Vote for your Canadian GP driver of the weekend

2013 Canadian Grand Prix

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

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

Canadian Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – A tidy lap early on in Q3 secured his third pole position of the season. Made good his escape in the opening laps of the race but it looked a bit hairy at times as he dealt the turn four wall a glancing blow and went straight on at turn one later in the race. Brought the car home for his first win in Canada and boosted his points lead.

Mark Webber – Was in the hunt for a podium until Van der Garde turned in on him while he was trying to put the Caterham a lap down. The front wing damage and time lost left him vulnerable to Alonso, yet he was still able to set the fastest lap.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Sixth on the grid was his worst qualifying performance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since his Minardi days. He picked off Bottas on the first lap and made further gains in the race, passing Webber and Hamilton thanks partly to their delays in traffic but also aided by the Ferrari’s excellent straight-line speed. Its one-lap pace remains a weakness however, one he says the team “absolutely must improve on”.

Felipe Massa – Suffered his third major crash in two weeks during qualifying which left him 16th on the grid. But made several passes in the opening laps which brought him up into the points-paying positions. Overtook Raikkonen on the penultimate lap but still finished behind Di Resta who he started the race ahead of.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Missed out on doing a high-fuel run in second practice due to a gearbox problem. Starting 14th he ran a long first stint, patiently waiting for the graining to subside on his super-soft tyres. But he wasn’t able to gain enough ground to make his subsequent stint on medium tyres pay off.

Sergio Perez – Finished ahead of Button but dropped too far back from Massa in his final stint to take advantage of Sutil’s drive-through penalty and claim a point.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – His eagerness to gain places at the pit exit during qualifying got the better of him. But the two-place grid penalty he incurred only ended up costing him one spot. Having endured a luckless race with brake problems, high fuel consumption and a slow pit stop he then lost eighth place to Massa on the penultimate lap.

Romain Grosjean – His ten-place grid penalty from Monaco had little effect as he only qualified 19th after backing off for a yellow flag in Q1. He started on medium tyres and rose as high as eighth at one stage. But he wasn’t able to make his tyres last long enough to complete the race with a single stop, and his second visit to the pits left him well out of the points.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – Rosberg’s run of pole positions came to an end as his radio failed during qualiying, robbing him of vital contact with the pit wall in a session where conditions were constantly changing. From fourth on the grid he slipped back to fifth in the race, visibly struggling with his tyres and the only finisher to make three pit stops.

Lewis Hamilton – Despite still being unhappy with his car’s braking performance Hamilton was in his usual excellent form at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. He claimed another front row start and looked after his tyres far better than his team mate. But he wasn’t able to keep Alonso from taking second, thanks in part to the antics of Sutil.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber admitted making an error in preparing Hulkenberg’s car on Friday as a result of which he spent most of the two sessions complaining out bottoming. He fared well in qualifying thanks to wet conditions but the race was dry and the Sauber proved too harsh on its tyres once again. He was nowhere near the points when he went out in a collision with Van der Garde. Although the Caterham had spent a lap holding him up, Hulkenberg was partly to blame for their race-ending contact as he left Van der Garde too little room as he came by.

Esteban Gutierrez – Another driver who tried to make a one-stopper work but couldn’t. Gutierrez overdid it after he left the pit lane following his second stop and crashed out.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Fastest in the wet first practice session, then lost time with an electrical problem in the second. For the second weekend in a row he was eliminated in a wet Q1, this time after being delayed by a gearbox problem. Amends were made on Sunday when a well-judged one-stop strategy lifted him ten places to seventh. Still he must wonder what might have been.

Adrian Sutil – The same could be said of his team mate, who qualified well but slipped backwards in the race, beginning when he spun while trying to pass Bottas. Nudged by Maldonado at the hairpin, he carried rear wing damage for the rest of the race. Later on he took too long letting Hamilton lap him – the Mercedes driver shouting for “blue flags” on the radio – and was given a drive-through penalty.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Collected a penalty for his contact with Sutil after which he was always going to struggle to rejoin the midfield battle without a Safety Car appearance.

Valtteri Bottas – A special qualifying performance saw him take third on the grid in wet conditions despite not having driven the track before. He was always going to struggle to hold on to that position in dry conditions. Despite firm-but-fair defensive driving he was powerless to stop the bulk of the midfield overtaking him.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – There were two keys to Vergne’s best-ever race result of sixth: a great performance in the wet qualifying session, and his pass on Bottas which helped him gain ground over his pursuers. He then covered Di Resta’s pit stop late in the race to protect his position from the Force India.

Daniel Ricciardo – Joined his team mate in Q3 but picked up the same penalty as Raikkonen. He never got on top of his car’s balance in the race, struggling with oversteer and falling back to 15th.

Caterham

Charles Pic – Impressed in qualifying by beating Grosjean’s time in Q1. But on a two-stop strategy he fell behind the one-stopping Marussias. He was able to overtake Chilton but not Bianchi.

Giedo van der Garde – Made a great start, gaining four places, but drew more attention to himself by committing two errors while being lapped. He was entirely to blame for the incident with Webber and received a ten-second stop-go penalty as a result. Then came the collision with Hulkenberg for which the Sauber driver was at least partly to blame, but Van der Garde should have let him go much sooner.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Rued missing most of first practice on a track he hadn’t driven on before after he went off at turn three: “I got caught out on a damp section of the track,” he said. However he out-qualified Chilton as usual and finished ahead of Pic thanks to his one-stop strategy.

Max Chilton – Had a good stint on the medium tyres, less so on the super-softs where he began to lose grip and was passed by Pic.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mateLaps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel1st-0.783s70/7021st-25.731s
Mark Webber5th+0.783s0/7024th+25.731s
Fernando Alonso6th-1.566s69/6922ndNot on same lap
Felipe Massa16th+1.566s0/6928thNot on same lap
Jenson Button14th+0.307s14/69112th+2.622s
Sergio Perez12th-0.307s55/69211th-2.622s
Kimi Raikkonen10th-1.265s49/6919th-18.89s
Romain Grosjean22nd+1.265s20/69213th+18.89s
Nico Rosberg4th+0.496s0/7035th+53.783s
Lewis Hamilton2nd-0.496s70/7023rd-53.783s
Nico Hulkenberg9th-0.88s36/452
Esteban Gutierrez15th+0.88s9/45220th
Paul di Resta17th+0.357s61/6917th-7.164s
Adrian Sutil8th-0.357s8/69210th+7.164s
Pastor Maldonado13th+1.498s0/68216thNot on same lap
Valtteri Bottas3rd-1.498s68/68214thNot on same lap
Jean-Eric Vergne7th-1.403s68/6826thNot on same lap
Daniel Ricciardo11th+1.403s0/68215thNot on same lap
Charles Pic18th-1.484s32/43218th
Giedo van der Garde21st+1.484s11/433
Jules Bianchi19th-0.554s67/67117thNot on same lap
Max Chilton20th+0.554s0/67119thNot 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 2013 Canadian Grand Prix weekend?

