If "Driver of the Day" had been around in 2012... | Ep. 47 (feat. ‪@nedzosf1gridbox‬ & Acescheil)

Intro, Australia this is the DRS train the driver of the day vote has been a key part of fan engagement since 2016 but based on how many times Lando has won it it's really more of a glorified popularity contest I'm Peter Brook I'm joined by Neo F1 gridbox and aial and you're listening to the DRS train podcast so uh driver of the day so as I mentioned yes this was introduced in 2016 um and gets awards at the end of each race and people can vote on who they think drove the best or who maybe they just like the best um we thought we'd have some fun and try and look at some start looking at Seasons from before that and apply it retroactively and so for this first episode we've chosen 2012 um and so I don't know about you two but for me yeah 2012 is one of my favorite Seasons it's a real a real modern classic and one that I remember very fondly yeah um is it was my first season watching F1 the first race I remember watching was Spa but the first the first race I actually visibly remember actually watching was Brazil I it was it was just a Zen if of it was a mix of lots of teams being competitive at lots of different points whether it be Ferrari McLaren Red Bull Williams Saba like they all had chances to get wins you could easily have seen like a nine or 10 winner season which is crazy in modern F1 terms considering what we've seen over the last couple of years of Hamilton and vapen dominance but yeah he yeah it was one of the best seasons in modern F1 history since at least the 2000s no doubt Heart Break aside I also very much like it yeah so what we're going to do today is basically the basic format is that we'll just go race by race systematically we'll talk a bit about the races and who the real Stand Out drivers and then we'll try to give a verdict on who we personally would have voted driver the day for or realistically who we think would have won it when you factor in what the fan base was like at the time and how the drivers were received um so yeah let's get going let's start with Australia um this was a race which I I don't remember much of it myself in terms of action the main thing that I remember personally is the fact that HRT failed to qualify for it so there were 22 cars there instead of 24 uh but yeah it was a front row lockout for McLaren and then it was uh actually won by button with Hamilton third uh and then vettle came through to Second so it showed at the beginning of the Season it wasn't it wasn't exactly going to be a cakewalk for Red Bull who wants to go first next I'll I'll go right um I I mean I personally there are a couple of kind of Standards obviously button one against Hamilton which is obviously quite a good achievement but you said that you Peter you remember HRT I also remember the other bit of action was malardo crashing on the final lap and this is I think this is going to become a theme of 2012 for me because I am a um malardo simp provisor I think he's a lot more underrated than people think he was I wouldn't say he's dver of day material for Australia because although he did get up into sixth in what was not a sixth place car he did crash so that kind of does eliminate that um button is a very good shout um vetal was just kind of there so I suppose maybe not umy I can't really apart from Daniel Ricardo I can't really think of any specifically amazing performances up and down the field personally yeah so in my case I'm using the magazines from the time and this magazine rank the driver with a mark from 1 to 10 for every race and uh in the case of Australia there's no Stand Out performance the 10 goes to Jenson baton the comment is first row Victory and fastest lap in a race in which it counts fighting against the vibrations of a set of tires and the sesar which cuts his Advantage a step for the championship as for Daniel rard I I also think it's uh it was a The Stand Out performance and I also think that performance aside would get the driver of the day as a popularity because Australian driver first race in a proper car because he only did half a year on the HRT so so first race on a proper car already points at is from race I think he would get the driver of the Day based on popularity maybe on performance J of Buton really was the best at day yeah I mean um Ricardo is actually a good shout because he qualified 10th for 10th for this race so he made Q3 in a to Roso which at the time was quite a rare achievement uh but then he actually dropped to to last at the start I think he was one of the one that he was one of the ones that got spun round or hit hit somebody at the first corner so he actually dropped to the back but then even with that he climbed through and managed to finish in the points helped of course by um uh by m crashing but he actually gained three positions on the final lap so he uh saved his tie as well um that yeah I mean you the the obvious answer is is Buton but to be honest Ricardo was a good shout when he fact her in it his home race the local crowd he very easily could have won it I think speak sorry go on okay I was going to say speaking of speaking of home crra s where would Weber filter in in all this because obviously he was in the I didn't really remember anything from him in this race um he started ninth or whatever it was and finished fourth he didn't really do much I mean he he finished fourth in like the first three races or something um oh he started fifth dropped to ninth because of course he did at the start and then finished fourth he was never he was never particularly good at his home race um he got uh a bit lucky with a safety car although given the advantage that McLaren and the Red Bull had and the fact that below them it was an entire mess I don't know if you remember the last laps there was richardo perz rosberg ver and Thea all fighted in from Seventh Place down it was a mess I think perz crushed with rosberg and anyway what I was going to say is yes that Weber was lucky because the safety C helped him and fourth place is honestly the least possible with that car so not really impressive he never was in Australia except for his first ever race in which he got points with the minardi yeah it was he was one of the ones that just never really benefited in the same way that Ricardo I mean we're saying that when he's probably winning driver of the day for this week he he doesn't have the best record for his home races either although a lot of it is more bad luck rather than bad performances um but yeah I mean whether the four I mean to be fair he the top four finished within 5 Seconds of one another which even today is quite rare so it was it was clearly close to the front but um yeah for me the only real candidates would be either bson or Ricardo and I'm I'm leaning towards Ricardo already won I mean I I agree with Ricardo I I mean button I think would be a good shout but again with the home crowd I think that would be the realistic that what would probably happen even if that's not maybe the most deserving candidate okay so if we move on to the next race which is Malaysia um the home crowd theoretically would have been cheering on cerum here but I don't think they would have been contenders for either of their drivers for driver for the day uh yeah this was a very interesting race to have only the second race and we get this huge soundport at the start early safety car Carter Kayan Malaysia gets up to sixth place because he starts the race on the right tires and then ruins it later on by giving vessel a puncture which almost cost him the championship and then we see a ing performances from both Alonzo and Perez with czecho chasing him down at the end seemingly on course of his first win and definitely doesn't deliberately run wide to stop a customer Ferrari beating an actual Ferrari hey I'll go for so in my case the comments are exactly as you said the 10 was given to Fernando alono and Sergio perz for Fernando Alonso the comment is it should have been an 11 in this which is no longer a Super Car Championship he's showing to be the only Superman but this time the Mark is shared with the perfect management from the pit perfect Sergio Perez instead is it is common among the great drivers of taking the first chance and he does of course he makes a mistake and he probably lost the win due to that but better drivers than him have done Force um yeah I mean I I think the fact that it was done in a saber should really kind of outweigh that because we've disc we discussed this in a recent episode we were talking about how good that 2012 Ferrari actually was at the beginning of the Season it wasn't brilliant so it wasn't a particularly competitive car that Alonzo was running either but the Saba was less competitive and also this was only his second year in the sports still um it's kind of weird that to be honest to think that how he came to winning this and then it would take eight years eight and a half years before he would actually win his first race um yeah those those two are the ones that stand out for being notably good performances I know it's it's not what we're discussing but the one person that was horrendously bad would would be Jensen button in that one because he had a collision with carakan early on and then that was his fault and then he got stuck behind cats for a while and just ends up miles outside the points so huge kind of contrasts in a race like this of performance he he had a couple of those in 2012 obviously we'll get through those later but yeah Button had a bit of a bad moment I mean personally I think because I because I obviously I didn't watch the race live but I watched it back when I first got into F1 and it was Perez was catching up from what I remember quite insanely quickly at sometimes it was like a second of lap on Alonso um from what I remember and then obviously as you said he went wide whether or not it was a case of they didn't want a Ferrari customer to beat the Ferrari Works team which is easily possible because only one time has that ever happened in F1 history and that was um vetal in Monza 2008 um I do think that Perez I mean I I'd personally put Perez's performance above alono even with the mistake because I think he outperformed the car more than Fernando did I'm not sure where you put that Ferrari in that previous episode in terms of whether it was third fourth or fifth quickest I'd say is equally fair but yeah the Saba was at best sixth quickest so it just depends yeah I think the red the Mady would Mady the Ferrari was uh was sort of up kind of upper Midfield at this point um rather than rather than a firm front runner um another Stand Out performance as because talk about to Rosso's uh jeev he went from 18th to eth in that race and I remember the team were like praising him and being like Oh congrats on your first points and he was like well I I don't really finishing eighth it doesn't do much for me even in at hor Ross he was like surely winning the race would be considered good covering all that you said uh I think the Ferrari was worse than saber absolutely true in the first three races of the year which basically Australia Malaysia and China because that Ferrari had a bismal top speed and the subur instead the subur was was great in top speed so the subur was basically a Ferrari without all the issue it had at the start of the the year so in my opinion perz the faster car we all saw it once the truck was trying out the sber was faster and uh he made a mistake and he didn't win so the driver of the vot really is either Alonso because he D an excellent performance or he goes to Paris because popularity from a driver on a up andc coming team which is over always in the lower Midfield where is fighting for the win so it's either perz or alono driver of the day as a shout out to uh under uh under appreciated performance Bruno Senna he finished six on the Williams on a very chaotic day yeah there's there's some good points there I mean Sena Sen's F1 career was a bit of a let down I can't lie obviously came into F1 in 10 2010 with HRT you can't do anything in the HRT that's of any note he replaced uh heidfeld for a bit