Driver of the Mid-Year
In the interest of objectivity I will share this award with 2 drivers being
Lewis Hamilton/ Seb Vettel
Starting with Lewis, I believe he has performed to a high level on 7 out of the 9 race weekends (Spain and Monaco being the exceptions), which is some consistency. For my money his drives at Silverstone and Hungry rank as two of the best drives this season of any driver
Now fully adapted to his new car after a rough couple of races early on, Lewis has opened a 40 point gap from himself and his talented and underrated teammate Nico Rosberg. Make no mistake, Lewis faces the stiffest challenge out of all the top drivers in 2013 in terms of teammate, as Vettel and Alonso both both faces drivers way past their peak and Kimi faces a inconsistent and at times sub-par head to head challenge in Romain. Lewis since Monaco where Rosberg showed him up, has had the measure of his teammate, both in qualifying and race pace.
Vettel shares the spoils based on his impressive consistency. Yes, he does again possess the best all round car yet again. But, for the most part, Seb has been performing to a high quality all year round and does deserve his Championship lead on merit come the half way point of the season.
Vettel's stand out performance for me was in Germany, faced with Lotus's that were faster, Vettel managed to still win the race. This was one instance where you could not say "it was all the car" Vettel took that win on pure racing merit. Beating Webber does nothing for the Vettel resume in 2013, but he is not slipping up either and is dominating the aging Aussie in all areas.
Honorable Mention : Jenson Button and Kimi
Underrated Driver of the Mid- Year
Jenson Button
Button has been quietly pretty good this year, much better than his 2012 efforts. Given a dog of a car, Button has been crafty in races to produce some points his car has no right to gain. The fact he almost doubles the points of the billed "tyre management specialist" Perez , speaks volumes of the efforts put in from Button.
Button has also showed he is not as bad as Lewis made if look in qualifying, as against Perez he has a favorable record so far. It should be interesting to see how Mclaren and Button progress for the rest of 2013.
Honorable Mention: Rosberg
Best Rookie of the Mid Year
Jules Bianchi
Yes, Bottas had that qualifying performance in Canada, but Bianchi for me has been more consistently stellar this year. Like I said about Vettel with Webber, he may not be beating a world class teammate, but he is not giving a teammate room to breath.
There have been weekends where he has been mixing it up with Caterham when having a slower car, plus some of the qualifying margins between Jules and Chilton have been vast. Jules has done more to impress than any other rookie on the grid.
Honorable Mention: Bottas
Biggest Losers of the Mid-Year
Sauber
I looked at the Spa grid from last year earlier and Perez made the top 5 and Kobayshi was 2nd. Cannot see them cracking the top 10 this year. Even with the signing of the talented Hulkenberg, the Sauber that has been suspect to money problems have been dreadful this year in comparison to last year. Their number 2 driver is the worst case of "pay driver" I have seen on the grid.
Williams at least have their house in order, with no rumors of finance worries and two drivers who are fairly talented. Sauber for me are a bigger joke, which is a shame as I felt they were decent last year and capable of winning races at times. They will almost certainly lose their stud of a top driver next year, as Hulky is hardly hiding his discontent.
Honorable Mention: McLaren
