[Official] Driver of the race : Singapore GP

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

DIR did a great job but the fact that he set no time in Q3 which gave him better strategy options in the race somewhat diminished what he accomplished in the race...for me that is

It's the team that sets the strategy though, so he shouldn't be judged on a failure to set a time in Q3. We are rating driver performance here once the lights go out I think?

Having said that I agree Perez drove very well as usual, he is a real talent.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

It's the team that sets the strategy though, so he shouldn't be judged on a failure to set a time in Q3. We are rating driver performance here once the lights go out I think?

for sure the team made the choice...why waste a set of tires and still end up 10th on the grid. the rules support it so fair play. no doubt Perez and his team would have made a similar choice had he made it into Q3.

really its all subjective and i really have no idea what i will consider a worthy DOTR performance from one GP to the next. this time around i just found myself fixated on what Perez was doing more than any other driver this time around so he gets my vote.

both are very much the real deal

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by John Turner

It's partly because people like you constantly underrate JB, I suspect, Razzzor!

Superb Seb, Brilliant Button, DOTR Di Resta, rest rubbish; alliteration anyway!

Haha maybe I do a bit, he's certainly gone up a bit in my estimation this year, as long as he keeps kicking Hamilton's ass.

I don't get how Button was able to do fly at the end in the 1m 48/9s to close the 10sec gap to Vettel even though he was never going to pass him, yet Hamilton was also 10sec behind Alonso who would have been struggling much more than Vettel.... and did Hamilton try to close the gap to get 4th? No, he snailed around over 2secs a lap slower than Button. He would have easily caught Alonso and passed him if he tried. Maybe they had issues or gave up?

As fast as Red Bull might be, it wasn't that fast in Webber's hands. The McLarens were faster than Webber.

Re Perez... yeah he did put in a good drive actually! Sauber's been the bottom team for a while now, up until this year with Toro Rosso taking that spot. WTF happened to Renault though... at least Senna kicked Petrov's ass.

[bjohnsonsmith]

It has to be Di Resta, I thought Webber did well to make up for his bad start and finish on the podium plus he got a couple of good overtakes.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

Haha maybe I do a bit, he's certainly gone up a bit in my estimation this year, as long as he keeps kicking Hamilton's ass.

I don't get how Button was able to do fly at the end in the 1m 48/9s to close the 10sec gap to Vettel even though he was never going to pass him, yet Hamilton was also 10sec behind Alonso who would have been struggling much more than Vettel.... and did Hamilton try to close the gap to get 4th? No, he snailed around over 2secs a lap slower than Button. He would have easily caught Alonso and passed him if he tried. Maybe they had issues or gave up?

JB knew he couldn't match Vettel for outright pace and was, as ever, on a strategy to extract the best from the second best car on the grid. I think his drive was a 'containing' one looking after tyres and fuel for much of the race, and in an interview that he gave after, he said that it was only over the last 12 laps that the team let him off the leash; I don't think he really expected to catch or pass SV but it did let him know he was there and it was (another) great charge which livened things up a bit. Can't comment on Hamilton; not sure where his head is at the moment.

Just to confirm though, I did vote for Di Resta, although, Perez drive (thanks chillibow) slipped under my radar.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Wonderful Webber?

Surely that should be "Woeful Webber"? Trounced again by his teammate and slower than the McLarens again. If the Red Bull is the best car then Webbers performance was poor, if it isn't the best car then Webber was average and Vettel was exceptional. Had to vote for Vettel.

[JamesH]

Good to see the Webber got one vote, for being just not quite as good as any one else presumably.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Good to see the Webber got one vote, for being just not quite as good as any one else presumably.

He always gets at least one vote in DOTR, even when his name is not there (Other)...

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by deeks6

Precise summary

I am getting very worried about how often we seem to be agreeing lately

[Spritle]

DOTR - Easy choice: DeResta because he's British

HM - My boy Jens, because he is also British and not Hamilton

2nd HM - Seb, because he's neither British nor Hamilton and because I love Land der Berge, all 45 minutes of it!

[werner]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I gave it to Button for a good sensible drive to keep Vettel honest to the end and was hoping that the same thing would happen just like Canada.
However by now he knows how to lead a race and makes very few mistakes.

Not to mention that in Canada he drove on old tyres on a very trickey track, while here in Singapore he drove on tyres that were not that old, and very well preserved.

[werner]

Very difficult choise. A lot of drivers did things to get the honour, but those same drivers also did some things to not deserve my vote for dotd.
Vettel: hardly challenged, faultless race. But that is to be expected from him in the fastest car.
Button: great start, faultless race to p2. But just not quick enought to really push Seb.
Webber: blew the start again. But he came back with some great overtakes. He took Alonso twice, that is not something a lot of drivers can say. the first one was imo the best overtake of the race. Still, 3rd place in the best car of the field.
Di Resta: Great tactics, very well executed. But dotd wiht almost 2 minutes lost to the leader in 30 laps?
Perez: chilibow has perfectly explaind why he was very good to, but again, dotd for a 9th....
Hamilton: I think he overtook the most cars, but he had to because of his own stupidity.

Difficult, but I will vote for Button, the last man standing.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Mr V

The majority will say Di Resta and i can understand that, but we're voting for someone who did something slightly unexpected, although to be fair he had to qualify in the top 10 and 2 of those who qualified ahead of him had major problems.

The real driver of the race was the winner, the guy who is currently head and shoulders ahead of everyone else. No one else can get close to him.

Yup. He has my vote.