at Lotus was just was kind of or Renault sorry was Midfield was kind of running in the Midfield and then with Williams he had as this was one of his good performances but most of the time was Meed in the Midfield yeah I mean I I given what you said whe if it is actually true that Ferrari was slower than the saber I mean I'm I'm not sure because obviously I wasn't there for the um Ferrari episode um then maybe alomo was better also to give it to give a point on on um Peter's Vern Point how he managed to move up I'm pretty sure I remember that he actually stayed on inter before the F before the red flag he actually braved it out on inter and then it got red flagged so he um so he got a free pit stop under the red flag and that's how he was able to keep that position I think he restarted in seventh yeah I think that was what did it with him because he he was he was the opposite in that the hrts both started on on wet tires everyone else had to switch to from in to wets but he decided not to and got away with it because the red flag the race got red flag so quickly um yeah I mean I I'm leaning towards PR I mean I remember watching this race live and at the time I really didn't like Alonzo and I was just getting annoyed especially after Perez ran wide I knew he wasn't going to win because it's like Alonzo doesn't need any more wins he's got what 20 odd of them or something like he doesn't need them czecho does need them um so I think yeah I mean for me I'm I'm giving it to Czech I'll I'll I'll give it to czecho as well I was thinking alono but then you know what he was I think czecho was the underdog he had everything to lose and I mean he did lose it but not as badly as he could have done I also think that I think Alonso did a way better performance than Perez but Perez will win driver of the day just based on popularity and the fact he was the underdog in the eye of the of the public so he definitely would have won driver of the day given the is uh given your points yes absolutely so next up is China um this was a very interesting race because Mercedes suddenly turned up for the first time on their uh their Revival or their their return to Formula 1 uh they had they'd introduced this kind of double DRS system that they had which people have tried to explain to me how it works and I still don't entirely understand it there were these little ch was on the side of the Wings and when they opened the DRS it seemed to it was something like it sent the air forwards China over the car and then back again through the rear wing which stalled it and meant that it had immense straight line speed on that very long back straight something something I don't entirely understand it but it worked very effectively because it meant they locked out the front row it is uh you pretty much explain it basically there are ducks on the side of the rear wing the The Divide ERS the lateral dividers of the rear wing are amped inside so that the duck can continue it goes this D continues in the towards the big Wing then it goes into the chassis all the way uh past the driver into the nose then in the nose it continues down the front wing and then in the front Wing the dck continues and it finally exits under the flaps of the front wing and so it blows under the front wing also the air it's basically a long tube from uh from the rear wing to the front Wing it's it's blowing the air forwards yes how that needs power that's what I don't understand is how it it it blows the air forwards on a car traveling that fast when the air is going in the opposite direction CU this it sounds like the um the F duct but in Reverse to be honest um he's finding a diagram for you now so you can um yeah I'm trying to work out like how I show you through the webcam it's GNA be very clear to see the sheer power of downforce manages to reverse the air because if it was being thrusted forwards by some kind of fan or whatever it's like fair enough but I don't see how it probably also takes power away from the engine as well or if it creates a vacuum that means that the air moves forward because it's filling the void otherwise I don't I don't understand how it can do that um Okay so I think you already have an idea of uh the shape of the duct on the on the on the rear wing and then Michael schacker crashed in Malaysia so a crane came to pick up the car up in the air and so from the from below uh people were for the first time able to see where the dark exits and it's basically don't know how much you can see there this is the no and there are these yellow arrows this are the two two ducks and then on the front Wing here right on this line I'm tracing with a finger this is the opening and air blows under in this direction so it basically does this movement on the front Wing Down Under the flat so this for audience because they can't see Ace yeah um okay I think I just about understand but I'm yeah I I'm I'm picturing literally a tube that runs uninterrupted from the front of the car all the way to the back but it sounds like of course of course it can't be of a cylindrical shape because it can be cylindrical inside the rear wing and then it has to change shape all over the place but it's basically a duct of basic okay so basically they turned their car into a colander and it's made it faster it sounds like yeah that's the closest I can get to that yeah so either way it worked very well at that circuit because that that giant back straight uh Mercedes lock out the front row rosberg wins it his first win and they presumably would have won the race would have got a one two if shumaker's wheel hadn't come off um but yeah the obvious Stand Out performance is rosberg um Kirby Ashley had a pretty miserable race cuz he started third but then he dropped a 10th um reiken and famously lost 10 places in one lap when his tires went off a cliff otherwise the rest of the performances I mean I mean Williams actually had went from 13th and 14th to 7eventh and eth so they had a good race but otherwise yeah the main stand out really is Mercedes I think the two drivers who were the best in performance are rosberg and Baton because we shouldn't forget baton was the only driver whoever was close to rosberg and able to fight him does Michael Schumaker he people say that without the retirement he would have won because he was better than rosberg maybe true we can't see we can't know and he qualified behind so ultimately I think there is no good argument to to say Schumaker was better than rosberg so it's either rosberg or baton baton at the end couldn't fight because the last P stop the McLaren and took too long and so he came out in traffic it should have been a second clear or clear of third place ronen and instead he was behind the ronen vet when he came out and uh so yeah the driver of the day is between rosberg and bton and I think it's clear that from popularity it goes to rosberg because first Mercedes win since the 1950s first win of rosberg dominating performance come on I think Roseberry is the clear driver of the day yep yeah definitely um so then moving on Bahrain uh by comparison to the the races before a fairly a relatively processional one this is when Bahrain was still held in the daytime and it wasn't really that good at producing good races and then we switch to a night race and it's given us several bangers um yeah so like flag victory for vetal uh being challenged by both lotuses so they had a good a good time pretty miserable race for Hamilton this is this is when the cracks started to form in his relationship with McLaren um but yeah otherwise just a Bahrain fairly a fairly ordinary race I mean I'm leaning you could say vetal just because he dominated but then you could also say lotus because they looked at certain points in contention to win it I mean from what cuz I remember watching like a like a R of the 2012 season I think it was a season review of some sort and apparently rikan had several chances to overtake vetal and just didn't apparently they had like several chances to go up the inside or the outside and he just didn't he just stayed behind him so in in my magazine the battle takes the 10 a full 10 maximum marks the comment is the style of the world champion is back an incredible start that after the first lap puts him at 2.2 seconds over second place he easily handles the comeback from ronen despite the Lotus being faster in the straights be a problem I pretty much agree because uh V was absolutely dominating and ronen did make a mistake when he tried to to pass uh to overtake battle he pushed the tires too much and so it should be between Vel and roren but Vel vattel Won Won deservedly and I don't think there is any other driver down the grid who did anything impressive enough to uh steal his driver of the day yeah I mean the rest of the race was fairly ordinary I mean r the one thing he has going for them is that he started from 11th to go for the second but then he just didn't really he didn't really seize the moment um I suppose and I think I can get away with saying this cuz kir is here probably um it's so yeah I think on that basis it sounds like it's a it's a drive the day vote for vessel um so is that three different drivers in three in the first three races four four four yeah in the four so keep this trend up it should keep track so Australia was about no Australia Ricardo i' I've been writing them down as well um then then rosberger and then yeah and now we're going on to Spain which is where we're going to get another one I think yeah I yeah I wonder who's going to get this one um I mean if we're realistic I think malardo would have probably got at least 90% of the vote for driver of the day like it's it's just such an obvious choice um admittedly had Lewis not been disqualified from qualifying maybe he could have challenged him for the win as well I don't know but um beyond that yeah him I mean he gets challenged by Alonzo Alonzo is not helped by being stuck behind Char Peak for a whole lap reiken and his strategy he tries a Spain different strategy which doesn't quite work out schuma crashes into Bruno Center which is we'll see later doesn't has has consequences uh vettle has a pretty miserable race um Kobe actually goes well he goes for ninth to fifth yeah but malado is the obvious choice I disagree with the with what you said it's not 90% it's at least 65 because I bet that there is at least 13d of the world population who would have seen Hamilton going from last to seventh and just driver of the day and they stole him the pole because they didn't want him to win so just by popularity takes a third of the votes then of course Maldonado driver of the day first win first win for Williams since 2004 first win for him I think driver of the day for Maldonado but definitely a strong opposition by all the emilton fans yeah I've got a couple of points um firstly if Hamilton did start on poll and malardo started second considering their track record of on track um let's say when they're on track together and battling for position I think it might have been a bit entertaining to see what would have happened considering we've got we're going to go through there's some things that happened later on in the year and in Monaco 2011 they came together and it was Louis as so um that it would be interesting to see what happened and also to to I think it was Peter's point about alono getting St behind sh's Peak for an entire lap malardo had a slow pit stop I think he lost like two seconds in one of his pit stops because one of his wheels didn't go and he got dropped late or something like that so I think in terms of yeah they both got unlucky but they both got equally unlucky with things that were outside of their control so I do think Maldonado definitely takes the crown here the fact that um Maldonado had such strong undercuts that's what that's what Fe into this notion that he was given like special birthday tires that made that car so competitive suddenly Frank Williams birthday stuff yeah because the yeah yeah because I mean Alex verto was an advisor for the team he's like oh well actually what we done is that we designed these new break Ducks which helped to warm up the the wheel