Vote for your 2013 Korean GP driver of the weekend

2013 Korean Grand Prix

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

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

Korean Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Asserted Red Bull’s superiority on Saturday to take his 42nd career pole position. There was no skipping his second run in Q3 this time although it turned out he could have done. He might have come under more pressure from Grosjean had the Safety Car not been deployed, but with clean starts and restarts the result rarely looked in doubt.

Mark Webber – Knowing he had a ten-place grid penalty Webber sacrificed some downforce to improve his straight-line speed for the race. He was a few tenths off Vettel in Q3 which left him 13th on the grid once his sanction was applied. After dodging the Ferrari crash at the start he passed the McLarens, Maldonado and Ricciardo. But Perez’s tyre failure right in front of him forced a third pit stop, and after the restart he was taken out by Sutil.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Made the best of his Ferrari in qualifying to line up fifth but was pessimistic about his race prospects. That turned out to be a realistic assessment as he wasn’t even able to pass Hulkenberg’s Sauber, despite his best efforts. Vied for position with Hamilton at one point and rather generously left the door open at turn four.

Felipe Massa – Lost time in the first practice session with a punctured tyre which had to be replaced. In final practice he was worryingly far off Alonso’s pace on the mediums tyres but got it together in qualifying to line up behind his team mate. He had his Alonso’s quick reaction to thank for the fact his lap one blunder didn’t wipe them both out. Took a while to get past Gutierrez, eventually doing so after Rob Smedley had suggested using all his KERS at the final corner. The Safety Car helped him on his way to recovering two points for ninth.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Believed he would have reached Q3 had he not lost around 0.15s behind Raikkonen, who he had waved past on his out-lap. For the second year running he was blamelessly hit at turn three on the first lap, though the consequences were less severe this time. Despite losing time with a front wing change and another delay when his pit exit light turned red at his second stop, Button took eighth with a long, 33-lap stint on medium tyres, only losing out to Rosberg three laps from home.

Sergio Perez – Pipped Button by three-thousandths of a second in Q2 but also failed to reach the final ten. Passed Maldonado twice in the first part of the race, and the stewards scrutinised his battles with Di Resta and Massa before judging both to be fair. He finished behind the latter, taking the final point.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – Crashed at turn 18 at the end of the first practice session, but his team were able to repair his car quickly enough that his afternoon running was not seriously affected. Still not happy with the performance of the revised tyres in qualifying he could only manage tenth after a messy Q3 lap. Things got better quickly once the race started: he dodged the turn three carnage and passed Ricciardo and Alonso. A slow first stop dropped him behind the latter again but his fortuitously-timed second stop, six laps before the Safety Car appeared, gained him that place plus another on Hulkenberg. Pounced on Grosjean after the first restart to claim second, but never looked like catching Vettel.

Romain Grosjean – Continued his promising showing from Singapore and was quick enough on the medium tyres in Q1 to save a second set of super-soft tyres for the final part of qualifying, which he impressively used to split the Mercedes drivers. Passed Hamilton at the start and was set to pressure Vettel with a short second stint and long third stint before the Safety Car spoiled his plans. Paid the price for making a mistake at Raikkonen, then seems to have somewhat optimistically lobbied his team to try to have the positions reversed. The fact he was rarely within DRS range of Raikkonen at this point rather undermined his claim he was being held up.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – Wasn’t happy with his car’s balance in qualifying and was disappointed with the end result of fourth (after Webber’s penalty). He looked happier in the race and was in with a chance of a podium finish when his front wing dramatically failed. Recovered to pass Button for seventh near the end.

Lewis Hamilton – Said after qualifying he felt he’d got everything out of the car to qualify second alongside Vettel. But the race went less well: he lost out to Grosjean early on and was mystified by his loss of pace on medium tyres in the second stint. He was unlucky to have to do another lap after Rosberg first overtook him, then headed pit-wards with a broken wing. Hulkenberg passed Hamilton at the restart, which was unexpected, though he defended well against Alonso. Couldn’t crack the Sauber’s defences for fourth, though.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg – Said Q1 and Q2 went “like clockwork” but was surprised to lose four tenths of a second in Q3. His team mate actually made a better start but the turn three incident reversed their fortunes and put Hulkenberg ahead of Alonso. It was a surprise he was able to stay there, never mind pinch another place off Hamilton and keep the Mercedes driver tucked up too.

Esteban Gutierrez – Had a spin on Friday as he acclimatised to a circuit he hadn’t driven on before. Nonetheless he improved on his best qualifying position again with eighth and made a great start, passing Alonso, before losing a lot of time trying to avoid contact at turn three. Couldn’t make his way out of the midfield quickly enough to get into the points – an opportunistic lunge on Maldonado ended up costing him a position to Massa, and Perez knocked him back to 11th.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Made it beyond Q1 despite being held up by Bianchi, but trying to blame the eliminated Marussia driver for his lacklustre showing in Q2 was stretching things a bit. Disliked the car’s handling on medium tyres in the race and when he crashed out there was no ducking responsibility this time: “I have to hold my hands up and apologise to the team,” he said.

Adrian Sutil – Said his Q2 lap was “right on the limit” and was only a tenth of a second off making the cut for the top ten. After picking up front wing damage on the first lap he began to recover but lost control of his car following the Safety Car restart and crashed into Webber. Like his team mate, he also provided the necessary apologies.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Tested a new front wing on Friday and was pleased with the results, but didn’t use it on Saturday. He went out in Q1 and vented his displeasure at his team on Twitter, pointing out the improvement Sauber had made since their difficult start to the season. Gained nine places at the start, thanks mostly to Massa’s spin, but was always going to struggle to hang on to them. Trying to run to the end on 32-lap old tyres didn’t work out as he slipped from the points places.

Valtteri Bottas – Used the new front wing on Saturday and out-qualified Maldonado but wasn’t able to get into Q2. He was delayed at turn three at the start but made up places from there, eventually passing his team mate for 12th place.

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – Perplexed by his car on Friday which seemed to get worse as the track conditions improved. Gained a few places at the start but soon found himself at the tail of the midfield. He was set to finish there when a severe handling problem forced him to stop.

Daniel Ricciardo – After a problematic practice he raised his game in qualifying as usual but it wasn’t enough to get the Toro Rosso into Q3. He was the only driver to start on the medium tyres and made it to lap 19 on them. He had a slow pit stop for reasons that aren’t clear, though his team were seen cleaning up the remains of a dead bird afterwards. Oddly he was forced out of the race with a familiar problem, one which also seemed to affect his team mate: “I had the same scenario here last year, when I came down to turn three with a few laps to go, I braked and the car immediately shot to the left. That time it cost me one place. Once I got out of the cockpit this time, I could see there was a mechanical problem at the front left corner.”

