Who was the best driver of the 2014 Hungarian GP weekend?
#151
Posted 28 July 2014 - 10:35
ALO otoh shouldn’t have cut that chicane when things got ~really~ hot. It bought him at least two safe laps against HAM. So it can’t be him.
So that leaves us with RIC (I'm excluding MAL since he wasn't on the telly enough to stand up to scrutiny). Two passes for the lead versus 2 world champions. And making them stick. So he got my vote. Those last laps were what will go down in history as ‘the changing of the guard’. It just had to be ALO and HAM that he passed…
However, with that said, only one of those three had a WDC at stake, while he was looking at MAG’s diffuser in the pitlane. And yet there he was, on the podium, ahead of his only rival. So now I want to change my vote, but not really. Because he wears silly hats.
(*) I actually liked he did not hang RIC out to dry, but F1 has changed and HAM should get with the program. In the mean time I will grind my teeth and do a grumpy old man routine. Which gets the rolling eyes from the wife.
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#152
Posted 28 July 2014 - 10:41
Fernando Alonso Diaz, after him I'd chose Ricciardo and Lewis.
#153
Posted 28 July 2014 - 12:33
The top three were all worthy contenders but it has to be Ricciardo for those audacious moves on two top quality world champions both themselves fighting for a win. Yes, he had a tyre advantage over them both and a car advantage over Alonso but don't forget he had a power and car deficit to Lewis and a few years ago people were convinced overtaking was impossible at Hungaroring. He executed the moves amazingly for his second win of the season and his career, in a season when no one else has beaten the dominant Mercs. When he gets a sniff he shifts a gear, one of the best racers I've seen with this amount of experience. Only a young Lewis looked similar in recent history in terms of overtaking ability in his first few years. All whilst sharing the car of the current and 4x WDC. This guy is something else IMO.
#154
Posted 28 July 2014 - 12:36
Alonso or Ricciardo, voted for Alo though.
Hamilton got massive advantage from the two safety cars, he had the best car of the field, and made an amateur spin in the beginning.
#155
Posted 28 July 2014 - 13:16
Ricciardo just gets better and better. Super impressed.
#156
Posted 28 July 2014 - 13:25
Hamilton got massive advantage from the two safety cars, he had the best car of the field, and made an amateur spin in the beginning.
Why does everyone keep saying this?
Before SC came out: 13th
SC comes in: 13th
#157
Posted 28 July 2014 - 13:27
Why does everyone keep saying this?
Before SC came out: 13th
SC comes in: 13th
Because he was more than 20 seconds away from the pack and Rosberg was promoted from first to fourth place. No advantage right?
#158
Posted 28 July 2014 - 13:33
Because he was more than 20 seconds away from the pack and Rosberg was promoted from first to fourth place. No advantage right?
By that virtue the whole field was lucky.
#159
Posted 28 July 2014 - 13:43
LH. He not only came back from starting from the pitlane, he had the balls to show the incompetent pricks in his team his middle finger, and fight for his position. NR has all but said he would have done the same, so 90% of the blindfolded BS said about that is just that. Ricciardo is next in line for the best driver position, he not only made his 4 time WDC teammate yet again look like a second rate Mark Webber clone, he won on merit. Alonso has pulled a Perez, and came in second after losing a position. I do understand why Ferrari fans are elated, but he was def not the best today.
Right. I think there might be a job open for him at Marrusia, where he can really show his stuff in a good team.
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#160
Posted 28 July 2014 - 13:48
By that virtue the whole field was lucky.
Wasn't it you guys who define luck in relation to Rosberg all the time, and if you can get from 20 seconds behind with no real chance of a podium to place thirteen (by the way McLaren pitted after two laps) within seconds to your team mate and the front runners, this is no luck or advantage at all? Also in relation to the most drivers he gained time - or were all drivers , just a second in front of him in a train?
