Rate the 2011 Formula One Season

[phil1993]

So here we have it. 19 races later and we have ourselves a double world champion in Sebastian Vettel, supported by Red Bull Racing. There's been highs, lows, twists and turns. As ever, there will be a comprehensive review available soon on the site, but here's a thread for members to reflect on another great Formula One season. Of course, you can list several thoughts for each category!

1. Best race
2. Best driver
3. Best drive
4. Best start
5. Best rookie
6. Biggest surprises
7. Biggest disappointments
8. Best overtake
9. Best team
10. Best car
11. Crash of the year
12. Biggest controversy
13. Favourite moment
14. Biggest Fail of the Year
15. General Comments

As ever, thanks for joining F1Zone.net in 2011.

[Edi96]

1. Best race - Canada
2. Best driver - Vettel
3. Best drive - Schumacher in Spa
4. Best start - Alonso in Barcelona
5. Best rookie - Paul di Resta
6. Biggest surprises - No podium for Mercedes GP & Button beating Hamilton
7. Biggest disappointments - No podium for Mercedes GP, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Williams and the "new" teams. Still no points for them.
8. Best overtake - Vettel on Alonso for the lead in Monza
9. Best team - Red Bull Racing
10. Best car - Red Bull RB7
11. Crash of the year - Perez in Monaco
12. Biggest controversy - Hamilton's interview after the race in Monaco
13. Favourite moment - Vettel leading Schumacher in Montreal
14. Biggest Fail of the Year - Chandhok destroying the Lotus in FP1 at Melbourne
15. General Comments - Vettel made it quite boring but the races were generally entertaining and there was good action on the track

[donald29]

1. Best race: Canada
2. Best driver: Really hard to choose between Vettel and Alonso. Both exceptional.
3. Best drive: Schumacher's in Canada was special, Vettel in India was the Grand Chelem.
4. Best start: Alonso Barcelona.
5. Best rookie: di Resta.
6. Biggest surprises: Button beating Hamilton.
7. Biggest disappointments: Mercedes not fulfilling their pre-season promise. Looked like they'd be second best behind Red Bull after final test.
8. Best overtake: Webber on Alonso through Eau Rouge.
9. Best team: Red Bull.
10. Best car: RB7, but not as dominant as some make out.
11. Crash of the year: Hamilton at Spa, because I was standing just before Les Combes and saw it!
12. Biggest controversy: Hamilton / Massa.
13. Favourite moment: Being at Spa, seeing Schumi produce an awesome drive from 24th to 5th.
14. Biggest Fail of the Year: Chandhok FP1 Melbourne.
15. General Comments: A great season despite Vettel's dominance. Still some fantastic races, even some of his wins were close.

16. Defensive Driving of the Year: Schumacher defending from Hamilton at Monza.

[phil1993]

I'll keep this brief as a massive review will come soon

1. Best race
China, Canada, Hungary were the best

2. Best driver
Sebastian Vettel was superb all season. Fernando Alonso dragged a terrible Ferrari far higher than it deserved to be, while Jenson Button's second half of the season was sensational

3. Best drive
Button in Canada. Not necessarily the best, but just the way it happened!

4. Best start
Alonso in Spain. Judged it perfectly. Close 2nd is Liuzzi in Monza. From the back row to the top 10 haha

5. Best rookie
Perez really got to Kobayashi, I think he'll get him in 2012. But in terms of looking like an established F1 driver it has to be di Resta. He looked so mature considering he's been racing in the DTM for 4 years

6. Biggest surprises
Button beating Lewis, McLaren having a decent car after pre-season woes, Force India's revivial of form after losing many key staff pre-season

7. Biggest disappointments
Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams all producing sub-standard cars to what we hoped for. The entire situation at Renault from Kubica's injury to their shocking downturn in form. Most of the second half of the season

8. Best overtake
Webber on Alonso at Eau Rouge; Vettel on Alonso at Curva Grande

9. Best team
Red Bull Racing, although the RB7 was flattered by Vettel unlike in 2010 where the car flattered the drivers. McLaren made too many strategy errors, Ferrari did too. Renault's situation has turned comical.

