Vote for your 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2017 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Which Formula One driver made the most of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last five days.

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Bahrain International Circuit.

Driver performance summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton2nd+0.023s26/5722nd-13.737s
Valtteri Bottas1st-0.023s31/5723rd+13.737s
Daniel Ricciardo4th-0.142s1/1125th
Max Verstappen6th+0.142s10/111
Sebastian Vettel3rd-0.32s53/5721st-22.475s
Kimi Raikkonen5th+0.32s4/5724th+22.475s
Sergio Perez18th+0.544s46/5727th-33.105s
Esteban Ocon14th-0.544s11/57210th+33.105s
Felipe Massa8th-0.491s12/1226th
Lance Stroll12th+0.491s0/121
Fernando Alonso15th-0.259s0/0214th
Stoffel Vandoorne17th+0.259s0/00
Carlos Sainz Jnr16th+0.587s12/121
Daniil Kvyat11th-0.587s0/12212th
Romain Grosjean9th-1.209s8/828th
Kevin Magnussen20th+1.209s0/80
Nico Hulkenberg7th-1.232s55/5629thNot on same lap
Jolyon Palmer10th+1.232s1/56213thNot on same lap
Marcus Ericsson19th+0.548s11/501
Pascal Wehrlein13th-0.548s39/50111th

    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 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend?

    • No opinion (0%)
    • Pascal Wehrlein (4%)
    • Marcus Ericsson (0%)
    • Jolyon Palmer (0%)
    • Nico Hulkenberg (2%)
    • Kevin Magnussen (0%)
    • Romain Grosjean (1%)
    • Daniil Kvyat (1%)
    • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
    • Stoffel Vandoorne (0%)
    • Fernando Alonso (4%)
    • Lance Stroll (0%)
    • Felipe Massa (5%)
    • Esteban Ocon (0%)
    • Sergio Perez (25%)
    • Kimi Raikkonen (0%)
    • Sebastian Vettel (51%)
    • Max Verstappen (1%)
    • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
    • Valtteri Bottas (1%)
    • Lewis Hamilton (4%)

    Total Voters: 571

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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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    101 comments on “Vote for your 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

    1. Amongst all heroics at the front let’s not forget Hulkenberg or Perez. Perez came from 18th in a sluggish Force India to finish 7th, just wow. Really interesting to see who’ll be on top in the trio Hulkenberg/Grosjean/Perez.

      1. I went for Perez, qualifying was not down to him but on Sunday despite SFI’s poor pace both on qualifying trim and race trim, SFI delivered, they had no PU glitches no bad strategy calls on Perez great moves great result. I’m not sure what happened to Ocon he had a really strong start of race, he was the star of the start, he was quickly into the points, still really professional job.

        1. This is the problem when it comes to these sorts of polls. People look at the results and make decisions completely devoid of sound logic.

          If you’re astounded by Perez and baffled by Ocon, you need only look at when each pitted around the safety car. One driver got screwed & the other received a gift basket.

      2. Fikri Harish (@)
        17th April 2017, 0:38

        Yeah. Given that the Renault can’t even match the Williams, FI and/or the Haas in the race, it just goes to show how magnificent that qualifying lap was from Hulkenberg.
        I do think that everyone from the lower half of top ten did a pretty good job yesterday. I know Massa’s return hasn’t been particularly taken well around these parts but bar China, Massa has been reliably finishing just where that car was meant to be and I honestly can’t fault the team and Claire from bringing him back.
        And also Wehrlein. Nothing better to silence your critics than trouncing your team mate in your first day back at the office.

        1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
          17th April 2017, 3:44

          Renault’s foray into Q3 was pure luck in that Perez was unable to complete his lap due to Sainz’s breakdown, and Ocon didn’t seem to click this weekend. I think that they are fighting Haas, while FI, STR and Williams are fighting for 4th.

