Driver(s) of the Day - 2016 Italian Grand Prix

[UnlikeUday]

For me,

Rosberg, Ricciardo

[Badgeronimous]

Rosberg and Ricciardo

Nobody really stood out.

Rosberg never put a foot wrong and cruised home. Ricciardo finished as high as he realistically could, and did so with a terrific overtake.

[Asphalt_World]

I know a few that won't get it, but I have no idea who to give it to at the moment. DR's pass was amazing, but one pass does not make a race.

[McPrancingBull]

Jenson Button

[F1Oz]

Rosberg did everything right - but car was always going to be top 2 - Ferrari clearly second best and Williams in mix so Ricciardo getting 5th (with fab pass despite engine deficiencies) - for me gives DR the nod

Good effort for Button & Grosjean as well

[chetan_rao]

Button, just because the man clearly deserves a seat on merit and demonstrated as much. Didn't set the race alight but a great drive in a larger context.

Some decent performances up & down the grid but nothing spectacular.

[tootsie323]

I'd have to give it for the one stand-out moment. THAT overtake. Daniel Riccardo.

[TheGiantHogweed]

Rosberg, Ricciardo and Bottas.

Many people seemed to think that Red Bull should manage to beat Williams. They did, but only just. That overtake of Ricciardo's was very good but I would give a fiar bit of credit to Bottas as if it wasn't for the way he moved out the way part way through the corner, it would have resulted in a collision. That was a very late move from Ricciardo, but it did look great as both of them dealt with it well.

I thought Williams would fall further back during the race but Bottas managed to hold onto his place very well for quite some time. He also did a great job of keeping Hamilton behind for quite a few laps even though Hamilton was in DRS range most of the time.

[stitch512]

Red Bull and Renault hurry the hell up and give Dan a championship contending car.

[mac_d]

No one stood out to me.

Highlight was Danny Ric's pass of Bottas.

With any race where the leader builds a comfortable gap and doesn't have to push it's hard to be critical of him. He pulled off another race win without any mistakes so he'd be a close second.

[Mr-E]

Dan, Rosberg and Jenson for me.

[F1Oz]

Given Bottas had a significant power advantage - it wasn't clear that RBR should beat williams as thegianthogweed suggests - also given Bottas out qualified them - and with the engine advantage - I think it was a great effort from Dan

[Mercedes-Benz]

Bottas. Too bad he could not keep up 5th spot.

[mikeyg123]

Button and Grosjean

[TheGiantHogweed]

Given Bottas had a significant power advantage - it wasn't clear that RBR should beat williams as thegianthogweed suggests - also given Bottas out qualified them - and with the engine advantage - I think it was a great effort from Dan

Well, I agree that Williams have a large advantage in strait line speed but I also think Red Bull have a large advantage round tight bends. Bottas has said that ever since the Williams car became more competitive, what it lacks a lot of is grip. I think that even on tracks like this, Williams loose a lot of time in the corners compared to Red Bull. But then it is clearly the other way round for Red Bull and this is more of a speed track.

I do think Ricciardo did overall look better considering he did lack speed, but Bottas did enough good moves today for me to vote him as one of the drivers of the day.

[Amon]

No one stood really stood out, they all finsihed pretty close to their starting positions. Massa gained 2 places over his starting position but given Bottas started 5th he was a bit out of place there. Button starting 15th and finishing 12th right behind Grosjean. Not sure what problems Alonso had but all those pitstops surely costed him a possible top 10 place.
Ricciardo surely had the best overtaking.
Ricciardo and Button for me and Rosberg for winning and closing the gap to 2 points to Lewis.

[UnlikeUday]

Given Bottas had a significant power advantage - it wasn't clear that RBR should beat williams as thegianthogweed suggests - also given Bottas out qualified them - and with the engine advantage - I think it was a great effort from Dan

Well, I agree that Williams have a large advantage in strait line speed but I also think Red Bull have a large advantage round tight bends. Bottas has said that ever since the Williams car became more competitive, what it lacks a lot of is grip. I think that even on tracks like this, Williams loose a lot of time in the corners compared to Red Bull. But then it is clearly the other way round for Red Bull and this is more of a speed track.

I do think Ricciardo did overall look better considering he did lack speed, but Bottas did enough good moves today for me to vote him as one of the drivers of the day.