10. Best car
The RB7. Not as good as the RB6 though I don't think, although they weren't helped by the Pirelli tyres wearing out faster on a faster car - something that didn't happen with the Bridgestone tyres

11. Crash of the year
The Monaco pile up was fairly spectacular, but Perez's effort in Q3. Huge shunt and gladly he walked away. It's nice to see everyone survive another season.

12. Biggest controversy
Diffuser row in Silverstone, even though it was hard to work out what was going on from Spanish TV! The whole Lewis-Massa thing was funny.

13. Favourite moment
Too many!

14. Biggest Fail of the Year
Several from Pastor Maldonado - crashing in the pit entry in Malaysia, binning it several times in Turkey Free practice, the swipe at Lewis in Spa. Karun Chandhok has to get in there for his crash in Australia FP1. Also the several marshals who either fell over or got run over, prompting much hilarity

15. General Comments
The first half of the season was great. The Pirelli tyres were unknown, but as they become more conservative and the teams learnt more the racing got worse. Shows that the DRS and KERS has not fixed Formula One's aero problems, moreover they still exist. Its the tyres.

[Eric_Cartman]

1. Best race
Monaco and China

2. Best driver
Sebastian Vettel

3. Best drive
Button in Canada and Vettel in Monaco

4. Best start
Alonso in Spain

5. Best rookie
Sergio Perez was quite surprising

6. Biggest surprises
Button beating Lewis, McLaren having a decent car after pre-season woes, Force India's revivial of form after losing many key staff pre-season

7. Biggest disappointments
the second half of the season and the performance of Mercedes. Hopefully they can improve next year and fight for wins.

8. Best overtake
Vettel on Alonso in Monza.

9. Best team
Red Bull Racing

10. Best car
RB7

11. Crash of the year
Perez in Monaco

12. Biggest controversy


13. Favourite moment
Vettel winning in Monaco

14. Biggest Fail of the Year
Button parking at the wrong box in China

15. General Comments
The season was quite good although the championship was decided very early. But the last 6 or 7 races weren't that exciting. In 2012 I hope that Red Bull won't be that superior. The best scenario in my opinion would be if Red Bull, Mclaren, Ferrari and Mercedes were on the same level. Then we would have a great fight for the championship. I can hardly wait

[majidasadi]

1. Best race: Canada,Japan and Hungary were fantastic

2. Best driver:Vettel was in a superior car, and rewrote many records, but also Button and Alonso proved that a great driver can do very well even in a car which is not perfect

3. Best drive: Button in Canada and Belgium, Alonso in Silverstone,Vettel in Singapore and Monaco,Hamilton in Germany and Abu Dhabi

4. Best start:China and Belgium

5. Best rookie:Diresta was great but Perez did a brilliant job in Sauber too

6. Biggest surprises:dominance of Redbull and their strong reliability, no engine failure this season

7. Biggest disappointments:Poor perforamnce of Ferarri and Massa, Poor atmosphere and race in Korea, disappointing season by Williams and Maldonado

8. Best overtake:Webber on Alonso at Eau Rouge

9. Best team: Redbull

10. Best car:RB7

11. Crash of the year:All crashes involving Massa and Hamilton

12. Biggest controversy

13. Favourite moment:Button's win in Canada and his overtake in the last lap

14. Biggest Fail of the Year:Williams, hope they get back to their golden age

15. General Comments:This season was not as exciting as 2010,championship decided in Japan,so we didn't see so much action in the last 4 races, but any way it was a great season for Vettel no doubt

[François]

1. Best race
I never imagined I'd be writing that, but I had a fantastic time watching the Hungarian GP. Other highlights of course include Canada, China, parts of Monza also.

