Most/least impressive driver of the season so far - F1.

[GavDav]

I know that this is going to be quite a subjective argument, but I was curious to see what everyone's opinion of their most and least impressive drivers of the season were so far. On paper I suppose you could say Vettel has performed the best so far in terms of results, but the driver I've been most impressed with is Di Resta. I think he's done really well so far, had some good results and has out qualified Sutil on a number of occasions. My least impressive so far this season is Massa, he's made far to many mistakes in my opinion.

[Wanta996Gotta]

GavDav said:

I know that this is going to be quite a subjective argument, but I was curious to see what everyone's opinion of their most and least impressive drivers of the season were so far. On paper I suppose you could say Vettel has performed the best so far in terms of results, but the driver I've been most impressed with is Di Resta. I think he's done really well so far, had some good results and has out qualified Sutil on a number of occasions. My least impressive so far this season is Massa, he's made far to many mistakes in my opinion.

Massa has been a joke. Vettel for me has impressed and erased many doubts i had of his ability. Canada is going to be interesting as i think the Mclarens have now caught up.

[KaraK]

Least impressive for me this year has been Massa - he just doesn't look like he's got any fight in him. Second place is a tie between Heidfeld and Webber, I've been a quiet supportor of Nick for some time and I was glad he got the Renault drive this year - he just can't seem to get it right in qualifying and I think it's hurting him badly. Mark has had the best car on the grid and just hasn't made it count - the drive from the back was certainly noteworthy but it was at a circuit where fresh tires were king and he had loads of them. Add that to the fact that he shouldn't have even been in that position in the first place.

Most impressive is probably Paul DiResta - he's been out of single seaters for some time and, Monaco aside is already driving like a veteran. He's certainly making Sutil look very ordinary IMO.

[mattikake]

Proviso: Impressive mean's personally unexpected.

I could say Vettel being the most impressive, but I expected him to destroy Webber on speed and be much more consistent, so does that mean impressive or in actual fact, predictable?

Likewise I can't say Schumi has been so bad because I expected him to be. If anything he seems to be clawing the gap to NR back, though undoubtably, this is car development/tyre related.

So, most impressive:
If unexpectedly good, the Di Resta certainly. He didn't look too amazing in F3 with Hamilton, Sutil and Vettel and hasn't been massively outstanding in other forumla (outstanding = Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg levels). He seems to be translating to F1 very nicely and is kicking Sutil ass, but then, unlike apparently most of the pitlane, I have never rated Sutil...

Perez I thought would be a monkey as he hasn't been as good as Di Resta in other formula, but has translated to F1 much better. Holding his own against KK, but KK isn't the fastest driver around. Solid race craft apparent though.

Similar for Maldonardo as Perez.

Buemi is starting to prove me right - he is considerably better than JA.

Least impressive:
Nick Heidfeld! WTF has his Kubica equalling speed gone?! Where are the charges, the overtaking prowess? Maybe it's a bad year for tyres for him like 2009?

Karthikeyan? He's turd. He always has been in anything above F3. WTF is he in and Chandahok not?

Maybe Rubens has been as much poor as Maldonardo good? Could be his last season in F1?

[minimatt1967]

Agree with the Di Resta and Perez comments, Kovalainen has had some great moments, slowly getting the Lotus closer to the midfield.

Hamilton has been somewhat of a disappointment, I think he only showed his true ability in China, Monaco was an utter disgrace.

[HurryUpAndWait]

I'm tending to agree with much of the above.

In the outperforming category = Perez, Di Resta, Maldonado & Alonso
and the underperformers = Schumacher, Heidfeld, Massa and Rubens

Where I mean subjectively versus my preconceptions at the start of the year.

[Scuffers]

minimatt1967 said:

Hamilton has been somewhat of a disappointment, I think he only showed his true ability in China, Monaco was an utter disgrace.

at risk of being labelled a fan-boy, you having a laugh?

His driving at Monaco was some of the best I have ever seen round there, in terms of talent, he is pretty close to being in a class of his own.

to look at the (stupid) penalties he picked up, that's not his fault OMHO, (the line between hero/villain is a very narrow one).

remember, Monaco, that cct where nobody overtakes..... do you think that to be the best you just follow the car in-front round?

[Richard-G]

1 S Vettel 143
2 L Hamilton 85
3 M Webber 79
4 J Button 76
5 F Alonso 69
6 N Heidfeld 29
7 N Rosberg 26
8 F Massa 24
9 V Petrov 21
10 K Kobayashi 19


i was going to say Heidfeld too, but look at where he is in the points, you would have to say he is doing a solid job. with the potential to do ALOT better. He was out for a season.

