Best 2009 driver (according team bosses)

According to team bosses, Vettel is the best 2009 driver. In the list showed in this link (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80222) we can see the top ten:

I have to say I'm pretty surprised.

- Where in the hell is Rosberg?????

- Hamilton third??? ahead of Webber??? He did a few good races during second half, but the first half was really crappy, he moaned about how bad his car was and anyway, he was not capable of doing anything with it but anyway, 3rd and almost tied with Button.

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Without thinking too much, my ratings would be;

1- Button, Vettel
2 - Barrichello, Webber, Rosberg
3 - Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, Hamilton
4 - Glock, Trulli
...

With subtile differences between each driver on each group.

Personally I'd have to say


1. Webber
2. Vettel
3. Lewis
4. RB
5. Massa/Kimi

Webber was seriously impressive I think this year, I thought after his bike accident last year he was going to struggle. Then after Vettel's wins at Shanghai & Silverstone I thought he was relegated to number 2 as I'd suspected. But his race at Nurburgring was great and to win at Interlagos was great after the run of poor results he'd have. He got a nice result in Abu Dhabi too hopefully setting him up nicely for next year too, but I think he'll struggle to deal with Vettel next year, I can only see him getting better tbh.

Lewis had a pretty awesome second half of the season and I think it was clear he'd grown from his early season problems. It was nice to see him grab some wins too.

Rubens was great this year, I was so happy when he won at Valencia and Monza and was on pole at Interlagos. I can't see him winning again at Williams but this year really showed what a great guy he is and I hope he stays in the paddock for the next few year. Such a great bloke and has been my fav driver for a long time

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

For anyone too lazy, here are the results:

1. Sebastian Vettel 76
2. Jenson Button 67
3. Lewis Hamilton 65
4. Fernando Alonso 39
5. Rubens Barrichello 35
6= Kimi Raikkonen 30
6= Mark Webber 30
8. Felipe Massa 19
9. Robert Kubica 10
10. Adrian Sutil 8


I think the biggest surprise is Alonso actually, but obviously the paddock view was that his car was truly awful. Rosberg deserved to be ahead of Sutil and Kubica at the very least. Webber was also a bit harshly judged, I think he was better than half as good as Hamilton.

My top 5 would be:
1. Webber
2. Vettel
3. Button
4. Barrichello
5. Massa

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X (@ed24f1)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2009 02:09PM by SchueyFan.

why is massa there? He wasnt hugely spectacular in the races he took part in to warrant a top10 imo.

DJSKYLINE Wrote:
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> why is massa there? He wasnt hugely spectacular in
> the races he took part in to warrant a top10 imo.

China, Spain, Monaco, Britain, Germany were all good performances

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X (@ed24f1)

Mine would be.

1. Vettel
2. Button
3. Webber
4. Hamilton
5. Kimi

that's mine:

1.vettel(he showed his talent during the season)
2.button(okay,he won 6gp at first half season,but then he was able to control the situation)
3.barrichello(poor rubens,loosing all title chance in his home race)
4.raikkonen and hamilton(they did a great second half of season,especially kimi,because he was able to fight alone with lewis and heikki for third place in wcc)
6.webber(he won his first races this year,but he did a bad thing against kimi in brazil)

for teams:

1.Red Bull(they showed to be able to fight with brawn gp at the start of the season)
2.Brawn Gp(bah,without Brawn could be difficult to do so good)
3.Mclaren(they showed to improve mp4-24 during second half of season)
i don't add other teams,apart ferrari
10.Ferrari(they did a bad move to replace kimi with alonso for next season,i really hope(as a kimi fan)that they'll do a season like 2009,but without any win)

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My GPGSL Career



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2009 03:19PM by senna9194.

DJSKYLINE Wrote:
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> why is massa there? He wasnt hugely spectacular in
> the races he took part in to warrant a top10 imo.


