Driver and Donkey of the season 2009

[Dave B]

I know there's still a race to go, but who has been your Driver and Donkey of the season?

For me Vettel's been driver of the year. Still a relative rookie, he's put himself in a position where he was in contention for the championship until the penultimate race; dismal engine reliability derailed what could have been a stellar season.

Second place goes to Hamilton. After a disasterous start, where a terrible car bought out the worst in his character, he knuckled down and worked hard - consistently beating poor Kovy and finally taking the win which had seemed impossible a few months earlier. Suffering a few hard knocks, some of his own making, may prove to be the best thing that's happened to him.

Finally I've got to say Button. Obviously the Brawn was the car to have for the first half of the year, but he easiliy had the measure of his team mate in identical equipment, even to the point where poor Rubens was suspicious of unfair treatment. I can't put him in first place as his form dipped later in the year, but the way he absorbed the pressure in Brazil to storm through the field and win he championship means he utterly deserves his title.

An honourary mention must go to Massa for the way he dealt with his injury. A lesser driver may have been spooked into retirement; Massa went about his rehabilitation with steely confidence. He'll be a force to be reckoned with next year, for certain.

Donkey of the season must, sadly, be a three-way tie between Nakajima, Piquet and Kovalainen. All three were consistently outclassed and outraced by their team mates; and all three squandered reasonably competitive cars. One's already left in disgrace; it's entirely possible that the other two will be out of F1 next year.

I'd like to give a Donkey mention to Badoer but I can't bring myself to. It'd be like kicking a man when he's down. He was offered a dream job, and while maybe with hindsight he should have said no, I doubt there's a person among us who would have turned down a Ferrari drive. His performances were undoubtedly awful, but even the experienced Fisichella found it difficult to adapt when he took over.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I think Vettel has made too many mistakes this season to be considered as driver of the year. Webber has driven just as well but has had more bad luck.

I think the most impressive drivers this year have been Button, Hamilton and Raikkonnen.

Button was unstoppable at the start of the year and took full advantage of his car advantage. You can't ask for more than that. Since then the pressure might have caused him to lose a few tenths perhaps, but he has stilled pulled off important passes that have got him out of trouble when he needed it.

Hamilton was involved in the scandal at the first race and seemed a bit depressed with the car he was given. But he has squeezed ever tenth out of it and has been rewarded with a couple of victories and pole positions. Truly embarrassed Kova and is showing signs now that he is the complete package.

Like Hamilton, Raikkonnen was handed a poor car this year but has made the most of it to race with the guys that have a better car than him. I hope he doesn't go to a team like Toyota for money because he has another world title in him if he is in a good enough car. Hamilton versus Kimi next year would be amazing to watch.

[harsha]

the donkey of the year would have to be Piquet followed closely by Kovalainen

I suppose the recent performances of Fisichella would pretty much give an indication of the struggles that Badoer was going through,granted that Fisi's outperforming Badoer..but you would expect a guy who's taken a Force India to the podium to be atleast competitive in the other races and he's been creamed by his team mate too

[keysersoze]

Driver of the Year: Button

He made the most of his early season advantage, and when the other teams caught up, he didn't try to do too much and took what the car would give him. He didn't worry unduly about Ruben's pace--he knows he's a DIFFERENT driver than him--and took care of his own business despite enormous pressure. He had one accident all year (Spa) and that was mostly Grosjean's fault.

Donkey of the Year: Piquet

Anyone who exits F1 in the fashion Nelsonho did is a shoo-in for a Donkey. Although I don't believe the scandal he found himself in was even half his fault, he handled himself poorly and was too slow given his equipment: slow and classless is a bad combination. Can't give it to Kova, who has disappointed, because he's at least an upright fellow. I rated Kaz last year but he didn't improve and has been inconsistent. Still, when positions 5-10 are so tight, any inconsistency will be magnified, and I think he still deserves a place in F1.

