8 replies to this topic

[Snic]

Hey all,

Thanks to the ratings and thoughts you guys have supplied thus far I have compiled a half-term report on the best bits thus far this season. Credit to Cliptheapex.com for overtake stats.



Kimi’s only win at the opener in Australia is still the best rated race of the season, and Monaco is for the second year running the lowest rated.



Interestingly the number of overtakes is not as strongly correlated to race rating as it was last year – although the overly high overtake incidence at Silverstone, China, Bahrain and Spain were strongly influenced by an almighty DRS zone or severe tyre degradation. The third best race, Hungary, had very few overtakes yet all of these were meaningful and hard fought as tyres and DRS were less influential.

Best Drives
Kimi Raikonnen – Australia

Lewis Hamilton – Silverstone, Hungary

Fernando Alonso – Spain

Sebastian Vettel - Bahrain

Worst Driver
Gutierrez – I know, it’s easy to pick on the new boy but remember Hulkenburg has had 4 point scoring races, and been 11th twice; whilst Gutierrez still shares the same number of points as Max Chilton. Involved in several silly accidents at the start of the year and has generally been way off the pace.

Best Overtake [Click links for video]
Hamilton on Di Resta – Silverstone
Battles like this don’t come often enough in F1, great driving from both in front of the home crowd.

Alonso on Raikonnen & Hamilton – Spain
Incredible start from Alonso setting up his second win of the season

Vettel on Webber – Malaysia
The moment that will be remembered till the day Vettel hangs up his overalls. The pass on the inside next to the pit wall still makes me wince. Brave stuff.

Alonso on Hamilton – Australia
Great reactions from Alonso to notice Hamilton locking up a split second after turning in and hence avoiding what could have been a catastrophic accident; and despite this still setting up for an easy pass on the next straight. Sometimes the best overtakes are the ones that are made to look easy!

Sutil on Alonso - Monaco

Hamilton on Webber – Hungary
Although watching the onboard makes it look easy, remember this is the track dubbed Monaco without barriers – Fantastic opportunistic move, and just to prove it wasn’t luck he did it twice!

Grosjean on Massa – Hungary
In the words of Atrieu “Grosjean's move was so good the stewards just lost their minds”

Best Pole Lap [Click links for video]
Hamilton – Silverstone (-0.452s)

Vettel – Malaysia (-0.913s)

Rosberg – Bahrain (-0.254s)


Best Moment
So what’s been your highlight of the season so far?

Thank you all again for your input so far, hopefully the second half will be even better

[Anderis]

Worst Driver
Gutierrez – I know, it’s easy to pick on the new boy but remember Hulkenburg has had 4 point scoring races, and been 11th twice; whilst Gutierrez still shares the same number of points as Max Chilton. Involved in several silly accidents at the start of the year and has generally been way off the pace.

In the last couple of races he has generally been much closer to Hulk in terms of pace, than di Resta in second half of last year.

[Snic]

true but if I remember correctly Di Resta had a crack in his tub according to FI which was losing him several tenths for 4-5 races ?

Either way I don't Gutierrez has done enough to show he deserves his place in F1 just yet

Edited by Snic, 03 August 2013 - 14:16.

[bourbon]

Malaysia was very exciting for the wheel to wheel by the 4 front runners, esp the RBR racers. That was the best moment so far this season.

[Juggles]

I've enjoyed the season so far.

My favourite race was probably Silverstone despite the tyre blow ups. The cars looked great around there and we saw plenty of good wheel to wheel action. I went to the Chinese GP and found it much more exciting in the flesh than most people seemed to on TV. The Vettel chasedown of Hamilton near the end was particularly intense.

My favourite moment was Hamilton's pole in Silverstone. I had just got back to the UK and we were out of the house on Saturday so I watched it when I got home at about midnight with my dad. Trying to get to sleep after that buzz was almost impossible, especially because there was twelve hours worth of shocked Autosport forum comments to catch up on.

