[Official] Driver of the race : Abu Dhabi GP

[Wims]

But Petrov did have a good race, it was worth at least an honourable mention, in the same way that Liuzzi got mentioned a couple of races back or whenever it was

[Spritle]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

spritle's assumption concerning your vote may be right in your case,....but neither Spritle nor you can assume it is right for everyone.

Similarly, I cannot discount that for a number of people, their animosity for Alonso may have been a factor in their vote for Petrov.

OK, maybe only 49 people voted for Petrov because of Alonso animosity for the reasons I stated. Drat, I hate it when I'm right.

I voted for Vettel as I think it was the only choice given the circumstances and because he never gave up, gave in, considered Weber or assumed he had no chance to pip Alonso for the WDC. I am genuinely happy for him even though I was rooting for Alonso. Fantastic job Seb!!

Besides, his winning meant Hammo didn't!

Pass the lemons there my good man or are we serving grapes!!

[Teretonga]

Assuming you're right.....and we give you the benefit of the doubt....how would you like your grapes... with lemon or without?

[strider]

I think that's right and it's kinda sad.

I voted for Vettel, but if had to be for someone else it would have been for Kubica, who pulled off a brilliant overtaking manoeuvre (one of the very few in the race) around the outside of Kobayashi.

[Knowlesy]

At times I despair. Honestly, I wish Petrov had been left out of the poll now.

I don't doubt one or two voted because he stopped Alonso being crowned, but the vast majority voted on what was a very good drive from a man who has been under fire all season. I know I did.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

At times I despair. Honestly, I wish Petrov had been left out of the poll now.

I don't doubt one or two voted because he stopped Alonso being crowned, but the vast majority voted on what was a very good drive from a man who has been under fire all season. I know I did.

I'm with you on this.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

At times I despair. Honestly, I wish Petrov had been left out of the poll now.

I don't doubt one or two voted because he stopped Alonso being crowned, but the vast majority voted on what was a very good drive from a man who has been under fire all season. I know I did.

Thanks Knowlesy and Peter.....I'm not alone......

[Taprobane]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

At times I despair. Honestly, I wish Petrov had been left out of the poll now.

I don't doubt one or two voted because he stopped Alonso being crowned, but the vast majority voted on what was a very good drive from a man who has been under fire all season. I know I did.

Agreed, I was waiting and waiting for what I thought was the inevitable mistake and it never came. Very impressive for someone under a lot of pressure for his seat which was in evidence in the interview he gave the BBC.

[Super Hans]

I voted Petrov the driver of the race and Alonso driver of the season.

Work that one out.

[mattt]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

At times I despair. Honestly, I wish Petrov had been left out of the poll now.

I don't doubt one or two voted because he stopped Alonso being crowned, but the vast majority voted on what was a very good drive from a man who has been under fire all season. I know I did.

same reasons

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

I voted Petrov the driver of the race and Alonso driver of the season.

Work that one out.

It's clearly evidence of your pro-British, pro-Hamilton, anti-Alonso fanboy bias...er...

[White flag man]

So all you people are trying to tell me that you voted for a guy that finished sixth, gained the position via a safety car intervention, did not try to pass anyone and could not, due to the circuit, be overtaken by anyone else.
This was then a better drive than someone who dominated the race from start to finish, or someone who held off the attentions of a "somewhat" desperate charger for much of the race before pitting and then finishing ahead of your driver of the day. After all this, you are trying to tell me that that the fact that Petrov finished ahead of Teflonso, had nothing to do with your vote. I think I smell, as they would say at Renault, "merde de Taureau."

[Knowlesy]

Think that is just from your post mate.

[Aysedasi]

Perfect drive from Vettel
Seriously lacklustre from Webber and Teflonso.
Good efforts by Hamilton and Button

But Petrov has to have the vote for me. Intense pressure for a large part of the race keeping at bay the bookies favourite for the WDC. Didn't put a foot wrong and at a time when he seriously needed to sell himself - brilliant job.

