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Zico
22nd November 2014, 15:27
At risk of this thread being a tad premature. Who has impressed you most this year and why?

Kyviat has shown a few glimpses of his undeniable raw talent but as a proper rookie still looks like has a bit of learning and reigning in to do, next year will certainly be very interesting indeed at Red Bull. We all know what Alonso, Hamilton, Rosberg and the others are capable of and so their performances this year have not impressed me half as much as Daniel Ricciardo.
The hugely likable Aussie has produced a series of stunning drives completely eclipsing his 4 time WDC team mate, has made very few mistakes if any?... while showing the speed, maturity and racecraft up there with the very best but more experienced WDC's on the grid. He seems to have all the atributes required and with a bit of luck with being with the right team at the right time he looks to be a real contender for future WDC crowns.

Your thoughts?

airshifter
22nd November 2014, 16:48
Not at all premature if you ask me.

Without a doubt the stand out driver to me is also Ricciardo. Impressive and mature driving beyond his experience in the sport, and has hardly made a mistake all year. All that much more impressive when we see who he is teamed with, and they fact that he can out drive Vettel in the same equipment.

I think for me, the #2 pick would be Bottas. Though much more quiet and reserved he has also soundly beaten a driver with a solid track record, though nowhere on the level of Vettel. And he's another guy that is easy to like and just seems to get the job done. Another flying Finn in the making as long as he can keep a good car under him.

And #3, only due to not knowing if it was humanly possible to do better.... Alonso. We've come to expect him to get more out of the car than the car is capable of, and he continues to do so. Among the crew of previous and contending WDC's, he is consistently the guy I would want in my car if I owned a team.

Another solid year for Vettel, Button, Hulk, and maybe even Felipe. Button in particular has impressed me this season, quietly doing well in the McLaren. Not to take anything away from Lewis and Nico at the front of the pack, but with such dominant cars it always leaves me wondering just how hard they have to battle at all, and where their current drivers skill set is as as compared to the rest.

Zico
22nd November 2014, 17:31
Not at all premature if you ask me.

Without a doubt the stand out driver to me is also Ricciardo. Impressive and mature driving beyond his experience in the sport, and has hardly made a mistake all year. All that much more impressive when we see who he is teamed with, and they fact that he can out drive Vettel in the same equipment.

I think for me, the #2 pick would be Bottas. Though much more quiet and reserved he has also soundly beaten a driver with a solid track record, though nowhere on the level of Vettel. And he's another guy that is easy to like and just seems to get the job done. Another flying Finn in the making as long as he can keep a good car under him.

And #3, only due to not knowing if it was humanly possible to do better.... Alonso. We've come to expect him to get more out of the car than the car is capable of, and he continues to do so. Among the crew of previous and contending WDC's, he is consistently the guy I would want in my car if I owned a team.

Another solid year for Vettel, Button, Hulk, and maybe even Felipe. Button in particular has impressed me this season, quietly doing well in the McLaren. Not to take anything away from Lewis and Nico at the front of the pack, but with such dominant cars it always leaves me wondering just how hard they have to battle at all, and where their current drivers skill set is as as compared to the rest.



Wow, we are definately on the same wavelength.. that is 100% my exact feelings with regards to #2 and #3 also, I really couldn't add anything to your driver appraisal.

:)

dj_bytedisaster
22nd November 2014, 18:09
At risk of this thread being a tad premature. Who has impressed you most this year and why?

Kyviat has shown a few glimpses of his undeniable raw talent but as a proper rookie still looks like has a bit of learning and reigning in to do, next year will certainly be very interesting indeed at Red Bull. We all know what Alonso, Hamilton, Rosberg and the others are capable of and so their performances this year have not impressed me half as much as Daniel Ricciardo.
The hugely likable Aussie has produced a series of stunning drives completely eclipsing his 4 time WDC team mate, has made very few mistakes if any?... while showing the speed, maturity and racecraft up there with the very best but more experienced WDC's on the grid. He seems to have all the atributes required and with a bit of luck with being with the right team at the right time he looks to be a real contender for future WDC crowns.

Your thoughts?