          1. Didn’t Hulkenberg set the 5th time in Q2? I don’t know how the two driver you mention could have quicked him out. Palmer though, is a totally different story.

          2. Renault’s foray into Q3 certainly was NOT about luck. Hulk managed to get a great lap out of that car (just like he had done in China). It rather looks like their car is just not quite there in the race as we’ve seen them drop back during every race so far.

          3. Hulkenberg’s lap was not luck. He’s a fantastic qualifier, but over a race distance, it really shows that that Renault is still a poor car.

      3. It goes to show how good FI line-up was in the last few years.

    2. Lewis Hamilton.

      1. No, just no. He showed extremely unfair play during his first pit stop, was twice unable to overtake Bottas while being over a second faster and had to receive team help. His last stint was electric, but this is far from a DotW worthy.

      2. Who was almost as good as Jolyon Palmer today, no mean feat for him.

    3. Justin (@boombazookajd)
      16th April 2017, 19:20

      I have to say Vettel. Topped FP1 and FP2. Unfortunately the qual pace wasn’t there but he didn’t put a foot wrong in the race. Excellent weekend and takes first place in the drivers standings.

      1. The qualy pace was maybe not there, because they set the cars to understeer to protect the rears in the race.

    4. Vettel, however nod to Perez and Ocon who both had good, battling races.

      1. RoundTheOutside
        17th April 2017, 16:59

        Icon was average at best tbh, he gets out qualified by a sauber and gets far outraced by his team mate who was 18th on the grid. Pascal was more impressive

    5. I so want to vote for Perez or Alonso, but Seb’s just on fire right now.

    6. Great job from Vettel of course

      Massa best of the rest and still managed to annoy Kimi (two times) and Ric.

      Great recovery from Perez, making the most out of that FI

      Good job from Werhlein, finishing ahead of Kvyat (poor race) and Palmer (dismal race)

      Hulk had a good weekend overall, but I was expecting a bit more for the race.

      Keith, a suggeation to go along woth DOTW, team of the weekend?

      1. Not a bad idea. I would like to vote for driver of the day (race) and driver of the weekend separately.

      2. Yup, good summary. I voted for Wehrlein to give him some votes, coming back for the first time this season, doing the great run that saw him get into Q2, and the dicing we saw him do in the race, he deserves it.

        Now we can only hope that Sauber judges that they need to get a fast driver in the second car as well and give it to Giovanazzi for more races so that they have a chance at points with 2 of their cars.

      3. Yeah i agree with all of that too

      4. “Massa best of the rest and still managed to annoy Kimi (two times) and Ric…”

        He also managed to cause Verstappen to hemorrhage and start saying stupid and insensitive things about Massa’s national heritage!

    7. Vettel for beating Mercedes on a track which I expected them too 1-2. Again the only guy who seems capable of following others without having too much trouble from the dirty air.

      Shoutout to Massa. Smedley was right in that these new cars suit his style of driving. Doesn’t look like he belongs in a retiree home right now.
      Hulk smashing Palmer again with authority. Got lapped, enough said.
      Wehrlein not too shabby on P11 either.

    8. Valteri Bottas… NOT. IF only there was a worst driver of the weekend category.
      Its got to be Vettel really opportunistic to take a win where Ferrari could really only manage third on pace.

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        16th April 2017, 20:10

        Worst driver of the weekend? He out qualified who many consider to be the best and was 1st. He then had issues in the 1st part of the race and later on too. He got given team orders to let Hamilton pass twice. If it wasn’t for those team orders and he also didn’t have any tyre issues, he will ahve easily been 2nd, possibly challenging Vettel. He still managed 3rd even though the car had uneven brake tempeatures as well as a tyre pressure problem. Overall this weekend if you include everything, he did a good job. But just not an outstanding race. It would be stupid to say he is the worst driver of the weekend.

