Driver & Drivers of 2012

[steveaki13]

Lets talk about the best drivers and invidual drives of 2012. What was epic and brilliant

[wedge]

Driver of the year - Hamilton & Alonso. Both consistently extracted the mwximum from their cars.

Drive of the year - Sergio Perez/Canadiam GP. Considering most were worried about tyres/delta laps Perez came from nowhere to finish on the podium on a one stopper with a long first stint on softer compound.

[jens]

The two championship contenders and Hamilton, closely followed by Räikkönen. Great seasons by them! Honorable mentions to Hülkenberg and Schumacher. I really hope Hulk can get a top car one day, while keeping and improving on the good form he has been showing recently. Then we could have even more contenders! :)

[The Black Knight]

Alonso and Hamilton were drivers of the season followed by Vettel and Kimi in that order. Kimi really impressed me and to score points in every race upon his return was incredible. Brilliant driver. I think Schumacher was excellent for his age but I've never seen a driver have such bad luck before in my life.

Lap of the year - Schumacher in Monaco.

Drive of the year - Hamilton in Austin, Alonso in Malaysia or Germany. Take your pick they were all incredible performances.

Donkey of the year without doubt goes to Grosjean. The icing on the cake was Saturday in qualifying hitting the HRT. I know the steward's said it was a misunderstanding but looking at the on board from Grosjean I can't come to any conclusion other than him being an idiot. He has the speed but personally I don't think he is rounded enough to be in F1.

Runner up donkey - This prize also must go to donkey Grosjean, because sometimes on donkey award just isn't enough.

Third spot goes to Maldonado for obvious reasons.

Most ridiculous FIA stewarding decision is without doubt handing a penalty to Narain for the incident with Vettel in Malaysia. One of the worst Stewarding decisions ever made - right up there with Belgium 08. Congratulations to the Steward's on proving that they bottle under pressure.

Overall though this has probably been F1's best ever season and although it's a shame the driver of the year didn't win the championship, it went to a worthy competitor nonetheless.

[andyone]

Definitely Hamilton and Alonso. taken out a couple of times. Hamilton's car died twice i guess or more. no driver error for the two drivers.. Grosjean fast driver but too wreck less and he managed to mix-up the championship results

[dj_bytedisaster]

My two minor currency units...

THE WINNERS

The "How the heck did he do that?" Award : Fernando Alonso
for sticking the car consistently where it didn't belong. Despite fading considerably in the last two races, he still took the fight to last race in a car that only was the third best in the field.

The "Leave me alone!" Award: Kimi Räikkönen
for grabbing points consistently, while still providing the best comedy in F1, ever.

The "Biggest Comeback Since Lazarus" Award: Felipe Massa
Four years after being robbed of a WDC due to Renault's race rigging and three years after a near-fatal accident he finally found his mojo back to make his team-mate look fairly ordinary in the last two races. Extra honour for staying loyal despite being badly screwed over by the team in 'Merica.

THE DONKEYS

The "Andrea de Cesaris Memorial" Award: Romain Grosjean
for piling into other cars and the scenery endlessly. That Lotus seat should go to someone, who can actually drive.

The "Homer Simpson Memorial" Award: Vodafone-McLaren Mercedes
for performing the fastest ever pitstop, only to be utter **** at it for the rest of the year. They robbed Lewis Hamilton of a potential championship. Duh!

The "Octogenarian Volvo driver with Hat" Award: Narain Karthikeyan
for being utter rubbish at driving a Formula One car. Button, Vettel, Rosberg, Hamilton,..., there's hardly a driver who hasn't found himself trapped behind this rolling road block at least once.

The "I saw what you did there" Award: Scuderria Ferrari
for the most cynical attempt at race fixing since Renault's stunt at Singapore 2008. Extra donkeyness, because in hindsight it didn't serve any other purpose than opening pandora's box for the future and screwing Massa and three other driver over.

-- FIN --

[F1boat]

For me it is difficult to say who is the driver of the year. Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton had exceptional season.

[A FONDO]

Alonso - solid drives at the very limit of the car, but slower at the end of the season. Sometimes chose the cowardly 1 stop tyre strategy that costed him points.

Hamilton - very strong drives through the season but car reliability and pit crew errors costed him too much, could have been 2nd or 3rd in the season standings.

Maldonado - yet another driver that extracts every possible bit out of the crappy car. Made his first everwin and some incredible qualifyings, but still not able to control his aggressiveness. Its always interesting around him.

Hulkenberg - improving all the time, beating his teammate everywhere and could have won in Brazil had the safety car not appeared.

[The Black Knight]

Alonso - solid drives at the very limit of the car, but slower at the end of the season. Sometimes chose the cowardly 1 stop tyre strategy that costed him points.

Hamilton - very strong drives through the season but car reliability and pit crew errors costed him too much, could have been 2nd or 3rd in the season standings.

Maldonado - yet another driver that extracts every possible bit out of the crappy car. Made his first everwin and some incredible qualifyings, but still not able to control his aggressiveness. Its always interesting around him.

Hulkenberg - improving all the time, beating his teammate everywhere and could have won in Brazil had the safety car not appeared.

Actually Hamilton could have been first but all ifs and buts now ;)

[Rollo]

The "Leave me alone!" Award: Kimi Räikkönen
for grabbing points consistently, while still providing the best comedy in F1, ever.


