Vote for your Hungarian GP driver of the weekend

2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

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

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

Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Despite being able to attack Q3 with two new sets of soft tyres, he lost out to Hamilton by a few hundredths of a second. “Maybe on the second I was losing out a bit in the middle sector and perhaps I wasn’t aggressive enough,” he said. He jumped onto Hamilton’s tail immediately after the start but couldn’t get the sniff of a pass. That set a pattern for his race in which he lost time stuck behind Button (twice) and later Raikkonen. Despite a frustrating race he goes into the summer break having increased his points lead to 38.

Mark Webber – Qualifying was a disaster. “Mark’s car had two issues, one with the gear shift and also with KERS, which was probably costing him up to 0.8 of a second per lap,” said team principal Christian Horner, adding he “did a very impressive job to get into Q3”. A good start and a strong first stint on medium tyres brought him back into contention. Running on softs at the end of the race he set the fastest lap. But like his team mate he was begin given “fail” radio messages, indicating a car problem, and he couldn’t catch the Raikkonen-Vettel battle for second.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Said his car’s traction and turn-in had been improved by the latest aerodynamic modifications to the F138. But he couldn’t keep the two-stopping Raikkonen behind and ended the race a disappointed fifth. Criticised Grosjean after the race for getting in his way at the start, but the Lotus driver hadn’t done anything wrong.

Felipe Massa – A first-lap tangle with Rosberg damaged his front wing. His tyres went off sooner than his team mate’s so he was the first of the Ferraris to pit on lap 11, though they had to leave the wing as it was to save time. He was passed by both Lotuses in the next stint and was later jumped by the two-stopping Button, leaving him eighth.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Felt he couldn’t get the most out of the car in qualifying: “When we run fresh rubber, I can’t get enough front-end in the car – we’re maxed out – so I’m struggling. In a way, that’s a positive – because it means we’ve introduced downforce to the rear of the car.” A brilliant start – despite using the harder medium tyres – saw him gain five places. McLaren would have preferred to run him on a three-stop strategy but were wary of dropping him into traffic. It paid off and he finished seventh.

Sergio Perez – Crashed at the end of final practice at turn 11 when the rear of the car got away from him, but the team repaired it in time for him to participate in qualifying. He rewarded them by getting into Q3, where he qualified on the medium tyres. But he couldn’t match Button’s pace on the harder compound. His tyres began to go off in his final, 31-lap stint on mediums, though by then he had no immediate threat from behind.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – Wasn’t as happy on the revised tyres as his team mate was: “Maybe the new tyres are a bit different – especially on the front – so it’s been hard to find a good set-up,” he said. Starting on the dirty side of the grid he lost out to Massa, and although Lotus pitted both their cars on lap 13, Raikkonen came out behind the Ferrari again. However he passed Massa soon after, then hit a useful patch of clear air when the McLarens pitted. This allowed Lotus to make a two-stop strategy work which vaulted Raikkonen from the middle of the top ten up to second place. He kept Vettel behind in the final laps to claim his fifth runner-up spot of the year.

Romain Grosjean – His third place on the grid was briefly put in jeopardy when the stewards found his floor was flexing too much, but the team were able to show the part had been damaged on a kerb. Vettel squeezed him hard at the start but when Alonso tried to take advantage of him at turn two Grosjean showed his gives as good as he gets. But he overstepped the mark when passing Button, needlessly clouting the McLaren and earning a post-race time penalty. His drive-through penalty for passing Massa around the outside of turn four and briefly putting all four wheels off the track was unfortunate, as he’d clearly been trying to avoid exactly the sort of contact he’d had moments earlier with the McLaren.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – Blamed Massa for the first-lap tangle that dropped him to 12th place, though he could have avoided the contact himself. That effectively ruined his race, though the engine failure six laps from home – his third technical failure in a race this year – cost him ninth.

