Best Driver: Worst Driver: Luckiest Driver: Unluckiest Driver: Best Rookie/New Driver: Best Team: Surprise Team: Worst Team: Best Overtake: Most Surprising Result: Least Surprising Result: Funniest moment: Excuse of the week: Special Mention: Best post in race thread: Race Rating: ?/10 -o-o-O-0-o- Apologies for recent absence. There are plenty of people on this forum who should cast their votes; and I'll be very interested to read people's opinions. Let's hear it here in black and white (or any colour you might prefer!)
Best Driver: hamilton Worst Driver: Luckiest Driver: vettel, or sirovkin Unluckiest Driver: ricciardo? Enough enough at this point. Best Rookie/New Driver: hmmm Best Team: Mercedes? Let's face it they used bottas harder than Wayne Rooney uses grannies out of the care home but it worked Surprise Team: force India or whatever they want to be called still up there best of rest. Worst Team: haas, sorry but if Ferrari have best car and you are falling apart there's something wrong. Best Overtake: hmmmm,. There was one vettel overtake on I think ocon that was tasty. Rakkonen passing back hamilton at start? Most Surprising Result: williams points. Least Surprising Result: vettel ****s up.... or bottas being used like a second hand tea bag Funniest moment: max being stroppy. That was funny. Excuse of the week: Special Mention: Best post in race thread: Race Rating: 7/10 I thought it engaging for the whole race bar maybe last 2 laps.
Best Driver: Lewis Worst Driver: Max - usual moving in the braking zone, pointless penalty and the petulance to throw away more points to Vettel by not yielding Luckiest Driver: Lewis, not a slate against him but the field are giving it to him. Vettel mistake, Bottas support and Kimi the gentleman Unluckiest Driver: Kimi, exposed by Serbs error against an excellent Lewis Best Rookie/New Driver: Best Team: Merc Surprise Team:Williams Worst Team: Merc - purely from pundits lack of consistency on team orders for Ferrari. Best Overtake: Kimi on Lewis, Lewis on Seb Most Surprising Result: Williams Least Surprising Result: Ferrari capitulation Funniest moment: Manchild Max Excuse of the week: Anything Lewis said that fueled the speculative views of the Merc being the lesser car Special Mention: Lewis- excellent Best post in race thread: Race Rating: 8.5/10
Best Driver: Lewis Worst Driver: Vandoorne. Max's move was bad but he was driving the wheels off the RBR. Vandoorne is just off the pace consistently now. Luckiest Driver: Vettel. Safety car saved him an awful bigger points loss from his own mistake. Could have been nearly a lap down with front wing change. Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo. 2 engine issues, grid penalty, and now another for Singapore. Best Rookie/New Driver: None really shone this weekend Best Team: Merc Surprise Team: Williams - Stroll getting Q3 and some points on pace. Worst Team: McLaren Slower than 2017 with a better engine. Best Overtake: Lewis on Seb Most Surprising Result: Both Williams in the points (unless Haas appeal is accepted) Least Surprising Result: Max moving under braking Funniest moment: Max chucking his toys out of the pram Excuse of the week: Alonso. Laughing that he ruined someone else's lap in Q2. He is just becoming an excuse now and should retire if he has that little respect for others as a 2xWDC that he doesn't care what he does on the track and what he says. Leaving a black mark against his legacy for most of this years. Special Mention: Sauber. They build those cars strong! Best post in race thread: Race Rating: 9/10. Close racing and a genuine battle at the front with position swaps.
