Driver(s) of the Day - 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix

UnlikeUday · Post by **UnlikeUday** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:47 pm

For me,

Vettel, Gasly & Ericsson

AnRs · Post by **AnRs** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:50 pm

UnlikeUday wrote:For me,

Vettel, Gasly & Ericsson

+1 a bt off a chance from Vettel and Ferrari but it paid off, twice in a row beaten the faster Mercs

TheBlackFlag · Post by **TheBlackFlag** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:51 pm

Vettel, Gasly, Ericsson

Laz_T800 · Post by **Laz_T800** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:52 pm

Hamilton, Vettel and Gasly.

Bottas should have won this, dropped right back when he should have been closing.
Ferrari look like they have a real monster of an engine

Zoue · Post by **Zoue** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:53 pm

AnRs wrote:
UnlikeUday wrote:For me,

Vettel, Gasly & Ericsson
+1 a bt off a chance from Vettel and Ferrari but it paid off, twice in a row beaten the faster Mercs

+2

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:54 pm

This one is easy. Vettel, Gasly and Ericsson.

Greenman · Post by **Greenman** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:00 pm

Laz_T800 wrote:
Hamilton, Vettel and Gasly.

Bottas should have won this, dropped right back when he should have been closing.
Ferrari look like they have a real monster of an engine

I agree 100%

.

minchy · Post by **minchy** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:03 pm

Don't know how anyone can't vote for Vettel and Gasly.

Without retirements, Gasly would probably have finished 7th, but still a great drive. And Vettel managing to finish on those sorts was incredible.

Flash2k11 · Post by **Flash2k11** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:07 pm

Vettel, Gasly and Ericsson

Doesn't really need an explanation, though I think Lewis would have had Vettel had he been in the position Bottas was with 5 laps left. Either war, stellar drive to extend that stint by Vettel. Gasly was incredible and Ericsson has just made life at Williams very, very uncomfortable.

Syholl · Post by **Syholl** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:11 pm

For me, gasly has been epic all weekend. Vettel did well to nurse those tyres home. Lewis deserves a mention for that 3 car overtake...!

j man · Post by **j man** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:13 pm

I don't like to sit on the fence but I can't decide between Vettel, Gasly and Ericsson.

kleefton · Post by **kleefton** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:22 pm

Vettel, Gasly and Ericsson for me. All three did something special in the race and noone else came close to producing something more significant.

funkymonkey · Post by **funkymonkey** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:44 pm

Vettel & Gasly for me.

Epic tyre and pace management by Vettel. No mistakes under pressure. Those tyres were clearly shot to bits towards end. But still he kept it all together, kept enough grip in those tyres to use the Battery properly in last 2 laps. I dont think bottas did anything wrong or anything more he could have done there. It was sheer experience and driving skills of Vettel which saved him. It was slight blunder by pit wall, They took first pit stop right around the window where Mercedes could have switched to Mediums like they ended up doing. But cant blame them much. It was Mercedes throwing caution to the wind, but glad they did. Got exciting race even at the front end of the grid.

Gasly was brilliant. What a result for Honda and TR. Brilliant work by them. He is clearly outclassed Heartly today. Cheeky radio message to give it back to McLaren and Alonso

Loved it.

Siao7 · Post by **Siao7** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:52 pm

Kimi getting votes? He didn't even finish the race.

It's clear who where the three best drivers, Gasly, Ericsson and Vettel. I would like to see the justifications for voting Bottas as well.

Fiki · Post by **Fiki** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:00 pm

Siao7 wrote:Kimi getting votes? He didn't even finish the race.

It's clear who where the three best drivers, Gasly, Ericsson and Vettel. I would like to see the justifications for voting Bottas as well.

There's no requirement to finish, in order to get votes. Just to put you at ease, I didn't vote for Kimi (this time).

For me, and seemingly for most, Gasly and Ericsson and I rather liked what Stoffel did in his final stint. So he gets a bit of an encouragement vote.
But what a disorienting race; I was wide-eyed looking at Pièrre, and astonished by finding myself rooting for the driver of an Alfa-Romeo powered car, though I have always held Sauber in the highest esteem.

Warheart01 · Post by **Warheart01** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:01 pm

Hamilton, probably overtake of the year.
Gasly, very impressive drive and good job Honda!
Ericsson, points in a Sauber.

