only consumes up to 100 kg/hr.

              Then, and only then do you really see how effective the “hybrid” power unit really is. The only thing that is proving the value of the hybrid formula are the commentators nauseating remarks about progress, and a complete lack of criticism about how the new formula has ruined the competition and ran teams out of business.

          2. Mike, that’s the problem isn’t it? I agree costs need to be kept in check to some extent, but a driver should be able to have working power units without penalties. Think about it. You’ve used an allocation of 5 engines earlier in the season. You pay the price, the weekend of, at each particular Grand Prix. That’s bad enough. The F1A are basically giving power unit failures, which in many cases cannot be helped, continuity within the championship. In the meantime, penalties that should go out and aren’t.

            Basically, the F1A is punishing things a team/they can’t control, while letting teams get away with infractions teams/they can be controlled for the sake of the Show. Good is bad, bad is good. It’s why they’re a laughing stock.

            I have no idea how to police engine use and right now haven’t thought about it because this realisation just hit me.

          3. Carry over the penalty for the second engine parts taken in any weekend to the next race, and again if a third is taken. After all, those races are where the benefit comes.

        3. @jabosha We’ll never know if Rosberg would still have taken pole and the win without Hamiltons demotion though, he ultimately did deliver a perfect weekend without conclusively needing fortunate circumstances. I still voted Hamilton but realistically I don’t think he would have passed Raikkonen, Vettel and Verstappen had they not had their first lap problems. I’m glad he got a podium, but it ruined my prediction of 6th for him!

          1. If you read my comment, I didn’t state he didn’t deliver. I stated he benefited from someone elses engine troubles which happened during the earlier season. Which is quite absurd when you think about it. What part of the main competition being punished for faulty engines, that he didn’t break, isn’t fortunate circumstances? It isn’t about need, he had conclusively, period. Now, it’s been said Hamilton may not be eligible for the Suzuka upgrades because of penalties that compounded, again, for something that happened earlier in the season. So if, a big if, the upgrade is substantial, Rosberg will have another conclusive advantage. Hamilton, will have a lesser engine or take the upgrade and again fall down the grid, which makes competing for the win a little easier. I understand the rules are the same for everyone. I just don’t like when people are penalised for faults that aren’t theirs. I really don’t like when penalties are not handed out when they should be, especially when someone is at fault and I’m not implying there’s no such thing as racing incident. Max has gotten away with some dodgy driving lately and just because he might have said, I’d rather put them in the wall than let them pass, doesn’t mean he will. He’s not Ayrton Senna as far “going for the gap”, at least not yet. I still don’t think he’s really ready. He’s damn good but needs more driving/mental polish. He’s going to have more trouble next year with higher g-loads and more physically exhausting cars. Whether anyone likes it or not Max is a young boy and his maturity is no where near what people want to believe. Seb made comments about how tough and physical things were when he first got into F1. He said he felt like a boy or something to that effect. Max will feel the same pressure, it will affect him at times.

            1. @jabosha And I’m saying you can’t conclusively say Rosberg did benefit from Hamilton’s misfortune though. We don’t know that even if Hamilton had gone for pole or lined up second on the grid that Rosberg still wouldn’t have taken pole and a win.

            2. The main competition and championship leader is at the back of the grid at the start of the race. Does Rosberg have an advantage in this situation? Yes or no?

            3. @jabosha

              I never discussed advantage, you’re trying to change to point of the debate. I’m saying it’s impossible to determine if he benefited.

              When Raikkonen, Vettel and Verstappen collided they all wound up behind Hamilton, he benefited from their lost positions by not having the unlikely task of overtaking all three.

              Rosberg secured pole and led from start to finish, you don’t know that Hamilton having to start from the back benefited him as he may still have done that even in a fair fight for pole and both starting on the front row.

            4. I’m not changing anything. You just realise, Rosberg does have an advantage with Hamilton starting at the back of the grid because of past engine failures. Thus, the whole field benefits from him starting last. What did you think benefit means in the context we’re debating? If you think not having to directly compete with the championship leader for pole isn’t a benefit of Hamiltons penalties, more power to you.