  • Max Chilton (0%)
  • Jules Bianchi (0%)
  • Giedo van der Garde (0%)
  • Charles Pic (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Jean-Eric Vergne (14%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (3%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Paul di Resta (14%)
  • Esteban Gutierrez (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (4%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Jenson Button (0%)
  • Felipe Massa (2%)
  • Fernando Alonso (25%)
  • Mark Webber (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (37%)

Total Voters: 715

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2013 Canadian Grand Prix

Browse all 2013 Canadian Grand Prix articles

Images © Red Bull/Getty, Daimler/Hoch Zwei, Williams/LAT

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Keith Collantine
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169 comments on “Vote for your Canadian GP driver of the weekend”

  1. JEV. No brainer. Exceptional qualifying and race.

    1. Absolutely. Vettel’s superiority is in large part due to the car (not to take away his abilities, they just weren’t visible this weekend. Alonso did well in the race, but not in qualifying.

      1. @dev_iant I actually think they were highly apparent, primarily due to the massive gap he opened up to everyone (including Webber) and how he was going often half a second a lap faster consistently for up to 10/15 laps at a time. This is even before Webber had his collision with VDG.

        1. I think the Red Bull cars are set up to suit Vettel in the way that cars often are set up to suit the team leader. This gives Vettel an advantage, but he’s a better driver than Webber and he’s much hungrier for wins. I think that, unfortunately, Webber has been largely going through the motions for some time now & it’s probably time he retired. When he really wants it, he can still do it, but those occasions are few and far between.

          1. @dev_iant Webber should hang up his helmet at the end if this season I feel – he’s come close to a championship and I doubt he’ll ever come that close again, so he’s done all he can. He’s still a great driver don’t get me wrong, but Vettel is a thrice (I am saying such because of Hamilton and Alonso) in a generation driver and no matter how good he can be on his day he will not beat Vettel in the long game. He’s just too good.

            About the car being set-up to Vettel’s tastes though, isn’t that also the case with Alonso? So really the situation is no different and they’ve both done equally as well when they’ve had the car underneath them to exert crushing superiority. Kudos to both drivers.

      2. petebaldwin (@)
        10th June 2013, 16:11

        @dev_iant There are a lot of these sort of comments and I’ve always wondered, what is your opinion of Webber? If Vettel only wins because he’s in the fastest car, where does that leave poor old Mark? Surely if Vettel only wins because he is in the best car, Mark either has a much slower car or is a completly useless driver.

        1. Yes, these comments pop up whenever Vettel wins a race. According to some, even in Monza 2008 he had the best car.
          It’s a bit ridicolous. Alonso had by far the best car in Spain. Rosberg in Monaco. It’s just that way. Yet still, in each of these occasions the drivers haven’t put a foot wrong. Alonso lost this race in the qualy. His race performance wasn’t that far off, looking at some of his lap times with a free road ahead. Vettel thouroughly deserved the victory on sunday. The point is, you need to be massively talented to win a Grand Prix. And that’s the end of it.

          1. Well he did brush a wall and miss a chicane despite having no pressure.

        2. I am not saying that Vettel is not a very very good & hungry driver – he wouldn’t be a triple world champion if he wasn’t; I’m saying that the Red Bull is the best car and it’s clearly set up to suit Vettel.

          1. Abdurahman (@)
            11th June 2013, 2:48

            Why should Webber hang up his helmet? He can still race with the best of em and is refreshing in his openness Aussie grit attitude.
            He deserves to be out there more than half of the grid in my opinion.

          2. The Red Bull is the best car? Based on what, @dev_jant?

          3. @magon4 Based on them leading the championship by 56 points, based on Vettel leading the championship by 36 points, based on the fact that Webber hasn’t been driving very good lately and he is still 5th in the championship (despite a DNF), based on the fact that there car hasn’t yet had a mechanical failure this season (Webber’s wheel wasn’t properly attached)..
            They really should stop complaining so much about the tyres, because at the moment they are already running away with both championships..!

          4. Be that as it may, @gdewilde, I agree that Red Bull have been the best team so far, based on mostly correct decisions in racing weekends and maximizing potentional. By no means this is to show that Red Bull have had the best car this season. Actually, what happens is when they do have the best equipment for the weekend, they have been able to maximize it. And when they don’t, which has happened more often than note, they have also maximized those situations. Best team so far, yes. Best car, no.

          5. @abdurahman I’m afraid we just have to disagree here: I am firmly of the opinion that you shouldn’t be in F1 if you don’t have the belief that you can win a championship in the future. That is why I think older drivers should retire when the opportunities no longer exist, and why I think “dependable midfield drivers” are only serving to prevent younger talent coming in. Webber can no longer win championships realistically, hence why I think he should give way for one of the development drivers!

    2. Jean-Éric Vergne 10/10.

    3. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
      10th June 2013, 18:00

      Who voted Max Chilton! lol

      1. Tom and Grahame Chilton

      2. @full-throttle-f1 he didn’t hit anyone this time around :) (or did he??)

    4. +1 he just mastered his race, good for him!

    5. I think Bottas’ qualifying was just as or more impressive than JEV’s. The fact that he couldn’t hold on to his position was because his car was not even nearly as fast as the cars around him – JEV on the other hand had a pretty quick car under him.

  2. CarnivorousPope (@)
    10th June 2013, 15:13

    Surely has to be vettel. Maybe not the most exciting to watch but completely dominant on race day

    1. kowalsky and friends
      10th June 2013, 15:39

      you are forgetting that he had at least two moments, once when he brushed the wall, that could have cost him the race.
      i would go for jev this time. At red bull next year?

      1. The first one was skilfully controlled though: he hit the wall face-on with the tyre due to good car control, not luck.

        He did actually say post-race he noticed on the subsequent laps somebody had made contact with the wall but without realising it was himself! So obviously the contact wasn’t as severe as it perhaps looked during the replays!

        The second one I think was a result of him testing the limits since he had a lot of time to play with, so no real harm done their either. It’s not something to hold his weekend back is all I’m saying – they were mistakes but not costly ones or indeed serious ones, just simply a result of trying the car’s limits!

        1. Never seen someone hit a wall due to good car control ;)
          I’m not voting on this one as I only saw the second half of the race.

          1. @fangio85 read again:

            The first one was skilfully controlled though: he hit the wall face-on with the tyre due to good car control, not luck.

            ;)

          2. In the same way Alonso kept it out of the wall of champions in practice due to good car control, not luck ;) That doesn’t mean the initial event wasn’t a mistake though! (Vettel’s first had no cost though unlike his second mistake or Alonso’s in FP).

      2. You are forgetting that Alonso and Hamilton had twp moments where they touched each other (Ahem! I mean, their cars touched each other!) that could have cost them the race.

  3. JEV was the man

    1. dodge5847 (@)
      11th June 2013, 21:23

      close between jev and paul Diresta

  4. I voted for Vettel because you can’t really take away from his superb performance over the weekend. This season has so far demonstrated that converting a pole to victory isn’t as easy as is often assumed yet Seb looked dominant from the start and you can’t really fault any aspect of his performance.

    1. Yep, he was untouchable. Even his first lap was 2sec clear of 2nd place.

  5. No votes voor Vd Garde ;) Seriously, I voted for Vettel, because this kind of dominance is rare in 2012-2013.

    1. Alonso in China and Spain and Vettel himself in Bahrain were equally dominant, so this year it does not seem to be a rarity … BTW I voted for Vettel .. he was brilliant… Alonso , Hamilton and JEV were good too ….

      1. @puneethvb yea it’s strange how the pendulum swings so drastically between races this season! I definitely think this is due to the extreme nature of these tyres, so perhaps Pirelli have actually shot themselves in the foot and instead of spicing up the action are just handing race victories on a plate to whoever can get the tyres “into the operating window”?

