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

UnlikeUday · Post by **UnlikeUday** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:49 am

For me,

Ricciardo & Alonso

Invade · Post by **Invade** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:55 am

Ricciardo, Alonso, Bottas.

whitewolfarctic · Post by **whitewolfarctic** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:59 am

Not going to vote yet. Wait to see how the conversation goes. I feel like Ricciardo was the best. Hulkenburg had a pretty good run also. Bottas I think did what he could with what he was given and Alonso once again getting everything he could out of the car. I need four votes for this one.

Invade · Post by **Invade** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:02 am

True I thought Hulk was very sharp all race and he's crushing his team-mate.

If I could have a fourth vote, I'd vote Hulk.

Mercedes-Benz · Post by **Mercedes-Benz** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:02 am

Bottas was unlucky not to win. VSC and SC cost Mercedes 2 wins this year and in Bharain it was 0.6secs

Bottas, Ricciardo, Hulk

sandman1347 · Post by **sandman1347** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:03 am

Ricciardo and Bottas for me with honorable mention to both Hulk and Alonso.

Altair · Post by **Altair** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:04 am

Ricciardo Hulk and Kimi.

Gonzales · Post by **Gonzales** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:05 am

What a race! Voted for Ricciardo, but credit goes to RBR's quick reaction to the SC.

whitewolfarctic · Post by **whitewolfarctic** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:05 am

I went on and voted Hulk, Bottas and Ricciardo.

Zoue · Post by **Zoue** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:06 am

Bottas for me. Thought he was very unlucky with the SC and that took away his win.

mikeyg123 · Post by **mikeyg123** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:10 am

Bottas, Ricciardo, Alonso. Easy picks for me.

Alonso for the third race running finished way higher than the car should have.

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:10 am

That must be so frustraiting for Bottas. Had a great start. Did a simply perfect lap when vettel piytted to jump him. Then after the safety car, he was really smart and managed to jump Vettel by nearly 2 seconds. He then did all he could and managed to hold off Ricciardo for much longer then the drivers behind him. Looked far better than Hamilton today. Even after Ricciardo got him, He had the pressure of a quicker Ferrari on tyres that were quite a bit newer. Bottas dealt with pressure perfectly. I know I'm a fan of Bottas, But I do think that was one of his best races with Mercedes, but incredibly unlucky.

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:17 am

Ricciardo.

But really, it was a team effort. AMRBR are showing why they are the best team in F1 IMO.

ShaneM · Post by **ShaneM** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:26 am

Ricciardo, Bottas, & Team Red Bulll.

Toby. · Post by **Toby.** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:32 am

Ricciardo.

What a drive. Showed Max how to pull off high-pressure moves without even coming closw to snagging a brake, let alone bumping another driver off the track.

oz_karter · Post by **oz_karter** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:45 am

Ricciardo... another aggressive but clean win.

It's no mean feat to put such moves on drivers like Hamilton, Raikkonen, Vettel and Bottas and have them come off cleanly at the first attempt. Drive of the year so far.

I also gave a vote to Bottas because I thought he did well to get into the lead and drove solidly for the whole race. He looked to have Vettel covered for the win until the safety car.

Jezza13 · Post by **Jezza13** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:30 am

Alonso, Hulkenberg & Bottas for me with a sympathy vote for Raikkonen.

Really the RB pit crews and strategists should get the choccy's today with Merc & Ferrari teams as well as Verstappen getting a big bag of dog doo doo each.

Ric was Johnny on the spot and kept out of trouble but really everyone in front of him after the safety car pit stop was a sitting duck and he did what he had to do with the aid of fresh tyres.

Laz_T800 · Post by **Laz_T800** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:32 am

Mercedes-Benz wrote:Bottas was unlucky not to win. VSC and SC cost Mercedes 2 wins this year and in Bharain it was 0.6secs

Bottas, Ricciardo, Hulk

Syholl · Post by **Syholl** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:37 am

Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??

lamo · Post by **lamo** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:38 am

Bottas - nailed the start and stopped Ferrari controlling the race. Then didn't lose contact. Pulled a monster in and out lap and was doing well to hold off a faster Vettel. He should have stolen a race win whilst being slower. He is the dream number 2, would have pulled another win when Hamilton was off form. Australia qualifying aside, he is having a great year thus far.

Ricciardo - great overtakes. Very easy to blow such a good opportunity, just look at the mess Verstappen made of it.

Honorable mention to Vettel, who didn't really do anything wrong all race. Although I would like to see his in lap time to see how much of a role he played in losing the lead.

Zoue · Post by **Zoue** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:39 am

Syholl wrote:Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??

And Kimi!

Laz_T800 · Post by **Laz_T800** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:49 am

lamo wrote:Bottas - nailed the start and stopped Ferrari controlling the race. Then didn't lose contact. Pulled a monster in and out lap and was doing well to hold off a faster Vettel. He should have stolen a race win whilst being slower. He is the dream number 2, would have pulled another win when Hamilton was off form. Australia qualifying aside, he is having a great year thus far.

