2017 British Grand Prix Star Performers

2017 British Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg are F1 Fanatic’s British Grand Prix Star Performers. Here’s why.

Stars

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton dominated his home race
Valtteri Bottas was fractionally faster during the first day of practice but on Saturday Hamilton asserted himself. He’s produced some excellent qualifying laps in 2017 and this was another gem. In the race he simply drove away from the field and was never seriously threatened. Hard to fault.

Valtteri Bottas

Suffered the same misfortune Hamilton had in Austria, namely a gearbox change penalty. He too chose to start on the harder tyres so his slightly underwhelming Q3 run might have been better had he had that extra session on the super-softs. His race performance was top-drawer, however. He picked off the drivers in the lower end of the top ten early on but, importantly, kept his tyres in good nick for a long opening stint. After that he was able to quickly close on Sebastian Vettel and pressured the Ferrari driver into a costly flat-spot. He then collected a bonus second place when Kimi Raikkonen hit trouble.

Kimi Raikkonen

This was Raikkonen’s best weekend of the year so far. He put one over Vettel in qualifying and sustained the advantage until the team’s tyres started falling apart. It’s doubtful Raikkonen could have done much to prevent his own misfortune, and he was far enough ahead that he was able to keep his podium finish.

Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg looked hooked-up from the word go. He was flying in the slightly damp qualifying conditions and took a fine fifth on the grid. He sustained that advantage at the start and although he wasn’t quick enough to race the ‘big three’ teams he stayed close enough to profit from Vettel’s misfortune for sixth.

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Strugglers

Daniil Kvyat

Without Carlos Sainz Jnr’s suspension problem in qualifying it’s doubtful Kvyat would have started ahead of his team mate. He lost that advantage at the start then tried to take it back at Becketts, succeeding only in punting his team mate out of the race. Not a wise move with contracts waiting to be re-signed.

And the rest

Verstappen and Vettel fought hard
Max Verstappen had a very good race, keeping Vettel at bay on a slightly underwhelming weekend for the Ferrari driver. Daniel Ricciardo was unlucky in qualifying but fought back well in the race despite sliding off at one point and losing time.

The Force India drivers continued to amass points: Sergio Perez was probably slightly quicker than Esteban Ocon but couldn’t find a way past after making a slow getaway. Felipe Massa took the final point after making a good start from 14th as Williams again had poor one-lap pace. Lance Stroll finished the best part of a minute behind his team mate but, according to Williams, had a compromised race due to floor damage.

Massa’s recovery prevented Stoffel Vandoorne from gaining a point on a weekend when he out-qualified his team mate but lost time in the pits. Fernando Alonso posted yet another retirement but starred in Q1 with the fastest time using slicks on a dry track.

Kevin Magnussen had a fairly good race but made life difficult for himself in qualifying where he was trounced by Romain Grosjean in the slippery conditions. Grosjean reached Q3 while Magnussen dropped out in the first round.

The Sauber drivers came in 14th and 17th: Marcus Ericsson had a decent run despite contact with his team mate, while Pascal Wehrlein’s gamble on trying to run almost the whole race distance on softs didn’t pay off.

Over to you

Vote for the driver who impressed you most last weekend and find out whether other F1 Fanatics share your view here:

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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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62 comments on “2017 British Grand Prix Star Performers”

  1. Paul Ortenburg
    17th July 2017, 15:42

    How does Bottas star and Ricciardo doesn’t?

    Palmer should be in the strugglers. Yet again comprehensively outclassed by Hulkenberger during qualifying.

    1. Ricciardo went off and, had he not done that, he might have finished higher.

      1. @keithcollantine
        I don’t think he ‘went off’, he was pushed off by Magnussen and had to go wide to avoid contact. Granted, it was an optimistic move that left him vulnerable around the outside of Luffield, but I don’t think ‘going off’ is an accurate representation for what happened.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0WHNqwDjXc#t=1m38s

        In a similar vein, I don’t think he could’ve finished higher without that off-road adventure. His lap times were generally slower than Verstappen’s, and the ultimate gap too large to take the fight to his team mate. Verstappen would not have had enough of a gap to make a precautionary pit stop, which could’ve ironically improved his finishing position.

        tl;dr
        Ricciardo drove a great race and I don’t think he could’ve realistically finished any higher.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          17th July 2017, 19:40

          I thought this too. It was optimistic, but is certainly is true that Magnussen did unnecessarily push him onto the grass by the look of it. That to me looked like no mistake by Ricciardo.