Lewis Hamilton – A stunning lap in qualifying surprised even Hamilton who did not expect to get pole position: “I thought Sebastian [Vettel] had done enough,” he said afterwards. He held his lead at the start and, crucially, when he made his first pit stop he was able to quickly get past Button, drawing alongside with DRS on the main straight. With Vettel stuck behind Button, Hamilton was able to build up a lead. Later in the race he came out of the pits behind Webber but an opportunistic pass at turn three meant he lost little time. With a useful cushion over the two-stopping Raikkonen he was able to look after his tyres and secure his first victory for Mercedes.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – Qualified 12th but was just eight hundredths of a second slower than the eighth-placed car in a very close Q2. Started poorly, falling to 15th, but then passed Sutil. Whether it was Sauber’s upgrades or the revised tyres, Hulkenberg’s race pace was much improved. He was on course for points until a problem changing gears during his second pit stop led to him breaking the speed limit and collecting a drive-through penalty.

Esteban Gutierrez – Didn’t set a time in final practice due to an engine problem. That was rectified in qualifying, but for the sixth time he got no further than Q1. More trouble struck during the race: he retired with a gearbox fault while running 16th.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Languished in 18th in first practice but believed he had made some progress after that. So he was bemused to qualify in the same position. “Throughout all the sessions we’ve looked more competitive on the softs,” he said, “but in Q1 they just didn’t switch on”. He made amends with an excellent start, passing his team mate – who’d started seven places ahead of him – along with four other cars. But he didn’t have the pace to challenge for points so the team retired his car when a hydraulic problem became apparent in the final laps.

Adrian Sutil – Struggled at the start on mediums but felt the race was coming back to him when a hydraulic problem started to interfere with his upshifts and he was forced to retire.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Finally ended Williams’ ten-race wait for a point in 2013, though he needed the misfortune of Rosberg and Hulkenberg to get it. But the Williams had the legs on the Toro Rossos and Force Indias which has seldom been the case previously this year.

Valtteri Bottas – Admitted he hadn’t been having his best race to date when a hydraulic problem ended it shortly after half-distance.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Was mystified by the gap between him and his team mate in qualifying, which had him poring over their car data afterwards. Finished ahead of Ricciardo in the race but drew little satisfaction from it: “It means nothing, especially when we are outside the points. I’d rather finish behind him inside the points.”

Daniel Ricciardo – Got into Q3 for the third race in a row but didn’t have the pace to build on it in the race. “We struggled at [the] Nurburgring as well, so the heat has got something to do with it,” he said.

Caterham

Charles Pic – Ran a two-stop strategy and made short work of the two Marussias when he came out of the pits behind them at the start of his second stint. But it looks like his team mate’s three-stopper was the quicker strategy for Caterham.

Giedo van der Garde – Made a lot of changes to his car on Friday night after struggling with understeer, and judged the car to be much improved on Saturday. Said his race performance was his best so far after finishing six seconds ahead of his team mate.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Marussia struggled dreadfully with their tyres and were well off Caterham’s pace. That consigned Bianchi to a lonely race which he finished a lap behind Pic and 43 seconds ahead of Chilton.

Max Chilton – Reasonably close to Bianchi in qualifying but struggled in the race, particularly with the balance shift between the two types of tyre. Marussia expect the next races will be better for them.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mateLaps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel2nd-0.511s45/7033rd-5.585s
Mark Webber10th+0.511s25/7034th+5.585s
Fernando Alonso5th-0.138s70/7035th-25.036s
Felipe Massa7th+0.138s0/7038th+25.036s
Jenson Button13th+0.232s69/6927thNot on same lap
Sergio Perez9th-0.232s0/6929thNot on same lap
Kimi Raikkonen6th+0.256s40/7022nd-41.357s
Romain Grosjean3rd-0.256s30/7036th+41.357s
Nico Rosberg4th+0.332s0/64319thNot on same lap
Lewis Hamilton1st-0.332s64/6431stNot on same lap
Nico Hulkenberg12th-0.696s16/28211th
Esteban Gutierrez17th+0.696s12/281
Paul di Resta18th+0.572s8/19318th
Adrian Sutil11th-0.572s11/190
Pastor Maldonado15th-0.086s41/42310th
Valtteri Bottas16th+0.086s1/422
Jean-Eric Vergne14th+0.502s16/69312th-0.611s
Daniel Ricciardo8th-0.502s53/69213th+0.611s
Charles Pic19th-0.326s16/68215th+6.374s
Giedo van der Garde20th+0.326s52/68314th-6.374s
Jules Bianchi21st-0.21s66/67316th-42.899s
Max Chilton22nd+0.21s1/67317th+42.899s

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 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?