Honorable mention to Vettel, but it was a bit of a pole-to-flag win.

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:02 pm

funkymonkey wrote:Vettel & Gasly for me.

Epic tyre and pace management by Vettel. No mistakes under pressure. Those tyres were clearly shot to bits towards end. But still he kept it all together, kept enough grip in those tyres to use the Battery properly in last 2 laps. I dont think bottas did anything wrong or anything more he could have done there. It was sheer experience and driving skills of Vettel which saved him. It was slight blunder by pit wall, They took first pit stop right around the window where Mercedes could have switched to Mediums like they ended up doing. But cant blame them much. It was Mercedes throwing caution to the wind, but glad they did. Got exciting race even at the front end of the grid.

Gasly was brilliant. What a result for Honda and TR. Brilliant work by them. He is clearly outclassed Heartly today. Cheeky radio message to give it back to McLaren and Alonso
Loved it.

Strongly agree with this point. Vettel did some really smart driving towards the end of the race given the age of his tyres. I think Bottas will have managed it if Mercedes had told him to flaw it one lap sooner. Bottas was catching at 1 second a lap and when he got to the sort of gap dirty air usually starts affecting drivers, it was clear that it certainly didn't help. Lets also remember that although Vettel's tyres will have been much worse, he was in clean air. Bottasn't tyres were pretty old and it won't have been easy. But he did keep closing in and was 0.6 seconds off at the finish line. This pretty much indicates that as he got closer each lap and this was the closest he got, just 1 more lap very likely will have been enough. Far to many people are against Bottas for this IMO. Vettel just had a better car this weekend and better race. Mercedes did have a better strategy, but even if Hamilton didn't have his penalty and he started 4th, I'm not convinced he'll have managed. Bottas was clearly told to manage his pace. Given the sudden jump he had showed he could have done this earlier if the team let him. So I personally think the team partially let Bottas down.

We didn't expect Mercedes to be this close. Their strategy was certainly a risk given they were not in free air leading the race, so taking that into consideration, Bottas being that close to winning is a great achievement. Don't get why so many are against him. It is Verstappen who usually gets all the hype who I think has had a terrible start to his season.

Exediron · Post by **Exediron** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:02 pm

Only Gasly and Ericsson for me.

KingVoid · Post by **KingVoid** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:03 pm

j man wrote:I don't like to sit on the fence but I can't decide between Vettel, Gasly and Ericsson.

You can pick 3 drivers

Those are the three I picked

Paolo_Lasardi · Post by **Paolo_Lasardi** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:52 pm

Gasly, Ericsson, Vettel, Magnussen, Alonso

Disappointing:
- Ferrari! How can you release a car when a mechanic still is standing in front of (!) the wheel? That should yield a really hefty penalty - not just some laughable monetary fine.
- Verstappen
- Bottas
- Williams' drivers

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:03 pm

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Gasly, Ericsson, Vettel, Magnussen, Alonso

Disappointing:
- Ferrari! How can you release a car when a mechanic still is standing in front of (!) the wheel? That should yield a really hefty penalty - not just some laughable monetary fine.
- Verstappen
- Bottas
- Williams' drivers

It really is odd the view some people have on Bottas. Does him being 0.6 seconds off the race win on a track we expected ferrari instantly make his day disapointing? Would it have suddenly not been disappointing if this race was 1 lap longer as Bottas will very likely have got Vettel given how close he was there. Mercedes just should have let him push 1 or 2 laps sooner. He clearly had the pace as his pace once he was told to push was mighty until he hit Vettel's dirty air.

We expected Ferrari to be far better this weekend. Bottas was a tiny fraction of qualifying 2nd and about 10th of pole. Then another tiny fraction off winning the race. Yes, Mercedes did a better strategy and Bottas did have better tyres than Vettel, but Vettel was incredible today and The Mercedes is never very good in dirty air following a car that is basically as fast on the straights. Bottas had a great start and pretty much did the best he could IMO. Very harsh to say he's been disappointing IMO. The other drivers you mention were clearly were significantly worse all weekend. I'd actually say Bottas had a slightly better weekend than Hamilton. The fact that he wasn't showing his true pace throughout a lot of the race really didn't help this though.

minchy · Post by **minchy** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:09 pm

TheGiantHogweed wrote:
Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Gasly, Ericsson, Vettel, Magnussen, Alonso

