[Official] Driver of the race: Spanish Grand Prix

[Born Racer]

Who is your driver of the Spanish Grand Prix?

[Knowlesy]

Vettel excellent.

Hamilton with an excellent drive also.

But I am giving it to Grosjean.

[chunder]

Dont like doing it, but Seb was superb today.

Clear that car is much better than everything else bar MErc, and some of his passes were a bit rash.

But he kept at it and passed a lot of guys. Proved his class.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Ricciardo.

[Tucky]

Vettel with that fantastic drive, especially considering the lack of practice.

I also have to say that Rosberg was pretty close as well, even though he didn't win I think he really put lewis under a lot of pressure.

[Kempi]

Originally Posted by chunder

and some of his passes were a bit rash.

Well, at least nowadays he can show he can pass. Besides, with a car that is down so much on straight line speed you Need to force yourself into it a little bit. He tried it otherwise before his first pit stop and did not make any progress.

Hopefully this is the race where he came to grips with the car and we can have two good teammate battles at the front in the upcoming races.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Vettel, after salvaging a potentially awful race weekend, what with grid penalties etc.

[F1Pete]

It's too tough to vote...I will abstain.

[GT6]

Thought i would be on my own voting for Vettel but i was wrong, that was one of his best drives ever and he only finished 4th

[stripedcat]

Looks like I'm going to give it to Lewis again. Got pole, took the lead then managed to hold off his teammate again.

I'll give runner-up to Nico for providing a fight towards the end. At least he won't make it easy for Lewis.

Kudos to Riccardio as well for his first proper podium.

Fingerman deserves a pat on the back(or should that be a finger?) for his superb drive from 15th to 4th as well. He did provide plenty of overtaking action.

I'll also mention RoGro for dragging that dreadful Lotus up to 8th.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by chunder

Dont like doing it, but Seb was superb today.

Clear that car is much better than everything else bar MErc, and some of his passes were a bit rash.

But he kept at it and passed a lot of guys. Proved his class.

I don't tend to vote for Vettel that often but he deserves it today. I didn't see anything that I thought rash though. Good job by Hamilton and great to see Grosjean back up near where he ought to be. Otherwise, not to much to shout about really.....

Originally Posted by F1Pete

It's too tough to vote...I will abstain.

Even you can't vote for Kimi today, eh?

[garcon]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Even you can't vote for Kimi today, eh?

I can.

Just for the rally technique at every other corner.

[Aysedasi]

RDOTR eh?

[TrapezeArtist]

Perhaps I should have given it to Fingerboy, but I didn't.

It seemed like a toss-up between Hamilton, Rosberg and Grosjean. Fat John was dismissed because he went backward in the race (though what else could be expected with such an exalted grid position?).

There were some solid reasons why Britney deserved it: even Hamilton admitted he was faster, and he brought the race alive in the last 10 laps. Lewis trumped him though with one important fact: he won.

[Teretonga]

Vettel managed to claw his way up on a track that is notorious for processions so yes he did a good job. Credit where credit is due.

[GORDON STREETER]

I was going to give it to Maldonado for trying to diminish the field as usual! but I think Hammy deserves it for another good drive from the front.

[Adam43]

They should rename Turn 10 Vettel corner. Gteat overtaking from the guy that can't.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

Perhaps I should have given it to Fingerboy, but I didn't.

It seemed like a toss-up between Hamilton, Rosberg and Grosjean. Fat John was dismissed because he went backward in the race (though what else could be expected with such an exalted grid position?).

There were some solid reasons why Britney deserved it: even Hamilton admitted he was faster, and he brought the race alive in the last 10 laps. Lewis trumped him though with one important fact: he won.

So Hamilton effectively did a Fangio: He won at the slowest possible speed...

[Notso Swift]

Not a fan of the spoiled little brat, but credit where it is due

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

So Hamilton effectively did a Fangio: He won at the slowest possible speed...

I think Fangio's idea was to win at the slowest possible speed, although he could have gone faster. I don't think Little Lew had a lot of extra speed in his pocket today.

[321Go]

As much as it pains me to say it, Vettel was driver of the race. Brilliant passing moves, and great strategy by the team.

[Razzzor]

Yeah I was looking at the order about halfway and thinking who the heck is DOTR, no one really stands out. Maybe just Bottas up there in 4th. Vettel hadn't really done much at halfway apart from undercutting 4-5 cars at the pit stops.