Caterham

Charles Pic – Spent Friday practice trying to improve his car’s traction and was still not completely happy with it on Saturday morning. Out-qualified Van der Garde despite catching traffic on his best lap. Collected 14th in the race, one place shy of the 13th the team need to pass Marussia in the constructors’ championship, but earned a ten-place grid penalty for his third reprimand of the year.

Giedo van der Garde – Was happy with his car’s balance in the second practice session but, like his team mate, found the super-softs gave him a lot of understeer. Pic pipped him by a tiny margin in qualifying. A drive-through penalty in the race for forcing Bianchi wide at turn one, which dropped him to last, though he recovered to pass both the Marussias.

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – Rodolfo Gonzalez drove his car in first practice, spinning into the wall early on. In qualifying he was pleased to be closer to the Caterhams but picked up a penalty – and his second reprimand of the season – for holding up Di Resta. Was preoccupied with tyre management during the race and unable to get on terms with the Caterhams. A third reprimand will also see him take a ten-place grid penalty in Japan.

Max Chilton – Said he was “really encouraged” to be close to Bianchi’s pace in qualifying. But like Bianchi he didn’t have the pace to race with the Caterhams.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mateLaps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel1st-0.262s36/3621st
Mark Webber13th+0.262s0/363
Fernando Alonso5th-0.185s55/5526th-8.201s
Felipe Massa6th+0.185s0/5529th+8.201s
Jenson Button11th+0.003s39/5528th-2.893s
Sergio Perez10th-0.003s16/55210th+2.893s
Kimi Raikkonen9th+1.291s19/5522nd-0.703s
Romain Grosjean3rd-1.291s36/5523rd+0.703s
Nico Rosberg4th+0.259s1/5527th+1.443s
Lewis Hamilton2nd-0.259s54/5525th-1.443s
Nico Hulkenberg7th-0.168s55/5524th-11.876s
Esteban Gutierrez8th+0.168s0/55211th+11.876s
Paul di Resta15th+0.287s22/242
Adrian Sutil14th-0.287s2/24320th
Pastor Maldonado18th+0.517s40/55213th+2.964s
Valtteri Bottas17th-0.517s15/55212th-2.964s
Jean-Eric Vergne16th+0.364s0/52318thNot on same lap
Daniel Ricciardo12th-0.364s52/52219thNot on same lap
Charles Pic19th-0.007s45/55214th-0.923s
Giedo van der Garde20th+0.007s10/55215th+0.923s
Jules Bianchi22nd-0.153s52/55216th-4.928s
Max Chilton21st+0.153s3/55217th+4.928s

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 Korean 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 (0%)
  • Adrian Sutil (0%)
  • Paul di Resta (0%)
  • Esteban Gutierrez (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (69%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (2%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (4%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (7%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Jenson Button (0%)
  • Felipe Massa (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (1%)
  • Mark Webber (1%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (15%)

Total Voters: 685

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2013 Korean Grand Prix

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    Images © Red Bull/Getty, Sauber, Lotus/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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    192 comments on “Vote for your 2013 Korean GP driver of the weekend”

    1. Hulk squeezed out every ounce out the Sauber. An outstanding effort from him.

      1. Easy vote.

      2. there’S no need to say more.

      3. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        7th October 2013, 15:35

        Yep. He deserves this (and a 2014 seat) so much

        1. WHO VOTED MAX CHILTON??????????

          1. I think that not even himself would vote “Max Chilton”.

          2. At certain points, I just think Keith hardcoded the 1% Chilton voters in because it’s ridiculously hysterical.

            1. Also, it happens every race and I believe it has never been anything other than 1%

            2. Well, nevermind that, he’s on 2% now!

      4. Agreed, but more than driver of the weekend, Hülkenberg to me is sort of the dicovery of the season, although it’s not his first season.

        Why has no big team signed him yet? Hopping to the next midfield team with cashflow problems could only be a good strategy if a top drive is available for 2015. Mclaren-Honda, maybe? If I was Martin Whitmarsh and if I had some problem or other with firing Perez after only one season, I’d at least be on the phone to Hülkenberg about 2015, if not also 2014.

      5. Disappointed to see Lewis Hamilton & Fernando Alonso get 1%, the same as Max Chilton

        1. @noob I’m disappointed to see any of them get votes…

      6. Agreed, the Hulk was amazing, otherwise I might have been tempted to give Webber a sympathy vote, afterall he was looking at an excellent finish until Lady Misfortune let him have it with both barrells. Kudos allso to the Lotus duo.

        1. is that Sutil’s new nickname?

    2. Hulk. Honorable mention Grosjean.

      1. -1

        Grosjean finished where he should be finishing regularly. If he’d beaten his former world champion team mate, then yeah, +1… But he didn’t. He just didn’t finish as far down the order as we’ve become accustomed to. Or crash out at T1.

        I hope he continues to perform better, because I used to be a big fan of his. Perhaps getting number one status in the team next year will help.

        Perhaps I’m being harsh, but second chances are rare in F1. RG has had three.

    3. I think that the one racer who can win this title is Nico Hulkenberg.
      It is obvious he hasn’t the package to fight for this high position. But he used all possibilities he was given.
      It was Alonso(defensive)like performance from Hulkenberg. There wasn’t a single mistake from Nico.
      He withstanded a sturdy fight with several WDCs plus high-quality racers such as Rosberg and Webber.
      He resisted like hell. What I liked most in this race is that Nico was entering the 1-2 corners in the
      same way for entire race. Even when Lewis overtook Nico, Hulk-himself:-) didn’t change his approach to
      these corners and again had beautiful exit. This kind of striving will harden Nico and make him better.
      To sum up, Nico made Korean race 2013 worth to watch again.

      PS: and I must add that Nico actually showed a difference between a fast driver (Grosjean/Perez) and F1-racer. He improved his racing skills, he got rid of mistakes. I believe that if he continues with same attitude then he will become another complete racer (implying Alonso№2) or even better.

      1. “It was Alonso(defensive)like performance from Hulkenberg” I agree. Hulk really did fantastic job!!

      2. He knew the strenght of his car and made accurate use of it. Top drive from Hulkenberg.

    4. Who exactly is voting for Alonso? First time he’s gone backwards on the first lap this year, and finished 1 spot lower than his starting position (and would have been another if Webber didn’t have Webber luck).

      Hulk all the way, outstanding drive.

      1. I am stubborn Alonso fan, but I want to ask same question:-)

      2. I guess there will always be people voting Alonso. Because Alonso.

        I’m a Vettel fan. I have at times found it annoying when he didn’t win DotW after having yet another great weekend. But this weekend, there really is no question at all. This time it’s Hulkenberg, without a single shred of doubt. Great qualifying, great start, great race. Got passed by the faster Merc but took the place again before Hamilton could blink. Sure, his car allowed for it, but it was impressive nonetheless.