It is difficult to tell but in a full 2009 season Massa would have got more than 50 points probably. Got 22 in 5 races...

Ferrari2007 Wrote:
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> Lewis had a pretty awesome second half of the
> season and I think it was clear he'd grown from
> his early season problems. It was nice to see him
> grab some wins too.

He could ended up in third, but I think it is too close to Button. Lewis shined when he had a car for that. Kimi also put some strong performances during the second half of the championship and the F60 was not the McLaren (and not to mention Alonso in the ultra crappy R29). So I think Lewis is too ahead of Webber, Rubens and Kimi in that table.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2009 04:10PM by Ali.

Ali Wrote:
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> DJSKYLINE Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > why is massa there? He wasnt hugely spectacular
> in
> > the races he took part in to warrant a top10
> imo.
>
>
> It is difficult to tell but in a full 2009 season
> Massa would have got more than 50 points probably.
> Got 22 in 5 races...
>

Yep, but he didnt. And look at the change in car performance when they stopped developing, we cant say if he would have been up there like Kimi or stuggling behind.

DJSKYLINE Wrote:
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> Yep, but he didnt. And look at the change in car
> performance when they stopped developing, we cant
> say if he would have been up there like Kimi or
> stuggling behind.

I doubt he would have suddenly fell behind Kimi, after (at least) matching him in the first half of the year. Obviously it is only an extreme hypothetical, but I reckon he would have challenged for the win at possibly Hungary and Valencia if he had had a chance.

But anyway, his votes wouldn't have been for what he didn't do, or could have done, but what he did do - which were some very good performances in the first half of the year.

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X (@ed24f1)

SchueyFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DJSKYLINE Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yep, but he didnt. And look at the change in
> car
> > performance when they stopped developing, we
> cant
> > say if he would have been up there like Kimi or
> > stuggling behind.
>
> I doubt he would have suddenly fell behind Kimi,
> after (at least) matching him in the first half of
> the year. Obviously it is only an extreme
> hypothetical, but I reckon he would have
> challenged for the win at possibly Hungary and
> Valencia if he had had a chance.
>
> But anyway, his votes wouldn't have been for what
> he didn't do, or could have done, but what he did
> do - which were some very good performances in the
> first half of the year.

fair point, but after 2007 / start 2008 would you have thought that Kimi could fall so far behind after beating massa? Yeh I agree he had good results in the first few races this year, but in my view, nothing outstanding unlike Sutil@monza, Fisi+Kimi@Spa etc

DJSKYLINE Wrote:
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> fair point, but after 2007 / start 2008 would you
> have thought that Kimi could fall so far behind
> after beating massa?

Exactly, and that's why you can't make any definitive hypothetical statements or predictions.

DJSKYLINE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeh I agree he had good
> results in the first few races this year, but in
> my view, nothing outstanding unlike Sutil@monza,
> Fisi+Kimi@Spa etc

The problem with those two Force India examples is that the FI was clearly one of the fastest cars at these tracks (probably shown clearest through the example of Liuzzi), so I don't see how it can be categorised as that much different to, for the sake of this debate, Massa's drive at Spain, where he was on a very similar pace to the Red Bulls and Brawns. On paper, yes, these FI results were outstanding, as it was so much better than they had done before, but once you consider how fast their car was, it wasn't that much of a surprise they were at the front.

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X (@ed24f1)

some people, including lewis say he grew from his problems in first half of season, i say his car grew.

kubica2 Wrote:
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> some people, including lewis say he grew from his
> problems in first half of season, i say his car
> grew.


I take this to mean that Lewis has matured through the experience of this season, not become faster etc.

1. Lewis Hamilton
from zero to hero - bad season start, but after half of the season he was like a rocket.

2. Rubens Barrichello
nobody including me would have expect such a great performance of the old man before the season.

3. Sebastian Vettel
He showed like Schumacher or Hamilton in their early years, that a young talent can already score wins and fight for a championship.

