F1 team of the year?

[Jacs]

Now the end of the year approches, the usually polls for the driver and team of the year are upon us.

The driver of the year is easy, Lewis, no contest but the team of the year is a bit more tricky. Not sure I can vote for McLaren after all the controversy & don't really think Ferrari deserve it either.

Was think about voting for BMW Sauber as they have been much improved and consistent performers this season.

Which team would you vote for and why?

[BJG1]

Jacs said:

The driver of the year is easy, Lewis

Not really that easy, Lewis did well, but there was only 4 places he could have finished, Rosberg and Heidfeld both had excellent seasons as well, in lesser cars, also Kovalinen did excellently, Lewis has had a very good season but he hasn't necessarily been driver of the year, What about Raikonnen, whom despite reliability issues at the start of the season, still managed to win the championship.

[flemke]

BJG1 said:

Jacs said:

The driver of the year is easy, Lewis

Not really that easy, Lewis did well, but there was only 4 places he could have finished, Rosberg and Heidfeld both had excellent seasons as well, in lesser cars, also Kovalinen did excellently, Lewis has had a very good season but he hasn't necessarily been driver of the year, What about Raikonnen, whom despite reliability issues at the start of the season, still managed to win the championship.

Would have to agree that Lewis is not a lay-up for that honour. He got sucked into a mistake in Brazil with the title on the line, he had a good share of the responsibility for China, and he also seemed to be part of the wrong tyre choice at the 'ring. None of this is to take away from his spectacular overall performance.
Just in terms of points, Alonso should have won the championship this year. If he had not been the victim of FIA scumbaggery on just one of the two occasions when the bad guys held sway, he would have taken the title. Even if he had been WDC, however, one could never say that he was driver of the year - he made a number of clangers during races, and then there was his disgracefully unprofessional conduct against the team that paid his wages and gave him a championship-calibre car.
Kovalainen is an interesting idea. In the final 13 races of the year, he finished ahead of Fisichella in 12 of them - not even Alonso managed that in either of his championship years. But he had nothing as much pressure on him as Hamilton had on himself, and he did make some mistakes, so one couldn't put him ahead of Hamilton.
Which probably leaves us with Raikkonen: kept his nose clean, drove quickly consistently, no serious mistakes (IIRC), won six races.

Team?
McLaren scored the most points this year, despite the enormous distraction of the FIA's campaign to harm them. However, having found themselves in the FIA's gunsights, they appeared to make a number of tactical blunders that made things even more difficult for themselves than they should have been.
Ferrari won the WDC and the Mosley Trophy, but deserved neither, and their selfish politics did deep, lasting damage to the sport.
BMW were consistently good, with no blots on their copybook. It's got to be they, doesn't it?

[deadslow]

TVR moneypit said:

But the best team of 2007? It would be too easy to say McLaren or Ferrari, what with their drivers, budget and experiance. For me, the best team of 2007 was Sauber BMW.

Agree

[Ahonen]

BMW did very, very well. It cemented itself as the Number 3 team without fuss and routinely positioned its cars just behind the McLarens and Fiats, yet remained, to me, just as strangely anonymous as it had throughout its time as Sauber.

Williams did very well, too. It well and truly stuffed the considerably better funded Toyota team in only its first year with Toyota engines, while it was great to see Rosberg giving Webber a hiding after all the unpleasant things he'd said about Williams when he left.

It's between those two for me. I'll give the nod to Williams, partly because I suspect the budget was somewhat smaller than BMW's and I like the way Sir Frank and Patrick Head go racing.

[Ian Davidson]

Aguri

[stephen300o]

"The driver of the year is easy, Lewis, no contest"

Erm no, Kimi and Ferrari, and they even get nice trophies to prove it

[mike360]

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

[flemke]

stephen300o said:

"The driver of the year is easy, Lewis, no contest"

Erm no, Kimi and Ferrari, and they even get nice trophies to prove it

Kimi's WDC, fair enough, sort of, but Ferrari's 'trophy' was complete bullshit, Stephen, and you know that.
The fact that Ferrari had the gall even to accept the WCC trophy shows how low they are willing to stoop. At least Mario Theissen was honourable enough to say that, although BMW technically had been classified in second place, the team had not earned it.

Have a nice day.

[Fort Jefferson]

If F1 has done anything this year, it's made me numb, to the extent that I don't care anymore, yes I'll watch the start of the season next year, but with little support or passion for any team or any driver.