I disagree. There's no denying that Danny has driven way better than even the insiders expected, but I think his achievements are sort of inflated. First of all, it was left to his team mate to have most of the DNF's, so VET has been beaten 'under value', much like Webber in '12 and '13. Add to that, that RB hedged all their hopes early on on RIC. For instance he was given the first in-season test at Bahrain all to himself. Vettel never got to test until after Barcelona. Add to that that the win in Canada was Vettel's. RIC was gifted the win by the team bothching up the pitstop of the German. They publicly appologized, but the history books wll still say he was beaten by RIC wen he actually wasn't (on the track at least). The same happened again at Monza - not for the win - but the team gave Vettel a risky strategy that backfired.
In the second half of the season RIC manages to score a measly 10 points more than VET and that included a win and VET being shafted by the SC in Hungary and by the team in Monza. Realistically, Vettel has been the stronger one after the break as has happened so often in the past.

rjbetty
22nd November 2014, 19:16
I disagree. There's no denying that Danny has driven way better than even the insiders expected, but I think his achievements are sort of inflated. First of all, it was left to his team mate to have most of the DNF's, so VET has been beaten 'under value', much like Webber in '12 and '13. Add to that, that RB hedged all their hopes early on on RIC. For instance he was given the first in-season test at Bahrain all to himself. Vettel never got to test until after Barcelona. Add to that that the win in Canada was Vettel's. RIC was gifted the win by the team bothching up the pitstop of the German. They publicly appologized, but the history books wll still say he was beaten by RIC wen he actually wasn't (on the track at least). The same happened again at Monza - not for the win - but the team gave Vettel a risky strategy that backfired.
In the second half of the season RIC manages to score a measly 10 points more than VET and that included a win and VET being shafted by the SC in Hungary and by the team in Monza. Realistically, Vettel has been the stronger one after the break as has happened so often in the past.

Man, can you work your magic on the Alonso-Fisichella situation at Renault in 2005-06 for me, and make Fisi out to really have been the better driver? Pleeeeeeeease!

Zico
22nd November 2014, 19:31
I disagree. There's no denying that Danny has driven way better than even the insiders expected, but I think his achievements are sort of inflated. First of all, it was left to his team mate to have most of the DNF's, so VET has been beaten 'under value', much like Webber in '12 and '13. Add to that, that RB hedged all their hopes early on on RIC. For instance he was given the first in-season test at Bahrain all to himself. Vettel never got to test until after Barcelona. Add to that that the win in Canada was Vettel's. RIC was gifted the win by the team bothching up the pitstop of the German. They publicly appologized, but the history books wll still say he was beaten by RIC wen he actually wasn't (on the track at least). The same happened again at Monza - not for the win - but the team gave Vettel a risky strategy that backfired.
In the second half of the season RIC manages to score a measly 10 points more than VET and that included a win and VET being shafted by the SC in Hungary and by the team in Monza. Realistically, Vettel has been the stronger one after the break as has happened so often in the past.


It's amazing how differently we see things, I suspect you are in the tiny minority here.




Man, can you work your magic on the Alonso-Fisichella situation at Renault in 2005-06 for me, and make Fisi out to really have been the better driver? Pleeeeeeeease!


We are all entitled to our opinions however amusing they might seem. There is/was? a forum member on here with a sig that sald you cant argue with results, DJ has just demonstrated once again that they really ought to change that sig.. ;)

truefan72
22nd November 2014, 20:37
It's amazing how differently we see things, I suspect you are in the tiny minority here.






We are all entitled to our opinions however amusing they might seem. There is/was? a forum member on here with a sig that sald you cant argue with results, DJ has just demonstrated once again that they really ought to change that sig.. ;)

lol

I'm still here,

just very quiet these days with work and stuff, plus I don't want to get my blood pressure up before the finale.
I will have plenty to say after the race tomorrow, however it turns out.I'll let others do the talking for now

As to DJ, he might want to apply that same logic to his boy for the 2013, 2012, and 2011 years
anyway, its all about hailing the german drivers above all kind of reason for him. I've never seen this kind of dedication to warping reality to fit an agenda.
It is one thing to believe them in your heart, it is another to go on a crusade, post after post to convince others of this delusion
ok I've said my peace

Doc Austin
22nd November 2014, 21:19
I'm betting if someone adds up the responses to this thread, Alonso will be the winner.

Ricciardo has been utterly brilliant, and probably most deserving of DOTY.

However, I'm going to go with Hamilton instead, just in case he manages to lose the championship after winning 10 races. If Hamilton does win the championship, I'm going to switch to Ricciardo.