Räikkönen was the only driver of 2012 to finish in every single race and in all but one, finished in a points paying position*. Everyone else in the field, binned their cars at least once, and the worst that Kimi ever did was get lost and have to use KimiNav to get back in... when he still finished in the points.

*Even then it was in China and because of the team's poor tyre choices. Kimi went from 2nd to 12th in two laps because the tyres went off and rejoined in 16th.

[Javi_racing]

Driver of the season: Alonso and Hamilton. This time would be a little more Fernando, due to bad luck of Ham, which has deprived him of doing good races.

Driven of the season... Hmmm there was a lot of. I would have to think about it, but Alonso in Valencia or ham in Austin are a few ones. Even I would say massa in Brazil

Donkey, grossjean, obviously

[donKey jote]

Räikkönen was the only driver of 2012 to finish in every single race [...] Everyone else in the field, binned their cars at least once,

Alonso got binned on two occasions, by Grosjean and by.... Kimi ! ;)

[dj_bytedisaster]

Räikkönen was the only driver of 2012 to finish in every single race and in all but one, finished in a points paying position*. Everyone else in the field, binned their cars at least once

Doesn't "binning" it mean to crash the car? Vettel didn't have any race-ending crashes, only two alternator defects in Valencia and Monza and Malaysia as the only non-points finish in the remaining 18 races. Alonso has scored in all races he finished, too (18 out of 20, one more than Vettel, one less than Kimi)
So unsurprisingly, the three most consistent point finishers wound up on the first 3 positions in the championship :D

[zako85]

I don't know how is it possible not to name Seb as the driver of the year together with Alonso.

Since when is the drive who "makes fewest mistakes" or most consistent driver as the definition of the driver of the year? Do not forget the one can make plenty of mistakes and still be a great driver as long as he has speed to make up for them. Look at Ayrton Senna. He was one of the most prolific qualifiers in history, yet his record of converting his pole positions into wins is not very good. He's been involved in too many crashes and spin offs, sometimes on his own. Yet most of his F1 career you could call him a driver of the year. So in my opinion the insistence of defining the driver of year only someone who makes no mistakes would not stand to scrutiny.

So for me, Seb is right up there with Alonso. Vettel has faced plenty of adversity this year to make a claim that he simply coasted to title win, like in 2011. Two alternator failures at critical times cost him a pile of points, team mistake makes him start from pit lane in Abu Dhaby. If some of this had not happened, he could have wrapped up the title fight in USGP or earlier. Finally, he had to fight his way again from the last position in Brasil. Not only his title is well earned, but he has pretty much proven himself once again to be a great driver. Although, the skeptics will continue nitpicking.

[keysersoze]

[quote="Rollo"]Räikkönen was the only driver of 2012 to finish in every single race and in all but one, finished in a points paying position*. Everyone else in the field, binned their cars at least once, and the worst that Kimi ever did was get lost and have to use KimiNav to get back in... when he still finished in the points.
QUOTE]

Aside from Perez nudging him into a spin and doing a bit of damage to his undertray, Charles Pic didn't so much as put a scratch on his Marussia all season long: that's three practice sessions, a qualifying session (albeit, a very short qualifying session), and a race--100 times leaving the pits.

IIRC, during one of the early races, he was tipped into a harmless spin on lap 2, but got it pointed the right direction and carried on.

He was the, um, anti-Grosjean of the season.

[MarekP]

For me was the best driver Fernando Alonso. In not much fast Ferrari..

[wedge]

I don't know how is it possible not to name Seb as the driver of the year together with Alonso.

Since when is the drive who "makes fewest mistakes" or most consistent driver as the definition of the driver of the year? Do not forget the one can make plenty of mistakes and still be a great driver as long as he has speed to make up for them. Look at Ayrton Senna. He was one of the most prolific qualifiers in history, yet his record of converting his pole positions into wins is not very good. He's been involved in too many crashes and spin offs, sometimes on his own. Yet most of his F1 career you could call him a driver of the year. So in my opinion the insistence of defining the driver of year only someone who makes no mistakes would not stand to scrutiny.

So for me, Seb is right up there with Alonso. Vettel has faced plenty of adversity this year to make a claim that he simply coasted to title win, like in 2011. Two alternator failures at critical times cost him a pile of points, team mistake makes him start from pit lane in Abu Dhaby. If some of this had not happened, he could have wrapped up the title fight in USGP or earlier. Finally, he had to fight his way again from the last position in Brasil. Not only his title is well earned, but he has pretty much proven himself once again to be a great driver. Although, the skeptics will continue nitpicking.

It helps if you win races in a car in which a lesser driver would not have achieved such as Senna in 1993 and Schumi in 1996.

Seb has never won that would equal his first whereas Senna and Schumi have on numerous occasions.

[dj_bytedisaster]

It helps if you win races in a car in which a lesser driver would not have achieved such as Senna in 1993 and Schumi in 1996.

Seb has never won that would equal his first whereas Senna and Schumi have on numerous occasions.

