[Official] Driver of the race: Austrian Grand Prix 2014

[Born Racer]

Who is your driver of the race?

[andy666]

Valterri Bottas , great drive and a Williams on the podium , also respect to Nico , Lewis and Sergio .

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Bottas

[Teretonga]

The three best performances came from Hamilton (brilliant start) Perez (gutsy drive from 17th to run 1st at one point, finished 6th, and fastest lap), and probably Bottas. I gave my vote to Perez.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Nico's is just a bit too obvious for me, Bottas got his first podium but I gave it to Perez, an impressive drive from 17th to eventually 6th.

[Beryl]

Has to be Perez. Great drive.

Runner up is Alonso. Beating one of the best drivers in F1 by 30 seconds must be impressive, right?

[rwintle]

I voted Hamilton - 9th to 2nd was pretty good even if most of it was during the first lap. Agree Bottas and Perez had impressive days (and well done Bottas for his first podium).

Anti-driver of the day - Massa. Pole position... beaten by his team-mate.

[Lancsbreaker]

I'll give it to Nico, because he didn't seem to put a foot wrong.......though very closse between him and Lewis who performed a brilliant recovery from a poor starting position.

[garcon]

Because the polls says "Driver of the race" I voted Hamilton. A stunning start and an excellent damage limitation performance.

If it was "Driver of the weekend" it definitely wouldn't be Hamilton, because it was his own stupid fault he started in 9th.

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by rwintle

Anti-driver of the day - Massa. Pole position... beaten by his team-mate.

Really? Massa was bit unlucky with stops and traffic.

Hulkenburg went from 10th to 9th, which isn't bad until you realize his teammate went 16th to 6th. Raikkonen finished 30 seconds behind his teammate. Chilton finished 35 seconds behind his and Grosjean was a full minute behind Maldonado.

[TrapezeArtist]

Rosberg. In the later stages of the race he held off Hamilton and maintained a safe gap while conserving his car.

Hamilton was also worthy, mainly for the first couple of laps.

Bottas did a tidy job too. If he'd worn the lederhausen, then he would have probably got the vote.

Perez did another of his tyre preservation specials, even though he ended up two-stopping like everyone else. Much better result (based on grid position) than his highly respected team-mate.

Alonso continued to make Kimi look second-rate.

[wnut]

Rosberg I guess.

Honourable mentions to Massa and Bottas for quali and the start followed by dodgy strategy.
Lewis great start and first lap! But weekend ruined by him as Garcon said above.
Pretty ordinary weekend from a driver point of view, probably Lewis' first lap was the highpoint!

[Neil22]

Bottas, but kudos to Perez for keeping me awake.

[Born Racer]

Fernando Alonso for me. Beat his World Champion team-mate by 5 places and was hanging onto the coat-tails of some stronger cars.

Originally Posted by garcon

Because the polls says "Driver of the race" I voted Hamilton. A stunning start and an excellent damage limitation performance.

If it was "Driver of the weekend" it definitely wouldn't be Hamilton, because it was his own stupid fault he started in 9th.

I've sometimes wondered if we ought to do it as driver of the Grand Prix weekend rather than of only the race.

[chunterer]

If Veeyat had finished. ....
Toss up between Checo and Fernando for moi.
Bottas fimally netting what he's promised for ages.

[Notso Swift]

Hamilton's first lap almost got it, but does have the best equipment to do that, so went with Bottas for the fight he gave in the middle and a genuine "race winning performane"*

*except Merc

[Airhead]

Bottas - a great drive for a (hopefully) resurgent team. As for Vettel? Now he is having to deal with the usual (for most) problems of a not so spectacular car - and a team trying to make it right each race.

[Aysedasi]

I would have gone Hamilton for that effortless first lap surge and the way he kept Nico honest all race, but it's always good to give the honour to newer 'blood'. Bottas drove an excellent race to get his first podium, so he gets my vote.


PS I see you haven't even tried to justify the automatic Kimi vote this time Pete - would have been pretty difficult!

PS 2 - I assume the vote for Vettel was clicking the wrong button - finger trouble!

[Greem]

Bottas gets my vote, for not panicking in any way as the race wore on. Smart drive.

[BertMk2]

Bottas just about shades Perez and gets the vote.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Perez.

Great drive from the back, showed a lot of maturity after being stitched up in Montreal. Bodes well for the future.

[F J Nedos]

Originally Posted by andy666

Valterri Bottas , great drive and a Williams on the podium , also respect to Nico , Lewis and Sergio .

+ 1 verbatim.

[F1Pete]

PS I see you haven't even tried to justify the automatic Kimi vote this time Pete - would have been pretty difficult!

PS 2 - I assume the vote for Vettel was clicking the wrong button - finger trouble![/QUOTE]

[Aysedasi]

Love is blind eh?......

[stripedcat]

This is a tricky one.

Hamilton - Superb charge on the first lap. Yes - he does have the best car - but it was without DRS on not the easiest track to overtake. A good strong finish to 2nd and managed to keep his teammate worried for most of the race.

Rosberg - Well, he did win after all. Managed a good pass on Pérez. Kept his teammate behind him.

Pérez - Lead some of the race - and came from 16th to 6th and beat his teammate. Sergio knows how to be gentle on those tyres.

Alonso - A really strong finish. Only dropped one place from his qualifying position. The guy is always so strong in a race - and even with a second tier car. Still, probably the best all round driver in F1 at the moment.

Bottas - A superb performance in qualifying. Plus, a podium finish and only 8 seconds behind the class leading cars.


On balance - and I suppose I should acknowledge some new talent here - I'll give it to Bottas. But it was a very tough choice out of all of those drivers for that race.