Driver of the Race - Japan

[ralf fan]

Originally Posted by Gerben24

Vettel!!!
I remember a certain Montoya crashing into a certain Michael S. while driving behind a safety car. I also remember a certain Jenson Button crashing at Monza during the same sort of circumstances (or was that the warmup lap?)!
So, it happens to the best.

Mind you those happened in nice bright sunny conditions when visibility wasn't an issue so yes...we must cut Vettel some slack, he drove quite well up until that point.

[GolddustMini]

heiki for me, brilliant job in not one of the top cars, fended off kimi in style. lewis was also mighty, as well as kimi, webber and vettel did a good job all weekend until he messed it up

[Pitstop]

Lewis for hanging on to his wits - Kimi for hanging on by the seat of his pants and everyone else for finishing.

Brilliant driving from all of them - even the DNF's.

[Bononi]

Hamilton - Tops.


Alonso - bottom

What else to say !!

[JeremySmith]

I see...

[Fish_Flake]

Renault were betting on a drying track and gave their cars low downforce settings. Considering that, I have to give my vote to Heikki. Outstanding job in a car that was not set up for the conditions.

[JeremySmith]

I can not choose one driver today..My vote goes to all of them for racing in those appalling conditions and giving us a great race, including Bernd Maylander...

[Dixie Flatline]

Tough to pick just one. Very tough.

Would love to give my vote to Webber, but, through no fault of his own, he didn't finish the race, and after his retirement there was still a lot of action to come.

Hamilton drove a classy race.

Hadn't really noticed Heikki until Kimi put the blowtorch to the belly and Heikki responded magnificently.

I'll give it to Kimi - handicapped by his own team, he drove a masterful race to come home third. Hamilton second, Heikki third.

[ozrevhead]

DOTD - Webber surely....sick as a dog and yet was up there challanging for a win

Tool - Hamilton for his Safety Car antics. Ruined Mark and Sebastians Race

[Flaming_Wuzzle]

Well, during the race I was going to be voting Vettel, but he stuffed that one up for Webber and himself...Lewis would get it if he weren't pulling those brake-check maneuvers during the safety car periods, which seemingly resulted in the aforementioned stuff-up.

So I'm voting Kovalainen for putting a Renault (which was configured for dry weather) on the podium after holding off Kimi, although Liuzzi (and now Sutil) did well to get themselves up into the points.

And my second (read: joke) vote goes to Bernd Maylander for leading the race as long as he did in a underpowered car compared to the others in the field

[Splatz the Cow]

I choose my driver of the day as whom I thought was the best performed driver, and I am not picking, "the best who finished."

The driver of the day is not a subjective choice based on nationality, favouritism, deservedness, victory, or other namby pamby excuses, to justify one's opinion.

It is a subjective choice based on a short list of contenders, arrived at by more than the normal two seconds of thinking time, most of you give your reactionary answers.

It's about recognising the drivers who exceeded informed expectation; pushed themselves and/or their vehicle to the driving limit; were simply heroic; or showed extrordinary skill.

Those who voted for Kovalianen are of course aware, aren't you, that the wing setup was irrelevant at Fuji? High or low downforce provides a very similar result in race conditions, and low downforce can sometimes be faster. It is the balance of the car which is most important at Fuji, to maintain the right lines on the track. Mechanical setup is very important at this track.

The performance of Button showed how good setup and car control, can overcome even having no front wing at Fuji.

Nevertheless, Kova did a good job, however, let's not exaggerate it. Barely a contender.

Kimi was aggressive and was visibly gliding the car in to some corners with understeer, to keep the speed high and the rear in tight, allowing him to have the car straighter at the apex for a fast exit. Definitely a fair contender.

Hamilton had the best of everything today, and was not hindered in anyway, unlike Alonso's call into the pits. Baulking at the restarts was dangerous and immature, and almost resulted in his team-mate being forced off the track. He was showing all the signs of a future Michael Schumacher, or Paul Tracy or Michael Andretti.
Also, did he run wide at some point in the race?
Started from pole, didn't crash, contributed to an accident, finished first.

Vettel's great drive embarrassed more established drivers, and had him in line for a podium. He started one place behind Webber, and was behind Webber in third when the incident happened. Both Vettel and Webber were robbed of their podium chances, because of Vettel's inexperience. This was exposed by Hamilton's pace lap antics, which led to the crash. Up until that point, Vettel was definitely a contender, but when you rear end someone, it's always your fault.

Webber was terrific in Fuji, starting high in the top ten, then moving forward as others fell off the track. His pace was excellent yet seemed to always have a safe margin. His wet weather ability shone just like Vettel, Jensen and Kimi. Having food poisoning makes reading or watching TV unpleasant, the body temp fluctuates, dizziness may occur, and to then submit to 3G turns for the next 40mins or whatever, is unpleasant to think about. To have to do it after already having vommited in the helmet is nauseating to think about. To maintain a good enough race to score second, maybe third, but even faintly, a chance at victory... is magnificent. Any of the drivers to do this is tough as nails in my book.

Massa brilliant at the end, but not for most of the race. A lost opportunity to showcase his talent.

Let's not belittle their performances with favouritism, nationalism, or worse, a vote for the safety car.

I did vote for Webber's eating while driving performance.

[Pro Racer]

MW for me, seems to go well in the wet, has done in both wet ones this year and would of been on the podium at both.

[NAC]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

I can not choose one driver today..My vote goes to all of them for racing in those appalling conditions and giving us a great race, including Bernd Maylander...

Nice to see someone else also give props to Bernd Maylander

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by Pro Racer

MW for me, seems to go well in the wet, has done in both wet ones this year and would of been on the podium at both.