        To think he might not even land a seat next year is beyond unbelievable.

        1. Completely agree. I’m a Vettel fan too, but no doubt it was the Hulk. Now the percentages have switched, and I have to ask the same question of Vettel fans!

          1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            7th October 2013, 15:38

            @tripperhead I’m a gung-ho Vettel fan, but i wouldn’t have voted for Vettel this time. It’s Hulk. But probably the ones who voted for Vettel take into account the DOTWEEKEND thing, and his grand Chelem jutifies a vote for Vettel. (We need a points system so much!!!!)

        2. I voted for the Hulk too but seeing Vettel at 15% is really low I think. He’s definetely N°2 after Hulk this weekend: made no errors and could hold his lead during the first lap with a Red Bull lacking straight-line speed. Once he arrived at sector 2 as the leader, who all knew the race was over.

          1. Well at this point he’s decidedly in the #2 spot.
            With Hulkenbergs performance it even surprises me there are 15 people out of 100 that vote for Vettel – or that a rough third of the voters don’t vote for Hulkenberg :)

            1. I vote vettel.. To make sure he get no.2 :)

        3. @mattds

          I guess there will always be people voting Alonso. Because Alonso.

          Because Alonso what?

          1. Because Alonso :)

            Just a little bit of jest. I know there are die-hards for every (top) driver that will vote no matter what.

      3. Fernando Alonso – Made the best of his Ferrari in qualifying to line up fifth

        I don’t think that’s true @keithcollantine: he was slower in Q3 than in Q2 again, whilst the average improvement margin was around 3 tenths (I did calculate the exact figures on another article). In terms of absolute grid position you have a point, but not in terms of his qualifying performance.

        What I’m really questioning though @tripperhead is why Räikkönen is quite conclusively ahead of Grosjean though. By his own admission, he messed up his qualifying lap – hence why he was 6 positions down on Grosjean. Then only reason realistically he finished ahead of him (credit for a great re-start however from the safety car) was because he gained so many places during the pit phase before the idiotic fire Marshall’s decided to go for a drive. So quite how he justifies 9% of the votes at the time of writing (21/22 votes) is slightly baffling, for a driver of the weekend poll, when you had the performances of Vettel and Hülkenberg to consider.

        With Hulkenbergs performance it even surprises me there are 15 people out of 100 that vote for Vettel

        That doesn’t really surprise me @mattds – both did the absolute maximum they could and nothing less, so they would both be worthy winners. But I must agree that Hülkenberg wholly deserves his current winning margin – his measured, assertive, effective and canny defensive driving against no less than Hamilton and Alonso was mesmerisingly good. It wasn’t the absolute perfect qualifying lap (which I do think is 1-0 to Vettel in fairness), not the absolute perfect start (again, 1-0 to Vettel) but his racecraft and consistency merit him being rated number 1, absolutely.

        1. Raikkonen had a *great* race. He overtook Alonso’s Ferrari and Grosjean’s Lotus on track. Plus another car or two. And this on a track where some others were stuck behind noticeably slower cars. And then he managed to not even give a sniff of a chance to Grosjean, who was on tyres fresher by 4 laps. Nico and Vettel are justifiably ahead but no one else comes close.

      4. Who exactly is voting for Alonso?

        @tripperhead I think it must be @shreyasf1fan

        1. Why get so worked up for 1% vote, 4 out of 400+? To each one their reasons….

          I’ve often voted for ALO but not today, he had a quite unremarkable weekend. His best moment was the avoidance of the Massa-led missile when it certainly looked like both Ferraris were DNF-bound. That took some skill. Even so, Hulk got through and it ruined ALO’s chances for a podium.

          My 3 candidates for DOTW are Hulk, Seb and Kimi. I would have considered Grosjean also but lost a lot of respect for him when he asked for a pointless TO, he wasn’t really faster than Kimi and was never going to challenge Seb for the win.

    5. Well there can be only one winner this weekend. And that has to be Hulkenberg
      What he did in that Sauber was absolutely amazing. Hopefully he can get a podium in the remaining races.
      What I don’t understand is how Alonso still has 10% of the votes. The same as Vettel!

    6. No option to vote for the fire marshall?

      1. +1, he did give Jeep its first time leading a GP after all!

        1. +1

    7. Of course it’s Hulkenberg! He absolutely drove the wheels off that car. His defensive driving was one of the best I’ve seen recently. He held off faster cars and punched well above his height. One of the best drives this year.

      1. @osvaldas31 Hulkenberg did what Lewis could not, he let Lewis pass then overtook him in DRS. Lewis tried the same on Alonso in Spa and failed miserably…

    8. As I’m sure most others will do, I voted for Hulk, but honorable mentions to both Vettel and Grosjean.

      It wasn’t as easy as it looked for Vettel, while he was able to pull out the 4 second gap pretty quickly after the second safety car period, it quickly stabilized and he didn’t start to disappear from the Lotus’ and they were able to keep him within striking distance if Vettel had a major issue. With the high tire wear he was experiencing, it was a nice, controlled drive from him to bring the car home in P1.

      Grosjean on the other hand has shown a huge improvement as of late, he seems to have found his speed and a cool, calm racing head to go with it, his moves on Hamilton early in the race, both offensively and defensively were superb. Since the Summer Break we’ve seen a Grosjean that has been capable of not only taking the fight to, but also beating his team-mate, a driver many hold as one of the best in the sport.

    9. Still lobbying for a top three vote @keithcolante .
      Since Hülkenberg’s win for this is a foregone conclusion, I strategically voted Vettel, who deserves second. A shame I can’t also vote for Grosjean in third.

      1. And it doesn’t need to be a mandatory top three either. Cause sometimes there’s just one driver of the weekend, or two. I don’t want to have to include someone else just to complete the vote.

        1. Agree a top 3 option would be nice if it’s not too hard to implement. Sometimes the winner is too much of a foregone conclusion (like some of the races you could say!) so would be interesting to see the 2nd and 3rd choices – maybe using a points system to rate them, eg. 25-18-15.

          1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            7th October 2013, 15:41

            @keithedin a 3-2-1 would work better for percentages, but probably you can convince @keithcollantine saying something like “from one Keith to another” :P

      2. I strategically voted Vettel

        I did the same. :)

        1. @f1mre same here also – it’s weird that he’s turned out to be the underdog almost, isn’t it! ;)

    10. Definitely is Vettel driver of the weekend, but I am going to be subjective and give it to Hulkenberg just because it was entertaining to watch him battle with Alonso and Hamilton.

