Lewis Hamilton won a close Driver of the Weekend poll over Valtteri Bottas in the Canadian Grand Prix. How close? There was just one vote in it.
Lewis Hamilton’s Canadian Grand Prix weekend
Hamilton was in fine for mas usual at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he won his first race eight years ago and is usually spectacular and fast.
With no power unit problems in qualifying he netted pole position for the fourth time this year. However his biggest mistake of the weekend again came at the start, dropping him behind Sebastian Vettel and forcing him to defend firmly – but legally – from his team mate.
From there on Hamilton kept Vettel in sight and was perfectly placed to take advantage when Ferrari erred with their strategy. He never put a wheel wrong, even in the closing stages when his tyres were getting increasingly worn.
Hamilton won the poll with just 28.5% of the vote. This is the fourth-smallest winning percentage we’ve seen in Driver of the Weekend, the lowest being Nico Hulkenberg 21.1% in the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Superb drive, made a one stop strategy work and had answers to Vettel’s pace, what a race, I was quiet anxious about the tyres but he made them last, hats off to him, that blocking move was just great, Mercedes need to sort out their poor starts.
Understeer (@Abdelilah)
Pole and superb drive. Bad start, but the stint on the softs was mighty.
@Edmarques
Perfect weekend. No mistakes. Schumacher-esque race management yet again. He deserves it more than anyone else on the grid.
Don Smik (@David-beau)
Canadian Grand Prix winners and losers
Bottas was just a couple of votes away from taking his fifth victory in Driver of the Weekend. Another driver who deserves the title of Montreal specialist, Bottas was one of few drivers to make a one-stop strategy work as he stealthily moved his way up to take the first podium of 2016 foe Williams.
He started from right back in seventh and managed to climb up to third in a Williams which most people seem to be saying is now only the fourth best car.
It didn’t look like many people expected Williams to do so well. Great job Bottas.
Ben Rowe (@Thegianthogweed)
He was on top of his game all weekend, unlike Verstappen and Hamilton. Verstappen was out-qualified by Ricciardo by over two tenths while Hamilton almost lost the race due to his slow start.
Michal (@michal2009b)
There was also much sympathy for Vettel after Ferrari’s highly questionable decision to bring him into the pits during what turned out to be a very brief Virtual Safety Car period.
Five seconds behind despite an extra pit stop and getting caught up behind the Red Bulls. Vettel would have won the race if Ferrari hadn’t screwed up the strategy.
Gary
Have to hand it to Vettel almost entirely on the strength of his catapult launch of a start. Had Ferrari not misjudged the Virtual Safety Car and pulled him in, he would have (almost certainly) won this race. He was too far back afterwards and as others have said, had to push a little too hard to close the gap.
Andy Mail (@Amail)
The always-spectacular Max Verstappen also earned credit for keeping Nico Rosberg at bay during the final laps.
DRS left very little use for skill in this race. But somehow Verstappen fended off Rosberg, and eventually forced him into an error as he attempted to pass. The kid is stone cold.
@Philipgb
2016 Canadian Grand Prix
- Hamilton edges Bottas for Driver of the Weekend win
- F1 underwhelms at popular Montreal
- 2016 Canadian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2016 Canadian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Canadian Grand Prix
ColdFly F1 (@)
17th June 2016, 10:01
Agree with the four names, but Sainz is worth a mention as well.
And if looking only at the Sunday, then Sainz was up there with Bottas; extremely solid race, not spectacular, but maximising where the car could end.
Excuse me :D (@square-route)
18th June 2016, 5:51
I messed up. Wanted to vote for Bottas, did a mistake :'(
Plz changeeeee
Guybrush Threepwood
17th June 2016, 10:46
You’ve got to be kidding me… Hamilton???
There are obviously a lot of Hamilton fans around here.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th June 2016, 11:05
Because that’s the only reason someone would vote for a guy who set pole position and won a race?
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
17th June 2016, 11:23
Rosberg and Hamilton keep setting all the pole positions and keep winning all the races, so therefore we should all keep voting for them? I think not.
If either of them ever do something special with that car I’ll vote for them. Until that happens it will be the driver of the weekend that gets my vote for Driver of the Weekend.
Cheers.
Understeer (@abdelilah)
17th June 2016, 11:35
@juan-fanger isn’t keeping a four times world champion behind on a fast Ferrari enough ? making a one stop strategy work (one of the only two drivers of the GP to do so) ? pulling a great blocking move and standing his ground ? maybe you expect Hamilton to fly with the car to win DOTW.
Thunder Sky
17th June 2016, 12:20
Keeping Ferrari behind is not at all extraordinary when you know that you’ve got the most dominant car in the history of Formula 1. If I have to put a list of best performers in Canada, I would put Lewis on #4 after Vettel, Sainz and Verstappen.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
17th June 2016, 12:51
Hey @abdelilah. Actually I expect the Mercedes cars to win every race. And they do. I rarely see any great driving from either Merc driver and yet they still win. I’m not saying they aren’t driving great it’s just that it is very hard to see it in such a dominant car. They win races even after bad starts, qualifying errors, or tactical mistakes that would ruin the races of any other car on the grid.
