Vote for your Malaysian GP driver of the weekend

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

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Which F1 driver impressed you the most during the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend?

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who you think was the best-performing driver of the weekend.

Malaysian Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Had he not been surprised by Rosberg at the final corner during Q3 he might have had pole – as it was he lined up just a few hundredths of a second off Hamilton. Rosberg beat him off the line and he briefly dropped behind Ricciardo before reversing the positions. Dropped back from Rosberg towards the end of the race as he saved fuel, but third remained an impressive achievement for the team so soon after their dire testing campaign.

Daniel Ricciardo – Said he was “a bit off in Q3” and took fifth behind Alonso. But a superb start saw him pass the Ferrari and his team mate – and nearly Rosberg too. Vettel demoted him soon afterwards but Ricciardo kept pace with his team mate. But a string of misfortunes beyond his control ruined his weekend and, gallingly, left him with a ten-place penalty for Bahrain as well.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – His first run in Q3, in the best of the conditions, was off the mark and though he managed to improve on his second run he missed out on a front-row start. He soon got up into second once the race began but seemed uncomfortable with his car’s balance and never got on terms with Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton – Aborted his final run in Q3 as he found himself too close to Hulkenberg but held on to his pole position. Never looked like being caught in the race and, much like his team mate in Australia, was even asking his team if he could do any more to look after his engine in the final laps.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Qualifying almost went badly wrong as he tangled with Kvyat, incurring suspension damage. Alonso had been driving particularly slowly on intermediate tyres while most others were on wets. He could have done more to avoid the incident and the same was true of Kvyat, who locked a wheel before hitting the Ferrari, damaging its suspension. Impressively Ferrari were able to repair it and despite wonky handling he took an excellent fourth on the grid. Made an early move to hard tyres during the race allowing him to attack in the final stint and see off Hulkenberg for fourth.

Kimi Raikkonen – Seemed to have an edge on Alonso in dry practice but the rain which arrived during qualifying served to highlight his continuing discomfort with some aspects of the Ferrari’s handling. His race was ruined by the contact with Magnussen which cost him a huge amount of time and left him with a damaged floor.

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – Although Lotus’s problems continued during practice Grosjean dragged his car into Q2 and then all the way to the chequered flag. He was pleased to keep Raikkonen behind for 11th despite losing downforce due to a broken diffuser.

Pastor Maldonado – Was hit by an out-of-control Marussia at the start, then dropped due to a loss of power. His car was retired soon after to avoid damage to his engine due to a fault with his turbo.

McLaren

Jenson Button – A gamble on intermediate tyres in Q3 failed to pay off. But in the race he started well and was quickly up to seventh, from where he was unable to make any impression on Hulkenberg. Held off the Williams pair at the end.

Kevin Magnussen – Started ahead of Button again but an error of judgement spoiled his race when he tagged Raikkonen, damaging his front wing. He had a lonely end to the race, unable to rejoin the battle between his team mate and the Williams drivers.

Force India

Nico Hulkenberg – Easily outpaced Perez in Q2 and took seventh on the grid. Tried to use a two-stop strategy to finish ahead of Alonso but had to relinquish the place in the closing laps, but that still left him a strong fifth.

Sergio Perez – Struggled with rear brake locking during qualifying and was knocked out in Q2. Failed to start the race due to a gearbox problem.

Sauber

Adrian Sutil – Not getting an early ‘banker’ lap in during Q1 was a basic tactical error which left him 17th on the grid (promoted one place due to Bottas’s penalty). Gained places at the start and passed his team mate on lap 19 but an electrical problem halted him just after half-distance.

Esteban Gutierrez – Qualified 12th – a decent performance given the car’s lack of pace. Was passed by Kvyat early on and was running 13th when a gearbox glitch ended his race during his second pit stop.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Made it into Q3 – at the expense of his team mate – but a problem with his power unit was immediately clear at the start of the race. Bianchi clipped him as the Marussia went past, leaving Vergne with a puncture. He retired shortly after falling to last place.

Daniil Kvyat – Lost two places at the start but fought back with a handy pass on Gutierrez at the first corner on lap five. Though he couldn’t keep the recovering Magnussen behind he held off Grosjean for his second points score in as many races.

Williams

Felipe Massa – Neither Williams driver made it beyond Q2, both switching between the intermediate and wet tyres as they tried to find some grip. From 13th on the grid Massa gained five places in two laps, but voiced his displeasure at his team mate’s driving as Bottas tried to pass. After spending the rest of the race stuck behind Button, Williams decided to let Bottas have a try, but Massa refused to let his team mate through.