      1. Voted for Vettel to give him the second place, because yet another flawless weekend topped off with a Grand Slam shouldn’t go unrewarded ;)

        But I also think it’s Hulk who should be DOTW – great performance in the race and during qualifying.

    11. Hulk, Raik, Gro.

      1. How does one vote for Raikkonen? He crashed

        1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          7th October 2013, 16:00

          And came 2nd out of pure luck.

        2. In practice…

      2. @robo Räikkönen wasn’t bad this weekend (obviously, he still finished second after all!) but he was far from second best driver. His qualifying performance was simply poor, no more elaboration needed. And he benefited immensely from the safety car deployment, not by virtue of his superior pace. Grosjean ahead of Räikkönen in my books, and Vettel certainly ahead of the pair of them (his qualifying lap was absolutely perfect, his getaway perfect, his race perfect. Not one mistake).

        1. Don’t really care about quali, as long as you on podium and ahead of someone, who qualified better. I love Gro, and support him wholeheartedly, but in this race Raikkonen was on top again. Romain couldn’t get his position back. And during the race I thought he was ORDERED to chase Raikkonen, but actually it was definitely not this way, so this one is my minus for Romain. But it’s just for me, you know. In Hungary Gro was my number one despite his finish.

          1. @robo it is a driver of the weekend poll. You can’t “just ignore” qualifying.

            @droiddamundi I’ve heard this mentioned but not actually seen any articles, nor anything said by Räikkönen or Lotus.

            1. @vettel1, it is driver of the weekend poll. You should discount the results according to the cars potential. Yes Seb was flawless, and yes he is as good or better than any current F1 driver, and yes he got the trifecta, but he was never challenged and his car was the best bar none for the track so a vote for the driver of the weekend has to take that performance advantage into account.

            2. @hohum I don’t really understand why you’ve mentioned that. Care to elaborate?

            3. @vettel1, OK, this poll would be totally pointless if we always voted for the winner, this poll is to recognise the driver we consider did the best job with the car he had, in other words to win this poll a driver should exceed expectations. Seb definitely deserves recognition and he gets it and a trophy on the podium, this poll should recognise the driver whose performance was outstanding in lesser machinery.

            4. Of course I can, because that’s what I did.

            5. @hohum The poll is whoever you think was the driver of the weekend. Everyone gets to set their own criteria.

            6. @robo well you are voting incorrectly.

              @hohum again, I’m still not seeing your point. I’m well aware of the intention of the poll and vote accordingly, so I don’t understand why you’ve mentioned that at all.

        2. you guys do realize that kimi’s front wing was damage in q3 which is why he was around 0.7 sec slower than his Q2 lap.

          I’m sure you’ll find news article regarding broken front wing, saw it on autosport forum.

          1. @droiddamudi did Kimi damage the wing himself? Because that would be considered poor driving.

            All I could find on Autosport was

            Kimi Raikkonen admits an error he made during qualifying

            and

            “I made a mistake so I knew the lap was gone,” he admitted.

            How Kimi is receiving more votes than Romain is embarrassing to the members on this website.

            Romain has been quicker than Kimi all weekend, in every practice session, in qualifying, and set a quicker lap than Kimi in the Race.

            Romain made one mistake the whole weekend, and that was during the final stages of the GP during the S/C restart and his team mate (whose pit wall strategy men had played the safety car cards excellently to get him up into third position) took advantage. Romain was then ordered to not race Kimi. Thus ending his terrific weekend performance on another case of team orders technicalities.

            The Hulk was clearly the DOTW, but Romain got my vote because he was equally as expressive, leading the team, and the only driver to poise a threat to Vettel.

            1. If he was ordered not to race Kimi, he would definitely be my №2, but the truth is he wasn’t.

        3. Well, don’t think I care about your opinion, because I have my own, and so I vote for anyone I want to.

    12. 1. Hulkenberg
      2. Vettel
      3. Grosjean

      And honorable mention for Rosberg. But I’m pretty sure either Alonso or Räikkönen is going to get 3rd place.

      1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
        7th October 2013, 16:05

        @diceman I don’t think anybody could consider Alonso or Raikkonen for 3rd ( and I am a head-over-heels Alonso fan). Plus I think Grosjean and Vettel should swap places in your list – Grosjean did great, a great overtake on Hamilton and good, consistent racing. Vettel, you know, the win was kind of his own to lose with that RB9 of his.

        1. Yeah now Alonso only has 1% of votes, but when I wrote that comment he had 5% and he tied third place with Räikkönen. Now Räikkönen is third with 9% of votes, so pretty many have considered him as a driver of the weekend ;-)

          Vettel and Grosjean were both great during the weekend, but I decided to give second place for Vettel because of his grand slam. I also think Rosberg deserves more votes than 0%, because without his front-wing accident he would probably have reached podium.

          1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
            7th October 2013, 17:42

            @diceman Yep, agreed about Rosberg there. Just plain bad luck – and it’s high time he got another podium as well. And it wasn’t a Grand Chelem by Sebastian – he didn’t lead every lap actually. Grosjean frankly did a better job than Vettel keeping the machinery in mind.

            1. I don’t understand why so many people voted Raikkonen. He literally only finished where he did because profited from the mistakes of others, be it Mercedes, Perez, Grosjean or BEEP BEEP I’M A SAFETY JEEP. He had a good race, but Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Vettel deserve the votes so much more!

            2. I have to disagree, Vettel did lead every lap :P

              Well both Grosejan and Vettel were great, and it doesn’t really matter to me who comes second and who third in the voting. But I am shocked that Grosjean isn’t in the top 3 at the moment :O

      2. @infinitygc Well Räikkönen always gets lots of votes when he makes it to the podium. I don’t think he should be in the top 3 either, even if he did have a good race.

    13. Hulkenberg . Period .

      1. @hamilfan What reaction’s from Lewis this time on his Championship hopes, I failed to find anything, any help @keithcollantine

    14. Whatever Sauber aren’t paying him, Hulkenberg is worth it.

      Seriously, Nico demonstrated yesterday that it pays to have a top driver in your team. Gutierrez looks to be a talented racing driver, and he is on occasion commendably close to his team mate in qualifying, but if Sauber had gone for two pay drivers, they might still be behind Williams on zero points. Instead, Hulkenberg has overtaken Toro Rosso in the standings and if he keeps going like this, they could catch Force India too.

      1. @adrianmorse Is it just Hulk, or have Sauber done something good with their car too…

        1. @noob, of course the car has been improved, but he’s still the only one scoring with it.

    15. Hulkenberg. Just incredible, as in Monza. Not as great in qualifying, but even better in the race, as he was really put under pressure for the entire length. Outstanding work by him, although judging by Gutierrez’s great weekend the Sauber is definitely not the same it was a few months ago.