rims but then suddenly at Monaco everyone else had exactly the same breake Ducks as ARs and so that's why we went back to being just as competitive as we were before it's like yeah I'm sure that is and that definitely explains why your garage such spontaneously caught fire and burned all the tires right after the race as well so the thing about the undercut I think it's not that uh Williams had an amazing undercut I think it was still Ferrari having problems because from the Ferrari episode who watched it still remembers that the first fix came after the Mello test in Spain and so the Ferrari was much better in Spain it was competitive competitive enough not to necessar beat Red Bull and McLaren but competitive enough to beat everyone else close by all means it's not a forgone conclusion but it now has the upper end but theer problems are still the same it still acts a bit of top speed it still uh lacks a bit of traction in fact you see out of the last turn alono never has enough traction to stay close to Maldonado down the street and so he never is able to overtake is because the car still lacks traction and the cars also lack aob balanced and uh the point with aob balance is that a car which lacks aob balance is uh very inconsistent with the lap times usually as the race goes on and as the fuel burns out the lap times get quicker for an aero unbalanced car that doesn't happen as much so if in Australia I remember the the Ferrari was lapping in 127 at the start of the race towards the end of the race it was high 126 so it didn't really improve much La time despite having much less Fuel and this problem is much less severe in Spain but he still present so when alono does uh does his lap times in uh the in laap time and the out laap times they're never impressive because the C is still Aon balanced the Williams is and the Williams works as it should especially in Spain when they did a perfect work to set up the the car and so you see that uh the Ferrari simply isn't able to do undercuts I think that's the reason not that they have special tires or other stuff I think Williams did have a very stable rear end because I remember watching that poll lap a few years ago and um Mal had because you were allowed to back then he had his DRS open through the final corner so he he had to have his so he he had the car that was stable enough to literally he held the steering wheel straight and just put the DRS on and he just he just turned around the corner and was fine in 2012 the DRS could be opened whenever you want in qualifying okay because no no go on it was it was 2013 when they took it out and if you could get away with using it in Corners you would um one thing that's puzzling a bit to me is the fact that I don't know if it's a skill issue or maybe they only they only gave these special birthday tires to malardo because Senna started 12th and he wasn't really in conten even before he got taken out by Michael wasn't really in contention for points so it seemed to be just malardo in the same way that Ferrari Masa started 16th and finished 15th while Alonzo was second well it was going to say because you make a great comment about malonato being flat out with the RS open in a turn that is uh it's really hard because the DRS opens and you have much less rear down Force so you really risk to um over steer and crash like it happened to was it ericon at Silverstone 2018 when I tried to take the first Zone all the way to turn three foron war and two and so ericon crashed and they stopped it they change the DRS on and I want I wanted to add that this makes the u double DRS on the Mercedes extremely powerful because since it stalls both rear wing and front Wing you don't have the problem of over steer when you have DRS active you just have much less downforce but you don't the balance Remains the Same you don't have sadly a lot of over steer to control so it really a strong tool the dou RS um but yeah I think I think we can all agree that it it it's quite an easy win for malado when you said you think 35 would go to lisw I assumed you were going to say Alonzo because again it's his home race and I remember I remember again watching this live it was a similar thing to Malaysia is no Alonzo doesn't need any more wins give it to malardo um and he got it uh yeah so I think um of course had Hamilton been at the front we could have had a certified 2016 moment and then give Alonzo hit and a home win for all we know um so yeah we'll give that one to malardo next is Monaco um this one of the better monacosun Runners were so close together at at the end even though they couldn't overtake for everyone the main standout is Schumaker getting his pole that wasn't to be even if he had got pole the car broke down so he still wouldn't have won the race um but I guess all I could say Weber finally showed up he got pole held it in and one um the force indiaia made moves but otherwise everyone else was kind of stuck where they where they started and I just make a point on Schumaker I did a video on schumaker's Monaco return to F1 after for his Mercedes return and I actually worked out obviously including stuff like for example China he had his wheel failure I think I concluded that if Schumaker had have not had any mechanical faults or problems throughout the first six races of 2012 and he would have won Monaco he would have led the championship and be on and would have been on 90 points which is like 12 points ahead of vetal who would have been second so uh yes for Monaco I think driver of the day is also easy because uh nothing much happened just going to comment the magazine gives Mark Weber a 10 and says he inherits the poll from Schumaker but he makes use of it Like A Champion he started extreme he starts extremely well he opens up just enough to control the race and then he won he's back the Red Bull not yet who deserves who it's all I don't think I translated it well sorry yeah I think I I should point out the real stinker well apart from malardo CR celebrating his win by crashing at the first Corner um but also button because he spent most of the race stuck behind a cerum and then when he tried to pass him he crashed into him so this was another one of those races where Buon could go from being just unbeatable to then just not like he's not even trying which just happened too many times times in 2012 yeah yeah he had he had that a few times um I mean Weber was Prett pretty going back to Weber he was pretty good around Monaco from what I remember because he won in 2010 as well didn't he um and he he was just like obviously um Monaco was one of his this race was one of his last wins in F1 he was just very good he was very calm concise he's like he's like he's like an Olden dat Oscar piastra I wonder where I wonder where Oscar got that from but um yeah yeah for a mono R it wasn't as dull as you'd expect and yeah I think Weber it's easy to say Weber did well rosberg did cuz he finished in the podium positions um even though it was like um even though it was a train of cars so he would so would it wasn't able to get past but I mean he started second and finished second so yeah just I mean the Mercedes that's pretty impressive because Double D would have had any effect to around Monica really I don't think because you weren't allowed to use it in a tunnel were you DRS no actually I actually think rosberg did less than possible because if Schumaker got po position and without the penalty he would have been first and he would have won the race that means the Mercedes was good enough to win the race and rosberg didn't win race so that's a good point even better point to say that Mark Weber was driver of the day because the red wood was the best car yeah that's a good point I didn't think of that I mean yeah because they kind of stopped where they were I mean vetel he went from ninth to Fourth which is not bad I mean he was helped by retirements for Schumaker groon right at the start as well um otherwise yeah it was it was quite a procession I mean I'll give a a mini shout out to caran he I think his best lap was was within was I think it was within one and a half seconds of either the fastest lap or within a second of button's fastest lap or something for an HRT that's not bad best results of the season the leaders were cruising towards the end weren't they because I know wasn't it wasn't this the race where it kind of got greasy towards the end but no one wanted to pick because they wanted to keep track position and they didn't want to switch to the inters maybe I don't all I remember is just seeing five cars running in a train together and thinking anywhere other than Monaco this would be electrifying but you just know they can't pass each other so nothing's going to happen yeah about Narin Ken and just GNA also his comment on the magazine so satisfactions must be find and among the drivers with zero points Narin is in front of both petro and thear Roa finishing 15th two laps down and with two bit stops is the maximum of satisfaction for him so yes it basically agrees that Narin actually draw an impressive race given the HRT leem obviously he made it almost halfway through the race before getting lapped as well which is actually really good at such a short circuit as well normally you get laps much sooner than that wasn't 50 oh wasn't wasn't 15th Place also last on the road there wasn't he the last guy who finished he he he was yeah it did it did mean though that he be beat delar Rosa in the driver standing at the end of the year with that 15th Place and I think it did temporarily put him ahead of the some of the mishas and that but yeah um something something of that nature um uh the thing you commented about uh uh Peter is that you said he went until half half of the race before getting laed I noticed that when teams are really cautious about Tower degradation that you that usually happens that uh the field is much closer together we saw it last race in Belgium so we got the field extremely close until lap four everyone had the S and then even until lap eight if Hamilton had ped from first place he would have been last and so the the field were extremely close more than usual and only when the team were sure about Tire management that the tires could get to the end they finally start to push and the field opens up and the 2012 Monaco was pretty much the same because everybody was thinking that the tire degradation would be a real issue in the race and then it was much less severe than it was seen so people went slow in the first laps and then when they were sure about D degradation that they could get to the end they started to push and so they open up and that means uh the HRT took half a race before getting laed the first time and so just I thought it was a nice comparison so I mentioned it I mean t TI wear at Monaco in general is quite low because it's low speed corners and we've seen I mean we saw in the race this year that George did what 75 five laps or medium tires or something so it's the kind of thing where you can you can do that if you want to I mean we Spa is I mean the characteristics of it the complete opposite of Monaco but we saw both this year and last year that nobody got lapped with no safety cars partly because it's the longest circuit on the calendar but also because the field spread now is so much closer than it was in 2012 that they just don't don't spread out as much so you make a good point but I have an counter point in 2012 the pellis are crap yes yeah they they're useless we we we it's taken 13 years but the tires kind of work now even though we still have people like lir who are obsessed with going as slow as possible whenever leading and just making tires last as long as they can um but yeah in 2012 they really were rotten it was like three four stop strategies most races um so yeah let's give that to Weber so that's our sixth drive of the day in six races uh can we keep this going Canada next uh so Canada um Hamilton won this seventh win in seven races quite a convincing one from him czecho had one of his tire whisper a moments he went from 15th to third gron was a contender for a win vessel Alonzo were having degradation problems