            5. Sorry Phillip, I meant, starting at the back of grid with my boy Alonso. lol

            6. ben-e-fit
              noun
              1. an advantage or profit gained from something.
              2. a payment or gift made by an employer, the state or insurance company.
              3. a public performance or other entertainment of which the proceeds go to a particular charitable cause.

              verb
              recieve an advantage; profit; gain.

              Number 1 fits nicely, don’t you think?.

            7. Spelled receive wrong. Bleh.

      2. @philipgb Hamilton was pretty poor IMO

        1. @mashiat Well I can’t change my vote but thanks for your insightful counter argument.

    9. can we have a “worse driver of the day “award please?
      me thinks Max will be a shoe-in for this many times…:)

      1. Magnussen and Gutierrez also would have a chance though.

      2. K.mag was unlucky… has everyone forgot about Sainz? That was just idiotic.

    10. Alonso has done a brillant job taking that 7th place from 22nd on the grid.
      As many, he benefited from the red flag period. But could have been 5th if the Force Indias wouldn’t be so fast at Spa.

      1. Or if the McLaren had been faster, uh?

    11. I voted Perez. Outqualified his teammate but was caught up in the incident with Vettel and dropped to tenth but recovered to fifth with a great overatake on Massa and finished just a couple of seconds behind Hulkenberg. Shoutouts to Hulkenberg, Rosberg, Alonso and Hamilton

      1. Perez finished 4.7 seconds behind Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg actually increased the gap from 2.3 seconds at one stage to 4.7 in the end. Also, Hulk had a power unit issue in q3, costing him a few tenths on the straights. Perez was great in the race but Hulk was just as awesome, albeit in a much more quiet way.

        1. Both FI drivers did great, but none of them were DOTW…Hulk was beaten by Perez in qualy, then he compensated with a great start, and both performed strong in the race.

          Rosberg on the contrary did not set a foot wrong all weekend.

        2. It’s because Perez used up his tyres overtaking people

          1. That is true. He is exceptional in saving tyre life even when he has to overtake other cars. It is worthy of note though, that both Vettel and Bottas had decent life in their tyres towards the end of the race, even though both made quite a few overtakes in their last stints.

            I’m sure Hulkenberg was faster in qualifying. His Q3 lap time was more than 0.2 sec slower than his Q2 lap time because of the power unit issue he had encountered. Robert Fernley confirmed that Hulk lost valuable tenths in Q3. That is why he got out-qualified by Perez.

            In the race, I think it is unfair to compare their performances since their situations were so different. Who knows how Hulkenberg would have performed in the race had he been in Sergio’s position at the start and lost places instead. Maybe just as well as Perez, maybe not. Its impossible to know.

            Also, even though Perez may have had poorer tyre life towards the end, it is impossible to know how much Hulkenberg was pushing after he got overtaken by Hamilton for the last time. Maybe he was just managing his tyres and driving a sensible race? I find it hard to make a comparison between the two in the race, to be honest. Both did great jobs, albeit in different ways.

            I gave it to Hulkenberg in the end because he seemed to be faster in terms of pure pace all weekend.

            1. Rob Fernley stated a couple of tenths, which puts him equal with Perez in quali. Perez was a second faster in FP1 so Hulk wasn’t faster all weeekend. Great result for both of them though

    12. Rosberg, Perez, Hulkenberg, Alonso or Ricciardo, all suitable candidates. Hamilton however who really didn’t do a thing but overtake Hulkenberg twice should not even be considered. Completely got wrecked by Rosberg on raceday.

      1. Hamilton shouldn’t be considered yet Ricciardo should?!?

        What exactly did Ricciardo do that was so special?

        1. Beat Hamilton?
          Shared his footwear?

      2. When Rosberg starts from the back of the field and finishes 3rd then we’ll add him to the list ok?

        1. @newdecade If he has the sweet luck of a red flag and three of his opponents being erased, I’m hardly impressed.