Valtteri Bottas – Picked up his second grid penalty in a row but this time he was to blame after holding Ricciardo up during Q2. Once again he started very well and was soon on his team mate’s tail – which was where the trouble began.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Easily had the beating of Chilton in qualifying but threw away a good qualifying position by making contact with Vergne at turn four. The resultant puncture sent him spinning into Maldonado.

Max Chilton – Got onto Ericsson’s tail at the end of the race but couldn’t get past for 14th.

Caterham

Kamui Kobayashi – Had yet more problems in practice, covering just a dozen laps before qualifying. However in the race his car ran reliably and he finished 40 seconds down on the Kvyat/Grosjean/Raikkonen battle.

Marcus Ericsson – Ran out of road at turn three during qualifying and smacked the barrier. But in the race he brought the car home, holding off Chilton in the final laps.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mateLaps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel2nd-1.055s46/4933rd
Daniel Ricciardo5th+1.055s3/495
Lewis Hamilton1st-0.619s56/5631st-17.313s
Nico Rosberg3rd+0.619s0/5632nd+17.313s
Fernando Alonso4th-1.043s55/5534thNot on same lap
Kimi Raikkonen6th+1.043s0/55312thNot on same lap
Romain Grosjean15th-1.872s7/7311th
Pastor Maldonado16th+1.872s0/70
Jenson Button10th+1.84s53/5536thNot on same lap
Kevin Magnussen8th-1.84s2/5539thNot on same lap
Nico Hulkenberg7th-1.672s0/025th
Sergio Perez14th+1.672s0/0
Adrian Sutil17th+0.997s16/322
Esteban Gutierrez12th-0.997s16/322
Jean-Eric Vergne9th-0.255s0/182
Daniil Kvyat11th+0.255s18/18310th
Felipe Massa13th-0.296s49/5637th-0.461s
Valtteri Bottas18th+0.296s7/5638th+0.461s
Jules Bianchi19th-1.686s0/81
Max Chilton21st+1.686s8/8315th
Kamui Kobayashi20th-0.812s54/54213thNot on same lap
Marcus Ericsson22nd+0.812s0/54314thNot on same lap

Review the race data

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend?

Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix weekend?

  • Marcus Ericsson (0%)
  • Kamui Kobayashi (2%)
  • Max Chilton (0%)
  • Jules Bianchi (0%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (1%)
  • Felipe Massa (1%)
  • Daniil Kvyat (1%)
  • Jean-Eric Vergne (0%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Esteban Gutierrez (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (24%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Kevin Magnussen (0%)
  • Jenson Button (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (3%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
  • Fernando Alonso (3%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (54%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (7%)

Total Voters: 787

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2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

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Images © Daimler/Hoch Zwei, Force India, Red Bull/Getty

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117 comments on “Vote for your Malaysian GP driver of the weekend”

  1. Hamilton and Vettel were both great but could have got a bit more in quali perhaps, despite their strong grid position. So I’ve gone for Hulk. Doesn’t matter whether he’s in a Williams, Force India or Sauber, he still manages to fight towards the front. What does that guy have to do to get a call from a top team?

    1. Probably win the lottery..

      1. Change nationality? It seems as if there are too many German drivers, which makes it difficult to get a good sponsor, when You are a bit down the chain. If he were Italian, I’m sure where he would be now;-)

    2. Wait– How could Hamilton get a better result than pole, in such heavy rain he couldn’t see out of his mirrors?

      1. @craig-o Agreed.
        His situation would be a bit better if they could adopt a new rule with a, say, 80kg cap (or anything reasonable) and add weight to the seat if a driver weighs less. Not a new idea.
        But they want to stick with the reality of the car production? Good news, the average car driver weighs more than 60kg.

  2. I voted for Hulkenberg. He stood the most in the race. Of course, Hamilton was flawless, but he was driving calm race without the need to push. But Hulk seemed to be wringing every juice out of his Force India and performed well above his car’s potential and gave us some beautiful defence driving and gave some short but hard time for Alonso. He also performed well in qualifying, thrashing his team mate.

    I just wonder, what he could do in that Mercedes as Hamilton’s team mate.

    1. He out-performed Perez the same amount as Bianchi did to Chilton. And Perez looked strong in the 2012 Sauber, against Kamui who now looks strong in the Caterham.