    2. David not Coulthard (@)
      11th June 2013, 7:43

      No votes voor Vd Garde

      Until Frijns comes along I very much doubt that a Nederlander’s going to even stand a chance.

  6. I’ve gone for Vergne. He had Toro Rosso’s best result since Brazil 2008, qualified very well, and looks like he has the gained the upper hand on Ricciardo (some food for thought for Marko).

  7. Also, although Alonso drove well, he definitely profited from the misfortune of others. Getting pass Bottas was easy (as shown by how many drivers managed it) and he benefited heavily from Van dar Garde’s ridiculous turn into Webber and Sutil’s childish holding up of Hamilton. I can see why people would vote for him but I don’t think he did anything particularly special.

  8. For me it was a difficult choice; Alonso, Vettel or Vergne. In the end I voted for Vergne. Great qualifying in the wet and very consistent in the race.

  9. @keithcollantine

    “Later on he took too long letting Hamilton lap him – the McLaren driver shouting for “blue flags” on the radio – and was given a drive-through penalty.”

    Takes time to break a habit I guess…..

    1. Hehehe :D

  10. It can’t be anyone other than Vettel in my opinion. For the first time this season we’ve seen Seb drive to the absolute limit 100% of the race (hence the brush with the wall and his run-off in T1). Sure, the RB09 was the best car out there this weekend, but that drive and that crushing gap to second were all Seb’s “fault”.

    Notable mentions:
    – Vergne (got the most out of the car both in quali and in the race / outraced Daniel by a mile)
    – Di Resta (definitely the one driver that got the most out of this race, strategy-wise and showed Button how it’s done, for that matter / managed to increase his reputation as a great recovery-racer this season)
    – Alonso (provided the F138 is virtually incapable of qualifying well, he actually did a great job)
    – Bottas (proved himself / showed us what he would be capable of in a decent car / did his best in the race)

  11. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    10th June 2013, 15:22

    For me it’s a three way tie between Vettel, Alonso and Di Resta.

    Voted for Di Resta though because he was able to 1-stop and still scored 6 points, especially after how terribly his qualifying went.

    Terrific drive.

    1. (@tophercheese21)
      Also went for Di Resta, although it was close between him and JEV (and maybe Alonso) – but my level of astonishment during the race at how long he made his tyres last swung it his way. Simply incredible.

    2. dodge5847 (@)
      11th June 2013, 21:25

      also Paul DiResta, close between him and Verne, driver of the weekend isnt all about who comes first

  12. Vergne. 10 out of 10 race couldn’t have done any better whatsoever.

    Then Bottas, Alonso,Vettel in that order. I put Vettel as 4th best because he made 2 major mistakes in the race, each of which could’ve resulted in him losing the win, while his brush with the wall at turn 4 was ascloseasthat to not finishing at all.

    On the other hand there were the 4 worst drivers of the race IMO(mere coincidence, the same number):

    1) Van der Garde-looked out of his depth, completely

    2) Gutierrez-looks out of his depth from the beginning of the season

    3) Maldonado-again…

    4) Grosjean-looked a shadow of himself from a year ago

    1. @montreal95 I wouldn’t really call them “major mistakes”: he brushed the wall in T4 through car control really, he hit face on with the tyre and was just testing the limits. It wasn’t as if he cracked under pressure or anything and in actual fact I think precisely because he was exploring the limits more graphically than others he won by such an emphatic margin!

      The T1 incident was just a legitimate mistake by out-breaking himself but again he wasn’t under pressure or trying an overtake, he was just seeing how far he could go (I doubt he would’ve tried that one had the gap been 7 seconds say and not 19!). He followed that one up by setting fastest lap on the next lap I do believe and built the gap back up, so no harm done.

      What I’m getting at is that him toying with the limits isn’t really something to rate down his whole weekend on – they were two very minor mistakes contrary to what you are making them out to be!

      1. @vettel1 Minor mistake? Toying with the limits?!!! You can search up youtube for numerous extremely dangerous crashes of people like Massa, Barichello or Montoya etc. who were “toying with the limits” there over the years. Turn 4 is not a place to be toying with the limits at all, as the limit is a concrete wall you pass at over 100mph. He was literally 5 inches(or less) from exiting the race there.

        At turn one, it was a simple mistake, done by many not only Vettel. So I think your saying that “I doubt he would have done it…” should be the other way round-Vettel was lucky that he was such a long way ahead, so this mistake didn’t cost him anything.

        Saying this, Vettel’s weekend was great. But on this weekend, on balance I think that 3 people did a better job than he did, great as it was. Vergne had a perfect weekend, Bottas had a perfect qualy and in the race maximized his car’s rubbish potential and also raced hard and fair at the same time which a few people much more experienced than him have a trouble doing. Alonso maximized the car’s potential in qualy (except for Bottas) and the race, using the DRS intelligently to overtake saving his KERS for out of turn 14, which gives him 3rd place narrowly from Vettel IMO

        1. @montreal95 yes, a minor mistake: did it cause him damage, severely deplete his lead, cause him to lose a place or indeed retire? No, so by definition it was a very minor incident!

          He didn’t actually “hit” the wall as such, he glanced it with the wheels at right angles to the wall. It was a scuff, if anything. I’m not saying it wasn’t an error as obviously he didn’t actually aim to scuff the wall but he hardly gave it a whack and he was fully under control at that point! Saying what could’ve happened is almost irrelevant, as it didn’t happen! That’s just the same as saying Alonso “could’ve got a puncture” from his clash with Hamilton.

          Turn 1 was a simple mistake absolutely but again not a costly one as he knew he could afford to have a little lock-up because of the extent of his lead. It didn’t really do him much harm in the end but perhaps it gained him pace on the subsequent laps as he then knew how deep he could go on the brakes into there. Again I shall point out he likely did that precisely because he had such a big lead, so saying it was “lucky” he did is also not very well backed IMO!

          Personally I don’t feel Bottas’ qualifying is enough to get him rated driver of the weekend as good as it was – he defended nicely but still dropped back too much in the race. Alonso I don’t really think was all that impressive as Bottas barely counts as an overtake and Rosberg seemed well off the pace, so he ought to have gotten passed him! I’m no so sure he would’ve taken Webber either had he not had the coming together with Van Der Garde but I guess that’s just speculation. He wasn’t particularly clean in his battle with Hamilton either so overall I think his race was good but not highly impressive (still a top 5 performance though).

          Vernge was impressively consistent but then again so was Vettel which is why I’ve selected him as my DOTW (I usually go for underdogs, but I suspected the margins would be far tighter than they were in Spain purely because its Vettel and it looks like my suspicions were correct)! He was fastest in qualifying throughout and just left everyone for dead in the opening phases of the race. The championship lead he has amassed I think is very similar to how Alonso got his – always maximising the potential points haul.

