Eight different Driver of the Weekend winners in 2014

2014 F1 season review

Posted on

| Written by

Eight different drivers won F1 Fanatic’s Driver of the Weekend polls during the 2014 season, but world champion Lewis Hamilton came out on top.

Hamilton was voted Driver of the Weekend on six separate occasions, twice as many times as any other driver. Daniel Ricciardo came top of the poll three times including for two of his three wins plus his drive from the pits to fourth place in the Abu Dhabi season finale.

Valtteri Bottas was also a three-times winner in the poll, coming on top in three consecutive races in the middle of the season. They included his run from 14th on the grid to finish runner-up to Hamilton in the British Grand Prix.

The only other driver to win the vote more than once was Fernando Alonso, who did so on the two occasions he got the Ferrari to the podium.

Of the four one-off poll winners, Jules Bianchi took the most emphatic win of the season, earning over 60% of the vote after claiming Marussia’s first ever points in Monaco. Like Sergio Perez before him, Kevin Magnussen won the poll in his first ever F1 race in Australia, after claiming second place for McLaren.

Championship runner-up Nico Rosberg took a single Driver of the Weekend win following his Brazilian Grand Prix victory. And outgoing champion Sebastian Vettel won the poll after climbing eleven places to finish fourth in Spain.

2014 Driver of the Weekend results

RaceFirstSecondThird
AustralianKevin Magnussen (48.4%)Valtteri Bottas (24.5%)Daniel Ricciardo (14.1%)
MalaysianLewis Hamilton (54.3%)Nico Hulkenberg (24.0%)Sebastian Vettel (6.5%)
BahrainLewis Hamilton (49.2%)Sergio Perez (25.7%)Daniel Ricciardo (16.6%)
ChinaFernando Alonso (47.7%)Lewis Hamilton (30.7%)Daniel Ricciardo (7.8%)
SpainSebastian Vettel (51.9%)Lewis Hamilton (20.5%)Romain Grosjean (11.0%)
MonacoJules Bianchi (60.2%)Nico Rosberg (11.5%)Daniel Ricciardo (8.8%)
CanadaDaniel Ricciardo (44.9%)Nico Rosberg (22.4%)Sergio Perez (9.5%)
AustriaValtteri Bottas (41.7%)Lewis Hamilton (15.1%)Sergio Perez (14.3%)
BritainValtteri Bottas (52.5%)Fernando Alonso (18.5%)Jenson Button (11.8%)
GermanyValtteri Bottas (37.1%)Lewis Hamilton (33.8%)Daniel Ricciardo (10.4%)
HungaryFernando Alonso (40.2%)Lewis Hamilton (29.3%)Daniel Ricciardo (25.1%)
BelgiumDaniel Ricciardo (44.4%)Kimi Raikkonen (17.0%)Valtteri Bottas (12.2%)
ItalyLewis Hamilton (38.9%)Daniel Ricciardo (18.1%)Sergio Perez (12.0%)
SingaporeLewis Hamilton (38.4%)Jean-Eric Vergne (26.6%)Sebastian Vettel (11.9%)
RussiaLewis Hamilton (34.5%)Jenson Button (20.6%)Valtteri Bottas (15.7%)
United StatesLewis Hamilton (36.4%)Daniel Ricciardo (30.6%)Pastor Maldonado (9.7%)
BrazilNico Rosberg (54.3%)Jenson Button (18.6%)Felipe Massa (12.3%)
Abu DhabiDaniel Ricciardo (33.3%)Lewis Hamilton (27.6%)Felipe Massa (18.8%)

NB. No Driver of the Weekend for the Japanese Grand Prix

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

Ricciardo won the final Driver of the Weekend vote of the season after overcoming a significant pre-race setback.

He and team mate Vettel were thrown out of qualifying on a technicality, but having started from the pits Ricciardo took the chequered flag in fourth place. Vettel was four places and nearly 35 seconds behind Ricciardo after their last race as team mates.

Race winner and new world champion Hamilton was voted second in the poll after a relatively straightforward race and run to the title that became even easier when his team mate was taken out of contention with a technical fault.

Felipe Massa was voted third in the pole after proving to easily be Hamilton’s closest competition following Rosberg’s demise. The vote marks only Massa’s second appearance in the poll, both of which were in third place and in the final two races of the season.

1. Daniel Ricciardo

Started: Pit lane
Finished: 4th

Ricciardo qualified the best he could in his Red Bull – fifth behind the two Mercedes’ and Williams’ cars – only to be thrown to the back of the grid as his team finally succumbed to the threat of a penalty for flexing front wings.

