[Official] Driver of the race- Brazilian Grand Prix

[bjohnsonsmith]

His inexperience showed but hope he's learned from it, as it is he finished 5th.

[Aysedasi]

Somehow I doubt that he's celebrating tonight.......

[b1ackcr0w]

Button, just. Judged the rain better than anybody, overtook a very motivated Hamster. Kept it out of trouble in a trouble filled race, and won.

[bella]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

His inexperience showed but hope he's learned from it, as it is he finished 5th.

inexperience?! i love it when f1 fans say that. so easy to forget the years of successful wheel to wheel racing in the junior formulae in far closer and more heated situations than f1. it was just an error.

[NPP]

Button? Did very well and I support him normally, but he just inherited the lead.

Hulkenberg? Threw it away.

Hamilton? Could have been, but wasn't to be.

Vettel? Nothing special, earned his WDC with a mature drive but not DotR.

Alonso? Earned his championship place fighting hard and not putting a foot wrong, but flattered by the support he got from ...

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

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by bella

inexperience?! i love it when f1 fans say that. so easy to forget the years of successful wheel to wheel racing in the junior formulae in far closer and more heated situations than f1. it was just an error.

Sure it was an error but I think that's down to inexperience. Here he at one point leading the race, mixing it with F1's top drivers, the pressure must be pretty intense. A successful junior formula driver is one thing but F1, I would have thought, is at a completely different level.

[garcon]

I give it to Fernando Alonso. He did just about everything he possibly could have done today to win the championship. A truly valiant effort.

[stripedcat]

I gave it to Button. Kept his head and did battle with Alonso and his own team mate. Took the lead and and claimed the win.

Honourable mentions for Alonso(amazing driving in a slower car), Massa(really stepped up and helping his team mate), Hamilton(probably missed out on a victory today), Hulk(impressive stuff, even if he threw it away), Vettel(despite his little off, he made an impressive comeback).

[alfettafan]

Originally Posted by NPP

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

+1

[Born Racer]

Jenson Button because I'm Spanish.

[Aysedasi]

....and now calm.......

[Bononi]

Button.


Special mention to Massa.

[VIVA GT]

I'm too torn to vote:
Button - Drove brilliantly in extremely difficult conditions, and was happy to go wheel to wheel with Hammy.
Hamilton - tried his utmost to give his (now) old team hhis final win as a thank-you for their support over all these years. Unfortunate that the Caterham was in the way which prevented him from avoiding Hulkenberg.
Hulkenberg - Got a car that shouldn't have been able to into the lead of the Grand Prix (and more than once). The combination of youthful exhuberance and a Caterham in the way ledad to him causing Hamiltons demise.
Vettel - (now I don't really like 'finger boy', mostly because of his 'finger boy' actions). Drove a really good race after bbeing taken out and forced down to plumb last managed to carry a hobbled car to the end of the race and end up in such a position to win the WDC.
Alonso - (who is lower on my personal list of Formula One drivers I really like than Vettel) appeared to drive his heart out. OK, so The Championship was his to win (and Vettel's to lose), but the guy just didn't give up!
Massa - Now I must admit that I'd written him off as a complete waste of a drive earlier this season, but he drove extremely well today and used a lot of skill to be the perfect team player and assisted Alonso wherever possible.

Then the bottom of my list:

Webber - What was he thinking about? I usually defend Mark, I like his honest "I cocked up, it's my fault pure and simple" attitude, but on more than one occasion today he made his team-mate's job far more difficult than he should have done. Maybe he needs to get back on his bike and get rid of some of his pent-up feelings?

[Razzzor]

I give it to Hulkenberg for actually passing the McLarens (almost twice). A real shame he didn't win it.

I think Vettel is, as expected, not quite getting the respect he deserves. I'll analyze.

In a broken car he went from 18th to, was it 7th or 8th and only 8 secs behind Alonso in a short space of time. He then got disadvantaged again and had to overtake another 4-5 cars more than Alonso did after they pitted, although it was easier for them both since they were on the correct tyres, and emerged only 3secs behind Alonso in 5th. At this point, Vettel is undoubtedly DOTR.

But then the SC car came out and for some reason Vettel wasn't so great in the slicks anymore, being stuck behind Kobayashi and wearing the tyres out. Then he has to make an extra stop because the team put the wrong tyres on, which puts him back in 12th place with Alonso 2nd with less than 20 laps to go. He doesn't panic and storms back to 6th (although some cars did pit). That was a 28secs pit stop which he only had to make because he had no radio and them team didn't know what tyres to put on. Without that extra stop, 28 seconds up the road would have put him in front of Alonso. In a broken car that came from last and facing the wrong way at turn 3.