          1. Agreed. Ricciardo deserve more credit for battling through the field too.

          2. Looks like most agree as well since Ricciardo is 3rd in DOW votes.

          3. Riccardo can’t be one of the starts because he’s not British. I’m surprised your 3 stars aren’t Hamilton, Brundle and Di Resta.

          4. I think it was Grosjean he tried to overtake, and not Magnussen, when he went off

        2. he was pushed off by Magnussen

          Which Magnussen was entitled to do as Ricciardo was nowhere near being past him, so I don’t think that helps Ricciardo’s case.

          I don’t think he could’ve realistically finished any higher.

          I don’t agree. If Ricciardo had finished the first lap after the restart still on Alonso’s tail he would have been 11.5 seconds behind the leader. As it was it took until lap ten for him to get back behind the McLaren, by which time that gap was 27.1 seconds. You can see all this in the data here:

          https://www.racefans.net/2017/07/16/2017-british-grand-prix-interactive-lap-charts/

          Given the ease with which Ricciardo passed Alonso, Stroll and Grosjean I think it’s reasonable to assume that while the error only cost him a few seconds in terms of lap time, it ended up costing him far more than that because of the positions lost – potentially up to 16 seconds, though it’s open to interpretation. He certainly wouldn’t have come out behind the Force Indias and Magnussen; as it was he lost a little more time there.

          Verstappen’s emergency pit stop at the end of the race resulted in him coming out 11 seconds ahead of Ricciardo. I think there’s a good chance he’d’ve come out behind his team mate had Ricciardo not gone off earlier on. But there’s also a good chance he’d’ve been close enough to catch Ricciardo on the final lap with much fresher tyres, which would have been dramatic!

          Either way, I think Ricciardo’s time loss was both significant and self-inflicted and there’s a realistic chance it cost him a better finish.

          1. It was Grosjean who left him little to no space – as you can see in this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO8xbufc1XI (0:27), the next car is a Williams, so it can only be Grosjean because Magnussen was not in that position after the safety car.

          2. If max didnt have a comfotable gap they would not of pitted him Keith…Ric would not of finished higher and you robbed him of a great credited drive…sorry

          3. It wasn’t MAG it was GRO in no.8…wake up..!

          4. @jesbau Apologies, Grosjean (made the same mistake as Nase!)

            @nosehair Based on Verstappen’s radio messages (transcript coming soon) I don’t agree with that as they wouldn’t have wanted to risk him not finishing, or worse, and besides which he would still have had a chance of finishing ahead of Ricciardo.

      2. Higher? He was a safety car, a precautionary pitstop and +12 secs behind Verstappen.

        1. Fukobayashi (@)
          18th July 2017, 10:16

          Agree with Keith. This is the first time in 4 odd races that Dan has finished where he deserved to be because Max’s car held together for once.

      3. Keith he would not of finished higher he said that and his overtaking and fight back was excellent..had the fastest car btw

      4. Oh Keith we all love you..but u can admitt you were wrong to leave dannyric out..we wont think you are less of a blog legend and everyone make mistakes…is it cos of the shoey’s?? It is isnt it??and yes they are annoying!!!

    2. May be it was his LUCK. Luck never favors the same person again and again… it will switch in next match.

  2. Impressed by Ericsson in this race. First time this year that he really had the upper hand on Wehrlein. Qualified behind with a couple thousandths, but beat him off the line and never looked back. Neat driving from the Swede, starting to look more like 2016 where he destroyed Nasr over most of the season.

    1. I was a bit puzzled by the Saubers in this race, because there seemed to be a lot going on while only one scene was broadcast.
      There was that duel through Stowe, Vale and Club early in the race, with Wehrlein emerging ahead (and Ericsson complaining on the team radio), but it looks like they switched positions again a few laps later. Was that a normal pass or team orders (which would make sense, given that they were on different strategies, with Ericsson having to stop again)?
      After that, the two Saubers stayed relatively close together until Ericsson’s pit stop. Wehrlein’s tyres hit the cliff quite dramatically at that stage, and he lost 28 seconds to Hamilton in just 5 laps, which made me wonder why they didn’t pit him as soon as the problem became apparent. After that, their lap times were pretty identical again, but they were separated by that huge gap that had opened in those few laps.