    16. Hulk all the way! Not only did he pull another great result from his car when he really needs to impress, he managed to defend beautifully against Hamilton and co. One slip up could have easily put him from fourth straight down to eighth but he kept his cool and got the job done. THAT’S what future champions are made of. Come on Lotus, just hire him already!

    17. Voted Hulkenberg.

      What an amazing performance. If he has not got a seat in 2014, I will eat my own hat, and I don’t even have one. Could someone lend me theirs? :-D

      1. Let’s just trust he will get a seat, right? Since I really need my hat because it’s getting cold.

    18. The hulk by far! Please get him a race seat for 2014!
      I would even be ok even if the Alonso-Mclaren rumors come true as that will open a slot at Ferrari!

    19. I voted for Nico Hulkenberg.

      I think Hulkenberg wouldn’t have been able to finish that high if Sauber hadn’t improved their car. The driver himself acknowledged that the car’s traction was very good. It’s also fair to say that his Q3 lap could have been better.

      That said, Nico’s race was great to watch. It is a small wonder that a Sauber managed to stay ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes in the DRS era. It was excellent defensive driving combined with a couple of gutsy passes. It reminded everyone that Hulk truly deserves a winning car and that his first podium is long overdue.

      1. +1 for your comment, and also for your name which I thought for one second was ‘Girls’. Sorry bout that! :P

        1. @wpinrui Come to think of it, ‘Girls’ wouldn’t be a bad username! But Girts is just my real (Latvian male) name :)

          I really hope Hulk is going to Lotus in 2014. When Kovalainen was left without a seat this year, it was just sad. If Nico doesn’t get a race seat for 2014, it will be outrageous.

    20. Actually, Massa with his clumsy over-ambitious move made my day.

      1. He actually had a great race after the first lap!

        1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          7th October 2013, 17:49

          @paeschli Nobody cares about his race afterwards – he finished 9th – yeah big deal in a F138. Not just that, he hampered Alonso’s already ruined start as well. He should be thanking Alonso – if he didn’t have lightning reflexes neither of the Ferraris would have seen the chequered flag.

          1. @shreyasf1fan

            if he didn’t have lightning reflexes neither of the Ferraris would have seen the chequered flag

            You make it sound like Alonso is a god: “OMG, a F1 driver who’s got good reflexes, unbelievable!” …
            I think Massa and other people, like me and Ivan here above, cares. We want to see him in F1 next year and he must prove now that he’s got some skills, which he did by finishing in the points after being last at some point. In fact, from lap 2 on, his race was better than Alonso (who could not overtake a Sauber during 20 laps) ; Massa had no problems passing Gutierrez. Also I think that Ferrari cares if they want to finish second in the constructors championship.

    21. Vettel, again… it’s getting boring now

      1. I voted before reading the comments, seems most people voted for the Hulk?

        I am no Vettel fan by any means but he did his thing again this weekend and was faultless.

        Hulkenberg just had the benefit of a car that had amazing traction out and good top speed otherwise he would have finished much further down. Esteban also kept Massa behind him for a long, long time due to the car being set up so well.

    22. Definitely Nico Hulkenberg. That mature and calm drive appeared like he’s had 10 seasons in F1, while in fact it’s only his 3rd season. He is a really talented driver and it’ll be such a shame if he doesn’t get a seat next year.

    23. I thought Hulkenberg was fantastic, Martin Brundle said that he knew when to defend, meaning he didn’t lose unnecessary time.

      I know it’s early in the voting cycle, but I hope Kimi doesn’t beat Grosjean. Grosjean had a much better quali and was unlucky with safety cars, only a small error allowed Raikkonen pass.

      1. KiMi’s quali was compromised because of a Broken Front wing. He did a better race then Romain. Romain made a mistake that gave KiMi an opening and he used it well. And romain’s mistake wasnt KiMi’s fault. And begging in the team radio to let him pass KiMi shows the kind of racer he is.

        1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          7th October 2013, 17:55

          @icemannkimii Wow really? Kimi was a flop-show – for god’s sake the guy crashed in Practice. And his 2nd place was pure luck due to safety cars, let me tell you, he was fighting for 8th before that.

          1. Err, no. He was in third before the safety car.

            1. So what, he would have still been miles behind Grosjean had the safety car not intervened. Grosjean definitely deserves more votes than him and it’s just staggering to see how overrated he is… I’ll give you Australia and a few other races but not this one.

            2. That was a reply to the “he was fighting for 8th before that” comment.

              As for yours, the safety car did happen. And what happened after it is as relevant as what happened in qualifying. Grosjean made a mistake and Raikkonen was clever enough to take advantage of it. Further, despite racing on fresher tyres, not only could Grosjean not overtake Raikkonen, but he was also rarely within DRS range as the article above points out.

          2. @woshidavid95 Had the safety car not intervened… Had romain not made a mistake.. You can go on with those assumptions as long as you want,but safety car intervened,romain made a mistake. With KiMi behind,he was under tremendous pressure and he chocked,thats the truth. KiMi meanwhile on older tyres just breezed past romain. And even on those fresher rubber never did romain challenge KiMi. Romain might have had a good race by his own standards,but he isnt in the same league as KiMi on race pace. Eveyone knows it.
            And yes,romain deserves a lot of votes for his begging in the team radio. Lol…

      2. @juan-pablo-heidfeld-1 he made lewis look childish..

    24. May I suggest that the poll only involves drivers that achieved something in the grand prix. I mean just the drivers who did something spectacular like gaining many places at the start or producing stunning overtaking maneuver, or defensive moves or having grand chelem etc…
      My suggestions for Korean GP would be: Sebastian Vettel for his grand chelem and mistake-free drive, Nico Hulkenberg for his brilliant drive and finish ahead of Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, Kimi Raikkonen for gaining 8 places in the race, Romain Grosjean for his overall performance especially in the qualifying and Giedo van der Garde for his excellent start gaining 5 places..

    25. Jelle van der Meer
      7th October 2013, 14:59

      Who voted for Alonso, what did Alonso possibly do to get DotW vote????

      1. Alonso always extracts more out of the car than it is capable of… don’t you know that’s one of the golden rules of F1 ;)

        1. Alonso always extracts more out of the car than it is capable of… don’t you know that’s one of the golden rules of F1 ;)

          @91jb12 +1

          Who voted for Alonso, what did Alonso possibly do to get DotW vote????

          @Jelle van der Meer I think @shreyasf1fan did..

          1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
            7th October 2013, 18:00

            @noob No man I didn’t. I voted Hulkenberg – I have my rationality around me. I recognise talent when I see it like Alonso, Hulkenberg, Kimi..you get my drift!