All of this is, IMHO, but of course.

Doc Austin
22nd November 2014, 21:27
I disagree. There's no denying that Danny has driven way better than even the insiders expected, but I think his achievements are sort of inflated.

Three wins in anything but a Mercedes is a pretty good tally, especially considering that Rosberg only has five, and that IS in a Merc.

Tazio
22nd November 2014, 21:46
I tend to agree with Dj that DR is a little over rated. He has had a fantastic year, but with the recent revelation that RB have been cheating their asses off, his accomplishments are now tainted. I think he may be the driver of the year but these things are massively difficult to decipher. Why has The Hulk suddenly become a below average driver? Kimi a piece of shyte, Slash even worse!!The Boss is being taken to the wall by NR. Alonso is still ahead of Bottas and Felipe baby (who drive a rig that is slipperier than an Italians princess' hoochie in heat) in a car that is so top heavy I'm surprised him or Kimi haven't rolled freakin' it yet.
Driver of the year:

Slamiltononsobergmasiardotasttelnado-Butyatanchijean :crazy: :angel:

dj_bytedisaster
22nd November 2014, 21:54
lol

I'm still here,

just very quiet these days with work and stuff, plus I don't want to get my blood pressure up before the finale.
I will have plenty to say after the race tomorrow, however it turns out.I'll let others do the talking for now

As to DJ, he might want to apply that same logic to his boy for the 2013, 2012, and 2011 years
anyway, its all about hailing the german drivers above all kind of reason for him. I've never seen this kind of dedication to warping reality to fit an agenda.
It is one thing to believe them in your heart, it is another to go on a crusade, post after post to convince others of this delusion
ok I've said my peace

The same logic DOES apply to 2011-2013, and if you would read these forums after deactivating your 'hamiton is god' filter, you'd know that I've acknowledged more than once this year that RB is a one-car team, unable to build two proper cars and have been since 2009. Why you accuse me of nationalism is beyond me, but of course as an american you would probably think that everyone else in the world thinks of their country as god's divine gift as well.
As the blindest Hamfosi on this board it is only fitting that you would attack others for their preference in drivers, so I'm going to answer on the same level: Even after Lewis won tomorrow (in a ridiculously superior car), Seb will still have twice as many titles ;)
I think I won't cry.

steveaki13
22nd November 2014, 22:08
My top 3 drivers of 2014 are pretty much decided although the last race can still influence things.

1. Daniel Ricciardo - I can make up my own mind as this is a purely subjective thread. Vettel has been unlucky at times, but IMO Daniel has been terrific. He has outraced many drivers on the grid against my expectations. He has been fast, committed and some of his defense and passing has been amazing. On top of that the 3 non Mercedes wins. He to me is the best performing driver of 2014.

2. Valterri Bottas - I think Valterri only just loses out to Daniel Ricciardo for top spot in my eyes. Take away the wins and they are pretty close. Valterri has got quite a few podiums and raced the Mercedes at times which is tough to do. He has outperformed Massa and has been so fast and consistent.

3. Lewis Hamilton - I am probably going to get bashed for this, but in the last 5 races he has overtaken Alonso for this award IMO. Alonso has stuttered but Lewis has won 10 races this season to his team mates 5. Many coming from behind Nico. I do think he has been the better driver of the two by a small margin.

4th & 5th is tight between Nico & Fernando

Zico
22nd November 2014, 22:23
I tend to agree with Dj that DR is a little over rated. He has had a fantastic year, but with the recent revelation that RB have been cheating their asses off, his accomplishments are now tainted.



Hmm.. Fair comments.
For me these flexi wings accusations, if true, probably call into question RB's position in the manufacturers championship much more than taint DR's own performances. I dont blame either drivers for RB bending the rules and I've still been hugely impressed with his near driving with or without the alleged flexi wing that negated their power dissadvantage.

Oh.. and I assume that Vettel would also have had it too. ;)

Tazio
23rd November 2014, 05:08
Hmm.. Fair comments.
For me these flexi wings accusations, if true, probably call into question RB's position in the manufacturers championship much more than taint DR's own performances. I dont blame either drivers for RB bending the rules and I've still been hugely impressed with his near driving with or without the alleged flexi wing that negated their power dissadvantage.