Red Bull decided to start both cars from the pit lane and – despite an engine disadvantage – both cars flew through the field, until they hit the barrier that was Magnussen’s McLaren.

Vettel got stuck and moved no further, but Ricciardo managed to slip through with a pivotal move – although quite how still remains a mystery as it was missed by the television director.

Overtaking Magnussen was certainly the most significant move of Ricciardo’s race, but by no means his only one. He put in a series of impressive overtakes on his way to fourth having started in the pits, summing up just how mighty his season has been.

Seven tenths ahead of Vettel in qualifying is a huge margin and again owning him in the race, passing Magnussen whereas Vettel couldn’t and hence we got the end result in the race. Pretty much dominant throughout the year against his four-times champion team mate. He is my driver of the season as well.
@Mjf1fan

My driver of the weekend is Ricciardo, as has become usual this season he outperformed his multiple world champion team mate in qualifying and the race. It will be interesting to see if he can keep the same standard in future with higher expectations when he has to lead the team and fight for the championship.
@Pja

I voted for Ricciardo. He qualified ahead of his team mate Vettel, but was sent to the back along with Vettel through no fault of their own due to Red Bull’s idiotic cheating. Ricciardo had some great battles, especially with Vergne, and came back from the pit lane to fourth.
@Ultimateuzair

2. Lewis Hamilton

Started: 2nd
Finish: 1st

Issues and errors in qualifying have been a trademark of Hamilton’s season, and despite leading Q1 and Q2 in Abu Dhabi, he once again missed out on pole position by nearly four tenths of a second.

He more than made up for it in his start though, rocketing off the line so quickly he may well have taken the lead had he started on the third row.

He kept Rosberg at arm’s length until his team mate hit trouble and was then eager to reduce his own pace to avoid the same fate. Nonetheless he brought the car home for his eleventh win of the season and his second world championship.

Once more, Hamilton’s qualifying wasn’t too brilliant, but his race was close to perfection. He stormed off the line in an irresistible manner, and Rosberg didn’t even try to impede him, such was his momentum.

After that, he managed the pace very maturely, only pushing as much as he needed to, because he didn’t want to run into technical problems. He is definitely a lot more mature than back in 2008 and in his annus horribilis in 2011. He deserves this race win and the championship as well.
@Nase

Hamilton was under the most pressure going into this race. Hamilton handled this well with a fast faultless drive. He won the race and championship with style.
@Edw4

3. Felipe Massa

Started: 4th
Finished: 2nd

Having looked like they may shock with another pole position, the Williams pair of Bottas and Massa could only manage to lock out the second row.

Lining up behind the fast-starting Hamilton, Massa also made a quick getaway, easing past the slow-starting Bottas and nearly challenging Rosberg.

He kept within striking distance of the two Mercedes cars and was perfectly placed to take second when Rosberg hit problems. A late switch to super softs enabled him to close the gap to Hamilton but a lack of grip and laps towards the end meant he had to settle for second, although it was still his best finish of the season.

I went with Felipe Massa. I’ve written him off so many times and watching his performance this weekend I really have to take my hat off to him.

While he didn’t out-qualify his team mate, I rate his team mate much higher than him, but from the start onwards Massa looked a lot more in control of his race than Bottas and ultimately had a very nice 2nd place. I’ve been wanting Massa to prove me wrong about him since 2012 and I feel that last weekend, he did. Now to keep this kind of (relative) performance up.
@Npf1

37 comments on “Eight different Driver of the Weekend winners in 2014”

  1. This article makes me wonder how you can justify your decision on your driver ratings for the season when the majority of people who read your website picked an overwhelming winner throughout the year, someone which you only rated as 3rd best – I assume this was purely to stimulate controversy and debate among your readers.

    1. Or Keith simply just has a differing opinion.

    2. Mr C is at the height of his game. There is no one in his league on #F1Fanatic. The site is designed in his image. 2015 will be a revelation.

      1. I see what you did there!

    3. Put it this way – Hamilton certainly didn’t have the second-best weekend in Abu Dhabi, but people voted for him anyway.

    4. Yes, also DOW and DOY are two completely different things. A driver can have an ace weekend but on average during the year he might be less stellar than another driver.

    5. Am I the only one who think Hamilton is overrated in this DOTW poll?? Yeah he had a great season but one is diffrent : In Bahrain he should be behind Perez and Ricciardo because they outperformed their teammate in Qualy, in Austria I think he had a good races but Rosberg had a little bit better weekend than he, and Rosberg even not in my top 3, in Germany and Hungary he did a great job to recover but He’s not maximise every opporpunity (with that car he should be 2nd) therefore I put Alonso at 2nd in Germany and Ricciardo at 2nd in Hungary. and in USA again he outperformed by his teammate in Qualifying even though Ricciardo had poor start but that Red Bull was slower than Williams and he finished ahead of both Williams I don’t think anyone had a perfect weekend in Austin but I think Ricciardo had a little bit better weekend than Hamilton and I believe Williams was behind Mercedes in Abu Dhabi so I rate Massa in 2nd Hamilton in 3rd.