HRT had their Mini conspiratorial double retirement where until then they were going well and so saying well actually maybe they knew the cars were not going to finish the race they just filled them with half a tank of fuel to make them look faster um yeah I think this one is the main Stand Out is yeah the top three Hamilton gr oncho yeah so the magazine gives a full Canada Mark only to Hamilton it says magical regardless of the superiority of the McLaren he makes use of the tire best he understands that they're the key to the race and is aggressive when he's needed and cautious when needed instead Gran and Perez which are second and third in the opposite order I think per is second and cran third both get a nine Mark and I think I also think they they were not as good as Hamilton because Hamilton was trying to keep back Vettel and alono so tough task I mean yeah vzo their tires went out the window at the end because Alonzo was leading for a while and then he dropped a lot of positions Vettel as well V made it work better I mean Gren and Gren and um czecho did have to come back from further than Hamilton because Hamilton started second but czecho came all the way from the Midfield to do third so it's got of I think it still leans to W Hamilton but it would have been between him and czecho realistically for for for Drive of the day but probably Hamilton and again another absolute stinker from button this one if I remember you got a 16th as well he got he was like 16th and he was be pet wer he yeah he was just again he was like I just it wasn't even like he got caught out by a safety car or whatever he just didn't he started badly and just didn't he started in the points and just fell backwards yeah and couldn't make the car work yeah I think Hamilton takes this one yeah Bon literally started the year with a step for the championship did one other good race and then he was nowhere exactly yeah so I also think Hamilton gets driver of the day I don't think Gran and Perez were enough impressive because you've got to remember the vots come in before the end of the race and so before five laps from the end perz and Gran are still behind Hamilton a also and I think also v v Beed eight laps before the end M so yeah until till very relate to the race it was Hamilton alono and vattel so I think a good chunk of the vs already come in for Hamilton who is winning after overtaking Alonso and yes there are none left for perz and Gran at the end so I think Hamilton gets the driver of the day so so it's seven from Seven winners and it's seven from Seven driver of the day yeah so far it seems to be um okay so after that is Valencia again I think this is a fairly obvious winner of the vote um it's a shame because Valencia people critique because they don't like the circuit because it didn't except for this one it didn't produce good Races they didn't like how it looked maybe it's a Nostalgia because it's so symbolic of that that V8 the kind of V8 diffuser era as I call it that we had late nauy early early late naughties early 2010s yeah Alonzo wins realistically without it should have been vetal without the alternator failure groor was also a contender until his car blew up lots of action further back um Hamilton malardo moment again uh just a yeah just a really good race all around it's just say it's like oh wow you finally delivered so bye-bye we're not racing here again yeah unpopular opinion I Valencia think malardo is in contention for driver of the day considering where his car was in terms of performance I thought you going to say because he booted Hamilton out of a race in Spain the Lono one I mean I just see thing is with that with that incident with Hamilton I don't like he got a penalty for but I don't think it was his fault he got forced out wide and he had nowhere to go if he the only way he could have avoided that incident with Hamilton is by cutting the corner going ahead of it and then giving them position back which wouldn't have work like I think that he was given a harsh penalty like I that was just typical arrogant McLaren Lewis Hamilton thinking he could force everyone else off and they just have to deal with it yeah I think 12 years on I'm hoping that people are ready to have that conversation about Hamilton's complicity in that Collision because yeah he you can see he doesn't give him any room if that was Monaco or anywhere that had barriers malardo would have just hit the wall and then probably hit Lewis at the same time but otherwise his options were either pull out of it which was kind of difficult or just cut the corner yeah yeah nowadays you might be able to consider cutting the G because some drivers do just do that to avoid a collision but then you you'd have to give the position back was it the second or was it the final lap or was it the second to last it's hard this was the final lap it's the thing I can't remember I mean race control they changed the rules in every single race I can't remember if it was the case at the time where you had to if you give the position back immediately then you avoid getting a penalty but they had different standards in terms of 5-sec penalties and I think this is before it would say in a really passive aggressive Mo notion that racing control have noted an incident or whatever it's like uh oh yeah we see what You' done there and they just leave it that and just leave it at that kind of thing um but yeah I mean Alonzo is it's Alonzo that's getting driver of the day here um I'm happy to get malardo second I mean you you think yeah yeah I mean in terms of the top if you were going to say a top three I I think that um I mean Schumaker would have got a lot of votes as well because he got the only Podium of his his comeback even though it wasn't really a spectacular drive it was just it was running fifth and then m madoo blew up so I mean he went from 12th to third but then Alonzo went from 11th to third Weber went from 19th to 4th which is not bad but no one cares about weather than 2010 yeah better than 2010 at least um check uh the others were just kind of there I mean most of the people at the back yeah we lost three Front Runners in that we lost Kobe Ashley vessel and gron early on um but otherwise yeah the standout is just just just on Vibes alone is Alonzo really absolutely Alonzo wins driver of the day I mean starting 11th winning being in the lead already halfway through the race so there's a lot of time to vote for votes to come in and vote him because it wasn't a last lap win he was first already halfway for the race so there is plenty of time for Spanish people to join in watching and then vote for him I think performance wise H it is Alo in ble B was just as impressive as alono Michael Schumaker and R were also both impressive but yes in Spain from 11th of 11th of the grid first driver to win twice this season Al alsoo gets driver of the day the comments on my magazine are uh a full Mark for both Vel and Alonso for V it says the he isn't in the alternator so he has nothing to reproach himself he's right to say he had the pace to win but unfortunately for him in this Championship a zero is worth double and for alono it says maybe it is better an 11 like the starting position from which he builds an incredible race okay the safety car okay the Troubles of the others but who else would be able to keep such a high concentration yeah it was it was a good um it was it was a good night because wasn't there Euro final like the night before the Europe race and like because I remember cofy saying last night it was for shabby Alonso now it's for Fernando alono in the um commentary I think that's what he said probably was I can remember watching the Euros Final in with Spain one I don't remember where it was within the context of Formula 1 but um because they W in8 and they W it in 2012 as well so it might have been the8 one yeah probably I think I remember watching the 2012 one because I know that in Hungary as well that overlapped with the uh the Olympics was going on at that time as well so that's all the world's colliding uh okay so that Alonzo so Alonzo is now our eighth driver of the day in eighth races eight races is um after that is silverston of course I went to this race um very very wet all weekend um it was I remember qualifying was fun because there was that red flag after q1 that lasted for over an hour and me and Dad were sat in the grand stands opposite the paddock and people were doing Mexican waves going from club and Veil all the way up to Abby and just like egging on the drivers to come out and wave at us because there's nothing to do yeah uh there was no rain on race day unfortunately it was cloudy and overcast but no rain um and then we had all the support series and all of that as well uh yeah just a good week the race itself eh but watching in person it's amazing but the race was not that interesting um but it was won by Weber so him and Alonzo were um were basically battling at the lead for the whole race and then Weber worked his tires better and took the lead from him near the Ed end um aren't many other stand outs I mean I remember button got knocked out in q1 he made it into the points sener made some Silverstone places um malardo crashed into czecho at Brooklyn's otherwise yeah it was a fairly bit bit of a procession outside of that I think this one goes to Weber obviously it was his last win in F1 I think I think it was actually his last win in F1 and he just kind of held Al so off I think I think it dried up towards the end obviously Red Bull had that um Li they had the Livery with the people's faces on for I think it was some sort of Charity they had the one that had the faces on without any sort of thing wings for Life yeah it was wings for life so they had the one for 2011 which didn't have the Red Bull Livery on and they what they did was they put the Red Bull liy and then they put the faces on top didn't they they kind of have like the colors on them so it weird it came out it came out kind of turqu wise the car and um it was yeah it was a weird it's an interesting one cuz the WIS are like they done that before 2008 colard had it for his final race and then got taken out of the second corner and it's all like all white um Red Bull yeah they've done it yeah there was this was back when oneoff liveries were actually quite rare they weren't happening every single race um except unless you were vetal you people weren't running special one-off helmet designs every single race as well yeah they weren't happening every single monco Grand Prix and every single British Grand Prix and every single whatever well it was watching the comments from the magazine they give full marks to both Weber and Alonso and I think it's releas very close as driver of the day between the two because so the race was just Ferrari versus Red Bull Massa was able to jump vet at the start so vet was kind of hindered so it became just Alonso versus Weber and Alonso was mostly in control until six lap 10 laps from the end so I don't know how many votes he could have gotten in that span of time and then in the final 10 laps I think Weber starts picking uh racking up the votes because he's on the hot tail of alono and then he overtakes him and there are still five laps to the end so I really don't know who wins it alono Weber I think maybe Weber because at the end he won the race but you know given that the votes the the poll ends at the end of the race is there enough time to to to make a comeback in the vs against alono so I'm going to I'm gonna call myself I'm gonna call myself out of the decision because I really don't know who would win between alono and Weber the magazine comments for Weber is he has everything on his side an excellent qualifying a great start and a race management very long-sighted knowing that his moment would have arrived at the end of the race uh he was very good and the team was perfect for alono it says honestly it doesn't look like he could have done anything more he had warned after po position here it counts less than other places not exactly like that but it doesn't uh uh defend him from Weber but the the standings leader is still he so yeah the okay go on