Zandvoort: Driver of the day poll

[Kiwi3]

Who was your driver of the day? I will choose Bamber considering his lack of experience vs. Duval and Fauzy.

[ford prefect]

Fauzy. Consistant and racey. Either that or the Korean chap for providing a few laughs

[diabloA1]

My vote is Fauzy. I was also impressed by Duval's 'jump in and drive' ability

[F3 Rocks]

My vote to Fauzy, and it reflect's on the whole team for being the most prepared team, well done A1 Malaysia

[jackschmidt]

Easy choice for me. Loic Duval. Fairuz Fauzy definitely is up there with a brilliant way to bounce back from the horribly dark days of Malaysia, but I believe Duval was superhuman. In an utterly delayed car production that would have caused an extremely potent recipe for failure in the weekend, Duval managed to claw his way to a podium in the sprint, bagging fastest lap in the process, fight the weather and maintain a cool head to win the feature and equalize the championship deficit against Malaysia. That is the kind of achievement where champions are discovered.

I surely do not know if Duval is going to be in this title fight, consistency is the key there, but Duval has shown that in this race, against incredibly difficult odds, he not only made a good day out of it, but also created the best possible result that nobody would have seen coming.

[strider]

I agree, Duval for me, too. Fauzy also did very well, but he is another experienced driver, who has had plenty of time in the car. If I were to choose anyone other than Duval, it would be Earl Bamber

[ECW Dan Selby]

18 years of age - Bamber. What a stunning performance. That's not to take away from Duval who didn't put a foot wrong. It's purely for the fact this guy is 18 and drove a mature race, rewarding him with 2 podiums.

Selby

[RichardRenes]

I'd really love to vote for Jeroen at a time, but his team let him down. Preparing a visor for wet weather is something you have to be able to rely on.

Add to that the fact that dodgy electronics caused the car to shift to and from gears randomely (and yet he managed to keep the car ON track!!!!!) and it is clear that allthough he didn't win, he is still a force to reckon with.

Having said that, my vote went for Earl Bamber. I spoke with him Friday at the hill at the Slotemaker bocht (he was watching the GT's of the Dutch Supercar Challenge making their runs and he was learning the lines they drove), and asked him what his aim was for the weekend: He said "they were aiming for top 5" and so they did. Hat's off to you mr. Bamber.

[kerrmanningjarv]

For me, Loic. Great performances from Fauzy and Bamber, but Loic managed to get in a brand new car and qualify in a decent position, then charge up through the field in the sprint. Then he won the feature in horrible conditions. Great performance Loic .

[N.A-D.R]

Bamber

[Mak]

Richard, why blame the team for his visor problems? I'm baffled as most drivers regard that as part of their own kit and prepare it themselves.

[dave not neil]

Well said MAK. The drivers helmet and visor is always the drivers responsibility.

And as for it randomly changing gears becuase of water in the system, that is a fault of electronics guys, for not sealing the units properly, and not of the team.

[diabloA1]

Though parts reliability is ultimately the responsibility of A1GP and suppliers, at the end of the day the nature of racingis such that no car is ever 100% reliable.

It is the team that have to prepare and anticipate problems on race day with support from organizers of course. This attention to detail is what determines whether you cross the line or retire, regardless of which party is actually responsible for the part.

The experienced teams always try to anticipate and solve potential problems. All teams knew there were potential problems with the car simply because it's new and I think all teams experienced some kind of technical issue over the weekend.

Especially at this level of racing, teams will not look at a part and say, Hey! that not our problem... we can do something about it but we won't because it's not our responsibility. Attitude decides whether you win or retire.

In any form of racing you always do what you can with what you've got and make the most out of it. It's also a good way to approach life in general