Your Driver of 2015

[GPR-A duplicate2]

I saw this report on Autosport and on the basis of what we have seen, felt a need to open this topic.

Please keep the debate objective and not avoid fanboyish arguments.

Lewis Hamilton tops F1 team principals' top 10 drivers of 2015

2015 AUTOSPORT TEAM PRINCIPALS' TOP 10

1 Lewis Hamilton (229pts)
2 Sebastian Vettel (180)
3 Nico Rosberg (113)
4 Max Verstappen (77)
5 Daniil Kvyat (69)
6 Fernando Alonso (57)
7 Valtteri Bottas (52)
8 Sergio Perez (48)
9 Daniel Ricciardo (47)
10 Kimi Raikkonen (37)

WHO VOTED

Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Maurizio Arrivabene, Ferrari
Sir Frank Williams, Williams
Christian Horner, Red Bull
Vijay Mallya, Force India
Franz Tost, Toro Rosso
Federico Gastaldi, Lotus
Eric Boullier, McLaren
Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber
John Booth, Manor

[Facts Only]

I've gone for Perez, from what the media have been saying for the past few years you'd think he was teamed with the second coming of Christ in Hulkenberg but Perez has outperformed him consistently this season and done what every midfield team wants; scored points solidly to secure more comercial income and got a trophy to take home to buoy everyones spirit in the team and please the sponsors.

Perez to Ferrari in 2017? Could be worth a cheeky bet.

I would have voted for Hamilton if it had been up until Texas, Vettel perhaps but I cant remember anything particular this year (apart from his consistency) and Alonso may have been driving the greatest races of his career bt how would anyone know?

[Andres125sx]

It´s surprising how even those are affected by the car.

Does anyone really think Hamilton did fewer mistakes than Vettel?

To me Vettel´s season was very similar to Alonso´s season in 2010 and 2012, read, awesome. With an obviously slower car he almost beat Nico. Ok Alonso managed to beat Webber and was a real title contender, but this Mercedes is even better than that RBR so...


Anycase I voted Sainz, despite being a rookie his season was almost mistake free, while being very fast at the same time, wich is really impressive for a rookie. Only if his car wouldn´t have fail so frequently....

[ringo]

I would go with the champ for driver of the year. Getting the job done 3 races before the end of the season. Also he seemed pretty invincible in the firs 3/4 of the season.
As for Perez vs Hulk, i've been banging on this topic the whole season and its good that Perez is now seen as the better performer. He definitely has the race craft skills beyond hulk's. Prob doesn't have the raw pace, but when he is in the groove he gets the results.

[rscsr]

Is there a reason, why there are only these 10 drivers to choose from?

[Nathanael F1]

I voted for Vettel.

I've gone for Perez, from what the media have been saying for the past few years you'd think he was teamed with the second coming of Christ in Hulkenberg but Perez has outperformed him consistently this season and done what every midfield team wants; scored points solidly to secure more comercial income and got a trophy to take home to buoy everyones spirit in the team and please the sponsors.

Perez to Ferrari in 2017? Could be worth a cheeky bet.

I would have voted for Hamilton if it had been up until Texas, Vettel perhaps but I cant remember anything particular this year (apart from his consistency) and Alonso may have been driving the greatest races of his career bt how would anyone know?

Although I agree that Perez was really good this year, I can't agree that he "outperformed him [Hulk] consistently". If you look at the first half of the season they are pretty evenly matched. Hulk made a lot of mistakes/crashes in the 2nd half, though.

[Nathanael F1]

Is there a reason, why there are only these 10 drivers to choose from?

I know, right? I really wanted to vote for Stevens.

[PlatinumZealot]

Verstappen has been exciting but he's under no pressure. My vote goes to the Champ. A sublime performance up to winning the championship in style.

[ScottB]

For me, Lewis did exactly what I expected him to, so I'm not sure I can pick him as my standout of the year.

Verstappen was, obviously, brilliant, but I think Sainz was there or thereabouts, and Nasr showed himself to be pretty decent early doors till Sauber fell back in the development stakes.