It's not exactly his fault that he never had a dog of a car after Torro Rosso. How about being the fastest by a mile in wet conditions despite a badly dented car? Granted, it's not a win, but it clearly shows that he has what it takes. He also won Bahrain, at a time when RB didn't have the trick-exhausts yet and the RB was quite substantially worse than the McLaren. He also won at China in early 2009 when the Brawns and their trick diffuser were still head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
And you need to put 'miracle performances' into the right context. When Schumacher won in Spa '92 the Williams and Senna had bombed themselves out of contention. Senna had botched the strategy and Mansell was dawdling around with a broken exhaust. His win in '93 in Estoril came because Prost was chicken to risk an overtake, since second sealed his 4th title. And so the list goes on. All those 'miracles' were very memorable drives, bloody good ones actually, but they all came on the back of extra-ordinary circumstances, like heavy rain or changing conditions and superior rivals taking themselves out of contention - sometimes even more than one of those.

[BDunnell]

It helps if you win races in a car in which a lesser driver would not have achieved such as Senna in 1993 and Schumi in 1996.

Seb has never won that would equal his first whereas Senna and Schumi have on numerous occasions.

True, but you have to take someone's career for what it is, not for what it might have been in different circumstances.

[The Black Knight]

True, but you have to take someone's career for what it is, not for what it might have been in different circumstances.
We do take it for what it is. His careers is great, that doesn't automatically make him a great though :)

[dj_bytedisaster]

We do take it for what it is. His careers is great, that doesn't automatically make him a great though :)

Well, I think three WDC's on the trot is a good start for becoming a great. Keep in mind that all of the greats still achieved the bulk of their wins in fairly superior cars. Just remember Senna's 1988 McLaren (still the most superior car in history IMHO) or Prost's 1993 Williams or Schumachers Ferraris 2000-2004. They all had wins in cars that shouldn't be where they ended up, but they all scored the bulk of their wins in cars that were the yardstick at the time with one equal rival at best. Vettel won his first title in a year where three teams were realistic candidates for the win, his second came in a year with no competition at all (much like Senna in 1988 or Schumacher half of his first career) and his third came in a year in which 6 different teams managed to win a GP. I'd say that's quite a good achievement. Not enough to put him on equal status as the Sennas and Fangios of the olden days, but certainly not as mediocre as many people like to suggest he is.

[wedge]

It's not exactly his fault that he never had a dog of a car after Torro Rosso. How about being the fastest by a mile in wet conditions despite a badly dented car? Granted, it's not a win, but it clearly shows that he has what it takes. He also won Bahrain, at a time when RB didn't have the trick-exhausts yet and the RB was quite substantially worse than the McLaren. He also won at China in early 2009 when the Brawns and their trick diffuser were still head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
And you need to put 'miracle performances' into the right context. When Schumacher won in Spa '92 the Williams and Senna had bombed themselves out of contention. Senna had botched the strategy and Mansell was dawdling around with a broken exhaust. His win in '93 in Estoril came because Prost was chicken to risk an overtake, since second sealed his 4th title. And so the list goes on. All those 'miracles' were very memorable drives, bloody good ones actually, but they all came on the back of extra-ordinary circumstances, like heavy rain or changing conditions and superior rivals taking themselves out of contention - sometimes even more than one of those.

Bahrain - tyre lottery with Maldonado and Rosberg were able to win races at point of the season. And if you're accusing Prost of being a pussy then the same could be said of Kimi for not going wheel to wheel with Seb into turn 1.

2009 Chinese GP - what was impressive was Seb having to do single lap runs in quali due to technical issues but in the race RBR had the best car considering Webber passed Button like he was a hot knife through butter.


Not enough to put him on equal status as the Sennas and Fangios of the olden days, but certainly not as mediocre as many people like to suggest he is.

I completely agree but have I at any point suggested Vettel was mediocre?

[kfzmeister]

Man, your defending Seb til death do you part gets tiresome. Reminds me of another guy from another forum.

...as far as drives of the year standing out, Ham in Austin was awesome. Hunted down Seb and then ate him up when traffic came at the right time. Qualifying lap after qualifying lap until the flag. Another miracle race was Alonso in Valencia.

The only reason why i wouldn't consider hamilton as driver of the year is it seemed like a had a bunch of poles and then went backwards. Alonso qualified 5-8 and always moved onto the podium. It seems.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Bahrain - tyre lottery with Maldonado and Rosberg were able to win races at point of the season. And if you're accusing Prost of being a pussy then the same could be said of Kimi for not going wheel to wheel with Seb into turn 1.

I didn't accuse Prost of being a coward, but at that very race, he was too reluctant to risk anything, because he was in second place and it was all he needed to seal the championship. He followed Schumacher with his nose stuck in Schmachers gearbox lap after lap in a vastly superior 'Super-Williams' with all the electronic bells 'n whistles.


2009 Chinese GP - what was impressive was Seb having to do single lap runs in quali due to technical issues but in the race RBR had the best car considering Webber passed Button like he was a hot knife through butter.

Wouldn't solving these problems over night constitute "impressiveness"? And funny how whenever Seb is doing well it is all due to the car - always. Probably in 2008 the Torro Rosso was the dominant machine for one weekend due to divine intervention. The driver had absolutely nothing, whatsoever, to do with it.




I completely agree but have I at any point suggested Vettel was mediocre?

Have I at any point mentioned your name?

[Mia 01]

For me the driver of the year obviously is Kimi. To finish third in the WDC in the fourth best car out there is after two years absence is the best. Next year we will see, perhaps he will move up one or two steps on the ladder then!

Next, Seb is given.

Then, what a remarkerable recovery Felipe, the fastest driver in Ferrari for the last couple of races.

