Driver of the race

[Daniel]

Webber. Fantastic drive

[pino]

I agree :up:

[Daniel]

Come on Pino, can we leave the thread names? It's a bit of fun :)

[F1boat]

Webber!

[Robinho]

Webber or Hamilton, normally Hamilton, but Webber has to have the most of the credit

[Garry Walker]

Webber. 2 more laps and he would have gotten Rapunzel too.

[CNR]

Webber

with the way it is this year are they better off saving tyres then trying for pole ?

[markabilly]

WEBBER


Driver who was headed for the title and his first win, until after his last pit stop, and turned to donkey: Rosberg

[ShiftingGears]

Webber. That was a barnstorming drive.

[donKey jote]

Webber, without a doubt :up:
Oh yes, and Lewis :up:

[Dave B]

I can't decide between Lewis's banzai but utterly fair overtaking moves - several of them - or Mark's amazing drive from P18 to a podium.

[Ari]

Webber, no surprise there eh? ;)

[truefan72]

Hamilton followed closely by Webber.

The edge goes to Hamilton because
1. He won the race
2. He passed every car ahead of him competitively to take the win
3. lost places in the track and in the pits and made up for it

As to Webber
It was an amazing drive, plain and simple. If he had 2 more laps he would have passed Vettel too

[markabilly]

Everyone always thinks the winner should get it, but it this case, only Webber stood out above the rest.

Clearly.

Hamilton was doing nothing that Rosberg and all the rest was doing. Well, until Rosberg had his last pit stop.

Hamilton clearly had much better rear tires at the end, that gave him superior grip for accelerating off corners, compared to Vettel.

[DazzlaF1]

I can't really decide between Hamilton and Webber, so I'll give it jointly to them. I'll also give special mentions to Rosberg who oh so nearly got a chance of a podium himself and Kovalainen in the Lotus who finished only 1 lap down and finished ahead of a Williams and Perez on merit, so well done to Kova.

[ioan]

If it has to be someone than it is Hamilton for keeping his head cool.

[F1boat]

Everyone always thinks the winner should get it, but it this case, only Webber stood out above the rest.

Clearly.

Hamilton was doing nothing that Rosberg and all the rest was doing. Well, until Rosberg had his last pit stop.

Hamilton clearly had much better rear tires at the end, that gave him superior grip for accelerating off corners, compared to Vettel.

I agree with this, but I have to say that really all top 3 drivers did well. Seb was mature and manage to finish in slow tyres and in stressful situation. Lewis of course did very, very well, but Mark really came from nowhere to get P3 and was most impressive, in my opinion.

[markabilly]

Wow, Lewis is looking very pretty in the interview. :heart:

A pair of matching ear rings or something, cute facial hair, eyebrows perfectly made up. :heart:


beginning to wonder..........if i were of a "certain tendency", I might be tempted to change my vote.

but i ain't, so i won't.

[markabilly]

Actually, given his difficult position inside the ferrari camp, I would give honorable mention to Massa over Hamilton.
Lousy tire startegy by ferrari hurt him at the end, but otherwise an excellent race for someone clearly labelled as number two and designated to run always behind favorite son, Alonso.

[DexDexter]

Mark Webber, a special mention to Heikki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa

[Zico]

Hamilton and Webber equally deserving..

[steveaki13]

For me the drivers of the race were Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber. Can't really seperate them today.

Other mentions

Massa - Iknow he finished only 6th, but was losing grip on older tyres, he outraced Alonso all day and could have finished higher in other circumstances.

Schumacher - A good comeback from 14th to 8th. Battled hard and raced well.

Kovalainen - A good solid race for Team Lotus, finished ahead of Maldonado and Perez and only 1 lap down.

D'Ambrosio - Out performed Glock all weekend. Couldn't have done anymore in that car so beat his team mate well.

[truefan72]

Hamilton went longer in the middle stint which enabled him to have tyres that were 6 laps newer than Vettel. Lewis should get credit for managing his tyres in order for this type of strategy to work, which the drivers around him hadn't done to that degree. Rosberg was locking his wheels left right and centre and I don't really see how he can be compared in his race management to Lewis to be honest. Lewis wasn't the only driver who had a great race and it was nice to see Mercedes up there squabbling for points but the only drivers in the last 7 laps who were charging for a podium were Hamilton and Webber who clearly handled the conditions in the closing stages better than anyone else IMO. Webber had the advantage of his last stint being on soft's and McLaren had the advantage of making their soft's earlier in the race last longer than Red Bull.

well said

[UltimateDanGTR]

Lewis and Webber were both great, honourable mention to Massa as well. I was dissapointed with Rosberg today, surely his best ever chance to win a grand prix?

[wedge]

Hamilton & Webber. Very hard to pick one driver as both looked like their races were finished after 12 laps.