  • Max Chilton (0%)
  • Jules Bianchi (0%)
  • Giedo van der Garde (0%)
  • Charles Pic (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Jean-Eric Vergne (0%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (1%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Paul di Resta (0%)
  • Esteban Gutierrez (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (64%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (12%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (12%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Jenson Button (3%)
  • Felipe Massa (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (1%)
  • Mark Webber (3%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (2%)

Total Voters: 573

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2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

Browse all 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix articles

Images © Daimler/Hoch Zwei, McLaren/Hoch Zwei, Williams/LAT, Caterham/LAT

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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98 comments on “Vote for your Hungarian GP driver of the weekend”

  1. Hamilton, for sure

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      29th July 2013, 16:51

      +1 not doing it would be lying

      1. So basically the vote is just a test to see how many understood that Hamilton took pole and won?

        Actually I was more impressed with some of the people really racing each other down behind.

        1. @poul for me it was Maldonado, even if I have to admit Hamilton was deeply impressive (if not sightly fortunate at times).

          1. @vettel1 I don’t see how he was fortunate. Other people’s inability to do the same as him is not fortune.

          2. @jleigh I didn’t mention anybody else. What I am saying is that each time he came across Webber he was in a tangle with another driver (which undeniably helped Hamilton’s case) and his higher top speed almost inevitably helped with Button also. I’d call it an opportunist drive but nowhere have I said anything other than it was very impressive.

          3. @vettel1 perhaps you have a point about Webber being caught up, but I can’t agree that a high straight line speed is fortunate, just as Vettels slow speed is not unfortunate. These are deliberate set-ups by the teams.

          4. @jleigh it is only fortunate in the sense that it helped him out and hurt Vettel. Nothing more than that.

          5. @vettel1 I voted Maldonado too, as I considered Hamilton would win irrespective of my vote..

        2. @poul so you mean Hamilton too then, since he did have to make passes on people to have the ability to win and thus had to open up a gap and conserve his tires, to make the strategy work and pull off his win.

        3. Indeed, just as not everyone (or even a majority) vote Vettel when he wins from pole with a very well driven race, and even though Hamilton did have a fight on his hands, there’s a lot of good driving we can rate by voting for other drivers.

          Maldonado got the williams in the points, Grosjean drove very well all weekend, even though the move on Button was scruffy and he overstepped the line while passing Massa. Kimi did a good job to get on the podium during the race, and there were more drives worth watching this weekend.

      2. Traverse (@)
        29th July 2013, 17:12

        +1

    2. agree – only guy in a position to challenge him was Vettel but even if he had managed to get past Button early I think the winner would have still been Hamilton.

      1. Hamilton got passed Button!

    3. Obvious but deserving choice, praise from Niki Lauda says it all!

    4. I would have loved to vote for Hamilton as he did a flawless job …
      … But I just can’t vote for Mercedes right now!
      I really did not want to give my vote to anyone in this race and there is no way to do a blank vote.

      1. Actually I’ve given my vote already to HAM but reading your comment let me remember that story. Black helmets. Now I wish there where a undo- button to clear my vote.

  2. easily grosjean, he had a fantastic weekend which was spoiled by a penalty he didn’t deserve. quicker than kimi aswell.

    1. Andy G (@toothpickbandit)
      29th July 2013, 15:54

      Easily Grosjean? You could make a case for him with ifs and buts, but I don’t see how he was easily the best driver, especially when you consider Hamilton’s drive.

