F1 Fanatic

We all know some drivers are better at certain things than others. Vettel is a master at Qualifying, Kobayashi is a top overtaker, Button is great in wet/dry conditions.

What would you say each drivers biggest strength is?

Do you mean better than every other driver in the field or what their strongest at out of their skills? Sorry, my brains not working well at the moment! Either way…

Button’s switch-to-slicks tactic is his one real trick.

Hamilton’s qualifying speed probably.

Massa and Petrov tend to get good starts. Massa’s strength used to be qualifying and/or being able to put in perfect stints as Rob Smedley said in an interview about Monaco 09 but that seems to have gone or perhaps Alonso makes it look like that.

I have no idea with Alonso because he is an all rounder in my mind. I’d say his ability to direct a team perhaps but he’s the hardest to pick.

Sutil-the piano.

Trulli used to be the quali master and if he hadn’t lost that I’d say he could be quicker over one lap than anyone out there so I find ti a real shame to see him struggling in Lotus.

Massa’s strongest strength – his sight. He doesn’t need white visors. :P

I would say Sutil’s is street circuits – particularly Monaco.

Webber, much as I do like him, his greatest strength is PR

Heidfeld – Consistency ;-)

Nick Heidfeld: facial hair grooming

Fernando Alonso: voice acting

Jarno Trulli: one lap speciali- huh, what’s that? Outqualified how many times?!? OK, scratch that…

(come to think of it, everyone seems to have forgotten that Mark Webber too was seen as one of the best qualifiers in F1 until 2009, and now he’s being made to look like a slow coach by his teammate.)

Alonso, I would say he’s Schumacher-like sometimes.. I guess you would call that all-rounder or whatever.. but he does seem to have that magic of winning races no one else would do and consistently outperforming his machine. And car/team development skills also. He’s still lacking one fundamental Schumacheresque characteristic, though: the hability of producing fast lap times (or fast enough) in crucial moments of a race, “to push his car to the very limit for sustained periods” to quote wikipedia. At least I don’t remember him doing that very often.

Vettel, if anyone from the present time was to be compared to Senna, it would be him, for sure, the master qualifier and the master-in-winning-races-from-pole.

Button, true that he’s very good in changeable conditions, but definitely not a Regenmeister or Rei da Chuva like Schumi and Senna were of their time.

Hamilton, his carnage-potential whenever they change an engine/gearbox, ;)

Heidfeld, a master tactictian able to snatch podiums with not-so-worthy machines, a bit MartinBrundle-like (also because that expected maiden win never arrived)

Rosberg must be his already mentioned here androgynous qualities

Massa, his likability; it seems that guy that is impossible to not like him for his character

Koby, obviously his overtaking skills, but also his defensive fairness which is unique amongst his peers (meaning he can’t be accused of blocking too hard with a straight face)

Alonso – Very good under pressure
Hamilton – Overtaking
Kobayashi – Overtaking
Petrov – Very good starts
Narain – Very good at getting beat by his teammates
Button – Brilliant at weather-changing conditions
Sutil – As mentioned above, street circuits
Kubica – Consistent/Reliable

Kimi Raikkonen – speed during races. He equalled two times Schumacher’s 2004 record for fastest laps in a season, 10 (2005 & 2008) and Ascari’s 1952 record of consecutive fastest laps in a season, 6 (2008).