          1. @vettel1 The fact that this error didn’t amount to him exiting the race only means he was lucky, not that it wasn’t serious. I’ll give you an example: in Monza 1996 they’d put stacks of tires on the inside of the chicanes to stop drivers cutting them. It was a stupid and dangerous decision, and so it proved. Over half of the drivers(12 out of 22) hit the tires and were out on the spot including Hill, Hakkinen, Villeneuve etc. The only driver to hit the tires and somehow escape that fate was M. Schumacher, who afterwards admitted that he was sure his race was over but the suspension held somehow. Was his mistake any less serious than all the others’ because it didn’t end the same way? No. He just had the devil’s own luck. Now, I’ve seen the slow-mo replay of Vettel’s brush with the wall, and the right rear corner was rather serious. Again, he was mere 5 inches from disaster, which you shouldn’t do, especially while leading the race comfortably. It’s a serious lapse of judgement in my book and the end result is not a mitigating circumstance

            Bottas dropped too much in the race? That’s assuming this car had the potential to beat any of the 13 cars who finished in front. Based on previous races and Maldonado’s pace, it hadn’t. Had this been Monaco it would be a different story but not in Montreal

            I’m not sure what more Alonso could’ve done. Maybe he wouldn’t b able to pass Webber but maybe him and Webber would be both past Hamilton otherwise. We cannot know. Also, I believe his passes were intelligent as I said. He nearly touched Hamilton yes, but that was all the gap that was available to him, he had to go for it

            Vettel has an impressive season so far I agree. If this was the question at hand I would definitely have chosen him. But this is regarding the weekend only. In qualy Vettel admitted that he had some luck with the conditions. Nor was he invincible thru Q1,2,3. Several others could challenge him-Webber for example but he made a mistake at turn 3 during his first Q3 lap and by the second lap of his it was raining cats and dogs in S3 so he was slower. Hamilton also could’ve challenged for pole. Obviously they failed and Vettel deserved it 100%.
            But for me Vergne was the only driver who was perfect throughout-perfect qualy and race

          2. @montreal95 perhaps it was an unnecessary risk, I can accept that much. However, it was not one in which he was “lucky not to damage his car” so far as I can tell as again he hit it side on through skill! I think the magnitude of the contact is over-emphasised as well in the slow motion cameras: it looks like the car’s suspension must break when they come crashing over kerbs and I imagine this is a similar situation! The man in the cockpit didn’t even notice he’d glanced the wall!

            Alonso as far as I’m concerned put in a solid but unspectacular performance – he never made me sit back and say “wow” at any point during the weekend unlike Di Resta, Vettel, Bottas & Vergne. I do feel if his car was as good as it was predicted to be he shouldn’t have been so far behind Vettel at the end, which is why I’be not considered him for DOTW.

            To me it’s between Vergne, Di Resta and Vettel and I picked the latter purely because he was in a class of one all weekend.

          3. To be honest .. I dont think this victory was any more dominant than Alonso’s victories in china , Spain or Vettel’s own in Bahrain… the difference was that here tyre wear was nt a big factor hence all the drivers were able to push harder… we all know Vettel is very quick and he had the best car this weekend and was in clean air most of the time which allowed him to build the gap . . That’s what he had to do and he did it brilliantly… he was great in qualifying too , so for me DOTW is Vettel….

            though I find the suggestion laughable that his two scary moments were not mistakes rather the results of trying to push harder:)… Since when the mistakes made trying to push harder are not considered mistakes at all? it would’ve looked stupid if he crashed out trying to go faster when he did not need to…

          4. @vettel1 check out this video. This brush with that wall was only slightly heavier than Vettel’s yet it forced none other than Alonso to retire from the 2005 race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBA6QpW-FFk I rest my case

            I also think Alonso’s not a candidate for DoTW. That’s because Vergne’s perfect weekend puts him in a class of one ;) Doubly surprising, since but a month ago putting “Vergne” and “perfect” in the same sentence would be preposterous!

          5. Not going to vote for Vettel. Yep he was clearly the best at qualifyng and race but he made two mo*onic (as totally needless) mistakes that could have easily cost him a DNF -and I am still waiting to see him get a DNF in a race for needlessly going for the fast lap with the victory at hand; it won’t be long, I guess. Besides, he is just too boring.

            Fernando Alonso was almost perfect in the race, but failed on quali. Even with a good qualy I doubt that he could have stood up to Vettel in the race but I’d have loved to see him trying. Anyway, barring a Vettel shunt -which wasn’t that far away- , there was no way he could finish better than 2nd from 6th in the grid, so he maximized his chances.

            So i guess my vote goes for JE Vergne. I don’t know how he could have done any better both in quali and race. Which is more than I can say about Vettel, Alonso or anybody else.

          6. @puneethvb I’m not even attempting to argue that they weren’t mistakes (well actually, now that I say that I wouldn’t really class the T4 incident as a “mistake” for it didn’t cost him any time). What I’m saying is that they weren’t exactly ‘moronic’ mistakes as has been implied. He knows what he’s doing and wouldn’t take such an unecessary risk as to the fact he might bin the car in the wall – I think it’s an insult to his intelligence to think otherwise.

            Basically, what I’m saying is its hardly something to rank down his weekend on! He still won emphatically so what might’ve happened is completely irrelevant as to his actual performance on the day. I don’t think subsequently that those mistakes bore a large enough importance to have been dedicated as much text as they are in the driver summaries.

          7. @montreal95 the key difference to me is that Alonso seemed to lose control of the rear and didn’t hit the wall exactly face-on. I can’t draw I direct comparison as I’m only going by memory on the Vettel incident but to me Vettel’s contact seemed far less severe and was completely in control.

            “Class of one” is a term I use only ever for emphatic race leaders as obviously nobody else is ahead of them or even close to them ;)

          8. Hitting the Wall of Champions while being “completely in control” sounds downright delusional. A driver in complete control doesn’t go around hitting any walls. So there.

          9. @vettel1 Your definiton of “class of one” sounds to me more like a “classy one”. So be it. I’ll call Vergne’s drive “classy six” then!

            Well, I have the race recorded and I can tell you that Vettel has also lost the rear slightly, not by as much as Alonso, but as in Alonso’s case the biggest impact was on the right rear, because of the slide. As I said the difference between this and disaster was 5 inches more slide, which would’ve meant a bigger angle of impact and a damaged suspension

          10. paulista what race are you talking about? T4 isn’t the wall of champions!

            I’ll try and see if I can get a replay and analyse it for myself but it did look much less significant than Alonso’s I think! Really though I’m not arguing whether it was a mistake, just purely whether it was a major one which I don’t believe it was (not something to rate his weekend down on much is what I’m saying)!

          11. @vettel1 It didn’t amount to anything but it was serious,and unnecessary. It doesn’t make his weekend anything less than great though. I’m even willing to put him joint second with Bottas and Alonso :) But JEV’s weekend was absolutely perfect so I’m unwilling to put SV in front of him

          12. @vettel1
            My bad, it was a wall but not The Wall, ok. Still trying to see a replay of the incident myself. Anyway the point stands: next time you hit a wall, try explaining the police that you were in complete control. Good luck.

          13. @montreal95 fair enough, I’m not disagreeing with you there as that is your opinion (although I have a distinction between “serious incident” and “potentially serious incident”, which usually end up minor) ;)

            Paulista, see my comment here to get a better understanding of where I’m coming from!

          14. @vettel1 Should we count the incidents at Montreal turn 4 over the years and see how many of them ended up “minor”? I’ll spare you the search-vast majority of them ended up badly(it’s a 100mph corner with wall on the exit, what do you expect?). Not the same vast majority as Monza 96 in which only 1 out 12 accidents with the tire stacks didn’t end up badly, but still a majority. Face it, Seb was a bit lucky there, there’s nothing wrong with that.

