Rate the race

[Sonic]

Simple concept. Score the race out of ten (ten's the best) and any other ratings you wanna dole out for drivers, teams or whatever else you fancy.

I'll start.

Race 7/10 - Enjoyable battles through the field and the new rules seem to have helped. But the SC's ruined it a bit and I'm hopeful there's going to be even better GP's this year.

Jenson 9/10 - I've deducted a point as the guy still can't seem to to pull off a decent restart - nearly fell off at penultimate corner.

Nelson Piquet 1/10 - Never on it all weekend and whenever he tried spun or binned it.

Timo Glock - 7/10 - Alonso. On the outside. Classic!

[SGWilko]

If it was not for the poor SC timing and stoopid penalties, it would have got a 9/10. As it is, I'll give it a 7/10.

[52Paddy]

I'd give the race itself 9/10. I was kept entertained all the way through with many battles and interesting uses of the new regulations. The only thing which I deduct a mark for is that there was never really a heated battle for the lead. Yes, Vettel had pressurised Button in parts, but then Kubica was pressurising him, and it all ended in a disappointing anti-climax.

However, my feelings now do not live up to that description now because of the penalties dished out to Trulli and Vettel. Regardless of who was right or wrong, it takes the glory away from what otherwise may have been a great set of results.

[F1boat]

8 out of 10.

[Jag_Warrior]

I have to give this race a gigantic Wow!

I delayed playing the DVR because I dreaded seeing these fugly creations circulating = my expectations were VERY low. I thought it was going to be like watching fat chicks try to pole dance. It was a little messy at times, but I was pretty well blown away... and quite happy to see Brawn slay the Goliaths. Some were lucky (Hamilton) and some were just good (Button).

Reduced to a rating, I'll give this one an 8.5/10.

[yodasarmpit]

This was a solid 7/10.
Remember that that's a high score, 9 and 10 being reserved for the truly exceptional races which we may only see once in a year if lucky.

[aryan]

Solid 8/10 for me.

Good race all around. Yes, the Vettel/Kubica accident was an anti-climax, and the penalties, specially the one for Vettel ruin things, but, that doesn't take anything away from how much fun I had during the race.

Not an exceptional race, but a really really good one nevertheless.

[UltimateDanGTR]

This was a funny race, shame for the Vettel/Kubica thing but that was quite amusing as it let Brawn finish 1-2.

8/10

[christophulus]

8/10 for me as well. Shame about the Kubica/Vettel clash but I couldn't see Button being caught. One of the few times the order was still uncertain with 5 laps to go.

Oh, and Bernie, leave the race at exactly this time. No night races! Getting up at 6am made the whole experience even more exciting, 10am for Malaysia is already sounding pretty dull :)

[wmcot]

Overall rating 6/10 - nothing more or less than we have seen in past years.

Brawn 1-2 10/10 - for showing all the "big boys" up. (Let's hope they get more funding and can re-hire some of the employees they have to let go.)

Race control/Safety car 0/10 - too late coming out and stayed out long after the debris was clear while trying to sort out the race leader.

[Mark]

I can't give any race 10/10 where the lead never changed hands. However some excellent racing going on so 8/10. Let down by the safety car staying out way longer than necessary.

[jens]

Racing was great, haven't seen so many battles, passes and fluctuations in pace (mostly due to tyres) for a long time. :up: The main minus-side is, as usual after exciting races, post-race penalties...

[woody2goody]

Race overall: 8.5/10: Tremendous racing throughout, there was never really an uneventful 10 lap period.

Lead battle: 8/10: Although Button was never troubled, to see three cars in contention before Vettel and Kubi's incident was great, and quite rare to see, even with the safety car.

Midfield: 9/10: Great racing by everyone, all the teams were competitive, there was a lot of overtaking, even KERS cars were being passed.

Brawn GP: 10/10: The feel good F1 story of possibly the entire decade so far. Both Button and Barrichello deserve to finally be able to legitimately challenge for the title and I hope one of them wins it in the end.

Lewis Hamilton: 9/10: I have to rate the World's Champion from the British point of view. He drove an excellent race, and even though the car was not quick at all, he showed that if you have a good strategy and don't make any mistakes you can do well.

Penalty Decisions: 4/10: I appreciate that both Trulli and Vettel broke the rules to an extent, but the punishments were unnecessarily severe. Just demote Trulli to fourth, because on a safety car finish 25 seconds is ridiculous. In a normal situation, 25 seconds would have probably kept him in the points. As for Seb, well I don't believe he caused the crash with Kubica, and so a grid penalty is harsh.

Driving around with a wheel off was never going to hurt anyone under the safety car, and yes he should have probably pitted, but 50 thousand dollars??!?!?? Ridiculous to be honest.

[wmcot]

My problem with rating the race highly is that much of the drama was orchestrated. For example - Bridgestone was effectively told not to bring the prime tire for the track and instead bring two compounds that "challenge" the drivers and teams. Seeing the drivers struggle as their poor "soft" compound tires destroyed themselves was not real racing!

[pino]

Great race, ridiculous decisions by stewards so for me is 6/10

[aryan]

My problem with rating the race highly is that much of the drama was orchestrated. For example - Bridgestone was effectively told not to bring the prime tire for the track and instead bring two compounds that "challenge" the drivers and teams. Seeing the drivers struggle as their poor "soft" compound tires destroyed themselves was not real racing!

Why not? It was the same for all drivers. What's wrong with providing vastly different tyres?

Actually, I think this was good, as drivers have to concentrate more on tyre management. I don't see why this is not racing.

[Sonic]

Why not? It was the same for all drivers. What's wrong with providing vastly different tyres?

Actually, I think this was good, as drivers have to concentrate more on tyre management. I don't see why this is not racing.

Agreed. I like the tyre rule.

[keysersoze]

10s: Speed broadcast, Button, Hamilton (showed why he is WDC), Alonso (showed why he is a 2XWDC), Ross Brawn
9s: Vettel (demoted b/c of accident), Kubica (ditto), Trulli, Glock, Buemi, Rosberg, look of the new cars
8s: Massa, Heidfeld
7s: Kimi, both Force India drivers, Nakajima (looked good until he binned it), Bourdais, Webber
6s: tires (too much discrepancy between compounds, but a good idea)
5s: Piquet, Kovalainen
4s: race control, Ferrari strategist

SPECIAL AWARDS

Barrichello gets a 10 for hitting other drivers while not damaging his own car too much, and he gets a 6 for hitting other drivers while not damaging his own car too much! :D

Massa for being a defeatist and an effing cry-baby.

Piquet for his lousy, insulting excuse: "The brakes went crazy."

Brawn GP gets the "You aren't fooling anyone award" for managing to lead by only 2-5 seconds throughout, when they could've pulled out a massive gap, and Vettel get a star for calling it first.

[stevie_gerrard]

Race 7/10, had some excitement towards the end with Kubica battling with Vettel, but not quite the all action thrillier i was expecting.

Rubens 5/10 Got nothing against his wonderful result of 2nd in the race, but he was just a bit too agressive at the start, took webber out and ruined his race, and nearly took kimi out as well, although that wouldn't have been the end of the world :p :

Nelson Piquet No Rating I just don't have enough words to explain why this guy shouldn't be in f1. I only hope he does have a good season from now on, and score reguarly in the points, but i just can't see it happening. He seems to struggle in qualifying and get lucky in races, and if you want to be respected in f1, you can't be given that mentality. If Nelson is reading, please offer us something to remember you by without being mocked for it.