2. Best driver
Vettel. Consistently obliterated all opposition, within and outside his team. Had a great car (albeit not the absolute fastest one in all scenarios) and made the best of it. Honourable mentions for Jenson Button, whose two wins were splendid and came on top of bulletproof consistency throughout the season, and Fernando Alonso, who didn't put a foot wrong and consistently outperformed his car.

3. Best drive
Button in Canada. Absolutely epic.

4. Best start
A lot to choose from. Alonso in Barcelona and Monza comes to mind, Schumacher pulled a few spectacular ones as well.

5. Best rookie
That one is a no-brainer: Paul di Resta, very mature driving and great debut season overall. Hopefully he can keep his drive and eventually join a top team.

6. Biggest surprises
- Jenson Button doing so well after a comparatively quiet 2010;
- Force India progressing through the year as Sauber slipped back after a strong start (reverse from 2010 really).

7. Biggest disappointments
- Kubica unable to take part;
- Renault slipping so far back after starting so strongly;
- Everybody making it all too easy for Vettel throughout the season (especially Webber);
- The Q3 nonsense of not setting times just to save tyres. Revamp the rules please.

8. Best overtake
Lots of beautiful overtakes this season. Two of them stand out, though: Webber on Alonso into Eau Rouge, and Vettel on Alonso outside Curva Grande (and, to some extent, outside track limits) at Monza. Most spectacular moments of the season as far as I'm concerned.

9. Best team
RBR produced a splendid car and made the best of it to murder any opposition, avoiding the reliability woes and intra-team feuds that nearly cost them the title in 2010. They did the absolute best job this year and nobody else really deserves honourable mentions in my view.

10. Best car
Do I need to answer this?

11. Crash of the year
Not too many spectacular crashes this season. Probably the Monaco pile-up, though I would also like to mention Hamilton's bizarre incident in Canada, and Schumacher's accident in Singapore.

12. Biggest controversy
Nothing epic to mention here. F1 is capable of much better scandals than we've seen this year.

13. Favourite moment
Button taking the win on his 200th start at the Hungaroring, where he had clinched his maiden win in similarly epic fashion. To a lesser extent, the almighty battle for the lead before the red flag at Monaco.

14. Biggest Fail of the Year
So many to choose from!
- Barrichello's start in Interlagos. Epic home fail (again!) on what might turn out to have been his final GP;
- Williams;
- Massa, absolutely annihilated by his teammate, never taking any blame for his numerous incidents and making excuses for pretty much all of his substandard drives. Either bounce back next year or look for another job please;
- Bruno Senna's start at Spa. From zero to hero after qualifying, then back to zero again after a hundred meters;
- The two consecutive DRS zones in Abu Dhabi with separate detection points. Pass me on the main straight if you like, I'll repass you into the next corner anyway!

15. General Comments
Some great, even epic moments of racing this season, but Vettel's domination made it quite disappointing overall. The ingredients for good racing are in place but there also needs to be a longer-term battle for the championships which just didn't happen this year. Also, a few tracks are scandalously dull and urgently need to go: Valencia, Abu Dhabi... not to mention Korea for the crappy setting and facilities. At least they spared us the abomination that is Bahrain, let's hope it somehow gets cancelled for 2012 as well.

I also have to say that Fernandes's self-contempt in his team's results is getting quite ridiculous. Best of the new teams, so what? Proud of beating underperforming midfield cars thanks to incidents and penalties? Face it, after two seasons you're still a country mile off the pace of the slowest established teams, you never looked like scoring points, neither on merit nor in high-attrition scenarii, and you're effectively only beating Virgin-Marussia (lol) and HRT (roflmaomg). He said in an interview something along the lines of "Colin Chapman would be proud". Chapman, proud of a team buying the Lotus name and fighting for 10th in the WCC? Really, Tony? Have fun beating Marussia and HRT again next year.