      1. The team’s CEO in the other car didn’t had time to make all the decisions timely, hence the delay on Wherlein’s strategy

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          17th July 2017, 19:43

          I certainly think Wehrlein’s race was heavily compromised by his strategy too. But I do think that Ericsson was better this race anyway, just not by as much as it looks. Effectively it is a similar story in Spain. If Ericsson has been on the same strategy as his team mate, I think he could have finished in the points too, just not as high up as Wehrlein.

      2. Wehrlein passed Ericsson as he had warm tyres after he pitted twice during sc.
        After that Ericsson was able to pass him again and was more or less faster than Pascal during the whole race.

  3. Good race.
    I think Ferrari was a bad set-up, the drivers were very good.
    Sains and Kvyat, I believe both are responsible for the contact.
    My stars for Silverstone.
    5 Lewis Hamilton
    4 Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg
    3 Kimi Räikkönen, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel
    2 Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez, Felipe Massa, Stoffel Vandoorne
    1 Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean, Marcus Ericsson
    0 Lance Stroll, Pascal Wehrlein, Fernando Alonso, Jolyon Palmer
    -1 Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz

    1. I agree everyone but Raikkonen, who I think should be in the same tier as Bottas, etc. because he was the better of the Ferrari drivers this weekend and he was very competitive with Hamilton’s lap times for large parts of the race, his best performance of the year by far.

      1. Kimi did a good job, has a good car, I do not think he did anything extraordinary, in my opinion he just did a good job, nothing more.

    2. Not sure how you can place Kimi in the same bracket as Vettel. He outperformed him here quite convincingly.

    3. Rating Ricciardo ahead of Verstappen is that based on his gaps in free practice, poorer quali result, slower race pace, lower finishing position, or all of the above?

      1. Max did a good job, but Daniel seemed outstanding, he started from far away on the grid, in the restart he left the track to avoid a contact that sent him to the end again, and from there he always went towards Ahead, some battles better than others, but took the car to its best possible position.

      2. The qualifying result was hardly his fault since the car broke. His race pace seemed to match Verstappen, considering by the time he got to clean air (after Pérez stopped) the gap to Verstappen was 15.183s plus a pitstop (since Verstappen stopped first), and the gap at the end was 13.83s plus a pitstop (since Verstappen had an extra one).

    4. Mag did a strong and better job than GRO – he started far far behind but beat him in the race.. your points is a big laugh (as ever). IF your only focus is on the top cars then stop this folish homemade points…

      1. Romain was more consistent than Kevin all weekend and in the race too, Kevin’s work deserves no more attention than he had.
        …homemade points? Yes, I make them from my home, …You are a good observer.

        1. But GRO wasn’t consistent! He couldn’t keep up his race pace – MAG smashed him totally in the race. Coming from 16 th. he overtook him and ended 12. The only reason GRO is having a better fastest lap time is the ekstra pitstop (second) he had with new tires in the end of the race when everything was lost. MAG just ate him even with older tires lap after lap..take a look yourself on the lap times…or look at haasf1.com drivers comments and steiners..

          MAG lost it in the qualify because a the rainy condition which made it a lottery when tires should be burned to have a fast time. MAG tryed too early believing conditions would get worse – they obviously didn’t!

          But to blame MAG these conditions tells me you never did understand why qualify in rain is a lottery – think about why Mclaren was the fastest car in Q1……..homemade as sitting behind the TV – never been on a track yourself did you….?

        2. @luis I actually must agree that K-Mag was better than Grosjean this weekend. Gro also almost crashed into Ericsson in the race just after he pitted and had new tyres.
          It was Haas colors all over the Sauber frontwing.

          1. And the swede had a great race too – you can’t blame him sitting in a sauber with the old motor from Ferrari getting slower and slower..

    5. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      17th July 2017, 23:17

      @luis I don’t see how Kvyat and Sainz are both responsible for the contact. Kvyat has been instigated 3 incidents in a row.