    2. Liam McShane (@)
      29th July 2013, 15:55

      Apart from the fact he hit Button…

      1. Vettel also hit Button… but some angel was the rest of the race holding is front wing or something….
        Hamilton had a very good race, but i don’t have 100% sure of his win, if Vettel wasn’t behind Button for so many laps.
        So for me, Grosjean was the best Driver this weekend… Was amazing see him almost all the times in the edge…

        1. On the edge or over the edge?

    3. He hit Button, and whether you think he should have been penalized or not for the Massa move, he WAS 4 wheels off the track, and according to the rules, he must be penalized. Sure it sucks that he was penalized for such an awesome move, but the rules are clear, and I’m glad they’re actually consistently enforcing them for once.

      1. Sounds simple but it’s not that black and white. Had his wheels been a tad further to the left they would also have been entangled with Massa’a wheels.

        No better judge for that than Massa and his statement was very clear: The penalty was wrong.

        1. The pass would not have been possible with two wheels in bounds!
          Out of bounds = penalty was correct.

          1. And if he didn’tgo off track, Massa would have hit him and he still would have taken the blame. What’s your point? Even Massa thinks that there was no need for a penalty.

      2. except the penalty was not consistent : for example with that given to Hamilton Spa 2008 for the same offence. HAM was given 25sec penalty, GRO only 20 sec. That ensured he kept p6, which if 25 sec was applied, at it should, would have given p6 to Button.

        1. The Hamilton incident you refer to was nothing like the incident between Button and Grosjean last weekend, so the comparison is meaningless.

    4. @rigi – Grosjean showed potential, but he did it on multiple other occasions too.

      It’s not that he is unable to drive the wheels off that car on occasions. It’s his complete inability to keep himself out of trouble (whether he’s deep into or on the borderline of “trouble”) that costs and will cost him wins, points, DoTWs, other drivers’ respect and probably his F1 seat eventually.

      A driver who lost out by putting himself in a couple of delicate / avoidable situations can not outclass, outrank or outscore a driver who didn’t put a foot wrong the whole weekend.

  3. Lewis for sure.

    Notable mention to Kimi.
    Thank god Kimi struggle on the new tire on Saturday. It provide a fascinating battle of him and vettel for the last 15 laps.

  4. That was one of Lewis’ best grand prix of his whole career. Didn’t do anything wrong and was so relentless and driven to finally win. Get those tyres working and Lewis is a monster.

    Who ever voted for Chilton… har har :P

  5. Lewis for sure. Grosjean and kimi were very good also .

      1. I was contemplaiting these three also. In the end went for Kimi, but it was a long debate in me :)

  6. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    29th July 2013, 16:04

    Hamilton
    With Kimi in a very close 2nd.

    Lewis drove a masterful race and controlled it from the start. Considering how poor the Mercedes race pace has been on average this season, this was their best race.

    Kimi’s ability to dance with these tyres is brilliant. Great strategy and controlled driving to secure a 2 stop race and holding off a hard charging Vettel was intoxicating to watch.

  7. Lewis for me although Kimi had a great recovery drive to 2nd.

  8. I voted Hamilton. I liked what Button had to say about him:

    I don’t normally comment on other drivers but he has had ups and downs this year and this race was a proper Lewis Hamilton weekend. He did a great job.

    And what Lewis himself had to say:

    I think you could tell I was hungry for it today. I was just going all-out. I needed to get past those people and usually I get stuck in traffic, generally in my races, and today I wasn’t having it. I was going for every move I had.

    I think that despite his reputation for being an aggressive overtaker, he is cautious more often than not, but yesterday was simply Hamilton at his best.

  9. Just has to be Hamilton, doesn’t it? it’s sometimes a bit unimaginative voting for the race winner but he didn’t put a single foot wrong all weekend and scored a fully deserved win. Second place would have been far less than he deserved this weekend. Great race, great win, great boost for a guy who’s going through some tough times.