In the damp, Vettel was dominant, lapping up to a second a lap faster than anyone at both the start and end of the race. Had he got a good start and been up front, I think he would quickly taken the lead of the race and possibly won, provided he didn't lose too much when he was on the slicks.

Alonso on the other hand made a great start from 7th to get 3rd, but that's where his great drive ends. He was slow in the wet, holding the field up behind him for the first 10 laps. The leaders were 45secs ahead of him before the safety car, and then he lost another 20+secs to them after that. On actual pace, Alonso would have been 7th. The MC's, Nico and RB's and actually Massa should all have finished ahead of him. But Button was the only one in the bunch not to gift him positions by not making mistakes. Alonso got 2nd simply by making no errors (apart from running off track twice, but he didn't pay for it).

Massa actually drove pretty well, better than Alonso. Don't forget he was a lap down at one point and last after the first safety car, because Ferrari pitted him at completely the wrong time. Yet he was still within seconds of Alonso, having let him past a couple of times and had to play the lamb role again. I wondered if Massa was intentionally slowing up Kobayashi and Vettel to let Alonso get away after that safety car.

So DOTR easily Nico. Then Vettel, then Massa.

I can't give it to Button because he couldn't keep up with a Force India, and although he did a good strategy in staying out originally when everyone else pitted (which is why others have given it to him, SO DID NICO!!!!

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Webber - What was he thinking about? I usually defend Mark, I like his honest "I cocked up, it's my fault pure and simple" attitude, but on more than one occasion today he made his team-mate's job far more difficult than he should have done. Maybe he needs to get back on his bike and get rid of some of his pent-up feelings?

Haha yeah, don't know where Webber's head was in this race. Strangely when Vettel was stuck behind Kobayashi unable to pass, Webber wasn't really catching them up much. He must have been struggling on the dry track a little as well, so maybe both RB's were set up for wet.

That was ridiculous when he went 3 wide with Vettel in the middle towards turn one. WTF Mark. At least he did a pity spin.

What about Kimi's mini-race by himself on some old part of the track, that's pure Kimi again!!! Even when he says nothing, he's hilarious.

[deeks6]

Vergne

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

Haha yeah, don't know where Webber's head was in this race. Strangely when Vettel was stuck behind Kobayashi unable to pass, Webber wasn't really catching them up much. He must have been struggling on the dry track a little as well, so maybe both RB's were set up for wet.

That was ridiculous when he went 3 wide with Vettel in the middle towards turn one. WTF Mark. At least he did a pity spin.

What about Kimi's mini-race by himself on some old part of the track, that's pure Kimi again!!! Even when he says nothing, he's hilarious.

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

[GT6]

the hulk gets my vote, brilliant start and yes one mistake but made the race for me

[TrueBlueFlyer]

for a few races now Vettel keeps it together with more than just luck

good job for him, even though Alonso was a close second with so many times making it seem like he's got the championship

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by garcon

I give it to Fernando Alonso. He did just about everything he possibly could have done today to win the championship. A truly valiant effort.

I wonder what might have been had he pitted for wets a lap earlier at the end there.

[garcon]

By such small margins....

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I wonder what might have been had he pitted for wets a lap earlier at the end there.

Probably nothing as he was 20 seconds behind the leaders, but also Button/Nico stayed out a lap longer than even Alonso did, but they weren't struggling on the slicks, they were still doing good enough lap times. Perhaps it was Alonso on the softer tyres that made him slow so much, or just taking it too easy in the wet?

[bella]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Sure it was an error but I think that's down to inexperience. Here he at one point leading the race, mixing it with F1's top drivers, the pressure must be pretty intense. A successful junior formula driver is one thing but F1, I would have thought, is at a completely different level.

as they new guys always point out when asked, yes it's pretty cool to be racing against the big boys but you forget rapidly that's who they are. they're just another car. f1 is pretty tame and unimaginative compared to some of the gp2 races nico raced in.

inexperience is something they have when it comes to man management, carrying an entire team on their shoulders and knowing how to react and learn about the things behind the scenes. the actual racing on track is the one area where most - not all - of the newer drivers have a huge amount of experience. if anything, they're fresher than the old farts who have been in f1 for years and forgotten how to handle the cut and thrust do or die racing.

[Neil22]

Jenson for me. Kudos to Vettel and Massa too.

[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.