        1. News just in. Hamilton’s DRS did not open in sector 2 of qualifying.

          1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            17th April 2017, 9:38

            @david-beau
            I’ve seen that too. But Surely Hamilton will have noticed this. Anyhow, He said himself that Bottas was simply better in qualifying so there is no point taking it much further. Hamilton was clearly stronger in the race but it did seem a bit unfair that the team forced Bottas to allow him through twice. This will have made it incredibly easy for him. I am amazed that anybody can vote for Hamilton as driver of the weekend. If Bottas was as slow as people think he was, Hamilton should have been able to pass without any issues.
            The team cost both Hamilton and Bottas some time. But if Bottas didn’t get any team orders and didn’t have any issues with the car, he could well have been challenging for the win.

      2. @pmccarthy_is_a_legend I’d say Bottas is too good to be that slow. I think Mercedes went the wrong way on his car for the race. He looked like Ham in Australia, poor on the race.

        This one is so hard to choose, Perez, Vettel, Hulk, Grosjean, Werhlein, Alonso and Massa didn’t put a foot wrong.

      3. I think that really is overly harsh on Bottas. He DID outqualify Hamilton in a fair fight, that is not a small feat @pmccarthy_is_a_legend

        For the race Mercedes confirmed they made a mistake (or had a malfunction?) with the pressure of his tyres at the start, so we shouldn’t hold that first stint too much against him here. Indeed, as @peartree mentions, it rather looks like the Mercedes is somewhat fickle in how it handles its tyres for stints when the temperatures go higher.

        1. VB also nailed his start when one would understand if he was feeling some pressure as a first time pole sitter.

    9. Hulkenberg was immense this weekend. I voted for him. Sadly at the time of writing he has 3% of the vote.

      1. I voted for him too, he was a huge 1.2 secs ahead in qualifying and was on a different lap to Palmer in the race, such a shame that people seem to get swept up in the end of Mercedes dominance. Not that Vettel was bad but I wouldn’t say he did anything exceptional this weekend.

    10. I might have given a vote to Werhlein but it seems he was replaced by Giovinazzi and nobody told me

      1. @patcee @spinynorman Apologies – fixed!

        1. Not sure I agree with you definition of fixed @keithcollantine as there are now just 19 drivers listed

          Definitely would vote for Werhlein or Perez though but looks like the popularity contest is in full swing.

    11. I want to vote for Wehrlein because I think he had a great comeback and did the maximum with his car but there’s no option to vote for him, is it? It still says Giovinazzi.

      1. @spinynorman It doesnt “still say Giovinazzi” as last week you could only vote for Wherlein, seems only fair you can vote for Giovinazzi this week ;)

    12. Raikkonen at 1%? Really?
      Could have been Perez for his solid race, but his qualification was to bad to earn this one. Vettel did not have the best qualifying run either, but still more than good enough to have a run for the win. Faultless drive on raceday!

      1. I’m not sure if that means you are surprised he even got a vote, or if you’re surprised that he’s done so badly.

        Personally, given that this is one of his best circuits in the car that performs best here, I was incredibly disappointed that he finished 20 seconds down the road and three places behind Vettel. I’m sure whatever problems he has didn’t help but ultimately the driver has to make the car work to the best of his ability, so I’m not seeing that excuses are any good at this stage

    13. Easy. Perez.
      Driving a car that slower than 2016 yet he’s up there.

    14. Amazes me PASCAL WEHRLEIN didn’t get votes

      Blew his team mate away in qualification and the race until ERIK DNF. For a chap, first full race weekend in a completely new car, new team in the only 2016 engine. MIGHTY IMPRESSED

      1. Apparently he wasn’t listed when the vote started, so that explains some of the lack of votes. I voted for him though, great result on his first race back.

        Thought Vettel, Hulkenberg and Perez also had very good races. Massa is a bit of a mystery because of his teammate, so doubt I’ll be voting for him this year unless he beats one of the top six on pure pace.