      Sainz was totally at fault for the incident with Grosjean but at Baku he simply tried to avoid a collision with Kvyat. Again, Kvyat could have joined easily behind Sainz without testing his resolve to collide or avoid a collision. Sure, Sainz had a decent chance of avoiding contact but as we saw at Silverstone he wasn’t able to and I doubt he would have avoided it at Baku either. Either way, his save was a valiant one for Toro Rosso and he sacrificed his race to keep the team alive.

      At Silverstone, Kvyat gets passed and then attempts an overtage in the Maggotts, Becketts, Chapel with his teammate on Lap 1. I’d understand if Kvyat was fighting for the WDC and this was the last lap at the last race of the season but it was Lap 1 at Silverstone and that was his teammate.

      1. Exactly, that’s my point, the two were fighting hard in an inescapable way on the starting lap.
        Totally unnecessary.
        Moments before, Sains also squeezes roughly to Kvyat, and the only thing that provokes is that Kvyat also tightens of more, Kvyat touches slightly the earth and does not have the sufficient space to return to the track.
        Kvyat did not leave the track enough to take the escape, instinctively wanted to return, Sains was aware of the fight, and knows that if he fights he has to take responsibility too
        Kvyat did not come fighting alone.
        I agree with you Michael, this fight started many races before.
        I dont defend it, but Kvyat is running for his life.

        1. Kvyat caused this crash by himself. Sainz never squeezes him, that can be seen in his onboard. Through Maggots Carlos leaves enough room, through the next right hander he sticks to the inside and tracks out while leaving more than 1 car width on the outside/inside of Becketts. Then through Becketts he still leaves that room.

          Kvyat goes too fast through Maggots, which leaves him unable to take the right hander properly. That line is dirty, and grip is lower, and Kvyat must have known that. He still failed to slow down enough and understeered into the grass. He did that entirely on his own. And the fact he complained that Sainz turned into him? Kvyat was the one who had an outward trayectory, Sainz was taking the corner as normal while leaving room on the inside.

          I don’t know what you mean about taking responsability. Yes, you have to leave a fair amount of room, which Sainz did. The only way he could have avoided the accident is if he left the whole track to Kvyat.

  4. Season Star Performers:

    +6: Vettel
    +5:
    +4: Hamilton
    +3: Alonso, Perez, Verstappen, Bottas, Hulkenberg
    +2:
    +1: Wehrlein, Ricciardo
    0 : Giovinazzi, Massa, Ocon, Button, Sainz, Grosjean
    -1: Magnussen, Ericsson
    -2: Stroll, Raikkonen, Kvyat
    -3: Vandoorne
    -4: Palmer

    This is simply the running tally of Keith’s star performers and strugglers, with one point added when a driver was mentioned as a star performer, and one point subtracted when a driver was mentioned as a struggler.

    1. Mag did a strong and better job than GRO – he started far far behind but beat him in the race.. your points is a big laugh (as ever). IF your only focus is on the top cars then stop this folish homemade points…2 .

      1. I think it is rather your reading comprehension that is a big laugh. Please read the first word of my post, and the last sentence. @Nunu

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          17th July 2017, 22:43

          @mike-dee
          Indeed. You made it so clear what you are basing your points off. People like you make the effort to explain what they are based on and some people still don’t understand them. Same think seems to happen every race. Nunu could have just read your bottom sentence and as you say, the title…….

          Given this whole page is has the 2 words “Star Performers” in it as the title and the first words of your post says “season star performers” makes the description at the bottom not needed. But even that being there isn’t enough for some.

        2. Your aggregate of Keith’s rankings should show the likes of Sainz and Grosjean why they’re not at the front of the queue for a top drive.

          1. Although…

            Keith not impressed with shoeys. Me sad.

        3. @mike dee!

          Ok must give you that I went straight to the conclusion here – sorry!

          But still thinks the points are so wrong – as a remark it was GRO who ran RIC of the track – and disturbed ERI later. MAG came from 15.th and overtook GRO starting from 8.th – racepace should be rewarded!
          /Nunu

    2. So Dan getting 5 podiums in a row in car significantly slower than the first 2….
      That don’t impress Keith much!!