          1. The red flag actually ruined his race – but let’s not let the facts get in the way and just let the hate flow through you, eh Porche?

      3. Put any driver on the grid in Rosberg’s car this w/end and the result would probably have been the same, Hamilton’s team mate qualifies 1st, wins race.

        1. @w-k If that ‘any driver’ has the upper hand on Hamilton on pace too then sure I’d consider him for DOTW.

      4. Guys, guys, a little levity:) @xtwl ‘s being sarcastic…

        1. No I wasn’t. Both Ricciardo and Rosberg had brilliant pace in whatever stint. Perez and Hulkenberg both overdelivered and the latter was even hindered by the red flag. Alonso drove that McLaren to a pace he has been looking for since 2015. Hamilton on the other hand was slow compared to Rosberg even though he had all the fresh tyres. Having a good drive consists of more than just overtaking a lot of people.

          1. As per previous comments it was clear Hamiltons car was setup for overtaking in sectors 1 and 3 and Friday’s setup work was based on that objective for clear reasons. It is no surprise that he could not match Ricciardo and Rosberg in Sector 2 both running with a more balanced setup for maximum lap time.

            It was a mature and cautious drive from Hamilton keeping his nose clean unlike Verstappen, Vettel and Raikonnen who were all sloppy at times today. In the end the SC removed the need for such a skewed setup, and Hamilton was able to push in the last stint to claim FL.

          2. These arguments are really on ridiculous.

            How do you decide that Perez and Hulkenberg “overdelivered”. It’s just your ill conceived notion of how fast that car is based on previous races or whatever.

            Yet the fact is that on Spa FI was doing really well and only the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull were faster. Vettel took care of half of them so in reality they simply finished where there car allowed them to go.

      5. @xtwl if Ricciardo started 21st and finished 3rd having the same race circumstances as Hamilton, would you consider it a performance unworthy of DOTW?

        1. @hellotraverse You’re so stuck in this being anti-Hamilton that it becomes annoying. Even if it was Senna resurrected he wouldn’t get my vote. Hamilton did not go from 21st to 3rd. He had a average start, drove around to the cars pace and lucked into this position thanks to the red flag whom basically made him go from ‘P3 yet to pit’ to ‘P3 effectively’.

          @ju88sy That doesn’t make up for the fact he got hammered on each tyre by Rosberg. Sure there is some deficit but hardly really that much. On top of that the setup of these cars aren’t at all like in a videogame where you just take off some wing to make it go faster. Hamilton could go with whatever setup and still have plenty of straight line speed to overtake here.

    13. After so many weekends with ALO deserving DOTW… hope this time he finally gets it

      1. In the end, Hamilton has won the driver of the race award in the official formula one page. Unbeliable.

    14. Hamilton started on the back row and finished 3rd and you say he didn’t do anything except overtake hulk twice?

      Him an Alsonso carved through the field like badasses.

      1. The red flag moved him from last to fifth so not much there

        1. I can assure you they were not 5th when the SC came out, they were 10th and 11th or 9th and 10th. Just because others had misfortune, doesn’t make their drive for their positions any worse. At least get your facts right first.

          1. @dan253 I have got my facts right because Alonso was fourth and Hamilton was fifth behind the red flag behind Rosberg, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg.

      2. “carved through the field like badasses.”
        They stayed out on mediums when everyone pitted and then got lucky with the red flag.

      3. You mean Alonso and him, not the other way round. Alonso led Hamilton through the field and was in front of him at the red flag. It wasn’t Hamilton doing the carving.

        1. I voted Alonso si think he got the most out of his car (and Saturday wasn’t his fault), however I will defend Hamilton here. I think he drive a sensible race. He knew he had to stay out of trouble so didn’t go too aggressive at the start whereas Alonso could go for it with nothing to lose.

          Hamilton was airways going to breeze past the McLaren and was about to when the red flag came out so want worried about not being in front of him. He was keeping it clean which was a VERY professional drive which is where he had gotten so much better in recent years.