[stephen300o]

flemke said:

stephen300o said:

"The driver of the year is easy, Lewis, no contest"

Erm no, Kimi and Ferrari, and they even get nice trophies to prove it

Kimi's WDC, fair enough, sort of, but Ferrari's 'trophy' was complete bullshit, Stephen, and you know that.
The fact that Ferrari had the gall even to accept the WCC trophy shows how low they are willing to stoop. At least Mario Theissen was honourable enough to say that, although BMW technically had been classified in second place, the team had not earned it.

Have a nice day.

Ok I admit Mclaren was the fastest car, didn't Kimi do well as he was in an inferior car

Thank you, and you

[EDLT]

Ian Davidson said:

Aguri

I agree, they did well considering they had a small budget, old car and Takuma Sato as a driver. They exceeded expectations (ie. they stayed off the back of the grid most of the time).

[skinny]

BMW, but i'm biased.

but they have been very good this year, in what has been their first season with the 'BMW' car (instead of the heavily modified sauber of '06) and i like how dr theissen was keen to stress that even tho they've officially finished second, there were 4 cars ahead of them on the race track. they also gave kubi and vettel their chances at F1. plus, the pit lane park that they have put on for free at several grand prixs has been really nice for the fans i think.

hope to see them winning a few in '08

[MrKipling43]

Anyone who votes for Mclaren or Ferrari in this thread is a moron.

It's got to be BMW.

[hostile17]

I'd give the team of the year award to BMW. They made a huge step forward from last year, did very little wrong and had a fantastic season as a result.

Driver of the year is a more difficult choice but I'd give it to Kimi for never giving up, for his balls of steel driving at Fuji and for not letting anything bother him (including a very fast teammate, the new Bridgestones and the political turmoil). And how apt that he finally wins the WDC as a result of a McLaren reliability issue...

Special mention goes to Jenson Button who never gave up and produced some incredible performances whenever the track was slippy, and to Quick Nick for rocking a beard that Bjorn and Benny would be proud of.

[stephen300o]

MrKipling43 said:

Anyone who votes for Mclaren or Ferrari in this thread is a moron.

It's got to be BMW.

And how many races did BMW win, or doesn't winning matter?

[Bitter'n'Twisted]

Driver of the year - Kimi.
Team of the year - Ferrari.

Wasn't that what the various races were there to decide?

The McLaren was the best racing car (which makes Kimi's claim to the title even stronger), but unfortunately due to the actions of the team they didn't get (and didn't deserve to get) the credit for it by winning the constructors.
They also made bad mistakes on the track particularly towards the end of the season and plucked defeat out of the jaws of victory.

[hostile17]

Bitter'n'Twisted said:

Team of the year - Ferrari.

Wasn't that what the various races were there to decide?

And just exactly how did Ferrari's actions in 2007 make them worthy of the Constructor's or 'Team of the year' titles?

Edited by hostile17 on Monday 17th December 16:27

[MrKipling43]

stephen300o said:

MrKipling43 said:

Anyone who votes for Mclaren or Ferrari in this thread is a moron.

It's got to be BMW.

And how many races did BMW win, or doesn't winning matter?

No, this year I don't think it does, since the only two teams who won races dropped so many boocks over the course of the season, I don't think either of them would qualify for 'Team' of the year.

That honour has to go to BMW, they kept their heads down all year and got on with turning themselves into a front running team, rather than getting mixed up in politics, pointing fingers and crying that someone had copied their homework. I also liked the fact that Mario has so far refused to acknowledge that they finished second in the constructors championship.

They had a great attitude all year and, unlike the red and silver teams, can hold their heads high despite the lack of top-draw silverware.

To use footballing parlance, they showed real quality this year.

[flemke]

Bitter'n'Twisted said:

Driver of the year - Kimi.
Team of the year - Ferrari.

Wasn't that what the various races were there to decide?

The McLaren was the best racing car (which makes Kimi's claim to the title even stronger), but unfortunately due to the actions of the team they didn't get (and didn't deserve to get) the credit for it by winning the constructors.
They also made bad mistakes on the track particularly towards the end of the season and plucked defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Ferrari's greatest achievements this year were persuading the FIA that:

- Raikkonen's first place in Australia should stand, despite the fact that it was achieved with an illegal car,
- that Alonso should be bumped from 1st to 6th at Hungary for what was an internal matter that was no other team's business,
- that BMW and Williams should be allowed to retain 4th, 5th and 6th classifications in Brazil, because, in this case, it was okay for the stewards to decide retroactively that their own decades-old rule was invalid, and
- that McLaren should be brutally punished for possibly having done what Toyota and Renault (and almost certainly Ferrari themselves) had previously done but not been punished for.

Ferrari were hardly the Team of the Year. Politicians of the Year - yes; they retired that particular trophy many years ago.
If "Team of the Year" should go to them who had the biggest impact on the results, then the "Team of the Year" has got to be the FIA.