[The Black Knight]

Well, I think three WDC's on the trot is a good start for becoming a great. Keep in mind that all of the greats still achieved the bulk of their wins in fairly superior cars. Just remember Senna's 1988 McLaren (still the most superior car in history IMHO) or Prost's 1993 Williams or Schumachers Ferraris 2000-2004. They all had wins in cars that shouldn't be where they ended up, but they all scored the bulk of their wins in cars that were the yardstick at the time with one equal rival at best. Vettel won his first title in a year where three teams were realistic candidates for the win, his second came in a year with no competition at all (much like Senna in 1988 or Schumacher half of his first career) and his third came in a year in which 6 different teams managed to win a GP. I'd say that's quite a good achievement. Not enough to put him on equal status as the Sennas and Fangios of the olden days, but certainly not as mediocre as many people like to suggest he is.

Nobody is suggesting he is a mediocre driver. Clearly if you win 3 WDC's on the trot you are not mediocre regardless of the car. In a year where 6 difference teams manage to win a GP it meant that by half way everything was pretty close so a string of four consecutive wins due to RBR making massive progress and McLaren tripping over himself really put him in the drivers seat. He still had to win those races, however, and regardless that means he did a brilliant job. I do feel that, to be regarded as one of the all time greats, you need to be able to drag that performance from a car that nobody ever thought possible. I can't ever really remember Vettel doing this. Yes, you can argue Monza 08 but it is arguable. Anyway, I would love to see him in a similar situation to what Alonso was in this year, with the third best car on the grid and still eeking out the results every weekend. If he could do that, then, yes, he is a truly great driver but based on what we saw in the first half of the year, I'm not convinced he is at that level... yet! But you're right, his 3 WDC's is a good start and one can't deny that he's a brilliant driver.

[dj_bytedisaster]

He still had to win those races, however, and regardless that means he did a brilliant job. I do feel that, to be regarded as one of the all time greats, you need to be able to drag that performance from a car that nobody ever thought possible. I can't ever really remember Vettel doing this. Yes, you can argue Monza 08 but it is arguable.

I agree with most what you say, but saying that he 'never did this' isn't correct. Why would Monza '08 be arguable? Yes, they probably nailed the setup perfectly, considering that Bourdais qualified 4th IIRC, but it was still a Torro Rosso and every bit as good an achievement as for instance Schumachers win 1992 in Spa. It was never going to be a classic like Schumacher making a mockery of all his rivals at Barcelona 1996, but putting 12 seconds into a McLaren whilst driving a Torro Rosso - well, what else should he have done? Lap the lot in a Minardi? Oh, wait :D
He had a couple more drives in the Torro Rosso that were - IMHO - better than one could have expected - fourth in China 2007 for instance, six more top 6 finishes and a win in 2008. That's not exactly something we've seen from the Torro's in the last couple years. It's not Senna-Toleman or Alonso-Minardi stuff, but still the best results Torro Rosso have ever seen. In fact nobody has ever finished higher than 7th in a Torro Rosso, while Vettel has 1 win, 2x 4th, 3x 5th and 2x 6th. Saying that he never proved himself in a lesser car are not exactly true.
Will he ever get into a situation, where he'll drive anything else but a Red Bull? I'm pretty sure of that. The current contract that runs out after 2014 is air-tight and bomb-safe, no way out of it. Since 'nando's contract runs until 2016, Ferrari is out of question for a while, but I can imagine him showing up in a Merc (should they still be around) or in a bid to revive Williams. He knows as well as the next guy that to be a true great, you have to bring home a trophy with one of the traditional outfits, not a lemonade operation from Austria.

[Donney]

Considering a driver has to make the best of what he's got at his disposal, I think the drivers of the year have been: Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel, some may say Vettel had the best car/team combo out there and it made it easier for him, but still he had to win the championship and as he was told many times in Brazil "keep the machinery between the greenery"

Three incredible drivers with different styles and approach to races.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Indeed I just think its someone else's turn next year. I don't want another Red Bull season and think it'll give the sport a fresh image if we see a decent fight for the title.

Well, that entirely depends on the other teams. With the rules stable for next year every team starts with what they ended up this year as a basis. Unless someone comes up with an ingenious trickery component again, we could be in for a all-out 3-team brawl for the crown next year with Kimi being the dark horse overtaking them all on the final stretch while eating ice cream :D

[Malbec]

Drive of the year - Sergio Perez/Canadiam GP. Considering most were worried about tyres/delta laps Perez came from nowhere to finish on the podium on a one stopper with a long first stint on softer compound.

Sergio Perez's long first stint in Canada was on hards. You're right, most people were worried about making their softs last at the start and hards last for 3/4 of the race at the end, Perez was one of the few drivers who didn't have that worry because he was on the opposite strategy.

Best drive of the year for me was by someone I'm still not convinced deserves to be in F1. Maldonaldo's performance in Barcelona under severe unrelenting pressure from Alonso for most of the race was utterly flawless. Fantastic qualifying position finished with excellent race performance, almost makes up for all the other errors he made throughout the year.

Drivers of the year for me are Vettel, Alonso, Kimi, Hulkenberg and Pic.

If anything this season was the one where teams seemed desperate to lose as many points as they could.

