Highlights of the 2015 season.

[stripedcat]

What are your highlights of the 2015 season? Here's mine :-

Drivers of the season :

I'll do them in order of preference :-

1st : Lewis Hamilton. This year he was probably at his strongest yet. Really dominated for about 3/4 of the season. This time around, he had the upper hand on qualifying day. 10 wins. He made a few mistakes(Monaco, Austria and Hungary) - but still seemed to bounce back strong.

2nd : Vettel. The year at Ferrari seems to have refreshed his batteries. Seems to have matured a bit. Had some decent races wins(Malaysia was superb - an aggressive strategy - and it paid off). If the Ferrari is on a par with the Mercedes next year - then he could be in with a chance.

3rd : Nico Rosberg. Well, at the start and even up the about 3/4 of the season - I was thinking that he had lost his mojo. But, what with his recent performances - six poles and three wins in a row - this guy is on it. The question is - can he pull out those performances for next year? I think he still has the upper hand at places like Austria and Brazil.

Overtake of the year :

Verstappen on Nasr at Spa, around the outside of Blanchimont. Ballsy stuff.

Honourable mentions :-

Verstappen at Monaco - until the crash. Plus, his one at China.

Race of the year :

USA. Austin. Had everything : wet weather, the two championship contenders fighting it out, the Red Bulls got involved in the action as well, lots of overtaking - and finally, the WDC decided.

Honourable mentions :-

Silverstone. The late wet weather spiced things up.

Hungary. Some chaos in this one.

Team of the year :

Mercedes. Just had the complete package. A superb car, two amazing drivers and dominated. Only mistakes they made were Monaco - and the puzzling case of why they were slow at Singapore.

Honourable mention to Ferrari. They made quite a comeback from last year. Hopefully, next year they can really challenge Mercedes.


Car

Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid. Just improved on last year's already great car. This year, they seemed to have better reliability.

Honourable mention to the Ferrari SF15-T. A really decent car - especially, after last year's dog. The engine is supposed to be as powerful as the Mercedes now. Only the aero is still a little way behind. Let us hope they build on it for next year.


Embarrassments of the year :

McLaren Honda. That Honda engine is a piece of ****! It embarrassing seeing not only Alonso(who is probably the best driver in F1 at the moment), but also Button chugging away fighting for 15th - and that's if they're lucky! How many engine changes? Plus, this is McLaren for goodness sake! Fittipaldi won with them, Hunt won with them, Lauda, Prost, Senna, Häkinnen and Hamilton. How many WCCs, race wins, fastest laps and pole do they have?

Honda as well? Remember their engine in the old Williams Honda? Also, in the Lotus? Then in the McLaren? Oh dear.

[S griffin]

Drivers of the season
For me Lewis scores top, although Nico could have been if he had driven more races like the last three. Vettel deserves credit for his match made in heaven in a Ferrari. And of course not forgetting Max either

Overtake of the year
Can't think of Better of Max round the outside of Pouhon
Also his moves in China and Brazil deserve mention

Team of the year
Merc again, for staying on top, which is often harder than winning. And Ferrari for being the only team keeping them consistently honest. And Manor for hanging on in there

Car of the year
The Merc, teams will still have their work cut out trying to catch. But again Ferrari came close. And Toro Rosso built a solid car for two impressive rookies

Embarrassment of the year
Have to agree with Fred's comments in Japan, Honda HAS BEEN an embarrassment. They must do something to save face in '16.
Driver wise Crashtor has spent more time off the track than on it, more often his fault than not.
And Mr E is what is wrong with this sport

[S griffin]

Race of the year
USA. All 20 drivers showed what they really are: Racing drivers
Special mention goes to Silverstone and Malaysia

[ECW Dan Selby]

Austin and Hungary. And that's honestly about it.

Selby

[Mike Harte]

The legal battles off the circuit!

[m355y]

Austin was race of the year, followed by Hungary which was more chaotic but not as pure in terms of excitement. The rest - beige beige beige. Seriously I think this is the worst overall year of F1 I've ever watched. And I sat through 2002 and 2004, the Ferrari domination years. They were more interesting than this.

The embarrassment was obviously Honda, although Kimi Raikkonen came close for being about a million miles behind Vettel all year (yet still managing to come fourth)

Verstappen made things interesting at times too, I'll give him that.