        2. In Hamilton’s position, needing to finish in the points to protect Championship lead, why wouldn’t he want a “point man” to lead him and warn the “also-ran’s” that he was coming through. We all know Alonso is one of the better drivers and has plenty of practice this season in making up places at the beginning of a race.

      4. Carved through the field? Could you please summarize for me which brilliant overtakes he had to make? It wasn’t even tyre saving that gained him the positions in the pits it was just sheer luck with the red flag.

        1. I will say it again. The red flag hindered his race. At the red flag point three of the four in front of him had to pit and pit soon. Both he and Alonso could happily have run far far longer at a pace on a tyre the proved the best on the day.

          The red flag gave the three in front a free pit stop.

    15. Alonso for me. Fantastic drive. The sitting duck comment by Williams had me worried but Alonso showed them where the driver can make a difference when the pace is close. Singapore will be great for McLaren. Hoping for a point in Italy.

    16. Hülkenberg was good and probably would have achieved a debut F1 podium if not for the red flag.

      1. Hamilton would have benefitted a lot more from a full stint on Mediums rather than this red flag which gave everybody a free stop.

    17. Very hard to choose a standout driver from this weekend. I chose Raikkonen very narrowly. Was in excellent form all weekend, had his race ruined by Mad Max. Still got the maximum result possible in the circumstances. And more importantly , he did it cleanly and fairly unlike some

      Also great were Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez. Good races by Rosberg, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Bottas

      Unlike normally, I’ll also choose the Worst DoTW. Max Verdonado wins this one, no contest whatsoever

      1. 10/10 @ Max Verdonado, oh my sides.

      2. Raikkonen had his race ruined by Vettel. Again.

        1. I am sure Arrivabene will have a serious talk about this at next team huddle in Maranello…!

    18. Alonso, phenomenal effort.

    19. Nobody seemed particularly impressive this weekend. Both Alonso and Hamilton gained the majority of their positions through luck. Thankfully that can’t happen next year with the new rules.

      Vettel had a good recovery drive but his contribution to the mess at the start can’t be overlooked. Ricciardo should have qualified better. Rosberg was a serious consideration but he didn’t have much to do in the race except for look after his tyres. Perez was also an option but he lost out at the start and failed to recover fully from that.

      In the end I went with Raikkonen. He beat Vettel in qualifying and was absolutely not at fault for what happened at the first corner. He went from last and a lap down to ninth despite his car being on fire and Verstappen’s excessive defending (yet again) and that didn’t seem too bad an effort for me.

      1. I went with Raikkonen too. Impressive recovery to end up right behind his very competent teammate, after being a lap down, Ferrari’s inexplicable decision to put him on super softs after that, and then a wasted pit stop right before the red flag. After all that to end up 9th is pretty amazing. He was almost flawless, and very quick all weekend. Props to Alonso too, but he had some massive good luck while Kimi had essentially the opposite. Good race, as is often the case at Spa.

      2. I don’t see how next years rules would have changed much. Alonso and Hamilton were about halfway through their stint on the mediums. They’d made their way to 4th and 5th mostly by virtue of the midfield making a stop under the safety car, before the red flag. Under the new rules as I understand them, no one gets to work on the car when the race is red flagged. I’m pretty sure a HAM in a Mercedes on okay mediums can keep most other midfield cars behind it even on new softs, until the next round of stops. If anything the new rules would have hampered Rosberg and Riccardio. Neither would have got a free tire change under the red flag, and redbull wouldn’t have been able to fix Riccardios damage.

    20. My vote’s for ALO. Amazing ending, managing to expand the +1s gap in sector 2 continuously and denying the “sitting duck” statement by Bottas’ engineer. Fantastic!

    21. Also voted for Alonso. The tragedy is, that he is delivering a heroic performance like this every race, but it remains invisible when it happens at the back of the pack, for a 12th or something place.