Disappointing:
- Ferrari! How can you release a car when a mechanic still is standing in front of (!) the wheel? That should yield a really hefty penalty - not just some laughable monetary fine.
- Verstappen
- Bottas
- Williams' drivers
It really is odd the view some people have on Bottas. Does him being 0.6 seconds off the race win on a track we expected ferrari instantly make his day disapointing? Would it have suddenly not been disappointing if this race was 1 lap longer as Bottas will very likely have got Vettel given how close he was there. Mercedes just should have let him push 1 or 2 laps sooner. He clearly had the pace as his pace once he was told to push was mighty until he hit Vettel's dirty air.

We expected Ferrari to be far better this weekend. Bottas was a tiny fraction of qualifying 2nd and about 10th of pole. Then another tiny fraction off winning the race. Yes, Mercedes did a better strategy and Bottas did have better tyres than Vettel, but Vettel was incredible today and The Mercedes is never very good in dirty air following a car that is basically as fast on the straights. Bottas had a great start and pretty much did the best he could IMO. Very harsh to say he's been disappointing IMO. The other drivers you mention were clearly were significantly worse all weekend. I'd actually say Bottas had a slightly better weekend than Hamilton. The fact that he wasn't showing his true pace throughout a lot of the race really didn't help this though.

Possibly the same people who are upset that Hamilton got a grid penalty for his gearbox!

moby · Post by **moby** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:11 pm

Had Bottas made a dive down the inside and taken himself and the Ferrari out, what would he have been called then?
Second place is better than DNF, its only race 2

j man · Post by **j man** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:27 pm

KingVoid wrote:
j man wrote:I don't like to sit on the fence but I can't decide between Vettel, Gasly and Ericsson.
You can pick 3 drivers

Those are the three I picked

Indeed you can, but I tend to pick just the one as I like the idea of picking a single standout performer. I'm leaning towards Ericsson, no one saw that coming based on Sauber's qualifying pace.

Blake · Post by **Blake** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:30 pm

moby wrote:Had Bottas made a dive down the inside and taken himself and the Ferrari out, what would he have been called then?
Second place is better than DNF, its only race 2

He would have been a "hero" for a certain segment of fans!

Lt. Drebin · Post by **Lt. Drebin** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:30 pm

Vettel, Gasly, Ericcson.

I see that some people are disregarding sublime top champ driving and one of the best, probably top 5 win by Vettel. How can you pass by such a a magnificent drive is beyond any intelligent reasoning.

j man · Post by **j man** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:32 pm

Blake wrote:
moby wrote:Had Bottas made a dive down the inside and taken himself and the Ferrari out, what would he have been called then?
Second place is better than DNF, its only race 2
He would have been a "hero" for a certain segment of fans!

You make such a sweeping generalisation of Toro Rosso Honda fans

Blake · Post by **Blake** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:35 pm

Indeed...

PRFAN · Post by **PRFAN** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:50 pm

Gasly - Impressive all weekend, looking at his lap times, he was quicker than all behind him during the race, only Kmag was able to reduce the gap towards the end.

Vettel - a championship drive

Paolo_Lasardi · Post by **Paolo_Lasardi** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:30 pm

TheGiantHogweed wrote:
Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Gasly, Ericsson, Vettel, Magnussen, Alonso

Disappointing:
- Ferrari! How can you release a car when a mechanic still is standing in front of (!) the wheel? That should yield a really hefty penalty - not just some laughable monetary fine.
- Verstappen
- Bottas
- Williams' drivers
It really is odd the view some people have on Bottas. Does him being 0.6 seconds off the race win on a track we expected ferrari instantly make his day disapointing? Would it have suddenly not been disappointing if this race was 1 lap longer as Bottas will very likely have got Vettel given how close he was there. Mercedes just should have let him push 1 or 2 laps sooner. He clearly had the pace as his pace once he was told to push was mighty until he hit Vettel's dirty air.

We expected Ferrari to be far better this weekend. Bottas was a tiny fraction of qualifying 2nd and about 10th of pole. Then another tiny fraction off winning the race. Yes, Mercedes did a better strategy and Bottas did have better tyres than Vettel, but Vettel was incredible today and The Mercedes is never very good in dirty air following a car that is basically as fast on the straights. Bottas had a great start and pretty much did the best he could IMO. Very harsh to say he's been disappointing IMO. The other drivers you mention were clearly were significantly worse all weekend. I'd actually say Bottas had a slightly better weekend than Hamilton. The fact that he wasn't showing his true pace throughout a lot of the race really didn't help this though.