Also reduction in tyre pressures did aid Bottas. He drove well today nonetheless to keep an exciting battle with Force India.

[aice]

Button, just because the man clearly deserves a seat on merit and demonstrated as much. Didn't set the race alight but a great drive in a larger context.

Button gets my vote.

[kleefton]

Rosberg, ricciardo and bottas for me.

Rosberg did what rosberg does. When hes ahead after turn 1 and lewis is not directly behind him hes pretty much unstoppable. Guy never put a foit wrong.

Bottas showed that when the car is halfway decent he can still get results. His defending afainst hamilton was tenacious and ricciardo needed to do a ricciardo to get past him. Bottas may be boring but there arent many more consistent drivers on the grid.

Ricciardo's pass on bottas was so remarkable. To come from so far back and not a single puff of smoke as he so adroitly threw it on the inside. Just wow!

If lewis had managed to make things interesting in the last 10 laps he would have been in my top 3. But alas, he locked up and apparently flat spotted the tires in the last stint and rosberg pulled away after that. He was beaten by nico fair and square here.

Button also had a good race, overtaking the Samurai on track. He really has made Alonso's life difficult during their two years together. Vandoorne has some huge shoes to fill.

[Zoue]

Rosberg, ricciardo and bottas for me.

Rosberg did what rosberg does. When hes ahead after turn 1 and lewis is not directly behind him hes pretty much unstoppable. Guy never put a foit wrong.

So, if I understand you correctly, what you are saying is that when he's at the front in a dominant car and his team mate is out of the equation, he's unstoppable?

Are you perhaps confusing Driver of the Day with Car of the Day?

[kleefton]

Rosberg, ricciardo and bottas for me.

Rosberg did what rosberg does. When hes ahead after turn 1 and lewis is not directly behind him hes pretty much unstoppable. Guy never put a foit wrong.

So, if I understand you correctly, what you are saying is that when he's at the front in a dominant car and his team mate is out of the equation, he's unstoppable?

Are you perhaps confusing Driver of the Day with Car of the Day?

Well last i checked the car is not going to drive itself to the checkered flag is it? Rosberg still had to deal with vettel, who i am sure gave it his hardest to catch up but nico still consistently opened the gap up all the time. Newsflash: It still takes skill to do that.

And on the last stint when lewis was catching up rosberg was the more consistent one as well while lewis faded. Driving the same car too...

[Flash2k11]

Rosberg, ricciardo and bottas for me.

Rosberg did what rosberg does. When hes ahead after turn 1 and lewis is not directly behind him hes pretty much unstoppable. Guy never put a foit wrong.

So, if I understand you correctly, what you are saying is that when he's at the front in a dominant car and his team mate is out of the equation, he's unstoppable?

Are you perhaps confusing Driver of the Day with Car of the Day?

To be fair, there isn't much factually wrong with what he is suggesting. With Hamilton out of the equation (self inflicted or otherwise) Rosberg generally drives well and drives to the win.

[Zoue]

Rosberg, ricciardo and bottas for me.

Rosberg did what rosberg does. When hes ahead after turn 1 and lewis is not directly behind him hes pretty much unstoppable. Guy never put a foit wrong.

So, if I understand you correctly, what you are saying is that when he's at the front in a dominant car and his team mate is out of the equation, he's unstoppable?

Are you perhaps confusing Driver of the Day with Car of the Day?

To be fair, there isn't much factually wrong with what he is suggesting. With Hamilton out of the equation (self inflicted or otherwise) Rosberg generally drives well and drives to the win.

yeah, it's just the way the reasoning is written. I'm not sure being unstoppable when you're in a car that's streets ahead of anything else and when your only competition has removed himself from the equation is a ringing endorsement.

[Zoue]

Rosberg, ricciardo and bottas for me.

Rosberg did what rosberg does. When hes ahead after turn 1 and lewis is not directly behind him hes pretty much unstoppable. Guy never put a foit wrong.

So, if I understand you correctly, what you are saying is that when he's at the front in a dominant car and his team mate is out of the equation, he's unstoppable?

Are you perhaps confusing Driver of the Day with Car of the Day?

Well last i checked the car is not going to drive itself to the checkered flag is it? Rosberg still had to deal with vettel, who i am sure gave it his hardest to catch up but nico still consistently opened the gap up all the time. Newsflash: It still takes skill to do that.

