Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race - 2014 Germany

[Shizuka]

based on the assumption that, at any moment in time, there is a non-zero probability that even the slowest, most inexperienced and least reliable of underdogs might win the race. That under every rock, there might be a gold nugget. This is the award for that first podium that we all celebrate, for the overtake no-one was expecting, for JEV's first win. This is the award, in short, for the driver or team that makes you go "Woah! Where did THAT come from?!".

Just remember: this is a feel-good award, that will focus on nothing but track action.
Usual rules: everyone gets two votes. First vote is worth 10 points, the second 6.

Post your results until the 25th of July

[Londoner]

1. Kevin Magnussen - Brilliant recovery drive after Massa chopped him at the first corner.

2. Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso - What an absolutely superb battle.

[SgtPepper]

Bottas

HM - Great races from Hamilton, Ricky and Alonso (and I presume KMags, but I overslept and missed the crash).

[Shizuka]

1. Magnussen
2. Maldonado

[wsrgo]

Bottas

Honourable mention to Enoch for having a spot-on photo there of Rosberg wearing the DFB shirt. Right after that, Germany won the Cup and Rosberg won his 'home' race.

Although Hamilton will still insist it was a Finnish 1-2

[Jocke1]

Adrian Sutil

[Miguel98]

1. #Bottas
2. Maldonado

[sw3ishida]

1- Bottas. I mean, who apart from Hamilton couldn't help but smile at the sight of him in 2nd?

2- Maldonado- Seemed to wake up upon being confirmed for 2015 and put in a notable performance

[Meatwad]

1. French live stream: Allowed me to see the race in spite of thunder. Sure, it skipped a bit at times and I didn't understand a word of what they said, but you can't really complain when you only miss a couple of laps (due to getting my laptop out etc.) instead of only seeing the first twenty laps!
2. Lewis Hamilton: Again fought his way through the pack. Even with the best car, it isn't easy to gain 17 positions. The Mercedes wasn't as dominant as before, either.

Honorable mentions: Bottas (although you can now expect these performances from him), Sutil (close to points until his car broke down)

[Salamander]

1. Kevin Magnussen - Amazing comeback considering he was 10 seconds off the back of the field after the first safety car. Imagine what he could've done if Massa wasn't such a fool.
2. Daniel Ricciardo - Also had his race ruined at the start by Massa's tomfoolery, but kept his head together and finished only 30 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton. Also, drove brilliantly against Alonso in their fight.

[Enforcer]

1. Bottas: Split the Mercs and managed his tires to hold off Lewis.

2. Ricciardo: Raced quite well in the traffic early on despite having the slowest car in a straight line.

[SeedStriker]

1) Valteri Bottas: Another solid drive and best of the rest, even beating charger Hamilton

2) Daniel Ricciardo: Ricky make Alonso sweat bullets and almost got him to the line

Honorable mentions to Lewis Hamilton (almost burn from the stern), Fernando Alonso (he needs a better car), Hockenheimring (it's not the speed ring, but what a race!)

The Clash of the Titans Award goes to Lewis Hamilton for the 2 x 1 overtake against Ricciardo and Raikkonen

[Zergon]

1) Valtteri Bottas: He does have a good car and with Massa being out on the first lap, podium was looking likely from the beginning but keeping Hamilton behind on last few laps is what convinced me to pick his performance over others.

2) Daniel Ricciardo: Managed to avoid the first turn crash and quickly got himself back into top 8 and eventually finished 6th which was probably about as good as he could get after the early missfortune.

Honorable Mentions:
Lewis Hamilton: If Mercedes wouldn´t be so dominant car, I would certainly picked him over Ricciardo but now I feel that Ricciardo deserves the spot more even if Hamilton did perform better.
Kevin Magnussen: Nice recovery after the early crash and managed to save 2 points from a bad situation.
Pastor Maldonado: Had pretty good race after bad qualifying and for a little while it looked he could even get the 10th spot but just couldn´t keep Perez and Räikkönen behind him. Still 12th place isn´t bad for Lotus and he was the best driver outside the top 6 teams which seems to be about as good as we could expect from Lotus right now.

[wsrgo]

1) Valteri Bottas: Another solid drive and best of the rest, even beating charger Hamilton

2) Daniel Ricciardo: Ricky make Alonso sweat bullets and almost got him to the line

Honorable mentions to Lewis Hamilton (almost burn from the stern), Fernando Alonso (he needs a better car), Hockenheimring (it's not the speed ring, but what a race!)