          15. @montreal95 it’s very different in the sense it was only a glance, not a heavy impact which he was lucky to escape unscathed from as was the case in Spain! Besides, it doesn’t matter about the other incidents really, only what happened on that occasion.

  13. torn between Vettel and JEV but I thought to go for the underdog in this competition and gave it to Vettel – quickest in difficult conditions on Saturday and dominating Sunday.
    Alonso and DiResta had a great Sunday but Saturday performances weren’t good enough to get the DOTW.

  14. Vettel for sure. Alonso drove very aggressive but Vettels dominance and Alonso’s bad qualifying robbed us the chance of a battle between them. And sadly the all to efficient DRS ended the exciting battle between Hamilton and Alonso all too fast. The DRS also meant that even without the frontwing issue I don’t think Webber would have been able to keep Alonso behind.

  15. Fikri Harish (@)
    10th June 2013, 15:32

    For the whole weekend?
    Either Vettel, Hamilton, or Vergne.

    I ended up voting for Hamilton, as everybody else seems to vote for the other two.

  16. Outstanding drive by Vergne’s standards, even for an anonymous race to 6th – about all he had to do was pass Bottas early on, but he did that decisively, then stayed clear of more fancied drivers behind – Sutil, Massa, the Lotuses, McLarens and the rest. Also some great laps on a drying track in practice and qualifying.

  17. Vettel would have been the obvious choice, his race domination was incredible. However I feel Vergne shined both in quailfying and in the race, whereas Bottas didn’t impress particularly in the race, and I chose the Frenchman.

  18. Vettel was fantastic and absolutely decimated the field, Di Resta did brilliantly to last over 50 laps on one set if tyres and Vergne was consistently quick throughout.

    Bottas of course also put in the performance of the day on Saturday so really I think you could justify voting for either of the aforementioned drivers. I haven’t included Alonso because I felt his qualifying wasn’t up to scratch (I’ve excluded Di Resta in this instance because I do believe he had problems) so although undoubtably a good performance (I’d say top 5 but not best) I wouldn’t consider voting for him though.

    1. @vettel1

      +1 on pretty much everything

      Voted for Vettel for being (almost) flawless all weekend. Only things that could be held against him were the two mistakes in the race: embarrassing error in the first corner and the near miss of the wall (which could’ve very well ended his race had it been a little bigger touch).

      I’m definitely not a Vettel hater of any kind but I would’ve been more than happy if his race had ended there, would’ve made the championship battle much more interesting at this stage! He will have his unlucky Sunday one day though I’m sure.

      I almost voted for Bottas though for the more than impressive quali. He was nowhere on Sunday, as expected, but not by his own fault. His battle was interesting to watch while it lasted, too bad that in the era of DRS you can’t be any higher than what your car deserves!

      1. @tmekt the first corner error was a bit of a brain fade but the T4 one I think was just him trying to see how far he could go on the limits. That was during his crusade in the opening laps to build up his gap so obviously it was working for him!

        1. @vettel1

          Yeah it wasn’t much of a error but still had the makings of a catastrophe. It doesn’t take much to destroy the rear suspension.

          1. Well you say that @tmekt but actually the Red Bull’s seems really rather strong! It received an almighty whack in Brazil last year from Senna’s car yet held up without any real damage (only the floor was damaged). They make ’em tough in Milton Keynes!

          2. @vettel1

            A Canadian concrete wall is a force to be reckoned with as many world champions have learned!

          3. @tmekt this is true! Playing dare with them is a risky strategy for sure ;)

  19. I voted Vettel, although I clicked at the wrong name. DOTW is JEV. Vettel and di Resta were superb too.

  20. I think Vergne made the best possible quali and race given the package at his disposal. I hope he keeps the trend going as this was probably the race of his career. I hope there’s more in store for him. We all knew he had something special on the wet, but I’m happy to see he can also drive quite fast on the dry ! (and I’d give a vote to anyone who can prove Marko wrong from time to time)

  21. Vettel. Qualified on pole position, and was dominant during the race. Pulled a massive gap from second in the first few laps. Reminiscent of 2011.

  22. this time it must be vettel..dominant performance..few mistakes but still..
    alonso , vergne also good weekends

  23. voted for di resta, but now that i think about it i should’ve voted for vergne…

  24. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    10th June 2013, 15:58

    Considering the race, only Vettel and Alonso could take the most of the combo skills+car. You can say Hamilton did it well too, but to see him losing to Alonso (DRSed but anyway) makes me vote for Vettel, 2nd Alonso for his damage-limit race

  25. Alonso for me. The F138 was not very good with cold temperature, the pace was not there with the super soft, the guy has to work hard to get P2.

  26. petebaldwin (@)
    10th June 2013, 16:16

    It has to be Vettel as he was in a class of his own. He did make 2 mistakes but that was down to him going at every lap as hard as possible as opposed to playing it safe.

    I know it winds people up when he goes for the fastest lap at the end of the race but isn’t that exactly what we want all F1 drivers to do? Driver as fast as they can?

  27. I voted for Alonso he had to pass 4 high flying foes, two of whom where Webber and Rosberg who were tactically holding him up to advance their team-mates cause. It’s a no-brainer, for me. What Vettel did yesterday, Alonso did it in Spain only from fifth.

    1. @liambo

      What Vettel did yesterday, Alonso did it in Spain only from fifth.

      …which is something to rate Alonso down on, as I shall highlight the fact this is a poll for driver of the weekend. Alonso didn’t do as well as he should’ve, only very narrowly beating his teammate in qualifying. That’s not to say he didn’t deserve that win though – he definitely did! As does Vettel this one is all I’m saying.

      1. It was done in Spain. Nothing pretty loco. Vettel didn’t get my vote get over it.

        1. @liambo I’m questioning your logic, not telling you who to vote. That last point doesn’t make Alonso’s performance better, if anything it makes it slightly worse! Justification is key, but it has to be logical justification.

  28. I like Alonso but I have to give to DiResta.

  29. I’m split between Vettel and Alonso. On the one hand Vettel was very dominant and quick, but on the other hand Alonso showed some amazing skill and determination in his overtakes. I’ll have to think about it some more before I vote.

  30. There were 4 drivers who stood out during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend:

    1) Sebastian Vettel, who looked quick from Friday – in long runs, too – whose main job was to cleverly secure pole position with a clean lap in Q3 before the rain worsened. After then, his race was rather straightforward as the quickest opponents (Webber and Alonso) had not qualified as well as he.

    2) Fernando Alonso, who didn’t manage to string a good lap together in Q3 and, also due to Ferrari’s usual struggle in intermediate conditions, found himself a lowly 6th on the grid. He then made up ground in the race with some gutsy moves, but he just started too far back to have a chance to fight for Sebastian. (It’s a shame that damp qualifying robbed us of what would have been a thrilling duel between Seb and Fernando).

    3) Jean Eric Vergne, who once again excelled in wet conditions on Saturday and was impressively constant through the race and bringing home a season-best sixth.

    4) Paul di Resta, who after another forgettable Q1 somehow managed to make his medium tyres last just short of 60 laps (still not quite sure how he managed to do that!) to make his 1-stop strategy work, hence climbing 10 places up the order.

    I’ll have to go by Vergne, as he was the one who impressed me the most.

    1. On point 4, the thing that impressed me the most was not how long he prolonged them but how he managed to maintain such a consistently fast pace on them for so long! Stellar job indeed from Di Resta.