Hamilton/Rosberg were nothing special since their pace was just about identical. I don't think Rosberg was faster than Hamilton, he spent most of the race up to 4 secs behind. Both of Hamilton's pit stops were slower, Rosberg should have been up there to take advantage of that, he would have taken the lead with Hamiltons slow second stop. But instead he was nowhere. Just because he closed up slightly at the end, in traffic and on better tyres, didn't mean much. He was never going to pass him. Hamilton really annoyed me with his complaining during the race about the car. He's irate about understeer, the very next lap he's a full sec faster than Rosberg and the rest of the field. The pressure from Rosberg must be really getting to him, he shouldn't stressing out when he's got a car 50sec better than any other team and winning every race.

Perez/Hulk were lower down the order than they have been previously, so nothing special there. Button/Magnussen were similar pace and well down the order. Massa was getting owned by Bottas. Grosjean did a great job early on, but his pace got worse as the race went on. Alonso/Kimi were together and doing nothing special. Ricciardo was where he should be, 3rd but a long way behind the Mercs. Then there was Vettel, unable to pass anyone really up till the halfway point and looking like he may just scrape together a top 10, 9th if he could get past Massa (at the time). But then he pitted the second time, put in some insane laps, ran behind Alonso's most of the stint, then pitted a third time and put in a 1m 46 outlap, about 5secs quicker than the outlaps the Mercs were doing. Then some superb follow-ups with easily fastest lap in the race which the Mercs should have been able to do, considering they're about a sec a lap advantage at the moment.

When you take into consideration his lack of straight line pace and that he probably passed the most cars of anyone on a track you can't pass on, and his lack or practice. I don't think he did a single pass in the DRS zone, whereas I don't think anyone else in the field did a pass anywhere other than the DRS zone. Even Alonso's pass on Kimi was built up with DRS.

So yeah without a doubt DOTR to Vettel, the only other standout was Bottas. But he was helped by Grosjean holding the Ferrari's up.

It's unknown if Vettel is still having tyre issues compared to Ricciardo though, since they were on different strategies. Vettel certainly likes burning those tyres when they're fresh, whereas Ricciardo doesn't. Maybe that's the difference.

[Knowlesy]

Hamilton was stressing out because there was a miscommunication that led to him having his front wing being dialled completely out at his second stop, as well as both stops being very slow. His car hasn't handled as well as Rosberg's since Saturday morning, so it was an understandable complaint. He was hardly over the top about it.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Adam43

They should rename Turn 10 Vettel corner. Gteat overtaking from the guy that can't.

On a track with marbles that is difficult to overtake on.
With honourable mention to the Mercedes Jockeys!
Hamilton the better of the two!

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Hamilton was stressing out because there was a miscommunication that led to him having his front wing being dialled completely out at his second stop, as well as both stops being very slow. His car hasn't handled as well as Rosberg's since Saturday morning, so it was an understandable complaint. He was hardly over the top about it.

Didn't he say at one point that the car was horrible and oversteering everywhere? And on the very next lap went 1s faster than Rosberg. Something along those lines anyway. When's the last time you heard a driver so rattled despite lapping at least one car from every single team bar RB. I think overall most of Hamilton's radio communication that they broadcast seemed tense. Even getting grumpy because he hadn't been given times for 2 consecutive laps, just ended up sounding childish.

I haven't found the handling complaints, but here's some of the communications:


Engineer: "The rear tyres are cool, we are not sure if we are over protecting them."
Hamilton: "No! I already have oversteer, I am not going to open up my diff and give myself more."

Engineer: "Lewis, zero to Nico last lap, gap 3.8."
Hamilton: "Where have you been the last few laps?"
Engineer: "Just letting you get through the traffic."

Engineer:" Three turns down the for next stop."
Hamilton: "No, not three, why are you doing that? I want the normal two."

Hamilton: "How was last lap? Was it too slow?"
Engineer: "No pace was good at the end of the stint."
Hamilton: "Then why did you bring me?"
Engineer: "We are keeping you on the optimum strategy. Gap to Nico four seconds."
Hamilton: "It used to be 5.2."

Hamilton: "How much time did I lose in the pit-stop?"
Engineer: "Nico lost more in traffic, don't worry about that now."