Poll 2011 Drive of the Year

2011 Drive of the Year

  • Perez at Australia

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Petrov at Australia

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Heidfeld at Malaysia (just for EvilWhippet ;))

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Hamilton at China

    Votes: 6 27.3%
  • Vettel at Spain

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Vettel at Monaco

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Kobayashi at Monaco

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Button at Canada

    Votes: 3 13.6%
  • Schumacher at Canada

    Votes: 3 13.6%
  • Alonso at Britain

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hamilton at Germany

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Buemi at Hungary

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Schumacher at Belgium

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Paul di Resta at Singapore

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Button at Japan

    Votes: 3 13.6%
  • Alonso at Japan

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Perez at Japan

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Vettel at India

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Sutil at Brazil

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    22

Boyle

Race Winner
Contributor
So the Formula circus has ended for 2011. Seb waltzed his way to his second title with Red Bull proving too strong for the opposition.

Yet this was a year that was littered with cracking races with some great drives, some a dominant victory (who could that have been?) others culminating in a stunning, 'how the hell did he do that?', win and even some sterling midfield drives, making the most of what he had to mix it up with the big boys.

So what was the drive of the year from a driver in your opinion? Nominate any performance you think worthy but give an explanation as to why you think it deserves the incomparable 'Clip the Apex' award'.

Entries next Friday then I'll post a poll :)
 
I have two and they drivers that aren't in the top 4 teams.

1st is:
Paul Di Resta - may get the whole bias thing here.

But his performance in the Singapore Grand Prix was fantastic. Not only did he finish 6th, he also beat a Mercedes on merit! That performance alone has probably guarnteed him a seat for next season.

2nd is:
Adrian Sutil.

His performance in Brazil to finish in front of both Mercedes on merit and to pull a gap out in front of Rosberg was amazing. Finishing 6th equalled Force India's best result of the season. Unfortunatley it looks like he won't be at FI next season but that Performance may well have helped him get a seat elsewhere in F1.


Also Boyle awesome topic to discuss :).
 
Petrov in Australia - Surprise of the season, drove well, consistent pace, a well deserved podium.

Heidfeld in Malaysia - had a great start and never looked back.

Massa and Rosberg in China - deserved more than what they got in that race, out performing their team-mates and cars by quite a margin.

Vettel in Catalunya - Not his easiest victory, had to work hard for it, came out the pits blitzed past 3-4 cars, comes under massive pressure from Hamilton even though he lost KERS at times he kept his cool, defended well and earned a well deserved victory.

Alonso in Monaco - Came out of nowhere, it took the commentators and I am sure several others, including I, that he was in contention for the victory.

Kobayashi and Schumacher in Canada - Just like Massa and Rosberg in China, deserved better than where they finished, both where running well for podium places, only to be robbed by the horrible double DRS zone.

Hamilton in Britain - Started 10th (I think), passed a lot of cars, drove the car as fast as he could, yet was marginal on fuel but managed to keep Massa behind him at the end.

Hamilton in Germany - Do I really need to say much? 3 drivers in contention for the race, cars where all equal on pace, until Alonso went on the hards, nevertheless great victory.

Buemi in Hungary - Was on the back foot already after getting a dodgy 5 place grid drop penalty from the stewards and came through the field from 18th to finish 8th, and ahead of his team-mate.

Schumacher in Spa - Just like Buemi, was already on the backfoot after his wheel came off in qualifying which lead to him crashing and starting 24th, the old maestro came through the field finished in 5th, and ahead of his team-mate.

Vettel in Italy - Lost the lead after a great start from Alonso, put a great move on Alonso to take the lead and to scamper off into the lead, and to be only shown on the live feed on the last lap after he took the lead.

di Resta in Singapore - "may get the whole bias thing here. But his performance in the Singapore Grand Prix was fantastic. Not only did he finish 6th, he also beat a Mercedes on merit! That performance alone has probably guarnteed him a seat for next season." - copied from Coach.

Button in Japan - Won his first dry race at McLaren, out-performed Hamilton by some margin, and surprised us all on how comfortable his win was.

Alguersuari and Buemi in Korea - Alguersuari started down in the midfield around 14th, got a great start, and had consistent pace, finished 7th and ahead of Rosberg. Buemi start down in the midfield aswell, got tagged at the start by Perez, losing several positions, had to make them up, got through the field, even though he got unlucky with the safety car (contrast to his team-mate) he finished in 9th less than 10s behind him.

