Poll 2011 British Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

[Brogan]

As something to think about... if Lewis had been fully fuelled for a 90% Banzai attacking race would he actually have been able to make the flying start he did or would the weight penalty come into play?

Fuel loads and lap time penalty are discussed here: http://cliptheapex.com/threads/i-dont-believe-it.3232/#post-64077

 

[Road of Bones]

Fernando Alonso - for making me cheer unexpectedly when he nobbled Vettel in the pitlane.

Mind you, he gets a black mark against him for that reprehensible FIAT 500 advert (who did the dubbing on it??)

 

[RasputinLives]

Massa would be my chump of the weekend for that very reason - he should have been fighting all guns blazing on the track from the moment Alonso arrived

firstly, after 4 races last season Massa was in front of Alonso in the championship so to say he didn't come out 'all guns blazing' is a little bit wrong and secondly we're talking about this weekend and not what you've thought of a guy for the last 2 years anyway

Plus your logic is flawed - how is Massa a chump for Ferrari giving him second choice on pit stop strategy? whats he suppose to do pull into the pits anyway and demand they change his tyres? Its the same as me saying Lewis is the chump of the weekend for not having enough fuel in his car.

The boy did a good job this weekend despite being held up as second choice give him a pat on the back for goodness sake.

 

[Road of Bones]

Raspy - I thought his response to the last lap barging with Hamilton was very measured and fair too (distinctly better than his outbursts after Monaco, at least...)

 

[Brogan]

Quite frankly I'm surprised Hamilton wasn't penalised for that, but how refreshing to see two drivers going wheel to wheel, neither of them having a bad word to say against the other, and the stewards actually staying out of it for once.

A very rare occasion in this modern no-contact F1.

 

[Sarinaide]

If I had to think of another driver, Sergio Perez comes to mind, really impressive what he is doing with a largely unimpressive car.

 

[RasputinLives]

A very rare occasion in this modern no-contact F1.

I agree Bro and to be honest the top 6 were all very well behaved this weekend. Massa and Button went wheel to wheel and there were no tears. Lewis and Fernando went wheel to wheel twice and no tears. Fernando and Webber, Button and Hamilton, Massa and Webber - lots of it this weekend.

Maybe Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Webber and Massa have all got together and decided that taking each other off is just helping out Seb.......either that or they were scared of the wrath of Mansell

 

[Sarinaide]

Essentially all the above + Mark Webber need to start collectively working to get Vettel off the Podium, Mark Webber to me is key to that, if he could pressure Vettel as we have seen he still is learning his craft and pressure still affects him, right now he is in the comfort zone knowing that 1]Webber (same care) and 2] The others cannot touch him.

 

[sportsman]

My vote went to Perez.Great effort from him in his rookie year.
There were many negative comments made about him and he is proving to be fully worthy of a drive in F1.

 

[Incubus]

I didn't vote for him, but I'm a bit surprised no-one mentioned Rosberg, who did a good job after that disastrous first lap, climbing back from 11th to sixth.

 

[Cookinflatsix]

As something to think about... if Lewis had been fully fuelled for a 90% Banzai attacking race would he actually have been able to make the flying start he did or would the weight penalty come into play?

Firstly it wasn't a fully dry race and therefore the weight penalty at the start would not be as significant. Everyone was going as fast as they dared not as fast as the car could go

 

[Slyboogy]

I didn't vote for him, but I'm a bit surprised no-one mentioned Rosberg, who did a good job after that disastrous first lap, climbing back from 11th to sixth.

Schumacher proved that car was quite fast, they mentioned that Schumacher had blinding pace. So I am not surprised Rosberg finished 6th after Button and Kobayashi went out, and di Resta's pitstop getting screwed.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Firstly it wasn't a fully dry race and therefore the weight penalty at the start would not be as significant. Everyone was going as fast as they dared not as fast as the car could go

The cars are more difficult to handle when higher loads of fuel go in. So there could have been an effect. There probably was when the track was dry enough to use slicks.

 

[Quintessentially]

As something to think about... if Lewis had been fully fuelled for a 90% Banzai attacking race would he actually have been able to make the flying start he did or would the weight penalty come into play?

My opinion is that he almost certainly would’ve kept third place. His raw speed and general aggressive style would offset the extra fuel load. I don’t think anyone can wrestle a car with a full tank of fuel better than Hamilton.

 

[F1ang-o]

I've been tempted by this discussion to change my vote from Alonso to Hamilton...
Drat, I can't any more, can I? There's progress for you.

Very sad..Lewis was the best....as usual he gave 100 percent....Brilliant performance.

 

[Bus Stop Chicane]

Very sad..Lewis was the best....as usual he gave 100 percent....Brilliant performance.

And the other driver's didn't give 100%?

Don't bring us back to the dark days of 606, please.

 

[Cookinflatsix]

The cars are more difficult to handle when higher loads of fuel go in. So there could have been an effect. There probably was when the track was dry enough to use slicks.

Ok I heard that Lewis was fueled by 1 kg less than Button, it's generally assumed that an extra 10 kilos costs 0.3 seconds a lap
Therefore if the 1kg is correct, Lewis carried a time penalty of a third of a tenth of a second (0.030)
Now when he streaked through the field he was faster than Button by 20 times that amount, sometimes (0.6)
Question is why would McLaren ask Lewis to aggressively save fuel after 2/3rds of the race if he had only 1kg less than Jenson.
Something just does not make sense with Whitmarshs McLaren, from the quali mess up and this incident it is as though it was planned for Jenson to beat Lewis, shame about the wheelnut though

And the other driver's didn't give 100%?

Don't bring us back to the dark days of 606, please.

He said that Lewis was the best driver in that race
and that Lewis always gives 100%

Why are YOU bringing 606 into this?

 

[ramilas1]

Alonso for me, although I have to admit that I only saw the race this week, none of the practise or qualifying ...... and only then after downloading the BBC version of it on Monday night.

Have to say that FakeJake seems to be dragging down MB and DC to his own lowly standards, making Eddie Jordan look sound like some elderly, Yoda-esque sage and fount of all wisdom ...... "Meditate on this, they should."

So, based on that, a few written reports and reading the comments on here..... my vote will be going to Fernando Alonso .......... with honourable mentions for Perez, Hedifeld, Alguersuari and Schumacher.

Hamilton did some superb stuff early on but must have nodded off during the team briefing when they decided to go for a seriously low fuel strategy. I'm guessing that Button was on the same but had done his 'saving' early (we'll never know for sure!) and was set for a late charge. I can't accept any of the "kept in the dark" theories about tactics pre-race.

Vettel and Webber were their usual dominant selves in Quali. Vettel's pit-stop problem was unfortunate, but after it he never really looked like passing Hamilton on track and was being seriously pressured by Webber at the end.

Rosberg had a good race after a poor start, while Schumi was a bit unlucky with the Kobayashi incident, and the stop/go penalty, but was superb either side of it...... not convinced by the arbitrary swap of drive-through for stop/go.

Perez had another fine showing (as did Alguersuari & Heidfeld), without being spectacular, to get good pts for Sauber.

Both Ferrari drivers were good to be so close to the Red Bulls in Quali, with just the team strategy working better for Alonso than Massa in the race, but I'm of the opinion that he was the one most likely to make any strategy work to his advantage.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Firstly it wasn't a fully dry race and therefore the weight penalty at the start would not be as significant. Everyone was going as fast as they dared not as fast as the car could go

hmm. Surely you are driving in conditions and you have less grip then the effect of fuel weight is greater. Not taking anything away from Lewis. I agree that the driver made much of the difference at this point of the race.