[Official] Driver of the race - Chinese Grand Prix

[TrapezeArtist]

I could have given it to the Teflon Kid, because he won the race, which is the object of the exercise.

I could have given it to JB who drove an intelligent race, made the tyres work for him, and got a good result out of a mediocre car.

I could have given it to Ricciardo because set up a sparkling weekend with a superb qually performance and then made full use of the unaccustomed grid position.

But in the end I gave it to Kimi. OK, not perfect: the start was sluggish and I'm still not sure who to blame for the Perez incident (I'll watch it all again later). However he maintained a near-race-winning pace with a front wing that was seriously lacking in all those little tweaky bits that the aerodynamists have spent hundreds of wind-tunnel hours developing. On balance, well done the Iceman.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Setting the fastest lap on the qualifying tyre when the fuel was low. What a hero.

Gotta love that "qualifying tyre".

Ricciardo, because he looked after his tyres....or his car did.....or something.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by Adam43

At the risk of being accused as racist I would like to vote for Kimi. Nearly voted for Teflonso though.

You are such a racist, vote removed

[JeremySmith]

Bernie the man is the driver of the race..

[Notso Swift]

The 3 with the big votes are all deserving, but Alonso

[beau1]

Quite a few great drives today:

Alonso for storming away with it and moving on from Malaysia.

Kimi for coming back from a poor start and making the most progress throughout the race.

Vettel for a decent race but more so for driving the wheels off thing car on those tyres

Button For playing the game with a different strategy which paid off.

Riccardo for making the tyres last and quietly getting on with it.

I went for Kimi in the end. As usual some people's choices in Driver of the Race are completely bizarre; namely Hamilton and Webber!

[stripedcat]

Mine in order of preference :-

1st : Teflonso - For being amazing and getting a win! It made up for his last race. That's for sure.

2nd : Kimi - Dragging his damaged car up to 2nd. Good drive.

3rd : Lucy Hamster - I jest, but a good drive from a car that was hard on its tyres at this race.

Honourable mentions to Button and Vettel. I think Button got the maximum out of his car. Vettel's strategy didn't pay off.

[The Original Instag8or]

Looking at the poll results make me think that either Charles Pic or his Momma post here.

I went with Riccardo. Any time a Toro Rosso gets multiple points is a job well done.

[GT6]

gave my vote to Alonso,

[steve_r]

I voted Ricciardo - at long last a Torro Rosso driver stood out in a race. In fact all weekend. Its rare to see one Torro Rosso driver more than a few seconds ahead of his teammate.

Great drives by Alonso, Raikonnen & Hamilton as expected. Di Resta also had a good race.

[Greem]

Kimi for me. Drove a brilliant race with a supposedly badly damaged car (although how bad is up for debate!).

[Peter Mallett]

I've been pondering this and I suppose it must be the circuit but Bianchi didn't stand out so much here. Bottas beat his team mate (2nd time?) so did well for a rookie.

Riccardo was punching way above his weight and the result will do him no harm whatsoever. Button certainly showed that he'll try to bring in the points even though there's no chance of a win. Vettel (on the same strategy) was slightly quicker but only one place further up the road come the end, demonstrating that, here at least, the McLaren was closer to the pace.

Alonso just drove perfectly, Kimi was unlucky with Perez but fortunate that the damage was not too bad. Lewis is making us naysayers eat humble pie, he looks like he's having fun but I'd like to see Rosberg give him another run for his money, maybe at Bahrain this coming weekend.

Overall it's a toss up between Kimi or Fernando and I come down on the side of Fernando on this occasion.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by steve_r

I voted Ricciardo - at long last a Torro Rosso driver stood out in a race. In fact all weekend. Its rare to see one Torro Rosso driver more than a few seconds ahead of his teammate.

Normally when drivers are very similar on pace during a weekend it points to the car being the main factor, and when they are far apart it points to a driver issue.

However I often feel that can be a red herring... as cars often get dialled into a circuit so that there's nothing else either driver can get out of them. Maybe Verge had other things going on to hold him back, or Ricciardo had something else to help him and Verge will get it next time?

[Bellof]

vettel for once more doing some real racing at the end, when everybody else was on cruise-control...

was also considering webber, for showing what he's capable of whitout multi 21...

[Aysedasi]

You mean when everyone else was on 'ordinary' tyres.

Vettel fans, who'd 'ave 'em eh?

[Bellof]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

You mean when everyone else was on 'ordinary' tyres.

exactly, what a cheat he is...

[Aysedasi]

No, I didn't say that at all. I'm just not getting carried away by something that many of the drivers could have done if they were on 'super' tyres for the last few laps....

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by Bellof

vettel for once more doing some real racing at the end, when everybody else was on cruise-control...

was also considering webber, for showing what he's capable of whitout multi 21...

Are you sure they were on cruise control? If I was them, I'm be at 100% to ensure the very fast car on very fast tyres just behind me didn't catch up....

[Neil22]

Alonso, kudos to Kimi and Lewis also.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by FAS33

how can you not give it to Vettel, wasn't even trying the whole weekend, and still sets the fastest lap.

Are you OK, sir?

Vettel "wasn't even trying the whole weekend"... what in heaven's name do you mean by that? I can't even begin to describe...

Anyway, a draw between Alonso and Raikkonen but with Kimi's mangled car managing 2nd place after a tough start to the race makes me go with Kimi for my final decision.

[JeremySmith]

I voted for the Kimster...

[Mekola]

Hamilton at the end saved the podium from Vettel.

[Steptoe]

Kimi, damaged car drove around the problem - old school in my eyes

[F1Pete]

On board view of Kimi's near disaster. It looked much worse watching the on track view. What the hell he's doing? Perez said Kimi outbraked himself? Are the stewards blind? Perez didn't leave him any room and there's the one car width rule at all times? Vettel got punished for much much less! Idiotic Perez and subjective stewarding. Looked like a Grosjean move.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/videos/33...ll-he-s-doing/

[Razzzor]

hmm yeah from onboard, perez clearly took the inside line, so he should have stayed there. he didn't... maybe a 3 place grid drop? it was worse than what webber did - though i'd just put them both down as racing incidents tbh.

on the other hand, what was kimi doing out there anyway? he was never going to go around the outside of him and it's not a place for passing. no one else in the entire race tried to get up alongside someone at that corner, from what i could tell.