Driver of the Race - Chinese GP 2009

[gloomyDAY]

Vettel.

Quiet Mr. Walker!

[Dave B]

Can't be anybody else, can it? Vettel, 100% deserved win. :up:

[ShiftingGears]

Vettel and Webber.

[yodasarmpit]

Vettel.

I've never rated Webber, but he did well today with a great drive.

[christophulus]

Vettel definitely.

Kovalainen did alright finally, kept his head but wasn't that fast. Buemi showed his pace again but messed up tagging Vettel - could've been so much worse.

[Koz]

Vettel, and Glock.

[Ranger]

Vettel, no mistakes, fast.
Webber, 1 mistake, fast.
Button, 1 mistake, fast.
Kovalainen, 0 mistakes, steady.

[AndyL]

Vettel: fantastic. But I'm going to give it to Kovalainen - came through from well down the grid to finish only a couple of seconds behind Barrichello and he was the highest finisher who wasn't in a fast car.

[gm99]

Vettel for sure - he looked totally in control every lap of this race. Great pass on Button as well.

Kovalainen who drove unspectacularly, but error-free and was certainly better than his team-mate today.

Buemi did a great job apart from tagging Vettel.

[DexDexter]

Vettel of course, Kovalainen drove a good race and beat the world champion in an inferior car (old front wing).

[Dave B]

I'll give Heikki an honourable mention, thinking about it. He was under pressure this weekend, the spectre of having failed to complete a racing lap must have weighed heavy. While Lewis was spectacular to watch, he also make rookie errors by the bucketload and was lucky to finish in the points. Kovy meanwhile showed that sometimes keeping your head down and running a canny race can pay dividends. :up:

[ioan]

Massa! :p :











Just kidding! Although I was happy with his pace before the car gave up.

It pains me that I have to give it to the race winner but Vettel really impressed while the others, except Webber and Sutil, were just average.

[Dave B]

...the others, except Webber and Sutil, were just average.
I really want to give Sutil credit for dragging a Force India up to P6, but I can't help but think that a little more experience and racecraft would have netted the team 3 invaluable points rather than a hefty repair bill. For that reason I can't include him in my choices.

[superocean]

Vettle did good. Webber did another good drive as well. But Buemi surprised me as far as how high he got on the leader board when SeaBass was lagging in the back

[Ranger]

Sutil did good but as ever, he has a bad habit of tossing it off the track. He should have stopped doing that by now, it's his 3rd year in F1.

[F1boat]

Vettel. Amazing.

[Triumph]

Well done to Vettel.

Not quite the result I was hoping for, but I like Vettel, so he can be driver of the race :-)

[ioan]

I really want to give Sutil credit for dragging a Force India up to P6, but I can't help but think that a little more experience and racecraft would have netted the team 3 invaluable points rather than a hefty repair bill. For that reason I can't include him in my choices.

That was more bad luck than driver mistake, he must have hit a patch of standing water at the wrong moment, and when that happens there's no Schumacher, Hamilton or Vettel out there who can escape the following spin

[ioan]

Vettle did good. Webber did another good drive as well. But Buemi surprised me as far as how high he got on the leader board when SeaBass was lagging in the back

Let's forget Bourdais, he might get drooped before the European races if he continues like this. I think his mind is with the French back at Peugeot.

[wedge]

Vettel and Buemi

[jens]

Well, difficult to look past the race winner, Mr Regenmeister. :) ;) I like Webber, he is good and quick, but it always seems Vettel is capable of squeezing a tiny extra bit out of the car, which makes him a truly great driver.

If Sutil had finished, he would be up there too. Besides those really struggling to remember a true standout performance.

Kovalainen, as mentioned, did well. By pure pace he probably wasn't quite the fastest, but at least he was steady and consistent - buttonesque. Massa had the possibility to put in a great drive, but...