Weber he took the lead with five laps remaining um so maybe that's just enough time to to swing the vote in his favor I don't know and people would have seen it coming before then because he was closing up to him for for several laps I don't know yeah only in the last intint which is 15 laps so just going to watch it the how is it called in English something like the Telemetry for for the race the gaps along the race and so Alonso exits the pits about 4 seconds in front of Weber on lap 37 on lap 44 Webber is now in the RS Zone and until lap 47 it doesn't over take Alonso so it's about five laps of fighting and uh five laps in which he was closing down on Alonso so overall 15 laps in which people can see that Weber is going to catch Alonso I think it's reasonable so Neo said Weber you basically also say Weber no yeah so Weber wins driver of the day so he's the the first first double winner of Drive of the day yeah even if we have given it to alono it still been it would have still broken the streak yeah uh then next up we have Germany so Alonzo won this from pole vetal famous he got his penalty for passing Buton off track that cost him a Podium uh how shimaka got fastest lap the only fastest lap of his return Ren and Kobe Ashley both made big gains so did czecho he came to 17th to 6th um yeah otherwise outside of that fairly standard race I guess I think aloso easily wins driver of the day because the race isn't uh isn't a forone conclusion it looks easy because alono does win from pole and leads almost every la but uh in the first in at the start the vle Hun game down and the first laps very close and only after seven laps he finally opens the Gap then in the second stin again vle is a closing in on him but doesn't overtake alono and then in Germany the last int it's baton that closes in on Alonso tries multiple time to overtake and still fails so I think after such a race driver the day goes to Fernando Alonso the comment on the magazine is uh the his best characteristic and he knows it and sometimes he also talks about it isn't row speed but race Vision uh recently he it also came in qualifying and now who can stop him also I'll give I I think it's alono yeah because he led the whole race more L um I will give a mini shout out to delar Rosa it was the only race that year where he beat someone that wasn't an HRT cuz he overtook teimo Glock right near the end and beat him and caran actually almost beat Glock as well so this is like one probably possibly the only race that year where HRT weren't the slowest team did they wasn't that because they on all the highs speeded tracks they just had no they had no um what's it called downfall so therefore they were super fast on the Straits and hackenheim that long straight most circuits they were topping the speed traps HRT because that all they had was they had a good engine and no down Force um which I think helps them oh I have bad news for you so K and didn't finish ahead of clock block and dear Roa still finished behind Peak so HRT was not better than marusia it's simply that Glock underperformed and de R Roa just instead of my words I'm going to use the words of the magazine it says he takes the only satisfaction that an HR tier driver can achieve attacking and overtaking on track am marusia de of Glock he asked from the colleagues respect and he deserves it whole heartly also about the speed traps KRT in hackenheim is uh penultimate and thir to last in qualifying and the last both drivers in the in the race in qualifying they do 37.3 and 36.9 km/ hour and in uh in the Grand Prix is 37.6 km per hour for both and uh they're the slowest even the Red Bulls does 308 and the fastest is the the to Roso ver with 318 in qualifying and 319.50 in the race so they did not have TOS speed as their uh as their strength I mean they they were hindered by the absence of curs I think probably wouldn't yeah help them in that sense um I assume I assume lots of people used it off the exit of uh turn two like through that little long right long left hander to just get a boost onto the straight cuz it's one of the only like proper Accel long ocean zones you have on the circuit yeah they would have um okay so we're thinking yeah fairly straightforward win for for Alonzo another race for vessel that again only won his home race once and even then it wasn't his home home race because he never got to win hoganheim but this was another one that didn't really work so well for him so now we've ended up with Alonzo getting a double as well as Weber um after this we have Hungary um this again is a race is one that not much happened I know that K Kiron has a lot to say about Kimmy in this but yeah Hamilton Hamilton won from Hall um otherwise people moved around a little but yeah I don't remember a huge amount else about this race yeah I think Hamilton takes this one I don't remember much I think it was the year after where groan got his drive-through penalty for overtaking like two centimeters off the circuit um but yeah Hamilton which race was it that Glock missed due to illness was it this one or was it another one it was it was that was Valencia oh was it okay this is not a foregone conclusion because Kiron is right in saying that Ron and drop an excellent race and the bazine agrees because it gives full marks to both Hamilton and ronen for Hungary Hamilton it says he wasn't the man to beat only because right from the start it it was easily understood that nobody was going to beat him he plays uh the elastic with the Lotus but uh in truth he's always in control and uh despite all that he is for wary of the championship for Kim Ren it says yes he should be punished be and uh he should be punished because he always makes a mistake somewhere in qualifying and at the start of the race he gets overtaken by alono but he's forgiven because his Dell against Gran and uh a pace uh like that of always a champion got an awful translation I know sorry yeah I I mean I think going back looking back at this race I Feel Again on popularity alone it might have just gone to Hamilton and it's the easy vote because he led from the front and and took the win it's just not a race like again I I've watched these recent I've watched these races several times before because I've covered it in like Marisha and HRT but all I but that's I'm watching it fixating on what's happening at the back of the grid rather at the front so I end up not noticing what's going on there um so I I think it would have been Hamilton to do it I agree I don't think it's a foregone conclusion just like Silverstone because uh since lap 51 Ronan was 1 second behind Hamilton and Ronan had made an excellent recovery from fifth well sixth after the start did over cut on Gan so I think uh many people would have seen it and would have uh would have voted for him but maybe Hamilton does win it so both of you call Hamilton so Hamilton driver of the day just like Silverstone I don't want to call it because I think it's Closs so that makes Hamilton our third third double that we've had so they're all starting to we're running out of new people that can kind of earn drivers of the day so then we have the summer break next up is Spar um easy driver of the day for this one groon um so uh button for the first time since Australia actually showed up and did something he led from the front vetal benefited massive ly from from Gran going bowling and went from 10th to Second helped his championship um actually because of the chaos of the start Mo all of the almost all the point scorers came from the Midfield so it really mixed it really mixed things up that that first lap Collision i' I've just realized how how good your let's go bowling thing work because it's Roman it's Roman let's go bowling um oh of course yeah um one one one mention I would like to make is niik hulkenberg finishes fourth for force India and has a really good race wasn't he possibly G win it I think he was in contention for a Podium but just didn't happen he finished like half he finished like one or two seconds behind Ren in in third yes so the magazine actually agrees because so Batton gets the full marks at 10 Vel also gets the full marks a 10 and then nicool hulkenberg gets a Belgium nine for n hulkenberg the comment is he's one of the candidates to substitute Massa in Ferrari he deserves it the fourth place is to this moment his best result in Formula One and just want to add myself it is still is best result in for one fourth place all the way from 2012 for the most part of the race he's in the hoer part of the field and he does a perfect strategy as for bton the magazine says since the weekend started or the is qualifying he's practically perfect even in the technical choices he we only have to see if the comeback is real or if he once more will lose himself along the way for Vel it says he looked doomed to to finish outside of the points or to gain very few instead he makes the best use of the Red Bull set up for the race and unlike Weber he manages to stay in front of the Ferrari of Massa he is worthy of the title um Al yeah Alonzo is Alonzo botson is the easy one just because he led every lap and very even without the iions at the start he got poll he maybe could have won it cuz this was this race is famously as source of tension because that's where Hamilton decided to publish all of their Telemetry data on Twitter because he was like I think again probably similar to this year accusing them of sabotage and all of that um even though what it actually was was that he was on a higher downfall set up the Buon so Bon was just faster on the straights which works better in in Spar um and also I think he had the up maybe theyd given they had some upgrades they'd given to Bon first or a new a new front wing something something of that nature um but I would love to I would love to give it to hulkenberg but the thing about that is this is before everyone realized that he was never going to get a Podium so it maybe doesn't have the same weight that it does now so it's kind of getting boring just saying oh the race winner gets driver of the day but I think it might have been Buton I'm going to go left field and say hulkenberg even though just be different I I will follow nesto hulkenberg get driver of the day because hulkenberg was up to third after the crash and then at the saftic restart he overt took ronen so for the for the first part of the race he was running second behind baton and then he still Defender from Massa at the end so I think hulkenberg takes it also because I think everybody realizes that Bon V and there was a massive shant at the front so obviously they're they're going to be up ahead but hulkenberg he's on a Foria so much more impressive also being ahead of Masa Weber Schumaker yeah so yeah that's a 2V1 so I guess that goes to to hooken BG um next is Monza again I don't remember much about this race Hamilton won from pole uh czecho was atire Whisperer again Alonzo climbed through vettle had a late retirement so did we um at a circuit the Red Bull were typically quite weak at um I don't really know with this one but I'm leading on I'm leading on czecho I'm leading on czecho wasn't this the first um double Red Bull dnf for a long time wasn't it like ages until they got another one wasn't until like 2018 or 2017 probably probably backu 2018 maybe would have been the next one um top my head I do think Perez was good because wasn't there wasn't there cuz I remember watching that race and on the on board on I think it was his overtake on alono towards the end where he got the second place half of his camera was covered by whatever whatever Gunk and stuff I don't know if that cuz CU cof remember said he can only see half of his heart through one of his eyes obviously not realizing that what the camera sees is not what the driver sees but um yeah it was it was a good race from czecho I think that's possibly we had Hamilton been announced as moving to Mercedes yet I don't think he had had he that was about to come up that that was yeah wasn't it's it's all the way until Korea or the India that uh he finally on now system Monza over it wasn't until October at least almost in September I think that