      1. Definitely true, I should have been more precise in saying that it was impressive he managed to do so many competitive laps on a single set of tyres.

        1. He was really outstanding. I gave him my DotW vote. I don’t really like Di Resta, and have often thought that he’s nothing special, but a few more races like this and Bahrain and I’ll be changing my opinion of him very quickly!

  31. Vettel. Doesn’t have the best all round car this year, and he’s making the diffirence. It’s as if he’s levelled up like a driver. This Canadian race was a very Senna show by him.

  32. JEV for me as well the guy just delivered, got rid of Bottas early on and then executed his strategy to perfection without wall contacts (Vettel) or poor qualifying (Alonso) or just driving around (the Mercedes boys). A distant second was Massa for me he was very racy and entertaining and claimed 8 placed without anyone in front of him retire.

  33. I voted Alonso. He was amazing. And DiResta and JV were also had done good job..

    Vettel made stupid mistake when he didnt fight with anyone, touched wall and missed T1..

    1. David not Coulthard (@)
      10th June 2013, 17:30

      Vettel made stupid mistake when he didnt fight with anyone, touched wall and missed T1.

      Because he wasn’t fighting with anyone?

      But still, Alonso did a great job.

    2. @john-locke

      Vettel made a stupid minor mistake when he didn’t fight with anyone, touched wall and missed T1..

      The point of a race is to complete the distance quicker than anyone else. Vettel was fighting with everyone, because the others were out there trying to complete the distance in the quickest time.

  34. A textbook Alonso weekend from Alonso – qualifying poorly as usual and recovering well to get on the podium- and a textbook Vettel weekend from Vettel – brilliant in the wet on Saturday to take pole, untouchable on Sunday to take the win.

  35. Vettel. He drove superbly and held a massive gap.
    To anyone who thinks he has the fastest car, Alo had a similar race in Spain and was voted DOTW.

    1. But Vettel always starts from front or 3rd and so he does not need to pass cars in the opening lap and usually is in clear air.In spain he had the 2 Mercs ahead, who were easy prey due to their tire problems.
      And in canada Alonso lost lots of time behind Bottas and Webber too.

      1. @svarun – It’s driver of the weekend, so qualifying at the front before winning should really go in SV’s favour.

  36. Vettel for me this week. He makes it so good, that makes it look that easy.
    But the entertaining part of the race was the battle between Hamilton and Alonso. Bravo to both of them for keeping it such close and clean.

  37. A difficult one to choose. Vettel had a great Q3, and handled the conditions perfectly. He dominated the race (aside from a few hairy moments).
    Alonso was poor in qualifying, but a large amount of that can be laid at the car’s inability to perform in quali and in the greasy conditions. He was his usual fighting best in the race and deserved 2nd.

    Jean Eric Vergne must be up there due to a fantastic quali and a superbly judged race. He was faultless, and hopefully a sign of things to come.

    In the end I gave it to Paul Di Resta. He looked great in practice, and can’t be blamed for his gearbox malfunction. He had a fantastic race from 17th, and did spectacularly to nurse his tyres for so long. He needed a great result this weekend and responded to all the things that went wrong for him this weekend with a clever, mature drive.

  38. David not Coulthard (@)
    10th June 2013, 17:32

    Vettel, though I can’t see any reason to ignore Di Resta’s or Alonso’s performance…

  39. Tough one really but in the end, I gave it to Alonso and here is why:
    – topped the practice one time in mixed conditions
    – The F138 was looking strong but failed in Q3
    – Almost carried out the prediction he gave Eddie Jordan about winning the race.
    – Was a joy to watch having great battles coming from behind
    – Ended a mere 14.4 secs behind Vettel and I atribute that to being stuck behind Botas for the first lap.

    Vettel had a good race but it´s just not so impressive because it´s what he always does…. clean air and off he goes.

    1. Easy one really, I gave it to Vettel and here is why:
      – Didn’t top any practice but topped qualifying in difficult conditions.
      – Carried out his post-qualifying statement of confidence in RB9’s good pace, translating his pole into a commanding race win.
      – Was a joy to watch leaving everyone in the dust like a boss.
      – Ended 14.4 sec’s in front of second placed car.

      Alonso had a good race but it´s always the same. Sits in a car worthy of front row, doesn’t qualify well and then plays catch-up. Must be some samurai thing. ;-)

  40. It baffles me how Alonso has 25% of the vote as I cast my decision. 1) Vettel 2) Vergne. No one else really stood out for me.

  41. I should give this one on merit and that is to Vettel. Fast all weekend. However, special mentions do go out to Vergne and Di Resta. Funny how last year FI were suffering massive degradation issues at the same venue and here Di Resta pulled 53 laps on a single set making Pirelli’s look like Bridgestones. Now only if he could quit whining. Vergne drove a solid race. I would have voted him as DOTW if I honestly did not feel that part of the qualifying was a lottery.

  42. Vettel gets my vote. The way to win a race is to out your self on pole and control the race from the front. And it’s not only the car.

  43. Vettel hands down. Took pole when Mercedes really should have had it, decimated the field in the race. Crushing and clinical.

    Vergne is second, for an excellent qualifying and race performance (best result for STR since Vettel), Alonso third for a good recovery drive in the race after a poor qualifying session. Hamilton and Di Resta did pretty well too, but are behind those three.

  44. I voted for Vettel- this year it doesn’t seem easy to be so invisible during a race due to such dominance, and yet we barely saw him. Vergne would also be a worthy winner. Hamilton did well too, as did Alonso in the race only, where he was also aided by his rivals being held up. Bottas was impressive, but his car was so useless its hard to determine how well he drove (aside from the obviously impressive qualifying and defending in the race). Massa raced well, but his weekend was ruined by his own error.

  45. While Alonso and di Resta shone on Sunday with superb drives, they weren’t spectacular on Saturday. Granted, di Resta’s Q1 elimination came down to car issues, but it still put a question mark over his Saturday performance. As for Alonso, he should’ve- and definitely could’ve- qualified higher. Had he done so, he might have been able to challenge Vettel at the start. Therefore, the decision for Driver of the Weekend came to be between two Red Bull-sponsored men, neither of whom are Australian. Vettel put in a masterful performance in both the dry and the wet and took a champion-worthy win. Vergne, meanwhile, enjoyed a successful run to sixth. I ultimately gave it to Vergne because he outpaced and outraced his teammate (generally regarded as the qualifying expert between the two). Furthermore, he avoided mistakes to claim Toro Rosso’s best result since the Vettel era. He carried on his momentum from Monaco and translated it into a personal-best qualifying and race result that certainly caught Helmut Marko’s attention.

  46. For me it was either Vergne, Di Resta, Hamilton or Vettel, in the end I went with Vergne: finishing 6th in that car is an outstanding performance !

    Di Resta may have been brought in by the team in Q1 but he could have told them he wanted to stay out, Vettel put in a great lap for pole position but made a couple of minor mistakes in the race, Hamilton was great in qualifying and I was surprised by how well he held out during the race – it was just a little disappointing that he failed to capitalise on Alonso’s mistake by trying to overtake him in the first DRS zone instead of waiting till the second as Alonso had done to him when he overtook him.

  47. Vettel. Just a mega race from him. He ran off into the distance, there was no competition.

  48. Please, anybody has a link for a vid of Vettel’s brush with the wall?

    1. What could have been (2011 Friday practice)

      http://youtu.be/Q-UfVoIPhoY

  49. Vettel all the way. He was on it in Qualifying, he was on it in the Race. Alonso needs to clean up his Saturdays, and while Vernge and di Resta had great races, they didn’t seem to be on it for the rest of the weekend.