And on the last stint when lewis was catching up rosberg was the more consistent one as well while lewis faded. Driving the same car too...

Not sure I agree with the first part. Vettel was never going to be a threat as the Merc was just too good. 2nd part is fair enough, although I think the beginning gave him a big enough cushion that he wasn't ever under any real pressure.

[Blinky McSquinty]

The race was bland apart from one nice pass. No driver stood out in any spectacular fashion. Thus I give my driver of the race award to Ocon, who has finished twice, and is conducting an unspectacular, but competent service.

[Aussie Grit]

Not sure why Bottas is worthy, he went backwards... Even if it was one place.
I believe he should have beat Ric.
Rosberg and Ric but I didn't see much of anyone else.

[infi24r]

Ricciardo.

All Rosberg did was not chocolate fudge cake the start up and cruise at the front. I fail to see how that is a 10/10 drive just because his car is that much faster.

[TheGiantHogweed]

Not sure why Bottas is worthy, he went backwards... Even if it was one place.
I believe he should have beat Ric.
Rosberg and Ric but I didn't see much of anyone else.

I did vote for Bottas as well as Ricciardo and Rosberg.

I thought that Bottas would struggle to stay ahead of both Red Bulls as Ricciardo was only 0.001 seconds off him in qualifying. However, Bottas I though did a pretty solidjob in that race. He managed to defend and keep Hamilton behind for around 5 laps. It is rare that we have seen that this season as Hamilton normally is leading or gets past pretty quickly. Bottas made some nice and defensive moves. Then later on when after he pitted, he had loads of great looking overtakes, one of them being on Perez and Sainz in just one corner. If the race only had a few less laps to complete, Bottas will have beaten Ricciardo. The move Ricciardo did on Bottas was very good, but if Bottas didn't move off his racing line (which he didn't have to do) that will have resulted in a bit of contact. Ricciardo admitted after the race that it was a risky move but they both kept it clean and that mad it look great. I just couldn't say it was the overtake of the year like quite a few people have said.

If you are asking why that are several votes for Bottas, then don't you wonder even more why there are nearly as many votes for Hamilton? He had a poor start that he blamed himself for and literally only did around 2 overtakes. He even said this afterwards. It was pretty much only his teams strategy that got him up to 2nd. And yet he still has 8 votes for one of the drivers of the day.

From what I remember, Bottas also had one of the best starts this race. He only gained one place because of Hamilton's bad start but he almost fully was along side one of the Ferraris at the just before the first corner. If the first strait was longer, he possibly would have made it past.

[Amon]

Not sure why Bottas is worthy, he went backwards... Even if it was one place.
I believe he should have beat Ric.
Rosberg and Ric but I didn't see much of anyone else.

I did vote for Bottas as well as Ricciardo and Rosberg.

I thought that Bottas would struggle to stay ahead of both Red Bulls as Ricciardo was only 0.001 seconds off him in qualifying. However, Bottas I though did a pretty solidjob in that race. He managed to defend and keep Hamilton behind for around 5 laps. It is rare that we have seen that this season as Hamilton normally is leading or gets past pretty quickly. Bottas made some nice and defensive moves. Then later on when after he pitted, he had loads of great looking overtakes, one of them being on Perez and Sainz in just one corner. If the race only had a few less laps to complete, Bottas will have beaten Ricciardo. The move Ricciardo did on Bottas was very good, but if Bottas didn't move off his racing line (which he didn't have to do) that will have resulted in a bit of contact. Ricciardo admitted after the race that it was a risky move but they both kept it clean and that mad it look great. I just couldn't say it was the overtake of the year like quite a few people have said.

If you are asking why that are several votes for Bottas, then don't you wonder even more why there are nearly as many votes for Hamilton? He had a poor start that he blamed himself for and literally only did around 2 overtakes. He even said this afterwards. It was pretty much only his teams strategy that got him up to 2nd. And yet he still has 8 votes for one of the drivers of the day.

From what I remember, Bottas also had one of the best starts this race. He only gained one place because of Hamilton's bad start but he almost fully was along side one of the Ferraris at the just before the first corner. If the first strait was longer, he possibly would have made it past.

If this if that, all his overtakings were because he was on fresher tyres than the ones he passed. Good race but it wasn't as spectacular as you make it to be. Bottas is consistent and a good defender but that spark I'm missing.