might have been Sergio's final audition for that McLaren Z if they were already pretty much finalizing it internally so in my view the driver of the day is fought between Hamilton Perez and Alonso so for Alonso he's on the Ferrari in Italy and he recovers from a lost B position in quali due to a technical issue until third place then there's Hamilton of course he has a lot of fans and he wins from po position and then there's Sergio Perez who actually recovers from 13 to second on what many at the time believed was not an excellent car we we're starting all to think that the S was far better than we all thought it was in 2012 but if I had to say driver of the day I think it does go to parz Just because he does a more impressive recovery than alono as for the race it was uh if you follow alono and perz is actually quite interesting because alono is then fighting with vattel and he's trying to overtake him and everybody remembers that vattel pushed him out and so the controvers because in 2011 alono had done the same but didn't get a penalty and vett instead does and gets penalty so Italian favoritism for Ferrari and then somebody else comes out and says yes but V only put Alo two wheels on the grass V alono put V two wheels only on the grass in 2011 and instead in 2012 Vettel puts Alonso with all four wheels on the grass excellent by alono not to crash in those conditions so the race was actually quite interesting if you look at the Perez and Alonso I do think that Perez earns driver of the day he Als in the magazine Al is ALS he also gets the full marks it says looking outside the track Cho is the most normal person in the world at the wheel as soon as he can he becames a he becomes a beast starting on the hard tires doesn't help him but this sber is a great car so I do think the driver of the day for pars yeah I agree yeah I think so too it was what 23 Laps on that final stint and gaining positions the whole time uh so then we have Singapore um this one it becomes a win for vetal because Hamilton retires from the lead malardo gets a front row start but then he has his own mechanical failure couple of safety cars Schumaker starts to show his old age when he wipes out ver um just yeah very I mean they went to the time limit with this one two very long race as they always are um I guess you would just say that the main one is is vetal just for having the lead because but it's yeah I don't know going back to your schuma point I think hadn't he taken out someone else at the 2011 race at the exact same point on the track Turn seven or wherever it was wasn't there a collision with heidfeld I think it was 2010 something happened with him and a saber yeah I think hide Feld yeah because in that race Kobe actually crashed into the wall on his own um yeah you also briefly mentioned about Lardo he was running third until he's out his Hydraulics failure I think he's also a shout for driver of a day because vetal kind of he just kind of LED from the front and just kind of did did nothing while of all of people had problems but I think malardo again considering that Williams wasn't the wasn't like a top two or top three car I think he did a fantastic Singapore job yeah I know that um before the race Lewis had to like beg him to just not crash into him at the start um which would have been would have been fun but um yeah it's it's it's it's a bit of an odd race this one so the magazine gives the full marks only to Lis Hamilton everybody else is lower but of course for our purposes driver of the day for a driver who retired after 201 laps emilton can't can't win it simply because he retired too soon so for the other choices the magazine gives nine to vetel to Alonso and to the resta oh yeah him yes because Thea finished fourth and he was be just behind Alon so very close but at the end the Ferrari at more so he didn't gain the podium so I actually think it goes to the rest because Vettel wins after inheriting a lead alono yes is's third but he does nothing all the race it's Paula the real guy because he's on a fora and he's finishing fourth I I can agree with that I completely forgot about dester I was like oh [ __ ] yeah he did finish fourth didn't he in a force India oh that yeah was really he was a kind of Tire Whisperer of sorts he liked to do these super long stints on tires and just sometimes it was just for the sake of it rather than because it's a strategical Advantage but yeah as much as he was a awful commentator on Sky Sports he had his good moments every now and again in F1 he EV evidently had the edge on hugenberg at this weekend because hugenberg qualified like 11th or 12th and Desta started the race Sixth and um I'm trying to pinpoint when his he would have piss around lap 12 um he didn't lose positions during either of the safety cars so he must have pitted during both of them so he was in fourth he he was at he was in third when the first safety car started and then got passed by Lonzo I'm guessing pitting and then just managed to hold that whereas hooken BG in the first pit was fifth but then he dropped to as low as he he dropped to as low as 18th towards the end so something I can't remember what must have happened there that me he didn't do so well but yeah D resta got himself in fourth yeah I think D's like Alo if he actually finished the race kind of thing so we get the resta driver of the day yeah bit of an odd ball one some you wouldn't expect how many drives is that 10 of them now 10 different so we had eight different drivers at the start Weber alono Hamilton repeated then Perez also repeated and so from those eight only hulberg and the resta are added so that's a total of 10 different driver of the day G has got a drive over a day at some point yeah button still doesn't have one neither does riken or groon Massa doesn't of course yeah we're we're we're good at mixing these up any other season you'd have someone to get like four or five Drive the day votes in a row yeah W 1982 if we ever do that that'll be a hard one to do could genuinely anybody yeah I guess we are do we aren't doing this thing right we're missing something because it's impossible to have 10 different driver of the day winners we we we I think we're being too objective we're not yeah we're we're not we're not fans yeah we're not fangirling enough and just voting for whoever's the fittest driver or whatever oh my God n hulkenberg is blond oh my God okay I'm gonna change my Approach then so I'm gonna fer for Alonso and I think D of the day in Australia in uh Malaysia in Valencia at hoenheim also driver of the day in Spain because it is it is his R race and and the driver of the day also at Monza so that's six times driver of the day Alonso um next next we have Japan again yeah it's it's kobashi it just is start yeah starts third finishes third Massa did actually to be fair vessel LED from the front Massa had an excellent race for once he went from 10th to Second admittedly benefited from groan going bowling at the start Alonzo k Alonzo reenan happened and I'm leading on Alonzo being at fault for that one um that helps it all but yeah it's the the standout is is Kobe ASI here home Podium for the first time since Suzuki in 1990 that kind of thing mean from an objective point of view it's it's vle driver of the day he was the best driver on truck and he definitely had everything in control he was just so massively faster than everybody yes it is it is frightening but driver of the day is also driver of the day is also popularity vote and so it absolutely goes to Kobayashi Japanese driver at the Japanese Grand Prix first Podium ever the other thing you to factor is is that yes vettle did an amazing performance he did everything he needed to because Suzuka was one of his strongest circuits but he was in the fastest car whereas kobby Ashley was not and did and even though even though it was it was hard to pinpoint where a lot of cars stacked up that year by all Japan accounts the Saba was just a midfielder that could occasionally break into the front and so he did it here it was like yeah six or fifth or six most of the time we haven't had any repeat like nobody's won two consecutive driver of the day votes yet V's only won one so far hasn't he yeah yeah that might change um After Japan we've got Korea again a lot of people wait wait I just want to add something to Japan because I sber everyone believes it was a midfielder uh I actually starting to think that it wasn't a midfielder it was a properly good car it's just that nobody understood how to set up that car and so most of the time they were nowhere because you see you can't have such good Peaks at such different tracks so saber is competitive in Malaysia it is compet competitive in Canada then it is competitive at Monza then it is competitive here in ja it it it's all places where top speed helps but also good turning speed helps to do well at at these tracks and so it means the car is very good for a long part of the year across a fairly wide range of trucks but at the end they were only competitive at four places well make it five because at hokim Kobayashi finished fourth so it's a it's a already five trucks where the car was very good and competitive and it doesn't make sense that over Japan is the 1th race or 15th race so out of 15 races the subber is competitive only at five races you know you start to think that these drivers for one for two firsts of the year they were underperforming either the drivers or the team with not setting the car up correctly so in fact I want got the magazine gives full marks to Vel but Philipe mass and Kobayashi only get an eight they do not get a nine it's an eight it's good but not very good so going back to your point on going back to your point on um like the tracks they were at I I don't think it was necessarily a case of them not know how to set up the I think maybe it was a case of their drivers just decided they knew how to tie whisper at some circuit but they didn't know how to tie whisper out other circuits because like as I said Perez had some very good tie whisper moments but only in sporadic moments throughout the year and so same with Kobayashi because they were both kind of tie Whisperers Perez learned his craft from Kobayashi kind of thing um I think that it was just that he could argue that Kobayashi was quite inconsistent but I think that perz especially just knew how to tie whisper at some circus but not others I I think as well and Manisha C admitted this they tended just to set the cars up for for tire tire endurance um and race Pace rather than qualifying so that was always their emphasis which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't I don't really think that this car in its natural state was a front runner because it seemed a bit old to me to have 201 and 10 2010 2011 which were obvious Midfield cars and 2013 again was an obvious Midfield car and then in 2012 they suddenly have a front runner when the ru the regulations haven't changed much except for the new stepped nose and everything other than the tires things haven't really changed they wouldn't suddenly Leap Forward in development and then go back again in 2013 I think it's just that they they benefited from the fact that we had a lot of chaotic races where the the or is mixed around a lot but also because they tried these these different strategies which and it was new tires and stuff yeah sometimes worked and sometimes didn't yeah yeah you make a you make also a good case on the fact that 2012 is a very erratic Year my belief is that the pelli are crap and so every team is struggling to understand how to best use them and so at some tracks you get surprise performances like Williams in Spain sadly the Williams is the fastest car on track and instead the Red Bull isn't really somewhere as competitive and then at the British Grand Prix McLaren is nowhere and there is no apparent reason why they should be nowhere because they were competitive the race before and they are competitive the race after but at the British company McLaren is no in uh in China saber is nowhere because they finish 10th and 11th and they were even starting higher up the field Kobayashi you said was