            1. @shreyasf1fan Hey that’s great, at least you are not like those other blind fans who try to justify whatever their fav driver does or says… But frankly in this race, Alonso did not seem like his own self, right from the ‘start’…

            2. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
              7th October 2013, 19:11

              @noob Yeah, but I don’t see what else he could have done. Korea is anti-clockwise so odd grid positions are at a potential disadvantage because they have to usually turn wide at T1. Plus Massa’s nonsense at T3, was it? And I am still not sure if Alonso’s running too deep into the kerbs at T6 was his fault. It happening every single lap hints at a problem with the car, but who knows. And he had already said a podium will be difficult seeing the long-run pace. So easy to conclude that this wasn’t the F138’s best performance either, but Alonso did have many lock-ups, so not like he was flawless!

      2. Perhaps Nelson Piquet Jr. voted for Alonso.

    26. Where is the vote for Max Chilton, somebody (usually only 1) votes for Max Chilton every GP but I don’t see it this time.

      His Mum’s internet must be down!

      1. @bobby-balboa That is actually a good suggestion, @keithcollantine can we have the names of who voted whom, when all of us do disclose it in the comments. I don’t think anybody would oppose this idea. In this way we can separate the chaff from the grain.

        1. Can we have their addresses too, then we can all go around to their houses with burning stakes….

          Everyone loves a good witch hunt.

      2. Max Chilton outperformed both Force Indias and both Toro Rossos yesterday. He deserves a vote :P

    27. The Hulk, hands down. If given a better seat for 2014, there’s no doubt in my mind he can win races.

    28. The fact he was rarely within DRS range of Raikkonen at this point rather undermined his claim he was being held up.

      A rather important point, that.

      1. Yes but you need to be 2 seconds back to conserve the tyres.

        1. So Grosjean was justified in asking for team orders when Raikkonen was 1.9 seconds ahead?

    29. It’s a bit far fetched, but you could make an argument for Mark Webber being DoTW. Outqualified by 3 tenths or so but team admitted trading off some downforce for better overtaking opportunities (due to his 10 place penalty) so may have been comparable with Vettel’s lap. Then he was having a great race, fighting through the field, with a nice little sneak through on Alonso before his puncture and customary mid-race barbeque.

      That said, had to vote for Hulkenburg, the only driver finishing way above the car’s potential and keeping the two world champs behind. Vettel was also flawless, Grosjean very good too and unlucky again with safety car.

      Shout out to drivers of the fire marshall’s truck and safety car, the only drivers capable of leading Vettel at this stage of the season it seems.

      1. OK, THAT was funny….and true :-)

      2. @keithedin You stand out my friend #respect

    30. Not even a discussion. The Hulk.

    31. I’m going to say Hülkenberg, but I’m sticking by my “underdog” philosophy and voting Vettel: both were peerless, Vettel with his Grand Chelem (the second in a row, of course) and Hülkenberg with his supreme opportunism and defence driving skills. They were both very close in terms of their respective performances’ quality, but Hülkenberg deserves his current winning margin.

      1. If you wanted to vote for the underdog of this race you should have picked Hulk. Vettel was the favorite. Are you are telling that voting the underdog was too mainstream for you at this round?

        1. @butch27 hence why I put “underdog” in inverted commas, since he wasn’t literally an underdog (quite the opposite, in fact).

          It has nothing to do with being mainstream, either. I have voted Vettel because I think he thoroughly deserves at least second place in the poll (he was an equal with Hülkenberg, better even arguably) and I know the tendency of some members of the site to vote with their hearts, to put it politely.

          1. @vettel1 I see your point. Seeing a driver who has won 2 consecutive grand chelem getting less than 20% of the votes is quite strange, and I think trying to change this tendency would be quite comprehensible. But we should all vote for the best driver of the weekend from our point of view, without taking care of other people’s vote. Only once you voted you look at the results of the poll, wich can be surprisingly, to see the tendency and discuss about it. And that’s the purpose of the poll isn’t it? We shouldn’t know other people choices until the poll is closed imo. It would be less politics, more excitement for the final result when it comes out.

            1. @butch27 You should see the id first, it says vettel 1…

            2. @butch27 fair argument, but you can’t see the “live” results until you’ve voted anyway ;) I was split slightly between them – my initial opinion to vote for Hülkenberg purely because he was more visibly brilliant – but I didn’t feel Vettel was getting the credit he deserves. Which is why I’m again going to express a desire for having a ranking system as appose to just voting for one driver, in which case I’d have 1- Hülkenberg, 2 – Vettel (very close between the top two) and 3 – Grosjean, with my honourable mention then going to Massa: even though he was out qualified and made that error, he had a great race after it: better than Alonso’s I’d say.

              That’d also remove most of the “politics”, as it’d make tough decisions significantly easier.

              @noob it does, because he’s my favourite driver and indeed he wears the number one on his car. Why does that change things though? Are you suggesting Vettel doesn’t merit at least 2nd?

              Please, do present a counter argument.

            3. @vettel1 Actually you can see the live results: you just need to not be logged in; and anyone can always read the comments, where obviously we all say who we voted for and why.
              @noob He didn’t actually act like a Vettel fan at all. Initially his vote was between Hulkenberg and Vettel but he thought the latter wasn’t getting the credit he deserved, so he voted for him.
              In my opinion being able to read others votes influences a lot the result of the poll, because we often try to “balance” the result itself.

    32. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      7th October 2013, 16:05

      @diceman I don’t think anybody could consider Alonso or Raikkonen for 3rd ( and I am a head-over-heels Alonso fan). Plus I think Grosjean and Vettel should swap places in your list – Grosjean did great, a great overtake on Hamilton and good, consistent racing. Vettel, you know, the win was kind of his own to lose with that RB9 of his.

      1. @shreyasf1fan Lot of people on F1F were asking who might have voted for Alonso, I guessed your name.

        ( and I am a head-over-heels Alonso fan)

        hope I am not wrong

        1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          7th October 2013, 18:04

          @noob You are pretty wrong, I voted Hulkenberg.

          1. @shreyasf1fan Ok got it.

            @keithcollantine Is there any list of official fans (of drivers/teams) on F1F, such as @shreyasf1fan and @vettel1

            1. @noob what do you mean by “official fans”? I don’t really understand how it could really be official, but there’s a function on people’s profiles to allow you to see which drivers they support?

            2. It would actually make a pretty funny list, but you can kinda see who is a fan from clicking on the names of the drivers in the “Who do you support” thing on your profile.

              I get that you are actually talking about the hardcore fans here, and while I agree some people are really big fans of some drivers, they are almost always reasonable enough to accept a mistake by their favorite driver.

              An exception I could mention is a thread regarding a certain Lotus driver, and the fans of another Lotus driver acting quite immaturely there.

