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Haven't seen this yet so I thought I would create it.

My choices are Charles Leclerc for the win, Lando Norris for running "Best of the Rest" for all but the last lap, & Alexander Albon for ending up "Best of the Rest".

Honorable mention to Lewis Hamilton for his making the end of the race exciting and having a very good run.

What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Did you vote yourself?

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Mort Canard wrote:

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

If Norris had finished 5th, it would have been McLaren's third consecutive 5th place.

Hamilton Leclerc and Albon for me.

Mort Canard wrote:

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

That was a fluke.

That said, the comparison is quite disingenuous. The cars Alonso drove from 2015-2018 were nowhere near as good as this one.

Exediron wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

That was a fluke.

That said, the comparison is quite disingenuous. The cars Alonso drove from 2015-2018 were nowhere near as good as this one.

Well it's both false and disingenuous. It's not like Norris would have been 5th without a crash in front of him either.

Leclerc, Norris, and Albon

went for Kvyat, Albon and Leclerc. As I said yesterday, I think Kvyat overall looked better than Albon. Albon got a bit more caught out in the madness at the start, but in the first part of the race, he lookd very catious compared to Kvyat and he didn't make much progress earlyon. He also was behing Kvyat the vast majority of the race and only finished 8 seconds ahead.

Still think both did great, but I think Kvyat was somewhat under rated that race and is lacking many votes. 19th to 7th in that car is more impressive than 18th to 5th in a Red Bull. Yes Albon is more in experienced and new to the team, but ignoring that, i don't know why he's getting so many more votes than Kvyat.

Feel that noris has been over rated a bit. That McLaren is obviously very god indeed. Saainz was not there to compare and Noris was unchallanged vertually the whole race. Solid but really can't see that is was anything special. The way albon and especially Kvyat drove up through the pack looked much more impressive to me.

Leclerc, Norris and Gasly. I would like to have had a fourth vote for Albon, since both he and Gasly were driving "new" cars and I felt both performed well.

Charles, Alex and Kvyat for me with Hamilton as a close runner up.

Charles - Needed a bit of help from Vettel playing team games to get the win but he did what he needed to do and got his first W.
Alex - First race in the senior team and made two of the best moves of the race. He mugged Riccairdo and was cheeky with Perez. Looking forward to what he can do once he is familiar with the car
Kvyat - Flew under the radar going from pretty much the back of the grid to 7th.

Lando Norris all day long. McLaren had no pace this weekend, as reflected in a subdued qualifying. They had no business fighting as high as 5th. Norris' Turn 1 was one the best of the season. Showed us exactly how Max should have taken it. And from there he bossed the midfield until a heartbreaking failure on the final lap

My two other votes go to Leclerc, bagging his first win on a highly emotional weekend and dominating his illustrious teammate in the process. And Albon for totally defying my expectations and bringing the car home as high as it could possibly go despite new team, new car and starting from the back on what is traditionally a weak circuit for Red Bull

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

Which I believe got him DoTD?

As a slight divergence, I'd like to propose a worst driver of the day..

Verstappen: Having clearly damaged his front left suspension at La Source on lap 1 - meaning a certain retirement - he accelerated down the hill into Eau Rouge and up the other side - 'wiggling' the steering to see what would happen as he went. Not surprisingly he ended up on 3 wheels in the barrier. Surely this is hugely irresponsible driving. He could have caused himself a far worse crash and involved others in it. He should have pulled off as soon as he realised his race was over.

I think this should get him a penalty..

tim3003 wrote:As a slight divergence, I'd like to propose a worst driver of the day..

Verstappen: Having clearly damaged his front left suspension at La Source on lap 1 - meaning a certain retirement - he accelerated down the hill into Eau Rouge and up the other side - 'wiggling' the steering to see what would happen as he went. Not surprisingly he ended up on 3 wheels in the barrier. Surely this is hugely irresponsible driving. He could have caused himself a far worse crash and involved others in it. He should have pulled off as soon as he realised his race was over.

I think this should get him a penalty..

It was by the grace of God that he didn't clip Giovinazzi's car as his car then would surely have spun into the path of the oncoming cars.

tim3003 wrote:As a slight divergence, I'd like to propose a worst driver of the day..

Verstappen: Having clearly damaged his front left suspension at La Source on lap 1 - meaning a certain retirement - he accelerated down the hill into Eau Rouge and up the other side - 'wiggling' the steering to see what would happen as he went. Not surprisingly he ended up on 3 wheels in the barrier. Surely this is hugely irresponsible driving. He could have caused himself a far worse crash and involved others in it. He should have pulled off as soon as he realised his race was over.