      1. All 5 while the faster cars and his teammate ran into trouble during qualifying or the race.

        -Spain: Verstappen and Räikkönen out in turn 1, Bottas’s engine dies during the race.
        -Monaco: Hamilton didn’t qualify well, Bottas lost position after trying to cover Verstappen. Verstappen was given a worse strategy, although Red Bull didn’t mean to.
        -Canada: Vettel lost a lot of time when his front wing broke, Kimi just had his typical Canada race, and Verstappen’s car died.
        -Baku: Vettel had a penalty, Hamilton had technical issues, Räikkönen’s race got ruined in turn 2, Bottas ruined his own race in turn 2, and Verstappen’s car died.
        -Austria: Hamilton had a gearbox penalty, Kimi was slow as hell, and Verstappen’s clutch failed during the warming lap and then Kvyat did his thing. This one was his most impressive since he had to hold off Hamilton who was quite faster.

        Yes, Ricciardo drove well, but achieving those 5 podiums took an amazing amount of luck. Almost as much as a Honda finishing a race.

    3. That’s actually a great way of looking at driver performance. I guess vettel overly benefited from early season performance and wow factor but it seems quite ok, considering it rigs driver evaluation towards the extremes.

  5. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    17th July 2017, 23:33

    Glad to see Hulkenberg finally catching a small break!

    1. As @mike-dee ‘s tally of Keith’s evaluation shows, he has already cought quite a lot of breaks

  6. How someone like Hamilton with a clearly faster car and no pressure other than to finish in a canter can be included as a “star” and not Ricciardo who came from dead last after being pushed wide to 5th in what is the 3rd best car is beyond me.

    But different strokes for different folks.

    1. But Lewis is faster in that faster car. Stop picking on our Lewis, you meanie.

    2. Fukobayashi (@)
      18th July 2017, 10:20

      I think qualifying half a second clear of anyone else including a very good driver in the same car and smashing the lap record amongst other statistical milestones deserves a star performer. You can’t only award it to people who mess up in qualifying and are then exciting to watch as they undo their mistakes from Saturday.

      1. Yes, amazing that Hamilton was able to break the lap record. So amazing that the top 8 qualifiers, which no doubt would have been 9 if not for technical issues, also broke that same record…

        1. To be clear, I don’t begrudge Lewis’s weekend being recognised as a good one, I just think if that if you include him you should be including guys like Ricciardo as well.

        2. Fukobayashi (@)
          18th July 2017, 15:11

          Sure multiple people would have broken the record but the manner in which he did it which can only be measured by the delta to his teammate, was phenomenal. He earned the right to cruise on Sunday because that lap was something very special.

  7. F1 is so starved of overtaking that when anyone gets punted to the back and makes his way past cars (often on different strategies) we cheer like crazy at them passing in the weirdest corners.
    Ricardo was great to watch im so happy that lots of others are seeing his talent in the third slowest car with a very quick team mate.
    but…. this was Hams race, what a Q3, smashed lap record won easily and im more sure than ever will go on to win his 4th WDC
    Im giving praise to Vet who in his post fast walk down a corridor managed to not whine about Max pushing him off in a bumper car fashion (after doing exactly the same to max in the previous corner) I could see his wry smile where he wanted to blurt it out but he bit his tongue, the guy is learning!

    1. Fukobayashi (@)
      18th July 2017, 15:14

      @jackobite exactly my point above, well said.

    2. Ricardo was great to watch im so happy that lots of others are seeing his talent in the third slowest car with a very quick team mate.

      You mean third fastest right? There is no way there are 6 teams with quicker cars than RB.

      1. lol yeah ofc silly me, third fastest :)
        whos 3rd slowest? would maybe depend on what team mate is driving it at the other end of the grid.

    3. @jackobite Third slowest car? :)

      Third fastest car is a better description.
      Which team is faster except Merc & Ferrari?

  8. My Performers:

    Hamilton – 5/5
    Ricciardo – 5/5
    Bottas – ⅘
    Hulkenberg – ⅘
    Verstappen – ⅘

    The Rest:

    Vettel – ⅘
    Alonso – ⅗
    Räikkönen – ⅗
    Ocon – ⅗
    Perez – ⅗
    Massa – ⅗
    Vandoorne ⅗
    Grosjean – ⅗
    Magnussen – ⅖
    Ericsson – ⅖

    The Strugglers:

    Wehrlein – ⅖
    Palmer – ⅖
    Stroll – ⅖
    Sainz – ⅖
    Kvyat – ⅖

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