#161
Posted 29 July 2014 - 22:45
Yes, Ricciardo won, which is quite relevant for this matter, but, after an in-deep analysis of the race, it seems to me that he was considerably more benefitted than Alonso from both safety cars; then he got the advantage that allowed him to challenge Alonso for the win in those last laps.
Ricciardo had not a good start, losing his position respect to Alonso (P4) and Button (P5). He got stuck behind this latter for the whole first stint while Alonso managed to open a 6 seconds gap from them. This time deficit was precisely what allowed him and Button not to miss the pit entry when the first safety car was deployed in lap 8. It looks like Alonso missed the chance of entering the pit by just tenths of second —there's a frontal TV take of the whole main straight on which you can see the SC 200 meters ahead of the pit exit right after its deployment and Alonso, at the very bottom, appearing at the beginning of the straight, approximately also 200 meters ahead of the missed pit entry. Once all have pitted one lap later and the race continued under normal circumstances from lap 14 on, Ricciardo was in P1 and and Alonso in P8, but now 6 seconds behind him. So, here we have some valuable seconds and track positions lost by Alonso respect to Ricciardo because of the first safety car timing, which, given the gap between both at the final stage of the race, turned out to be crucial.
Relevant to point out that Ricciardo, during his second stint, could not enlarge said 6 seconds gap from Alonso he had gotten right after the first safety car deployment, which makes me think that Ricciardo was not intrinsically faster than Alonso under similar circumstances: same aged soft tyres.
Some people argue that, on the other hand, the second safety car damaged Ricciardo because it demoted him from the lead to P6 while most drivers, Alonso included, kept on track and gained positions respect to him. Ricciardo pitted in lap 23 right after the second car deployment. I guess that, at that precise instant, RedBull decided to put or gambled by putting Ricciardo in a two more stops strategy —it was clear that the 47 laps remaining couldn't be covered with just one set of the soft tyres his car was on. I also guess that, at that moment, it was not clear which stops strategy was going to be better: one or two more? In fact, the very RedBull took a different decision for Vettel who was kept on track as most drivers were. As we could see, the strategy RedBull/Ricciardo chose turned out to be faster than the just one more stop one —Rosberg, in a similar strategy, was very fast during his last stint and managed to join the three frontrunners at the end of the race despite being 25 seconds behind in lap 60. So, well, if what most drivers/teams then decided is anything to go by, and I think it should be, Ricciardo, in a way, was also lucky here because the at that time apparently more hazardous strategy he was in from that SC on worked better than the apparently safer one chosen by most.
As for Hamilton, well, I think he did what he should: to take advantage of the SCs to maximize his final position; to defeat Rosberg was a plus that I'd bet he didin't expected. As an Alonso fan, it was a pitty he was not capable of stopping Ricciardo. I expected he could, though I also expected that he was going to overtake Alonso. It looks like the medium tyres his car was on were slow and lacked the grip for traction and breaking needed to overtake and to defend properly.
My vote went for Alonso, though, as he has suggested, I would trade any official driver of the race award for the actual win, especially because I doubt he's going to have the chance again anytime soon and, in my opinion, it would have been fully deserved.
Edited by juandiego, 31 July 2014 - 12:39.
#162
Posted 29 July 2014 - 23:22
By that virtue the whole field was lucky.
yes, everybody except for the top 4 were lucky with that first SC
#163
Posted 29 July 2014 - 23:53
Danny boy.
He did the damage with his pace between the 2 safety car periods, allowed him to come out with fresh tyres not too far behind the front runners.
Brilliant moves at the end, and, you know, he actually won the race.
from JA's strat report:
Hamilton wasn’t going to win the race at this point, Ricciardo already had it under control in a superb drive which featured an ideal blend of patience, waiting for opportunities and boldness, taking the opportunities to overtake aggressively when they occurred. The strategy was perfect, helped by the first Safety Car, which vaulted Ricciardo ahead of Rosberg, Bottas, Vettel and Alonso. Ricciardo did the main damage to Mercedes with his pace between the Safety Car periods and he was also helped by Vergne holding cars back.