[harvick#1]

Driver of the Year: Vettel

Button would've been but the 2nd half of the season showed hes still just an average driver. Vettel showed the world he is fast in the dry as well and will be a serious threat next year if the Renault engines can hold up.

Donkey: Piquet

get out and stay out please.


but 2009 never really had a solid driver, the first half was the battle between the DDD vs. the non.

but once every team had there updates, it was a wild season that showed every team (except for STR) to be a contender

[Sleeper]

I happen to completely agree with you Dave, on all 6 drivers.

[Koz]

Donkey of the Year - Nakajima & Junior.

Honorable mentions to Sutil.

[woody2goody]

My Driver of the Year: Jenson Button - Yes, it was an obvious choice, but by taking the title he has finally silenced a lot of the critics who said he would never achieve his dream. He took the most wins and made the fewest mistakes out of all the championship contenders, he made the most of his car in the first half of the season, and did what was needed in the second half. Bravo Jenson, a job well done.

Honourable mentions - Mark Webber - he finally, finally won his first Grand Prix, and you know what, he picked up another one too. He was more consistent than his team-mate over the year, most of his problems weren't his fault (apart from Suzuka), and he worked extremely hard.

Nico Rosberg - while never spectacular at any point, the German driver did an extremely good job, scoring consistently and beating his team-mate fairly easily.

Fernando Alonso - he drove the wheels off a mediocre car all season, showing why he is probably the very best at the moment.

Sebastian Buemi - for a rookie he did an excellent job, with a points finish on his debut being the highlight. Needs to be less wild next year, but he will enter '10 as team leader.

Donkeys of the year - The biggest one has to be the combination of Piquet and Grosjean in the second Renault. The former was slow, accident prone and prickly, whereas the latter has been cheerful, but inconsistent, and yes, accident prone. The French team needs to do better alongside Kubica next season.

Here is my reasoning for NOT awarding donkeys to the other candidates:

Kovalainen - McLaren favoured Hamilton this season, no doubt, but that is the only thing stopping me from 'donkeying' Kovy. While decent in qualifying, he went missing regularly in races, and while a more consistent driver than Hamilton, he could never summon the pace of the 2008 World Champion.

Nakajima - While he was beaten pretty easily by Nico Rosberg this year, and is the only driver who has competed in all the races not to have scored a point, he has become a victim of the competition being so close this season. He has hovered around 10th place seemingly all year, and while he is consistent, he could rarely summon the extra tenth to push him towards the points. When he was set for points, such as in Turkey and Brazil, he suffered problems that were no fault of his own.

Badoer - obvious reasons for me, he wasn't given enough time to sufficiently improve his performances. Fisichella's struggles point to the fact that the Ferrari is very difficult to drive, and in my view, Luca should be absolved of any blame.

Sutil - did JUST enough in the second half of the season to keep his seat. He was beaten comprehensively by Fisichella this year, and will struggle against Liuzzi next year if indeed that is the lineup.

Bourdais - I thought he was unfairly treated by the Toro Rosso management, and booted out for what, apart from a couple of races, largely good performances. He scored as many points as Buemi for the period he was there this season.

[Cozzie]

Driver - Vettel

Only in his second full season and has already shown he is World Champion material. Was often on level terms with the faster Brawn cars, and at his best, has outclassed Webber IMO.

Honorable mentions to Button, Barrichello, Webber.

Donkey - Piquet Jr

For reasons that have already been stated.

Honorable mentions to Kovalainen, Nakajima, Honda, BMW.

[Koz]

Honda

:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Ari]

Driver: Hamilton
Drive the arse off a car early on which did not want to play. Worked with the team to pick it up and then started to put it together. Never gave up hope. Very professional. And this coming from someone who despises him.

Donkey: Piquet
lol

Honourables....

Button
Had the best car for most of the year but even when it wasn't on seemed to score a couple points. Very consistent run. When he had the best car early he put results on the table which is what make a world champion.

Webber
Easily best year to date. Drove the knackers off the car and brought home the bacon on more than one occasion. Made very, very few mistakes. Even with his bad luck seemed to go well this year.