[Scuffers]

Richard-G said:

1 S Vettel 143
2 L Hamilton 85
3 M Webber 79
4 J Button 76
5 F Alonso 69
6 N Heidfeld 29
7 N Rosberg 26
8 F Massa 24
9 V Petrov 21
10 K Kobayashi 19

seeing that, if you had asked me who was having the better year in the Renaults, I would have said Petrov, but clearly the points don't lie....

[minimatt1967]

Scuffers said:

at risk of being labelled a fan-boy, you having a laugh?

His driving at Monaco was some of the best I have ever seen round there, in terms of talent, he is pretty close to being in a class of his own.

to look at the (stupid) penalties he picked up, that's not his fault OMHO, (the line between hero/villain is a very narrow one).

remember, Monaco, that cct where nobody overtakes..... do you think that to be the best you just follow the car in-front round?

Monaco is nigh on impossible to overtake on, I respect him for having the guts to try, I just dislike the way he just nailed Massa and Maldonado up the inside in such a clumsy manner, it looked unprofessional. Then the outburst afterwards was also totally unprofessional. I like Hamilton, he really is going to be one of the greats if he can keep his cool.

[Scuffers]

minimatt1967 said:

Monaco is nigh on impossible to overtake on, I respect him for having the guts to try, I just dislike the way he just nailed Massa and Maldonado up the inside in such a clumsy manner, it looked unprofessional. Then the outburst afterwards was also totally unprofessional. I like Hamilton, he really is going to be one of the greats if he can keep his cool.

I think the Massa one is probably 50/50, but Maldonado's was not a mistake, just did not pan out for Maldonado (even his team accept it was a racing incident)

[mattikake]

Scuffers said:

minimatt1967 said:

Hamilton has been somewhat of a disappointment, I think he only showed his true ability in China, Monaco was an utter disgrace.

at risk of being labelled a fan-boy, you having a laugh?

His driving at Monaco was some of the best I have ever seen round there, in terms of talent, he is pretty close to being in a class of his own.

to look at the (stupid) penalties he picked up, that's not his fault OMHO, (the line between hero/villain is a very narrow one).

remember, Monaco, that cct where nobody overtakes..... do you think that to be the best you just follow the car in-front round?

Totally.

As the risk of turning this into another LH thread...

minimatt1967 said:

Hamilton has been somewhat of a disappointment, I think he only showed his true ability in China, Monaco was an utter disgrace.

The only disgrace at Monaco was the way the rules are being implemented and interpreted. i.e inconsistently, which implies a lack of impartiality, and leaving themselves open to the most damning and damaging of attacks - empirical ones!

Anyway, I take it you missed Spain where LH raced his heart out and chased SV right to the line to the last lap? Or Australia where he was the only one to keep even remotely in touch with SV, intending to "give Seb the race of his life"?

[minimatt1967]

Maybe I'm just annoyed about the Monaco race, perhaps I've let it taint the memories of the previous races.

[rfein]

On the positive side:
Alonso (getting consistently the best out of a a car that is not great);
D'Ambrosio,Perez, di Resta, Maldonado (all getting nicely to grips with F1);
on the dissapointing side:
Glock, Sutil, Barrichello (hardly matching their much less experienced team mates);
Massa (compared to what Alonso achieves).
Everybody else more or less where I expected them to be.

[Tet]

Most impressive: Alonso, for at least hanging on to the leaders in a car that's clearly not as good as the Red Bull or MacLaren. I've never rated Buemi and thought he should have been dropped long ago. This seems to be his year, though, and he's impressed me a lot. DiResta's done well in his first season. I still think Hülkenberg should have got the seat, though. Heidfeld should be doing better in qualifying, but his race pace seems pretty good to me, and I'm not sure why so many are giving him a hard time.

Least impressive: Massa. Schumacher. Both of them should be doing much better, even in underperforming cars. Barrichello and Glock are two others that I expected more from this year. OK, so they're both driving lemons, but they should be showing clean pairs of heels to their rookie team mates, and aren't doing so. The same with Sutil, too.

[davepoth]

I am still very impressed by Kobayashi. Not only does he do a lot of overtaking, he does it well. Get him in a good car and see what he can do I reckon.

Di Resta's doing a solid job, I reckon he will be one to watch in a couple of years assuming he can get a decent drive. He seems quite wise to the game in a way that some of the drivers aren't.