      I thought the same thing… Hamilton, Vettel and Hulkenberg in equal machinery would be a sight to admire!

      1. Perez certainly looked closer to Button last year than to Hulk this year… Button in turn was a bit better (though not in quali-speed) than Ham in their McLaren-years… if one believes in that kind of crosscomparisons.
        But yes, I voted Hulk, even though it was just his normal level of performance. To me, nobody delivered something really exceptional this weekend.

        1. OMG you new by any chance, maybe you was a an of 2011,Hams worst year ever, still won as many races as JB. Please dont say JB was often fastest in race, its insulting when both times cars finished Ham was like 31-15 or something in Hams favour, 9wins to 8 atleast 3 wins he retired from in 2012. Ham easily was the better guy, people are hilarious when they think JB is better cuz he scored more points lol, Ham beat Button in 2 seasons to 1 so what does points matter.

          Ham was having an absoloute crisis of a year in 2011 yet came back and really destroyed Jenson last season.

          1. Huh ?
            I’d say, ONLY points matter.
            You can turn it around the way you want, in the end JB scored more points, whether you like it or not.
            It’s easy enough to divide their time together as 3 seasons and deciding “2-1 to LH, so no question !”
            One could say that in 2010-11-12 LH couldn’t do better that 4th in the WDC whereas JB has been runner up.

        2. GB (@bgp001ruled)
          1st April 2014, 0:26

          agree with you: no driver was outstanding.

      2. Hulk got the test car, Perez the new one it seems nothing works ok on that one, besides getting a puncture in Australi just as Kimi on thisone, but perform about the same.
        Hulk hasn’t race Perez yet so as redbull says is immature comment.

    2. Well, yeah, but Hamilton also destroyed his teammate– by the end of lap 1. By lap 4, Rosberg was complaining of rear tire wear, and Hamilton was 4 seconds down the road. Hamilton also consistently used less fuel (at least partially because he was so far out in front, but later, when Nico was 9 seconds behind, and one assumes not affected by Lewis’s turbulence, Nico was still using more fuel).

  3. Ive gone for SV He was sublime in Q after the restart of the Car in Q1 and He taken fight to Rosberg in Race
    Complements to Hulky , FA, LH

    1. I fully agree. SV, FA, LH and NH all did a great job.

  4. There’s only one answer here, right?
    Lewis’ performance was the most brutally efficient I’ve seen by a non-Vettel driver since Silverstone 2008.

    1. Indeed, Hamilton had a perfect weekend.

    2. Yea: Grand Chelem

    3. Agreed. Flawless.

    4. I’m guessing by brutally efficient, you mean a perfect performance in a perfect car. There have been drivers who have had much more impressive performances, but if you mean perfect car + perfect race from pole, then Rosberg 2012 China was brutally efficient as well.

      1. @todfod Or pretty much 90% of Seb’s wins in F1. All brutally efficient.

    5. Wasn’t Hamilton only 2nd on the grid for that race? Kovalainen’s first pole?

      1. He was 4th on the grid

    6. @alehud42
      @timi
      How do you define “brutally efficient”. If winning a race in a dominant car is “brutally efficient”, then what do you call winning a race in a donkey of a car? AKA Brazil 2003 or Malaysia 2012.

      1. @kingshark

        Malaysia 2012.

        How do you call that? A lucky one, considering both Button and Hamilton had problems when they were ahead of him.

        It was a good performance from Alonso, but the win wasn’t due to his performance but due to his rivals having problem that weren’t their fault.

        Similar to this year’s 4th place in Australia ahead of Vettel, Ricciardo, Massa and Hamilton, which you also tried to relate it to Alonso’s performance, he he.

      2. @Kingshark, Alonso only won that race because McLaren messed up Hamilton’s 2 pitstops and neglected his strategy, it had nothing to do with Alonso’s so called skill.

        1. It had everything to do with Alonso and Ferrari’s ‘so called’ skills. After all, they won the race, and others did not. You need to be right up there to be able to take advantage of other people’s mistakes, which is the best they could do on the day. Strategy and pitstop teamwork are all part of the game and McLaren collectively failed that day, which is why they did not win.

          1. @concalvez00
            @cashnotclass

            No need to go to either extreme.

            Neither did it have nothing to do with Alonso’s skill nor did it have everything o do with it.