  10. Keith Collantine

    If you put on “Criticised Grosjean after the race for getting in his way at the start, but the Lotus driver hadn’t done anything wrong.” on Alonso, Why you did not mention about Vettel’s radio and put on “Vettel criticised Raikkonen on radio ‘He didnt leave enough space’ , But the the Lotus driver hadn’t done anything wrong ”

    You always put negative things on Alonso…

    1. @john-locke because Vettel was on the team radio during the race: he didn’t criticise Räikkönen after the race (in actual fact they were having a friendly joke after the race before the podium ceremony). The two situations hardly bare comparison: Alonso publicly criticised Grosjean without the pressures of also driving a formula 1 car and Vettel made a harried comment whilst being engrossed in a very hard battle.

      Please, think about both situations before you make rushed judgements.

    2. @john-locke Because Vettel was clearly just trying it on with the stewards – he admitted as much after the race.

      Whereas Alonso complained about Grosjean’s move two hours after the fact. What’s more he said he was pleased Grosjean had been punished for a completely different incident Alonso wasn’t even involved in.

      I was genuinely surprised to hear Alonso make those remarks. Grosjean did nothing wrong and did not compromise his race by defending from Alonso – in fact he benefitted from it. I thought Alonso’s point of view was completely unreasonable and rather bitter.

      1. well thats alonso for you

      2. I felt completely the same as you do about what Alonso said. Interesting contrast too with his teammate Massa who mentioned he thought it harsh Grosjean got penalized for a move where he did do something wrong @keith-collantine!

  11. Hamilton was the best over the whole weekend, but I also appreciate the way Raikkonen and Webber made best of the situation on race day.

  12. Hamilton for me. Great lap in qualifying, and perfect in the race. Very good start, good pace, good management f the tyres, didn’t lose time in traffic, nice overtaking moves as well and a well deserving win.

  13. chris phillips (@)
    29th July 2013, 16:32

    Definitely Hamilton, but Grosjean would be my second choice. Hamilton had a superb drive, from quali to podium, very Vettel -esque though. Another demonstration of his superb ability to over deliver what the car is capable of. Grosjean also demonstrated he has an ability to over deliver what his car is capable of, superb drive & didn’t deserve the penalty against Massa!! I think Grosjean could be a future candidate for the club of drivers who can over deliver.

  14. As everybody votes for Hamilton, I voted for Raikkonen. Pity he doesn’t have car, which would be stronger in qualifying. But he is always up there in the front during the races and this is why he keeps himself in the championship hunt. I just hope for his victory in Spa, because overtaking will be much easier.

    1. He does now have a car which is stronger in qualifying – Grosjean’s Q3 time was closer to Hamilton’s pole time than Kimi’s was to Grosjean.

      Both Grosjean and Raikkonen were very impressive, but neither managed the all round performance that Hamilton did for the whole weekend.

  15. Easily Hamilton but I’m going to vote for Pastor Maldonado as I think his very solid drive to William’s first points will go largely unrecognised. He was very good all weekend and credit to him for keeping his nose clean.

    1. My problem with MAL getting the point was because of Nico’s and both FI’s retirements… He really didn’t “deserve” that point provided at least one of those cars made it home. I would say WEB, GRO, and iceman are all pretty deserving. HAM’s ability to get around the slower cars when he absolutely had to though puts him just barely at #1 I feel…

      1. @beejis60 sure he was fortunate but he took his opportunities and had a very decent race – it’s a shame Bottas didn’t finish so we could directly compare him to his teammate in the same car.

  16. Hamilton. No question. He was on rails around Hungaroring the whole weekend and never made a single mistake. Add up the fact that he didn’t have it easy with Grosjean, Vettel and Raikkonen posing a serious challenge for the win and a out-of-nowhere lap in quali and it’s an absolute no-brainer.

    Notable mentions: Raikkonen, Webber, Maldonado

  17. I’d have given DoT Day to Webber but the weekend?
    Lewis without question. Not a big LH fan but he certainly dominated.