      2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        17th April 2017, 9:51

        Well he did have a rather bad start. He fell back to 19th from quite a bit further up pretty quickly. There was also 7 retirements and most of those cars will have almost certainly have beaten him. That no doubt will have helped him a lot to get that 11th place. Although admittedly, he certainly did do better than a few drivers that did have a stronger car than him. But I don’t think I would vote for him as driver of the weekend. But it was still a pretty good weekend.

    15. Vettel. Won the race with his own call for a change of strategy. Put in some great stints while overall being slower than Hamilton, but that’s the car itself.

    16. It’s Massa or Perez. Hulk did an amazing quali but is hard to distinguish how much of it is the car and how much the driver since Palmer is so far behind him. Even when he qualified 10th. Massa was just flawless but again I think that Williams is a better car than what Stroll makes it look like. Perez was the clear driver of the race. Unlucky with that double waved yellow flags in quali.

    17. I equally like Perez, kvyat, Alonso. Last two because you saw a lot of great fighting, Perez because the stats of the race speak for him, sadly I hardly saw anything from him during the race

    18. Certainly not Raikonnen, Sainz, or Palmer. They drove quite badly, in my opinion, Palmer unable to race in turn 1 without making basically the same mistake twice. Sainz ramming into Stroll was poor, and Raikonnen was embarrassingly bad.

      It was tough between Perez, Alonso, Wehrlein, Massa, Ocon, and Kvyat.

      Perez and Ocon both did a solid job of getting points, while Wehrlein and Alonso were giving it their all at the back. Kvyat was who I gave it to in the end, because I figured most people would choose the more obvious drivers. I thought he did a solid job battling there and finished just shy of points.

      We only saw Massa when he was being passed by a Ferrari or Red Bull, and therefore saw hardly anything of Massa. However, I thought he did a solid job finishing the best of everyone else. It’s a shame we are still yet to see what Stroll can do, this time though absolutely no fault of his own.

      1. Picked kvyat too, he had some great fights with Alonso and palmer, was really fun watching those three, plus he regularly gets the best out of the car in quali, he never was one of my favorites, but I think he was treated unfairly last year and it’s great to see he got his MOJO back

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          17th April 2017, 12:12

          @rike

          Hardly anyone agreed with my at the time, But I was pretty certain Kvyat would be as strong as Sainz this season. I’m really glad Toro Rosso kept him. Being kicked out of Red Bull seemed to really affect him. But he is strong again now. I know Sainz wasn’t at fault for what happened in qualifying this race weekend but surprisingly, in most of the last few races, even including some towards the end of last year, Kvyat has being beating Sainz quite a bit more often in qualifying. Then so far this season, Kvyat was clearly stronger in Australia. So much that the team wanted to allow Kvyat to pass his team mate. But then he had isues and had to box really late. But even so, he still managed to finish only 1 position behind Sainz. It wasn’t that far behind either.

          Then in China, Kvyat out qualified him again. Sainz made a clumsy start and actually lightly crashed into the barrier. He was very lucky to get away with that. However, from then, he did do a very solid job indeed. Kvyat unfortunately had to retire early on through no fault of his own.

          In Bahrain, Sainz made a huge mistake. I’d say nearly as bad as what Kvyat did to Vettel in Russia last year only it resulted in a double retirement. That was a very clumsy mistake from Sainz there.
          Kvyat had a strong race with loads of good little scraps with other drivers. Although he did seem to keep getting pushed right off the track at times. Although it was out of the points, it was certainly an entertaining drive.

          I feel Sainz is over rated. He has plenty of good weekends but he also has had several quite a few rather clumsy weekends in his career. I think from now on, him and Kvyat will be fairly evenly matched. But so far overall this season, if I include qualifying, I think Kvyat has been just a little more impressive.

