Driver of the Day for the USA Grand Prix?

Vote for your favourite driver, regardless of how poorly or well they performed during the race


  • Total voters
    41

Slyboogy

World Champion
Contributor
Driver of the day?

A lot to choose from, I know we've stopped doing this thread. But due to the number of excellent drives we saw from drivers today, I thought it was worthy of a thread.

Contenders are:

Hamilton
Vettel
Massa
Button
Grosjean
Hulkenberg

Hamilton:

Lost a position at the start due to being on the dirty side, pressurised Webber, went in too deep the first time, second time round perfected it. After that, started hounding down Vettel throughout the race, and it was looking inevitable at one point that he would pass the double world champion, slipped away due to traffic and Vettel putting in fastest laps, but kept at it, and finally it was Vettel who was hindered by traffic and passed his nemesis with ease with a last minute dash, after that, it was never easy as Vettel kept coming at him through a string of fastest laps. After several setbacks the last few races, he finally gets the victory.

Vettel:

Some may wonder why I put Vettel on here. But with the championship at stake, and Hamilton so close and looking ever so likely to pass him, he never gave up, despite what was at stake. Managed to build a gap, but from the start, it didn't look as if the race was going to be easy, as he wasn't pulling away like he usually does. Came under immense pressure from one of the sports best, but kept it cool, and finally lost the position after getting hindered by Khartikeyan, giving Hamilton his best chance of the race. Instead of letting Hamilton cruise away and settle for points, he pushed Hamilton until it was the end.

Massa:

Out-qualified his team-mate on merit, had the pace over him all weekend. Because of that, he gets demoted back 5 places by the team, and his hard work in qualifying becomes undone, didn't get to start in the tyres he wanted too either. Instead of brooding on that, he kept positive, and came back through the field with some good battles and overtakes, to finish behind his team-mate, if the championship wasn't at stake, a podium would have came his way.

Button:

From 12th to 5th was a great performance. Strategy may have helped, but it did hinder him for the first several laps as he was down in 16th at one pont. Pulled off a great first stint, overtaking cars here and there, first having a duel with Senna, then the "angry Kimster", amazing pace all round, too late to catch Massa. Question is, where would have he ended up if he didn't have the reliability issue in qualifying.

Grosjean:

Many may question why I put him here as his mistake is what cost him a higher finish.

Looked racy all through the race, lost several places and was down the field after a strange spin. But somehow managed to haul himself up into 7th a few seconds behind his team-mate despite having to come through the field, and some good battles and overtakes, didn't collide with anyone. A great performance.

Hulkenberg:

Punching above his weight? I certainly think so. Out-qualifying his team-mate once again comfortably, had a good start despite being on the dirty side of the grid, but eventually fell down the field due to his car being slower than those that finished ahead. Was running well until the first round of stops, had a great battle with Schumacher and both Lotus drivers, kept his head down. Near the end was hunted by both Williams drivers, and we know both of them like rubbing the other cars the wrong way (LOL), and brought home some crucial points for the team.

I'll put in the "Other" option aswell, just incase someone spotted a performance that I didn't.

I've gave the driver of the day to Massa due to having a great weekend until the setback, and then coming back strong from it.
 
With Vettel and Hamilton so close, we turn to Button and Webber to see that the McLaren was the faster car. Great defensive driving, great way to keep up with Hamilton afterwards. Vettel has it, with Hamilton only just behind.

Special mention to Felipe Massa; no matter what is thrown at him, he's the better Ferrari driver this 2nd half of the season.
Pilot of the Day is who-ever's flying that helicopter!
 
Massa,easy. Not only for being super fast and out qualifying and out classing his team mate most of the weekend but for keeping his chin up too after being demoted 5 places to help his team mate and still finishing right behind him.
 
FP1 Alonso faster than Massa
FP2 Alonso faster than Massa
FP3 Alonso faster than Massa
Qualy Massa faster than Alonso

Added to which if you look at the timing information on the FIA page the point where you would expect Massa to be at his quickest, after overtaking Raikonnen, Massa was slightly quicker than Alonso, but not enough to have caught him. Taking into consideration Alonso being 30 seconds behind the leaders he would not be taking risks on anything silly happening the notion that Massa was somehow being held up by team orders does not stand up.

I have written in favour of Massa on a number of occasions since he started to improve but he has not outperformed Alonso. There have been times where there has been little to choose between them but Massa has not been in the dominant position.
 
I can't say Grosjean because he threw away an even better result with his early spin.

Jenson's overtaking was special, especially into T15. Massa was fast and as Vortex said, classy. Vettel and Hulkenberg both did really well, but weren't quite special enough.

So it has to be Lewis. For his passion and commitment. It works against him sometimes, but today, it really worked for him.
 
Lewis without a doubt.....first passing Webber and then relentlessly pursuing and stalking his teammate. Lewis and Sebastian both without any tire or mechanical issues had a great duel, with Lewis comimg out on top, for a superb win.
 
Massa for reasons stated in the GP thread. It's good to see him back & hopefully it will have spurred him on to perform well at his home race & help his team-mate challenge Vettel not as a 'number 2 driver' but as a driver showing equal pace.
Hamilton is a close second for taking the fight to Seb & giving us a rarity nowadays - proper racing for the lead.
 
It was definitely between three drivers, Hamilton, Massa or Button. Lewis drove a good race and I was glad he finished ahead of Vettel, Massa dcrove welll and pulled off some good moves, but Buttons overtaking was sublime, so have to give it to him. He started where he did due to mechanical gremilns, not due to his team shafting him and chose to start on the harder of the two tyres and on the dirty side of the grid, meaning he had an awful first lap and lost loads of places due to not being able to get the tyres working straight away, then started his climb back through the field a lap or so later.

Special mention must go to Riccardo, who on the hard tyres was mighty as well..
 
Massa and Button did well, but Button's drive in particular was flattered by him being in a fast car and out of position on the grid (not his fault) - so he had lots of nice overtakes to make that made him look good. He still finished nearly a minute down though.

It's close for me between Vettel and Hamilton but for starting behind (and on the infamous dirty side of the grid) yet finishing ahead, it has to be Hamilton.
 
FB

I was considering him, but the list was long already, and I'm guilty enough have to say I didn't follow his race much after he fell backwards I :embarrassed:
 
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