[Prisoner Monkeys]

So, after watching Abu Dhabi over the weeked, I got curious: what are the strengths and weaknesses (as you see them) of each driver on the grid.

For example, Jenson Button is very gentle on his tyres an can make risky and/or unorthodox strategies work (he could, after all, see which tyres the six cars in front of him were using in Hungary and adapt his strategy accordingly), but sometimes he accepts the position he’s in too readily rather than pushing to catch the next guy. Sebasian Vettel can instantly respond to a challenge from a driver behind him, but is poor at managing the relationship between himself, the team and his team-mate (or perhaps he was too naive to know what was going on between Marko and Webber). Fernando Alonso is blindingly fast and can make bad strategies work when he needs them to, but is too quick to dismiss drivers who he does not see as a threat. Vitaly Petrov is unafraid of anyone on the circuit and is seemingly immune to the pressures the likes of Alonso and Hamilton apply. Nico Hulkenberg is very quick over one lap (and will probably inherit Jarno Trulli’s title of the sport’s best qualifier if he gets into a top team), but he overdrives the car far too often, trying to seize opportunities when none exist. Lewis Hamilton is unique in that his strength is his weakness; he never, ever backs down and will try to win the race on the last corner of the last lap even if he’s a minute down – but he doesn’t recognise when it is smarter to back off (like Monza 2009) and be content with what he has. He also cannot improvise a strategy the way Button can.

Your turn.

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