      Hamiltons recovery drive reminds me of Vettels 2012 Abu Dhabi performance. From the last grid to the podium sounds great, but if we saw what happened during the race, he only has done what he had to, nothing more this time.

      If there was an overtake of the day poll, I would go the for Perez vs Massa one, even if it was DRS and tyre difference.

      1. But Alonso and Hamilton had the same fortunes, and yet only Alonso is worthy of your praise?

        1. You have got a point there. I did base my opinion on the fact that the Mercedes is the strongest car by far, meanwhile the McLaren could only be considered as the 6th force maybe. Blessed with the same fortune will result in different outcomes based on the relative strength of the car, that’s why I believe Alonso did a better job considering his opportunities.

    22. ColdFly F1 (@)
      28th August 2016, 22:17

      Clearly Alonso: He drove his McLaren much faster than it was supposed to go, and kept cars behind who haven’t seen the back of a McLaren-Honda before.

      I know people don’t rate drivers who get pole and win races, but why voting for their teammate 3-1 is beyond me.
      I am a huge fan of Hamilton’s skills but no way that he was yesterday 3 times more deserving of a DOTW than Rosberg.

    23. Nico Hulkenberg. He was supperb all weekend. If it wasn’t for the red flag he would have had his first podium.

      1. Got beaten by Perez in qualy..so not a perfect weekend!!

    24. Easy one for me. Alonso reminding everyone why he is among the greatest, if any reminding was needed.
      Drove the wheels off that s!#&box from lap 1 to lap 44. #class

      1. +1 Alonso never gives up. Never.

        1. Apart from the time he asked the team to retire the car. Lol

          1. You mean pit for tyres. I watched that race too.

    25. Alonso. I find difficult to imagine how he could have finished any higher today, even if he had not started at the back.

      Honorable mention to Hulkenberg who got as close as he could today to his first podium.

      Wonder how many votes Max will get. ;-)
      That said, he is still getting a few, at 2% presently.

    26. Alonso deserved it. Started from last place. Super gaining positions in 1st lap even if too much drama but still it’s required skills to go ahead without damaging car safely. Honda’s power is still lacking and weak you can see in sector 1 after eau rogue straight McLaren’s straighy line speed was slow compared to all but in middle sector Alonso find more gap and maintain place. Remember he is in McLaren not in Mercedes Ferrari and Force India those car’s pace fast. Also denying Williams to overtake so definitely he deserves more than others. When drivers have competitive cars and then gaining places is easy but with uncompetitive underpowered McLaren to fight with competitive cars really it required skills.

    27. Ricciardo by a mile.

      1. 😁

      2. ColdFly F1 (@)
        30th August 2016, 8:20

        “Ricciardo by a smile.”
        FTFY

    28. Too bad I can’t vote Max Emilian Verstappen as WDOTW. I was going to write “Maxdonado” but that would be grossly unfair to Pastor. Seb also had a pretty bad day at the office today.

      BDOTW was of course Alonso, I would have loved to see more of his start and his first few laps. Kimi and the Hulk also deserve a mention.

    29. My vote as DOTW went to the “sitting duck” of course. Botta’s engineer should be the awarded as Worst Engineer Of The Weekend.

      1. No, Botta’s engineer should be the awarded as “the Most Funny Engineer Of The Weekend” ! ;o)

    30. I was most impressed by Alonso, great performance in the race made even more impressive by how disrupted his weekend was.

    31. Looks like ALO will get this one and I’m not unhappy to add my vote to his tally. Very happy for PER and HUL also. A little bit surprised about RIC getting so few, head-down all weekend, no controversy, got his race/long sting setup sorted, got through Q2 on the Softs and avoided the dodgem-car stuff (VSC and SC and Red Flag). His lap time chart looks like the smoothest of all. Not really under pressure from HAM at the end. But the best part is all the future podium interviewers are on notice – if RIC is up there, they’re drinking from the shoe !

    32. Most definitely Alonso on this track in this car, amazing! But Lewis, both nicos and kimi deserve a round of applause as well!

