Your Top 10 Drives of 2014

[JimClarkFan]

The only stand out drives this year that I remember where those from Ricciardo - driver of year imo

[Kingshark]

The only stand out drives this year that I remember where those from Ricciardo - driver of year imo

You don't think that Hamilton, Alonso, and Bottas produced occasional stand-out drives.

I'm surprised that Bottas's drive in Silverstone isn't mentioned more often tbh. He went from near the back of the grid to 2nd, did one better than Lewis two weeks later in Hockenheim.

[PlatinumZealot]

Different track and conditions. The wide open turns of Silverstone suited Williams very well. Bottas was walking past people like no ones business. Fairly easy drive there.

Where he impressed me was in Austria and Sochi. Other than those races Massa was more than a match for him on speed. Bottas slightly gets the nod on adverse situations though. At times Massa was left wanting when he had to pull a move out of the bag to get ahead (Canada, Sochi).

[Jonnycraig]

If Hamilton in Hungary was one of the drives of 2014, Vettel at Interlagos 2012 must rank as one of the best drives in F1 history

[Kingshark]

Alonso at Hungary 2006 owns both

Anyway I'd say that Hamilton's 22nd to 3rd in Hungary was impressive solely because the Hungaroring is often called "Monte Carlo without the walls". It's the second most difficult track to overtake at.

Vettel's best drive this season was without a doubt Spain. Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan were good too.

[iHpled]

https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2014/11 ... -rankings/

great statistical stuff!

[iotar__]

https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2014/11 ... -rankings/

great statistical stuff!

"Statistical" and "great".
Button 6th? Raikkonen 8th? Perez 17th? This is simply hopeless piece.

[Moose]

https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2014/11 ... -rankings/

great statistical stuff!

Yep, a really awesome analysis. There's one thing that isn't taken into account by this kind of analysis, which is team orders. It has an implicit assumption that both drivers in a team get an equal chance.

[SectorOne]

The 14 ranking was quite sanitized, look at the all-time list instead.
So much math i´m sure he can produce any numbers he want assuming he keeps adding data forvarious things.

Still though, an interesting way of going about things. Hardly perfect though.

[Chuckjr]

With all due respect, but when your car is 1.5-2 seconds faster a lap it's hard to see such a driving position as exceptional. The playing field is not level whatsoever so it's hard for me to see how Nico or Ham was exceptional pretty much at any point this year. Years ago when Ham was challenging the Bulls in a far less quick Macca, now that's noteworthy, but 2014? Come on.

Interestingly it's almost only when the Merc was down on power that some sense of skill is noted, but one or two swallows do not make a summer.

Again all due respect to Ham and Nico but the car advantage basically limited their competition to only one other person the entire year. To me, it makes the wins, or basically the entire year, a hollow victory. Each started the year with a 50/50 chance to win it all. Not any other driver had such forgiving odds. It's not much different to when Vettle was dominating because his car was almost as untouchable as the 2014 Merc, almost.

Hopefully next year the field will at least offer an opportunity for competition between more than just two drivers.

Personally I think Ric takes the driver of the year award pulling that POS Renault engine onto the podium multiple times was a spectacular feat and very noteworthy. Pinning a 2 seconds a lap faster car onto the podium...? Yawn.

[marcush.]

let´s not forget Seb won 4 times in a row but Mark Webber was not exactly following in his footsteps .So considering Daniel Ricciardos performance comapred to the master of the years before everything gets a fishy smell and taste .
The technical side of formula 1 does make it worth watching it at all but at the same time it is devalueing the drivers performance as well.the best drivers do not win -
maybe not even within the same team...so for those who are not totally into the technical side Formula 1 has become very intransparent and hard to understand .Pirelli building bad tyres on purpose ,RedBull building bending cars under stiff regulations and get fined for it 4 years later when not winning ,Mercedes building a dominant powertrain and nobody is allowed to catch up, the boss of formula one is accused of all sorts of illegal activities and actually buys himself out of it ....who
in a clear state of his mind would say this all is worth following as a sport?

So my top drive of the year was how Bernie drove himself out of a sure place in prison this summer ...that was a legendary performance .

[GitanesBlondes]

None of the Mercedes drives were memorable as the W05 simply outclassed every other car on the grid quite easily. Hamilton driving from the rear would have been far more impressive if Mercedes hadn't built such a strong power unit. Also, every driver was just staying out of his way as there was no upside to be had from holding him up due to how much faster he was.

marcush's nomination of Bernie was really the best drive of the season. It was being predicted by many that Bernie was finished, and well, he is back, stronger than ever.

[Phil]

None of the Mercedes drives were memorable as the W05 simply outclassed every other car on the grid quite easily. Hamilton driving from the rear would have been far more impressive if Mercedes hadn't built such a strong power unit.

The sad thing is; if the Mercedes hadn't had such a power advantage; the odds that we'd be impressed by anyones driving from the back is greatly reduced to the point we wouldn't be talking about it at all. When cars are coming through the field, it's usually because we are seeing a faster car pitted against a slower one - because the biggest factor will always be the car. Having that said - being out of position in a fast(er) car isn't without any merit or skill; Which is why I still rate Hamiltons drive or even championship this year as extremely impressive. Just because the Mercedes is quicker per lap than any other car on the grid, doesn't mean that overtaking isn't risky or requires skill - especially given that in a straight line, the cars Hamilton overtook weren't *always slower [as in topspeed]. Yes, DRS helps, but many passes weren't done in DRS zones alone - and DRS hasn't always been a guaranteed overtake, even in a faster car. What makes Hungary impressive IMO is that Hamilton precisely got the overtake(s) done when he needed to which effectively made him finish where he did - that being in front of his team-mate who started on pole in an identical car, but failed to do the same. That kind of puts it into perspective that despite all the power advantage the Mercedes had - it's not always easy to overtake.

Take Button in Canada, 2012? or was it 2011? He only got from effectively last on the grid to take win, not because he as a driver was on a different planet - but because the car offered a huge advantage that day in the way it was set-up and how the wet track brilliantly played into their hands. That doesn't mean his drive to grab the win wasn't anything but impressive - he made it happen and it was a stelar drive.

I certainly rate Hungary 2014 as a good example on what constitutes an impressive drive despite having a dominant car. What IMO also makes Hungary impressive is that it was a wet and unpredictable race - and a wet track always narrows the gap between faster and slower cars.


EDIT: forgot a word, for clarification sake

[Juzh]

Just because the Mercedes is quicker per lap than any other car on the grid, doesn't mean that overtaking isn't risky or requires skill

Requires significantly less of both.

especially given that in a straight line, the cars Hamilton overtook weren't slower [as in topspeed]

Williams was the only car which was sometimes faster in a straight line than merc. Also, if your car is 2s a lap quicker than some mid-fielder, who maybe has 1-2 clicks on you, it won't matter much.

[Phil]

Excellent stuff Juzh, you managed to pick out two sentences [somewhat out of context] while completely ignoring the greater point of it / rest of the post. =D>

PS: I never ment to dispute that the Mercedes wasn't usually one of the faster cars top-speed wise; merely that it wasn't always and at every race. Also, the point was more that due to track layout, some DRS zones were/are more effective than others - so having a faster car with a top speed advantage isn't always a guarantee. If you then also add uncertain weather conditions like rain to the mix, coming from back of the grid to the front isn't a guarantee and definately not a certainty. IMO Hungary was one of these races - and the fact that Rosberg in the 2 seconds a lap faster Mercedes couldn't get by Vergne (or Hamilton at a later stage passed Alonso in a Ferrari) I think proves this somewhat.