Can't believe no one's mentioned this but solid drive from Massa and back to his best (form, another story....)

[Ranger]

Hamilton & Webber. Very hard to pick one driver as both looked like their races were finished after 12 laps.

Can't believe no one's mentioned this but solid drive from Massa and back to his best (form, another story....)

:up:

Faded a bit at the end but he was excellent today.

Tie between Hamilton and Webber though. Great drives I would never have put money on!

[N4D13]

Webber for me. Then Massa, then Hamilton.

[steveaki13]

Other mentions

Massa - Iknow he finished only 6th, but was losing grip on older tyres, he outraced Alonso all day and could have finished higher in other circumstances.

Schumacher - A good comeback from 14th to 8th. Battled hard and raced well.

Kovalainen - A good solid race for Team Lotus, finished ahead of Maldonado and Perez and only 1 lap down.

D'Ambrosio - Out performed Glock all weekend. Couldn't have done anymore in that car so beat his team mate well.



Can't believe no one's mentioned this but solid drive from Massa and back to his best (form, another story....)

I mentioned it. :)

[Bullet]

Hands down, Webber. Hamilton did a great job, but a win from his place wasn't out of the question... it was a plausible outcome. Webber being on the podium though? Comical :rotflmao: ....never happen.... :laugh:
Ooops... :blackeye:

[christophulus]

Hamilton, especially after the late drama before heading to the grid which could've messed up his concentration. Webber too for a storming drive at the end, shame he didn't start on those tyres!

Honourable mention to Pirelli for one of the most exciting races I've seen for a while, caused by the tyres slowly degrading rather than completely falling apart :up:

[Bullet]

Honourable mention to Pirelli for one of the most exciting races I've seen for a while, caused by the tyres slowly degrading rather than completely falling apart :up:

:up: Yes!!!

[Jag_Warrior]

I'd like to give it to Lewis, but I think Webber really deserves it with that inspired drive. To be honest, I'd like to give Hamilton's McLaren crew some kind of prize for how well (and quickly) they spun those spanners just prior to the race.

[Mia 01]

Mark Webber, you are back!

Felipe baby, you did very well today.

[N. Jones]

Simple, Webber.

[aryan]

As good as Lewis Hamilton was, I'd give this one to Webber. That was a legendary drive. One of those that people still talk about in 5 years time.

Mark Webber might never be a World Champion, but today he showed that he's on par with the best of them.

Honourable mention of course to Hamilton for a brilliant win, and also to Massa and Kovalainen. Team Lotus is coming good, and Williams should be watching their back.

If you ask me for the star of the day, as opposed to 'Driver' of the day, I'd go with Pirelli. It wasn't an easy decision to produce these soft tyres, and I'm sure their marketing department wasn't too happy with the spectacle of Pirelli tyres destroying themselves all over the track, but they stuck to their guns and have tremendously helped the racing this year. My respect for this company has grown tenfold over this.

[Whyzars]

If you ask me for the star of the day, as opposed to 'Driver' of the day, I'd go with Pirelli.

Pirelli has to change the tyres or the tyre rules have to change.

Mark Webber's drive yesterday was brilliant but when a driver, with a broken KERS, can weave through a field of F1 cars there is something wrong with the consistency of those tyres. I would not be surprised to see the entire qualifying being done on worn primes in the next round.

Everybody should think about this - would Mark Webber have finished 3rd if he had been unlucky enough to participate in Q2?

BTW, Mark Webber will win the world championship this year. :)

[Arjuna]

If only he started from top ten or give the race another extra laps, he would have won it.

Mark Webber and Red Bull Infiniti :)

[555-04Q2]

The winner.

[wmcot]

Lewis and Webber were both great, honourable mention to Massa as well. I was dissapointed with Rosberg today, surely his best ever chance to win a grand prix?

I have to give it to Webber 100% (even though I'm not really a fan!) Rosberg didn't really screw up, it was whoever is on the team that calculated the amount of fuel he needed to finish the race. Hamilton always does well when starting from the front two rows - that's good, but not special.

I would have liked to see the condition of Webber's tires at the end. He must have set 75% of the fastest laps.

Massa's best race in a long time - too bad the car/tires let him down.

[Valve Bounce]

Finally watched the race, and without doubt, Webber was the DOR. That he finished just over 7 seconds behind Hamilton is unbelievable.

[Mia 01]

The lesson is, use only ONE set of softs in quali no matter what.

[TMorel]

Its only a matter of time before all the top teams deliberately go slow to get knocked out in Q1

So basically we'd end up with reverse grids - hey, if it gives us races like yesterday then I'd not be against it.

