F1 Fanatic

It’s getting to that time of year again – we move into the final phase of the championship, and with it comes discussions of the best passing move all season. It might be a little earlier than usual for this but given the way Kamui Kobayashi wrongly won last year by passing Jenson Button at Abu Dhabi (given that Button had literally just come out of the pits and Kobayashi hadn’t) and Kimi Raikkonen wrongfully claimed the runner-up position (given that he simply pressed the KERS button to drive around Fisichella), I figure it’s high time to start an early discussion and referesh everyone’s memories of the best passes so far this year. I’ve like to start by nominating Petrov for sticking it to Rosberg at Les Combes. Defender of the Year can go to Liuzzi for simply ignoring the person trying to drive around him at the same corner.

Kobayashi was absolutely deserving of Overtake of the Year.

Except that Button was heavy on fuel and with brand-new tyres. Kobayashi wasn’t – he was light and still had decent grip. I could have caught Button. This of it this way; if it had been Hamilton who caught Button at the time, it wouldn’t have won the away. But no, since it’s Kamui Cowboyashi and it’s only his second race, it’s a miracle pass. Sorry, but Koabayshi deserved squat for that move. Given the way people talk about him, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s the Japanese Aryton Senna – but so far, he’s consistently failed to live up to the extreme hype.

oh also mas at Canada with the FI when traffic got in the way. Good opportunism so that gets a nod but not the full award

I didn’t rate Kobay on Alo either as he was on brand new tyres and Alo’s were dead, there was nothing he could do. I was much more impressed with the skill Kobay drove the race and thought the passes were nothing special. Just my (usualoly wrong) opinion though

Petrov on Rosberg was great.

Alguersuari on Hulkenberg in Malaysia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB99PY2sr3U

Kobayashi on Alonso was brilliant also, just for hilarity.

I’m not really sure any single driver has been particularly impressive in this respect. I guess if you’re looking for the most DETERMINED defenders, that’s Michael Schumacher. Hamilton has always been a good overtaker, but to be honest, he hasn’t really needed to much this season. On the other end of the scale, Alonso has found himself at the back of the field several times this season and has managed to pass loads of cars in working his way up to the front, but none of them were exactly challenging.

If I had to pick an overtaker, I guess I’d be torn between Petrov and Kobayashi. As for a defender, one of the Red Bull drivers.

Webber on Massa at Aus this year was pretty good.

Hello Chaps and Chappeses. Im back from holiday after 7weeks tanned an i just watched the belgium on iplayer. AWESOME race, best starting sequence in the sport, one of the few places you can see the true speed of f1 cars on the telly.

Anyways, good question, I’d go with Hamilton as overtaker of the year, partly because of the shear number of competative overtakes he made at the start of the season but also due to the spectacular nature of a few of them. Also a highly improved not overtaker, wait for your moment an the place will come better.

Defender has to be Sutil, his car is ideally suited to it, but using superior straight line speed and awesome placement to defend from cars with a faintly silly cornering advantage over yourself is Gilles esc and highly skilled. If I was Renault I’d sign him, to hell with Petrovs improvement, Kobayashi has more points than he