And I'm happy that Jenson is not being quite so grumpy about his car this year.

In terms of rubbish drivers it has to be Massa.

[MGJohn]

Scuffers said:

Richard-G said:

1 S Vettel 143
2 L Hamilton 85
3 M Webber 79
4 J Button 76
5 F Alonso 69
6 N Heidfeld 29
7 N Rosberg 26
8 F Massa 24
9 V Petrov 21
10 K Kobayashi 19

seeing that, if you had asked me who was having the better year in the Renaults, I would have said Petrov, but clearly the points don't lie....

They do not indeed.

I have had a few crafty match bets this year on Heidfeld in the Heidfeld v. Petrov Renault team. I rate Petrov somewhat but, he can be a bit headstrong ~ he really should wear an all yellow helmet .. ... but, Heidfeld usually from much lower grid positions has adopted a steady consistent drive mode which paid off and thus has beaten the apparently 'faster' Petrov.

It is with the grid positions in mind that the bookies' odds were longer for Heidfeld. Grid positions and race craft are not always the same. "Generous" on one occasion.

Still being impressed with Vettel. He appears to have contained that hot head approach he clearly deployed a season or three ago. I believe he still has room for improvement. I do not think it is simply the car.

Apart from more obvious disappointing drives and drivers, I expected Alonso to do better than he has.

Finally, for me the jury should still be out on the old man of the track MSC. He appears to be getting it together better this season and may even surprise folks more than once by the season end.

Roll on Canada. Impatience is a virtue...

[Jerry Can]

minimatt1967 said:

Scuffers said:

at risk of being labelled a fan-boy, you having a laugh?

His driving at Monaco was some of the best I have ever seen round there, in terms of talent, he is pretty close to being in a class of his own.

to look at the (stupid) penalties he picked up, that's not his fault OMHO, (the line between hero/villain is a very narrow one).

remember, Monaco, that cct where nobody overtakes..... do you think that to be the best you just follow the car in-front round?

Monaco is nigh on impossible to overtake on, I respect him for having the guts to try, I just dislike the way he just nailed Massa and Maldonado up the inside in such a clumsy manner, it looked unprofessional. Then the outburst afterwards was also totally unprofessional. I like Hamilton, he really is going to be one of the greats if he can keep his cool.

i have to say that I thought that Hamilton's overtake of Schumi was awesome, Easily the pass of the race, and possibly the year.

[Flanders.]

Jerry Can said:

minimatt1967 said:

Scuffers said:

at risk of being labelled a fan-boy, you having a laugh?

His driving at Monaco was some of the best I have ever seen round there, in terms of talent, he is pretty close to being in a class of his own.

to look at the (stupid) penalties he picked up, that's not his fault OMHO, (the line between hero/villain is a very narrow one).

remember, Monaco, that cct where nobody overtakes..... do you think that to be the best you just follow the car in-front round?

Monaco is nigh on impossible to overtake on, I respect him for having the guts to try, I just dislike the way he just nailed Massa and Maldonado up the inside in such a clumsy manner, it looked unprofessional. Then the outburst afterwards was also totally unprofessional. I like Hamilton, he really is going to be one of the greats if he can keep his cool.

i have to say that I thought that Hamilton's overtake of Schumi was awesome, Easily the pass of the race, and possibly the year.

I thought Schumi's overtake on Hamilton was great and the pass of the race .

[KaraK]

Flanders. said:

Jerry Can said:

minimatt1967 said:

Scuffers said:

at risk of being labelled a fan-boy, you having a laugh?

His driving at Monaco was some of the best I have ever seen round there, in terms of talent, he is pretty close to being in a class of his own.

to look at the (stupid) penalties he picked up, that's not his fault OMHO, (the line between hero/villain is a very narrow one).

remember, Monaco, that cct where nobody overtakes..... do you think that to be the best you just follow the car in-front round?

Monaco is nigh on impossible to overtake on, I respect him for having the guts to try, I just dislike the way he just nailed Massa and Maldonado up the inside in such a clumsy manner, it looked unprofessional. Then the outburst afterwards was also totally unprofessional. I like Hamilton, he really is going to be one of the greats if he can keep his cool.

i have to say that I thought that Hamilton's overtake of Schumi was awesome, Easily the pass of the race, and possibly the year.

I thought Schumi's overtake on Hamilton was great and the pass of the race .

I thought they were both pretty awesome