I see the Mercedes cars of the current period as the perhaps the greatest ever. They have consistently had the best power and economy, wonderful aerodynamics and are very, very good to their tyres.
The Mercedes engine has the best power and the best fuel economy. It doesn’t need as much fuel saving as others and this can allow them to start the races with less fuel and so lighter cars. And they can afford to burn more juice for longer when they are fighting with another car.
They have the best downforce in medium to high speed corners meaning the cars not only go fast but they look after their tyres exceedingly well. They are still very good in low speed corners (it is only now that the Bulls are better than them in this one area), and also look after their tyres in that scenario. The aforementioned lighter cars at the start of races also means they tend to go longer on the starting tyre before needing to pit, which opens up more strategic options. The drivers obviously play their part in looking after the tyres but being in front and not being in anyone’s wash makes a huge difference in this regard.
And if they are back in the field they aero and power mean they will quickly catch anything else and then have the top speed when they need it to pass.
There is no doubt about it: most of the drivers in the field would win regularly in that car.
Of course, I’m not saying that Hamilton isn’t any good because he is obviously quick and so is Rosberg. But that four times world champion that you mention is also very quick and he did not have a snowflake’s chance in hell of catching Hamilton while driving a Ferrari, but it might have been possibly for him in a Merc. A fast Ferrari in Canada is still slower than a Mercedes.
In Singapore? Who knows… hopefully it will be like last year and we’ll see Hamilton and Rosberg have to race against faster cars and maybe this year they’ll catch and pass those faster cars…
I have rarely voted for drivers in the fastest cars but I do when they manage something more impressive than just beating their team mate. I look forward to that day again with the Mercs.
Goodnight, and good luck.
Juan
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th June 2016, 13:54
@juan-fanger
No, if that’s what I’d meant that’s what I’d’ve written.
Guybrush Threepwood
17th June 2016, 13:06
You mean someone who screwed up their final qualifying lap, had a poor start, punted his team-mate off the road at the start of the GP and was able to benefit through another teams strategy blunder? I think some people can’t see past the strength of the car.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th June 2016, 13:52
I can appreciate all of that but I hope you can also appreciate he got the best available result in both competitive sessions and given that it’s a bit unreasonable to assume the only reason anyone would vote for him is because they like him. After all he has won races several times before without being voted Driver of the Weekend.
Adam Hardwick (@fluxsource)
17th June 2016, 16:17
It’s been sufficiently reported that a inconsistent clutch is to blame for the poor start. The first corner move has been considered most to be robust but fair – including Rosberg. Hamilton was likely to win the race even if Ferrari hadn’t made their strategic error (See https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2016/06/canadian-gp-debrief-did-ferraris-decision-making-cost-sebastian-vettel-the-victory/). Meaning you are outraged that he was voted DOTW for making a small mistake on 1 corner when he’d already gone fast enough to claim pole.
Not sure that’s a rational decision. Disagree with it – that’s reasonable. But to think it’s outrageous seems more than a little silly to me.
Mike (@mike)
17th June 2016, 23:39
… I think people forgot that’s it’s a choice thing. I agree with Guybrush, I don’t think Hamilton was the most impressive, far from it. I think Bottas did a better job for one.
BUT, that’s what I think. The whole point of a poll is to see what others think. I already know what I think! :D
Guybrush Threepwood
17th June 2016, 23:56
I personally think Sainz, Bottas and Verstappen had much better weekends than Hamilton (despite Sainz crashing out in qual). They were all but error free during the race which is more than I can say for Hamilton.
I tend to agree Keith that everyone doesn’t mindlessly vote for “their” driver, however I think people are easily swayed toward their driver of choice by the results or if there isn’t another stand-out drive head and shoulders above their favourite driver.
I think you would find if you put the same vote up on a Dutch website that Verstappen would get “DOTD”, as would be the case in Finland with Bottas.
Just my observations.
Understeer (@abdelilah)
17th June 2016, 11:30
@keithcollantine Thanks for picking my comment, made my day.
Neil (@neilosjames)
17th June 2016, 12:41
Deserved winner, I think. Bottas would have been a good pick too – those two stood out over the weekend as a whole for me.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
17th June 2016, 16:58
@keithcollantine
“Because that’s the only reason someone would vote for a guy who set pole position and won a race?”
1. Pole position: It wasn’t a great lap as he HIMSELF admitted.
2. Race win: Another poor start (T1 was just about fair, I admit). Helped by a Ferrari strategy error. (Did well to take care of the tires and keep the pace up meanwhile, credits to Hamilton)
But Sainz did a way better job.
And nobody seems to be able to commend Rosberg for his recovery to 5th after dropping to 8th, just because of a half spin. (Lucky to keep engine running? No, that was skillful). Same story, USA 2015.
Ed Marques (@edmarques)
17th June 2016, 19:13
Engines have anti stall these days. When he spun he took his hands off the wheel.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
18th June 2016, 6:33
I heard Sky repeatedly calling it ‘lucky’ to keep engine running. How is that true, then?