            Alonso drove to the max and flawlessly (in rain!), which definitely deserves recognition.

            But the first place wasn’t a consequence of him outperforming faster cars, but of those faster cars having problems outside of their driver’s actions.

            I’d agree Alonso was the best driver that race, but it’s silly to simply ignore the facts that surrounded his first place.

            See Vettel in Singapore that same year. He finished ahead a clearly faster McLaren. Amazing!!!!!!
            Yeah, Hamilton retired due to mechanical issues.

            Does it make Vettel (or Alonso) any less of a superb driver? Not at all. But as I said, just pretending some incidents didn’t happen is silly.

        2. @concalvez00

          Alonso only won that race because McLaren messed up Hamilton’s 2 pitstops and neglected his strategy, it had nothing to do with Alonso’s so called skill.

          For starters, McLaren only messed up one pit stop because they had to wait to release Lewis when traffic was heading in the pitlane. Nonetheless, Hamilton was 2 seconds behind Alonso when released out of the box, and 20 seconds behind Alonso when they switched to dries. Lewis and Vettel were thoroughly outpaced by both Alonso and Perez in the wet, and the Ferrari was a donkey of a car early in the 2012 season.

          1. How do you call that? A lucky one, considering both Button and Hamilton had problems when they were ahead of him.

            How fast were Hamilton and Button compared to Alonso in the wet?

            Exactly.

          2. As I said, he was the best that race, clearly.

            But he didn’t win because of that.

            He may still have won, sure, but what would have happened if LH haven’t had the pit stop problems or Button the accident? It wouldn’t be the first (nor won’t be the last) time Alonso fails to pass slower drivers.

            As I said, Alonso was the best that race, but he won because his biggest competiton had troubles. Those are the facts.

  5. 1. Hulkenberg
    2. Hamilton
    3. Alonso

  6. Got to be the Hulk!!!! The best Drive!!! He is amazing to watch!!!

  7. I know I’m going to get labelled as a Grosjean fan, but I gave him my vote. Seeing him battle for 11th was great and I really hope he can score points this year. I guess the car isn’t as bad as that but he has dragged it further and faster than I would’ve thought.

    1. Just wait until they can turn the MGUs up to full power!

    2. I voted for him for the same reason.

    3. Same. It was down to Hamilton, Vettel, Hulkenberg, and Grosjean for me, as my litmus test is “who does the most with the car they drive.”

      As I’m unsure still about the quality of the Red Bull and Force India cars, it went between HAM and GRO for me. Hamilton was utterly impressive all weekend, but for Grosjean to qualify where he did, then nearly score a point with a damaged Lotus resonated more strongly to me.

    4. I’m not alone! He nearly got troubled Lotus on the points, battling everyone, and manage to keep Kimi behind (although Kimi also got considerable misfortune and damage as well). Everybody just went and cruised as expected, but Grosjean brings hope and motivation to Enstone guys. Viva la Grosjean!!!

    5. I concur, voted for him as well

  8. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    31st March 2014, 14:02

    Hamilton

    Drove a very fast and controlled weekend. Handled the torrential qualifying conditions to take pole on what was supposed to be a banker lap.

    He then converted the pole into a superb drive on Sunday. Drove more fuel efficiently, and was faster than anyone, finishing the race with considerably more fuel in hand than anyone else.

    Two words: Grand Chelem.

    Honorable mentions to: Vettel, Hulkenberg, Koayashi and Grosjean.

    1. Wait, and no mention to Kvyat?

    2. I’d like for anyone to correct me on the following if they have any further knowledge, But I suspect the FOM graphic giving us the fuel percentages is invalid… It wouldn’t make sense for Hamilton to carry a certain amount of fuel and then not consume everything he was carrying before the finish line (with an amount left over for the fuel sample of course)…. As far as I remember Lewis finished the race with about 93% of his fuel consumed(on the FOM graphic). Lets suppose he started with the maximum 100 kg and then finished with 7kg left over, that leaves enough for a sample and some..From the outset It wouldn’t be worth him carrying 7kg more than he needs, if you do the maths that’s a lot per lap he would be losing. Mercedes arn’t stupid. So i’m suggesting that perhaps lewis only ran with say 95kg of fuel to begin with, and the FOM graphic just shows the amount of fuel he’s used as a percentage of the expected 100kg fuel load… This makes sense given that the FOM are presumably relying on the fuel flow reading from the much talked about FIA homologated sensor, and that that measures the rate of flow and therefore the amount that passes through the sensor…. So what I’m trying to say is that Lewis potentially did actually consume all of his fuel, but he just ran with less to begin with. which is consistent with what Paddy Lowe said about their fuel efficiency… of course all of this relies on the FOM readings having some degree of accuracy…

      1. Yet this assumes they also did not put enough fuel in, in for the occasion that the race did not go flawlessly, and thus would have to fight for position. People have said that the Merc had plenty more to show, yet did not need to push. Hence, fuel left over?

