F1 Fanatic

There’s not a lot I can remember off the top of my head with there being so many :P

I’ll add more to my last
1. Button on Webber in Barcelona – Both were on the DRS and I know that if you try and overtake Webber on the outside, he will try bite back on the inside.
2. Barrichello on Schumacher in Monaco – Very brave up the inside into Mirabeau.
3. Schumacher in Monaco – Only Schumacher can make a move stick into the Loews Hairpin, and he took two drivers at that corner in that race.

@raymondu999

The Button on Webber overtake I’m thinking of was down into turn 1.

This one:

And this was impressive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYRnZ2WE2XU

Shortlist
Hamilton on Button, Vettel China
Webber on Alonso at Spa, Singapore
Vettel on Rosberg Spa
Vettel on Alonso, Monza
Hamilton on Alonso at Copse
Sutil on Kobayashi (i think) at 130R
Alonso on Webber Valencia
Schumacher on 2 cars at Canada (think it was Button, Petrov)
Hamilton on 2 cars at Malaysia (Buemi and someone else)
Hamilton on Webber, Hungary
Webber on Kobayashi, Monaco
Hamilton on Schumacher, Monaco
Button on someone round outside of the Bus Stop (Massa?)
Button on Scumacher, Ascari
Alonso on Vettel, Nurburgring
Hamilton repassing Webber, Nurburgring
Hamilton round Alonso, Nurburgring
Vettel on Button, Australia
Apologies for not mentioning any by the lower ranked teams/drivers. Not through lack of interest, more due to the fact i can’t remember seeing too many on TV

Top 3
Webber on Alonso Singapore
Hamilton on Alonso, Copse
Sutil on Kobayashi, 130R

close behind were Vettel on Rosberg and the one on Alonso
as were Button on Schumacher and Schumacher passing 2 cars at Canada and hamilton on Vettel in China

Finally got round to compiling a list. These are ones I thought were worth a mention anyway. Also whilst doing this, I realised just how much of a beast Webber has been in overtaking situations and general on-track battles this year. Here goes anyhow, in no particular order;

1. Webber on Alonso, Spa (Side by side through Eau Rouge)

I shouldn’t really have to justify this one. We all know what it went like but here’s a video anyway. It was the fact Webber could have waited for the DRS zone to pass him but did it through Eau Rouge anyway.

2. Lewis Hamilton on Fernando Alonso, Nurburgring (Turns 1-2)

I know Alonso was coming out of the pits and therefore on raw tyres however I don’t think this detracts anything from Lewis’ pass. He reacts quickly to the Ferrari emerging from the pits, manages not to touch him in Turn 1 whilst not compromising his exit, and then going round him on the outside of Turn 2 where the camber and amount of grip is heavily in Alonso’s favour. Look how far away he is from Alonso before entering the corner too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBPLXes3PM0

3. Alonso at the start (Catalunya)

Some may argue this was just a good start. But if you watch closely you’ll see it was the slipstream and his movements following his good getaway that really made this a genius pass on not one but two drivers. He completely outsmarts both of them.

4. Barrichello on Schumacher, Monaco

There were quite a few passes at Monte Carlo this year, rather unusually. I’m glad I found this one. Sure, Schumacher’s tyres were older than Rubens’, but after watching this a few times it’s hard not to mention it.

5. Vettel on Alonso, Monza

Videos above, again this was a pass where there was no need to do it there and then, yet he did, foot flat to the floor. I don’t think this has the edge over Webber’s move on Alonso at Eau Rouge but this was absolutely classic.

And anyone remember these two? They don’t have the dramatic or romantic connotations of the above necessarily but I remember these well. Both similar moves from Webber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVpjAeJ5GxU (Spa)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_wa6r3fnRI (Turkey)

I’m going to start off with an argument AGAINST the obvious winner this year: Webber on Alonso at Eau Rouge. (Contrary person that I am).

This is the “headline” move of the year in that it’s got a lot of press and people like Brundle were raving about it. I know it’s going to win, just like I knew Kamui on Button was going to win in ’09, even though it was a pass that owed more to Button’s mistake than it did to Kobayashi’s skill. But while it was a ballsy move, I don’t give it all that much weight – simply because Eau Rouge is not the white knuckle ride in a modern F1 car that it was in Martin Brundle’s time. With the monstrous amounts of downforce the Red Bull has in particular, this corner is “easy flat” nowadays. It’s a big rise, and you can’t see over the crest, but the GPS tracking means the pitlane can tell you if there’s something over the hill, and fundamentally it might as well be part of the straight. More to the point, at least 50-75% of the reason that move worked is because Alonso allowed it to happen. A lesser driver *cough massa cough* would have squeezed Webber onto the grass, or caused a collision.

So: A good deal of balls from Webber, but the pass worked because the car and the other driver allowed it to work, not because Webber was making it work.

My favourite this year was Button on Webber in Canada.

Why I like it: This is all down to Button’s talent. It’s not down to a faster car, better tyres, working KERS, DRS, or team orders. We have three drivers going into the same corner, slowest to fastest: Schumacher > Webber > Button. Webber attempts to muscle Schumacher, but makes a balls of it and goes wide. From there, he’s on the back foot and having to recover. Easy meat for Button? No, because Webber still has the dry line. Button steams into the corner, displaying for a moment exactly *why* he won that race and why he was 3-4 seconds a lap faster than the field at the time, his speed and commitment into there was unbelievable. However, it meant that right on the end of the corner, he caught up with the back of Webber’s car. From there, he has to do something – back off, go wide, cram on the brakes to flat spot his tyres? No, he doesn’t. With a casual flick he sends the car left onto the unraced, still soaking wet part of the track – on slick tyres, at high speed, while accelerating out of the corner. You can see the spray kicking up at the back of the car, and the back kicks out … but Button controls it, puts the power down and steams off again. You can almost feel the serene calm in his cockpit through the TV as he hunts down the next driver.

100% driver skill, a jaw dropping exhibition of control, and not many (if any) other drivers could have done it.