Hungary '06 was a disaster though. The only saving grace there was his inexperience with the Bridgestone wet tyres, only Michael could get them to do something that day.

[johnh875]

Voted for Heikki, for holding off Raikkonen. As a couple of people have mentioned Hamilton and Vettel's actions excluded them from my consideration, but Raikkonen and Webber were honourable mentions.

[deejay]

I voted for Kimi. The pass around the outside of Coulthard clinched it.

That kind of dogged driving was what seemed to be missing from Kimi at the start of the season. Maybe if he'd had it then we'd be looking at a different championship picture now.

Webber and Hamilton also did very well.

I think Heikki was flattered by the misfortune of others. He kept it clean, which was something in the conditions, but pace wise did what you would expect from him.

[Peter Mallett]

Well let's see.

With great performances from Webber, Vettel and Heiki, it seems churlish to vote for Lewis. But there's no getting away from the fact that he controlled the race all the way through, and after his contretemps with Kubica, he slowed to check out the car, then got moving again.

His team mate OTOH appeared to give himself all sorts of problems, then due to damage spun off, thereby removing a lot of pressure from Lewis.

Webber was going really well and indeed was due for second, but the novice accident put paid to that.

Vettel was stunning in the car, an example of "putting the car where it shouldn't be", if ever there was one (I do mean position not the accident). However the rookie mistake cost him and Mark dear.

Massa and Kubica on the last lap was reminiscent of dijon 1979. Great stuff even if it was for a single point.

But of them all I vote for Hiekki. Showed Fisi the way home.

[bosch!]

Got to be Hamilton, flawless what more could he have done?

It might have been Webber but he was playing childrens games with Lewis during the safety car and basically caused his own accident with the "kid" vitail. Thats why despite being quicker than DC he aint got as many points.

[MrTTraces]

I was going to vote Vettel cos he took out Webber

But I voted Kimi, Stunning drive!

[davyboy]

Will the 33 people [to date] who voted for Webber please stand up and tell me that your vote was not driven by patriotism ! Webber is now one of the most experienced drivers in F1 and I would have expected nothing less from him. His drive was not heroic.

On the other hand, Vettel put that STR where it should never have been. His performance on Saturday was scintillating and on Sunday afternoon, mind blowing... but he made an error and as anyone who's raced in the wet will know, errors are punished heavily. He gets third position from me.

Heikki's performance on Sunday was amazing. I've followed his career through the lower formulae and watched him at close hand for some time now, but that drive was probably his best ever. Having somebody like Kimi in a faster Ferrari breathing down your neck while driving like you're stepping on eggshells and hanging on for dear life was truely amazing. And you know what, he's a novice ! The only thing he didn't do was win.

Which is what Hamilton did do. Under phenomenal pressure througout the weekend with a slender 2 point championship lead he drove faster than anyone else and didn't make one mistake. This was the kind of performance you'd have expected from Michael Schumacher after several years at his peak. That its only Hamilton's second time racing an F1 car in the wet is mesmeric. He was peerless the entire weekend and completely deserving of DoTR for me.

[GTRMagic]

*Standing Up*

The RBR Renault is not of the standard of those around them. Mr Webber can pull single laps out of his posterior to keep showing the world that he has the pace... but the RBR generally eats tyres/gearboxes/diffs, and the promise in qualifying is not shown in the races.

Similar story for Adrian Sutil as well... the Spyker doesnt usually break, but it struggles in race trim....

[davyboy]

I'm not disagreeing it wasn't a good performance, but there were far better on the day. The rain is a leveller that rewards talent, experience and I would have expected no less from Webber. What I would also have expected is that he would have managed the safety car situation better knowing that he had quote a '****ing kid' in front of him and behind him.

By the way, I'd love to know what percentage of those 33 people are from down under. I'm sure somebody behind the scenes could do a database query to find out

[mac]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Will the 33 people [to date] who voted for Webber please stand up and tell me that your vote was not driven by patriotism ! Webber is now one of the most experienced drivers in F1 and I would have expected nothing less from him. His drive was not heroic.

How many times have you ever seen a Red Bull challenging for a race win...?

Thank you.

[mac]

Originally Posted by davyboy

What I would also have expected is that he would have managed the safety car situation better knowing that he had quote a '*kid' in front of him and behind him.

HOW!!!???

He was virtually alongside Hamilton when he was hit - where else could he possibly have been on the track, given Hamilton's rapid deceleration, that in your opinion would have seen Vettel not hit him.

Placing a shred of blame on Webber is verging on idiotic.

Originally Posted by davyboy

By the way, I'd love to know what percentage of those 33 people are from down under. I'm sure somebody behind the scenes could do a database query to find out

Probably the same percentage as that for Brits and Hamilton...

[chunterer]

For me there were lots of performances, at times, throughout the race but only 2 guys can surely get any votes for the duration?

Hamilton and Kovalainen?

I've got to give it to Lewis for what was almost a virtuoso display. He really did lord it over the rest didn't he?

Heikki spent too long stuck behind the over the hill Fizzi early on otherwise he might have won it in the end?

Of the others who shone at times:

Webber: I'm with the Aussies' The guy is a class driver and would do McLaren or Ferrari proud. He so proved that yesterday. Plus I like drivers who speak their mind!!

Vettel: Just how did he get that car to where it was and why in Japan?!!!! Did Ferrari give him a special engine to try and help them score more points against Lewis? I know he's seen as a future star, but there's got to be some Bernie at work there?

Kimi: Drove around a few people with serious aggression and flair.

Erm... that's about it.

Oh hang on, Massa and Kubica for that last lap demo. Great fun, Surprised they weren't thrown out of the results though, because drivers aren't allowed to get stuck in and race properly anymore are they? That was son 1970's