Ok, regardless of who was lucky, who was unlucky, who had the best car, or whatever...tell me who, in you opinion, was the guy who performed better, in the first part of the season, considering any factor you think is worth considering (equipment, salary, expectations, etc.).

Of course, better than just voting in the poll is telling your rationale for choosing your pick.


My pick: Felipe Massa

My reasons: no one expected FM to match his WDC teamate, but Felipe, despite two poor initial races, came back strong and put on a great challenge. But for a mechanical DNF in Germany he would be leading the WDC standings now.

Btw, after Massa, I would list:

2nd) Hamilton (despite a few brain-fades and despite having the best car and a somewhat lousy teamate)

3rd) Kubica (a great start to the season, very consistent, but faded a bit in the past few races)

4th) Raikkonen (proved he still is a threat to the WDC, despite a few disapointing races)

5th) Alonso (extracted good points from that lousy renault, despite making a few errors)

Sato.

I can't pick between Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen. Massa could have lead the title race, not for the mechanical failure, but for the two shitty races. But all three drivers have had shitty races. Last year, I thought that Raikkonen was the best driver by far, and he even happened to win the WC, which was rather suprising. But this year... sorry, to early to tell.

My favorite is Hamilton but I'd have to say Kubica has been pretty impressive and he hasn't made as many mistakes.

Massa has also been very good but like Lewis, he has screwed the pooch too many times. I'd slot him in at 3rd after Hamilton.

Kimi, shockingly, has been nowhere this season and Alonzo hasn't impressed me too much. Kimi really needs to sort it all out. I expected much more from him.

Kubica a little ahead of Hamilton because of fewer mistakes.

Best driver for me is a close call between Kubica for a very high consistency of performances even if he's almost never spectacular, and Hamilton for excelling in an amazing way in several races, which is offset by a couple big mistakes.

3rd place I give to Mark Webber, handling his team-mate (3 team-mates?) comfortably and generally performing at a Kubica-like consistency level, except for 1 or 2 recent races.

4th is another draw, between the Ferrari drivers, which have been very evenly matched overall. Raikkonen can often still be the quickest man on track, as his fastest laps show, and Massa has done a brilliant comeback from a bad start of the season - but both have had disastrous weekends and the odd weekend where they look slow.

Finally, I'd put another 2 guys close for 6th place: Trulli, who had an excellent start of the year (a lot like Webber) but has recently had his team-mate close; and Alonso, who I still believe is one of the very quickest guys in F1, but the low ranking is justified not by the poor car, but by my belief that he isn't extracting as many points as he could have from the Renault - by trying too hard.

Can't be arsed analysing to death the rest of the grid right now.

Hamilton...few great performances, but poor ones as well. Canada was as bad as it gets. I cannot see any reason to pick Massa; Räikkönen hasn´t been luckier overall, and leads his teammate in the WDC (however, I expect lots of people to vote Massa - simply because they expected more from Räikkönen, and most folks can only remember 1-2 last races). But I cannot pick Kimi, either. Several mistakes, off the pace in qualifying.

I´ll go for Kubica.

Kubica is the one who had made less mistakes (being quick!)

Massa has been the most consistent imo.

Hmm...tough call. Malaysia and Silverstone weren´t great. I´d say Räikkönen has lost _more_ points because of bad luck, and still leads his teammate in the WDC. One zero-point weekend by own fault (Monaco) vs 2 by Massa explains that, I think. None of the front runners have been particularly consistent, though. It´s the nature of seasons with several WDC candidates and other teams mixing up things now and then. Brings 2003 to mind, actually.

My pick would be: Webber, Trulli and Kubica. Not necessary in that order. Very close are Hamilton and Massa.

Gotta be Kubi. By far the fewest mistakes of the lead group. Also in the weakest car (Macca, Ferrari, BMW). Too bad they seem to have fallen well behind in terms of development at this point.

RK no question ther others have been a clown show in relation to RK

LH is marginally ahead. But for his unfortunate engine failure, I would have given the nod to FM. RK is doing well with an unspectacular 3rd. Sadly neither KR nor FA have lived up to their pre-season rating.

Kubica by any means.

FM or LH could theoretically have made this a two-way battle by now, if not for their respective brainfades. KR has a champions mental strength, but right now simply not the qualyfing speed to make use of it. Kova is just not up to it at this moment and it remains to be seen if he ever will.

So, three flaky contenders with capable cars and one capable contender with a flaky team that does not seem to be that interested in the 2008 title.

Hamilton, depiste the mistakes.
He was the one who faced the most pressure and delivered the most impressive performances.

Definitely no one from the front.

I am impressed by backmarkers in crappy and hopless cars making inroads into top 10. Those guys deserve medal for overcoming all odds, and placing relatively well anytime front grid driver makes an error. Reading some name on the list makes me think that our standards has really fallen lower than ever before.

I went with Kubica. Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen have all had forgettable races and aren't doing much more than expected as they have the fastest cars.

I think Heidfeld as done a great job to remain in the championship picture even with all his troubles with the car this year.

Robert Kubica, he is fighting a championship without a winning car, that is too much for me

Kubica followed by Hamilton

KR and FM too many mistakes. KR especially has looked un motivated.

Kyle Busch.

Exactly...

Jp

I second that!

I wouldn't call Heikki lousy. It's weird.

Kimi has the best car on the grid, or thereabouts, and can barely qualify in the top five. Heikki on the other hand fades in the races, and has had some appalling luck this season.