McLaren couldn't make Lewis' car last a race distance or someone would take him off.
Ferrari couldn't develop their car and Massa desperately tried to avoid scoring points until the last few races.
Lotus had Grosjean, quick but unable to get past lap 1.
Mercedes kept forgetting to make a proper car for Schumi and when they did, he often decided to hit someone at the back of the pack. Oh and after a full season they never got the tyres to last.
Sauber kept making errors all over the place at team level and with both drivers.
Force India had Di Resta refusing to score points for most of the season.
Williams had Maldonaldo crashing his way out of good points hauls while Senna never had the pace. Shame, I think they had a great car this year.
STR were simply slow.
Caterham failed to develop and Heikki failed to shine later on in the season.
HRT ran out of cash.

The only teams that didn't drop the ball were RBR and Marussia IMO.

[Zico]

Lewis was back to his best this season and produced some memorable drives but unfortunately wasn't given a reliable enough car... not his fault but no, I cant give it to him.

I think Seb had a really great season also but considering the fact the Red Bull was so strong in the second half in the season I don't really feel I can give it to him.

Btw Seb I'd love to see you as a team mate to Lewis or Fernando over a season just to see how much performance is down to the car but I have a sneaky suspicion that you would come off second best to either.

No... for me the driver of the season and the peoples champion - Fernando Alonso, no question. Despite generally not having the quickest car he continually produced/ground out some great results by sublime skill and by making so few mistakes... and pushed the championship to the wire.

It was a pleasure and privilege to witness Fernando... and also one of the greatest overall F1 seasons and Finales ever, incredible!

[Big Ben]

For me the driver of the year obviously is Kimi. To finish third in the WDC in the fourth best car out there is after two years absence is the best. Next year we will see, perhaps he will move up one or two steps on the ladder then!

Next, Seb is given.

Then, what a remarkerable recovery Felipe, the fastest driver in Ferrari for the last couple of races.

One of the best drivers of this season? Who else if not Massa :laugh: .

But seriously, I'd say that Alonso was probably the best driver this season and right behind him Kimi and Hamilton. IMO Vettel would be forth... so go figure who the best F1 engineer would be in my book.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Btw Seb I'd love to see you as a team mate to Lewis or Fernando over a season just to see how much performance is down to the car but I have a sneaky suspicion that you would come off second best to either.


You know yourself that Alonso would never accept that and neither would Ferrari. Ever since getting burnt with two top drivers in the team (Mansell/Prost) they have gone for the #1/#2 model. And after the disaster with Hamilton/Alonso, I'm not so sure McLaren would run the risk again. Now Mercedes would perhaps consider it, but Vettel would be stark-raving mad to leave RB, were he is the clear #1 by now.

I do think however that he'll leave after his current contract expires in 2014. He knows that he won't have a real place in history unless he wins for one of the traditional outfits.

[jens]

True, but you have to take someone's career for what it is, not for what it might have been in different circumstances.

I think it is very well stated. We can ask the same questions of "different circumstances" about any driver. For example, what would have happened if, say, Alonso had faced a top driver alongside him at Ferrari? Would he have thrown toys out of the pram, ran away from the team and we wouldn't consider him a great at all? His reputation took some beating in 2007, as we saw.

Once we forget these "what ifs" and concentrate on the real season, then I don't see a reason not to consider Vettel as a top drawer alongside Alonso and Hamilton. The only period, when RBR had an obvious car advantage, was the 4-race winning streak. During the rest of the season RBR was racing right there in the pack with other cars. In addition to that Vettel had the disadvantage of needing to recover from the back of the field twice at the end of the season. He was given a big challenge this season and delivered.

Any kind of advantage Alonso as a driver may still have compared to Vettel is probably related to experience. Attempts to find differences between top drivers feels like clutching at straws (if I used the expression correctly here), they are all brilliant in their owns ways. Don't see a point in trying to "prove" that driver A is actually faster than driver B by some 0.05 seconds per lap, despite both of them driving completely different cars.

Reminds me a bit of 2003, when Schumacher narrowly won the title, but some people were arguing that Räikkönen and Montoya were superior drivers by being able to take the fight to Schumi and only losing out due to FIA ruling on Michelin tyres, which made Ferrari superior. But now, Schumacher is considered no less than an all-time great.

[rjbetty]

Drivers of the Year

1.Fernando Alonso - Whether the car was more competitive than given credit for or not, his season was outstanding.
2.Lewis Hamilton - I keep hearing estimates of the points Lewis has lost through others' faults, figures like 50, 60 etc. They all strike me as 'conservative' to say the least: Try 150+... Should have taken the title by the time he won in the US.
3.Sebastian Vettel - Less of a car advantage as usual, but did his bit by scoring good points when he couldn't win.

Others
=====
Nico Hulkenberg - di Resta got all the hype, but Hulk delivered the goods and the standout performances. Let's see Paul do what Nico's done in Brazil.
Pastor Maldonado - For his pure speed, and annihilation of Bruno Senna. And for delivering that win for Williams. This shouldn't be a surprise as he outpaced Barrichello in 2011.
Charles Pic - I'm glad some people have noticed how well this guy has been doing. Has shown panache and has been brilliant at being error-free as well.
Michael Schumacher - Basically even with qualifying specialist Nico now, and superior in the races. Outstanding for his age. A shame it finally seemed to catch up with him towards the end of the year because he has been very convincing this year. Deserved more than his single 3rd place podium. 13th in the championship was the most unrepresentative result of the year.
Romain Grosjean - Here for his speed and the first half of the season, almost always beating Kimi. Tailed off pretty badly though as the Finn found his stride. I think it's quite absurd how he might be replaced by Kobayashi.
Sergio Perez - Undeniably brilliant podiums, but hard to tell how much is the car too. Crashy racecraft at other places cost him and the team. McLaren will show the truth.