Also agree RE Perez v Hulk, the plaudits the latter seems to get have long confused me, but full credit to Sergio, not just for his performances this year, but for bouncing back from his Mclaren stint in general.

Mainly though I'm wondering who picked Kimi to get him in the top 10!

[zeph]

Is there a reason, why there are only these 10 drivers to choose from?

+1

[GPR-A duplicate2]

To me, the revelation of the year is Max Verstappen. When his name was announced, there were too many who raised the eyebrows. It is too soon to blood him in, Will he manage the rigors of F1 and what not. A Supremely confident debut and some sublime performances. None of the worst fears materialized and here he is. He is just only 18 and with only second appearance in a single seater, he has already shown serious overtaking skills with great confidence in late breaking. Although Sainz was equally impressive, he comes with a lot of single seater experience and is 22. To me, Max is the best of 2015.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Is there a reason, why there are only these 10 drivers to choose from?

+1

Yeah, there is a limitation of only 10 rows that we can put there for a poll. Don't blame me if you don't find your best driver in that list.

I left out, obvious unimpressive performances. Williams (based on the expectations from last year) and McLarens (Obvious) and Hulk as Perez was the driver of FI for most part of the season.

[ThumbsUp]

I choose Max Verstappen, he has shown some real racecraft during the season and the best overtakings if you ask me.

[Nuvolari_the_legend]

Max Verstappen is the driver of 2015 for me (also be because I'm Dutch and he is one of the only Dutch drivers that is very promising). He was under a lot of pressure because people thought he was to young. If he wouldn't have performed, everybody would have said that he shouldn't have started the season and that he was way too inexperienced to drive in an Formula 1 car. He proved everybody wrong and has arguably been the most entertaining driver of the season.
I would really like to have a lot more drivers like Max in the Formula 1, because he does everything I like about watching an Grand Prix. Amazing overtaking at the most terrifying places, really smart tricks, like the race in Monaco where he overtook everybody by staying very close to Vettel and I also like him because I think he is a real personality inside and outside the car.

[ME4ME]

I think to be driver of 2015, a driver has to beat his team-mate. Even though unreliability is a factor, a drivers team-mate is still the most accurate measure. So that leaves half the field to choose from:

HAM-VET-BOT-KVY-PER-GRO-VES-NAS-BUT-STE

Personally i'll remove Stevens from that list, because I don't rate either of the Manor drivers very highly. I also remove the Mclaren drivers from my list of candidates, because honestly they haven't got a machine reliable enough to prove themselfes, and even when they both finished we can't be sure the cars were equal with the team running test-items or downtuned engines.
Next I'll remove Kvyat from the list: I think he did OK, but was very seldom better than Ricciardo. I think he got lucky to beat him. Besides, until Monaco he was pretty bad. Even after Monaco, he had some terrible weekends (Suzuka!).
Also i'll remove Nasr from my list: Didn't impress me that much this season other than in Australia.
That leaves:

HAM-VET-BOT-PER-GRO-VES

Honestly even though Bottas beat Massa over the season and had some solid drives, to me he just isn't that impressive. He seems very conservative, passive, defensive. I think he must do better and beat his teammate by a bigger margin if he wants a Ferrari/Mercedes seat. He is not a rookie any more.

HAM-VET-PER-GRO-VES

At this stage it's getting much harder to pick. Being really picky i'd say Perez was somewhat anonymous in the first half of the season. Grosjean has being very consistent, beaten his teammate, but only caught the spot light once (at SPA). Verstappen has been amazingly impressive, but made mistakes. Highly entertaining, but maybe not as efficient and losing some points here and there. So:

HAM-VET

Both have been super consistent. One could argue VET has beaten his team mate by a bigger margin, but then he probably had a lesser driver to beat. HAM made mistakes in Hungary. Vettel in Bahrain and Mexico. Vettel got to endure slightly more car-issues (Qualifying Canada, penalty for 5th engine in the US). Both got screwed by their teams to some extent (Hamilton in Monaco, although it was partly his fault, and Vettel in Abu Dhabi, although he should have done a better lap on the softs). Vettel also had to get used to a new team.

Conclusion. I don't know