Bottas lost too much time to Vettel, so that he closed in too late. He was too slow and also somewhat inconsistent when his gap was about 7-8 s. It may have been a Mercedes mistake, though, not understanding for too long that Vettel was one-topping.

Would have been their second major strategy blunder in as many races, then.

In any case, Bottas was cruising for much too long during the race.

mpls2 · Post by **mpls2** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:33 pm

Laz_T800 wrote:Hamilton, Vettel and Gasly.

Bottas should have won this, dropped right back when he should have been closing.
Ferrari look like they have a real monster of an engine

Hamilton, in a car that outclasses by far 3/4 of the field, overtaking 3 slow cars in one go and in a superior car does not make him driver of the day.. getting up to 3rd was the minimum expected of him.. now if he had gone on to overtake both his teammate Bottas and Vettel to win, that would be the driver of the day and I would definitely vote him as driver of the day...

Paolo_Lasardi · Post by **Paolo_Lasardi** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:34 pm

mpls2 wrote:
Laz_T800 wrote:Hamilton, Vettel and Gasly.

Bottas should have won this, dropped right back when he should have been closing.
Ferrari look like they have a real monster of an engine

Hamilton, in a car that outclases by far 3/4 of the field, overtaking 3 slow cars in one go and in a superior car does not make him drver of the day.. getting uo to 3rd was the minimum expected of him.. now if he had gone on to overtake both his teammate Bottas anf Vettel to win, that would be the driver of the day and I would definitely vote hamilton as driver of the day...

That overtake was great, though.

mpls2 · Post by **mpls2** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:35 pm

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:
mpls2 wrote:
Laz_T800 wrote:Hamilton, Vettel and Gasly.

Bottas should have won this, dropped right back when he should have been closing.
Ferrari look like they have a real monster of an engine

Hamilton, in a car that outclases by far 3/4 of the field, overtaking 3 slow cars in one go and in a superior car does not make him drver of the day.. getting uo to 3rd was the minimum expected of him.. now if he had gone on to overtake both his teammate Bottas anf Vettel to win, that would be the driver of the day and I would definitely vote hamilton as driver of the day...
That overtake was great, though.

agree but does not make him driver of the day... though people can have their own opinion. that was my case...

Paolo_Lasardi · Post by **Paolo_Lasardi** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:38 pm

mpls2 wrote:
Paolo_Lasardi wrote:
mpls2 wrote:
Laz_T800 wrote:Hamilton, Vettel and Gasly.

Bottas should have won this, dropped right back when he should have been closing.
Ferrari look like they have a real monster of an engine

Hamilton, in a car that outclases by far 3/4 of the field, overtaking 3 slow cars in one go and in a superior car does not make him drver of the day.. getting uo to 3rd was the minimum expected of him.. now if he had gone on to overtake both his teammate Bottas anf Vettel to win, that would be the driver of the day and I would definitely vote hamilton as driver of the day...
That overtake was great, though.
agree but does not make him driver of the day... though people can have their own opinion. that was my case...

Agree, I think Gasly, Ericsson, Magnussen and Vettel were more impressive. Still, Hamilton drove an excellent race.

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:55 pm

Vettel, Gasly, Magnussen.

Vettel for holding off Bottas on way used up tires. Bottas and Hamilton drove very well and did what they could to take the fight to Seb.

Gasly and Magnussen for raising the games for their teams this weekend.

Bonehead of the weekend award goes without doubt to Max Maldonado!!!! Pushes the point beyond reason on a pass, and then whines when the stewards decide it's a "racing incident".

Am not ready to be too hard on Kimi as he probably had no responsibility for the double broken leg incurred by his rear wheel changer. Team Red on the other hand...

Siao7 · Post by **Siao7** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:15 pm

Warheart01 wrote:Hamilton, probably overtake of the year.
Gasly, very impressive drive and good job Honda!
Ericsson, points in a Sauber.

Honorable mention to Vettel, but it was a bit of a pole-to-flag win.