Vettel
Not bad for a driver who should still be considered a rookie! Showed he has the pace but still has a little way to go for race craft and bringing home points when it matters. Will be champion one day, not yet.

[Langdale Forest]

I think massa was the donkey of the season because he did not avoid a spring that was in the middle of the road.

[Dave B]

I think massa was the donkey of the season because he did not avoid a spring that was in the middle of the road.
I can only hope that's a poorly phrased attempt at humour :s

[ShiftingGears]

I think massa was the donkey of the season because he did not avoid a spring that was in the middle of the road.

I'm not sure what angle you're going for with this one, but it's not funny.

[F1boat]

Driver of the Year - Jenson Button
He is the world champion, scored more wins than anyone else, made the best overtaking moves, scored points in all races but one. In times he seemed vulnerable and weakened from the tension and the pressure and his rivals loved to point this in front of the media, but in the end the same rivals scored less wins and made more mistakes. So, for me, Button is the driver of the year, for sure ;)
Lewis Hamilton is the second best driver this season IMO, he matured a lot and showed true hunger and pace, when the McLaren was sort of fixed. Third best this season IMO is Kimi Raikkonen, who fought like a lion for Ferrari, only to be betrayed (my opinion, don't jump on me).
Donkey of the year - I have to say Nelson Piquet jr. He was slow and weak, on and off track. I hope that he will never return to F1.

[DexDexter]

Driver of the year:

Nobody, every driver had too many ups and downs.

Honourable mention:

Kimi, knew team wanted to get rid of him and still did wonders with a bad car, particularly after Massa's accident but also in Monaco. Stayed loyal to people who were backstabbing him.

Lewis, very fast, got everything out of the car.

Button, used his car advantage to the maximum at the beginning

Vettel, just very fast


Donkey of the season

Nelson Piquet

[Valve Bounce]

Driver: Hamilton
Drive the arse off a car early on which did not want to play. Worked with the team to pick it up and then started to put it together. Never gave up hope. Very professional. And this coming from someone who despises him.

Donkey: Piquet
lol

Honourables....

Button
Had the best car for most of the year but even when it wasn't on seemed to score a couple points. Very consistent run. When he had the best car early he put results on the table which is what make a world champion.

Webber
Easily best year to date. Drove the knackers off the car and brought home the bacon on more than one occasion. Made very, very few mistakes. Even with his bad luck seemed to go well this year.

Vettel
Not bad for a driver who should still be considered a rookie! Showed he has the pace but still has a little way to go for race craft and bringing home points when it matters. Will be champion one day, not yet.

I was thinking exactly the same. I might switch to bunsen if he wins the last race, but it's close.

[Valve Bounce]

I think massa was the donkey of the season because he did not avoid a spring that was in the middle of the road.

The spring sorta sprung up at him. If he really was the donkey, he would have jumped out of the way. :p :

[Big Ben]

Driver of the season: Button (he won, didn't he?... despite the fact that he was declared dead some time ago) and Barichello (for pretty much the same reason... except that he was only close to winning... however I'm not convinced it was his job to win the wdc anyway).

Donkey of the season: Junior... not for being slow and prone to accidents but for being a despicable man too.

[wedge]

Driver of the Year:

Hamilton - Clearly he's something special by out driving the car. Dominant in the best car and can now make a bad car look good.

He may have been a complete and utter twunt at Australia and his actions resulted in the termination of a long serving McLaren employee, but as Alonso rightly remarked Hamilton can hit back by winning again and he and McLaren did it with style by polishing a turd.

I've constantly slagged Button off over the past few months but he only he deserves a mention in this instance for destroying Rubens when the Brawns were at their best. I give him that.

Vettel - Don't see why he deserves to be Driver of the Year. Too error prone for my liking when he doesn't quite have the car. Clearly he's a bit special but needs some polishing by using more of his brain.

Webber - Vettel was the better driver and just as I suspected he'll make a solid #2 a la Pratese, DC, Berger etc.