          1. My friend, I do not know what is your problem with Sainz!! Even with no running in P2, he was coming more than half a second quicker than DK before the engine stop in Qualy. Regarding China the first 20 laps was the only driver to much the speed of the first 6 cars with a 2 second slower car. Please be correct and do not lie with your info. Regarding the race from DK,he was terrible on first lap dropping to second last when Sainz climb from 16 to 11, the rest of the race very poor with a car that should have finish on the points. I agree that the accident was a bit risky move but LS was opening and hesitating a lot and not looking.

      2. Massa overtook Ric later in the race, and Hulk + Kimi in first lap. Have you ever seen that on the screen?

      3. @strontium I don’t have to, but I really don’t understand that vote. Kvyat started P11, struggled to find a way past a McL while battling Palmer and finished behind a Sauber. He out-qualified his team-mate that had mechanical troubles during the quali. If I’m honest imo, him and Palmer had really poor races

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          18th April 2017, 9:22

          @johnmilk
          I’m getting a little mixed up about you saying Kvyat has had poor races. Or do you mean last season? I think he has overall, including qualifying been a little better than Sainz. That is now 5 out of the 6 last races together that Kvyat has beaten him in qualifying. This last one was heleped by Sainz being unable to take part but still, Kvyat has been beating him more often than not. Then my post above explains why I think he’s so far done a better job than Sainz this season.

          1. @thegianthogweed this race was poor, entertaining for us, but poor nevertheless. He was better than Sainz during the weekend, but that in itself doesn’t mean much, Sainz was bad also

    19. Alonso for me. Started the weekend with a media storm, and his McLaren shouldn’t be in competition with the midfield cars, so to get to q2 and be challenging quicker cars until his retirement is incredible. It’s what we’ve come to expect from this him, but outstanding nonetheless. Vettel did enough, and a good recovery from Perez were noted. Massa and the Hulk had solid weekends but hard to judge when their teammates were less than impressive.

    20. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      16th April 2017, 23:44

      @keithcollantine sorry to annoy, but could some day, eventually, would we be able to nominate our 3 favorite ones for the race? I voted for Seb today but Perez and Wherlein deserved it to be on the “podium of the poll”.

      1. Disagree! There should only be 1 DOTW.
        Or make it TTDOTW :p

      2. @omarr-pepper I like this idea. Your number one pick could get 3 votes, second pick 2 and third pick 1. That way people could spread the votes but the best driver would still very likely win the DOTW.

        1. good idea!

        2. @huhhii
          Lets give them proper points instead ;)

          1st : 25 points
          2nd : 18 points
          3rd : 15 points
          4th : 12 points
          5th : 10 points
          6th : 8 points
          7th : 6 points
          8th : 4 points
          9th : 2 points
          10th : 1 point

    21. 4%! Am I the only one who saw the stellar race by Alonso???
      DOTW should be independent of the machinery they’re driving.

      1. Alonso drove very well, as usual, and his battles against the other cars were brilliant, but what cost him my vote was how he let his frustration show over the radio on multiple occasions. It might have been a ploy to get Honda to throw more resources at the engine, but it was painful to listen to. Once would have been enough to get the message across.
        FWIW, I voted for Wehrlein for doing such a great job on his first full weekend back.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          17th April 2017, 9:58

          @juan-fanger
          I agree here. Even if Alonso is one of the best drivers. I really don’t like his attitude to the car in the past few races as well as last season. It may be very bad, but if he moans this much, he should give up and not race any more. He said when he came to McLaren that it would be his last team in F1 and if he isn’t happy, he should leave. In my view, Button seemed to have a lot more respect for the team so I feel it may actually be possible that he could return in 2018 as he is still under contract and did say that he may return that year. At leased when Button talked on the radio, it wasn’t just complaining about the car. Alonso seems to spend too much time complaining. He should focus more on just getting the best out of it.

          Sorry to all you Alonso fans but I really think he is being very disrespectful to the team.

          1. Alonso was so so expletive in the radio is probably due to the heat and the frustration in the cockpit. He is more calm when he is out of the cockpit.