This has been a year where many drivers have shone and had their moments actually, but I've picked the best.

Underrated Drivers Top 3 IMO
======================
1.Nico Hulkenberg - I felt this the whole year, but Brazil confirmed it. I believe in this guy and it won't take too long for him to start winning.
2.Narain Karthikeyan - MASSIVELY derided even though he's a very decent, sensible and as hard as it may be to believe, talented driver.
3.Vitaly Petrov - Because he does pay for a drive: But he has been close to Kovalainen and more than a match for him in races. Has gone un-noticed.

[Knock-on]

I don't know how is it possible not to name Seb as the driver of the year together with Alonso.

Because he wasn't. Simples.

Lewis and Fred were exceptional this year and IMHO would have wrapped the season up a couple of races ago if they were in the Red Bull. Seb has made lots of mistakes this year. Hell, even his Poles were littered with little mistakes, missed apex's and going off track. The last 2 races he was sodding lucky to actually finish and not retire because of his cock-ups. He's got lucky in the best car and people wonder why I say he's got a glass jaw.

Kimi has been great this year as well and although I give a bit of grief to Pastor, he's hung his balls out like a stripper in a womens club. When it comes together it's amazing but all too often it's calamity. The new JPM.

Massa has done better in the last few races too but I predict he'll be back to normal next year.

There have been a few individual drives that have impressed and Hulk deserves a mention too but that's about it.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Lewis and Fred were exceptional this year and IMHO would have wrapped the season up a couple of races ago if they were in the Red Bull. Seb has made lots of mistakes this year.

Well they weren't and they didn't, which is why Seb won and not Alonso or Hamilton. Have to find any rule that prevents them from signing up with RB though. How about you slam Ferrari for building a pub or McLaren for effing up every second pitstop? Nobody says Lewis and Fernando weren't brilliant this year, but could we please stop trying to smear the winner? We've suffered through 3 yellow-flag-gates now, it all didn't wash. Now the 'it's only the car'-Spiel gets revived again.
Newsflash - they all made mistakes. How about Fernando outbraking himself in Interlagos - twice, under yellow. Hamilton had his fair share of mistakes, too and they all missed the odd apex here or there.
We've had the most brilliant season since the dawn of time and people still moan about the wrong guy having won. It's ridiculous. Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Kimmi - they all would have been worthy winners, but since there is only one trophy, three guys are going to be disappointed. Fact is neither of them would've won only because of the car, as you still need the carbon unit hacking away at the wheel and as Mark and Felippe have so aptly proven, not everyone can win the title in a Red Bull and not everyone can do miracles in a Ferrari.

[kfzmeister]

We've had the most brilliant season since the dawn of time and people still moan about the wrong guy having won.

It was the car.

[zako85]

It was the car.

This would have worked in 2011, but trying to diminish Vettel's accomplishments now with blanket statements will not accomplish anything, except perhaps discredit the poster.

To me this is not so obvious that RBR was consistently the fastest car for much of season. Until race 14 (Singapore) I wasn't clear to me if there is a fastest car at all. The five races starting with Singapore the pace of RBR cars was amazing, but towards the end of year it wasn't clear if McLaren or RBR was the fastest car. So Vettel may have had an advantage over Ferrari towards the end of year, but a lot of it was offset by bad luck such as losing the engine in European GP or losing pole in Abu Dhabi. The lost engine in European GP alone cost Vettel over 30 points relative to Alonso (not only Vettel lost his 25 points, but Alonso moved up from 2nd to 1st place). If team put enough fuel into his car in qualifying in Abu Dhabi, perhaps the championship would have ended before Brazil.

[The Black Knight]

This would have worked in 2011, but trying to diminish Vettel's accomplishments now with blanket statements will not accomplish anything, except perhaps discredit the poster.

To me this is not so obvious that RBR was consistently the fastest car for much of season. Until race 14 (Singapore) I wasn't clear to me if there is a fastest car at all. The five races starting with Singapore the pace of RBR cars was amazing, but towards the end of year it wasn't clear if McLaren or RBR was the fastest car. So Vettel may have had an advantage over Ferrari towards the end of year, but a lot of it was offset by bad luck such as losing the engine in European GP or losing pole in Abu Dhabi. The lost engine in European GP alone cost Vettel over 30 points relative to Alonso (not only Vettel lost his 25 points, but Alonso moved up from 2nd to 1st place). If team put enough fuel into his car in qualifying in Abu Dhabi, perhaps the championship would have ended before Brazil.

Vettel didn't lose pole position in AD. He never had it to begin with. We could argue about his bad luck all day but realistically Vettel is a particularly lucky driver. There is no doubt that for the whole season the Ferrari has been the third best car on the grid. Vettel started getting victories only when the pace of the car increased. Then McLaren came back at them again in the final two races but nowhere throughout the year do I remember Ferrari having the fastest car, especially during qualifying. Anyway, this has all be discussed before but like it or not, Vettel was very lucky this year to win the WDC and the best driver on the grid throughout the year was without doubt Alonso but in the end you couldn't begrudge either of them the title. Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel and Kimi all drove like champions this year.

