[Official] Driver of the race : Korean GP

[Born Racer]

I vote Alguersuari. He sealed it for me with the move on Rosberg. Great driving from Alonso though (so glad to see he had to race Massa), but ultimately, despite his pace, he didn't manage to overtake Felipe, so I choose Jaime.

You could easily pick Kovalainen though, so a massive honourable mention to him. He beat two Saubers.

[strider]

I'm glad to say I agree with all of that. Where's the poll?

[Born Racer]

I can't do one. I think a mod can make one out of this thread.

Originally Posted by strider

I'm glad to say I agree with all of that.

[Teretonga]

Yeah great drive from Alguersauri, showed all the potential he had when in F3. Maybe one of the younger Red Bull proteges finally starting to hit his straps and show the talent that is starting to come to some form of maturity.

The drive was reminescent of some of Vettels drives in his final year at Toro Rosso. Good stuff and a great boost for STR.

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

Yeah great drive from Alguersauri, showed all the potential he had when in F3. Maybe one of the younger Red Bull proteges finally starting to hit his straps and show the talent that is starting to come to some form of maturity.

It goes to show that it was right for the team to be patient with him and give this very young driver the time to get used to Formula 1. They need to persevere with young drivers they believe in in the first place.

[Mr V]

Most will go for Alguersauri, and that is fine (although he did have the fastest car in a straight line), but i'm going for Vettel, utterly dominant, plus he overtook Hamilton to get there.

[Razzzor]

Finally Button surely won't get it

#1 Alguersauri for going from 12th to finish 7th. I'm not sure he deserved it for not passing Rosberg on old tyres - and the Mercedes is the worst car on it's tyres - but then he made a couple big moves at the end so he deserves it. Keep in mind Buemi was only 10secs behind him though.

#2 Vettel nearly passed Hamilton twice on the first lap. Made it look easy, and then drove a controlled race. That last lap fastest lap was absolutely epic. And if not for the safety car would have been well ahead.

#3 Hamilton mostly for holding on to 2nd and his epic scraps with Webber. Great stuff those 2, but if Webber was capable of doing 1m 39s like Vettel in the last stint, then he really should have been 2nd.

#4 Kovalainen actually beat Kobayashi and Perez! Not sure how he did it, I see Perez lost 20secs on the last lap (a pit stop?), but he was only 2secs behind Senna as well. Senna was quite disappointing in this race.

Button couldn't really stay with Hamilton. Massa was hopeless as usual - I don't know why they keep him. Alonso drove well in the last stint, but he never really passed anyone. Massa opened the door for him to get past Rosberg and as soon as caught Button he couldn't get close. Alonso had a car that could have been on the podium, but wasn't, hence why I don't put him in the top 4 drives.

Good race though!!!

[bjohnsonsmith]

It's either Alguersauri, who drove a great race or Hamilton for a really mature performance under pressure from Webber; so different from all those incidents. I can't decide.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

It's either Alguersauri, who drove a great race or Hamilton for a really mature performance under pressure from Webber; so different from all those incidents. I can't decide.

I agree. LH performance very mature, given the amount of flack he's had recently he has really got his mind under control. Had he a faster car....But I think Alguersauri shades it.

Although I'd like to go with what Coulthard said - could be anyone in the top 10.

[GORDON STREETER]

I'm in two minds on this one as there was some good racing across the board.
However you can't overlook the guy who led from the first lap to the finish, with Hammy keeping it together a close second
Knowing the Spanish as I do I can't believe what Alonso said on that penultimate lap !

[stripedcat]

1. Vettel. What more can you say? Superb drive and again made it look so easy. "But he can't overtake!" Errrrr - what do you think he did today? Without DRS. He looks like he is going to dominate F1 for a long time.

2. Webber. Yeah he couldn't get past Hamilton, but boy did he give it a go! Some really brave stuff from him! If he had got past, he might have been in with a chance of winning the race.

3. Hamilton. Managed to keep Webber behind him for most of the race. The fight was the 21st century equivalent of Arnoux and Villeneuve! Plus, he kept it clean and stayed out of trouble. He'll be disappointed for sure, with not winning, but a good performance to come 2nd.

4. Alonso. Once past the moving chicane(Massa - more on that subject later) he was super fast. Maybe he missed out on a podium. Loved the : "That's it. I give up!" .

5. Alguersuari. Superb drive to 7th. Made his way up the field.

6. Rosberg. Superb battles with the Ferraris and a good drive to 8th.

Button was really playing it safe today. A shame, as I think he could have challenged Webber.

Massa. What the hell? Despite qualifying better than Alonso yesterday, Alonso still gets the upper hand. I think that Massa probably took Alonso's radio message too literally. Massa : "Fernando is faster than you. Do you understand?"

What the hell was up with the Petrov and Schumi crash? That could have been nasty. Petrov got a penalty for that and rightly so.