    6. I am a Hamilton fan and he is my driver of the year but I do not agree with these accusations. Firstly, Keith’s opinion does not have to be the same as our opinion that we can voice in the Driver of the Year poll. Moreover, Ricciardo has been in the top three in these polls (3-2-6) almost as often as Hamilton (6-6-0) so it is obvious that F1 Fanatic readers always considered him to be one of the top performers of 2014.

      The sum of the DotW polls’ results also does not necessarily have to be equal to the DotY poll’s result as other factors come into play there, such as consistency over the course of the season.

      Ricciardo is not my driver of the year because 1) I did not take expectations or difficulties of adapting to a new team into account 2) Vettel was clearly struggling so it is hard to say just how much beating him was worth 3) I do not believe that Ricciardo would have beaten Hamilton in equal machinery.

      But I see very well why a lot of other fans believe that the Australian or even Alonso is the best DotY as all three had an astonishing season and the results of the DotW polls are not telling us the whole story.

      1. Hamilton finished on the podium in every race he completed. He has got to be the best this year, you can do no more. Every driver has an off day during such a long season, even Alonso. Lewis has stepped up to the mark this year and I think he is now the best. I used to have him a close second to Alonso before this year. Ricciardo has to prove himself over more than one year!

        1. Replace Hamilton name by Mercedes and it makes more sense

    7. Perhaps the readers of this web site can accept people with different opinions to theirs. Evidently you cannot.

    8. Keith did not put Hamilton 1st in his driver rankings because Hamilton does not deserve 1st in this year’s rankings. Unfortunately, DOTW is often a popularity contest/vote for race winner event. Few people actually analyze which drivers punched above their weight in inferior machinery.

      Hamilton was, without a doubt, very strong this season and deserves his title. However, Ricciardo was the star of the field this year, managing to obliterate his 4-time world championship teammate in his first season with a front-running team and managing to be the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race.

      Alonso eked every last tenth out of another disappointing Ferrari. Yes, Raikonnen had a poor season but he is still a very good racer and the fact that Alonso beat him by such a margin shows how much faster Alonso makes the Ferrari look than it actually is.
      Personally, I believe Hamilton was ranked just where he should be. He was the 3rd most impressive driver this year.

      1. With this post you open a seperate debate, what makes a DOTW? Someone who punches above their weight? Someone who just has a perfect weekend? Someone who has a bad start to their weekend but turns it into a good one? Someone who was just plain unlucky? or just a pure popularity contest?

        I understand that people have differing opinions however to put Hamilton third was a joke after the up and down year he had and the ultimate success he had in the face of the many challenges and difficulties he had throughout the year, the majority of which were not his own doing unlike previous years.

        My suggestion that it was purely to stimulate debate has some evidence behind it too.

        The majority of other sporting sources (ESPN, BBC, Sky, Autosport to name just a few) all rated Hamilton 1st, I could have even understood him being put 2nd but 3rd was clearly to spark controversy and debate, when you compare the number of comments the article on Hamilton got compared to any other drivers.. if that was the intention then it evidently worked.

        I do not particularly care what a relatively small F1 website rates him as anyway, there is no trophy or place in the record books for the f1fanatic driver of the year I just thought it was worth pointing out that the results of DOTW driven by the fans of the page do not correlate with the controversial opinion of the website owner.

        1. With this post you open a seperate debate, what makes a DOTW?

          Votes. Not much more, not much less.

      2. I’ve been re-watching the 2014 season, and I think people have been focusing on the trees instead of the forest. With the exceptions of Austria and Brazil, Lewis Hamilton did exactly what he had to in every single race. Even in those races, he recovered from mistakes in qualifying (Austria) and the race (Brazil). Used less fuel, got more distance out of his tires, and held off his teammate when Rosberg had better tires.

        It’s almost like people are desperate for reasons to lessen Hamilton’s accomplishments this year– “A monkey could have won a world championship in that car”, or “Hamilton only ‘barely’ beat his teammate who isn’t that good” (a statement not borne out by the actual racing).

        I don’t recall anyone saying Senna was less of a driver for winning a championship in the MP4/4, but apparently, because Hamilton won in the W05, he’s not as good as the guy who finished 6th in the championship.