I'd say Kubica has done the best job because he really hasn't had the brain fades the others have. I'd call it solid, but not as impressive as some have made it out to be.

I can't stand Massa, but one thing I admire about him is when he's been under immense pressure, he seems to produce an absolute gem. I was happy the cameras switched to his smoking ferrari, but 10 seconds later, I felt a little gutted for the chap. I was hoping he'd win it so hamilton would eat his words.

Id say Kubica and Webber both are doing very well despite their machinery. It's hard to see because he's at the back but Rubans seems to be doing okay.

Hamilton is a peaks and troughs driver doesnt do anything bay half he either shows extreme brilliants e.g Germany-Silverstone-Monaco or the other way with Canada-Bahrain.

Both Ferrari drivers have been poor i'm sorry to say, in the first half of the season they have had the best car un untill the last 2 races and should be comfortably leading the championship by a fair bit!

More like car 60% Alonso 40% in the current situation at Renault. He's out driving the car. Very Schumacher 05 esq.

From that list it is easy to pick up Kubica - he has been the most consistent performer.

Lewis has showed awesome drives, but made some big mistakes.
Kimi very, very disappointing.
Massa is inconsistent.
Heidfeld is nowhere near Kubica several times.
Heikki is obviously a lot slower than Hamilton.
Alonso makes too many mistakes, he's pushing too hard.


I'd say Kubica and Webber. Maybe Trulli.

I voted Kubica. You say he's faded the last few races but the last few races are actually the start of the 2nd half of the season. The first 9 races he was immense, with no mistakes barring his spin at Silverstone.

Robert Kubica. Very quick, made no mistakes, if only Nakajima hadn't hit him in the first race.

Webber for me has done fractionally more with his kit, relative to Kubica than Hamilton with their kit.

I think I'll go with the rather old fashioned yet traditionally quite reliable assessment method of looking at the points table. That puts Hamilton at the top despite his 'inconsistency' versus others 'consistency'.

I think Alonso is having an average season. I'd have expected a few podiums by now.

No problem with that method.

Just remember to stick to it in case of Lewis losing points through car issues or outside factors...

Max Mosley's chauffeur.

I'd agree. In the end, only results count. It's certainly not for lack of trying, but he's missing a lucky break or two.

As exciting Piquets podium in Hockenheim was (and he definitely needed it more than Alonso), the last laps might have become a wee bit more interesting with Alonso in Piquets position.

Yep, will have to go with Kubica.
LH has had moments of brilliance but some utter brainfarts. FM has had good races and utter shockers and KR just hasn't been at the races on occasion.

That's the worrying thing for Massa and Hamilton. Raikkonen is still very much in the title hunt, despite having a sub-standard season, he could quite easily dominate the remainder of the season if he sorts his qualifying problems out.

Yeah no doubt its got to be Kubica, although Webber has been extremely solid

Hamilton has made a few mistakes , but he is brillant and always performant.

Kubica has been constant but finally also made some mistakes in the lastest races, plus Heidfeld lack of performance in qualifying has made him better than he really is.

So, I would say Hamilton as the best overall, and Massa as the best qualifier.

I picked Kubica, although Vettel comes very close.

I watch F1 for the driving on track so I don't put 100% importance on most of Hamilton's errors - the pitlane light, not giving Vettel his place back, and late map selection. Ramming FA was an on-track mistake but it wasn't losing control of the car, more a case of not expecting Fernando to sacrifice so much speed to defend that line. In the stakes of being as fast as possible without going off, he's been almost perfect. Just nudged FA as far as I can think, and glanced the barrier in Monaco.

And on the plus side there's been Silverstone and Germany.

And as a spectator it seems that after every race it's Hammy who's been the talking point, for one reason or another - an easy win for entertainment factor too

Good value for his 5-point lead.

Kubi, just one big mistake IIRC, at Silverstone. Not doing to Nick what Lewis is doing to Heikki, but I really hope he's in a top car soon. I find it a bit hard to judge while the car's going backwards, TBH.

Felipe is somehow quick while seeming to miss every apex. Kimi, still superfast, needs to work on the car not just get in and drive the thing.

Kubica is my pick.



DC a close 2nd, would have been 1st but hasn't played demolition derby the last few races

I went for Kubica The other main contenders Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen have all had race and made mistakes that quite frankly they should be embarrassed by, especially given they are all World Championship contenders.

Alonso has got the Renault in places it shouldnt be on pure merit in races and especially in qualifying without resorting to running on fumes but he suffers horrible midfield style lack of luck.

Although Kubica obviously gets the vote. Ignore the win, its the consistancy that is most impressive and he is the only driver in a top team to show that kind of Schumacher/Alonso relentless yet mistake free driving. It is a crying shame BMW are not on pace with McLaren so we could have someone truely great to cheer for this season.

Kubica has not been 100% error-free. In Silverstone his teammate collected 8 points while he spun out of the race.
To me its not easy, I would say for the fans Lewis and Massa have been the best drivers since they've provided the best performances on track. The most consistent without a doubt has been Kubica.

Kubica

Massa, as I didn't expect him to drive as well as he has.

Closely followed by Kubica, and Webber.

And that's wrong since this is a poll about absolute performance not about who has disappointed more or not lived up to expectations or done more than was expected.

Answering the question that is polled I don't think there can be any other answer than Kubica. He has made only one mistake to remember (Silverstone) and totally thrashed his teammate.