    33. Alonso & Perez drove great, FI did a great job so Hulk too, Ferrari might have had a double podium had they gotten a chance to sneak up behind RIC, RIC and HAM did a stalwart job, really nothing special though, very conservative runs, Max’s drive was ridiculous, but nothing to different from what hes done in the past, ROS was handed pole and the win, so it’s hard to give him any real credit accept to say he did what half of the drivers on the grid could have done with the best car by a mile.

      Loved listening to Horner correct Max’s guilty conscious in front of the cameras though, and then listen to Max call Kimi a liar after that. Lolz. Comedy gold.

    34. My vote goes to Daniel Ricciardo. After an unimpressive qualifying, the Aussie held it together with all the action going around at the start of the race. With back to back podiums, he is now firmly placed as third in the driver’s standing.
      Hamilton and Alonso (they put in clean laps at the start) got all the help from the chaos at the top of the grid. Special mention has to be made for both the Force India drivers. Hope K Mag is doing well. That was quite a shunt.

    35. Nico lost 0, Riciardo, overtook noone… Well real ace was LH. He was super happy with his result. So he must have done well.

    36. Nico Hülkenberg for me, without a doubt. He was punching above his weight despite bad luck with safety car and red flags. He managed to pit for new tyres and was still in P3. Had they called red right after K-Mag’s crash, the Hulk would’ve been P2 by restart.

      Second for me is Perez, his teammate. The Force Indias looked so good this weekend. Very impressive.

      Also a shoutout to Alonso, but he lucked into the position because everyone pitted during the SC but he had mediums like Hamilton. They inherited their positions through sheer luck and nothing else. Like I said, had there been a red flag right after K-Mag’s crash then Alonso and Hamilton would’ve been 10 places further behind.

      In honesty, Hamilton went from P5 to P3 over 30 laps at Spa-Franchorchamps. That is nothing short of disappointing.

    37. Guybrush Threepwood
      29th August 2016, 10:20

      It’s easy to forget that Ricciardo started after the red flag period with a Mercedes just in front and another just behind, yet managed to finish 3/4 of the race only 14 seconds behind Rosberg and held off Hamilton behind.

      I think the significance of this is lost in amongst the excitement of Max crashing into everyone.

    38. Voted Alonso for reasons that have already being mentioned.

      Yes, he did benefitted from start chaos and red flag, but i don’t think he left anything at the table. Perez and Vettel cruising past him on DRS just underlined even more the DRS+slipstream effect on Spa. And engine HP difference, of course.

      But i’m gonna go out on a LOL here. What does Rosberg has to do to win a DOTW? I mean honestly.

    39. Voted for Rosberg. Got the pole in the first try. Avoided the first lap carnage and drove off into the distance.

      Sure, his car was mighty quick (lapping faster in meds vs others on softer tires). But he kept his concentration during the restart and drove off into the distance without giving others a sniff at 1st spot.

      Controlled the race brilliantly to take his first win at Spa.

    40. Alonso for me, but I don’t think there was any standout performance. Rosberg and Ricciardo were excellent, but not under much pressure. Perez did great all week-end and would be my second choice.

      The reason I am not 100% sure about Alonso is that for some time an unlikely fifth place looked on. There was a train of cars behind him and Massa and it looked like a stalemate because everyone (except Alonso) had DRS. Then Alonso broke Massa’s DRS, Massa got gobbled up by Perez and Vettel, and very soon so did Alonso.

      On the other hand, voluntarily keeping a Mercedes-powered car within one’s DRS when one is Honda-powered looks like madness. If Alonso had did that and somehow managed to keep his fifth place, this would have been the drive of the year.

    41. Evil Homer (@)
      29th August 2016, 12:20

      Daniel, Rosberg or Alonso think, Lewis a good drive but cant take the cake if he didn’t pass Ricciardo.