              Still, a “Which driver do you support with a passion”-listcould be an interesting read, but only if people would bother to explain why they voted that driver, kind of like the DOTW-polls.

            3. @infinitygc of course, I’m a Vettel fan (…and the sound of shocked gasps filled the room) and quite a passionate one at that, but in all honesty I’m not sure it’d be that interesting. I prefer to think of myself as a Formula One fan, along with all the other users. So it might be a good experiment to see how big the “dedicated” fanbases are, or even just a legitimate favourite driver poll (I have 5 or 6 down as drivers I support), but I don’t know that I’d think differently or act differently for it. I treat all as F1 fans!

            4. @vettel1 I agree, that COULD be a better way of doing it, however you could see people frantically voting by using multiple accounts or something like that.

              Even tough a lot of people support certain drivers, not as much are particularly passionate about a driver (For instance I’m a fan of Grosjean, you Vettel, @shreyasf1fan Alonso and @hamilfan Hamilton), and those are often fairly obvious about it. A headcount would still be nice, since you’re getting some numbers, but the passionate fans are usually quite, well, passionate!

              I think the “who do you support” thing works quite well, because it allows you to see whom else these passionate people support. So, for as far as my opinion goes, it might actually not be all too interesting after all…

            5. @noob As a few others have pointed out already all users on F1 Fanatic can show which drivers they support. I see you haven’t yet (they would be listed here) so here’s how you can:

              https://www.racefans.net/members/keithcollantine/activity/160232/

    33. I’m a fan of Hulkenberg, and I’m sure he’ll win this at a canter, but I’m going with Vettel.

      Take nothing away from Hulkenberg’s cool defending and impeccable race craft, but I feel he’s flattered a little by the car currently. I don’t think anyone could have overtaken him unless he made a mistake with the traction and top speed that he had. Granted, Gutierrez was overtaken left and right in the same car, but I think any top driver (the world champions on the grid plus Webber) would have been able to do what Hulk did.

      I love the guy, but I think Vettel was a better driver over the weekend. It’s easy to forget how simple he makes it look, but getting it done in qualifying again, controlling the race from the front in a weekend that he didn’t seem to have a clear pace advantage, without drinking (!), makes him the more impressive driver for me.

    34. H-Ü-L-K-E-N-B-E-R-G

      Withstood the pressure from two World Champions for lap after lap with a car that was setup brilliantly for the challenge of the track. He also made the comment of the day ‘I hope we don’t fall like bananas’

      Mr. Boullier, don’t look any further this is the driver you want to replace dear old Kimi. He can be very proud of himself, that was a career-building performance right there.

    35. Hulk, holding 3 WDC’s behind him is just crazy, while on a mid-tier cars in comparison.

      Vettel definitely deserved the win. Opening the gap by 2s after SC to get out of DRS range and

      put in 4 FLAPs in a row right after. This was his 3rd consecutive Korean Grand Prix win following

      his Singapore’s one and was also his 2 back-to-back Grand Chelem.

      1. Hulk, holding 3 WDC’s behind him is just crazy

        @ialtair Who was the third one besides HAM-ALO?

        1. @noob – Button, who was with them, then got passed by Rosberg.

    36. I voted Hulkenberg. Great drive during the race and great qualifying as well. I considered Grosjean, Kimi and Vettel.
      As for comment above about RB9 supremacy (again!? Really?), I say 2 safety car periods we all saw how Lewis blew it after first one, Alonso was also locking all over the track when he was under pressure from Kimi. But not Vettel he got his lead sliced two times but still kept it cool made it look easy but it was he who drove that RB9 of his not other way around.

    37. Vettel in the Sauber would have done even better.
      It’s ridiculous that only 17% are voting for Vettel when he does the perfect weekend.

    38. Vettel was flawless but honourable mentions to Hulk, Grosjean and Webber.

    39. Hulkenberg did a fantastic job of course. But I voted for Vettel because he got another impressive grand slam. In my opinion people still haven’t realize how fast and strong this driver is. I really think he’s up there with the best drivers in the history of F1.

    40. Amazing to think the winner who took a Grand Chelem, only gets 17% of the vote but even as a staunch Vettel fan, I had to give it to Hulk… an incredible performance (even if he would’ve lined up 2 spots higher had he repeated his Q2 lap in Q3)

      1. @91jb12 This is the non-Vettel championship battle

    41. Vettel, because a perfect weekend. Hulkemberg did a great job also, as did Gutierrez and Grosjean.

    42. Nico Hulkenberg. He’s a star.

    43. Im a massive lewis Hamilton fan and I cannot recall hearing lewis ask the team if they had any ideas.the 2nd or 3rd gear upwards traction of that sauber was fenominal.
      I don’t think lewis has had a problem like that since kubica a good few years ago (I forget the circuit. Poss canada 09-ish lol)
      My vote went to hulk.he raced a stormer.
      Top class.give that man a top seat for nxt year.

    44. I don’t really understand the bashing Kimi is getting on the comments. He made some nice passes (Ricciardo, Alonso, Grosjean) and the pace he was driving after his second stop was superb. Did you guys pay attention? He didn’t need the safety car to gain all the positions. Of course the Merc problems helped as well… Even without the safety cars, he would have been close to the podium (tyres at his side). At least that’s my guess as a fan ;)

      1. Not bashing per se, but rather a case of him being overrated. Grosjean dominated him the whole weekend and the only reason he even had the chance to pass Grosjean was due to the safety car. Grosjean deserves more votes than him to be in 3rd place in the DOTW standings and only the staunchest of Raikkonen fans will argue against that.

    45. Plenty of ‘fan’ voting going on. Raikkonen, really? Pranged his car in practice, qualified 6 places behind his team mate and had a lot of good fortune to in as high as 3rd after the final SC. Voted Hulkenberg.

    46. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      7th October 2013, 19:04

      @diceman Yeah sorry, I considered Webber leading was valid. I got clear on the definition of “lead every lap” just a few minutes ago :p

      1. Yeah it is a bit misleading, since technically Vettel didn’t lead all the time.

    47. Lewis Hamilton voted Lewis Hamilton.

    48. Sebastian Vettel. Grand Chelems do not come easily and Vettel was faultless all weekend. He genuinely looked to be in a different Formula to the rest of the field, and that is down not only to his fantastic car but also his formidable talents and his application of those talents.

      Nico Hulkenberg is a close second for me. Another giant-killing drive from him. Get this man in a Lotus for 2014!

    49. Vettel. Absolutely crushed the opposition. Honourable mention for the Hulk

    50. Vettel and the Hulk. Grosjean had a remarkable performance until that mistake at the restart costed him the second place, so a step below.