  18. Lewis gets it for me. Supreme drive from the lights going out to him taking the chequered flag to compliment his qualifying brilliance to snatch away almost certain pole for Vettel. It’s easy to think that he would’ve had the win made more difficult had Button not held up Grosjean and Vettel but the fortunes were virtue to his driving right from qualifying onwards I’d say because it might have been a different story altogether had Vettel got pole and not Lewis. Having alluded to Lewis making his luck, there were the tactically crucial (and combative) overtakes pulled off by him, the similar overtakes that couldn’t be pulled off on Button early enough by his rivals for them to stay in touch with him.

    Credit to Grosjean too, who was really unfortunate to be off the podium at least, his driving (ignoring his incident with Button, which I can understand) was audaciously good in the race and was quicker than Kimi throughout the weekend. Here’s hoping that he takes the positives out of the weekend and build further on the morale-boosting performance of Nurburgring.

  19. When it is such a clear case of one driver winning, I’m voting for 2nd best. Räikkönen did great, Grosjean did great, Vettel never gave up despite the situation he found himself in, and Button was a surprise. Webber didn’t do bad, but benefited from a lot of clean air.

    Hmmm…

    1. @mnmracer I think it’s worth remembering Maldonado: he was very solid in scoring William’s first point of the season. I think he’s a candidate for second best.

    2. @mnmracer I find this a strange logic. This poll is here to find out who people think was the best driver of the weekend, not who was the 2nd best. You’ve said one driver was clearly the best, so why are you voting someone different as the best driver??

      1. Because in the end, first 3 drivers get credits. Lewis will get his due credit, so much is clear, so I can do a tactical vote to make sure another driver I believe deserves credits, gets his moment in the spotlight.

  20. Hamilton, of course. Also good job by Kimi and Grosjean (yes, he makes mistakes but still he drive fast).
    By the way who vote for Alonso? Please, that is a joke.

  21. Hamilton for sure. He did a vettelesque qualifying and race with inarguably the best car on grid. World class.

  22. Did anyone catch Niki Lauda post-race in the euphoria of the moment of the win saying that Lewis is “the best I have seen in my life”? The same way they say about certain musicians being a “musician’s musician”, I think Lewis is a “driver’s driver”.

    1. I agree! Look what Alex Zanardi tweeted yesterday after the race:

      “If I say I’d love to have two feet no one would be surprised, but between a normal couple and just one like Hamilton’s I’d take the trade!”

      I’d say that’s a pretty huge compliment.

  23. Button had a very good race. He made an excellent start making up 5 places in the first lap, looked after his tyres well and helped make an intersting battle between himself, vettel and grosjean. I’m a McLaren fan but have found buttion to be very frustrating this season but i have to put it to him for his sunday performance.

  24. Fikri Harish (@)
    29th July 2013, 17:24

    A toss up between Hamilton and Webber.
    Voted Webber in the end as Hamilton had enough support already.

    Notable mention to Button, the Lotus pair and Vettel. Great race from Raikkonen and Button but they had a poor qualifying. Grosjean’s on the other hand had a great qualifying but a less than perfect race.
    Vettel did a great job on both the qualifying and the race, but I kinda expected him to overcome his straight line speed deficit with daring overtakes like what he did in Spa last year. Not a bad performance at all, I just thought he could do better.

    Alonso and Ferrari need to sort out their issues. I hope Allison could put them in the right direction. As a Ferrari fan, it’s irritating to see them having more windtunnel problems.

    1. @fihar he just had to think of the championship: no point throwing away a respectable points haul for the slim chance of getting an overtake done into turn 4 (where his only real opportunities were). I’m sure had he not had the lead in the championship he may have put up a bigger fight.