            Sure Button maybe more calm and collected given the same situation but maybe that’s why they are drivers of different styles. Honda should not put that engine in the car and expect everyone to shut up and carry on.

            I am not an Alonso fan but I am really entertained with his driving and colorful comments within the race.

      2. David Mcgrory
        17th April 2017, 2:17

        Fernando is frightening he is amazing. Ive always thought he was great but just now realising how good he is

    22. I’ll vote for Vandoorne. Didn’t make even the smallest mistake. Should’ve set the Mc-Honda on fire and roasted/tortured some Japanese technician.

      1. And still managed to go for a run!

    23. Neil (@neilosjames)
      17th April 2017, 1:01

      Loved watching (and listening to) Alonso whenever he was on the screen, Hulkenberg did an exceptional job all weekend and Wehrlein looked very strong. And Perez had a great Sunday.

      But went for Vettel, as he’s the one I saw the most of, for what looked like an entirely fault-free race and a beautifully executed (team-assisted) mugging of Mercedes.

    24. PEREZ !
      18th to 7th on a FI

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        17th April 2017, 10:04

        @fernando123

        Yes, he did do a good job, but 6 retirements and 1 non starter may have helped a little. I’d say he’d probably have been 9th maybe 10th if everybody had finished. Still a strong recovery though. But driver of the weekend? Could hardly vote that as he failed to get out of Q1.

        1. To no fault of his own lets not forget

    25. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
      17th April 2017, 7:49

      Sebastian. Vettel.

      German/Italian national anthem again!

    26. Not my favourite person, but Vettel by a mile. LH did well, other than his start & the pits incident, but I think his smile is slipping! SV & LH both showed the difference a driver can make in a car over their team-mates. Shame that they didn’t get Bottas out of the way quickly, both times, the way Kimi let SV by, as that probably cost LH the race. An entertaining race.

    27. Vettel easily. Got the jump on Hamilton at the start, showed some scintillating driving with the supersofts to overcame the potential disadvantage of having pitted just before a Safety Car was deployed and managed his pace superbly without panicking in the last 15 laps with Hamilton closing.

    28. The right answer is Charles Leclerc.

      1. I saw that race (don’t even know which one its was) and have to agree, although this thread is all about F1. I had never heard of Leclerc before but that guy is hugely talented. He is just 19 and I believe is under the Ferrari team wing. The way he drove, we may even see him in Raikkonen’s seat in 2018!

    29. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      17th April 2017, 10:23

      Went for Vettel. although he was 3rd in qualifying, he had a much cleaner race than Hamilton. Had a faultless weekend.

      I’ll list a few drivers I’m a little puzzled about getting so many votes for “driver of the WEEKEND”
      I don’t think Bottas should have any, but then I certainly don’t think Hamilton should. If I had to pick one, I’d probably say Bottas. He out qualified Hamilton and although he didn’t have a strong race (which was partly to do with problems at the start), he at leased didn’t do anything silly like Hamilton did with Ricciardo. Hamilton also had his race made easy for him and was give 2 free passes by Bottas. But As I said, I don’t see why either should have a vote. But it seems silly that Hamilton has 3% more then Bottas.

      Perez is another driver who I think has been massively overrated for a driver of the weekend. He qualified in 18th. That isn’t good. He did recover very well, so I could understand why he could get several driver of the day votes if there was one. But he was partly helped to 7th by 1 non starter and 6 retirements. I think 9th will have been the best he could do if it wasn’t for them. Still a good recovery drive though. But certainly not worth 25% of these votes.

      I don’t get why Verstappen got any votes at all. I know 2% is low but still. He qualified 6th. Although he blamed Massa, Christian Horner said “To be honest, Massa was hardly to blame” So after qualifying 6th and retiring fairly soon in the race, It would just be stupid for anyone to vote him as driver of the weekend. Something that stands out is that the fact Ricciardo has 0% so far. I don’t think he should get a vote but I think he should be more deserving than Verstappen as he actually was pretty strong in qualifying and finished the race! I’m not saying Verstappen had a poor weekend at all. It just seems strange that 2% have voted for him.