If Mercedes had pitted Hamilton for softs and then again later for softs he would still have been beaten by Ricciardo. So he was racing Alonso and Rosberg for second place.
#164
Posted 30 July 2014 - 21:52
Danny boy.
He did the damage with his pace between the 2 safety car periods, allowed him to come out with fresh tyres not too far behind the front runners.
Brilliant moves at the end, and, you know, he actually won the race.
from JA's strat report:
Hamilton wasn’t going to win the race at this point, Ricciardo already had it under control in a superb drive which featured an ideal blend of patience, waiting for opportunities and boldness, taking the opportunities to overtake aggressively when they occurred. The strategy was perfect, helped by the first Safety Car, which vaulted Ricciardo ahead of Rosberg, Bottas, Vettel and Alonso. Ricciardo did the main damage to Mercedes with his pace between the Safety Car periods and he was also helped by Vergne holding cars back.
If Mercedes had pitted Hamilton for softs and then again later for softs he would still have been beaten by Ricciardo. So he was racing Alonso and Rosberg for second place.
Strange interpretation, if you ask me. I don't know how the pace before a safety car period could be relevant for the win or anything if, obviously, any gained gap would be cancelled after its deployment.
What was really relevant was the third pitstop: from that moment on was when Ricciardo (lap 54) and Rosberg (lap 56) started to go way much faster than Alonso and Hamilton, something like 1.5-2 seconds per lap faster than them.
I keep in my point, what allowed Ricciardo to win was the first safety car timing because it put him in the lead by chance and the three stops strategy he and/or his team chose after the second safety car because it allowed him to have a much faster car at the end when Hamilton's and Alonso's pace was getting slower and slower.
Edited by juandiego, 31 July 2014 - 07:23.
#165
Posted 30 July 2014 - 22:03
Has to be Alonso, Lewis was really really lucky yesterday
It's quite interesting to see how Alonso "wins" on this forum which speaks for the internationalism of AtlasF1/Autosport.com. On JamesAllenOnF1 Lewis "won" the same question by a slim margin ahead of Alonso and on a German site Ricciardo "won".
Interesting how perceptions diverge - to me, it was first Alonso, with brilliance from Ricciardo and then Lewis.
Edited by aditya-now, 30 July 2014 - 22:04.
#166
Posted 30 July 2014 - 22:55
#167
Posted 30 July 2014 - 23:19
Reading the mercedes presser that Lewis had a fuel problem at the end that they thought would be terminal, he gets my vote. He couldnt go faster because the car had an issue. But Nico's (obviously) car had no such issue. He was near 2 secs a lap faster and still couldnt pass Lewis.
Slightly selective reading. They said there was a point with each car when the team thought they wouldn't be able to finish the race http://www.mercedesa...day-toto-wolff/ Nico had an issue with his brakes earlier.
I have my doubts about how terminal either of those problems were BTW - and the funny thing is of course that at one moment Red Bull thought Ricciardo had a pretty serious - and possible terminal - problem as well!
Edited by scheivlak, 30 July 2014 - 23:20.
#168
Posted 30 July 2014 - 23:38
Slightly selective reading. They said there was a point with each car when the team thought they wouldn't be able to finish the race http://www.mercedesa...day-toto-wolff/ Nico had an issue with his brakes earlier.
I have my doubts about how terminal either of those problems were BTW - and the funny thing is of course that at one moment Red Bull thought Ricciardo had a pretty serious - and possible terminal - problem as well!
#169
Posted 30 July 2014 - 23:55
Thread title is conflicting with the poll question.
Driver of the Weekend has to go to Hamilton. Comfortably fastest until a fuel leak saw his chances of pole and race win go up in flames. Had a great drive to recover positions and hod his teammate back in the end, Driver of the Day has to be Alonso. His performance in the 3rd best car was mightily impressive. Kept his head down and put in the laps to stay ahead of the Mercedes and challenge the Red Bulls. It must be said that Dan has shown himself to be a world class talent, and a future champion.