  25. I voted for Raikkonen because of how he drove his final stint, making his tires last 33 laps and keeping Vettel behind him cleanly and fairly. Defense is a very important aspect of driving in the DRS era, and Kimi is a master of it. Starting in 6th and finishing 2nd was also impressive. Hamilton drove very well, but why must he be so corny? :)

    1. Sorry, I meant 28 laps on last stint tires.

  26. I went for Hamilton…great pole lap, quality drive for the win. Notable mentions for Raikkonen and Webber, but:

    Raikkonen didn’t do so well during qualifying (points off for driver of the *weekend* there), but drove a great race.
    Webber’s struggles in qualifying weren’t his fault, but during the race he got passed twice by Hamilton…

    Strange to see Vettel (5%) with more votes than Webber (1%) and some comments saying that Hamilton’s win was not 100% guaranteed – “if Vettel hadn’t got stuck behind Button…” but the point is he did get stuck, and when he went for the pass he broke his front wing.

    For me Hamilton’s drive was just superb; controlled aggression throughout, good overtakes when needed and a thoroughly deserved win.

  27. Hamilton all the way!
    I think that Lewis was/is a little bit downbeat because of the Vettel’s last three years domination, mainly because of the car. Remember everyone when LH said that Vettel has a monster car as he makes three-four mistakes per lap in qualifying and still gets pole? Now Hamilton has a reasonable quick car underneath him and, guess who’s taking in those monster laps? Vettel’s face and body language after the qualifying says is all that it needs to be said…

  28. I would love to vote Kimi, but still, Hamilton was perfect, so he gets my vote.

  29. Hamilton for sure, but bxs we need a top 3 , so i gave my vote to Grosjean ;)

  30. Ben (@scuderia29)
    29th July 2013, 18:24

    Hamilton got my vote (never though i’d say that) with grosjean a very close 2nd (never thought i’d say that either)

  31. Accidentally voted for Grosjean (though he did a great job too, especially in quali), I meant to vote Kimi.

    Underperformed in quali but it wasn’t entirely his own fault, the new tyres really hurt him in single-lap pace due to the tricky nature of E21 (and probably his driving style that requires full co-operation from the front of the car). On Sunday he was simply the best driver out there, couldn’t have done a better job with what he was given. I don’t know if he could’ve challenged for the win had his starting position been better but either way, he’s currently driving like a world champion.

    Hamilton had it easy, can’t really vote for him simply because I don’t think he was the best driver out there overall this weekend.

  32. If there ever was a no-brainer, this is it.

    1. No-brainer… you must mean voting for Chilton! ;)

      1. I guess his hand slipped ?

        1. @shrieker at least 8 people have to have voted for him: 1.5% of 521 (Chilton has 2% of the votes of a total 521 votes at the time of writing) which equates to 7.8 which in turn must be rounded up to 8 (as .8 of a person can’t vote!). It could be as high as 13 people though!

          I invite any of these 8-13 people to justify their choice: what the hell did Chilton do to deserve driver of the weekend‽

          1. I guess their hands slipped :)

  33. Hamilton, no question about it.
    But i’m having fun reading people trying to find answers for vote in another driver. As much as i have when people try to diminish some of Vettel’s achievements.

  34. Grosjean for me. He was so fast and didn’t deserve this penalty. He suffered also from a poor srategy of Lotus (as usual), pit one lap too late on the second pit stop to avoid the tyres degradation. Maybe he could do better against Alonso at the end.

  35. Definitely HAM, do not understand where VET’s 5% is coming from, WEB had a much better race, Vettels was accurately described by Gary Anderson – “scruffy”

  36. It was between Hamilton and Grosjean… but at the end of the day, Hamilton got pole and win!

  37. “Daniel Ricciardo – Got into Q3 for the third race in a row”

    Actually Q3 for the FOURTH race in a row.