[alex1369]

1. Best race - for me Monza because i was there and saw my best 2 drivers fight over 30 laps in front of me - was fantastic to see that. But on TV, China and Silverstone was very good
2. Best driver - Vettel - he blew them away this year
3. Best drive - Button in Canada from P24 to P1, fantastic - he is the rain man
4. Best start - Belgium had the best first lap, And Alonso rocket starts at Spain and Monza
5. Best rookie - Di Resta
6. Biggest surprises - Hamiltons crashes
7. Biggest disappointments - Virgin team
8. Best overtake - I loved the one Hamilton on Alonso, Hamilton on Webber from Germany. And Vettel on Alonso from Monza
9. Best team - RBR
10. Best car - RB7
11. Crash of the year - well there were not much incidents this year compared to last year, but Vettels crash from practice in Turkey was the one
12. Biggest controversy - none, there was none for me
13. Favourite moment - Hamiltons drive in Germany and China, and Buttons drive in Hungary
14. Biggest Fail of the Year - Virgin
15. General Comments - If you compare this season to last years season then it was not good. For sure we had exciting races thanks to the new rules, but 2010 is the best season for me. I mean there were crashes last year, brave overtakings and other great stuff, but 2011 is not good compared to 2010 season

[R.?]

1. Best race: Montreal
2. Best driver: Alonso. Squeezed the Ferrari to the maximum.
3. Best drive: Schumacher in Canada.
4. Best start: Alonso in Spain.
5. Best rookie: Paul di Resta
6. Biggest surprises: Hamilton having a very disapointing year.
7. Biggest disappointments: Mercedes not making an impression.
8. Best overtake: Difficult. Webber on Alonso at Spa or Vettel on Alonso in Italy.
9. Best team: What can you say? It must be Red Bull.
10. Best car: The Red Bull.
11. Crash of the year: Probably all involving Hamilton and Massa.
12. Biggest controversy: Hamilton and Massa as well.
13. Favourite moment: Vettel and Schumacher P1 and P2 in Canada.
14. Biggest Fail of the Year: HRT in Australia. Falling outside the 107% rule and Colles still states how proud he is and what an achievement the team has made. But too slow to race. Epic fail.
15. General Comments: Good racing this year. Despite Vettel's dominance a lot of entertaining races.

[Adam]

1. Best race => I'd say Canada, although could have been epic if it wasn't because Alonso got taken out of the race...
2. Best driver => I always pick up the one who wins the championship, so Vettel. If I can choose a secondary driver I'd take Alonso.
3. Best drive => ...
4. Best start =>Alonso in Spain (overtook quite a lot of drivers on starting, even rivals praised his moves)
5. Best rookie => I guess Di Resta, however, I think he's a bit overrated as a driver.
6. Biggest surprises => Button beating Hamilton
7. Biggest disappointments => Teams not setting times in the Q3 in order to save tires. Very disappointing and sad for the spectacle.
8. Best overtake=> ...
9. Best team => RBR (obviously)
10. Best car => RB7 (obviously)
11. Crash of the year => Massa and Hamilton love story.
12. Biggest controversy => ...
13. Favourite moment => Alonso winning at Silverstone.
14. Biggest Fail of the Year => Massa.
15. General Comments => ...

[naiego]

1. Best race

Canada, Hungary, Monaco and Germany

2. Best driver

Vettel was very good, fast and consistent, but Alonso's performance with an inferior car was at times even better than Vettel's.

3. Best drive

Button in Canada, Hamitlon in Germany, Vetell in Monaco

4. Best start

Alonso's in Spain

5. Best rookie

Di Resta had a pretty much smooth year but I choose the hard-fighting Perez

6. Biggest surprises

Mercedes and Reanault's demise

7. Biggest disappointments

Williams' performance

8. Best overtake

Hamilton on Alonso in Germany, Webber on Alonso in Belgium and Vettel on Alonso in Italy

9. Best team

RBR not only because they had the best car but because of some brilliant strategies like the ones in Belgium and Italy

10. Best car

RBR

11. Crash of the year

Perez in Monaco during Q3, hopefuly he wasn't hurt

12. Biggest controversy

The whole thing with engine mapping, banned and then restored in a weekend

13. Favourite moment

Hamilton's win in Abu Dhabi, he got some of his confidence back.

