Surprising drivers of the season

[ShiftingGears]

Definitely Hamilton - he's hit the ground running on whats probably the best car on the grid, despite being a rookie.

Also Massa - better at Kimi in qualifying, and now it doesn't matter so much about what happens in your race as long as you get pole (this is true of the Ferraris being fast except when behind another car).
Barrichello and DC - I thought they were both past it but DC has had some stirring drives this season and Barrichellos beaten Button constantly this season. I think they'll both be in for 2008, meaning that Barrichello will beat Patrese's record, which would be quite an achievement! I think they're both highly motivated, perhaps in DC's case because RB have a stronger car, or because of wanting to beat Webber as a teammate.
In Barrichellos case it's probably the best car for him to show his talent, in a way. I think if it was a stable car that needed more precision and less balls, I think he'd be gone almost certainly for 2008. But he's beaten his teammate so far quite convincingly (5-0), which is a surprise.

Also looking at headlines from last year, Kubica was seen as one of the fastest drivers on the grid, and there hasn't been much talk about that this season, thanks in no small part to Heidfeld. In the first 3 grands prix Heidfeld beat at least one car from a better team, and was very impressive.

Who's surprised you?

[Viv]

Hamilton - He's much better than I thought he would be.
DC to an extent and Button for doing as badly as he is now.
None of the others have done better/worse than I thought

[F1boat]

Massa and Hamilton definetly surprised me, as well as Heidfeld.

[Donney]

Hamilton, undoubtedly
Alonso, it seems it was not such a stupid move to McLaren
DC, definitely showing experience counts
Masa, better than last year, very consistent.

[leopard]

surprisingly good:
Hamilton
Massa
BMW

surprisingly bad:
Honda :

[jens]

As the topic is about surprising drivers...

I rated Hamilton quite highly already before the start of the season, but I didn't believe he would start matching Alonso straightaway at the start of his F1 career.

I also expected Albers to beat Sutil and the way, how the young German is gradually establishing himself as a team leader, is amazing. So Sutil has been a positive and Albers a negative surprise.

Some have highlighted Barrichello, although I guess that with the switch to Bridgestones and given a poor car (where Button struggles), it was expected that he would be a lot bigger threat to Jenson than last year, but his consistency in beating Button has nevertheless been remarkable. If the car gets better in the second half of the season, then we'll see whether JB can become faster than RB or not.

Btw, Massa hasn't been a surprise to me (and he also wasn't last year) - I have believed in his abilities for some time by now...

[BeansBeansBeans]

What has surprised me is Massa's superiority. I genuinely believed that Kimi would make him look ordinary. Davidson and Sato are also much closer than I expected. I thought Ant would turn Sato over, but I was wrong.

[leopard]

As the topic is about surprising drivers...

It wasn't a difficult, BMW is shorter to rate both Heidfeld and Kubica, Heidfeld makes me surprised, but considering he is older driver at BMW and in F1, I guess Kubica deserves more a surprising driver, plus he twice finished in front of Heidfeld this far.

Btw, Massa hasn't been a surprise to me (and he also wasn't last year) - I have believed in his abilities for some time by now...

This is a surprise that you believe on ability of Massa... ahem

[gm99]

Certainly LH has to be the surprise of the season so far - personally, I expected him to be quick, but not as quick as he has been in the first few races. What amazes me even more, though, is his consistency - quite a few rookies (JV, JPM come to my mind here) have shown flashes of speed in their first season, but not at every race.

I am also very surprised by Sutil - he is almost always quicker than his vastly more experienced team-mate Albers and really could be the real thing.

[wedge]

Adrian Sutil has made Christian Albers look very ordinary this year