[TheGiantHogweed]

Not sure why Bottas is worthy, he went backwards... Even if it was one place.
I believe he should have beat Ric.
Rosberg and Ric but I didn't see much of anyone else.

I did vote for Bottas as well as Ricciardo and Rosberg.

I thought that Bottas would struggle to stay ahead of both Red Bulls as Ricciardo was only 0.001 seconds off him in qualifying. However, Bottas I though did a pretty solidjob in that race. He managed to defend and keep Hamilton behind for around 5 laps. It is rare that we have seen that this season as Hamilton normally is leading or gets past pretty quickly. Bottas made some nice and defensive moves. Then later on when after he pitted, he had loads of great looking overtakes, one of them being on Perez and Sainz in just one corner. If the race only had a few less laps to complete, Bottas will have beaten Ricciardo. The move Ricciardo did on Bottas was very good, but if Bottas didn't move off his racing line (which he didn't have to do) that will have resulted in a bit of contact. Ricciardo admitted after the race that it was a risky move but they both kept it clean and that mad it look great. I just couldn't say it was the overtake of the year like quite a few people have said.

If you are asking why that are several votes for Bottas, then don't you wonder even more why there are nearly as many votes for Hamilton? He had a poor start that he blamed himself for and literally only did around 2 overtakes. He even said this afterwards. It was pretty much only his teams strategy that got him up to 2nd. And yet he still has 8 votes for one of the drivers of the day.

From what I remember, Bottas also had one of the best starts this race. He only gained one place because of Hamilton's bad start but he almost fully was along side one of the Ferraris at the just before the first corner. If the first strait was longer, he possibly would have made it past.

If this if that, all his overtakings were because he was on fresher tyres than the ones he passed. Good race but it wasn't as spectacular as you make it to be. Bottas is consistent and a good defender but that spark I'm missing.

Well I did say he had a very solid race. I never said it was spectacular. He himself has had more impressive races and I would say Ricciardo overall did do better this race. I just think that being as solid and consistent as Bottas is is a very good skill to have. IMO he is easily one of the most consistent drivers out there.

[v@sh]

I think the pass underrated by many fans. Pass of the year? Wouldn't say so but it's definitely up there. Bottas should really have kept 5th place though for the race.

People keep going on about how Ricciardo had fresher and faster tires, which he did, but:

- Bottas had one of the fastest first sectors as well as top speed for that section of straight. You could see that in the prior onboard laps even when Ricciardo had DRS open that Ricciardo was nowhere near to even having the chance of overtaking Bottas going into the first corner
- Bottas IMO seeing this gap is probably the reason why he left the inside open because Ricciardo was still a fair way behind going into the first corner
- The majority of the tire advantage was in sectors 2/3 and through Ascari, their first sectors were fairly comparable at that stage
- What made the pass great was that he was from so far back, there was no locking of brakes, Ricciardo perfectly made the apex while still giving Bottas room on turn in and no contact was made between the two. We've seen an attempt that was unsuccessful re Ricciardo on Vettel in Spain from a similar late move
- Williams were always going to be decent at this track, you look at the Friday long runs and they were quite competitive

I think that's how the DRS should ideally function, allow cars to be close to attempt a pass, not a Sunday drive pass.

I'd give the DOTD to either DR/Bottas/Rosberg. Problem with Rosberg you can't fault anything that he did but his only competitor was stuck way back. The other two had to fight for it.

[mcdo]

Don't know who to give it to. Rosberg, Vettel and Ricciardo couldn't possibly do any more. Button drove a spectacular middle stint to come from a long way back to beat Alonso

One standout performance for me was Grosjean managing a one-stopper on softs/supersofts. Unbelievable

I think I'll go with Grosjean because I can't get over that. Pity there was no drama up ahead and he couldn't nab a point

[paoloandrea123]

Nice Move, Fernando; fastest lap of the race!

[tootsie323]

Re Bottas. OK, not the most spectacular drive in a car that is known to be slippery. However, I believe he did all he could and he did play his part in keeping that Riccardo pass clean. Another day that could have gone quite wrong.
My vote, incidentally, did go to Riccardo. I do believe, however, that Bottas deserves more credit than one or two here have given him.
As a footnote, I'm a JB fan, so really pleased to see him make his race strategy work so well from such a poor first lap.