      1. @thegianthogweed

        The only reason Perez started 18th was due to yellows

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          17th April 2017, 18:17

          @lolzerbob
          Ah, I didn’t realize that it was yellow flags that cost him. Even so, We still didn’t get to see what he might have been capable of in qualifying so I still struggle to understand how he can be the best driver of the “weekend” when we didn’t get to see him perform. I suppose I just have a different way of voting drivers. If any driver doesn’t get the chance to perform in qualifying, then to me, I can’t vote for them as we don’t know if they might have done an exellent job, or made a really bad mistake. Driver of the day would be totally different.

          1. @thegianthogweed For me who ever has the best result/finishing position of the race with their machinery with bad luck included should be in contention. I always make a list of each grand prix (done since 2012) of if everyone’s cars were reliable where would they have finished using the lap times and lap charts data

    30. Vettel was simply imperial.

      1. You just said exactly what I spent ages typing out 😆 Spot on!

    31. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      17th April 2017, 11:06

      Vettel. Great in practice, set car up for race and still was within 0.5sec on Saturday. Perfect race even with the safety car which helped Merc.

      Shout out to Massa also.

    32. Driver of the Race, Perez. But driver of the weekend, definitely Sebastian Vettel. Cannot fault him for the +0.4 Sec deficit in qualifying which seems more and more likely down to a special quali setting that Mercedes run. Whilst beside the point, I haven’t really come across any article which explains how and why Mercedes benefit from it during Quali but not the race. Anyway, Seb outqualified his team mate by a significant margin, headed Practice times and put in a flawless performance during the race. Other than shouting “this new 2017 formula is brilliant” at least ten times during the race, I remember trying to convince the missus (who has no choice but to watch F1 every time it’s on) how amazing it was that an F1 car can actually follow another F1 car and more importantly how the art of defending works. A very important part of Seb’s driving was not just how he attacked (at the start) but how he defended (keeping Lewis out of the DRS zone when pursuing Bottas and after the SC restart). Just flawless I must say. Most important still, he didn’t gloat at all after the race – the same old happy chirpy fellow you saw every year in his career barring 2014 and at times 2016.

    33. No dounts. I’m voting for Vettel.
      Would’ve also given Perez a vote if possible.

    34. Hamilton lost this race on Saturday by not taking a pole he clearly had the pace for, then again Sunday not winning the first corner. His race pace was stunning but too little too late.

      He can’t afford not to be at his best while Vettel is. So I’ll give this one to Vettel. Qualified where the car could, got an essential move completed at the start, delivered on the undercut, then managed his race. He’s having to work harder for his victories than Hamilton should and it’s making him look the more dependable choice, even if Hamilton still appears faster.

      1. @philipgb Well summed up. Voted SV too.

      2. Well Vettel doesnt have to work harder for outqualifying his teammate which according to you is where Hamilton lost the race.

    35. Vettel, Perez, Wehrlein and of course Alonso (always)… Well done also Massa/Grojo/Hulk, poor from the Torro Rosso lads, Palmer was rubbish.

    36. Vettel for me. He’s blowing away Kimi in both qualy and race and he’s beating Lewis as well.

    37. Honourable mention for Massa, getting the best out of the Williams and gaining them as many points as they can expect, was fighting with Raikkonen/Ricciardo and thrashed his team mate all weekend.

    38. Wehrlein. First race of the season, first race with the team, great quali, solid race, thoroughly beat his far more experienced teammate. Vettel did a great job, but doesn’t have as much merit as Wehrlein.

      1. @alonshow How is loosing all your positions in turn one a “solid race”?