  50. only 3% on Bottas?
    that was massive show of talent, qualifing so high because of rain, that gained my vote.
    Wasn’t impressed with 2012 Maldonado win because I think they got the right car at the right week end, but, this sarurday Valtteri showed something exceptional, considering how bad the car turned out to be on sunday, as usual.

  51. Bottas.
    Qualifying 3rd in that car is outstanding. The current DRS rules prevented him from getting a better end result, but he can’t be blamed for that.

  52. Vettel of course. The best over the weekend. Very good job also for by Vergne and DiResta.

  53. I kinda want to vote for Grosjean or Maldonado, just because they didnt hit the wall of champions. I’ll just go with Vergne, I think. He finished really high in a STR, a few weeks after his team said Ricciardo was the best driver.

  54. 3% for Chilton? Some people have a sense of humour!

  55. I’m very surprise Sebastian still ahead in DOTW so far. :D (sarcastic)

  56. Could have voted for Vettel or Vergne.
    Honorable mention to Alonso, Hamilton, di Resta and Massa.

  57. Props to Bottas, Di Resta, Vergne; Vettel for a calm, cool, controlled win.

    But I’ll give it to Alonso for his sheer relentlessness, after a compromised qualifying, in hunting down and passing quality drivers and cars in front of him without errors. Without that, the race would have not been very exciting. Respect to Hamilton’s defense and holding out as long as possible – he described it like being pursued by “a bull”, nice..

    Bonus: I got to meet both Alonso and Vettel at the autograph session, and they ended up 1-2 in the race, sweet…

  58. Later on he took too long letting Hamilton lap him – the McLaren driver shouting for “blue flags” on the radio – and was given a drive-through penalty.

    Just wondering Keith.. did you want to say the Mercedes driver on this one?

    1. I’ll learn.. I should really have put @keith Collantine :)

  59. No love for Bottas….

  60. Of course Vettel. No brainer, dominated the race, got the pole. It was a great performance from him.
    Di Resta, JEV and Bottas need to be reminded, the 1st one for the places he got in the race with the one stopper, JEV for his best resut and Bottas for his performance on Saturday.

    It’s funny to see the same that voted Nico, votting on other driver, and doing anything not to vote Vettel.
    Here i tought that would find fans from other teams but beeing truth to the sport, but i guess in many ways i got it wrong.

  61. It can only be JEV this weekend absolutely superb in qualifying and race.

  62. This was a tough call as I couldn’t really pin point anyone who really stood out as having been flawless all weekend.

    I would have given it to Vettel, but he ran off track at T1 and had a brush with the wall in the race. Alonso and Di Resta had strong races but both qualified poorly, so I can’t say either of them deserves it. Hamilton was solid, but didn’t really shine. Bottas was remarkable in qualifying but was let down by the FW35’s lack of race pace. Then I remembered…Vergne. He was quick all weekend, had a good quali and put in a strong drive in the race. Add all that to the fact that he no doubt needed to perform to get a bit of pressure off of him and it makes him a worthy DOTW.

  63. Vettel made way too many mistakes during the race to be called ‘the best driver of the week-end’. Alonso pushed his Ferrari F138 at maximum and didn’t make a single error (even when he was hit twice by Hamilton!).

    1. @A4p Two isn’t a number that could be described as “way too many”. And that doesn’t prove that Alonso did as well as he could have through the weekend, which was hampered by a poor Saturday (which he admitted to).

      1. Two mistakes!? I counted at least three! And also, Vettel makes mistakes all the time, even on his ‘glorious’ pole-position laps from the old days, but the car is so good that wipes them away with ease. If only Alonso had driven a Red Bull all these years, now we would be saying… Fangio/Senna/Prost/Schumacher who? Even children know that.

        1. P.S. – And I consider Vettel a great, deserving champion. But sometimes he makes silly mistakes and gets away with them, just like Schumacher in the solitary wins of the Ferrari days. Perfection is undoubtedly elsewhere (Fangio and Prost).

          1. @A4p Fair enough that you recognise Vettel being great, but still, there was running wide at turn 1, and lightly brushing a wall at 1 point. Where were the other mistakes that Vettel supposedly made that others didn’t make? The RBR is quick, but certainly not to any extent that Vettel magically gets away with errors, especially this year, when Ferrari have an often stronger car on race pace. Vettel’s done a much better job than Alonso this year in fact .

        2. So a driver that ends on last flawless is better than the one who wins regarding 2 or 3 mistakes?

          1. I’m just saying that Vettel was not the best driver of the lot in Montreal. He made silly mistakes on a winning car. Alonso recovered from 6th to 2nd and, for Heaven’s sake, he didn’t run wide a single time. It’s a fact.

          2. @a4p – Not running wide =/= better though. Qualifying that Ferrari down in 6th has to count against Alonso. That’s also a fact.

          3. I’m pretty confident that Alonso would have never qualified better than that with a car that saves tyres so much, especially on a cold + wet track. 5th on the grid (behind Rosberg) would have been maximum, I suppose.

          4. Well, that poor quali cost him a chance to get closer to the leader, which still counts against him.

          5. @davi-a It don’t count, Vettel dominates from pole to the end, wins points to everybody in the Championship, but still is not the DOTW because he made 2 mistakes, that’s a fact.
            For him to win with a bigger margin he has to drive only with the left hand waving his right to the fans and win it.

          6. @hipn0tic He also has to have one eye shut :P Maybe then, other people will finally give him their DOTW votes. :)

  64. Vergne gets my vote for the driver with the most complete WE considering the tool he sits on.

    Alonso – qualifying, qualifying… Ferrari needs to improve for Alonso to deserve DOTW and challenge the tittle although we’d miss great sundays seeing him overtaking and manouvering in the race starts.

    Vettel – Impressive first stint with the ssofts. 1 of his errors was unnecessary, the gap was huge already.
    Now FIA please investigate. Horner must have developped an invisible protection shield around Vettel’s car. Once again he escaped from a DNF by a hairs width

    Raikonnen – I think a podium would have been possible for him. Strategic error from him and team. Why didn’t he go for 1 stop strategy starting with mediums and so far behind in the grid? (Di Resta…)

    1. ” Vergne gets my vote for the driver with the most complete WE considering the tool he sits on.”
      Call me immature but I laughed so hard when I read that bit I almost did a little “WE” ;)

      1. Inmature!! Hehehe. True, @fangio85 sounds WEird when reading it again. I’ll go for the extended version next time ;)

  65. Keith Collantine you must be Alonso hater.

    Your comment to Alonso always too harsh. “poor performance in qualify and he gained postions due to other driver’s bad luck”

    You are biased

    1. That must be why I picked him as my driver of the year last year.

    2. Your comment made me laugh. Keith, an “Alonso hater”?
      My question is: what is so fundamentally wrong with Alonso pilgrims, that nothing can be said about him, unless it’s to glorify the magnificence of his supreme talent?
      Yes, Alonso performance at qualy was “poor”, live with that. During the race, he pushed with his already known quality and consistence, but he gained positions due to other drivers’ bad luck. There’s no question about it, really. His overtake on Hamilton was, to me, the living proof that DRS MUST BE BANNED. That was silly.
      Even to consider adding Alonso to the group of main names at the Canada GP is just childish.
      Do all this means that Alonso is a bad driver? No. He is one of the best drivers on the track today. But in Canada he showed “poor performance in qualify and he gained postions due to other driver’s bad luck”. Full stop.
      Also, some people need to stop bashing Vettel for making two mistakes during the race. No matter how much I despise the current form of F1, Vettel was just untouchable. Yes, DiResta climbed 10 positions, and Massa another 6, Vergne did a very good job, but Vettel was just spotless.
      Just my last $0.02

      1. DRS is the law of the land. Get used to it. When it goes away, then we won’t have it to kick around…

        In the meantime, smacking the wall and almost losing it in a turn is not ‘just spotless’. Did he smack the wall? Fact: yes. Did he intend to do it: fact: dunno (but can not imagine it). Did Vettel win? You bet he did. Did Alonso pass Hamilton? Fact: yes, he did. Did Alonso gain positions due to others bad luck? Fact: looks like it only according to 1 or two people.