In the end, there can be only one...

[Tumbo]

We've had the most brilliant season since the dawn of time and people still moan about the wrong guy having won. It's ridiculous. Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Kimmi - they all would have been worthy winners, but since there is only one trophy, three guys are going to be disappointed.

Excellent statement; and I love how everyone talks about Vettel and how lucky he was; not lucky enough to have any team-mate take a penalty to give him the clean line at any race ;) swings and roundabouts just turns out that Vettel pushed through enough to win the title

[Knock-on]

Well they weren't and they didn't, which is why Seb won and not Alonso or Hamilton. Have to find any rule that prevents them from signing up with RB though. How about you slam Ferrari for building a pub or McLaren for effing up every second pitstop? Nobody says Lewis and Fernando weren't brilliant this year, but could we please stop trying to smear the winner? We've suffered through 3 yellow-flag-gates now, it all didn't wash. Now the 'it's only the car'-Spiel gets revived again.
Newsflash - they all made mistakes. How about Fernando outbraking himself in Interlagos - twice, under yellow. Hamilton had his fair share of mistakes, too and they all missed the odd apex here or there.
We've had the most brilliant season since the dawn of time and people still moan about the wrong guy having won. It's ridiculous. Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Kimmi - they all would have been worthy winners, but since there is only one trophy, three guys are going to be disappointed. Fact is neither of them would've won only because of the car, as you still need the carbon unit hacking away at the wheel and as Mark and Felippe have so aptly proven, not everyone can win the title in a Red Bull and not everyone can do miracles in a Ferrari.

I'm sorry you don't feel MY OPINION is valid but I stand by it anyway :p

Nobody is trying to smear Vettel. What nonsense! All I said was that other drivers drove better this year and Seb has made a lot of mistakes, especially in the last couple of races. He was very, very lucky to finish both of them, especially in the positions he did.

If you don't agree with that or don't like it, I really don't care :D

[kfzmeister]

Actually the fastest car throughout the season was the McLaren, yet Red Bull definitely second fastest. Some distance behind was the Ferrari. While Macca self destructed, Red Bull was the faster car than Ferrari. It was painfully obvious to me at Austin. Seb couldn't just cruise to victory, he really needed to push cause Hamilton was in his arse the whole race. Take the Mclaren out of the race and Seb probably would have won 10 seconds ahead of Alonso.
I thought i read somewhere that Alonso was gonna post a Hamilton-like tweet around the time of the India GP that would have revealed that Ferrari had not a single rear aero update since the summer. Imo they really lost out to Newey (continued ingenuity) in the development sense, therefore suggesting that Seb won due to the car is not really invalid. Of course, he's a good driver and some (much) luck all added into it as well.
I've licked my wounds. Vettel won three times in a row. Good news for us is that this whole thing is not over. Can't wait for next year. Alonso's the best driver in F1. :D

[dj_bytedisaster]

I think that was the most considerate post we had in here for a while :) All this talk about who had the dominant car is academic. We had 7 different winners this year, so for most part of the season there was no such thing as a dominant car. The Mclaren of '88 and the Williamses of 92 and 93 and the ferraris in the noughts - now that were properly dominant cars.

Sent from my keyboard using my fingers.

[kfzmeister]

It actually was a pleasure to watch in Austin. Every time it came around, it got closer to Vettel.


The Red Bull was the fastest car at times this season, notably the Asian races in October, but not the fastest car of the season. That honour goes to McLaren, it’s just that they were unable to exploit it. Lewis Hamilton should have won the 2012 world championship. His driving this year was of the highest standard, gone were the errors and anger of 2011, to be replaced by some sublime speed.


The McLaren was the fastest car at the start and end of the season and in the middle too. It was eclipsed by the Red Bull in early summer and in October, but apart from that it was the car of the year.

[wedge]

There were weekends where RBR were equal to McLaren on race pace, McLaren better car in quali.

Though you could argue that on those weekends Vettel didn't quite manage to maximise the car over a single lap. It was when the car was developed and suited to Vettel's driving style did we see him back to his devastating best.

Vettel arguably is the best driver over a single lap but perhaps with the right car.

[dj_bytedisaster]

The Red Bull as a package was optimized for sing-lap devastation. That's why Fernando managed to keep up so well in an arguably slower Ferrari. The RB's only could use their potential from the front, because they were optimized for cornering speed and the trade-off was lack of top-speed, which hurts in the races.
Ferrari meanwhile was miles better in terms of race speed compared to its one-lap speed, something which Alonso used like a champ.

[F1boat]

And that's why we have world championship standings... we can argue till the end of times, but in the end the guy with the most points is a deserving champion...

[wedge]

The Red Bull as a package was optimized for sing-lap devastation.

Valencia, Asia with the engine mapping and DDRS Vettel looked unbeatable.

Without that rear end grip can Seb extract the maximum? Webber looked far more competitive head to head with Seb earlier in the year.

Red Bull started 2012 poorly by their standards. Their toys were taken away, in the form of the exhaust-blown diffuser around which the aerodynamic philosophy of their car was developed.

As a result of that, the car lacked out-and-out performance on new tyres in qualifying which affected their philosophy of how they run the car, which is to stick it on pole and control the race from the front.


