[Official] Driver of the race- Brazilian Grand Prix

[Mike Bell]

I voted for Button after more deliberation than usual. Was impressed enough with Vettel, Alonso, Massa and Hulkenberg to consider one of them. At end of the day, JB's handling of the conditions swung it.

[bauble]

Massa: I'll have to give it to him, superb, skilled, selfless support driving!

Quite agree, maybe second was on the cards, but he allowed Alonso past, and made many awesome passing moves, as well as showing tremendous awareness in the early stages as he helped Fernando make his way through.

Hulkenburg maybe if he had not had his bump with Hammy could shade it, but Button's drive while a worthy one was ONLY what we expect from him. The best car, great car control, super smooth driving, and even after losing time behind the safety car still took a comfortable victory. Typical Jenson, nothing special!

Well it's one man's opinion.

[baclightning]

There may be better drivers in the dry, and there may be better drivers in the full wet. But there's no-one better at getting things just right in changing conditions than Button.

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Great drives by the title contenders, great run from Hulk, awesome job by Petrov in what could be his last F1 drive but have to go with Button who delivered the goods.

I know it's super early but he had the look of next years WDC written all over him with that performance.

Yeah I predict a battle between Button and Vettel next season. Alonso and Webber not far behind.

[wnut]

Vettel for me.

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/186440/..._all_over.html

Honourable mention to Hulkenberg who really took it to Lewis and Jenson.
Likewise Lewis and Jenson. Alonso done over by his team mate again!

Senna - thought you were better than that.

Webber - what were you thinking? Useless team mate!

Sad to see Schu go!

[John Turner]

Some really great drives yesterday, Alonso, Massa, Hamilton and Hulkenburg, but has to be Jense; flawless - well I can't remember one anyway.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Some really great drives yesterday, Alonso, Massa, Hamilton and Hulkenburg, but has to be Jense; flawless - well I can't remember one anyway.

Well, he's not really that good, I mean he's totalled two less points than Lewis over the three seasons although Lewis has a two seasons to one lead. He does sometimes suffer from qualifying woes but he generally doesn't stick the car in places of danger (and then get thumped). He can't make the car look spectacular, nor can he moan and ***** over the radio/twitter or any other public medium, about team decisions. So that means he's not very good doesn't it?

Yup not a wheel wrong yesterday and he may have benefitted from the Hulk/Lewis incident but, lest we forget, he was disadvantaged by the first safety car so swings 'n roundabouts.

Lewis was equally good and the toe-to-toe action with his team mate was a joy to behold.

Vettel drove a storming race as did Alonso, with Massa as his wing man.

Hulkenberg really was the star of the race, I don't believe he should have been punished for the incident, it was three cars into one racing line. Never going to work but we'd complain if he didn't try.

That said, Kimi's drive on the old circuit was pure comedy gold.

My list in no particular order, Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Button and the Hulk. Lewis didn't finish so not on the list.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

"Kimi, (WTF!) what are you doing? Where are you going?"
"Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!"

[Kempi]

Vettel drove a storming race as did Alonso, with Massa as his wing man.

Which leaves the question: where was Vettel's wingman? Busy putting him into awkward situations at the start and at the restart.

[TrapezeArtist]

JB. Despite the safety car taking away the big lead he had earned for himself, he just did what Jenson does best.

Hulkenberg? Part way through the race I thought he was going to get it, but he crashed, his fault, took out another potential winner. That can't deserve DOTR.

Originally Posted by bauble

Massa: I'll have to give it to him, superb, skilled, selfless support driving!

No-one who just brown-noses around trying to manipulate the race result for someone else's benefit will get my vote. I want to see superb skilled selfish driving. That would have applied to Webber too, if he had done anything that looked like superb skilled selfless driving.

Vettel? I'm glad he beat Ferrari to the WDC, but that was not a DOTR drive. Senna had half a car overlap at Curva do Sol just turned in on him. Understandable in the heat of a first lap, but not really the way to defend a 13 point championship lead.

Alonso? Very good drive, but outshone by JB. He fell off the road when he was in a championship winning position (albeit very early in the race).

Hamilton? He was on fire, and very deserving. But in the end he only did half the race (however innocent he may have been), so no.

Raikkonen? Once again the winner of Comedy Moment of the Race.

[GTRMagic]

Mr Senna

Made for a fantastic race, the damaged points leader having to struggle his way from the back to the front in a car with compromised aero and engine power...

For that alone, Mr Senna deserves DotD

[Greem]

I'd have given it to Button for imperiously scooting away and demonstrating fabulous car control in skittish conditions, but Massa and Alonso's drives were so impressive I had to compare them to Hulkenberg, who did immensely well. Then I looked at Hamilton too, whose composure throughout the weekend was perfect, but he got slightly undone in the race.

Further down the field the Caterham "rescue package" impressed me, but in the end I had to give it to...

Vettel. Because he was at the back, and still did just enough to hang on to the WDC.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

....the damaged points leader having to struggle his way from the back to the front in a car with compromised aero and engine power...

Is that actually known for sure?

[p261brm]

Jense, for the simple reason all the media hype/news etc following the race focused on Vettel's WDC, and almost totally ignored the fact there had been a race and who won it.

[Rennen]

Alonso for me, what a masterful drive to 2nd place...he's the World Drivers Champion in my book! He was robbed of 2 Grand Prix!

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Is that actually known for sure?

Either Newey or Horner explained that they'd had to run with an engine map designed to keep the exhaust on the left side as cool as possible, so I think we can infer that would reduce power.

[Hesketh]

Button. Coolest ever.

[bauble]

No-one who just brown-noses around trying to manipulate the race result for someone else's benefit will get my vote. I want to see superb skilled selfish driving. That would have applied to Webber too, if he had done anything that looked like superb skilled selfless driving.

Our opinions differ, as presumably do our individual characters!

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by bauble

Our opinions differ, as presumably do our individual characters!

I agree with you entirely,





that our opinions differ.

[bella]

lets put it this way. if you were about to marry a driver off to your daughter, you'd want to see selfless driving. if you had £10 on him at the bookies you'd want selfish driving

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Greem

Either Newey or Horner explained that they'd had to run with an engine map designed to keep the exhaust on the left side as cool as possible, so I think we can infer that would reduce power.

Fair enough - good job it was raining then!

[JamesH]

Vettel - storming drive - and I'm a big Button/Hamilton fan!

[bauble]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

I agree with you entirely,





that our opinions differ.

As I am guessing, do our ages, I saw my first Grand Prix in 1952, my first motor race in 1951, and my first motor sport race (Manx GP) in 1948.

I guess you could call me old fashioned

Cheers,

Bob.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by bauble

I guess you could call me old fashioned

Cheers,

Bob.

Likewise Bob.

[Razzzor]

Just watched most of the race again. I didn't realise it but Vettel was actually 22nd after the first lap (I thought he was only 17th). Passed everyone and got within 2 secs of Alonso before the safety car came out, despite a damaged car that was a sitting duck on the straights - and that was both of them. Webber got passed on the outside by Nico before they even got to the corner. Same with Massa on Vettel and it wasn't even the main straight.

So I think Vettel did an extraordinary job in that race. Nico too though, even if he did have a wet setup, he was still fast in the dry and holding off the McLarens - who would have expected that after qualifying?

Can't see how Button got DOTR, he and Nico drove well to stay on the slicks in the wet, but Hamilton passed Button (twice I think) and built up a handy cushion over him. Button was well and truly slower than Hamilton and Nico as well.