Oh.. and I assume that Vettel would also have had it too. ;)

;) :beer:

kfzmeister
23rd November 2014, 06:28
I thought this was about DOTY. Can't figure out why Vteel is even mentioned here.
As others have already said, RIC has had a stellar showing this year......

Tazio
23rd November 2014, 06:57
Sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrry, my driver of the year is without a doubt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Bianchi

jens
23rd November 2014, 17:28
Driver of the year. For me there is a joint trio, who shares the honour.
Alonso, Hamilton and Ricciardo.

Alonso - as great as ever, beat Räikkönen convincingly and collected a lot of points in a car, which clearly was nothing more than average in F1 field. Many say 2012 was his best season, but 2014 may well be up there.

Hamilton - despite car advantage very good and consistent in races, compared to Rosberg. Not as spectacular in qualifying as people have usually expected him to be though. But still fast.

Ricciardo - very complete driver, very good racecraft and consistency. Outraced Vettel himself over a year, which is a brilliant achievement in itself.

---

Bottas was also good, but he was outraced by Massa on quite a few occasions, so doesn't quite match the other three.

I also think Button had a kind of an impressive season, which has fallen under the radar. Very consistent results and points, consistently outraced team-mate Magnussen. I think this Button's season was very close to his best seasons (incl 2004, 2006, 2011).

rjbetty
23rd November 2014, 17:41
A few nominations,

btw what do we mean when we say driver of the year? Is it the driver who impressed the most, or the driver who we think actually drove to the highest level overall (giving experienced drivers great advantage)?

For being impressive - Ricciardo, easy.

I'm not sure he's the absolute best driver in F1 now yet tho, but he's up there. I mean I don't think he's now actually better than Alonso.

Alonso - So much for the close fight with Kimi. This season reflects well on Fernando and I think his new team boss should be ashamed with himself.

Hamilton - Yep he had the best car, but deserves a nomination for the 4 races between Malaysia-Spain alone, with the way he pegged that gap back, only to have it all undone again each time. He has suffered at the hands of haters inside and outside of F1. His 2nd title is as much a triumph over people in life who try to pull others down and extinguish their spirit as it is on the track. Kinda inspiring to me. :)

Bottas - I rated him in his first season. I think he's better than Hulkenberg was at the same point in his career.

Button was pretty good but I didn't enjoy how much he was outqualified, though he did better towards the end of the year.

I think Grosjean is actually overlooked in 2014.

The Black Knight
23rd November 2014, 17:49
My drivers of the year are Hamilton, Alonso and Riciardo.

There can be no doubt Hamilton with 11 victories takes the honour.

Alonso for absolutely destroying Kimi Raikkonen - great drives throughout the year!

Ricciardo for destroying a 4XWDC and winning 3 races. It was Schumacheresque. How he did that I don't know!

But the two best drivers in the world are on my top 2 again - Hamulton and Alonso!

jens
23rd November 2014, 17:50
Hamilton - ... He has suffered at the hands of haters inside and outside of F1. His 2nd title is as much a triumph over people in life who try to pull others down and extinguish their spirit as it is on the track. Kinda inspiring to me. :)

Well, every (top) driver has so-called "haters". You surely must not have forgotten, how Vettel was received here in the past few years?



I think Grosjean is actually overlooked in 2014.

Actually a good point. A pity each season several drivers have such a bad car that they basically become "unratable" or people forget about them, because they were so far down the field and couldn't fight against competition.

Doc Austin
23rd November 2014, 18:28
Why is there no donkey of the year thread? Did Pastor clinch it too early?

jens
23rd November 2014, 18:34
Why is there no donkey of the year thread? Did Pastor clinch it too early?

Pastor certainly had one of the best fires of the year. About a match to Heidfeld's 2011 Hungary BBQ, also in a Lotus.

The Black Knight
23rd November 2014, 18:41
Pastor clinched donkey of the year before the year started.

He then made that irrevocable in Bahrain!

zako85
23rd November 2014, 19:32
My drivers of the year

Hamilton
Rosberg
Bottas
Ricciardo

Hamilton won his title fair and square, but the other drivers on the list deserve some respect. No one expected in 2012, when Hamilton signed up with Mercedes, that Rosberg could be so close to him. Bottas and Ricciardo are two gems of the season because no one has expected them to do as well as they did. Massa did really well too, showing that without the team orders and driving for a one-car team, like Ferrari, he can stand his ground easily.

zako85
23rd November 2014, 19:36
Driver of the year. For me there is a joint trio, who shares the honour.
Alonso, Hamilton and Ricciardo.