[F1Pete]

I honestly can't say there were any highlights. Maybe there were, but I forget. This truly is the worst F1 season I have ever witnessed and I have been tuned in since the GV days.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by F1Pete

I honestly can't say there were any highlights. Maybe there were, but I forget. This truly is the worst F1 season I have ever witnessed and I have been tuned in since the GV days.

Yup, it was dire!

2015, the year of the rookie!

Max Verstappen was a breath of fresh air, closely followed by Sainz jnr.

(To think that the FIA has robbed us of this opportunity in future too! )

[m355y]

I think the problem was that there was no competition between the Mercedes drivers when it counted. Hamilton dominated up to winning his title, up to the last few races Rosberg looked a shadow of the driver who took the fight to him in 2014, Lewis was quicker in just about every qualifying session and every race distance. He just racked up the points and cruised to the title, it's frustrating that Rosberg then got his act together (or Hamilton took his foot off the gas, either way) because in the last few races you saw what the season might have been like had Nico got his head together.

The rest of it was similar to last year, only - Ferrari were there to pick up the pieces rather than Red Bull, and more of the races were borefests even further back through the field.

top ten drivers would look:

1. Hamilton, dominant when it mattered and cruised to the title
2. Vettel, consistent and showed his old form to take three wins
3. Rosberg, was headed for 6th or 7th before his late season form
4. Ricciardo, tons of bad luck, was on as high a level as ever mostly
5. Verstappen, a breath of fresh air and looks like a champ in waiting
6. Perez, got the upper hand over Hulkenberg and some dazzling days
7. Bottas, recovered from a weak first half to get the better of Massa
8. Grosjean, did a really solid job in a much improved Lotus
9. Massa, started strongly but faded as Williams lost their edge
10. Hulkenberg, still had some very strong days

honourable mentions -
Button, Sainz, Kvyat, Alonso

actually the fact any of those four would have a legitimate place in the top ten suggests it's actually been a pretty good year for drivers doing well - it's just been dull.

[Pontlieue]

Driver of the Year: Vettel. He drove an almost flawless season. The only driver who could at times rival the Mercedes, and was always there when they showed a weakness. Completely dominated his teammate, who is a former champion himself.

2nd: Max Verstappen. A little wild at times, made a few rookie errors, but still had a great debut season. He pulled off some great overtakes, scored regular points, and even two fourth places, in a car that was just the sixth- or seventh-best on the grid.

Team of the Year:
I was going to say Manor, but with Lowdon and Booth departing, they're looking into an uncertain future once again. Instead, I'll go for Force India. They finally scored that elusive 5th place. And they improved massively over the year. After the B-spec car debuted mid-season, they've been the fourth-fastest team. Quite an achievement, considering their future was in doubt at the start of the year.

Car of the Year:
It's hard to look past Mercedes here. But Force India's b-spec car deserves a mention too.

Embarrassment of the year: McLaren-Honda. After their announcements of winning races in their debut season, 9th place is an embarrassment. They are surely happy that Manor came back now.

[gert]

Team of the year:
Mercedes: maximizing results may have robbed us of some fascinating intra-team battles, but the strategy deployed guarantees results, and that's what mattered most to them.

Car of the year:
Mercedes for being the complete package it was
Next:
Force India "B"
Red Bull - the car itself must have been very good (or must have been developed into a pretty good one) in the latter part of the season.

Disappointment of the year:
McLaren-Honda: no comment needed
Red Bull: the way they handled their engine partner. Did Renault really deserve all that?
also:
Manor: intrateam troubles just when we thought everything started looking promising for 2016.

Driver of the year:
I'm not going for the usual suspects (Hamilton - Vettel - Verstappen) but I'm voting for:
Perez: I think he was driving better then ever, and he contributed a lot to Force INdia's highest ever WCC finish. Aggressive when he needed to, but composed and gentle with his car and tires most of the time.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Driver of the year: Difficult to vote. Either Hamilton, Vettel or Verstappen.
Team of the year: Mercedes.
Car of the year: Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid.
Overtake of the year: Max Verstappen's Blanchimont overtake at Felipe Nasr.
Race of the year: Hungarian Grand Prix. There is no doubt that the race start was unbelievable. It was so unbelievable until the end and a very dramatic race.
Disappointment of the year: McLaren Honda. I feel bad for them. Anyone else feel bad for them?