starting third and then in the race they just fall down massively and the race before per was almost winning so I think 2012 is a very erratic Year and that means there are a lot of chances a lot of opportunities a lot of occasions to take advantage of and so aside from teams and they're performing there are just chances that someone fairly competitive can get an excellent result Japan is actually an example because Hamilton took himself out by changing the setup from fp3 to q1 and the car felt awful so Hamilton wasn't competitive baton had a five Place GD penalty for changing the gearbox then there was a massive crash at the start that took out Weber cran Alonso and ronen was compromised so the field simply open up for some drivers kobashi was one of them and then Kobayashi drove a good race I also think that the subber was actually competitive because otherwise he wouldn't have kept botom behind the McLaren was the second best car that day okay um so let's move on to Korea um this again was a pretty uneventful race um we got pole but vetal took the lead immediately and then one uh toor Roso had a actually they had an amazing race they went from 16th and 21st to 8th and 9th um Lewis had a stinker Buton got taken out on the first lap um yeah I mean this again I like this circuit and like with Valencia it's kind of emblematic of the diffuser era the 2010 race was chaotic and nuts and everything but the circuit was like built in a swamp and was meant to have this it was meant to it was meant to end up similar to what abui is and then they just built none of that um and then they just got rid of it when it was a pretty cool circuit but the races just often didn't deliver yeah I remember um you mentioned Le briefly had a bad race I remember at one point he had astro turf stuck underneath his car didn't he he had he pulled up a bit of astr turf and it got stuck underneath his or he got stuck to part of his car and he just I remember people making Kermit the Frog memes about it um back in the day of course this is the race to throwback is when they had sigh there doing bloody Gangam Style and waving the checker flag because of course that that was a thing when uh when this race was going on yeah so I think driver of the day Korea easily goes to Sebastian vet T be so perfect raise he starts well overtakes Weber and from that moment onwards he builds up an advantage DRS proof uh in the meaning that nobody even remotely gets close to one second there is just a small indecision uh long in going long in a turn and uh doesn't really change the result like it often happens he was the best driver to make use of the tires yeah I mean races like this is V at his best it's when he can just kind of control control the race from the front and do everything he needs to do to mean that nobody can challenge him and also within the context of you know this is him putting his foot down to try and claim the title as well after a very shaky year up until that point um what's next India I think this is going to be the first double I think this going be the first two in a row I think so because again not a very eventful race um not much to say I I can't think of much that happened to be honest I remember I remember malardo and Kobayashi coming together I remember shumak getting the puncture I remember Del Rosa spinning off but apart from that I don't remember much so I think instead the driver of the day goes to Alonso because so let's recap his race he started fifth behind Okay let me take the right page behind ble Weber Hamilton and bton right away at the start he overtakes Hamilton then some laps after around lap four and five he there's Hamilton alono and Baton all together in the RS down that very long straight that India has which goes even up and down and so alono did a move in which he just let both of them pass and then took with the arrest the double slep stream and overtook them both then halfway through the straight he got ahead of them now they had the slep stream and uh alono was still somehow able to keep both of them behind in the breaking Zone and so he overtook both McLaren cars and then later in the race he was hunting down Weber then Weber had the car problem and once Weber had the India car problem alono just on it and finally overtook Weber so in battle didn't even open a big gap it was only he finish only 9.4 seconds ahead of alono on what clearly was at the time the best car so even the magazine gives full marks to both vattel and alono with Vel it says if we really want to try want to find a defect but we really have to put a lot of effort he simply didn't set the fastest lap of the race he didn't even need to the Red Bull was of another category today but only in his hands for Alonso it says one of his best races he says he's probably right but by now there are many such races incredible the C the cold the coldness on which after the start he attacks and overtakes the McLaren on the straight also Merit of a well set up car so is either Vettel driver of the day from uh dominating performance or Alonso because he actually was the showman if we're talking about objectively it probably is alono but we're talking about F1 fans and F1 fans just see vetto winning by 10 seconds um leading from the front he lead that's the thing India I don't think I think he laed every single lap that was ever held at the Indian Grand Prix um he he was the he was the best driver there I think that even if even if alono edged him just slightly in terms of individual performances I think that that would have got dver the day yes because we shouldn't forget uh V right now has a streak ongoing of most consecutive laps LED so it starts all the way from lap 21 at Singapore when Hamilton retired and then he led every lap in uh Japan Jaan in Korea and now in India so maybe this also counts for the driver of the day I also I honestly want to call myself out I don't think I can choose between a vet and alono I think it's very close so I let you to the side I'll go vetal yeah me too vetal it is and he's also the first driver to take driver of the day twice in at all yeah after only having one season uh now we have Abu Dhabi um I love this race and I think everyone loves this race although at the same time it did kind of justify keeping abui on the on the calendar but yeah so renan wins it so he that makes him a candidate for for dve of the day at the same time Vettel went from the pit Lane to third proving that he can overtake when he has to and having to deal with safety cars that came at less opportune times than he would like gron did his thing with Weber malardo was running well and had mechanical problems just yeah another a very chaotic race yeah I actually watched I actually watched back part of that race the other day I remember because vetto had a couple of problems so obviously started from the pit Lane he had to Pi didn't he have to piit again for a new front wi because he hit a polyester DRS board on the back straight under the safety card because I think it was Ricardo swerved in front of him he had that problem and then he just managed to come back to FD mid things that happened in front of him like uh for example malardo and Weber came together that wasn't maldonado's fault Weber just turned in on him um and then malardo himself actually had this is this is me being a malardo sympathizer again he was running up in the top three and then his curs failed after lap nine he was running with curs throughout the entire race and I think that without that he would have got third and I think that well renan did a good job just keeping it at the front vettle did a good job getting through the field but it was obviously the best car on the grid at that point especially for that track and he and he got out of park fer to change Abu Dhabi the car so it's better for overtaking so it would have been easier to overtake uh and malardo I think that Williams although I think that over the season it wasn't the eighth quickest car like we saw on the Constructor standings I think it definitely wasn't in the top five of all the cars so I think malardo running in the top three and getting fifth is one of the drivers of the Season especially without the curs so the magazine gives full marks to Ronan alono V and Hamilton and then gives a fully deserved nine to Maldonado and so in my opinion the driver of the day is between Ren and Vettel and I once again cannot decide because so I'm just going to put forward the arguments on one end you have a driver who is leading the championship fighting for the championship at the third to last race he he gets his lap time taken away for no fault of his own he has to start from last and then makes an absolute recovery to third place even overt taking Batton on track on the other hand you have a driver who is a fan favorite who is uh has been very fast all year but still is lacking the first win since his come back and then he has the chance and he absolutely deliv on it he is in control of the race throughout so I think is a because R and winning was awaited all year because uh already at the fourth at the fourth race he almost won then throughout the season he had many other chances to win but ultimately he didn't and so finally winning is something that every fan was waiting since uh since March on the other hand also have a title fight very up and down very erratic but now it's Crossing down and it's between Vel and alono and vetle just did an excellent performance so I I really cannot decide what what do you do decide I mean vetal he went from 21st to second in 15 laps um because he went back to last again in the first safety car when he hit that marker board but I think just on just Vibes people would say riken him because he finally got that win even though you would look at it and think okay he started fourth got to Second at the start but then inherited the win from Lewis when Lewis retired so it could be considered a free win in that regard if we're using the definition I've used in the past um but also he had his you know leave me alone I know to do kind of thing as well and that that would probably just swing it for for renan I mean I'm I'm personally going to go m but I know I know most people won't agree but I'm going to go malardo I think that given his mechanical fault I think that that would have lost him about half a second in lap time and the fact that he even stayed in the top 10 never mind the top five was a miracle so we have a tie break because you two cannot decide and I cannot decide so if I am forced to decide I would go with the ion in so yeah barely He he'll get he gets like I don't know 40% of the vote and vetal gets 35 something like that um yeah uh in almost finished yep nearly there races so now we have United States the freedom Grand Prix um first race at C actually yeah first race at Kota it's it's kind of we because I always think of Kota as like a modern circuit so I forget that we raced their pre hybrid um it was yeah brand new really like there was no grip at all in practice and it took a lot of while to sort of bed bed the track in wasn't there a lot of plot problems at turn 19 probably um I don't know which turn turn 19 is but yeah second to last Corner the second to last Corner Pro well there's always problems there people are always getting track limits and stuff aren't they uh this is this is another circuit which has which is It suffers from too much runoff syndrome um needs more gravel uh okay well vessel got pole was leading but Hamilton was faster passed him With a Little Help from Carter K and one um master and Buton moved up from outside the point into the points Alonzo Again With a Little Help from Massa he went from third to seventh uh only two retirements we and Vern fairly uneventful race overall I think Hamilton takes this just because I think it was a straight fight between him and vetal the Red Bull was obviously I think the better car overall at the end of the season but McLaren was obviously better on the straights and there's a couple of long straights at Cota I I think that Hamilton put in the better performance here I remember watching that race live and yeah he just did a decent he