Alonso - as great as ever, beat Räikkönen convincingly and collected a lot of points in a car, which clearly was nothing more than average in F1 field. Many say 2012 was his best season, but 2014 may well be up there.


I am not sure Alonso gets to stand even a top three list, considering that Alonso's Ferrari has proven to be many time a one care team. Alonso did well in 2012, but Massa was thrown under the bus whenever it was possible. Likewise, it happened the same in 2010. I am not implying that Massa was better than Alonso, but by now it's clear that Ferrari is a one-car team, the car is designed for Alonso of course.

truefan72
23rd November 2014, 23:58
My drivers of the year are Hamilton, Alonso and Riciardo.

There can be no doubt Hamilton with 11 victories takes the honour.

Alonso for absolutely destroying Kimi Raikkonen - great drives throughout the year!

Ricciardo for destroying a 4XWDC and winning 3 races. It was Schumacheresque. How he did that I don't know!

But the two best drivers in the world are on my top 2 again - Hamilton and Alonso!
Agreed 1st has to be hamilton:
who, let's not forget, had a few overtakes to win races against equal machinery
and defended a lead with older slower tires against faster younger tires against equal machinery
and managed to come from the back to 3rd in Hungary, and hold off his teammate with a faster car
Rosberg had 1 great race and that was sochi, imo
so on pure pace and critical overtakes, and wins, it has got to go to hamilton

2nd would be Ricciardo, who displayed an uncanny maturity and quality in the RBR, leading to 3 deserved wins, and the only other driver who actually made critical overtakes to win races. Canada and Hungary especially.
3rd would be Bottas, who in retrospect had an excellent season with 6 podiums. and finished 4th in the WDC
4th would be Alonso, who did his best in the Ferrari, but imo had only 2 standout drives all year long, but consistently overachieved given his car
5th would be Button who I usually don't rate that high, but he drove superbly all year and comprehensively beat his teammate. (if I was Mclaren I would sign both button on a one year deal for 2015, and lock up magnussen for the 2015-2018 3 year contract year. make magnusson the 3rd driver, give him some fridays and prepare him for 2016 when button exits/retires. That is the most logical and smart thing to do)

6th would be rosberg, mainly for keeping Hamilton honest, but not much more than that. On race days he has proven to be sufficiently quick in the Mercedes. But not outstanding and never had a special drive outside of sochi, where he actually messed up at the start then ran the rest of the race on the same tires. Incidents in monaco, and spa, count against him. Struggling to get past vergne in hungary also exposed his actual racecraft. Rosberg for sure is quick, and has improved massively this year, but his status...as DJ would say(lol)... has been slightly inflated. Rosberg imo reminds me of a massa circa 2008. Give him a fast car. clean air and pole, and he will/can deliver a race win. But unlike Massa, he actually did not convert many of those poles into race wins. only 3 actually. To his credit, he did what he could do to stay close, and like he said in his comments to sky after today's race, will go into the winter to work on improving his racecraft as that has let him down. His magnanimous comments after today's race have gone someway to alleviate my feelings towards him. Rosberg has always been a fairly likeable character and i think the Championship race and its closeness made him think a bit higher of himself than what was actually occurring vis-a-vis his luck, and racecraft. Also i think he tried to become a more ruthless driver and person which was a bit out of his character. This was most evident by his reactions and emotional turmoil over the treatment he got from fans and media after spa. In 2015 he will be a year wiser and perhaps try and be himself instead of thinking he needed to be a schumacher type to win the championship.

kfzmeister
24th November 2014, 00:45
but by now it's clear that Ferrari is a one-car team, the car is designed for Alonso of course.

Who else? RAI? Come on, you didn't expect RAI to join the team and they all of the sudden change it all toward him?
And surely, you didn't just start watching F1 the last couple of years. What about when Schumacher drove for them? Did Ferrari let the two drivers race every year?
I'm glad you finally figured it out this year, though :-)

Roamy
24th November 2014, 02:40
Alonso is the best driver in F1 - the F1 fags handed Mercedes the championship by freezing engine upgrades. Sorry ass league at the moment.

A FONDO
24th November 2014, 11:24
Alonso is the best driver in F1 - the F1 fags handed Mercedes the championship by freezing engine upgrades. Sorry ass league at the moment.