        1. You have a point, but again, it was his first first race of the season with a new team, he had far fewer chances than anyone else to practice his starts and everything else. That seems to be the only mistake he made in the race. In that situtation, I definitely would call it a solid race.

    39. Vettel, obviously. For sure not Kimi’s day.

    40. RoundTheOutside
      17th April 2017, 16:53

      1. Seb took advantage of lewises slightly poor start and overcautious driving, he could have made I harder for vet.

      2. Pascal out qualified and outraced far better cars with better power units, did better than Perez tbh.

      3. Lewis. Made up ground really fast. Think merc lost it on Ferraris first pit stop with hindsight, early pitstop proved best considering lewis lost 5secs. Weather lewis would have won is debatable, personally I think he would have but that’s just me. He deserved the penalty.

      Perez. Made up ground well but the reason he ain’t top 3 is cuz one of my top 3 managed 11th in a sauber with a 2016 engine. 11th in by far the worst chassis and a 2016 engine is better than a few points in what is good enough for top ten in most races, especially when u mess up qualifying. Force India will be kicking themselves for getting ocon over pascal

    41. Vettel, no doubt, anyone who can beat the two Silver Arrows has done a great job. When you considerer the commitment, technical skill , manpower and money that Mercedes puts into those two cars it takes a magnificent effort to finish ahead of them and that is what we saw from Vettel . I know that some might say, “Vette is driving a Ferrari so he should do well ” . Do well yes but, beat two Silver Arrows , that takes something special as we all have learned over the past 3 seasons . Note also that Raikonnen , an excellent driver and former driving champion , has not come close to what Vettel has been doing .There is good and then there is great .
      Add to it ,as someone pointed out that Vettel seems to have the ability to drive in dirty air as few can. You will recall how at China Verstappen yelled for Charlie Whiting to get Grosjean to move aside because even though Grosjean was a full second and a half ( perhaps more) ahead of Verstappen he could not handle the dirty air and said repeatedly that the wash was ruining his efforts to stay ahead of Ricciardo. Well Vettel stayed less than a second behind Bottas for a number of laps without saying a word , losing control of his car or killing his tires.
      If Verstappen is the driver of tomorrow then Vettel is the driver of today. He gets my vote for Driver of the Week.
      I must., also give mention to Alonso. The fact that such a great driver must endure racing in a car that is simply underpowered deserves some notice and the fact that he kept the car in or near the points until it finally broke down calls for some acknowledgement over and above being given the time off to go to Indy.

    42. I voted for Romain Grosjean for several reasons, one being great attitude much like Daniel R. Haas team has done well considering how new they are to F1. I could of voted for P. Massa, Seb V., Perez, Daniel R. …… I always like Kimi R as well but it seems he has lost his enthusiasm, or is his car just not to his liking?? Not sure how much car performance affected the performance of V. Bottas or Daniel R as they are both savvy guys and will not bad mouth their team or their car…. Thanks, Racer Norriski

    43. Well done Perez. Very solid. He gets my vote

    44. My driver of the weekend in Bahrain was Perez.

      He went out in Q1 in qualifying because of the yellow flags, so starting so far out of position presented the opportunity to make up a lot of places in the race and that is just what he did, starting in 18th and finishing 7th.

      Vettel didn’t make a mistake in the race to take his second win of the season, but it was the sort of the drive you expect from one of the top drivers, and I thought he would do better in qualifying, Mercedes may seem to always save something extra for qualifying but I still thought Vettel was on course for pole this time out.

      Although both Mercedes drivers made the podium I didn’t consider either of them for driver of the weekend.

      Hamilton may have put some impressive laps in late on in his pursuit of Vettel, but he had already been beaten by his teammate in qualifying, lost a place at the start and earned a time penalty when trying to make space for his stop under the safety car.

      Bottas may have beaten Hamilton in qualifying to secure his first pole position but he was off the pace in the race, the team said there was a problem with the pressures on his first set of tyres but I have not read a reason why he struggled for the rest of the race.

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