Poll 2011 Spanish Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

[Fenderman]

Apologies to no-FIAt. Probably got sidetracked by my posting the Beeb's Driver of the Day poll result.

 

[EvilWhippet]

It's a shame Quick Nick has been largely overlooked. *He came from 24th to 8th (16 places) in a renault. Webber was many people's driver of the day for going from 17th to 3rd (14 places) in the best car on the grid. Heidfeld also beat his teammate by 3 places if i remember correctly. The drive of a man. A man with a beard. Loved watching him sail past Vitaly!

*correct me of I'm wrong with any of these numbers

 

[MCLS]

Mainly because he had an inexhaustible supply of option tyres.

 

[EvilWhippet]

They didn't drive themselves and if that was more important than starting in the top ten nobody would bother to qualify. Webber had most of his tyres too did he not?

 

[MCLS]

Nope he didnt.

 

[EvilWhippet]

Well they were both fantastic drives each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Heidfeld had a better stock of tyres but also a far inferior car to Webber and the small confidence issue of the last time he was in the car on rack before the race it was on fire. Yet he still gained more places throughout the grand prix.

 

[MCLS]

Problem is the drives through the field are devalued because of the regularity that they occur, Webber in China, Kobyashi in Turkey and Heidfeld in Spain, thats why he has been largely overlooked in comparison to Hamilton who drove the wheels off the car to keep up with the superior Red Bull of Vettel

 

[EvilWhippet]

I don't like to think people's attention spans are quite that short. If drives from the back are easy (and Heidfeld gained more positions than Webber or Kamui) then everybody would do it.

 

[MCLS]

Well the Renault is no slouch as it's the fifth quickest car

 

[Fenderman]

Perhaps equal 4th quickest?

 

[MCLS]

I think Mercedes have jumped ahead at the moment

 

[ramilas1]

Alonso for me, he wrung everything he could from the Ferrari as usual, but to get a decent quali he had to use more soft tyres than those around him.

Phenomenal start but was always going to be a sitting duck to finish behind RBR and McL and he could only race with what he was given and get the best out of it.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Not to mention a lot of those 16 places Nick made up consisted of Hispanias, Virgins and Lotuses(?) where as Webber overtook a lot of faster cars.

 

[Slyboogy]

Problem is the drives through the field are devalued because of the regularity that they occur, Webber in China, Kobyashi in Turkey and Heidfeld in Spain, thats why he has been largely overlooked in comparison to Hamilton who drove the wheels off the car to keep up with the superior Red Bull of Vettel

"Drove the wheels" - I think Vettel and Heidfeld also did that.

"Superior Red Bull" - the pace was similar if you compare all the laptimes between the Red Bull and McLaren drivers. Only advantage was in qualifying.

 

[Fenderman]

Yeah, but you always could overtake in China.

 

[MCLS]

Which shows how good a job Hamilton did, make no mistake this is one of the most Red Bull friendly circuits.

 

[Fenderman]

That

 

[Slyboogy]

Which shows how good a job Hamilton did, make no mistake this is one of the most Red Bull friendly circuits.

But then it also shows that Vettel did a "good job" aswell since he had no DRS to deploy and didn't have KERS at times, yet kept Hamilton behind him. Also he won that race by Red Bull's pit stop blunder getting him into a lot of traffic and passing the cars to make the strategy work and to gain the lead.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

My driver of the day is Hamilton, for such a determined drive to catch, stay with and so nearly beat the 'unbeatable' RBR of Vettel, especially staying on his tail for the last ten laps or so even though the dirty air must have hampered him.

But my driver of the weekend is Vettel, for going out for just one lap at the end of FP3 after techinical difficulties and setting the fastest time, then only just losing out to his teammate for pole even with no KERS, then overtaking that teammate off the start, driving a very mature race and holding off the very determined Mclaren driver at the end for his fourth win.

And a 'highly commended' for Nick Heidfeld, for his drive from plum last on the grid to eighth, beating his teammate who had started in 6th, in the process.

 

[MCLS]

But then it also shows that Vettel did a "good job" aswell since he had no DRS to deploy and didn't have KERS at times,

Not really. The front wing and superior downforce made up for any loss of KERS.