Nobody is guilty that italian and french engineers produced worse product than Mercedes.

journeyman racer
24th November 2014, 13:20
I disagree. There's no denying that Danny has driven way better than even the insiders expected, but I think his achievements are sort of inflated. First of all, it was left to his team mate to have most of the DNF's, so VET has been beaten 'under value', much like Webber in '12 and '13. Add to that, that RB hedged all their hopes early on on RIC. For instance he was given the first in-season test at Bahrain all to himself. Vettel never got to test until after Barcelona. Add to that that the win in Canada was Vettel's. RIC was gifted the win by the team bothching up the pitstop of the German. They publicly appologized, but the history books wll still say he was beaten by RIC wen he actually wasn't (on the track at least). The same happened again at Monza - not for the win - but the team gave Vettel a risky strategy that backfired.
In the second half of the season RIC manages to score a measly 10 points more than VET and that included a win and VET being shafted by the SC in Hungary and by the team in Monza. Realistically, Vettel has been the stronger one after the break as has happened so often in the past.
lol

journeyman racer
24th November 2014, 13:22
Ricciardo
Hamilton
Bottas

The Black Knight
24th November 2014, 13:32
I disagree. There's no denying that Danny has driven way better than even the insiders expected, but I think his achievements are sort of inflated. First of all, it was left to his team mate to have most of the DNF's, so VET has been beaten 'under value', much like Webber in '12 and '13. Add to that, that RB hedged all their hopes early on on RIC. For instance he was given the first in-season test at Bahrain all to himself. Vettel never got to test until after Barcelona. Add to that that the win in Canada was Vettel's. RIC was gifted the win by the team bothching up the pitstop of the German. They publicly appologized, but the history books wll still say he was beaten by RIC wen he actually wasn't (on the track at least). The same happened again at Monza - not for the win - but the team gave Vettel a risky strategy that backfired.
In the second half of the season RIC manages to score a measly 10 points more than VET and that included a win and VET being shafted by the SC in Hungary and by the team in Monza. Realistically, Vettel has been the stronger one after the break as has happened so often in the past.

http://www.quickmeme.com/img/9a/9a6c4ae6c227f474e583868f1b708e496430962917afb1bd42 4d3dadf83e1840.jpg

The delusion is strong in this one.

airshifter
24th November 2014, 14:14
Hmm.. Fair comments.
For me these flexi wings accusations, if true, probably call into question RB's position in the manufacturers championship much more than taint DR's own performances. I dont blame either drivers for RB bending the rules and I've still been hugely impressed with his near driving with or without the alleged flexi wing that negated their power dissadvantage.

Oh.. and I assume that Vettel would also have had it too. ;)

No, no, no.

You must embrace the conspiracy theory. That is why BOTH RB cars had to start from the pit lane, simply because they were trying to give Ricciardo the upper hand! :laugh:

Mia 01
24th November 2014, 16:51
Given the car he drove, it has to be Daniel Ricciardo.

anfield5
25th November 2014, 03:31
Hard to say who has been best.

Even though I am not a fan and he was in the best car, it is hard to argue against Hamilton.

Ricciardo was mega and his efforts can't be overlooked, not just his 3 wins but, almost every other drive was outstanding and no-one (hardly no-one) could have honestly expected him to blow Seb into the weeds.

Bottas really looked the goods and as with Ricci has 'future world champ' written all over him.

Fred did all he could in a pile of red crap and showed once again that he is possibly the best GP driver of this generation

Whyzars
25th November 2014, 17:06
How McLaren could choose Magnussen over Button is beyond me.

Alonso, Button and Ricciardo were the standouts in their respective team mate battles. In the end, what do we really have to measure against?

Alonso and Ricciardo's performance against former World champions is deserving of DOTY.

My DOTY goes to Alonso...

AndyL
26th November 2014, 11:39
How McLaren could choose Magnussen over Button is beyond me.


Based on Ron Dennis' comments at the weekend (it's 2 drivers from a choice of 4, not 2 from 3) I think Stoffel Vandoorne is probably ahead of Magnussen in the queue. Especially after he secured second place in GP2, the best performance by a rookie in the series since Nico Hulkenberg won it 5 years ago.

