[Official] Driver of the Grand Prix: Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017

[Born Racer]

Who do you think it is?

[Adam43]

Kimi.

[P38 in workshop]

I voted for Lance Stroll on the basis that I wouldn't have expected him to finish in the points,much less on the podium.Bottas,Alonso and obviously Ricciardo all deserve honourable mentions.

[Akrapovic]

Stroll. I think he did well, and did it despite Williams managing him quite poorly over the radio. Very solid drive.

[Aysedasi]

Possibly the biggest no-brainer for a long time. Well done Lance - great drive.

[GTRMagic]

Mr Alonso. Got his broken bucket of junk across the line in 9th without a terminal failure

[Richard C]

Hard decision. I gave it to Stroll, but Bottas and others did great as well.

Richard

[marcel82]

Good drive from the kid everyone said would be the next Maldonado

Good points for Vandoorne as well. Actually got a pass this time.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Bottas. Had to pit after his first lap incident with Kimi and got 2nd place.

[spider]

Jolyon.

...or, potentially Lance...

[GT6]

Lance gets the point

[Lancsbreaker]

Tempted to say that its a no-brainer to give it to Stroll, but there were some impressive performances and recoveries throughout the field......but I'll still give it him for a mature performance under significant pressure. As Smedley said - "Well done, kid"

[mikuni]

Stroll did deserve it, but Ricciardos pass on the restart into turn one does it for me.

Bottas' recovery was incredible, but the first lap incident was really his own doing and rather clumsy, so he can't be driver of the day.

[TrapezeArtist]

I seriously considered Riciardo because of the overtakes, but finally eliminated him for the mistake in qually.
Bottas made a great recovery drive (aided by a free lap due to one of the stupid safety car rules) but I put a major part of the initial accident down to him, so no.
Who else? Sympathy vote for Alonso? He may be driver of the race every race for all we know. But driving around with a moped engine in the back makes it impossible to tell.
Somebody voted for Vettel! He seems to have an increasingly serious issue with anger management. His sweary outbursts over the team radio are amusing, but deliberately driving into another car is beyond the pale. He was rising in my estimation but has now firmly sunk again.
Hamilton seemed to be a serious contender. Dominated qually. Dominated much of the race. Fell down the order solely due to some finger-trouble in the team. Should have won comfortably, even after having pulled out a lead and had it taken away by the safety car. But that's all predictable and this time there is a surprise person to consider.
Of course! The youngster that I was largely dismissing as an armco-bender who had been promoted out of his depth on the strength of Daddy's money. Stroll on! He might turn out to be good after all. DOTR is Lance Stroll.

[Adam43]

I was impressed with Stroll too. I wasn't impressed in Canada as I thought he was very ragged and got the points disputed himself. Not so here. Controlled, fast and didn't do anything stupid dispite the pressure.

If it is a confidence thing with him let's hope he gains a bucket load from this podium.

[Razzzor]

Yeah Bottas caused that first corner crash, so can't go to him. Hamilton, once in traffic, wasn't so flash, he barely kept up with Vettel.

Ricciardo did a great job to come through the field. And obviously Stroll almost 2nd. Has to go to them.

Alonso? Yeah he could be DOTR at every race, or it could be the Honda really isn't that bad and he's exaggerating it all. I seemed to recall him passing the Ferrari engine'd Saubers, as did Stoffel. I bet they're not at the bottom of the top speed chart.

Vettel and Hamilton for being moaning b-tches as usual. Hamilton when he was behind Vettel running his mouth about Charlie because a 10 second stop/go apparently isn't enough (do you want him disqualified or something?), but hey Hamilton was slowing quite abruptly.

Vettel meanwhile must have decided he hasn't been getting enough fan hate lately, and did an idiotic move. What if they'd both gone out on the spot? What was he thinking? I'm not even sure that it was intentional though, he took a hand off the wheel and was waving around like an idiot, the swerve might have been accidental. Only a complete bonehead would risk their car like that and Vettel's not that dumb. Is he?

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

Only a complete bonehead would risk their car like that and Vettel's not that dumb. Is he?

When the red mist comes down ........

The BBC has just published an article (here) of other incidents when F1 drivers lost control of their emotions in a serious way. All of the ones they list were man-on-man out of the car though. The only example I can think of where a driver has deliberately driven into another car as a revenge attack was one Monaco GP when Pastor Maldonado rammed another car (I forget the other details).

Personally I don't think Vettel's "crime" was dangerous driving which implies recklessness not intent. To me it was unsporting behaviour, or bringing the sport into disrepute, or maybe just assault. What sort of example does it show to all the young karters starting out? Or even to the world at large? Disqualification or a subsequent race ban would not be too severe.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by marcel82

Good drive from the kid everyone said would be the next Maldonado.

He still could be - don't forget Maldonado actually won a race (and still nobody is quite sure how that happened).

[JeremySmith]

Lance Stroll.. Good solid drive,fast and no mistakes.

[bella]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

He still could be - don't forget Maldonado actually won a race (and still nobody is quite sure how that happened).

difference between stroll and maldonado is that the former isn't daft, when he's needed to better himself he's done exactly that. see: his f3 escapades, as well as this season. maldonado never adjusted his attitude or style, he was doing the same nonsense in his last race that he was doing in his first.

[FAS33]

Ricciardo. Nobody came close to the Aussie. Best in the world. By far.

[chillibowl]

Obviously Stroll because he's Canadian!

[F1Pete]

I will be taking time to soul search to justify my vote for Kimi. As many of you are aware, I don't vote for Kimi just because.


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[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by F1Pete

I will be taking time to soul search to justify my vote for Kimi. As many of you are aware, I don't vote for Kimi just because.


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I expect nothing less than a thorough dissertation Pete!

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Bottas. Had to pit after his first lap incident with Kimi and got 2nd place.

I agree. He keep his head, worked his way up, avoided calamity.