[Official] Driver of the Race - Australian Grand Prix

[andy666]

Sutil , a great comeback drive . Huge kudos to Massa and Kimi . Why does Di Resta assume his team mate should move over for him ?

[SALEEN S7R]

Di Resta for me, got the best out of the car that he could. Yes Sutil did well too but he was fortunate to be able to start on the hard tyre, had he had to start on the soft tyre like the other drivers ahead of him I doubt he would have led the race. Good job by Raikkonen too, kept his cool and had Alonso in check.

[F1Pete]

Kimi. Fastest lap on the oldest tires. First to cross the line by a wide margin when starting 7th. Played it cool at the start to stay out of trouble and passed when he needed to. He made it look easy.

[deeks6]

Kimi! I think this guy used to overdrive and be unnecessarily hard on cars ... when he made his comeback last year, he was noticeably more careful, consistent and smooth (albeit not as quick early on). Kimi Mk 2 is driving better than he ever has and, with these new tyre rules and a car that looks the best race package, he's easily the favorite to take it out this year. Big call after race 1 but 12 of the last 18 AGP winners have. Looked sublime yesterday and I said to my stepson after about lap 8 that he looked the winner.

[ghinzani]

Sutil, first class showing. I hope Lewis congratulated him.

[GTRMagic]

Potsie... for again putting up with the only car in the field with no working electronics aboard.. no telemetry, no KERS.. nothing... and still dragging a result from it!

Plenty of passing going on from nowhere.. aggressive, angry passing... a pity the fundamental package wasnt good enough to get higher up in race trim..

[Tourer]

It was great to see Kimi get the win (and talking pretty well on the podium) but I'm going to give it to Alonso. He had more challenges from other drivers to deal with and as usual never stopped pushing.

[wnut]

Kimi - was never a fan of his in his first incarnation - I was wrong apparently.

Great drive by Sutil, under what must have been enormous pressure.

[Razzzor]

Definitely Kimi... made Grosjean look rubbish.
At least in Alonso's case Massa wasn't that far back.

Sutil was great considering he's been out a year. But like someone else said, starting on the mediums made his race look better than it actually was - no one would have noticed him if he started on the supersofts and finished 3 seconds ahead of his teammate.

What's the bet on Bianchi replacing someone up the grid before the year is out? I was thinking Sutil might have lost touch with his time out, like MS did for a while, but he just proved me wrong with that drive, so maybe Esteban.

[Kassai]

I voted Sutil, but Kimi and Jules were up there. Very solid first race for Esteban after his mistake during qualifying. Very disappointed by McLaren, Grosjean and Caterham.

[FAS33]

kimi Raikonen!

[Grandpa_Rob]

Got to go for Kimi but like a lot of other post Sutil impressive first drive after his hiatus.

[steve_r]

Kimi was the easy choice for me.
Of the others, Sutil drove very well, but he caught the eye more due to the different strategy he was on (IMO). Alonso and Massa both went well. And on that showing Jules Bianchi looks a bit special.

[Dave_G]

Kimi knows what he's doing.

[somebodysb2]

Sutil. Had the tyre strategy been better at the end, he could have well finished 5th. Move over Di Resta, you are now number 2 driver!

[Greem]

Kimi. For the drive, the win *and* proving that he can string together complete sentences on the podium while grinning. A true multi-tasker.

[deeks6]

Originally Posted by Greem

Kimi. For the drive, the win *and* proving that he can string together complete sentences on the podium while grinning. A true multi-tasker.

well ... 2 out of 3 aint bad

instead of "string together complete sentences" you could have said "skol champers"

[stripedcat]

I've got to give it to Sutil. Amazing drive from him, and after being away from F1 for so long.

Kimi gets a very honourable runner-up position from me.

Likewise, Alonso gets a superb third place.

I'll give special mentions to both of the Mercedes' drivers. Nico was stunning in the wet weather qualifying - a shame his car went bang! Lewis had a decent first race outing with his new team.

[Mekola]

Sutil. Great return.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Potsie... for again putting up with the only car in the field with no working electronics aboard.. no telemetry, no KERS.. nothing... and still dragging a result from it!

Plenty of passing going on from nowhere.. aggressive, angry passing... a pity the fundamental package wasnt good enough to get higher up in race trim..

If he'd started the race at the same time as everyone else he might have done even better

[wnut]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

If he'd started the race at the same time as everyone else he might have done even better

[wnut]

Originally Posted by stripedcat

Likewise, Alonso gets a superb third place.

.

Outqualified by Massa, outraced by Massa, only benefitted from Ferrari screwing Massa over!

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

If he'd started the race at the same time as everyone else he might have done even better

Maybe Potsie should start from pitlane next week?

[Marbot]

Kimi for me.

Sutil was great, shame he had to put the super-soft tyres on, but everyone else had, so can't really complain.

Vergne and Massa were also impressive over the whole weekend, I thought.

[deeks6]

Originally Posted by wnut

Outqualified by Massa, outraced by Massa, only benefitted from Ferrari screwing Massa over!

Yes, the Alons-centricity is going to cost them this year I reckon. I got exasperated when they played the radio message to Massa on his old tyres; "show us what you can do" ...
"Well I outqualified Fernando, I'm beating Fernando ... anything else?"
"Yes, when you catch up to him again, just slot in behind..."