Poll 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

[cider_and_toast]

Ok, so for reasons beyond my control it's a bit late after the race but here is the poll for driver of the weekend from Sepang. It's not going to be an easy call this time.

Obviously the Red Bull guys finally put pace into practice but who impressed you the most? Webber was mega quick in practice but Vettel had the speed when it mattered in the race. Lower down the order, Hamilton sythed through the field while Jaime Alguersuari suprised a lot of people.

It's going to be intersting to see where this one ends up.

 

[Brogan]

A bit of a tricky one this.

Vettel didn't put a foot wrong all weekend, unless you consider being outqualified a mistake.

I'm going to ignore the poor qualifying by the Ferrari and McLaren drivers as that would appear to be down to the teams not sending them out early enough.

Rosberg did well, Sutil got an excellent result.

Hamilton once again showed why he's considered a "racer" coming from 20th on the grid to 6th.
Massa made up the same number of places but that was largely due to jumping them in the pit stops, rather than taking 7 cars on the first lap.
Alonso did well considering his downshift problem but ultimately walked away with nothing.

And finally top 10 finishes for Jaime Alguersuari and Nico Hülkenberg.

Hmmm

 

[snowy]

Hamilton once again showed why he's considered a "racer" coming from 20th on the grid to 7th.
Massa made up the same number of places but that was largely due to jumping them in the pit stops, rather than taking 7 cars on the first lap.:

Mmmm... Lewis finished sixth Bro and Felipe made having made up as many places on the start was actually ahead of Lewis going into turn 4 or 5, with Lewis getting back past as Felipe had to back off for the guys directly in front of him into turn 5 or 6. They were both on exactly the right line off start but Felipe was capitalising on the good fortune that Lewis was having or creating ahead of him.

Lewis then went on a charge past as many cars as he could, with Felipe, Fernando and Jenson unable to make even remotely the same kind of early progress. Rubens obviously had a fantastic race and did an outstanding job.

Lewis was totallly focused and on it all weekend dominating the track in Fridays free practices, he was then left stewing in the pits as the team twiddled their testicles looking at an out of date radar image of mythical blue skys... For sheer tenacity and quite frankly inadequate points reward (thanks to a timid team strategy in quali and the race) Lewis gets my vote of driver of the weekend.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I have to echo the Snowy. I think Lewis was looking good for a strong weekend despite claims that this track wouldn't suit Mclaren. He made the best of a bad situation on Sunday and drove with some style.

 

[siffert_fan]

I have to vote for Alguersauri--anytime you score points in the trashwagon Toro Rosso, you have accomplished something.

I seem to be in the minority here (not the first time), but I would say Massa did every bit as good a job as Lewis. He gained exactly as many places, albeit in a somewhat different manner than Lewis, in a car that was not the equal to the McLaren.

 

[Brogan]

in a car that was not the equal to the McLaren.

I thought the general consensus was it's Red Bull, then Ferrari, then McLaren?

Or has the order changed since the first race?

 

[siffert_fan]

The Ferraris are showing far inferior reliability, maybe due to packaging. However, as the old bromide says "to finish first, you must first finish". So I would agree that, while running, the red cars seem the equal to the McLarens (I have never agreed that they are in anyway superior), their reliability makes them less so.

 

[Boyle]

I've gone for Alguersuari. He beat his teammate, who I thought would be giving him a trouncing, quite comfortably and his overtaking - particularly on Hulkenberg - was very impressive in a car that had no right to be so fast. He is showing this season that he does deserve to be in F1 after quite a torrid first year.

Lewis comes a close second for an excellent drive but again his team let him down - first in qualifying, then in the race when they gambled on rain that wasn't going to come down and kept him out too long on those worn tyres. He could have gained an extra couple of places had they pitted him earlier.

Honourable mention should also go to Rosberg who once again outshone his teammate, Kubica for another top-drawer performance in a car that has no right to be up there and Fernando for driving admirably with a downshift problem.

 

[FB]

Well I've gone for Vettel as he didn't put a foot wrong all weekend. Webber made a lucky/inspired (delete as appropriate) call in practice to take pole but Vettel just never missed a beat and showed Mark who was boss into the first corner.

 

[McZiderRed]

I've voted for Alguersuari.

Driving in an inferior car (apart from the newbies of course, at the moment ) and pulling off some good overtakes... definitely a plus in what could be construed as an ordinary race.

 

[slickskid]

Lots of good performances at individual points of the weekend.

The new(ish) guy's Hulkenberg, Petrov & alguersuari went well at various points.

Hamilton again looked good through practice and a great racy drive come the day. Massa again nursing a fragile looking ferrari home for another consistently good points finish both setback by some inept decisions in Q1 buy their repective teams.

Webber, stunning pole lap and solid 2nd place in race. Mind you if that pole hadn't come about we'd all be questioning his / teams decision making.

Rosberg, Kubica & Sutil all having solid weekends.

All said my vote goes to the guy who with the exception of FP1 (9th) finished in the top 3 in every other session (FP2,3,Q1,2,3) owned sector 2 through all of FP and posted the second best time in Quali (to schumacher ) and finally put to rest the myth that he can't win a race from anywhere except pole!
Congrats Sebastian Vettel

 

[teabagyokel]

He's had a lot of criticism, but Vettel had one of those days. And not from pole!

 

[Boyle]

Well, he may as well have started from pole given he was leading into the first corner! He still made no overtakes to win.

 

[teabagyokel]

Look, I gotta pick a DotW, Vettel is the closest!

 

[Muddytalker]

... He still made no overtakes to win.

If it was good enough for Schumacher's career...

 

[Boyle]

I'm not exactly his biggest fan either...

 

[Brogan]

The problem is, when a driver has the fastest car and qualifies on (or near) pole, it's very difficult to get a true representation of their racecraft as so long as they don't mess up they'll go on to win.

We saw it last year with Button and the Brawn car in the first half of the season.
It's only since Red Bull caught and passed Brawn and also with Jenson moving to McLaren that we've truly been able to see how he performs in a less than brilliant car.

Oh wait...