Originally Posted by White flag man

So all you people are trying to tell me that you voted for a guy that finished sixth, gained the position via a safety car intervention, did not try to pass anyone and could not, due to the circuit, be overtaken by anyone else.
This was then a better drive than someone who dominated the race from start to finish, or someone who held off the attentions of a "somewhat" desperate charger for much of the race before pitting and then finishing ahead of your driver of the day. After all this, you are trying to tell me that that the fact that Petrov finished ahead of Teflonso, had nothing to do with your vote. I think I smell, as they would say at Renault, "merde de Taureau."

You can just as easily say that Petrov handed Vettel the WDC on a plate - perfect though his drive was - it wasn't exactly difficult once he held off Hamilton at the start. Walk in the park.


So the answer to your question is a resounding 'Yes'. I'm not sure what you can smell from your neck of the woods - the air is clean and refreshing here.

Originally Posted by garcon

The pit call screwed Alonso, not Petrov.

Not so. Alonso screwed Alonso. Or do the drivers not actually drive the cars themselves these days......

[White flag man]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Yes. I'm not sure what you can smell from your neck of the woods - the air is clean and refreshing here.

Even with all those loose ponies around!

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Wims

Its not really about nationalism, its more about being a fanboy and not being able to see things objectively.

Said the man with the Vettel avatar........

Originally Posted by White flag man

Even with all those loose ponies around!

An awful lot better than any big city smog and dirt....

[Wims]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Said the man with the Vettel avatar........

I'm not a Vettel fan at all. Infact, I'm not a fan of any of the top drivers, nor any of the top teams. I just switched to a Vettel avatar to honour his WDC. After the Brazil quali I had a Hulkenberg avatar to honour his great qualifying effort

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by White flag man

So all you people are trying to tell me that you voted for a guy that finished sixth, gained the position via a safety car intervention, did not try to pass anyone and could not, due to the circuit, be overtaken by anyone else.
This was then a better drive than someone who dominated the race from start to finish, or someone who held off the attentions of a "somewhat" desperate charger for much of the race before pitting and then finishing ahead of your driver of the day. After all this, you are trying to tell me that that the fact that Petrov finished ahead of Teflonso, had nothing to do with your vote. I think I smell, as they would say at Renault, "merde de Taureau."

For me 'Driver of the Race' is not just about outright speed. It is about the utilisation of his available equipment, his strategy, his ability to implement that strategy and get the most from it, and in a purely subjective sense, if he lifts himself to a level rarely seen previously by him then that is a bonus and an indication that he is making progress in terms of his own skill levels.

Petrov out qualified his revered team mate and then starting from 10th managed to move that into a top 6 finish, yet none of the cars ahead of him on the grid retired apart from Schumacher (accident).

[White flag man]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

For me 'Driver of the Race' is not just about outright speed. It is about the utilisation of his available equipment, his strategy, his ability to implement that strategy and get the most from it, and in a purely subjective sense, if he lifts himself to a level rarely seen previously by him then that is a bonus and an indication that he is making progress in terms of his own skill levels.

Petrov out qualified his revered team mate and then starting from 10th managed to move that into a top 6 finish, yet none of the cars ahead of him on the grid retired apart from Schumacher (accident).

In that case, why didn't you vote for Rosberg. Out qualified his revered team mate, again, was hit by his revered team mate yet still managed to finish 2 places ahead of petrov who was beaten by the revered team mate he out qualified. Either you are voting for someone simply because they managed to stay on the track or you are in denial about your bias.
I don't want to go on and on about this, so I hope this is all I will say on this matter, though I do have the write to reply!

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by White flag man

In that case, why didn't you vote for Rosberg. Out qualified his revered team mate, again, was hit by his revered team mate yet still managed to finish 2 places ahead of petrov who was beaten by the revered team mate he out qualified. Either you are voting for someone simply because they managed to stay on the track or you are in denial about your bias.
I don't want to go on and on about this, so I hope this is all I will say on this matter, though I do have the write to reply!

Because I considered his performance to be more 'out of the box' than Rosbergs.
Driver of the race is an opinion poll. No one has to justify their selections to anyone. Its an opinion, although if people might want to explain them to others they may do so.