Karthikeyan in India - Gave his home crowd something to cheer about, out-qualified both Virgin cars, and was only 0.022s behind Ricciardo. Finished ahead of his team-mate.

Adrian Sutil in Brazil - "His performance in Brazil to finish in front of both Mercedes on merit and to pull a gap out in front of Rosberg was amazing. Finishing 6th equalled Force India's best result of the season. Unfortunatley it looks like he won't be at FI next season but that Performance may well have helped him get a seat elsewhere in F1." - copied from Coach also.

Sorry for the long list, but I feel there's many worth mentioning that people will forget, and I thought it would be good to list them all, as they are all, in my opinion, very worthy of a mention.
 
Pérez in Australia - his first Formula 1 race, and not only does he make one stop while everyone thought that would be impossible, he also finished in front of his teammate and in the points. I know he was disqualified (wasn't because of something he did, though) and it wasn't a really exciting drive with a lot of overtakes (as far as I can remember) but it was really impressive.

Sly already mentioned every other nomination I wanted to make...
 
Perez in Melbourne. First F1 race, tyres not yet fully understood an he managed to 1 stop and finish 7 (before DSQ). Also setting the 6th fastest lap only beaten by the top 3 teams.

Schumacher in Canada. Wish he'd made the podium.
 
Yeah Perez drove a few stellar races this season. That one at Austraila was brilliant, he must have been blinking angry at the team after that disqualification. I know i would be, my F1 debut and thinking i'd scored points and have them taken away would possibly awful.
 
Yeah Perez drove a few stellar races this season. That one at Austraila was brilliant, he must have been blinking angry at the team after that disqualification. I know i would be, my F1 debut and thinking i'd scored points and have them taken away would possibly awful.

Why be angry at the team though when he's been giving the seat along with knocking off several front wings?

I however I would be angry too...I just like contradicting myself :embarrassed:
 
Button: Canada (obviously), Hungary (for the clean racing with Lewis), Japan (how to pick the right time to push), and Belgium (splendid overtaking!)
Hamilton: China & Nurburgring, also Korea - incredible determination!
Alonso: Japan, Korea & Abu Dhabi - flattered the Ferrari, and was mesmerisingly quick
Vettel: Barcelona & Monaco - soaked up immense pressure
Webber: China - ok, he had a tyre advantage, but there was a Terminator-esque relentlessness to the way he inexorably wound his way to the podium.

Those were the standouts for me, anyway! :thankyou:
 
Webber: China - ok, he had a tyre advantage, but there was a Terminator-esque relentlessness to the way he inexorably wound his way to the podium.

I would have been impressed with this drive if every man and his dog hadn't done the same thing afterwards. Dropping out in Q1 seemed to be the key to good results - ask the Toro Roso boys and Schumi!
 
Many great drives. Button's amazing drive in Canada is tainted somewhat in my eyes, as two of his main rivals for victory were DNF'd in clashes with Button for which he got away scot free. Marginal calls have tended to be punished this season so I'm not so keen on that one, great though it was.

Hamilton in China was one of my favourites, well worth a mention. I was watching this with a friend who saw the Malaysian race and assumed he was that poor all the time...

Alonso's drive at Silverstone summed why I think he was the second best driver this year. Outdrove his machinery to win. Hamilton was doing great do until he ran out of fule! :givemestrength:

Vettel....take your pick. Pure skill. There I said it.

There have been many impressive drives but as far as I can see one stands above all others, above the efforts of mere mortals.

My drive of the season:
Nick Heidfeld at the Malaysian Grand Prix
The thing that makes it so impressive in my eyes is that it was a pretty normal race. Most of the Top Guns got through without problems, Heidfeld launched himself into contention right from the start with reflexes like some kinda supa-Cat on steroids and stayed there on merit. He even overtook Hamilton fair and square. Little known fact, bearded drivers are known to gain 3 tenths per lap through class, however they lose FOUR tenths per lap around Malaysia thanks to dehydration which shows his herculean effort. Let's take another look at the most aesthetically pleasing podium all year:
malaysia+grand+prix+podium+2011.jpg

...and I'm not looking at those two on the left. I'm talkin about The Golden Boy!
 
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