did he did a he might have only done a decent or a good job but he did a better job than vetal especially considering vetal was in a title fight I completely agree with net though USA every every point I also share it the magazine also gives the full Mark only to Hamilton and it says he obtained gains his fourth seasonal Victory after an accelerating double with Vel who he overtakes 15 laps from the end thanks to the back Mar cayan that allows him to open the DRS at the most opportune moment he races with the usual intensity even when after the first laps the McLaren didn't look like it could keep up the pace with the Red Bull He Set uh very fast times even on cold tires yeah he's also just very popular in America yeah so I think it because he kind of adapts to their culture of celebrity doesn't he he's kind of licks it up he kind of licks it up I nearly said he can't think of the word now he he he SP he spent too much time in Hollywood yeah yeah more than what's good for him basically yeah goes on all the talk shows and stuff yeah yeah so yes I think for him that's an easy one uh then we have the final round Brazil I mean there are loads of people it could go to in this one but hulkenberg V Alonso Alo yeah there are lot there are lots of candidates because this was one of the best races ever I mean vessel you would say wins the title climbs all the way up to sixth from the back from an accident that was Ina in a car that's damaged missing half its floor and also the radio is not working um so that that alone Alonzo again he did some he did some nice overtakes did everything he needed to do but didn't work out Bon won it and was amazing him and hulkenberg were amazing because they stayed out on dry tires I think while everyone else was pitting for wetson got this gigantic lead early on uh kobashi was very good at disrupting things as well yeah typical Kobayashi I I mean you said it wasn't V fa but I think he turned in on Center and he caused it himself um yeah I mean obviously my obviously my alardo got crashed out on lap two so I can't give him it but I think if hulkenberg hadn't have I think if he' have just spun on lap 55 instead of having instead of crashing into someone I think it will be easily him but I don't think we can give give a race I don't think we can give a driver of a day to someone who's crashed someone completely out of a race and ruin their race it's like I wouldn't give Jensen button driver of a day for Canada 2011 I don't think it'd be even I don't think he' have even been in the question despite winning um because of him crashing two people out Brazil uh but yeah I think I think here you could give it to Jensen I think it ironically giving it giving him his first driver of the day in the last race of the Season would be very fair um while Alonzo while while Alonzo did good he just did good he wasn't spectacular but he wasn't terrible he did all he could to win the championship but it wasn't enough vetal he had a good recovery but he but in my opinion he caused the recovery he had he calls the reason for the recovery himself so I don't think so I think that was brought upon him by himself hulkenberg again fantastic up until a crash um and even did well considering he had a drive-through penalty um yeah there there's a ton of drivers you can go for um I'd personally Go Button though I I think the driver of the day easily goes to Sebastian batt so he has a a shant at the first lap then he recovers with a half broken car to win a very contested and intriguing Championship so I think Vel easily gets driver of the day simply because he he's gonna become the world champion very soon yeah I mean like with Alonzo for example yeah he was making moves early on but then like Vettel he kind of qualified slightly out of position it felt a bit just safe I mean he let himself get passed by Kobe Ashley at one of the restarts and and things like that kind of disrupting hugenberg I he led for he led the race for nearly 30 laps i' forgotten it was it was that long should have won that race yeah and without the collision with Lewis he I think he yeah he probably although he I think he was actually no no he was yeah he's entirely at fault for that Collision yeah it was for the lead so he was ahead of button so without that yeah he could he he could have won it yeah um he also got overtaken by Hamilton because he made a mistake it wasn't U just Hamilton being faster and finally overtaking was leading he was the fastest driver and he made a mistake and allowed the Hamilton passed and then he made another mistake trying to overtake Hamilton so massive blunder by n hener there were lot of back markers in that thing as well I don't it was still hulkenberg's fault absolutely but there were I think a Krum and a Marussia trying they were trying to let him through it the first corner and they just bottlenecked yeah the hul he made a mistake on lap 48 I remember he half spun I think it was uh bco depat you know I think it was it was either albon corner or the one after fura I can't remember what what the name of it is um mulio no I'm talking about the sharp right-hander after fur so you got you go through turn uh oh that that that is beo dep Paso oh is it okay yeah um yeah yeah there was I mean another a couple of other standouts I should mention actually was Vern he went from 17th to eth so he had a good race um if if Kum if Kum were voting they would give it to Peak because he gave them 10th in the constructors uh there 11 yeah Petro gets 11th which was the best result all year for cerum um Shaka because Mercedes had been just invisible for the past like seven or eight races then schumak went from 13th to 7th even though he gave his position to vetal um rosberg was not good all race um riken and obviously he goes into the the the pit he goes into the Escape road which is now closed off at the end which it wasn't last time he raced there which killed killed his race I think yeah it would go to vetal because he had so much more to have to contest with than the other drivers because Alonzo wasn't running in a damaged car that had been spun round with no radio one thing one thing I will say something that people have completely forgot about our race do you remember afterwards when there was talk about vetal had overtaken under double wave jello there was a chance he could have got 22 time penalty yeah that that nearly happened I think that they were like let's just let's just not go there I think the stewards decided it was best to just leave it to just not cause a riot yeah and then and then again nine years later they were like yeah let's just let's just not go there let's just leave it yeah yeah uh much will agree that V is driver of the day I think so just one add on that comment about katam marusia I in the end P did the right thing because we saw years later nazra he did the opposite and he lost the seat so big it was that weekend that they'd announced he was joining kerum next year which is I think the most sideways move in Formula 1 history yeah most Anonymous driver one of my one of my mates met Charles Peak when he was lotus's Testo Reserve driver in 2014 at silverston oh did he get to talk to him or was he sign he signed something for him I don't know what he said he was just kind of yeah hello I'm I'm really awkward yeah I mean his interviews he was a very uninteresting person like but you know he's got his cushy little thing running running dams in Formula 2 now so he's still he's still involved in the in that sphere um yeah but yeah let's let's give it vessel so after that 20 races um we mixed it up quite a bit but it looks like vessels got the most yeah after having one for most just the last six races kind of like kind of like the actual season the last six races just pulls it out of his ass yeah so what we've got here so I've got two for Alonzo one for Desta three for Hamilton one for hulkenberg one for Kobe asy one for malardo two for czecho one for riken and one for Ricardo one for rosberg four for vetel and then two for Weber I think is still only 10 drivers me because we never gave button one in the end yeah button never got one neither did mastera Gro on yeah 12 different drivers on the on the driver of the day yeah which I think is it's quite realistic because if if we' done this for like 2013 it would have been like two drivers yeah and and insert other people here yeah it would have been raikonen Alonso um V and Hilton May rber once but otherwise it's just just the Sebastian vessel show it's absolutely yeah 2012 is the is an obvious season to do everyone loves it um it it it found that right balance of sort of well well compared to 2021 the drama was far less manufactured um it was more and it was a lot more teams and a lot more drivers it wasn't just two guys going at there was everything going on yeah it was more Gan the grid was it was a big grid 24 cars the T the cars all looked different because they were actually painted as well different designs the grid spread was good um the the charact the drivers were interesting as characters because that we had a variety in terms of personalities but also driving Styles and everything else which just made it quite a quite a stacked grid as well in Conclusion terms of in terms of talent um it has yeah just a lot going for it yeah I'm just thinking that 2012 is almost unique because you have nine top drivers of which seven are or will become world champions and so inevitably if you only have 10 point scoring places someone's going to have a great weekend finish ninth and everybody's going to be disappointed because if there are nine top drivers some's got to finish nine and for that driver even if he's a top driver it's going to be a very disappointing weekend yeah so yeah it's just nuts h but yeah I think um I think in the future we can do we can do more of these I mean it's quite an easy topic to cover and quite an interesting one and there are I can certainly think of several other Seasons that would be good ones I mean I can't imagine yeah I think it'd be difficult it's like let's do Drive the day for 1950 because it's like what people do people have to to ring in assuming they even have a house phone to to to cast their Vote or it's done in a it's done in a magazine that you have to post post away and you get the result six you get the result in six to eight weeks or whatever by which already three other races new idea driver of the Year from 1920 to 1948 so you got to watch all the races of the pre-war period I don't mind that I can do that kariola nuari um can 10 times nuari yeah just Bei burn rosem did he race or was he just doing the speed test for Mercedes heed well finina at least did some stuff in the 1930 and fioli yeah fangio wasn't so much the 1930s but yeah finina won a couple of it was it European championships or Italian championships or something yeah Antonio escari of course um jeanpierre V he was 1940s though I suppose um hu I like saying that name Stu yeah again he was an auto one one of one of Hitler's Auto Union test drivers um yeah it was actually quite funny you know but you talked about burn Ros he was actually staunchly against the SS and every single time he had the opportunity to tell jokes behind their back it was actually quite funny I think a lot of people secretly were but maybe they just wanted to to keep their jobs or he just you know was like oh I like driving car really dangerous cars really fast so I'd like to keep doing that he didn't he die in in the the AO Union car yeah he died in one of the land speed test he was I think he did 270 mil hour and lost control yeah so it' be quite horrific yeah um yeah we'll do more of these in the future maybe some maybe slightly more recent Seasons or years than going back to the 1930s but yeah these yeah yeah but yeah obviously just let us know in the comments suggestions of Seasons you'd like us to cover for driver of the day um you've been listening to DRS rain podcast we're on YouTube and Spotify and you can find us on Instagram and xth drrs train podcast make sure to tune in for our next episode stay safe and we'll see you all next time [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]