        Just a hunch though.

      2. I believe the FOM graphics of fuel consumption is normalised to the prescribed max weight of fuel the car is allowed to consume for the duration of the race, in laps and out laps are not part of that weight. So its up to the teams to start the race with 90kg or 110kg but just don’t consume more than 100kg during the race and also have sufficient fuel in your car to give a specified mass/volume of fuel, after the race is over.

    3. Unless the FOM do in fact know the amount of fuel on board before t.he race.

  9. I voted for Hamilton . Determined to make up for the loss at Melbourne , he managed to hold of a resurgent and firing Vettel in Q3 for pole. It was possible that he could have found few more tenths in the last lap , but as he said , no one could see anything in the spray. For the race , it was absolutely crucial that he got the start perfect . Any touches like in Suzuka 2013 ,and it would be further disappointing.Despite not being known for rocket style launches, he got that pin-perfect , launched away and got a quick lead as the others were bickering behind him. He controlled the race as beautifully as possible and got the maximum points for the day thereby opening his account for 2014 in emphatic fashion .

  10. Had to go for Hamilton. He wasn’t pushed but got the pole in wet conditions (which nullifies some of the car advantage) and more significant was how comfortably he outpaced his teammate in the race.

    Mentions to Vettel, Alonso (particularly if his steering was as bad in qualy as he suggested), Hulkenberg and Button who all seemed to get the best out of their cars.

  11. tough call. hamilton was good throughout the weekend, so was hulkenberg. but i’m going to give my vote to romain grosjean, simply because everyone wrote lotus off at the beginning of the season, classed them even behind caterham and marussia. due to a superb drive and a brilliant qualifying (considering he’s usually not good in the wet) it got him a very valuable 11th place. holding off kimi was a brilliant job.

    also, honorable mention to kobayashi, caterham are now closer to the midfield than last year.

  12. Voted Hamilton for the sheer pasting he gave Rosberg but hard not to go for Hulk. Probably the best driver defensively in the field??

    Wish he’d been given the nod over Kimi at Ferrari butt hank god he didn’t go to Lotus!

  13. – Felipe, Valteri is faster than you, don’t hold him up.
    – [Silent Felipe doesn’t let his teammate pass him].

    I voted Felipe, and it’s more of an emotional choice than a carefully thought one.

    1. @dan_the_mclaren_fan

      Felipe: Keep Bottas on leech, he’s trying to overtake me!
      – Valtteri, you need to back down, don’t attack Felipe.

      Not the man of my taste.

      1. Good point. Massa basically asked for team orders when it suited him, then ignored team orders later on when it didn’t.

        I can’t look past Hamilton for this one.

        1. Exactly. Sooo many people here tend to only remember the last team order and not the first one…conveniently..

      2. I remember hearing something like:
        – Massa: did you see what he did? He touched me!

      3. @lari: +1. IF Massa was a real top driver, I could excuse him for being a hypocrite like that, but he is no where in the league, where it is excusable or justified. But rest assured that Bottas has learned the lesson for next race: Bottas: “Get that ……. Williams out of my way!”

    2. LOL – I voted Hamilton – but Massa was entertaining

  14. I went for Alonso here, if I could vote for Hulk too I would as they both out performed their cars. Couldn’t vote Hamilton because he turned his engine down half way through the race, that’s not a display of his driving skills.

  15. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    31st March 2014, 14:56

    For me, as it was last year, 99% of the time a driver gets a Grand Chelem is because he is the DOTW. So Hamilton gets it. Any other answer would just mean I’m blindfolding myself.

  16. Had to be Ham. I’m a bit biased I admit but he seems to have added fuel- and tyre-management skills to his CV. Vettel and Hulkenberg impressed too and it seems Webber left his lucky mascot in Ricciardo’s car!

    1. @dawnpiper: Good one;-) Ricciardo better find it and bin it this week!

