Grand Prix Rejects

1. Sebastian Vettel. P2 on merit, from an awesome first stint. I thought Seb was a lost cause doomed to repeat Damon Hill's 1999. Not anymore baby!

2. Pierre Gasly. Qualified P4, finished on the podium in an AlphaTauri. Excellent stuff my son!

Perez - He's not the new Gasly
Gasly - He's better than everyone says he is
Gimi - Points
Mazepin - Beating a merc

Londoner wrote:1. Sebastian Vettel. P2 on merit, from an awesome first stint. I thought Seb was a lost cause doomed to repeat Damon Hill's 1999. Not anymore baby!

2. Pierre Gasly. Qualified P4, finished on the podium in an AlphaTauri. Excellent stuff my son!

Yeah, nothing to add to that. I thought Vettel being IIDOTR for finishing fifth in Monaco was a sad reminder of how far he has fallen. Now, if he wins the award, it will be proper stuff.

Sebastian Vettel - PODIUM
Pierre Gasly - PODIUM to a lesser extent but a podium nonetheless

The revival of 1) Sebastian Vettel.

You love to see it.

2) Alonso P6. What an incredible restart from the old fart.

Seb Vettel.

Shadaza wrote:The revival of 1) Sebastian Vettel.

You love to see it.

2) Alonso P6. What an incredible restart from the old fart.

Seconded. But a very honorable mention for Alonso. How he ended up in P6 is beyond me.

1) Pierre Gasly: A somewhat inherited podium, but earned it with a tough scrap in the two-lap sprint race at the end with Leclerc.

2) Sergio Perez: Although he won based on his teammate's misfortune, he showed the sort of pace which meant that it wasn't entirely on luck.

Honourable Mention: Sebastien Vettel: A very good and well-deserved podium, showing flashes of the pace of old.

(1) Vettel - old dogs, etc.
(2) Stroll - quick thinking during the crash stopped a worse incident

Honourable mention - Aston Martin for a great strategy spolied by bad tyres

1- Alonso: He was absolutely nowhere on pace, then gained some positions thanks to a new set of softs, then blitzed through the grid after the restart. Where did that come from.

2- Vettel: Because obviously.

Can I give this one to the entire podium!?

Awesome drives for all of them , in their own ways - Checo holding off Lewis for so long before getting the lead , Seb Vettel with a genius strategy and drive too to P2 , and Pierre Gasly really fought his way past Leclerc very well!

Sebastian Vettel again, one of the most impressive races of his career (and that's saying a lot)!

1st Sebastian Vettel. And I thought Monaco was great for Seb. Oh no. Baku was even better. Is Seb back. No I doubt it. But he is improving in the Aston Martin.

2nd Pierre Gasly- had a very strong weekend overall. Another Poduim and another top drive for someone who 2 years ago.was written off.

I think Aston Martin as a whole should be in contention. Stroll was 4th I think before his tyre popped and had that not happened both Astons would have had a strong finish.

The drivers on the podium are the obvious calls. I'd put Seb and Gasly well ahead of Perez for IIDOTR though, cos Perez is in a race winning car. With Verstappen out and Merc choking, he should win. That's part of his job at that team.

Basically the whole podium picture:

Perez: Did his job protecting Verstappen while the Dutch was leading, and who knows if he would have taken the lead if not for the slow pit stop. The victory was a deserved reward.
Vettel: Obviously he took advantage of the two leader's incidents to finish second, but he showed his best performance in ages and his podium was fair.
Gasly: Good pace all race, was able to defend himself from Leclerc on the sprint race, another deserved podium.

Honorable mentions:
Alonso: His race looked disappointing, but he managed to snatch a sixth place after a great restart.
Tsunoda: Probably the first time in the season he performed according to the expectations.

1. Vettel -- well worked podium, kept it in the mix despite his teammate's accident; professional performance amidst a certain amount of drama...

2. Ummmm... no

1. Seb and his massive smile.
2. Aston Martin.

1: Sebastian Vettel: That is the best I’ve seen him drive since the first half of 2018

2: Fernando Alonso: Where did he come from? Opportunistic as ever

HM’s
Alphatauri: While Gasly did get an unexpected podium if we’re being honest he was on course for a top 5 all weekend considering he topped Saturday morning practice and qualified 4th which is why Vettel wins the award. Tsunoda was impressive as well and earned a career best

Kimi Raikkonen: Scored a point for Alfa which always deserves a mention these days. Hopefully he’ll be allowed to keep this one

Reasonably close for me this time, but someone has to win.

IIDOTR goes to Sergio Perez: A good number of places made up and a second driver able to step in when the main driver drops out is exactly what Red Bull haven't properly had for a few years and Perez is doing a very good job of showing Helmut Marko that he made a good decision (and thus keeping the seat for longer than the last raft of second drivers).

Runner up goes to Sebastian Vettel: Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and even less worse. Two street circuits in a row and Vettel seems to have remembered that he's a 4-time champion. Much more like it.

Honourable mentions go to:
Pierre Gasly: Again not where I expect an Alpha Tauri to be, and good on him for keeping his head down through all the nonsense up front.
Yuki Tsunoda: Better form again, let's see if he can maintain it this time.
Fernando Alonso: Also not really where I expected an Alpine to be, much more like his better days.

-Sebastian Vettel
-Pier Gasly

-HM to Perez

1) Pierre Gasly. Despite the 11th-hour mayhem he was fast all weekend.

2) Sebastian Vettel. That's the pace and skill that Aston Martin are asking from him, and he was punching like the 4-time champion he is.