[woody2goody]

Donkey: Piquet
lol

:D

[jens]

Driver of the year? Err, I don't know. :D Stunning to think that there has been no one clear standout, but then again it has been the case in the last two years as well - probably the sign of modern era of F1. :) In terms of raw pace maybe Hamilton has looked most impressive, but then again he has thrown away a lot of potentially good results/podiums (China, Monaco, Germany, Italy and of course Australia), which reduces the mark. Shame that Massa got injured - I thought his season was really impressive before Hungary.

Donkey? Badoer. No contest, sorry. Others have at least shown some acceptable pace/competitiveness from time-to-time (this applies to both teams and drivers), even if they have been disappointing overall.

[Garry Walker]

There really is no driver of the year this year for me. No driver was that impressive over the whole course of the year, but I will name some that in my view deserve praise.

Hamilton - his speed is unquestionable, destroyed Kovalainen and got impressive results. But too many errors. Australia incident ranks as a low of his career.
Räikkönen - good qualy speed from the first race on, but some bad luck at times with strategy. But most of the time really good driving from him. Hopefully will decide to remain in F1.
Button - But only for the first half of the year. 2nd half was quite a joke from him and he was generally outperformed by Barrichello. But in the first half he was great and won races where Red Bull should have won (but Vettel made mistakes far too often)
Massa - Pretty good driving from him too. Much like Kimi in the 2nd half of the year, he used his opportunities in the first half of the year. Good race speed.

Idiots

Piquet - To be fair, he never was given a fair chance. The team was around Princess Alonso and only catered for him.

[VkmSpouge]

I would choose Jenson Button as my driver of the year with Sebastian Vettel, Rubens Barrichello all doing well.

As for donkey I would go for Nelson Piquet Jr. and Kazuki Nakajima. Neither contributed anything to their teams this year (though Piquet did get Briatore out which was pretty good) so much so that Renault and Williams might as well have saved themselves the money and run one car all year.

[UltimateDanGTR]

driver of the year: Jenson
donkeys of the year: PK jnr and Kovy

why? Jenson won 6 races in complete style and is world champion. Pk jnr and Kovy have been slow and useless and been outclassed by their team mates and have had generally useless races, even if their team mates are world class.

[Langdale Forest]

The spring sorta sprung up at him. If he really was the donkey, he would have jumped out of the way. :p :

It must have still been very scary for Massa though. :s hock:

[Malbec]

I don't think any single driver was outstanding but quite a few performed really well. Specifically I'd mention both Brawn boys, Button for the first half and Rubens for the second. The RBR boys did pretty well too, Vettel and Webber both giving it everything all season. Lewis for keeping it going regardless of a pretty poor car in the first half of the season and destroying his experienced teammate. The Toro Rosso boys, both newbies for actually being pretty damn quick, luckily Luca Badoer turned up to show us all how hard it is even for a veteran to be fast.

Massa was pretty impressive in the first half too and once he'd gone Kimi came out and shone.

Donkeys? Nelson Piquet, not for his driving (noone could be quick in the second Renault seat) but for Singapore 2008. Luca Badoer for being so slow to get back into racing. BMW for demanding a high price for its team, refusing to sign up to the Concorde agreement then finding some dodgy Middle Eastern investment company to buy it. How to screw up a decent F1 team in three simple steps.

[Josti]

I enjoyed watching the performances of Rosberg, he got a lot out off a mediocre car. Other than that, the top 4, plus Hamilton and Raikkonen in the latter part of the season.

As far as donkeys goes, Piquet obviously. Kovalainen was a dissapointment too, but I think he's still good enough for F1, only not at McLaren. Bourdais didn't do that bad actually (Monaco was a very solid performance) and he deserved to stay imo. Maybe he was too old for a youthfull team like Toro Rosso...