  17. 1.LH
    2.NH
    3.SV
    4.DR

  18. Voted for Hulkenberg although it was a tough choice between him and Hamilton. Hamilton was never pushed too much whole weekend whereas Hulk again took FI where it was never meant to be.
    Vettel, Alonso and Grosjean had good drives also along with the above two.

  19. Hamilton, for an emphatic win – all the while conserving his fuel better than almost anyone. You just can’t not vote for a grand chelem.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      31st March 2014, 18:02

      +9 in a row @vettel1

  20. Hulk for me. Again puts a car where it shouldn’t be. Hamilton just took advantage of the equipment he had.

  21. “I don’t think Hamilton deserves it because it was just his car that brought him there.”

    Oops, I forgot he isn’t Vettel in a Red Bull. So it doesn’t apply of course. Let me revise.
    “I voted Hamilton because he drove sublime and nobody even came close to his (one-lap) prace.”

    In all seriousness. Vettel drove a good race challenging Rosberg throughout. Rosberg and Hamilton did what was expected of them. Hülkenberg however brought that car to another spot where it should not be. He really is champion material. With the words of Ben Edwards: “There hasn’t been a race where I wasn’t impressed by Nico Hülkenberg.”

    1. Dude a Grand Schelem and 17 seconds to a super teammate was domination.

  22. Hamilton with the best car, Vettel with the second-best, but Hulkenberg? Yet there he was, had a quiet, solid race up front and gets my vote. #27 to Ferrari!

  23. Grand Chelem gets the vote

  24. Hamilton, Vettel, Hülkenberg, Grosjean and Kobayashi were the best, Kamui gets my vote partly because he’s got too few, but also because he beat his teammate by 0,8s in Q1, by 50s in the race, and he did that while managing one less pitstop while fighting guys with way better cars. And he’s doing it for free!

  25. Hulk :>

  26. Albert@hotmail.com
    31st March 2014, 16:17

    1. Hamilton, for outperforming Rosberg in such a convincing way, +qualy and win.

    2. Vettel, for that qualy lap and coming as close to Rosberg as he did, he may have even passed him if it wasn’t for Sutil.

    3. Hulkenberg, for putting the car as high as he did.

  27. 1. Hamilton, for outperforming Rosberg in such a convincing way, +deserved qualy and win.

    2. Vettel, for that qualy lap and coming as close to Rosberg as he did, he may have even passed him if it wasn’t for Sutil.

    3. Hulkenberg, for putting the car as high as he did.

  28. Lewis was complete during this w.e., showed maturity & will to win. Bravo to him, he deserves the drive of this one by all means.
    Hulk is someone I’ve always looked after, he also has done a great drive.

  29. Hamilton. He had pretty much a perfect weekend, never put a foot wrong and soundly beat his teammate. What more does he need to do in a race weekend? Some may use the Vettel argument that he has the best car right now and this is expected. The driver still has to have a superior level of consistent speed and aggression and beat his teammate, the previous race winner in the same car. No, I’m not always a Lewis fan, but I can’t think of one mistake made by him in this race weekend. If he keeps this level of concentration throughout the season, he will be hard to beat for WDC.

    Honorable mention: Hulkenberg doing his best in a lesser car, as usual.

  30. I was torn between Hulk and Lewis. I went with Lewis because he managed to not only dominate the race, but beat his teammate handily AND use less fuel and tyres than anyone else in the top 5. If he can adopt his usual aggressive style and make the new cars work, then I had to give him the nod and increase his chances as the WDC this year.
    The Hulk seems to do more with less than anyone else on the track, but I think Grosjean and even Kamui get honorable mentions. Alonso is always brilliant with a lesser car. I should probably give him more credit…but I almost expect it of him now which actually speaks to his skill level :)

    1. We actually don’t know he used less fuel. The percentage was of the 100kg but it may have been Rosberg his tank was less full.

      1. The fuel measurement was supposedly from the FIA’s sensor telling how much total fuel had been used. Do you have a link or reference to say differently? Otherwise, it was a straightforward measure of how much fuel had gone through the Fuel Flow Sensor.

  31. my DoW is Kvy

  32. Did anyone else think there was some kind of no-attack-agreement between the Merc-drivers, like “whoever leads lap 1 wins”? Ham did his fastest lap relatively early and with hard tyres, Rosbergs main objective seemed to be toying with Vettel, making him push hard (trying to make him push too hard), and whenever Vettel came near to the 1-sec-DRS-activation Ros made 1-3 laps a second faster while still not looking like he was close to the limits…

  33. put simply, I’m just happy to see Hamilton finally have a car that he deserves!