Honourable Mentions:
Alfa Romeo (Made the most of their lackluster cars)
Haas (Had the number on Williams, and passed them in constructors)
The race itself (even before the late chaos it was a fun strategic race with few accidents)
Fernando Alonso (Pushed into a 6th place with sheer tenacity)

1. Sebastian Vettel: 4th on Merit, inherited a much welcomed 2nd.

2. Pierre Gasly: He may have inherited 3rd, but it was no less deserved. The man qualified 4th!

2. Perez - Yeah he's in a Red Bull, but he drove a pretty faultless race, considering the great start, the slow pitstop that might have stopped him jumping Max, the hydraulics issue on the car, soaking up the endless pressure from Lewis and also the fact I would have put money on him binning the restart/getting mugged off the line, it somehow feels against the odds. Well done Sergio.

1. Vettel - Seb's back in business. Quality drive, well deserved result.

All 3 podium finishers plus the veteran pair Alonso and Kimi.

1. Sebastian Vettel - If Monaco might have seemed like a possible fluke, he proved everyone it definetely wasn't today. One of his best drives ever, period. Fantastic first stint to overcut and then kept his head down amidst the chaos to take Aston Martin's first podium.

2. Fernando Alonso - Where the hell did that come from? Surely, the red flag did help, but his restart was ridicolous. Shades of his former self there.

3. Yuki Tsunoda - Relocating to Italy has helped. His best weekend since Bahrain.

I would put a honorable mention to Pierre Gasly and Sergio Pérez, but I expect these kind of performances from them at this point. Pérez, especially, really felt at home this weekend with the car - we'll see if its to last. Kimi Raikkonen also did a great race, but as he did try to kill himself amidst the chaos, I'll just give him an honorable mention.

1 Vettel
2 Honourable mention to anyone else mentioned here, they all did something interesting.

I'll give it to:

1) Sebastian Vettel - The Seb Vettel of old has finally returned, and this race was a confirmation of that. Great getaway on the original start, nursed his tyres well in the first stint, once again managed to perform the overcut superbly as AM did in Monaco, and when it mattered on the restart, he took the opportunity with both hands, and had Perez's hydraulics given up the ghost a little earlier, could've nabbed his first win in 2 years. A brilliant performance - hopefully the results from the 2 street courses will help to galvanise him and enable him to score points on a regular basis.

2) Checo Perez - In a race where the top guns around him faltered, Checo was there to put on for the team and pick up the pieces, finally ending the dreaded second-RB driver curse - in addition, he had some brilliant pace throughout the race, and was able to keep Hamilton at bay, despite the Merc's frightening top-end advantage. A well-deserved first win - this may start getting Merc scratching their heads, especially in the wingman department.

Honorouble Mention:
Gasly - The Frenchman continues to extract the max out of the Alpha Tauri, ending up barely two thousandths of a second behind P3 in quali, and held his own throughout the race, including a brilliant battle against Leclerc which saw him use the AT's top-end speed to his advantage, resulting in Pierre now scoring more than half of Toro Rosso/Alpha Tauri's podiums.
Tsunoda - While the hype around him after Bahrain seems to have died down, and despite shunting in qualifying, he managed to stay out of trouble all race, and was rewarded with a brace of points - this will be a proper confidence-booster for him : with this as well as moving to Italy for better team communication, this will hopefully help to iron out his raggedness and hopefully score points more frequently.
Alonso - Made his way into Q3, but what puts him here is a fantastic restart that saw him move up into the Top 6, including a good move on Tsunoda on the outside through T5/T6.
Miguel Oliveira - KTM have been making strides in recent races with their new frame upgrades, and Oliveira was able to take full advantage of this, having a smooth, consistent race and narrowly holding off a hard-charging Zarco for victory - a large boost for him after an underwhelming start to his season.

1. Vettel: Nobody saw that coming
2. Alonso: Nobody saw that coming

Easy options:

1. Vettel - Started 11th and ended up 2nd. Could have won the race if there was another lap left since Checo's car was ded. Great result for him and the team.

2. Alonso - The car didn't have pace but he somehow finished 6th. Even if you had Lewis, Max and Lance into the equation, he would have finished 9th a good result for an average car this weekend.


HM - Gasly, Yuki, Mick for taking that 13th spot and Checo

Everyone on the podium and Fernando Alonso.

And of course Nikita Mazepin for finishing ahead of the defending seven-time world champion on merit

You-Gee-Eee-Day wrote:Gasly - He's better than everyone says he is

By everyone do you just mean you in 2019

Rob Dylan wrote:Everyone on the podium and Fernando Alonso.

And of course Nikita Mazepin for finishing ahead of the defending seven-time world champion on merit

You-Gee-Eee-Day wrote:Gasly - He's better than everyone says he is

By everyone do you just mean you in 2019

aye

Points finishes:
Tsunoda: Quietly went about his business, and bought it home in the pts.
Perez: Was up in the battle for the podium all race, and came out on top
Aston Martin as a whole: Good pace, good strategy, had they had better luck, would have been a better haul

Top 3

Gasly: Put himself in a position to capitalize if the guys up ahead faltered, and was well rewarded.
Perez' Car Had JUST enough to see it over the line
Vettel: Well done, like Gasly, he worked hard to keep himself in the right place at the right time.

1. AlphaTauri - Tell me you expected that
2. Aston Martin - Tell me you expected that

Poll at the top of this thread

I have a feeling I know who is going to win this award, but I thought I would group the podium sitters together as they are all there for similar reasons of impressing us! Therefore there's a little room for Tsunoda and Alonso who also got many nominations.

So get voting on who you think was our Infinite Improbability Driver of the Race. The poll is up for 48 hours

A very wide field for Baku's IIDOTR, find out who's taken the award this time!