    ;)

  38. Grosjean got my vote with Kimi a half step behind. There were other drivers called out by the announcers that went off the track with all 4 wheels BUT they did not receive a penalty. Such arbitrary action by the whomevers always ruins not only this race but others as well because it will be referenced in the future……. too many cooks spoil the soup … too many rules not equally enforced ….. and than there is Alonso, I like Alonso as a driver and he seems to be one of the good guys even after lewis tried to fry him when they were team mates …. but alas Alonso lives in some altruistic world where the rules are only known to Alonso. Lastly, poor Nico R. he is one of the several drivers that I like and always hope that he can win but he seems to have some negative aura about him. But I will still support Nico and hope he never gives up the good fight. Thanks, RnR

  39. Lewis Lewis Lewis Hamilton ……

  40. I’ve voted for Lewis. Not just because of the race, either.

    Ok, Mercedes were clearly off the pace on Friday, although much of that was spent evaluating their long-run pace and how the tyres were performing under heavy fuel. The team and Lewis worked hard on Friday evening on Saturday morning to work on a good overall set up and you could see the car (and circuit, maybe) coming more and more towards them throughout Saturday. To the point that Lewis snatched pole position from right under Vettel’s nose! Nobody was expecting it, which made it all the more extraordinary. Then, obviously the race happened. Which, was a commanding performance from Lewis. Sure, maybe it would have been more of a challenge if Vettel hadn’t been stuck behind Button for so long, but I think Lewis had the pace in hand to hold off a challenge. Lewis showed at the end that he had plenty of pace left in the car, with his best lap being only a tenth slower than Vettel’s PB.

    Lewis deserves this for many reasons, not just the race performance.

  41. Lewis Hamilton, unquestionably for this weekend… Very surprised to see how fast he was going *live timing the race*… And his 2 overtaking moves on Webber proved very critical.. Rather, that would mean race win…
    Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber for next spots, I didn’t expect Webber to gain 6 places at the race… Kimi again maximizing the car’s strength to not lose ground to Vettel in the WDC.

  42. Lewis did a perfect job. Pole position and a win, you cant ask for more. Lewis quickly got pass others, he created clean air for himself which is a big part of the reason why he won.

    Kimi was 10th after the first pitstops but passed Massa and Perez quickly to create clean air for himself. Much like Lewis did. He got the most out of his car and kept Vettel behind him for 15 laps at the end with much older tyres.

    Webber also did well to gain a few positions.

  43. Not sure how people can vote for anyone but Hamilton this weekend?

  44. Grosjean, he had a great race apart from the collision with Button, Romain was very hard and fair at the start of the race with Vettel and Alonso. The overtake on Massa was very brave and perfectly judged, I think if it weren’t for the unfair penalty and the collision with Button then he would have been on the podium. I think his penalty actually made the race less interesting, as Vettel had a guaranteed podium near the end because the only car close to him was Webber.

  45. soundscape (@)
    30th July 2013, 12:52

    Reluctantly, Lewis Hamilton by a country mile.

  46. LH, yes he had it relatively easy, but he made his own luck. MW and JB both did a solid job, but, in a 3 stop race the benefit of starting on new tyres shouldn’t be underestimated. LH realised that they were on different strategies and had to be despatched early. SV is a very talented driver but he seems to lack a little in racing and doesn’t do the unexpected. KR said he knew when the overtake attempt was going to happen, not sure MW would have said the same.

  47. Voted Lewis Hamilton!

  48. Romain Grosjean had an awesome weekend. He looked fast always and beat Kimi in qualifying, had a great race with great overtakes and just one small error, when he tapped Button. His penalty was harsh in that he deserved no penalty at all, and the error I mentioned before is so small I’d feel guilty if I didn’t give him my vote for this.
    Hamilton was perfect, but Grosjean was better than usual by a greater degree than Hamilton.

  49. Hamilton was the only choice for me. Great lap in qualifying and then he dominated the race, overtaking when he had to.

  50. Since Lewis is winning this by a big margin already, no need to put vote there. I was tempted to go for Romain, had it not been for the way the Button move went. Massa he was only looked at, I think, because it was him, so I can forgive that :-) Kimi again couldn’t do best job on Saturday though he, also again, put in a great race. Having finally watched quali, my vote might actually go for Mark, who I think did nothing wrong (letting Lewis past twice? Hm, not really his mistake). And I think Jenson did a great job in the race, and likely on Saturday as well. He too couldn’t hold Lewis, but hung on to his good position to the end.

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