Out of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button which do you think had the best season? They 3 were so good you can make a very good argument for any one of them. In my opinion the best driver of the season was Fernando Alonso, 10 podiums and a win from a car which really shouldn't have been capable of that in another drivers hands. And he has appeared to do so effortlessly - some of those podiums were very quietly sneaked in under the radar: India, Japan, Italy and Hungary spring to mind. he has been good at starts as well springing straight to the front at Spain and Monza was brilliant. Hard to find much of a fault at all. Jenson Button walked all over Hamilton in the 2nd half of the season and finished with something like 42/3 points more than him. It seems in 2011 only Button could do a better job than Vettel at making the pirrelis give the required pace over a long distance (although Perez did well). 12 podiums with 3 wins was an incredible achievement in what seemed like his best year yet especially against the all powerful red-bulls. He also pulled off quite a lot of very good overtakes and can teach his teammate about them. He was the only one able to concsistently get near vettel in the races. Appears to be the new wet weather king. His 1 flaw is that he was still a bit average in qualifying. Sebastain Vettel, well he has just had one of the most dominant seasons ever, so not bad...... I find it really hard to judge his performance as he has just been given 1 of the most dominant cars ever and an average teammate who isn't allowed to beat him, even if he could. So he had no competition really. Only Button seemed able to match vettels skill this year in making the tyres last a very long distance and still give good pace. He seems to be 1 of the best qualifiers ever, does not crack under the pressure of the clock. He has been extremely lucky ie. red flag in monaco and Hamilton not doing his proper run in japan qualli. All sorts of little things like that through the year. There is no doubting though that the chance was there and he took it with both hands, in 19 races he was off the podium twice!!
Alonso, ok but nothing great. Button, good but great. Vettel, exceptional all season Driver of the year : SEBASTIAN VETTEL
My apologies Sea-Man, I'll get the next pint as well. I misread the title before voting. I thought it was for best performance (as in 'single' performance) which I gave to Button for his drive in Canada. However, it is now clear that you meant over the whole season, so I apologise for messing up the vote - which I should give to Vettel without a shadow of doubt, for an almost faultless season; closely followed by Button and then Alonso. Incidentally, I was certain that a thread like this already exists?
Overall, it has to be Alonso. He gave everything to 2011 until he "gave up". Not as outspoken as the other drivers, he goes about his own business and is successful by stealth. A solid driver.
Very hard to judge Vettel. Best car all season. Alonso got so much more out of his car than was expected. Button suffered from poor qualifying but eventually outdrove Hamilton. On balance I'd go for Alonso
Vettel was so good I would think even Alonso fans would admit Vettel was better. Alonso in my opinion drove ok in a rubbish car.
I voted for Alonso last year but I'm sticking to my guns and picking Vettel deservedly for this year.
Alonso did amazing races and got positions his car was not capable of. Button made his highly acclaimed team mate crack and finished 2nd. Vettel made it look to easy. winning races fo fun. In equal machinery, these 3 would be inseperable. A great moment this season was these 3 at monaco!
My top ten drivers: 1. Vettel - calmly and maturely waltzed to title 2, stayed out of trouble, consistently put in speed and intelligently thought about the races and the tyres. 2. Alonso - outdrove the car and excellently claimed ten podiums and a win! Qualifying hurt him though. 3. Button - good at looking after the tyres, nothing to pick between him & Seb at that, very calm and clean driving. Qualifying also hurt him. 4. Rosberg - outdrove Schumi most of the year but the car was pretty rubbish to be honest. 5. Webber - only one who could get close to Seb in quali but his awful starts and bad tyre management ultimately let him down. 6. Hamilton - woeful year for Lewis, numerous accidents which were just silly and avoidable. Did have 3 good races to take 3 wins. Superb drive in Germany. 7. Schumacher - better than last year but still some silly squabbles and bashes, car was down on last year, did well to achieve 4th in Canada. 8. Massa - had an even worse season that Lewis, had a lot of bad luck but ultimately couldnt keep up with Alonso. 9. Sutil - very impressive year by Adrian, was not involved in accidents kept clean and consistent, surprised me i must say. 10. Alguersuari - did very well to get almost double his teammates points, was in the points often and dint get involved in midfield tussles much.
The fact that he was driving out of his own skin to bring home podiums and the single win before he thought "**** it". I agree with most of this Colin
Alonso. The car was a dog, yet he routinely ended up on the podium. Talk about a driving masterclass.
Has to be Vettel, even though he was in the fastest car more or less all year, what more could he have done bar win pretty much every race, which he wasn't THAT far of doing. Heaven help the rest next year unless Ferrari and McClaren make big improvements over the winter.
