Sebastian Vettel voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year

2011 F1 season review

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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Monza, 2011

F1 Fanatics have voted Sebastian Vettel as 2011 Driver of the Year.

The world champion was picked by 43.9% of readers when asked to name the best driver of 2011.

Jenson Button claimed second place with 27.8% of votes. Fernando Alonso was third with 16.2% of votes.

Last year’s winner Lewis Hamilton could only muster 20 votes, just six more than Heikki Kovalainen.

2011 F1 Fanatic Driver Rankings

Pass of the Year: Mark Webber on Fernando Alonso

Mark Webber’s pass on Fernando Alonso at Eau Rouge in Spa was voted the best pass of 2011. It was picked by 46% of readers.

In a bumper year for overtaking, Vettel took the runner-up place for his pass on Alonso in the Italian Grand Prix, which was chosen by 20.4%.

In third place was another pass on Alonso – this time by Hamilton in the German Grand Prix, as voted by 9.0% of you.

Previous winners

Overtaker of the Year: Jenson Button

Jenson Button received the most votes for Overtaker of the Year, taking 28.8% of your votes.

It was a close-run thing behind him: Hamilton was runner-up with 19.9%, Webber third on 17.4% and Schumacher fourth on 16.2%.

Previous winners

2011 F1 season review

Browse all 2011 F1 season review articles

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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20 comments on “Sebastian Vettel voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year”

  1. A good collective decision. I didn’t like him winning everything but Vettel was outstanding this year.

    Merry Christmas to all you F1 Fanatics too – and Keith, go have some Turkey and Wine!

    1. As a friend of mine put it: annoying but inevitable. Nevertheless Vettel was really good, greatly improved from last season, great in qualifying and champion, who else was to pick.. except Alonso ;-)

  2. Well deserved for Vettel, he was exceptional this season.

    Finally, merry christmas to all the F1 fanatics.

  3. It’s a positive sign if the battle for overtaker of the year has been so closely fought!
    Vettel was so flawless the real news would’ve been him not being nominated driver of the year!

    1. @Fixy COTD!

      No way could you justify anything else.

    2. Exactly, actually its amazing that many people did not pick him for driver of the year. But many of those might have voted for someone else based on the expectation, that Vettel would win this by the same kind of margin he won the WDC this year anyway.

  4. Still, I think Vettel-Rosberg at Blancimont was best. But I can live with this. Now all FIA / FOTA needs to do is quit DRS…

    1. @verstappen I agree, that overtake should have been top 3 at least! But one thing I’ve tried to remember is if Rosberg was on worse tires at that moment? Impressive anyhow..

      1. Vettel had pitted on lap 5 for new tires. Rosberg hadn’t.

        Their respective lap times on lap 11 were 154.9 for Vettel and 2:00.8 for Rosberg. It looked nice but it was superior car and tire combo.

    2. Agreed. Vettel on Roaberg at blanchimont was the best!! I mean it’s pure madness to pass there!

  5. How on earth did Hamilton get anywere near the top of the best over taker? Webber done numerous amazing overtakes with only one collision, being with Felipe Massa (everyones favorite) at Monza. Lets not forget Webbers amazing drive at China and Monaco after he was screwed out of position with problems (KERS and Pit stop respectively)

    I can’t even remember many significant overtaking moves by Hamilton this year, and if there was any they pale compared to his crashes.

    1. Silverstone – Overtaking down the inside of the most complete driver at a High speed corner that is damp/wet with Slicks should spring to mind.

      Nurburgring – Opportunism at its finest from Hamilton,repassing Webber after being somewhat distracted by his Race Engineer & lets not forget Alonso again should we

      Monaco – Though Schumacher gave him just enough room,Lewis’ desperation by passing down the rarest of corner;Saint Devote was another one & the controversial but yet completely unnoticeable by Fanatics,Lewis passing Massa through the Tunnel despite forcing him onto the dirty,dusty and punishing line of Monaco which once on your race is pretty much finished

      1. Well, Alonso in Germany was against cold tyres and you can’t really count the one in the tunnel since Massas car was broken at that point anyway. And the pass on Schumacher was aided by the fact Schumacher made a bad shift up on the straight. In contrast to Button, Hamilton would probably have spent all race behind (as long as the stewards let Schumacher unpunished).
        But all that put aside, one can’t argue that Hamilton is usually strong at doing aggressive overtakes.

      2. Don’t forget about China. ;)

  6. I know this is a bit late but how can Hamilton’s overtake on Rosberg Australia last year not get Pass of 2010? –

    https://www.racefans.net/2010/12/09/vote-for-the-best-f1-pass-of-2010/

    1. McLaren was the only car with F-duct, remember?

  7. “Hamilton was runner-up with 19.9%”

    I LOL’d.

  8. nice! I can’t wait for the ‘rate the race’ review article.

  9. Why are there no pie-charts like last time?

  10. Drivers of the year result is in the same order I would have put them, well, the top 3. It was close between Button and Alonso, but Button just nicked it for me.

    BUtton over-taker of the year too, happy about it!

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