This season has truly had a number of great races, and while this race was a one off such as Canada. There is a lot to look forward to as the season comes to a close.
#170
Posted 31 July 2014 - 02:05
Fred. How he dragged that POS Ferrari to 2nd is amazing,
#171
Posted 31 July 2014 - 04:30
Fred. How he dragged that POS Ferrari to 2nd is amazing,
That's a pretty fast POS.
Up there with RB & Williams.
#172
Posted 31 July 2014 - 04:59
That's a pretty fast POS.
Up there with RB & Williams.
Well, one of their drivers is.
#173
Posted 31 July 2014 - 05:19
Well, one of their drivers is.
Kind of like Red Bull
Not many call it a POS though.
#174
Posted 31 July 2014 - 10:28
#175
Posted 31 July 2014 - 10:33
Not that amazing when you drove a Mercedes.
Tell that to Rosberg..
#176
Posted 31 July 2014 - 11:02
Hamilton Overtakes at the Hungarian grand prix (not sure you can call all of them easy)
Lap 3 - Daniil Kvyat and Marcus Ericsson.
Lap 4 - Kevin Magnussen
Lap 5 Pastor Maldonado, Max Chilton and Kamui Kobayashi
Lap 7 - Romain Grosjean
Lap 8 - Kimi Raikkonen
Lap 15 -Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutierrez and Nico Hulkenberg, then profited from Sergio Perez running wide
LAP 33 - Vettel hits astro turf (Lewis sails by)
Lap 34 - Jean Eric Vergne
What the heck does Vettel's spin had to do with Lewis? How on Earth is that his merit? And you are also giving as example the overtakes on Caterhams & Marussia.. Wow! Just WOW man!
All these shockers when a driver comes from last place to podium are a bit overreacted, especially when that driver has BY FAR, the best car on the grid. Let's be honest the battle is simply between Ricciardo and Alonso here. Hamilton & Raikkonen did very well, drove well, but they also had a small dose of luck in advancing through the field, not to mention Lewis' superior car. I'll give my vote to Fernando: he made no mistakes, took every oportunity he could and held on to P1 heroically (RIC was on newer tyres anyway!).
Edited by Heisenberg, 31 July 2014 - 11:03.
#177
Posted 31 July 2014 - 11:49
What the heck does Vettel's spin had to do with Lewis? How on Earth is that his merit? And you are also giving as example the overtakes on Caterhams & Marussia.. Wow! Just WOW man!
All these shockers when a driver comes from last place to podium are a bit overreacted, especially when that driver has BY FAR, the best car on the grid. Let's be honest the battle is simply between Ricciardo and Alonso here. Hamilton & Raikkonen did very well, drove well, but they also had a small dose of luck in advancing through the field, not to mention Lewis' superior car. I'll give my vote to Fernando: he made no mistakes, took every oportunity he could and held on to P1 heroically (RIC was on newer tyres anyway!).
Agree to some extend. Just like with Vettel 2012 Abu Dhabi - his only worthy overtake was Button. Just like the only Hamilton's worthy overtake in Hungary was JEV and Bottas on the restart.
Germany last weekend was much more of overtaking task for Lewis than it was this week.
But at the same time it wasn't that easy - as Rosberg demonstrated being stuck behind JEV.
#178
Posted 31 July 2014 - 11:51
Fernando with honourable mention to RiC.
#179
Posted 31 July 2014 - 11:54
Well, one of their drivers is.
Kind of like Red Bull
Not many call it a POS though.
That's because the red bull is faster than the Ferrari and has achieved better results.
Again, based on only one of their drivers though. Maybe RIC is that much better than Fernando.
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#180
Posted 31 July 2014 - 12:53
Again, based on only one of their drivers though. Maybe RIC is that much better than Fernando.
hahaha nice forum logic