I think this should get him a penalty..

I don't think he realised his race was over. I think he was sawing at the wheel trying to work out if his suspension was broken or not. And it was steering. Just didn't hold through Eau Rouge.

Exediron wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

That was a fluke.

That said, the comparison is quite disingenuous. The cars Alonso drove from 2015-2018 were nowhere near as good as this one.

I will concede that but Norris DID put in quite a driver yesterday and I see no reason to detract from it.

tim3003 wrote:As a slight divergence, I'd like to propose a worst driver of the day..

Verstappen: Having clearly damaged his front left suspension at La Source on lap 1 - meaning a certain retirement - he accelerated down the hill into Eau Rouge and up the other side - 'wiggling' the steering to see what would happen as he went. Not surprisingly he ended up on 3 wheels in the barrier. Surely this is hugely irresponsible driving. He could have caused himself a far worse crash and involved others in it. He should have pulled off as soon as he realised his race was over.

I think this should get him a penalty..

On the replay I noticed that he was wiggling the steering wheel like he was trying to warm his tires and the car didn't seem to be responding. I couldn't figure out why he was still accelerating if there was a question about it being intact.

I don't know about a penalty but I think a reprimand from the FIA might be in order.

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

Which I believe got him DoTD?

Only you would remember or care about that, poker.

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

Which I believe got him DoTD?

Yeah it was a great performance. He wasn't driving the 4th best car.

Mort Canard wrote:

tim3003 wrote:As a slight divergence, I'd like to propose a worst driver of the day..

Verstappen: Having clearly damaged his front left suspension at La Source on lap 1 - meaning a certain retirement - he accelerated down the hill into Eau Rouge and up the other side - 'wiggling' the steering to see what would happen as he went. Not surprisingly he ended up on 3 wheels in the barrier. Surely this is hugely irresponsible driving. He could have caused himself a far worse crash and involved others in it. He should have pulled off as soon as he realised his race was over.

I think this should get him a penalty..

On the replay I noticed that he was wiggling the steering wheel like he was trying to warm his tires and the car didn't seem to be responding. I couldn't figure out why he was still accelerating if there was a question about it being intact.

I don't know about a penalty but I think a reprimand from the FIA might be in order.

One day after tragedy stroke that was really unnecessary.

Verstappen did the same thing in Singapore 2017 instead braking and slowing down he kept going.

Voted Norris because his pace was consistently excellent throughout the race and he had a comfortable gap to everyone behind when he retired. When will this guy catch a break with reliability?! He's starting to remind me of Montoya in 2001.

.

Might I ask what Leclerc do to earn "driver of the day" ? He was the faster of two drivers in the fastest car of the day.

I ask NOT because I don't appreciate that it was his first win, but to remind ALL those people on this board who used to moan against votes for Hamilton who just cruised around at the front to win.

I don't mind people voting for the winner, OR THOSE who vote for the driver with the best moves, I merely ask for a lack of hypocrisy.

.

Greenman wrote:.

Might I ask what Leclerc do to earn "driver of the day" ? He was the faster of two drivers in the fastest car of the day.

I ask NOT because I don't appreciate that it was his first win, but to remind ALL those people on this board who used to moan against votes for Hamilton who just cruised around at the front to win.

I don't mind people voting for the winner, OR THOSE who vote for the driver with the best moves, I merely ask for a lack of hypocrisy.

.

Whilst it looked like a cruise, he did a better job than his 4xWDC teammate and handled the pressure from a rapidly-closing Hamilton in the final few laps. This under the backdrop of one of his old karting mates having been killed the day before.

Blake wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

Which I believe got him DoTD?

Only you would remember or care about that, poker.

I remember because of a previous discussion but the intent was merely to show support for Norris for doing a similar thing, on my case again?

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:

Todd wrote:What exactly did Lando Norris do other than not getting swept up in a first corner crash or having his car break earlier like so many better drivers who weren't running in front of him until he retired like so many others? What a joke.

Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

Which I believe got him DoTD?

Yeah it was a great performance. He wasn't driving the 4th best car.

Was Norris at Spa?

My observation on Norris is that he seems to have been a fairly cautious starter so far. This benefited him in Spa, as the seas parted for him at the first corner and landed him that 5th position. Based on Macca's qualifying performance, I expected him to fall back but the race pace was genuinely pretty good. So gutting for him that the car gave up one lap early. I'd be tempted to give him a sympathy vote.
He did have a good drive but largely an anonymous one - and that is no fault of his. It just wouldn't be my criteria for DoD.