        And let’s stop this rubbish about ‘even to consider blah blah is just childish’. Everyone here has lot’s of opinions and very little fact.

        1. DRS is the law of the land. Get used to it.

          Why? Because you say it? It is rubbish, and can’t wait for the day when we don’t have it anymore to kick it around. The speed difference that DRS creates is enormous and leaves the car ahead unable to defend his position. There is a video that shows clearly how Hamilton and Alonso step on the brake before entering the DRS zone, as either wanted to enter that zone ahead and be exposed at the of the straight. Maybe you call it racing, I call that **.
          Vettel smacked the wall? Yes, so what? He left the mark on the wall, yes. So what? Yes, he “almost” lost it in a turn, but he didn’t, so what? At any moment during the whole weekend there was a driver able to put his victory under threat, simple as that.

          Everyone here has lot’s of opinions and very little fact.

          Including you. The “fact, fact, fact” in your post proves nothing.

          Peace, brother.

          1. Because I say it? Good heavens no. Because the FIA says it. They determine the rules. Perhaps in 2014 or some other year this will change. But we have DRS in 2013.

            Notice I did not offer my opinion on DRS. I merely stated a [obvious] fact. (In fact, I happen to abhor DRS, but that’s a different thread).

            Here is another thought on DRS- by staying a tad over 1 second in front means you can’t be DRSd. By being 1 sec or less, you can be. And SEB has figured it out better than most- start like a madman, get your gap and then let the other guys get mired in DRS & passing dynamics (which mostly results in slower laptimes- just look at the telemetry)

            If one offers an opinion of ‘Vettel had a perfect weekend’ or ‘he planned to test the limit and smacked the wall to remind himself when he had reached it), well, sorry, but he made a couple of boo-boos. And got away with them. I very much doubt he was planning to– IMHO it looked more like he suffered from the lapse in concentration because he was not being pressured that occasionally befalls the best drivers.

            If you take a test, miss a couple of questions, you can still score the highest grade, but it won’t be a perfect 100.

            So, congrats to SEB AND the team on a solid victory (c’uz w/o Newey there would be some doubt on SEB’s 3 WDCs). And yes, that’s my opinion too (freely shared).

  66. Sebastian Vettel of course.

  67. Bottas, sublime qualifying performance, he had some good battles during the race but the car was a let down, once again, sadly.

  68. Would have picked Vettel- except for his two unforced-but-lucky gaffes on race day. Seemed to lose concentration perhaps. I went with Alonso- sixth to second on race day. I was at the track all three days and the weather on Friday and Saturday was miserable for setting a car up- wind changing direction and speed- on and off rain- cold– a driver and race engineers nightmare. So I excuse quali performance. But on race day, Alonso doggedly chased down and passed 4 guys in front of him.

    1. Sorry @wacamo but “Alonso doggedly chased down and passed 4 guys” wasn’t actually how I saw it for the following reasons. 1) it kind of was a given that Bottas would eventually drop back 2) Webber’s wing was probably damaged because of VDG, was told to save tires early so he can try to catch up with Hamilton, but somehow got slower even when he was told to push towards the end (gap became 8 sec. to 4 seconds to the third car) 3) Hamilton had a problem with DRS at some point, and 4) Rosberg was also having problems earlier on if I remember correctly. As someone else had pointed out in the comments, Alonso greatly benefitted from others’ misfortunes.

      1. Well, I sat at the hairpin with a stopwatch and timed gaps of various drivers throughout the race. Alonso closed down and passed Webber and Hamilton while also (like they did) weaving their way through backmarkers. If Webber ran his tires off (and someone else didn’t, too bad… don’t run them off next time). Is it possible that the front wing damage affected his times. Yes. However, remember past races when all manner of small aero bits disappear from cars only to have no real affect on laptimes- so I’m not convinced. If you can cite real references on DRS issues and problems that Rosberg had, I would be keen to read as would we all.

        Here is the gap-to-leader chart for the suspects. Suggest you look at Alonso’s gap time starting around lap 30. http://bit.ly/18uM4Vo

        1. From the article above about Rosberg:

          “….From fourth on the grid he slipped back to fifth in the race, visibly struggling with his tyres and the only finisher to make three pit stops.”

          From Webber: “Mercedes covered us well at the stop, and then the battle was on again. I was happy to see Mercedes did the option for Nico, because I thought that was going to bite him in the arse, and it turned out it did, which was good” (Source)

          1. Running your tires off or getting the wrong tire fitted is hardly a misfortune as was stated, it’s a mistake of one’s own doing.

    2. I don’t know why people are pointing Vettel’s two mistakes for a reason not to vote for him. He surely lost concentration but I think that would not happen if he had someone close behind. Anyway, can anyone prove for sure that Alonso took every corner perfectly? Just because he didn’t brush the wall or overshoot a corner it doesn’t mean he had a perfect race. There are many ways to make a mistakes going around the track. What matters is the end result. And that is what Vettel did right. Qualifying performance shouldn’t be excused by the weather, it was the same for everyone (like the tires in Barcelona, which Ferrari fans don’t want to change because it’s the same for everyone and others have to adopt). So Alonso’s bad qualifying has more weight to the end result that Vettel’s two mistakes, and that has to be taken in consideration for the Driver of the Weekend. But then, my suspicion is that you were one of the people that booed Vettel.

      1. Actually, I only boo Hamilton ;-)

  69. I wanted to go for Vettel but that was to obvious – and he made two potentially race ending errors. I wanted to go for Bottas but couldn’t base my decision on Saturday alone. I wanted to go for Vergne, he qualified well and scored good points but didn’t really do much in my eyes in the race, you may argue he kept out of trouble and took the points he deserved having cone the hard work on Saturday but that’s why I picked Di Resta. Poor qualifying aside he was fantastic, fastest FP1, not afraid to have a go and get stuck in again and proofed that that you can get a good distance on the Pirelli rubber, more points too on a weekend where his employers were having a big celebration.

  70. When Alonso or Hamilton or other driver wins like Vettel did, i want to see the same that are pointing out Vettel’s mistakes do it with other pilot’s.
    I think that for same is hard to admitt that Seb is a great driver.

  71. The drivers that stood out for me this weekend were Vettel, Alonso, Di Resta and Vergne.

    Vettel and Alonso put in their usual top performances that we are now used to but for me it was between Di Resta and Vergne, and in the end I voted for Vergne.

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