        I don’t mind (and expect, honestly) bias– we’re all entitled to our opinions. But even Vettel hasn’t gotten slammed this hard for winning a championship in an un-catchable car.

    9. As much as I respect the views of others, especially those who take the time to contribute to my website, I don’t delegate my thinking to them. If you want to know how I justify my own rankings, read them.

      And thanks for commenting!

      1. @Keith – 11 wins in a season is not justification for placing Hamilton 3 in your driver of the year. Those number of wins don’t come around everyday. Webber won only 9 races in an all conquering redbull over 5 seasons. No matter what you think Ricciardo drove at best he is 2nd placed driver of the year – Alonso come on – 2nd, give me a break how do you justify that cause he beat Kimi…. Kimi was trashed by Massa, Kimi has a cult following, but he is not in the top 3 drivers of his generation and is really not that good – he can have the occasional good season, but is not a consistent performer at the highest level. If hamilton won 7 races, rosberg 5 and ricciardo 3 then I can understand your rating, but 11 wins in a compromised and controversial season, from a driver not given exclusive #1 (Schumi, Alonso, Vettel) status in the team is poor ranking on your part. If it is so easy to win 11 races in a season, because of the car, Rosberg would have won them…. You may not spend thinking time on the comments, but on this occasion your are wrong with the rankings…. P.S. in the year’s you gave Hamilton driver of the year (2007, 2010) he won almost as many races as the world champions in both year’s and he was in the championship fight without the best car, double points and double dnf’s up to the last race in those season’s Ricciardo was not a consideration after singapore that is 5 races before the season end and Alonso had 1 great race in the whole season which was Hungary… (By your logic Jenson should have been driver of the year 2011 – no you gave it to Vettel, I am sure Vettel had the fasted car in 2011 by miles) – The justification is hamilton made mistakes in qualifying, all through his career pundits and jornos have said points are scored on sunday, when hamilton scores points on sunday, the same people talk about mistakes on saturday… Ricciardo also made mistakes in qualifying and he was the worse starter of any leading car, I guess his mistakes don’t count in your world…. SMH

        1. Post pretty much sums up my thoughts, I still say he was only rated 3rd to stimulate debate and be different from every other well known reputable F1 source – it worked like a charm.

      2. @keithcollantine – I might be a day late, but please please please make this COTD on Christmas Day.

        As much as I respect the views of others, especially those who take the time to contribute to my website, I don’t delegate my thinking to them. If you want to know how I justify my own rankings, read them.

        And thanks for commenting!

  2. Alonso is underrated in this poll, he should be top 3 in Austria, Germany and arguably Russia. In Austria he finished just a second behind a Williams which clearly superior than Ferrari, and maximise everything in Qualifying. in Germany I rated his race high because he held off Ricciardo which again Red Bull faster than Ferrari. In Russia he kept Button honest in first stint until slow pitstop, he did however held off Ricciardo.

  3. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    23rd December 2014, 13:52

    @keithcollantine can you (or anyone who knows) post the links to the past DOTW year summaries, especially 2011 and 2013? I want to see if people brought similar poll results favouring Vettel, when he was in an astonishing car… well, not as astonishing as the WO5.
    Of course, Vettel didn’t win, it was Newey, right? But now Lewis deserves all the credit?

    1. Hamilton still has a challenge to win the race even with the best car. From 2011-2013, Red Bull had overall the best car in the field, and Webber took 3 victories in 3 years; not exactly pushing Vettel to the limit.

      1. Hamilton still has a challenge to win the race even with the best car.

        Really? Only in two races out of 19, he came in second without mechanical issues affecting either his qualifying or race. Bahrain and Barcelona, he won in spite of being on the wrong tire strategy. Singapore, he made a set of supersofts last *26* laps, and was still getting 1-2 seconds a lap more out of them than the Red Bulls behind him. Monza, his car electronics glitched at the race, and he lost four places on the start. Hungary and Germany, he made it to the podium from the back of the grid.

        Apparently people watched a different F1 season than I saw.

    2. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
      23rd December 2014, 18:58

      Vettel will make or break his reputation depending on how he deals with Raikkonen. I hope Kimi stays for two seasons so we can get a proper comparison. One thing’s for sure, the 2014 Red Bull was still a race winning car with a duff engine powering it – the thing must be leagues ahead of the competition to perform that well with the Renault engine handicapping it, just look how badly Grosjean’s form dropped this year.

      If Vettel fails to dominate Raikkonen, as Alonso did, his reputation will take a battering. He will be seen as lucky to sitting in the best team for 4 years straight with a Formula (blown diffuser) which he was uniquely suited to.