The three best drivers of 2013 at this stage are (in order):

1) Vettel - driving like a three time world champion. Last season Vettel didn't drive as well as Alonso or Hamilton but still won the title, which spoke volumes for the Red Bull car and team. This season I feel Vettel is actually further ahead in the championship than he should be. After the last few years it's easy to cry "but it's all the car," but it's pretty obvious to me that this year Vettel has extracted more from his package than both Alonso and Raikkonen.

2) Hamilton - a half season of bedding in and he already has four poles, a win and has started putting his teammate to the sword. His consistency has been so impressive in a car that has struggled in races almost all season - three 3rds, two 4ths and three 5ths as well as the win in Hungary. I don't have him equal first with Vettel because of Barcelona and Rosberg's three poles in a row earlier this season. The only one who may yet take the fight to Vettel in the second half.

3) Raikkonen - Typically consistent with five 2nds and a win. It's hard for him to look as spectacular as others because he's usually on longer strategies but by the end of the race he just seems to appear near the front. I still think qualifying is an issue though; both Vettel and Hamilton would consistently be starting further up the grid in that car.


Di Resta deserves an honourable mention in my opinion. He's had to deal with a lot of crap but has made the best of it.

Massa should not be kept by Ferrari for 2014. I hope Grosjean is kept by Lotus purely because of his permanent cheeriness; I loved someone's description of him as a "rural simpleton." Gutierrez, Chilton and Van der Gaarde are all pay drivers and it shows.

[OO7]

I've enjoyed the season so far.

My favourite race was probably Silverstone despite the tyre blow ups. The cars looked great around there and we saw plenty of good wheel to wheel action. I went to the Chinese GP and found it much more exciting in the flesh than most people seemed to on TV. The Vettel chasedown of Hamilton near the end was particularly intense.

Yeap, Silverstone was very exciting. I re-watched it a few hours ago.

especially because there was twelve hours worth of shocked Autosport forum comments to catch up on.

The three best drivers of 2013 at this stage are (in order):

1) Vettel - driving like a three time world champion. Last season Vettel didn't drive as well as Alonso or Hamilton but still won the title, which spoke volumes for the Red Bull car and team. This season I feel Vettel is actually further ahead in the championship than he should be. After the last few years it's easy to cry "but it's all the car," but it's pretty obvious to me that this year Vettel has extracted more from his package than both Alonso and Raikkonen.

2) Hamilton - a half season of bedding in and he already has four poles, a win and has started putting his teammate to the sword. His consistency has been so impressive in a car that has struggled in races almost all season - three 3rds, two 4ths and three 5ths as well as the win in Hungary. I don't have him equal first with Vettel because of Barcelona and Rosberg's three poles in a row earlier this season. The only one who may yet take the fight to Vettel in the second half.

3) Raikkonen - Typically consistent with five 2nds and a win. It's hard for him to look as spectacular as others because he's usually on longer strategies but by the end of the race he just seems to appear near the front. I still think qualifying is an issue though; both Vettel and Hamilton would consistently be starting further up the grid in that car.

That seems like a very good assessment to me Juggles. I think Kimi could have performed better in qualifying and Fernando has made a couple of critical errors (Malaysia (contact with Vettel) & Bahrain (using DRS are being warned not to by the team)). I haven't looked at their performances closely enough to establish where I believe Kimi & Fernando should be ranked repectively, but your assessment looks like a very good one.

Edited by Obi Offiah, 04 August 2013 - 03:13.

[George Costanza]

Top 3 drivers this season: Seb, Kimi and Lewis, in that order.

Fernando has dropped back a bit (of course, his 2012 season was his finest driving season I have ever seen from him, and that would be hard to top, kind of like Schumacher in 1998 season).

[olliek88]

Best overtake - Grosjean on Massa for "balls" and skill but in terms of sheer drama Vettel Vs Webber was brilliant too, F1 at its best.

Best drive - Probably Hamilton's at Hungary, made the difference with crucial overtakes.

Best driver - Its hard to look past Seb, been the most consistent but an honourable mention to Kimi.

Worst driver - Max Chilton, no competition.

Best moment - The whole multi 21 fiasco.

[Retrofly]

Surprised Britain got a low rating, I thought it was one of the best of the season, if not the best. :S

Edited by Retrofly, 04 August 2013 - 10:13.