[herowassenna]

Why? WHY!!! WHY.......
Ferrari, you need to get anybody in to replace Massa. People may think Vettel can't overtake, I well remember Schumacher being labeled as that too, I think people forget, the dominant drivers don't do alot of over-taking. But Massa, there is nothing racy about him whats so ever, well maybe the lingerie he wears at weekends...

Thank you Jean Todt, you turned Ferrari around in the 90's and gave us domination, but your final parting shot has screwed the Prancing Horse big time, nepotism sucks...

[Born Racer]

Yeah, but Ferrari don't want a driver who'll challenge Alonso, so you're left looking for a driver quicker than Felipe but slower than Fernando; not easy. You can't have it both ways.

[herowassenna]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Yeah, but Ferrari don't want a driver who'll challenge Alonso, so you're left looking for a driver quicker than Felipe but slower than Fernando; not easy. You can't have it both ways.

I've been thinking about that. What Ferrari need is a driver who if he is in front of Alonso, won't be holding him up.
Massa has shown time and again that his most robust defence is against Alonso. Australia 2010 was the 1st case in point. Alonso could well have made the podium today but being stuck behind Massa neutralised his effectiveness.
I have no issue with them racing if Massa was actually a racer.

[Bononi]

Driver of the race...








*Sorry guys, I'm late today, but 4 AM is not an option, specially the when it's the first day of summer time (Daylight Saving Time for you folks), I just lost an hour today ! *

[Bononi]

Idiot.















I gave it to Vettel BTW.

[chunterer]

Jaime A - he's done a result that he's threatened to do for some time.....

Vettel. God he is a class driver. Quick, consistent and a racer....

OT moment: What's this latest moonshine about Massa? Didn't anyone see his opening lap? He was mega!!

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by herowassenna

Why? WHY!!! WHY.......
Ferrari, you need to get anybody in to replace Massa....

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Yeah, but Ferrari don't want a driver who'll challenge Alonso, so you're left looking for a driver quicker than Felipe but slower than Fernando; not easy. You can't have it both ways.

Seem's that Felipe can't win. He took the fight to Alonso today yet needs replacing, but if he doesn't take the fight to Fernando he needs replacing?

[Bononi]

PITA.





BTW, Vettel tops again.

[JeremySmith]

Sebastian...

[Marbot]

Alguersuari, DOTR. STR need to keep a hold of him.

Vettel was........Vettel. Compromised his car in qualifying in order to have a good car for the race. So well done to him.

Hamilton and Webber were.......entertaining.

Button was.......worried about Ferrari's.

Alonso was.......not giving up.

[Lancsbreaker]

Gave it to Lewis for coming out on top after an epic battle between two uncompromising racers that was great to watch, although as others have said, there were strong contenders throughout the field.....

I suspect that Mark may have been compromised by hitting the rev limiter when he could use his DRS, but as he said in the post-race interview, his and Lewis's cars had different strengths at different parts of the circuit.

Overall a great race.

[TrapezeArtist]

I give it to Vettel. DOTR really has to go to the winner unless there is serious justification for someone else.

Hamilton? Praise for defending against Webber, but he wouldn't have had to defend if he had been quick enough.

Webber? Couldn't get past Hamilton.

Alonso? Messed up at the end of the straight just like Petrov. But was on the outside so had to room to drive round the get-out-of-jail-free zone.

Massa? Great move on the first lap. But one swallow doesn't make a summer.

Alguersuari? A good result for a Toro Rosso, true. But even he said that he benefited from the bunch-them-up car.

Kovalainen? Fine, he beat two Saubers, but frankly we didn't see enough to know how or why. I'm very pleased to see someone getting out of the back-three-teams group, but that's a long way from awarding DOTR.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Yeah, but Ferrari don't want a driver who'll challenge Alonso, so you're left looking for a driver quicker than Felipe but slower than Fernando; not easy. You can't have it both ways.

AND someone who doesn't have the ambition to be faster than Alonso.

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

Kovalainen? Fine, he beat two Saubers, but frankly we didn't see enough to know how or why. I'm very pleased to see someone getting out of the back-three-teams group, but that's a long way from awarding DOTR.

It's not his fault if we weren't paying attention.

I had another amazing start, passing a bunch of cars into turn 1 and making it look like they were all in reverse. From there I had a good first stint on the options, managing to look after them well enough to stay out for an extra couple of laps that really helped in the first stop. We went onto the primes, and my pace on them was just fantastic, good enough to help me match the times of the cars ahead right up to about tenth. The second set of primes we put on were exactly the same - the wear rates were totally manageable and I could really push on every lap. We knew there were a few cars ahead who would struggle to get to the end, and if I'd had another half a lap I would have passed Senna for sure. As it was we finished ahead of both Saubers on pace and strategy and that's a very good feeling.

Commendable stuff to me.

He arguably had a tougher job than Vettel to get the result he did, and he did so with less talent. That's a good justification.