At the start of the season, they didn't have a car to exploit that approach. But they turned it around and that's what it's about.

You're going into a new season and if you haven't shown you can turn it around, how can you have confidence in what you're doing?

Vettel turned around his season compared to Webber, who was a bit stronger in the first half of the season.

Red Bull developed the car to suit Vettel, as they're always going to do.

They are Vettel fans. He drives the Red Bull concept - he turns in on the brakes, which gives understeer, then when he gets the brakes off, the front grips, the car rotates around the nose and he nails the throttle because he's got confidence that the rear aerodynamics will make the back grip.

Alonso could drive like this, too. But the Ferrari doesn't have the rear downforce to allow it.

Following the big developments at the rear that Red Bull made from Singapore onwards, that's what happened with the car again, even if not to the same extent as in 2011. That's what design chief Adrian Newey told Vettel would happen if he drove that way - and Vettel believed him and did it.

But Webber does not have the confidence to drive that way - it's counter-intuitive.

BBC Sport - Alonso struggled with his Ferrari while Vettel mastered his Red Bull (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20501817)


Hamilton claims Vettel often misses apexes.


Hamilton has now fanned the flames by stating that Vettel “misses” a lot of corners on his flying laps yet still manages to claim pole. “I think lots of people in the paddock wish they could have Adrian’s car so they could show that they’re just as competitive as Sebastian,” Hamilton said. “Fernando, for me, is more accurate. He hits all the apexes [the perfect racing line through a corner]. Sebastian misses four apexes on a single lap and still goes quickest. He goes off and he still goes quickest. And I think ‘Holy crap, I couldn’t do that lap even if I was on the limit’. His car is just that far ahead of everyone else’s. They made such a big step for some reason.”

Lewis Hamilton says Fernando Alonso is better than Sebastian Vettel - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/9652249/Lewis-Hamilton-says-Fernando-Alonso-is-better-than-Sebastian-Vettel.html#)


Bearing that in mind and re-reading James Allen's nominations for Drivers of the Day in Hungary and Belgium and both instances mentions mistakes in quali and strong race pace.

[Knock-on]

I've said it on here before that it's galling that a drivr can make multiple mistkes on his qualifying lap and still claim pole by a good margin.

[The Black Knight]

I've said it on here before that it's galling that a drivr can make multiple mistkes on his qualifying lap and still claim pole by a good margin.

Yeah, there has been an odd occasion that Seb has put together the perfect qualifying lap and it has been magical but I've seen loads of qualifying laps with him on board where he misses apexes as Lewis describes and still gets pole. Lewis is right that Seb doesn't appear to have that precision that others have. I first really noticed this in Spain last year where every lap he had a different line through the last corner onto the start finish straight. He is still mighty quick though so precision or not he still does what he needs to do.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Precision is not always the key. Senna is still regarded as the ultimate qualifier, yet several of his pole-runs were rather wild. Prost was the precision driver. Mansell is another one, who made it through car thrashing rather than clockwork precision.
That Vettel doesn't nail every apex is just confirmation of his driving style. Someone else explained in here that he turns in early, deliberately making the car a bit unstable and then stabilizes it mainly using the breaks. Precision driving would in most cases require late turning.

[wedge]

Senna as wild because that's his driving style and extractimg the mwximum from any car was more natural to him than inSebs case.

Only time i've personally seen Seb miss apexes was in Abu Dhabi and he was apallingly scruffy in quali. Another quali where he doesn't look too comfortable playing catch up.

[N. Jones]

Kamui Kobayashi is my pick.

Points: Perez 66, Kobayashi 60
Qualy: Perez 11, Kobayashi 9
Podiums: Perez 3, Kobayashi 1

Everyone and their brother talked about Sergio Perez all season but Kobayashi was close to him all season.

He, out of everyone who is currently out of a drive, deserves another chance.

Bruno Senna does too. He has been slowly improving. The only problem is he is slowly improving. Teams do not want to wait for potential anymore, which is a shame.

[In The Pits]

For me the Driver of the year was Alonso for always being high in the points, [when not taken out].

Donkey of the year goes to Grosjean for his recklessness followed by schumacher for his recklessness.

[ioan]

I don't know how is it possible not to name Seb as the driver of the year together with Alonso.

It's called bias.

[zako85]

I thought this topic was already closed..

[attachment=1:1ard7wjs]beating_a_dead_horse.jpg[/attachment:1ard7wjs]

[kfzmeister]

You can pay a visit to James Allen's blog about who's driver of the year. Alonso by a landslide, according to the fans.
Why is it so difficult to just give props where props are due. Alonso's the man. Vettel won this year's title, but Alonso's without a doubt the driver of the year. :D
Same thing that happened in 2010.

[P3ws]

Ballsiest move and pass of the year. Kimi passing schu at SPA going in to Eau Rogue.
Nice clip here.. youtube.com/watch?v=rHVXXWLr29M

[zako85]

Ballsiest move and pass of the year. Kimi passing schu at SPA going in to Eau Rogue.
Nice clip here.. youtube.com/watch?v=rHVXXWLr29M

Great pass. This video does not do it a justice (it's at the very end BTW). It looked awesome from above. Best pass of year in my book. Kimi somehow managed to pass Schumy before the DRS zone started, and then used the DRS to escape in the clear road. I think this episode showed that despite their prowess, Lotus cars lacked straight line speed in 2013.