N4D13
26th November 2014, 11:51
Based on Ron Dennis' comments at the weekend (it's 2 drivers from a choice of 4, not 2 from 3) I think Stoffel Vandoorne is probably ahead of Magnussen in the queue. Especially after he secured second place in GP2, the best performance by a rookie in the series since Nico Hulkenberg won it 5 years ago.
I'm sure Alonso would be delighted to be racing in McLaren alongside a highly-regarded rookie!

Malbec
26th November 2014, 13:38
How McLaren could choose Magnussen over Button is beyond me.

Because they would save £10 million a year in salary?

For me the driver of the season has to be Hamilton. Although I've always respected him I've always found him difficult to like. He's always been quick but sometimes quite error-prone especially when things off track are messy with his private life and he's been very sensitive to criticism, overly so IMO.

This season he's been a revelation. Although I'm sure even he would agree that qualifying is something he could improve on his racecraft has been impeccable, marred only by his spin in Brazil when pushing hard. A younger Lewis would have let his personal life and the incidents at Monaco and Spa derail his campaign, getting distracted again but this season he just carried on Alonso-like, perhaps even getting more focussed as the season went on. I thought his WDC was thoroughly deserved.

Honourable mentions go to Rosberg who came so close to winning the WDC against a truly formidable opponent. Ricciardo was expected to be Vettel's tailgunner but turned the tables from the very first race. Alonso for being Alonso and putting yet another disappointing Ferrari where it doesn't deserve to go, high up in the points.

AndyL
26th November 2014, 13:54
Because they would save £10 million a year in salary?

That is a good point and I'm sure a major factor, especially if Honda are not interested in bankrolling Button's salary. Although as Ted Kravtiz pointed out, he just saved them more than that - if he'd finished out of the points in Abu Dhabi, as Magnussen did, McLaren would have lost a place to Force India in the constructors' championship.

Edit: actually thinking about it, Ted wan't quite correct - if Button was out of the points, that would have promoted Magnussen into 10th, putting McLaren and Force India level on points, and it would have been Magnussen who saved McLaren's bacon by scoring 2 vital points in Abu Dhabi and getting that 2nd place way back in Australia. It's F1 backwards, as someone once said :D

Tazio
26th November 2014, 17:38
My D'sOTY are:
1)The Boss - He really showed poise down the stretch, and with his ability that is an awesome combination.
1) Fred - Still the most complete driver in the field, at what he did with that POS was plain ridiculous.
3) Danny Boy - What an incredible year, unfortunately I have some doubts about his accomplishments after the car was found to be illegal. Is he that good, or is Seb that average. One indicator may be; if Kimi spanks Seb next year at Ferrari, Seb, and respectively Danny Boy's accomplishments at RB, (along with Webber's) will be marginalized to a degree. I'm willing to wait and see.....Spanky, spanky............:angel:

driveace
26th November 2014, 22:04
Got To Be Hamilton ,Bottas,and Ricciardo for me

easy rider
26th November 2014, 22:59
Got To Be Hamilton ,Bottas,and Ricciardo for me

Me too.

1. Hamilton - With all the setbacks that he had this season, fought through them like the champion that he is.

2. Bottas - Tenacious fighter, a real future pain in the ass for Lewis.

3. Ricciardo - 3 fantastic wins, and shows true Aussie grit........doesn't fear anybody, even though he smiles alot.

Storm
27th November 2014, 09:01
Hamilton - had bad luck but also the best car - but drove it maturely and quickly both - surprisingly cool under pressure too
Alonso - horrible car, bad work environment but still never seemed to give up
Riiciardo - his smile is a bit too much
Bottas

Just happy rosberg did not win by some ridiculous double pt rule, else another Button type champ.

longisland
28th November 2014, 01:54
Hamilton
Given the right car, he will win the championship.
Ricciardo
This is the only teammate who beats Seb. Nuff said
Bottas
A stand out year but still not the complete article. Should have won at least a race.
Bianchi
His point scoring performance was one of the highlights of the season
Kvyat
He has shown pace to earn a drive in RBR. Let's see what he could do in a competitive car
Vergne
IMO, he has the best performance among the mid field drivers & was better than some accomplished drivers like Massa & Raikkonen.
Rosberg
The tipping point was the radio ban. His performance dipped when the ban was imposed. But this is supposed to be a team sport so I hope FIA can lift the ban. It was interesting to watch a driver with natural ability like Hamilton against an intelligent driver like Nico who was able to improve his performance by assimilating data.