Ricciardo - great overtakes. Very easy to blow such a good opportunity, just look at the mess Verstappen made of it.

Honorable mention to Vettel, who didn't really do anything wrong all race. Although I would like to see his in lap time to see how much of a role he played in losing the lead.

Vettels in lap was not great. His pit stop was slowish.
Bottas put a great lap in though which was the main reason he jumped him

dompclarke · Post by **dompclarke** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 10:00 am

Syholl wrote:Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??

Not me, but he did make the race more interesting...

Syholl · Post by **Syholl** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 10:10 am

dompclarke wrote:
Syholl wrote:Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??
Not me, but he did make the race more interesting...

Using that theory would make Maldonado one of F1s greatest ever drivers....

Black_Flag_11 · Post by **Black_Flag_11** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 10:11 am

Syholl wrote:
dompclarke wrote:
Syholl wrote:Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??
Not me, but he did make the race more interesting...
Using that theory would make Maldonado one of F1s greatest ever drivers....

Hey, I'll have no bad words said against the GOAT!

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 10:53 am

I used to think that F1 Fanatic voted for the drivers were more realistic than here. Not anymore. https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/15/vot ... nt-3738360

I am a fan of Bottas, but I find it a bit of a joke that Ricciardo has 4 times as many votes for "driver of the WEEKEND" Ricciardo was outqualified by Verstappen. Bottas out qualified his highly rated team mate. Ricciardo got past verstappen due to Verstappen's silly mistake with Hamilton. Then he basically got past the rest with much newer, softer tyres. Bottas had a good start, soon getting past and pulling away from a faster Ferrari. Managed the gap to Vettel pretty well. Did a superb lap when Vettel pitted and came out ahead. Did a great move on Kimi later on in the race. Fair enough Kimi was on old tyres but it still looked good. Then Bottas managed to hold Ricciardo behind him when he was close for longer than the drivers behind him did. Bottas just couldn't do anything else. Ricciardo made things work to perfection. I have little against him. But I don't quite understand why there are more votes for him just for a driver of the day. But about driver of the weekend on F1 Fanatic, that is getting a bit silly IMO. Anyone else agree?

I like Ricciardo, and he does make things work in this circumstances very well, but I don't think some realise quite how fortunate the team was and how easy overtaking on those tyres will have been.

Zoue · Post by **Zoue** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 11:23 am

TheGiantHogweed wrote:I used to think that F1 Fanatic voted for the drivers were more realistic than here. Not anymore. https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/15/vot ... nt-3738360

I am a fan of Bottas, but I find it a bit of a joke that Ricciardo has 4 times as many votes for "driver of the WEEKEND" Ricciardo was outqualified by Verstappen. Bottas out qualified his highly rated team mate. Ricciardo got past verstappen due to Verstappen's silly mistake with Hamilton. Then he basically got past the rest with much newer, softer tyres. Bottas had a good start, soon getting past and pulling away from a faster Ferrari. Managed the gap to Vettel pretty well. Did a superb lap when Vettel pitted and came out ahead. Did a great move on Kimi later on in the race. Fair enough Kimi was on old tyres but it still looked good. Then Bottas managed to hold Ricciardo behind him when he was close for longer than the drivers behind him did. Bottas just couldn't do anything else. Ricciardo made things work to perfection. I have little against him. But I don't quite understand why there are more votes for him just for a driver of the day. But about driver of the weekend on F1 Fanatic, that is getting a bit silly IMO. Anyone else agree?

I like Ricciardo, and he does make things work in this circumstances very well, but I don't think some realise quite how fortunate the team was and how easy overtaking on those tyres will have been.

people tend to have opinions coloured by results. It's been noted before

F1-Dave · Post by **F1-Dave** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 11:51 am

whitewolfarctic wrote:I went on and voted Hulk, Bottas and Ricciardo.

Top three for me too however Alonso could easily have been up there also, perhaps interchangeable with Hulk.

Paolo_Lasardi · Post by **Paolo_Lasardi** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 12:37 pm

Ricciardo!
Alonso, Bottas, Hülkenberg, Magnussen

Disappointing:
Verstappen - I do not agree that he was allowed to finish in front of Vettel. Penalty was too lenient IMO
Gasly
Ferrari / Räikkönen playing the lapdog game

MB-BOB · Post by **MB-BOB** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:24 pm

1. Ricciardo, for his aggressive, but fair and safe passes to win... I doubt Verstappen is mature enough to learn some pointers.
2. Bottas, for his pole, pacing 90% of the race successfully, and gallant effort to hold off (for a while) Ricciardo.
3. Kimi Raikkonen, for his aggressive charge towards the end. Now that's old school Kimster.

Kudos to RBR, for being sharp on their toes and taking advantage of changing situations. That's how a team is supposed to work. I credit the team for half of Ricciardo's win.

Yet again, a 10-second penalty proves totally inadequate for ruining another driver's race. Got to be at least 20 seconds (maybe 30) for me...