[Storm]

Like many have said I don't think there was a stand-out performer this season. Button won the title but he had a superfast car earlier and Redbull tried very hard to lose points throughout the season. Ofcourse he made few mistakes (if any) and won races driving well early in the season but was horrible in the 2nd half. Barrichello was very good in the 2nd half, so was Hamilton. Vettel did pretty well but made some mistakes early on to jeopardise his title push.


Donkey? that's far easier- Piquet Jr
..and Kovalainen - showing once again he is not that good.

[harsha]

and a mention to fisichella on the donkeys front please

for what must be an entry in 101 ways to screw your racing career

[Mark]

My honourable mention goes to Kimi Raikkonen. He did well to carry the team after Massa's accident and the almost complete failure of Badoer and Fisichella to perform given the machinery they were in.

He was the quiet man of many of the races, often picking up podiums without causing too much fuss.

[leopard]

This season for Renault could be dilapidated, what makes both Piquet and Grosjean looked struggle just because Alonso splendidly outperforms them and the car.

[TheFamousEccles]

Driver of the year: Button - for taking full advantage of the car in the first 6 races of the year. Honourable mentions: Webber (yay! ok, some bias), Vettel and Hamilton.

Donkey of the Year: Max Mosley - for demonstrating exactly what a petulant smartarse looks like. Honourable mentions to the Flab, and Nelson Jr (how to take a great family name and trash it - permanently).

[ozrevhead]

Driver of the Year:

Hamilton - Clearly he's something special by out driving the car. Dominant in the best car and can now make a bad car look good.

He may have been a complete and utter twunt at Australia and his actions resulted in the termination of a long serving McLaren employee, but as Alonso rightly remarked Hamilton can hit back by winning again and he and McLaren did it with style by polishing a turd.

I've constantly slagged Button off over the past few months but he only he deserves a mention in this instance for destroying Rubens when the Brawns were at their best. I give him that.

Vettel - Don't see why he deserves to be Driver of the Year. Too error prone for my liking when he doesn't quite have the car. Clearly he's a bit special but needs some polishing by using more of his brain.

Webber - Vettel was the better driver and just as I suspected he'll make a solid #2 a la Pratese, DC, Berger etc.
what a load of rot...

Mark has finished higher then Seb V 9-7, has more fastest laps 3-2 and if he wins and vettle doesnt podium this round that will be 3 wins and 7 podiums a peice. Bad Luck meant some of those better finishers were not in the points (4 amaturish pit crew performances payed way to those)

A better driver - hardly and probally margainally at best! :rolleyes:

[ozrevhead]

ok back to the real world....

Driver of the year - well Jenson is pretty self expanitory

Both Redbull boys honorable mentions and really were dead even in performance

Also a mighty job from Rubens too and gives a honorable mention

Donkey....sometimes sutil and sometimes naka but they did some good stuff as well.
Im refusing to put NPJ there as I BELIEVE that he was bullied into it by Flavio....workplace bulling does exist in the real world and this is also a drivers workplace is it not? His father wasnt any help either IMHO :mad: :mad: :mad:

Flavio is the real donkey

[jens]

The performance of cars really notably influences people's choices. Last year no-one in hell would have mentioned Button even remotely close to being as one of the best drivers of the year due to a rather uncompetitive car. It's not like he is a better driver now, or was a worse driver then.

[wedge]

what a load of rot...

Mark has finished higher then Seb V 9-7, has more fastest laps 3-2 and if he wins and vettle doesnt podium this round that will be 3 wins and 7 podiums a peice. Bad Luck meant some of those better finishers were not in the points (4 amaturish pit crew performances payed way to those)

A better driver - hardly and probally margainally at best! :rolleyes:

When I said 'better', I meant in terms of raw speed. Vettel obviously has yet to peak. If Vettel puts it all together and becomes more polished with less errors I think he's better than Webber.

They were equal this year also because RBR gave dumb race strategies for Vettel. They stuck with Plan A and never thought to switch mid-race to a Plan B in Spain and Turkey.

[Cozzie]

:eek: :eek: :eek:

For selling a world championship winning car...