The Clash of the Titans Award goes to Lewis Hamilton for the 2 x 1 overtake against Ricciardo and Raikkonen

He nearly took Raikkonen out there, didn't he? Locked up and was out of control for a moment.

[tristan1117]

1. Alonso
2. Magnussen

Is Bottas finishing on the podium that improbable anymore?

[good_Ralf]

1) Vettel
2) Maldonado

[Barbazza]

I don't think Hamilton getting a podium was a surprise. Nor is Bottas finishing that high any more, happily.

1) Maldonado - that car looked absolutely awful all weekend. To be running fairly regularly in the Top 10 and not missing out on points by much was a miracle really.

2) Magnussen - for the recovery drive (and presumably making the tyres last pretty well)

[James1978]

1. Bottas (yes he's becoming a podium regular but still he held off a Mercedes)
2. Maldonado (I was really hoping he'd get a point)

[roblo97]

1)Ricciardo-Alonso battle was awesome
2)Bo77as

HM to Rosberg after week he has had.

[W12]

1. Val77eri Bo77as
2. The Ricciardo-Alonso battle

Basically the same as roblomas'.

[bsoyuz]

1) Magnussen - If Massa wasn't there at the start........

2) Bo77as - If Massa wasn't so dumb in the start, it could be a Williams 1-2 (is good to dream........)

[RAK]

1) Daniel Ricciardo: Held off Fernando Alonso for several laps when Alonso was on a charge.

2) Lewis Hamilton: Excellent recovery drive, making his way through most of the field and coming close to second place.

Honourable Mention: Valterri Bottas - to be honest, Bottas finishing on the podium isn't all that improbable any more, having demonstrated himself to be an excellent driver in a good car, but he did manage to keep Hamilton off him in the closing stages of the race.

[Cynon]

Maldolan: dolan y u do gud? u usuely rek

K-Mags: Solid effort in a crapwagon.


Not nominating Hamilton because it's too easy to go through the field in a Merc with DRS. Same for Alonso and Ricciardo.

[CoopsII]

Is Bottas finishing on the podium that improbable anymore?

It shouldnt be but the progress Williams have made still feels fragile to me so..

1 - Bottas

2 - Hamilton, yes car advantage but he still had to do the job and he did. I certainly didnt expect much better than a few points after him starting 20th.

[More_Blue_Flags]

1. Bottas - I'm getting close to saying a Bottas podium is nothing out of the ordinary, but his extended first stint and composed defending in the last ten or so laps was pretty impressive.

2. Hamilton - I'm with CoopsII, I just didn't expect Hamilton to get through the field so quickly when he had to get past the likes of Alonso, Ricciardo and Vettel. During the race, I expected him to lose his composure after damaging his wing and changing his strategy mid-race.

Honorable mentions to the Alonso and Ricciardo show, and for Maldonaldo. I initially didn't know what the fuss was about with Maldonaldo, until I thought about what the Lotus looked like earlier throughout the weekend with the FRIC removed - Maldonaldo and Grosjean almost deserve an IIDOTR just for getting in the things.

[watka]

1. Bottas - Hockenheim is totally about top speed, so the performance comes down to the driver rather than totally on the car. Bottas has surpassed expectations by getting two consecutive 2nds.

2. Ricciardo - A tough decision to make, but Ricciardo was outstanding in his race-craft.

[DanielPT]

Ricciardo: He did well to recover from 15th after the safety car in a car that was not as fast as the Mercedes. Plus, he did it cleanly without touching anyone.

Bottas: A nice drive that got him another podium and after the race, he 'only' has three times more points that his more experienced teammate.

[Alextrax52]

1 Riccardo
2 Maldonado

[Dj_bereta]

1 - Pastor Maldonado: Almost get some points with that crap car. Good work!

2 - Kevin Magnussen: Survived the first lap crash and got some points.

[DOSBoot]

1. Bottas: Held onto that 2nd place pretty much all race long, and managing to hold off Hamilton those last few laps get's the top spot for me.

2. Hamilton: Like CoopsII, and More_Blue_Flags, I was not expecting him to get that high up so quickly. Especially maintaining his composure for the most part with the broken wing incident.

Honorable Mentions:

Magnussen

Riccardo

Alonso

[Rocks with Salt]

1) Ricciardo
2) Alonso

[Shizuka]

1. Valtteri Bottas - 138
2. Daniel Ricciardo - 77
3. Pastor Maldonado - 66
4. Kevin Magnussen - 64
5. Lewis Hamilton - 30
6. Fernando Alonso - 19
7. The Ricciardo-Alonso battle - 16
8. Adrian Sutil - 10
= French live stream - 10
= Sebastian Vettel - 10