For a rookie Buemi did great, although inexperience almost cost him in that one critical moment with Vettel. But looking at Buemi's performance, the inevitable the question rises the how well did he perform and how good is the chassis, which is actually a winning one just in a different engine?

[donKey jote]

Vettel for an outstanding drive
Buemi for holding off alonso
Sutil for being up there until he hit the puddle

[markabilly]

VETTEL

I had some doubts but Monza last year as well as Brazil, cured them and buried them deep.

[SteveA]

I think Vettel too. I reckon he'll be WDC within the next three years.

[cynisca]

Sebastian Vettel without doubts.

[woody2goody]

It has to be German Seb, he didn't put a foot wrong all weekend.

Swiss Seb did well too, but hitting Vettel spoiled his race a bit. PS, French Seb was just unlucky.

Kovalainen did very well, remember that he didn't have a great qualifying.

Other mentions for Button - did well to push RBR for as long as he did, Webber - solid second place and a great overtaking move on Jenson, and Alonso, for fighting his way through despite the bad luck with the safety car. He probably would have finished 4th with a normal start.

[Robinho]

Vettle by far, never looked troubled.

Webber did well, Button was quick(ish) and didn't fall off which many others didn't manage.

Buemi starred for a while, although was lucky not to mess up Vettels and Red Bulls day

[Garry Walker]

Buemi and Massa.
It would be Buemi only if he had managed to take vettel out of the race :D

[SteveA]

Button was quick(ish) and didn't fall off

He did miss a corner actually, in a non-spectactular way.

[Hondo]

Vettel did well to win from the front but I have to go with Webber on this one. It was nice seeing his efforts pay off for a change.

[555-04Q2]

Vettel.

[Ari]

Vettel, no mistakes, fast.
Webber, 1 mistake, fast.
Button, 1 mistake, fast.
Kovalainen, 0 mistakes, steady.

Yep sums it up perfectly.

Vettel over Webber for mine.

[Ari]

Vettel did well to win from the front but I have to go with Webber on this one. It was nice seeing his efforts pay off for a change.

Vettel definitely had the backing of the team regarding pit stops etc.

[leopard]

Vettel and Webber definitely, Renault powered cars cash down all the challenge out of question. Glock and Buemi deserve of another mention, but the (late) existence of Brawn drivers are definitive shake-up...

[Knock-on]

Vettel.

Mentions to Button who did the job in a car that obviously suffered with grip and downforce.

HK did a good job and hopefully the start of a resurgence.

SB (Obviously not Bourdais :p ) tried hard and Sutil is rapidly becoming a realistic prospect for a top drive.

[Ranger]

...and Sutil is rapidly becoming a realistic prospect for a top drive.

Couldn't be more incorrect. Completely wrong.

No one wants a driver whos fast once a year (and crashes) and is otherwise outpaced by his team-mate... until he crashes.

[Garry Walker]

Sutil is rapidly becoming a realistic prospect for a top drive.

No, he is not.
When it is dry, he is almost always slower than Fisi. Only yesterday Fisi had a bad race for various reasons, but usually he is faster than Sutil.

[Storm]

Webber had a very good race (especially the outside pass on Button) but it has to be the guy who kept everyone behind him all the way - Vettel

[stevie_gerrard]

Definetely Vettel, but honourable mention for webber as well, who got his best ever finish.

[jens]

I agree with those, who say that Sutil isn't really an ace in the making and I don't see him getting into a better team. He may shine here and there in the wet, but he is way too inconsistent to be a serious contender. Reminiscent of Jos Verstappen if you'd like a comparison. He is, however, quite a good choice for a team like Force India, because their only hope are wet conditions and if they have got a driver, who is fast there, then they may have chances of opening their points-score. It doesn't matter so much, how does the driver perform in dry, because hopes for points are almost non-existent in dry anyway. :p : And besides that, I suspect Sutil - like also Fisichella - was running with wet setup in the race, because they were way behind everyone in dry qualifying. So a gamble that almost paid off. :)