    3. Vettel won three in 2011 (Italy, Singapore, India) and six in 2013 (Bahrain, Canada, Germany, Singapore, India, Abu Dhabi)
      https://www.racefans.net/2011/12/10/sutil-named-driver-weekend-germany/
      https://www.racefans.net/2013/12/01/2013-united-states-grand-prix-driver-of-the-weekend-result/

      The last race is missing from the 2013 article but Button won it.

    4. @omarr-pepper, below links to historical DOTW results
      2013 until US & Brazil
      2012
      2011
      2010 (you have to go back race by race – link in article – to review the season)

      Let us know what your conclusions are.

  4. Hey Keith, is it possible for you to do an article on present F1 world where all of us can understand as to who is primarily responsible for what, even if everyone else gets their say in everything? And probably a poll on what could be altered for the better in the future?

    For example shouldn’t GPDA primarily decide what kind of circuit design they want to race on and consent to safety risks wherever necessary, even if considering other opinions?

    Obviously everyone cannot be happy but there seem to be a lot of knee jerk and bitter reactions around.

  5. I guess we will still be reading about the “ignominous” ranking until March 15th, if not after that. Get over it, it’s done, this ship has sailed. I much prefer this blog when I don’t read every two comments how the guy who made it possible is an horrible person, please…

  6. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
    23rd December 2014, 17:02

    Magnusson but not Button once? Oh dear for those who voted that way!

  7. I look at the list and think how lucky we are to have such a great array of drivers all at the same time. Super fast and predatory but also fair.

    I thought there was nothing to choose between Ricciardo, Hamilton and Alonso this year. I’m hoping Bottas is going to move up a notch next year so the top teams each have a comparable driver to race their car.

    1. @lockup I absolutely have to agree with you there. Those three drivers formed my top three of the year and it was difficult to choose between the lot. They all had absolutely incredible seasons for differing reasons. If Bottas ups his form a notch as you say, if Vettel is back on form, if Grosjean can return back to his second half of 2013 ways, if Hulkenberg can do the same as Grosjean… It will be almost impossible to choose!

  8. I count 16 of the 24 drivers to make at least one appearance in the DOTW polls. Just shows that despite everything, there’s some incredibly talented drivers in the F1 field, and some names who appeared without a drive next season.

    Hamilton – 12 (6/6/0)
    Rosberg – 3 (1/2/0)
    Ricciardo – 11 (3/2/6)
    Vettel – 3 (1/0/2)
    Bottas – 6 (3/1/2)
    Massa – 2 (0/0/2)
    Alonso – 3 (2/1/0)
    Raikkonen – 1 (0/1/0)
    Button – 3 (0/2/1)
    Magnussen – 1 (1/0/0)
    Hulkenberg – 1 (0/1/0)
    Perez – 4 (0/1/3)
    Vergne – 1 (0/1/0)
    Kvyat – 0
    Grosjean – 1 (0/0/1)
    Maldonado – 1 (0/0/1)
    Bianchi – 1 (1/0/0)
    Chilton – 0
    Sutil – 0
    Gutierrez – 0
    Ericsson – 0
    Kobayashi – 0
    Stevens – 0
    Lotterer – 0

    I feel that every single driver this year has shone on at least one occasion except for the two drivers who jumped in for a single race, and Chilton and Gutierrez. What did surprise me was how infrequently Alonso was in the top three. Given how well he drove this season, I feel that his efforts went somewhat unnoticed at times. Perhaps it was the really bad car, or perhaps it was that others were just a little bit better during the weekend, but were unable to deliver it week in, week out, except for the obvious two at the front (Hamilton and Ricciardo).

  9. IMO, the only reason to why Alonso wasn’t picked more often than he was, is because people essentially expect miracles from him. Ricciardo had the surprise factor advantage on his side.

  10. Skill, plus car, plus luck. That’s the winning combo in F1. How do you separate that out to determine the best of the best?

    1. @henryshakespeare
      It’s certainly possible. You have seasons like 1993, 1997, 2003, and 2012 where the runner-up in the championship clearly did a better job than the eventual champion himself, only held back by inferior machinery.

  11. Interesting looking back over our own results is it not?

    I looked at the list and converted to points.
    DR & LH taking the top two clearly ahead; with VB as a standout.

    Others of note are Kevin with one standout in the first round and the crash master (whom I personally think is very underrated) at number 11.

    And if there should be any outrage on these results look to the Hulk and Perez!

    DR 185
    LH 174
    VB 124
    SV 73
    FA 69
    SP 64
    JB 60
    FM 48
    NR 45
    KM 43
    PM 33
    NH 19
    KR 19
    JEV 19

Comments are closed.