Driver of the race

[steveaki13]

Vettel, Grosjean and Riccardo.

Small mention for Werhlein who in the first stint raced hard and held position. A first for Manor really

[Tazio]

I'm also going with Rogro, nothing spectacular but he didn't put a foot wrong in the teams debut race. Yeah it is a bit of a sentimental choice!

[The Black Knight]

I don't really understand why so many people voted for Vettel. I mean, did ye not see him run off the track 3 laps from the end? I know everyone likes to be blinkered in all to their own drivers but if you're going to run off the track when on another drivers gearbox then surely that's not deserving of driver of the day.

It's much the same as when Button won the 2011 Canadian GP after about 6 pitstops and had a great final 12-15 laps of the GP to win it. The DOTD was definitely Michael Schumacher but the blinkered went for Button because of the final part of the GP, not remembering that he was really nowhere for most of the race. It's driver of the day not driver of 20% of the race.

[AndyL]

I don't really understand why so many people voted for Vettel. I mean, did ye not see him run off the track 3 laps from the end? I know everyone likes to be blinkered in all to their own drivers but if you're going to run off the track when on another drivers gearbox then surely that's not deserving of driver of the day.

It's much the same as when Button won the 2011 Canadian GP after about 6 pitstops and had a great final 12-15 laps of the GP to win it. The DOTD was definitely Michael Schumacher but the blinkered went for Button because of the final part of the GP, not remembering that he was really nowhere for most of the race. It's driver of the day not driver of 20% of the race.

Is it not possible for a driver who makes a mistake or two but also produces even greater brilliance to be driver of the day? I think often that driver would be more deserving than one who makes no mistakes for a solid but unexceptional finish.

Not that I'm saying this applies to Vettel here, but it definitely applied to Button in that Canadian Grand Prix. People didn't forget he was nowhere early in the race - they voted for him precisely because he was in last place before coming right through the field to win the race. No-one else has ever done that. It was sheer brilliance on that day that outweighed his collision with Alonso or whatever other errors might be ascribed.

Conversely, I don't really agree with the votes for Grosjean being driver of the race in Australia. He had a car with comparable performance to the rest of the midfield, and the thing that put him near the front of that group, instead of lower down and outside the points, was a combination of good strategy and luck with the timing of the red flag. Grosjean himself drove well, without mistakes, but not really any better than many of the other drivers in that midfield group.

[keysersoze]

I don't really understand why so many people voted for Vettel. I mean, did ye not see him run off the track 3 laps from the end? I know everyone likes to be blinkered in all to their own drivers but if you're going to run off the track when on another drivers gearbox then surely that's not deserving of driver of the day.

It's much the same as when Button won the 2011 Canadian GP after about 6 pitstops and had a great final 12-15 laps of the GP to win it. The DOTD was definitely Michael Schumacher but the blinkered went for Button because of the final part of the GP, not remembering that he was really nowhere for most of the race. It's driver of the day not driver of 20% of the race.

It's called having an opinion. Besides, only two posters mentioned Vettel, and I mentioned him along with 4 others. He's one of my least favorite drivers (Rosberg is the other). I named Vettel because of his stellar start, and the fact that he led comfortably. Even after losing the ground to Hamilton after his spin, he managed to catch back up. Considering he qualified 8 tenths slower than Hamiton, I'd say he had a very good race, and could have won the thing if not for the red flag. Since he left Red Bull, Sebastian has really proven his value.

[The Black Knight]

Is it not possible for a driver who makes a mistake or two but also produces even greater brilliance to be driver of the day? I think often that driver would be more deserving than one who makes no mistakes for a solid but unexceptional finish.

Not that I'm saying this applies to Vettel here, but it definitely applied to Button in that Canadian Grand Prix. People didn't forget he was nowhere early in the race - they voted for him precisely because he was in last place before coming right through the field to win the race. No-one else has ever done that. It was sheer brilliance on that day that outweighed his collision with Alonso or whatever other errors might be ascribed.

Conversely, I don't really agree with the votes for Grosjean being driver of the race in Australia. He had a car with comparable performance to the rest of the midfield, and the thing that put him near the front of that group, instead of lower down and outside the points, was a combination of good strategy and luck with the timing of the red flag. Grosjean himself drove well, without mistakes, but not really any better than many of the other drivers in that midfield group.

So a driver is to be rewarded DOTD for being inconsistent?

For Button, a final 15 laps, no matter what he did, does not mitigate that the rest of the race he drove was pretty rubbish. Had Michael Schumacher not drove a sublime race that day I'd have gone for him myself but Schumacher really deserved to win that race for how he drove. It was, in my opinion, the best race he had out of retirement and certainly, it was a thousand times better than Button's inconsistent dribble he produced for most of the day. Like I said, it's DOTD, not the best driver of 15 laps.

[The Black Knight]

It's called having an opinion. Besides, only two posters mentioned Vettel, and I mentioned him along with 4 others. He's one of my least favorite drivers (Rosberg is the other). I named Vettel because of his stellar start, and the fact that he led comfortably. Even after losing the ground to Hamilton after his spin, he managed to catch back up. Considering he qualified 8 tenths slower than Hamiton, I'd say he had a very good race, and could have won the thing if not for the red flag. Since he left Red Bull, Sebastian has really proven his value.

Sebastien's qualifying pace was not a reflection of the cars true pace. He likely would have been much closer had he gone out a second time in qualifying. I'm still on the side lines over how good Vettel really is because, at the end of the day, he still got whipped by Danny but I would agree that he has done very well since joining Ferrari but given how poor Kimi is these days, I wonder is that what is making him look better than he really is. We'll find out in time I guess.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Sebastien's qualifying pace was not a reflection of the cars true pace. He likely would have been much closer had he gone out a second time in qualifying. I'm still on the side lines over how good Vettel really is because, at the end of the day, he still got whipped by Danny but I would agree that he has done very well since joining Ferrari but given how poor Kimi is these days, I wonder is that what is making him look better than he really is. We'll find out in time I guess.

You talked about people being blinkered. Could it be that this applies to you as well? Your complaint pretty much looks like you're miffed that someone mentioned a driver you quite obviously don't like. I mean seriously, you dredge 2014 up again? A season that most people, including Ricciardo and other members of his former team say was not representative of his true skill. People seem to forget that had to change his chassis three times that season due to cracks, at least three races saw RIC finish in front of VET due to team mistakes.

Talking Räikkönen down to belittle Vettel's driving in 2015 is another thing that tells me you aren't exactly unbiased here.

[Big Ben]

It's driver of the day not driver of 20% of the race.

So a drivers that leads 99% of the race and than smashes the car to a wall will definitely have to be the driver of the day, right? I suppose it's enough to be the best driver of 51% (I rounded it up for clarity) of the race to be the driver of the day too?

[Firstgear]

I would have been less impressed with Vettel if he had just stayed 5 seconds behind Hamilton for a comfortable 3rd place. He was trying for the maximum, overcooked it (and he admitted this afterwards) and in the end it didn't cost him anything (points wise). That's the kind of hunger and attitude I like in a driver. I'm not a big Vettel fan, but I'm not going to criticize him for trying 'til the end.

Come to think of it - maybe I'm being a little soft on him because I loaded up on Ferrari in FGP

For me, it's between RoGro & Palmer for DOTD.