      Dan wins it easy on a recount for getting Webber to take to the ‘Shoey’- doing ones own shoey is bad enough :)

    42. I can understand Fernando being driver of the day for the race but Nico Hukenberg has to be driver of the weekend for me; competitive across all three days and can count himself unfortunate the red flag appeared otherwise it was a good chance of his first podium. The way he was driving this weekend you can’t say he didn’t warrant a podium.

      1. he lost in qualy to perez

        1. Point taken, but I still find it difficult to believe Lewis or Fernando deserve driver of the weekend on race performances alone. I recognise it obviously wasn’t their faults given engine penalties but regardless it was Nico for me

    43. Hamilton, the champion with most victories and less f1fanatic’s DOW.

      1. geoffgroom44 (@)
        29th August 2016, 22:08

        fascinating,huh? Makes F1 history, sets fastest lap time,etc.etc. and not DOW. Not to worry, I’m sure he’s not worried since he still leads the championship :-)

    44. Alonso had a great race and managed to get some solid points under a hood that is still not helping him. Despite the impressive result, I can’t find any reason why his run was impressive though… I may have missed something. Raikkonen on the other hand, had an eventful race, managed to keep it together, showed great class and -compared to Alonso- gave a good fight in qualifying as well. So, even though Alonso was at fault in quali, I will go with RAI.

      1. (“So, even though Alonso was at fault in quali…” = “So, even though Alonso was NOT at fault in quali”)

    45. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
      29th August 2016, 16:18

      Who did vote for Verstappen even if his performance fed me up?

    46. geoffgroom44 (@)
      29th August 2016, 22:04

      It was great to see Alonso in there, but in overall terms in F1 I have to go for HAM. He made F1 history (no other driver has come from the back of the field to the podium so many times), he managed his car well, he set the fastest lap time (31st time in his career, only one other active driver has more times), he did superb ‘damage limitation’ to his championship run and still leads the championship. Of course it can be argued that circumstances favoured him as it can in almost any race when we talk about the winner or those who benefited most. The circumstances, however, were not exclusive to HAM, they applied to all the racers. He utilised them well, as did Alonso, they had both come from the back and were in good positions at the red flag stage. He then went on in a mature way to retain his championship lead and preserve his car for later races. I found that exciting and to be what the championship is really about.

    47. For me drivers of the day were Hulkenberg and Alonso, but Alonso wasn’t able to do much on Saturday, and Hulkenberg was, so he gets my DOTW.

      Others showed good things (Rosberg whole weekend, HAM was smart in race, Bottas did as well as team and car allowed) but didn’t impress me as much as those two. Perez had a good recovery too, and maybe Kimi can be said to have done well to get back as well; Vettel had a fine drive in getting back up to 6th, but he was in my opinon largely to blame for the 1st corner clash.

    48. Hamilton may have got more headlines after going from 21st to a podium but when you analysed the events in the race, such as a few top cars dropping down the order after the first lap and then the way the positions changed after the safety car and red flag it wasn’t that surprising really.

      I was more impressed with the other multiple world champion who started at the back after numerous engine penalties, which is why I voted for Alonso as my driver of the weekend.

      Alonso’s early race was similar to Hamilton’s apart from the fact that Alonso had managed to get ahead of Hamilton despite starting behind him.

      After the restart Alonso dropped down a few places whereas Hamilton gained a few places but considering the cars they have, from that point in the race you could say it would have been more likely that Hamilton could have possibly finished higher than he did while Alonso should have finished lower than he did.

      My second choice would be Hulkenberg, he still can’t get that first F1 podium finish but I felt he had a great race to finish fourth, which was probably the best he could realistically expect.

    49. I am honestly shocked you guys didnt vote max dotw.

      This crap was communally labeled “REAL racing” all day long last time he did this…

    50. Some good drives throughout the field.
      Was tied between Alonso and Hulkenberg for me, but I decided to go for the Hulk. He deserves more than Hamilton for me in this case.
      Notable mentions to Rosberg, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Pérez.
      Red card to Verstappen though. The guy needs to cool down.

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