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:
Lando was running in 5th up until the last lap. Excellent race for a McLaren. Not his fault the car failed.

He also outperformed anything Fernando Alonso has done with McLaren in a number of years.

Alonso got a 5th place last season.

Which I believe got him DoTD?

Yeah it was a great performance. He wasn't driving the 4th best car.

Was Norris at Spa?

Probably. It generally is. Unlike the McLaren of 2018.

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote: Alonso got a 5th place last season.

Which I believe got him DoTD?

Yeah it was a great performance. He wasn't driving the 4th best car.

Was Norris at Spa?

Probably. It generally is. Unlike the McLaren of 2018.

Sainz didn't make it out of Q1 and Norris only qualified 12th bearing in mind that Albon basically didn't take part in qualifying, in Australia last year Vandoorne qualified 12th in the McLaren.

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote: Which I believe got him DoTD?

Yeah it was a great performance. He wasn't driving the 4th best car.

Was Norris at Spa?

Probably. It generally is. Unlike the McLaren of 2018.

Sainz didn't make it out of Q1 and Norris only qualified 12th bearing in mind that Albon basically didn't take part in qualifying, in Australia last year Vandoorne qualified 12th in the McLaren.

Sure but in the race Norris was massively faster than the midfield and Sainz didn't make it out of Q1 due to a variety of flags. The McLaren has consistently been the comfortably the 4th best car since the first few races of the season.

shay550 wrote:Verstappen did the same thing in Singapore 2017 instead braking and slowing down he kept going.

Not as bad as Vettel, who not only took 3 other cars out of the race, but then proceeded to dump oil all around the first sequence of corners until he himself spun on his own oil, ending up facing backwards with an oncoming train of cars coming at him. On a street circuit no less

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:Yeah it was a great performance. He wasn't driving the 4th best car.

Was Norris at Spa?

Probably. It generally is. Unlike the McLaren of 2018.

Sainz didn't make it out of Q1 and Norris only qualified 12th bearing in mind that Albon basically didn't take part in qualifying, in Australia last year Vandoorne qualified 12th in the McLaren.

Sure but in the race Norris was massively faster than the midfield and Sainz didn't make it out of Q1 due to a variety of flags. The McLaren has consistently been the comfortably the 4th best car since the first few races of the season.

No chance the McLaren was 4th fastest at Spa. After Friday practice they had the 7th fastest car over both one lap and long run pace. They were off their usual pace in every session, including qualy where they finished 12th & 17th

The car didn't just magically improve into the 4th fastest car in Sunday's race. Norris killed it in Turn 1 and had both Haas as a buffer in 6th & 7th holding up the rest of the midfield

I voted Norris. Such an EXCELLENT drive all the entire day until his engine let him down. I wish McLaren had stayed the course with Honda. It seems the Renault is the unit that blows more frequently than any other with regularity.

Anyone who didn't vote for Alex Albon didn't watch the race.

ReservoirDog wrote:Anyone who didn't vote for Alex Albon didn't watch the race.

Well if it is just about watching the race, I don't understand why Kvyat has less than a third of Albon's votes. He started behind, and may have got ahead due to the mess at the start, but Kvyat raced through the field at the start and Albon didn't get by until right near the end of the race. Albon was good, but I would only say he was that good because he's new to the team. If it is just about the race, Kvyat should have more votes IMO. Albon wasn't at all impressive for a good half of the race. He only finished 8 seconds ahead of Kvyat and albon only gained 1 more position despite Albon having a much better car.

Both were excellent, but I think Kvyat was very under rated this race.

TheGiantHogweed wrote:

ReservoirDog wrote:Anyone who didn't vote for Alex Albon didn't watch the race.

Well if it is just about watching the race, I don't understand why Kvyat has less than a third of Albon's votes. He started behind, and may have got ahead due to the mess at the start, but Kvyat raced through the field at the start and Albon didn't get by until right near the end of the race. Albon was good, but I would only say he was that good because he's new to the team. If it is just about the race, Kvyat should have more votes IMO. Albon wasn't at all impressive for a good half of the race. He only finished 8 seconds ahead of Kvyat and albon only gained 1 more position despite Albon having a much better car.

Both were excellent, but I think Kvyat was very under rated this race.

It was his two decisive overtakes that make him DotD in a new team. Those 2 overtakes would've looked great even if Hamilton pulled them off. They were great by any measure.