I don't care who you voted for nor do I need to convert you to my opinion. I'm just explaining why I voted the way I did.
The results of the poll have no objective meaning other than they are a reflection of the voters opinions.

You're entitled to yours as much as I am to mine. No bias, just an opinion, and no opinion is absolutely objective. They're all subjective according to each persons personal criteria.

[Knowlesy]

Can I just say also I was more in favour of Alonso winning the title than Vettel.

That means I must have only voted Petrov because it makes Alonso look better or something. Hell, there has to be some long winded and boring explanation for it!

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

Driver of the race is an opinion poll. No one has to justify their selections to anyone. Its an opinion, although if people might want to explain them to others they may do so.

I'm glad someone has pointed this out; this "you can't vote for him, that's outrageous!" discussion seems to be coming up quite frequently these days, and I'm a bit mystified by it. Everyone is impressed by different things in each race - I voted for Vettel this time because he was absolutely faultless and it was a championship-winning drive, others voted for Petrov because after some seriously ropey races he turned in a good performance and didn't crack under the pressure of having one of the championship contenders behind him, some voted for Webber because...well actually, I don't understand that at all, he was absolute bobbins all weekend.

But the point is, there are no rules on who you can and can't vote for in these polls. It's nice if people explain why they've voted for a particular driver because that's the point of having a discussion forum, but there's nothing to say that you "can't" vote for someone because he "doesn't deserve it". It's entirely subjective.

Now can I please stop having to say this after every single race?

[Splatz the Cow]

I found it very hard to give this weeks LOTR, no DOTR I mean, because no one really did a great effort.

Clearly some of the cars were fast because they had good engines and or Fduct, and this goes a long way to explaining the pace of the Mercedes cars speed.

Petrov was good defensively, but I couldn't help but notice he actually drove away from Alonso on the straight. Now the Ferrari has the most powerful engine (or maybe second to Merc?) and it has the Fduct and better aero than the Renault, and it has Alonso, and it was in the draft! While the Renault car has nothing better about it that anyone has identified throughout the year, and it has Petrov in it.

Not even the revered Martin Brundle mentioned it, so I guess it can't be true then, but the Ferrari revs did not sound as high as they normally are. The obvious conclusion I made during the race was that Ferrari had the engine turned down.

So in this light, Petrov's performance was not so mercurial after all, but what he did do well was defend fairly without contact, and for that I voted for him as the DOTR. As many here mentioned, he wasn't blocking Alonso; Alonso just couldn't pass him.

And at the end Alonso didn't look that surprised.

I think the masterstroke, was when RBR were playing blackjack and split their aces, one the rabbit the other the tortoise - and Ferrari had only one car(d) to follow with. If Alonso stuck with Vettel up the front, Webber was turning laps to win the WDC anyway. So they covered Webber, but got stuck in traffic. Vettel only won the WDC because of this, and had Ferrari pitted Alonso earlier or later in clear track, he would have made up the gap enough to be past Rosberg, and he would have been WDC.

For once Massa was nowhere, and just a moving bollard, and should retire from F1 immediately - very poor form.

[Splatz the Cow]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I'm glad someone has pointed this out; this "you can't vote for him, that's outrageous!" discussion seems to be coming up quite frequently these days, and I'm a bit mystified by it. Everyone is impressed by different things in each race - I voted for Vettel this time because he was absolutely faultless and it was a championship-winning drive, others voted for Petrov because after some seriously ropey races he turned in a good performance and didn't crack under the pressure of having one of the championship contenders behind him, some voted for Webber because...well actually, I don't understand that at all, he was absolute bobbins all weekend.

But the point is, there are no rules on who you can and can't vote for in these polls. It's nice if people explain why they've voted for a particular driver because that's the point of having a discussion forum, but there's nothing to say that you "can't" vote for someone because he "doesn't deserve it". It's entirely subjective.

Now can I please stop having to say this after every single race?

Ok but you "can't" vote for Webber because he was truly mister sad pants in this race.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Does it really matter why anyone voted for a particular driver? As Teretonga said it's an opinion poll.