4. Mark Webber
Another old man, who impressed this season.

5. Jenson Button
He was good this season, but only the first races, then he was nowhere.

I'm staggered that Rosberg wasn't in the top 10. I can appreciate there are vastly differing views on him to my own, but not in the top 10?! He showed excellent pace in races, fantastic consistency and had very few incidents. What more can you ask? I felt he was the best all-round performer of the season, just edging Vettel.

And Kubica? Really? He was utterly appalling for 2/3 of the season, and only showed any of his plentiful ability in the final few races. He was like Kimi pre-Hungary, but his lull went on for longer.

It's like the majority of the result has been decided on the final few rounds.

1) Rosberg

2) Vettel (did have a couple of incidents, but was clearly trying very, very hard to match the pace of the Brawn - certainly the fastest and most determined (in the cockpit) driver of the top 4). Very much like Alonso in 2008.

3) Fisichella (yes, he nose-dived at Ferrari, but for 3/4 of the season he was excellent. It's easy to forget how good he was, culminating in that result at Spa)

4) Button (though without any mechanical issues at all... hmm... probably level with Barrichello overall)

4) Barrichello

6) Webber

7) Alonso (he showed fewer heroic drives than in 2008, but was clearly still working his socks off)

8) Raikkonen (a bit of a Kubica, but when he came alive in the final 3rd of the season he was something else)

9) Hamilton (only woke up when the car was with him and his attitude in the early races was appalling - his good races were very good, but he only seemed to hustle the car when it had a chance of a strong result)

10) Sutil or Heidfeld (Sutil was soundly beaten by Fisi, but still had some good races, and Liuzzi wasn't far off him when Fisi left, even in Sutil's strongest races. Heidfeld was more consistent than Kubica, though as ever with Nick (unless it's wet), almost yawn-inducingly unspectacular on the track).

Special mention for Kobayashi for a fine few races. For Alguersuari for being consistent as a debutante and not being at all far off of Buemi (will be interesting to see what Jaime will be like after a winter of testing). And for Massa, who missed too much of the season for me, and wasn't especially impressive when he did race.

One name: Vettel.
That was in my mind even before I opened this thread. I'm glad those guys collectively agree.
There have been other drivers who've done great things this year of course, but for me, no other driver has driven so well over the balance of the season as Seb has, and nobody else has had as much pressure as him and handled it so well either.
His race wins have been of the highest quality, and some of his quali laps have been mindblowing. He thoroughly deserved to finish as runner-up this year.

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If Fisichella hadn't moved to Ferrari after Spa, then he would make anyone's top ten list. Without. Doubt.

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Yup!

1. Button/Lewis (Button won ofc, and Lewis drove on edge in every session, every race)
2. Vettel/Webber (cant decide between the two because Vettel made poor errors yet Webber matched him when nobody though he could).
3. Nico, poor in 08 compared to 07, but made up for it.
4. Rubens.
5. Fizzy.
6. Kobayashi. Showed more promise than all the other rookies put together!

The rest!

Alonso was the disapointment IMO.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Ok, can someone tell me what Fisichella did do so greatly, apart from that great overtaking move at Silverstone when he overtook two cars at once in Stowe, and obviously the entire Spa weekend?
And yeah, really wondering what Alonso and Kubica were doing there. Especially Kubica, who often got spanked by Heidfeld

My top5 would be:

1. Vettel - great mature driving considering his age
2. Hamilton - apart from the Melbourne saga and his awful awful weekends in Istanbul and Silverstone, some great driving
3. Button - yes, average in the 2nd half. But he was champion one race before the end, beating a great teammate, so pretty awesome I guess
4. Rosberg - quick, consistent, did all the scoring for Williams!
5. Webber, Barrichello - difficult to choose. Webber did well after his broken leg, but faded away in the 2nd half. Barrichello: no one expected him to do so well, but he surprised us yet again.

Other positive surprises: Buemi and Kobayashi.

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