Mr-E · Post by **Mr-E** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 2:22 pm

Ricciardo and Alonso

dompclarke · Post by **dompclarke** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 2:35 pm

TheGiantHogweed wrote:I used to think that F1 Fanatic voted for the drivers were more realistic than here. Not anymore. https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/15/vot ... nt-3738360

I am a fan of Bottas, but I find it a bit of a joke that Ricciardo has 4 times as many votes for "driver of the WEEKEND" Ricciardo was outqualified by Verstappen. Bottas out qualified his highly rated team mate. Ricciardo got past verstappen due to Verstappen's silly mistake with Hamilton. Then he basically got past the rest with much newer, softer tyres. Bottas had a good start, soon getting past and pulling away from a faster Ferrari. Managed the gap to Vettel pretty well. Did a superb lap when Vettel pitted and came out ahead. Did a great move on Kimi later on in the race. Fair enough Kimi was on old tyres but it still looked good. Then Bottas managed to hold Ricciardo behind him when he was close for longer than the drivers behind him did. Bottas just couldn't do anything else. Ricciardo made things work to perfection. I have little against him. But I don't quite understand why there are more votes for him just for a driver of the day. But about driver of the weekend on F1 Fanatic, that is getting a bit silly IMO. Anyone else agree?

I like Ricciardo, and he does make things work in this circumstances very well, but I don't think some realise quite how fortunate the team was and how easy overtaking on those tyres will have been.

Well I'd let Dan off the qualifying, he lost time in P3 and only just got out in Q1 to scrape a lap time.
To come from that to qualify where he did I think was a better achievement than Max to be honest.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:05 pm

I'm not too surprised to see Ricciardo with the most votes but me personally I wouldn't be a fan of SC assisted wins.

I voted for Bottas, he did well to keep himself in undercut range of Vettel to take the lead and then held on well for second place on much the worse tyres, similar to what Vettel did in Bahrain.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:05 pm

I'm not too surprised to see Ricciardo with the most votes but me personally I wouldn't be a fan of SC assisted wins.

I voted for Bottas, he did well to keep himself in undercut range of Vettel to take the lead and then held on well for second place on much the worse tyres, similar to what Vettel did in Bahrain.

Mr.Wojo · Post by **Mr.Wojo** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:06 pm

Red Bull better sign DR, because Max is not ready to be a team leader. Something tells me that he is close to peaking and a steady decline. Ricco on the other hand has been improving year after year, the guy is a legitimate World class driver.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:08 pm

Syholl wrote:Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??

Somebody who doesn't like Vettel perhaps?

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:09 pm

Syholl wrote:Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??

Somebody who doesn't like Vettel perhaps?

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:09 pm

Syholl wrote:Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??

Somebody who doesn't like Vettel perhaps?

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:13 pm

dompclarke wrote:
TheGiantHogweed wrote:I used to think that F1 Fanatic voted for the drivers were more realistic than here. Not anymore. https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/15/vot ... nt-3738360

I am a fan of Bottas, but I find it a bit of a joke that Ricciardo has 4 times as many votes for "driver of the WEEKEND" Ricciardo was outqualified by Verstappen. Bottas out qualified his highly rated team mate. Ricciardo got past verstappen due to Verstappen's silly mistake with Hamilton. Then he basically got past the rest with much newer, softer tyres. Bottas had a good start, soon getting past and pulling away from a faster Ferrari. Managed the gap to Vettel pretty well. Did a superb lap when Vettel pitted and came out ahead. Did a great move on Kimi later on in the race. Fair enough Kimi was on old tyres but it still looked good. Then Bottas managed to hold Ricciardo behind him when he was close for longer than the drivers behind him did. Bottas just couldn't do anything else. Ricciardo made things work to perfection. I have little against him. But I don't quite understand why there are more votes for him just for a driver of the day. But about driver of the weekend on F1 Fanatic, that is getting a bit silly IMO. Anyone else agree?

I like Ricciardo, and he does make things work in this circumstances very well, but I don't think some realise quite how fortunate the team was and how easy overtaking on those tyres will have been.
Well I'd let Dan off the qualifying, he lost time in P3 and only just got out in Q1 to scrape a lap time.
To come from that to qualify where he did I think was a better achievement than Max to be honest.

That is a point. But he was behind Verstappen for basically 75% of the race. Then had all of his overtakes on significantly better tyres than the cars around him. And he only had this chance due to the Toro Rosso pair colliding. So a bit lucky. Whereas Bottas got one of his passes at the start, then another perfectly managed pit stop and out lap then jumped Vettel into 1st. Did this all without the help of the safety car. And then he had to deal with the pressure from Kimi in the last 5 laps who was on 7 laps fresher tyres as well as the threat from Verstappen. He also managed to defend Ricciardo for a while. Guess I shouldn't be that surprised to see more go for Ricciardo, but by as much as they have on F1 fanatic is crazy IMO.

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:16 pm

pokerman wrote:
Syholl wrote:Come on, own up!!!! Who voted for Verstappen??
Somebody who doesn't like Vettel perhaps?

I think you may have noticed pokerman, but your posts seem to be created 2 or 3 times. thought I may as well mention it!

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