  34. Has to be Hamilton for me, stuck it on pole and then dominated the race and could have gone quicker if needed.

    Second would be Hulkenberg, another top performance.

    Honourable mentions to Vettel, Alonso and Kvyat.

  35. I was goint to vote for Hulk, but Lewis weekend was just perfect. First grand chelem of his career and finishing well ahead of his high rated teammate.

  36. Mighty performance by Lewis. Can’t give it to anyone else – he wiped the floor with Rosberg.
    Credit to Grosjean and Hulkenberg who looked like they punched above their weight; Kvyat and Kobayashi were solid too.

  37. Is Ericsson the new Chilton?

  38. I voted Nico Hülkenberg, his result is very great!

  39. These polls are never fair, because the winner should be the best driver of the weekend. So, in abstract Ham is, for me, the best driver of the past weekend, no matter what.
    However, I thought using the poll to choose the driver that, apart from the obvious, deserved to be in the spotlight too. And for me that driver was Daniil Kvyat. Why? Simple. In the second appearance of his fisrt F1 championship, he manages to finish the two races, and not only he does that, as he manages to grab points on both. And if we thought that the first race was luck due to abandons, this one was not so. He drove very well, with no experience in this level. OFC, Hulk deserved too, but like I said, to Kvyat was harder, much harder.

  40. It is very easy to decide: Hamilton, then Hulkenberg, then Kobayashi.

  41. Hulk all the way.

    Another faultless drive and notwithstanding Perez’s bad luck come race day, he has made him look decidedly average thus far this season.

    For me and I have no hard data behind this, but I think that Hulk is now the 4th best driver on the grid, and I say that as an ardent Kimi fan, who I’ve just relegated to 5th. I don’t think I need to tell you who I think the top 3 are…

  42. 1.hamilton
    2.Hulk
    3.Vettel

  43. Grosjean, for dragging a hugely uder-performing and unreliable Lotus not only into Q2 but he actually finished the race. On top of that, he stayed ahead of a Kimi, who was very much faster all through the race.

    :) Come on RoGro! (and Marussia)

  44. Who cares?
    Computer programmers matter more in today’s F1 than drivers.

    1. Just like before aerodynamicists matterer more than drivers.

      And suspension designers before that.

      And before that motor designers.

      And still we’ve cared about the drivers, and probably always will. Welcome to F1, it has only been this way for the past 70 years.

  45. Hulk really should be in kimi’s seat. This year doesn’t mean just turning up and driving, however big and clever that used to sound.

  46. Rosberg completely controls the first race of the year after an awesome start and leading every lap, getting the fastest lap along the way. Not even in the top 3 drivers of the weekend. I recall him getting like 6% of the vote.

    Hamilton’s at 55% for doing pretty much the same thing this weekend, except also having pole position. I understand there’s a few other factors involved, but not enough to warrant 50% extra than his teammate. Favoritism if ever I saw it

    1. Hamilton beat his teammate by 17 seconds

    2. @turbotoaster

      Check out Monaco 2013, Rosberg convincingly won that one… he didn’t for Melbourne 2013 because it was Hamilton who got pole and if his engine didn’t break down it’s unlikely Rosberg would have won.

    3. Rosberg is underestimated by many. He consistently out-raced Schumacher and it was written off as an unfair comparison against a much older man. He was on nearly level terms with Hamilton last year, accounting for Mercedes’ good points haul compared with other top teams where one driver often dominated the other.

      Rosberg is a PR dream; he has a “historic” pedigree, he’s good looking, eloquent and multilingual, very smart and likely to be running Mercedes’ sporting arm in fifteen years or so. He’s a golden boy. Maybe I’m cynical, but that’s why I think many of us British people don’t like him.

      1. “Rosberg is a PR dream; he has a “historic” pedigree, he’s good looking, eloquent and multilingual, very smart and likely to be running Mercedes’ sporting arm in fifteen years or so. He’s a golden boy.”

        I have to fully agree. If I had to spend an evening chatting with a mercedes driver, I’d love it to be Rosberg. But… I don’t believe he is the fastest of the two.