14. Biggest Fail of the Year

Webber's and Massa's performances

15. General Comments

We became a little spoiled by the previous seasons (2009 was not an exciting one but we were all impressed by "Cinderella" Brawn GP), therefore this season looked a little boring. Started well because of KERS, DRS and Pirelli tyres but as the teams got to know the tyre characteristics the races became more boring.
We all hope for an exciting 2012.

[Reventon]

1. Best race - Nürburgring
2. Best driver - Vettel
3. Best drive - Hamilton in Nürburgring
4. Best start - Schumacher in Spa
5. Best rookie - Paul di Resta
6. Biggest surprises - Button's performance
7. Biggest disappointments - Webbo, Massa, Ferrari
8. Best overtake - Vettel vs Alonso in Monza
9. Best team - Red Bull Racing
10. Best car - Red Bull RB7
11. Crash of the year - Perez in Monaco
12. Biggest controversy - Hamilton vs Massa
13. Favourite moment - Hamilton's win in Nürburgring
14. Biggest Fail of the Year - Webber's performance
15. General Comments - Vettel No1

[piton86]

1.Best Race-Canada
2.Best Driver-Vettel
3.Best drive-Button in Canada
4.Best Start-Schumacher in Spa
5.Best Rookie-Paul Di Resta
6.Biggest Surprise-Jenson Button performance
7.Biggest Dissappointments-Lewis Hamilton, Scuderia Ferrari
8.Best Overtake-Vettel vs Alonso in Monza
9.Best Team-Red Bull Racing
10. Best Car-Red Bull RB7
11.Crash of the Year-Perez in Monaco
12.Biggest Controversy-Hamilton vs Massa
13.Favourite Moment-Sebastian Vettel Punture at Yas Marina
14.Biggest Fail of the Year-Scuderia Ferrari
15.General Comments-Next Season please just start again!!!!

[cherryxgrenade]

1. Best race - Canada hands down. Was well worth the wait. Jenson's drive was stunning.
2. Best driver - Jenson Button. I just think that he had a FANTASTIC year.
3. Best drive - Jenson Button, Canada
4. Best start - Uhm... Alonso. I can't remember which race, I think it was Monza where he went from something like fourth to first.
5. Best rookie - Paul Di Resta. If he doesn't get a drive next year I will have a cardiac.
6. Biggest surprises - Vitaly on the podium in Melbourne. Big prouds.
7. Biggest disappointments - Oh Lewis Hamilton, Scuderia Ferarri, Mark Webber.
8. Best overtake - Webber vs Alonso, Eau Rouge, Spa.
9. Best team - I hate to say this, but Red Bull Racing Renault.
10. Best car - R31, because it is a STUNNING car and had some fantastic races.
11. Crash of the year - Uhm. Heidfeld at Nurburgring. For him that's a big off since Nick is Mr Reliable/non-crasher.
12. Biggest controversy - Hamilton vs Massa
13. Favourite moment - Vitaly Petrov on the podium.
14. Biggest Fail of the Year - Massa breaking the suspension in India... twice.
15. General Comments - I loved this season. Gutted it's gone. Can't wait for 2012.

[cformula1]

1. Best race
Canada
2. Best driver
Vettel
3. Best drive
Button @ Canada
4. Best start
Schumacher @ Spa
5. Best rookie
Di Resta
6. Biggest surprises
Renault's capitulation after first two rounds
7. Biggest disappointments
Renault after first two rounds; Webber's inability to match Vettel; Ferrari's performance; Williams
8. Best overtake
Webber on Alonso @ Spa
9. Best team
Red Bull
10. Best car
Red Bull RB7
11. Crash of the year
Perez @ Monaco
12. Biggest controversy
Diffuser row
13. Favourite moment
Vettel's puncture in Abu Dhabi
14. Biggest Fail of the Year
Massa's double suspension fail in India
15. General Comments
Pretty good season despite Vettel's dominance