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Driver of the year so far 2014

Nico Rosberg
2
7%
Lewis Hamilton
9
31%
Daniel Ricciardo
15
52%
Fernando Alonso
No votes
0%
Valtteri Bottas
2
7%
Nico Hulkenberg
No votes
0%
Daniil Kvyat
No votes
0%
Kevin Magnussen
1
3%
Jules Bianchi
No votes
0%
Other
No votes
0%
#411620
Four weeks of summer break are under way, and whilst there is discussion aplenty about the rivalry at Merc, the possible summit meetings, the attendance at Hockenheim, team-orders etc etc etc, I just wondered what peoples' thoughts were on their driver of the season so far.

Starting with Mercedes, both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have produced some astounding drives, and between them, have won all except two of the Grands Prix held so far.

The other two have been won of course by Red Bull's new hero Daniel Ricciardo, who has amazingly walked over 4 time champ Sebastian Vettel all season long, despite having his very first podium pulled from his grasp in Melbourne.

Valterri Bottas has come on strong for Williams, whilst a host of new rookies have made strong debuts, including Daniil Kvyat and Kevin Magnussen.

Special mention also needs to be made to Jules Bianchi, who excellently collected Marussia's first points, in Monaco.
#411621
I don't see anyone else qualifying for this except for Hamilton and Ricciardo.

Voted Hamilton. NO REALLY!? :hehe:
#411627
I went for Ricciardo in the end, Last year I was unsure if Red Bull had made the right decision to sign him. This year he has turned up and not been put off by having a 4 time world champion as a team mate, who he has pretty much embarrassed this year.
#411628
I dunno, Hamilton has done brilliantly under a lot of pressure but with a couple of errors, Rosberg too albeit with a lot less pressure to cope with. Two others that have really impressed have been Bottas and Riccardo, and Alonso has done pretty well dragging that Ferrari round the track. So I don't know at the moment.
#411638
Bottas has a fine car beneath him and even though his performances this year have been good, he's just been too inconsistent. Can't figure out if it's him or the car. He's put in some mighty fine drives and certainly deserves an honorable mention.

Hulkenberg, consistency gets you a drive seat but it's podiums that get you reccognition. Although I think he's better than both Bottas and Ricciardo, there is no pressure down at the FI end of the grid like there is on the pointy end.

Nico has driven fine, the way you're supposed to drive when you've got a car that's in a league of its own. Sort of like we became accustomed to Vettel doing. But He's blown three poles and not turned them into victories, and has not had a single race win that didn't come at the misfortune of his team mate, one way or another. Germany and Australia much?

Which leaves us with Ricciardo and Hamilton

Ricciardo has had the read on a 4X WDC for the majority of the race weekends, not just on race day points but also on what was supposed to be the Vettel specialty, qualifying. Two race wins and a 43 point lead over his team mate is exceeding anyone's expectations. But that's the thing, he's had not pressure. He wasn't supposed to be beating his team mate this badly and when you go in with no pressure, it's just a little bit easier to deal with things. What he's done though is nothing less than spectacular.

Lewis on the other hand, has had nothing but pressure and with 2 mechanical DNFs, a couple of qualifying mistakes (one of which he more than made up for) and 2 back to back disasters that would have translated into race wins instead of 3r place finishes. But here's the thing, I haven't seen Lewis do anything that I didn't expect him to be able to do. Dammit I even picked him for 2nd place in the pool last Sunday! So I guess what I'm trying to say is that, being a WDC and being one of the two head and shoulders over the rest, best drivers on the grid, coupled with the mental farts he's had in qualifying... So am I being harsh? Yeah, certainly.

I went with Richieardough as the driver of the year so far. He's not the best driver, just IMO has put in the most excitement into the series to date. He doesn't have the pace of Bottas nor the consistency or Hulkenberg, but he's a racer and racers is what I's like.
#411642
I'm a little bit confused about Bottas's inconsistency? 3 podiums in a row certainly aren't inconsistent. Massa on the other hand.....
#411645
He goes missing sometimes, I'm taking a look at the entire season, he either trounces his team mate and gives a stellar performance, or he struggles and comes up behind him. Not just on race day but also in qualifying. When he's on it clearly shows and there's an entirely different comfort level in the driving. It's difficult to determine what's the car and what's him though.
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