[Mia 01]

Its only a matter of time before all the top teams deliberately go slow to get knocked out in Q1, just so they can easily storm through the field like Webber did yesterday. Lets face it every track has identical characteristics, and all the teams will do identical pitstops to enable this to happen. lol.

Wrong, and perhaps you know it. The trick is to quali in in Q3 with hard tires and then put one set softs on.

[Mark]

The sarcasm detector seems to be faulty on the forum at the moment...

[Valve Bounce]

I am ignorant of the regulations concerning tyre changes during quali. I would have selected soft tyres for Q1 and Q2, then switched to hard tyres for Q3 and subsequently race start, if this strategy is permissible, which would permit the car to be qualified somewhere in the top ten. However, if this is permissible, then other teams would also do the same. The trick is to start on the slower hard tyres and do as many laps as possible without losing too many places (massive blocking here); the switch to the softer faster compound for the remaining two stints. Webber was blocked massively at certain stages on his second sting, allowing him to go easy on tyres and fuel, thus giving him the best set of soft tyres with a late change for his final stint. This guy was making up around 3 seconds a lap on SchM and Rosberg at one stage, and the way he blasted past Bunsen and then left him behind on the final lap showed he still had a set of great tyres on the last lap.

I am sure that all teams will write new programs for their laptops (no!!! not iPads) to compute the best options for pitstops for future races factoring in tyre wear against track temperatures and where cars can lap fast and/or where they will be slowed by other cars. Here is where we need to send Daniel to the various teams disguised as Harpo Marx selling ice cream, so that he can come back to clue us in. :p :

[markabilly]

Hamilton went longer in the middle stint which enabled him to have tyres that were 6 laps newer than Vettel. Lewis should get credit for managing his tyres in order for this type of strategy to work, which the drivers around him hadn't done to that degree. Rosberg was locking his wheels left right and centre and I don't really see how he can be compared in his race management to Lewis to be honest. Lewis wasn't the only driver who had a great race and it was nice to see Mercedes up there squabbling for points but the only drivers in the last 7 laps who were charging for a podium were Hamilton and Webber who clearly handled the conditions in the closing stages better than anyone else IMO. Webber had the advantage of his last stint being on soft's and McLaren had the advantage of making their soft's earlier in the race last longer than Red Bull.

Before his last pit stop, Not accurate as to Rosberg. After Rosberg's last pit stop, that would be very accurate.


I mentioned it. :)
But I wuz first

[MAX_THRUST]

Webber or Hamilton

[woody2goody]

I think Massa drove extremely well, and Schumacher had a terrific race. Hamilton and Webber are the obvious choices though.

[555-04Q2]

The winner 2

[jas123f1]

Hamilton because he won the race and Webber because he drove his best race for the season.. :up: after his worthless Q1 :uhoh:

[Mia 01]

So how do you get to Q3 whilst only using hard tyres?
Would that not also mean you'd have to start the race on soft tyres too seeing as the fastest quali lap is what counts towards what tyres you start the race on?? You suggested Webber's method of starting the race on hard tyres and with plenty of soft's left to come through the field was the best method, but your explanation makes no sense Mia at all??? :confused:

Youre explanation is better than mine, ha, lets see in the next couple of races

[Bagwan]

So how do you get to Q3 whilst only using hard tyres?
Would that not also mean you'd have to start the race on soft tyres too seeing as the fastest quali lap is what counts towards what tyres you start the race on?? You suggested Webber's method of starting the race on hard tyres and with plenty of soft's left to come through the field was the best method, but your explanation makes no sense Mia at all??? :confused:

Mark's team had calculated that he would get to Q3 , and would most likely have been correct , however , what they didn't calculate correctly was that he would have time to get around for that second fast lap on the primes .
It wasn't so much of a hot lap , but a warm-up lap for the tires , that got him into the spot . The lap got him 18th , but was far from what he was capable of , had he been out early enough for the real hot lap , when the tires were ready .

I can see teams splitting strategies on this one .
That is , until they know which tracks will rubber in well , and which won't with these skins .

And , with others on the same ride , Mark's strategy won't be nearly as effective , making a tour up to the front from way back far less likely .

[Mia 01]

Mark's team had calculated that he would get to Q3 , and would most likely have been correct , however , what they didn't calculate correctly was that he would have time to get around for that second fast lap on the primes .
It wasn't so much of a hot lap , but a warm-up lap for the tires , that got him into the spot . The lap got him 18th , but was far from what he was capable of , had he been out early enough for the real hot lap , when the tires were ready .

I can see teams splitting strategies on this one .
That is , until they know which tracks will rubber in well , and which won't with these skins .

And , with others on the same ride , Mark's strategy won't be nearly as effective , making a tour up to the front from way back far less likely .

I think RBR can make it to Q3 only using premium tires on any track and I´m not the only one, the word is out there on the whole net.