[Official] Driver of the race : Korean GP

[ralf fan]

Originally Posted by genevieve_autumn

I think though he relies too much on having a good car as I don't think he has enough driving skills to win it without a good car.

I think he did well but not brillant, I think Hamilton relied alot on taking advantage of the safety car and cheating, we all remenber the Liegate Scandal, I thought his Appollo performance was bad until that scandal, another shameful moment for Hamilton.

If he was such a good driver he would have done better in 2009, he got a lot of times not in the points or not in the top 5, that to me does not show he is such a great driver as everyone makes out.

He went to McClaren as Ron Dennis Protege and had the team molded around him, no one else has had that privelage.

So many things wrong with this post.

[ChrisPage]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

Funny you should say that. As 2009 was the year that Hamilton won over a lot of his detractors on here, by continuing to drag good results from a poor car.

Not funny ha-ha though!

There is a strong argument too that in 2008 the Ferrari was the better car so Hamilton could be one of the driver's to have taken a championship in not the quickest car. Thats all highly subjective and will never be really proved either way of course.

Hamilton was ok this weekend, but was on fire in Suzuka (race day) until his gearbox issues. Singapore he was good but got into a clumsy 50/50 racing incident. Monza runied by one terminal error. I think he's been the best driver this year, making the third quickest car into a title challenger.

However - through gritted teeth - Alonso is doing a damn good job of taking 'driver of the season' away from Lewis. T'will be an exciting last two races between them two and Webber.

[p261brm]

Lewis, the only one who wanted to race, and consolation prize to Webber for, 'it was my fault'

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

Nobody has ever won the championship without a good car and nobody ever will.



Funny you should say that. As 2009 was the year that Hamilton won over a lot of his detractors on here, by continuing to drag good results from a poor car.

I don't remember him having particularly good results in 2009. He got 5 podiums, 2 of which were wins, the rest were a mixed bag with 3 no finishes.

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I don't remember him having particularly good results in 2009. He got 5 podiums, 2 of which were wins, the rest were a mixed bag with 3 no finishes.

You don't think five podiums and two victories were good results in the 2009 McLaren?

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by genevieve_autumn

I think though he relies too much on having a good car as I don't think he has enough driving skills to win it without a good car.

Nobody has enough driving skills to win the World Championship without a good car.

[Lancsbreaker]

Tricky.......Alonso did well but only won because of Vettel's problems, but on balance gave it to Hamilton for being the one who wanted to get on with it.....

Honourable mention to Sutil for at least trying to race...with hilarious consequences, as they used to say.......

[Super Hans]

I think I know what happened with Sutil.

He saw Kobayashi passing him (and others) in Japan and thought "I'll have some of that."

[Fox89]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

Nobody has enough driving skills to win the World Championship without a good car.

Exactly. It's not like football where it's possible to win things without a particularly good team if you're that much of a genius. Racing cars are physically incapable of going around a corner faster than their limit. The driver's skill lies in getting it as close to this limit as possible.

He saw Kobayashi passing him (and others) in Japan and thought "I'll have some of that."

Finally! He figures out why he keeps finishing so low down the order. "Oooooh, we're allowed to go past other cars!"

[Ralf's Girl]

Hamilton for me - the only man who actually wanted to go racing instead of sitting in his car whining about the weather. I've never heard so much moaning in my life as we heard over the radio today.

[GORDON STREETER]

Being a Hammy fan I give it to him for "plugging on" like he normally does, but this time he had the luck for a change.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

You don't think five podiums and two victories were good results in the 2009 McLaren?

Those podiums came during the second half of the season after development work had clearly improved the car, so considering what had gone before in the first half of the season, they obviously were good; it couldn't get any worse.

[steve_r]

Instead of constantly sledgling and defending Hamilton, you should all be applauding the top 5 or 6 finishers, who all drove very well indded in very tough conditions.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Fox89

Your logic confuses me. He went toe to toe with a double world champion in his rookie year and came out equal, then won the championship in his second year and won multiple races with an awful car in 2009. That's a 'flash in the pan'? I rate Hamilton as the best driver in F1, closely followed by Alonso, and consider Vettel to be the most over-rated driver on the grid.

He only won 2 races in 2009.

[Sodemo]

Hamilton, for being the only driver (that i'm aware of) that actually wanted to get on and race in the wet.

Well done that man.

[beau1]

I can't pick between Massa, Schumacher and Liuzzi. They all had brilliant drives and did a lot 'more' than the top 2 (maybe not Massa so much - but he stayed out of trouble).

[Wims]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

Hamilton for me - the only man who actually wanted to go racing instead of sitting in his car whining about the weather. ...

Not only that, he was also the only man in the WDC that really needed to improve his race finishing position compared to his qualifying position. Amazing coincidence!

[Brioche]

I vote for Alonso, he got extremely lucky in this one but he kept himself near Vettel almost the entire race and always seemed comfortable in the changing conditions. He's doing a Prost '86.

I also give a special mention to TGF, Vettel and even Luizzi, who finally did something decent.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by Bononi

Driver of the race minus RBR...

Why minus RBR?

Vettel was driving a blinder - equipment failure should not take that away from him so he gets my vote.

[ECW Dan Selby]

I think we have our usual contrasting intepretations lol

I think many have awarded it to Hamilton for a solid drive, but more so for his positive attitude towards having a race... You know, what they're meant to be doing

Selby

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by Wims

Not only that, he was also the only man in the WDC that really needed to improve his race finishing position compared to his qualifying position. Amazing coincidence!

Maybe you're right.

Maybe he would've joined Webber and Alonso in their protest if it was in his interest to do so. But we don't know for sure. What we do know is that two prominent drivers tried to stop a Grand Prix getting under way. A Grand Prix that cost lots of time, money and effort to set-up, and one that many thousands of people had paid to see.

And it wasn't even that wet.

[chunterer]

1/ Hamilton who patently did the utmost with what he had today.

2/ Alonso solid drive pressured Vettel. Possibly could've gone quicker if he had to.

3/ Schumacher for a fairly assured drive and giving a glimpse of what he still maybe capable of in the 'right conditions'

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Wims

Not only that, he was also the only man in the WDC that really needed to improve his race finishing position compared to his qualifying position. Amazing coincidence!

Exactly, and I have no doubt that were Hamilton the one in Webbers WDC position he would see the possibility of almost the almost optimum possible result for the taking, with a race second place and, with two races to go, would still be comfortably leading the WDC, if the race was stopped and declared, half points or not. Lewis, (and most others I would imagine) would be just as adamantly be calling for the race to be red flagged and half points paid on grid positionstake the easy option if you like..

Especially when you see the option is for what happened today. That is a self caused DNF that left Mark now in 3rd place in the championship

And I bet if Mark was in Lewis's championship position he would not have had any second thoughts either about wanting, as Lewis did, to get on and race.

[Super Hans]

There are an awful lot of mind readers on here today.

[genevieve_autumn]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Hamilton, for being the only driver (that i'm aware of) that actually wanted to get on and race in the wet.

Well done that man.

Although Massa didn't vocalise it, by just sitting in his car and waiting, Massa also showed he wanted to race in the rain.