    4. @turbotoaster
      In Australia Magnussen got onto the podium on his début & Ricciardo got onto the podium in his first race for his new team (before being penalised) and both beat their more experienced team mates in qualifying and the race while Bottas raced through the field twice to earn 5th place in a Williams – as such all three exceeded most people’s expectations.
      Rosberg was outqualified by his team mate and then “inherited” the win due to Lewis’s engine problems which is hardly a performance worthy of a DOTW vote (for me).

      That isn’t favouritism, it’s just a reflection of the different circumstances surrounding the two races and I reckon Rosberg (or any other driver) would have won this weeks poll had he been the one to get pole position and the win instead of Hamilton (all other things being equal) and I reckon Hamilton would have struggled to get into the top 3 in the Australia DOTW poll if it had been Rosberg’s engine that had failed instead of his.

      Personally I’m not that big a fan of Hamilton and I’d love to see Rosberg win the WDC this season but I still voted for Hamilton in this poll as he did everything right all weekend and pulled off the perfect result in qualifying and the race while no-one else managed to do anything special enough to make me vote for them.

  47. Lewis Hamilton. Really easy.

  48. Hamilton, of course. Also Hulkenberg did a very good weekend. Vettel ok.
    By the way, I can not understand that there people that vote fo Alonso.

  49. I voted for Vettel. Hamilton had such a dominant car he could do little else but cruise around in front. Vettel had to ring the neck of the RBR car to even challenge Rosberg. He drove a flawless race in an inferior car. I had trouble splitting Vettel and ‘The Hulk” who also drove the wheels off his car. I think the Mercedes tactic was to keep Rosberg just far enough in front of Vettel to make him push in the hope of getting second. The fuel use certainly indicated that Rosberg had performance in hand when he needed it.

  50. Must be Massa… for having the guts to stay in F1 after all these “X is faster than you” ! Not that he’s the only driver that had this kind of “problem”, but it seems like a “Massa brand”. Sad to see F1 in this state especially now that we know it’s not something related strictly to Ferrari/Massa.

  51. My vote goes to the hulk. Once again he beats his teammate handily, puts a mid rank car where you don’t expect it and races hard and fair with the very best.

    The chorus of “put him in a top car” is deafening at this stage, but are Ferrari or McLaren really a step up nowadays? I’m not so sure.

    1. I think its ok for Hulkenberg where he is right now, If he manages to put in similar efforts henchforth then i wont be suprised to see him snatch a podium in this season… Just shows that its just notthe car technology but the driver skills as well….

  52. Yikes – I was voter number 666!

    On this site I am a “follower” of Button, Hamilton, Rosberg, Bottas and Magnussen – but Hulkenberg and Grosjean are probably worth watching closely too.

    I gave Hulkenberg some thought as I am biased towards Hamilton; but in the end it had to be Hamilton as he was in the zone all weekend.

    Hulkenberg was great though. Without such strict weight restrictions on the car/driver combo, he’d probably be in a top car. That would be very interesting.

  53. My Vote Goes for the incredible Hulk and force india. FI were really brave to do a two stop stratergy and make it work. I still think the perking order is not clear behind Mercedes and Redbull.

  54. I would like to point out that up until now (678 votes), the McLaren drivers received <1% of the votes each, while Button had a pretty decent race. That pretty much proves there is little favouritism for British drivers or teams, right?

    1. Them Brits are a voting for Hamilton en masse!

      1. @andae23 What he said. I think Button is loved by many Brits but they’ll cheer for Hammy even harder.

  55. Hamilton? Seriously? I think the poll’s question is wrong, it’s in fact “Who had the best car….. ?”

    1. According to Hamilton Vettel did.

  56. Its Hulk for me too, although i am surprised with people commenting that he was in a lesser car, cause he was in a lesser car last year and struggled at the start of the season to be in points. Good he didn’t sign for lotus.

  57. Hülkenberg, Alonso, Hamilton, Kobayashi, and Vettel as well, all seemed to have a good weekend and race. I voted for Hülkenberg, because the technical advantage enjoyed by Rosberg and Hamilton at the moment is so massive.

    Team of the weekend is definitely Mercedes, though; fantastic performance.

  58. Voted for Sebastian Vettel, it was a 3 man race, Hamilton, Vettel or Hulkenberg, decided for Vettel, Hamilton had a great race but in Qualification almost lost Pole for Vettel, if so i don’t think that would change a lot of things, Hulkenberg was in a great place, but i recon that’s just because of disqualifications and some accidents, so i went for Seb, dis what he could…

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