[ioan]

Vettel, Massa and Hamilton were all great and showed their talent irrespective of car related problems.

The donkey title goes to Badoer with special mention to Kovalainen.

[N. Jones]

Wow, this is a tough question.

Driver of the year? Mark Webber. All of the questions surrounding if he could win a race and become competitive have been answered. He has a very highly rated teammate and instead of shrinking into a supporting role he rose to the challenge.

Donkey of the year? While Jarno Trulli has been uncompetitive for some time, partly due top car and driver, the real Donkey of 2009 is Hekki Kovalainen. While Lewis was on the podium Heikki was either 7th or out of the points. He was normally so far behind that I can completely understand why Lewis wants McLaren to retain him instead of McLaren signing real competition in the name of Kimi Raikkonen.

[jimakos]

My honourable mention goes to Kimi Raikkonen. He did well to carry the team after Massa's accident and the almost complete failure of Badoer and Fisichella to perform given the machinery they were in.

He was the quiet man of many of the races, often picking up podiums without causing too much fuss.

I agree with Mark for the driver of the year!!!
Kimi was very good with a f1 that you couldn't wait many things...
He played alone for Ferrari after Massa's accident ;)

[jimakos]

The worst goes to 2 drivers!!
Badoer and fisichella were both unbelievable!
Because of their faults Ferrari lost the 3 place in teams :mad:

[christophulus]

My vote for driver of the year is Webber too. Rather than being destroyed by Vettel, as many members of the press were suggesting, he held his own and won his first two GPs. And recovered from a broken leg over the winter! The unluckiest guy in F1 finally gets his rewards.

Honourable mention to Hamilton (Lie-gate aside..), Button (yes, he had the best car for a while but he made the most of it), and Vettel (speedy but error-prone).

Donkey.. well, I think a lot of this season's drivers won't be on the grid next year. Alguersuari & Grosjean haven't been impressive but it was a big ask to just throw them in at the deep end. It'll be a shame if their F1 careers are over because of that.

Overall I'd give it to Fisichella - if he'd stayed with Force India he'd probably have grabbed a few more podiums and secured a drive for next year. Instead he jumped across to Ferrari and was completely outclassed.

[BDunnell]

Driver of the season — personally, I was delighted to see Webber doing so well.

Donkey of the season — I still think Hamilton's little performance after Melbourne takes some beating. But Badoer was dreadful, the worst F1 performer we've seen for some time, and as for Fisichella... well, to quote Danny Baker about something else entirely, that has to be "the worst decision since Caligula married his horse."

[stevie_gerrard]

Button is my driver of the year. Yeh he had a slack mid season, and it was obvious the pressure had got to him. But to actually pull it off and be world champion after that rut of form, i have to give him a lot of credit (as a Button fan obviously :p : ). He was immense in the best car on the grid at the start of the season. When in an ordinary car, he showed at the end of the season what he was capable of. Without the pressures of formula 1, he would be one of the greats. But formula 1 comes with the pressure so he has to learn to deal with it next season.

Donkey is Piquet and Nakijima, Piquet for obvious reasons, Nakajima for being the most consistently poor driver ive seen in formula 1 for a long long time.

[CNR]

jackass
Alguersuari

Grand Prix entered 8


But only drivers with less than three F1 races under their belts are eligible, meaning that 19-year-old Alguersuari, who made his FormulaOne
(http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=352037&FS=F1#)debut mid-season without any prior circuit testing, is not eligible.

The Spaniard is frustrated that his 2010 rivals including Nico Hulkenberg are allowed to run, while fellow teens Brendon Hartley and Mirko Bortolotti test for Toro Rosso.



http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=352037&FS=F1

Kimi, knew team wanted to get rid of him and still did wonders with a bad car, particularly after Massa's accident but also in Monaco. Stayed loyal to people who were backstabbing him.

I think that needs rephrasing.....

Stayed loyal to people who were paying him an extortionate amount of money and had watched him underperform for most of the length of his contract.