Best Driver: Lewis Worst Driver: Verstappen for petulance and a clear foul. Luckiest Driver: Lewis, not for the obvious but simply having a main rival who not only drives red buts sees red. Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo - I hope Renault make it up to him next season. Best Rookie/New Driver: Pass, not noticed anyone. Best Team: Merc Surprise Team: Williams, but pleased for them. Worst Team: Haas - for a floor that seems may not have been legal. Best Overtake: Lewis first lap on Seb. Most Surprising Result: Lewis, I thought Ferrari had this one in their grasp. Least Surprising Result: Alonso DNF Funniest moment: Has to be Max who seemed to be listening in on a question from Martin Brundle and answering with almost perfect timing. Excuse of the week: Seb for not accepting (or at least not vocalising) he left the door open. Special Mention: Kimi, who is one of the good guys. . Best post in race thread: Race Rating: 7.5/10 (8 if you only consider the front runners)
Best Driver: Hamilton, played the long game by looking after his tyres and maintaining his focus throughout the race to pounce at just the right moment. Worst Driver: Ericsson, I'm fed up of his consistently forgettable performances. At some point I'm sure he's driven well but he's so forgettable that I just wish he'd vacate so a more talented driver could be given a chance. Luckiest Driver: Vettel, I'm amazed he didn't get a puncture and damage his car even more from under-steering into Hamilton. Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo, New PU and that happens! Best Rookie/New Driver: Sirotkin, first point for him, good on him. Best Team: Williams Surprise Team: Williams Worst Team: McLaren Best Overtake: Hamilton's cut-throat manoeuvre on the outside of Vettel Most Surprising Result: Both Williams in the points Least Surprising Result: Race Control not punishing Ferrari for Vettel's unsafe release into the Sauber Funniest moment: Vettel's "We speak after" grumpiness Excuse of the week: Anything out of Max "Nothing-Is-Ever-My-Fault" Verstappen's mouth Special Mention: Sainz showing his potential for McLaren by finishing in the points Best post in race thread: Anything I wrote, obviously Race Rating: 8/10
Best Driver: Hamilton Worst Driver: Vettel Luckiest Driver: Bottas Unluckiest Driver: Grosjean Best Rookie/New Driver: Sirotkin Best Team: Mercedes Surprise Team: Williams Worst Team: Sauber. Best Overtake: ham on vet Most Surprising Result: stroll points Least Surprising Result: mclaren speed Funniest moment: Excuse of the week: Vettels reason for Kimi pole Special Mention: stroll and force stroll getting points Best post in race thread: Big Erm. I hope he doesn't leave us. He is one of the forum good guys. The admins have been a bit ott Race Rating: 8
Best Driver: Hamilton Worst Driver: Relative to status, car, team and expectations: Vettel. He under-performed in Qualifying and lost his head when Räikkönen didn't yield. His adventurous positioning on approach to the second chicane (designed to glide past RAI on the brakes if he chose to hand over the lead) opened the door for Hamilton. After realising his error and now with HAM slightly ahead and on the inside line for the exit, he should have fully conceded the position so as to come back at him with still 99% of the race left with an essentially quicker car. Luckiest Driver: Vettel was lucky not to get more serious damage during his crash, and then very lucky that a separate incident caused a Safety Car, handing him an almost free pit stop. He was also lucky not to receive a penalty in the pit lane – even though this is usually a result of team error. Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo. Best Rookie/New Driver: Sirotkin. Best Team: On this occasion, Mercedes for a very gritty performance and clever strategy with a very strong team player: Bottas. Surprise Team: Given previous performances this year, Williams. Worst Team: McLaren. Best Overtake: Hamilton on Vettel. Most Surprising Result: Going with the consensus here: Williams. Least Surprising Result: Verstappen not handing back the place. Alonso DNF. Vettel getting overheated in wheel-to-wheel combat. Funniest moment: Verstappen on the radio. Excuse of the week: Verstappen or Vettel – or both… Special Mention: Bottas. An excellent drive. Race Rating: 8.88/10. A much better race than many were predicting, with a full-on battle for the lead for most of the race.
That's a nice touch, Bando. I totally agree about Big Ern. I've no idea what happened but his leaving would be a huge loss to the forum.
Seconded. Enjoy the lively banter and debates with him even though we usually don't agree on the same thing!