      Kinda weak performances from Alonso and Hamilton, which is partly why Vettel’s victory seemed so easy.

      1. Granted, Hamilton would have done better if the he had been brought earlier in the pits. Mercedes need to sort out their strategies.

    51. Vettel was dominant as it’s getting usual, Hülkenberg was put out an amazing drive, but I chose Ricciardo – partly because it seems like nobody else voted for him, and he made a great start, fine race pace, beat Vergne comfortably – sadly for me as he’s one of my favorites, don’t know why he was so weak the whole weekend – and he barely got any praise for his performance.

      And I have to mention Gutierrez as well: he surely wasn’t DotW as his teammate beat him pretty clearly, but he is really getting his act together, getting into Q3 once again, having the best start in the race and if it wasn’t for the turn 3 trouble, he would have been a comfortable point scorer. And I can’t even blame him for getting beaten by his teammate as Nico is one of the best drivers out there currently in my opinion.

    52. Obviously voted for Hulkenberg. He was great. Vettel did great too.
      I also want to mention Grosjean, he had a great weekend, and showed his worth to the team. If he continues like this next year, he might well become a top gunner for the title if the car is up for it. I honestly don’t understand why people voted Raikkonen over him this weekend. RAI didn’t do well in qualifying, and got some help from the safety-car in the race. Grosjean was better on merit this weekend, if you ask me. Last note: Force India really needs to get some decent drivers for next year, their current lineup honestly s*cks.

      1. Di Resta and Sutil have put in outstanding performances at Montreal and Monaco respectively, although Force India’s decline came along with their performance, especially Di Resta who crashed out 3 times in a row :/ I hope they can recover.

    53. Hulkenberg for driver of the race definitely, but Vettel had to be driver of the weekend imho. Second consecutive Grand Chelem, only the third driver to ever do it in 64 years, not even Schumacher was able to do it. Saw off the Mercedes’ for pole, controlled the race through a bit of carnage and while it was boring, he is only doing his job, which is to win, funnily enough.
      And this is coming from a non-Vettel fan :)

    54. I vote Kimi. Hulk did an amazing job, you always can rely on him to drive to the car’s capabilities and to keep calm under pressure.

      Just to quote Hamilton’s surprise from last race with regards to Raikkonen’s progress. This is something hes been doing all the time during his whole career. And the crazy amount of overtakes speaks for it. As in any sport, if you very good, you usually put yourself into the situation where luck is on your side. I’m not excusing him for getting lucky, he is just so good and had his share of bad and good luck during his career to know that you have to always give yourself a chance and do everything to put yourself into good position.

      I can’t help to think that if any other driver would be starting so low on the grid and was able to replicate something Kimi is doing for Lotus every weekend, Vettel, is the only name that comes to mind.

    55. Top four for me:

      1. Vettel – Grand Chelem needs to be rewarded with DOTW in my view however great the other drives
      2. Hülkenberg – fantastic defensive driving, and a couple of good overtakes
      3. Webber – Good qualifying, great race, great overtake on Alonso but very unlucky (I am surprised to see he got almost no votes yet)
      4. Grosjean – great driving as well, kept up with Vettel. Qualifying could have been slightly better and he made a mistake that allowed Räikkönen to pass

      Other than that, I don’t see DOTW drives. Surprised to see Räikkönen so high as he had a very poor qualifying and was lucky with the safety car to make it to the podium.

      End of the list for me:

      20. Massa
      21. Di Resta
      22. Sutil

    56. It looks to me as if ferrari let the championship go. i can’t believe that Sauber and Hulk is being able to match Alonso and ferrari without some kind of manage situation form ferrari…..

    57. I hope all the top team principles are noting the huge amount of support the hulk has. Maybe we should start a campaign for him.

    58. David not Coulthard (@)
      8th October 2013, 3:24

      The 2nd most recent Williams pole-sitter (yes, folks, even though it’s been a few years since his year with the team). It all comes down to turn 1 and 2.

    59. Vettel was so, so impressive in Korea, but the vote has to go to Hulkenberg. He got everything he could out of the C32 and managed to impressively hold off two world champions for large chunks of the race. A top class drive.

    60. Superb drive from Hulk, he didn’t defend Hamilton, drove well to earn his position. He deserved better seat next year.

    61. Hulkenberg, Kimi, Vettel.

      It is good to do a great job the whole weekend long but at the end of the day the main purpose of a weekend is to race, the race is the main event of the weekend and practice sessions and qualifying are just supporting events.
      Grosjean did a great job the whole weekend but in the end he still lost out to his teammate. Kimi started 9th and did a lot of overtaking on a track where it is difficult to overtake, his overtake on Grosjean was actually very clever, and he was faster at the end then Grosjean on older tyres. Kimi was already 3rd before the first safety car.

      1. Why Räikkönen ahead of Vettel though? He crashed in practice (not a huge problem if he made up for it on qualifying, but he didn’t). And he only realistically got ahead of Grosjean because he benefited immensely from the safety car.

        His weekend was riddled with faults, Vettel’s had almost exactly zero @boudica.

        1. Practice? Lol

          It is silly to look at practice some drivers dont even go flat out in practice. As I said everyone is there for the race on Sunday, that is the main event.

          I guess it also goes back to being a spectator.

          Hulkenberg performed above expectation for example, so naturally it is easy to vote for him. While Kimi on the otherhand was entertaining, he actually raced for his position, and made up a few places. As you have pointed out he had a lot of issues over the weekend but he still got the most out of the car where it actually mattered.
          Vettel was great as usual, or rather he did a perfect job there is no denying it, but it wasn’t above expectation, his drive in Singapore is one that I would categorize as above expectation.

          1. @boudica – I don’t agree with Kimi ahead of Vettel this weekend, but I agree with Hulk as DOTW. Vettel had a great weekend, but this wasn’t as good as his Singapore drive. Hulkenberg pulled out a great and unexpected performance to outperform several faster cars, while only in a Sauber, hence he takes my vote.

          2. @boudica – I don’t agree with Kimi ahead of Vettel this weekend, but I agree with Hulk as DOTW. Vettel had a great weekend, but this wasn’t as good as his Singapore drive. Hulkenberg pulled out a great and unexpected performance to outperform several faster cars, while only in a Sauber, hence he takes my vote.

    62. Hulkenberg was my driver of the weekend, closely followed by Vettel with honourable mentions for Raikkonen and Grosjean.

    63. Vettel and Hulkenberg both had amazing weekends. You can say that Vettel DotW because he did not make any mistakes etc. However, it is easy not to make a mistake when your have the clearly fastest car and your closest competition is 4 sec behind your. On the other hand, Hulk did not make any mistakes during the race while fending off ALO and HAM who both had faster cars.

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