Did you miss the last 20 laps? You make it sound as if it was easy

Siao7 · Post by **Siao7** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:17 pm

Fiki wrote:
Siao7 wrote:Kimi getting votes? He didn't even finish the race.

It's clear who where the three best drivers, Gasly, Ericsson and Vettel. I would like to see the justifications for voting Bottas as well.
There's no requirement to finish, in order to get votes. Just to put you at ease, I didn't vote for Kimi (this time).

For me, and seemingly for most, Gasly and Ericsson and I rather liked what Stoffel did in his final stint. So he gets a bit of an encouragement vote.
But what a disorienting race; I was wide-eyed looking at Pièrre, and astonished by finding myself rooting for the driver of an Alfa-Romeo powered car, though I have always held Sauber in the highest esteem.

I would prefer a driver to finish a race in order to vote for him personally. In any case, Kimi hardly lit the track with his performance anyway

tootsie323 · Post by **tootsie323** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:10 pm

Agree with most on here that the three stand-out drivers were Vettel, Gasly and Ericcson. As I stubbornly tend to vote for one only I'm going to favour Ericcson.
Vettel did a superb job of fending off the challenge of Bottas on pretty well shot tyres. Gasly backed up his qualifying with genuine race pace. Ericcson, however took a seemingly backmarker car, put it into a points-scoring position and kept it there. That sways it for me.

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:21 pm

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:
TheGiantHogweed wrote:
Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Gasly, Ericsson, Vettel, Magnussen, Alonso

Disappointing:
- Ferrari! How can you release a car when a mechanic still is standing in front of (!) the wheel? That should yield a really hefty penalty - not just some laughable monetary fine.
- Verstappen
- Bottas
- Williams' drivers
It really is odd the view some people have on Bottas. Does him being 0.6 seconds off the race win on a track we expected ferrari instantly make his day disapointing? Would it have suddenly not been disappointing if this race was 1 lap longer as Bottas will very likely have got Vettel given how close he was there. Mercedes just should have let him push 1 or 2 laps sooner. He clearly had the pace as his pace once he was told to push was mighty until he hit Vettel's dirty air.

We expected Ferrari to be far better this weekend. Bottas was a tiny fraction of qualifying 2nd and about 10th of pole. Then another tiny fraction off winning the race. Yes, Mercedes did a better strategy and Bottas did have better tyres than Vettel, but Vettel was incredible today and The Mercedes is never very good in dirty air following a car that is basically as fast on the straights. Bottas had a great start and pretty much did the best he could IMO. Very harsh to say he's been disappointing IMO. The other drivers you mention were clearly were significantly worse all weekend. I'd actually say Bottas had a slightly better weekend than Hamilton. The fact that he wasn't showing his true pace throughout a lot of the race really didn't help this though.
Bottas lost too much time to Vettel, so that he closed in too late. He was too slow and also somewhat inconsistent when his gap was about 7-8 s. It may have been a Mercedes mistake, though, not understanding for too long that Vettel was one-topping.

Would have been their second major strategy blunder in as many races, then.

In any case, Bottas was cruising for much too long during the race.

It was incredibly clear he was not trying when he was 7 - 8 seconds off. He also was affected by traffic at that stage. Once the team told him to push, he caught Vettel so quickly. It is just so obvious he was looking after the tyres or saving the engine when the gap to vettel was that big. It wasn't bottas being slow without a good reason.

Bobafett · Post by **Bobafett** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:25 pm

I get the feeling vettel musta stole Perez's mojo when it comes to tire management, they should never gave lasted, its a testament to vettels abilities they did

Yeah I get the feeling that Hamilton woulda been more punchy than bottas in the last laps, possibly doing a schumi "ill dive down the inside and break impossibly late and make you back off or crash" type move, not saying bottas is crap, or that he can't overtake, just he seemed to lack that killer edge guys like vettel and Hamilton have, I don't think he likes scrappy moves, he wants to wait till the move will defo stick first Imo and that's what hurt him, he was waiting for the hole instead of punching one through

Hamiltons move reminded me of the sorta one you see in touring cars were a few cars are bickering over the same tarnac..only for one guy not in the battle to just sail past the gap they unwittingly create

He'll..engine of the day..honda, fast enough to be strongly in the point and reliable, not bad for a gp2 engine Fernando? And with a team and driver whom..while good, is not considered Alonso level

Driver(s) of the day was / were:-