Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race - Turkey

[CarlosFerreira]

As Webber scans the crowd for a short, boyband lookalike German to punch, you are once again called to vote for the Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race, an award

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 Nico Rosberg'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. Something like

1st (10 points): McLaren - didn't expect the Evil English to be so close this weekend, to be honest
2nd (6 points): Kobayashi - dragged it into Q3, came home 10th in the race to score a useful point

[muttley]

1. KOBAYASHI!!!
2. Petrov - nice race, too bad about the flat tire.

[RAK]

1) Kamui Kobayashi: First point for Sauber this season. Reasonably strong performance.
2) Lewis Hamilton: We know he pushes hard, but he really kept the pressure up behind the Red Bulls before the Vettel-Webber shunt. Good win.

[Bleu]

1. Kobayashi for finally opening the points tally for BMW Sauber Ferrari
2. Petrov for having best race of the season speed-wise. Shame about the incident with Alonso which cost him good finish but it helped him to get FL.

[LionZoo]

1. Kamui Kobayashi - For finally getting a point for Sauber.
2. Evil English Empire - I hate them as a team, but there was really nothing between them and Red Bull in terms of race pace and that has to be commendable considering they looked like the 3rd fastest team (barely) at the start of the season.

[DemocalypseNow]

1st Vitaly Petrov Result doesn't back this up, but was impressive until he picked up the puncture. Fastest Lap proves a point.
2nd Bruno Senna Was challenging the Virgins all race until his car gave up on him.

[shinji]

1. Kobayashi, he was my hero back in October, he faded from my thoughts; now he's risen to prominence again, what a guy.

2. Petrov, can't be as poetic as I was with Koba but he still had a good race until that flat tyre, received after valiantly battling Alonso.

[Klon]

1.: Jaime Alguersuari - Came this close to scoring points and the FLAP

2.: Heikki Kovalainen - I need the points...

[Salamander]

1. Sauber - Yes, it was fantastic to see Kobayashi scoring again, but let's not forget the fact that Pedro de la Rosa was right on him as well. Sauber as a whole are starting to establish themselves as a genuine threat for points, and they are taking the mantle from Williams and Toro Rosso as the biggest threat to Force India for 6th.

2. Petrov - Again, Vitaly is proving himself as the biggest star among the rookies this year, and if he can keep a cooler head, he may just help support Renault to beat Mercedes to 4th.

[Warren Hughes]

1) Petrov - showed real speed and was unlucky to be taken out by Alonso

2) Kobayashi - scores a point in only his second finish of the season

[Captain Hammer]

Petrov - he didn't just show speed, he fended off Alonso for most of the race until the Spaniard ruined it for him.

McLaren - for proving Red Bull are not infallible simply by keeping their cool.

[Ross Prawn]

Petrov. Good race, not far off Kubica's pace, fended off Alonso well (for a while).

[watka]

1. McLaren - I didn't expect them to have caught up with Red Bull so quickly, they've really separated themselves from Ferrari and Mercedes now as the main challengers to Red Bull.

2. Kobayashi - He seems to be getting the best out of a crappy car, and carrying the team along. This will be a nice confidence boost for Sauber.

Petrov would have been there is he had not have run into the side of Alonso. Senna also deserves a mention for really upping his game and taking on an (albeit sick) Virgin of Di Grassi.

[Nessafox]

de la rosa for not being to far of kobayashi's pace

no seriously, i'll nominate 1 petrov, he's starting to show what he's really worth
and 2 mclaren for having a better race pace than the red bulls, it was expected they'd be fast, but not that they were faster

[FullMetalJack]

1. Sauber - They were improved in general, De La Rosa was only 3 tenths behind Kobayashi at the end so the team should win the award.
2. Petrov - Good pace and not far off Kubica, his incident was a blessing for us though.

[mario]

Adding my two cents in here

1. Petrov - considering that Ferrari had been egging Alonso on, telling him that Petrov would not be able to withstand the pressure, Petrov did very well to fend Alonso off for as long as he did, and it took a fairly forceful move from Alonso to get past him. He was unlucky to end up with a puncture, and deserved to score points, but both he and Renault should be pleased with his performance.

2. Mclaren - I had expected Red Bull to pull away from the Mclaren duo, but both Hamilton and Button were able to keep the pressure on Red Bull up until Vettel and Webber collided. A surprisingly strong showing, since they were genuinely there on merit, and pleasing, because it now looks as if Red Bull might not have things all their own way from here on in, which might liven up proceedings.

[Dan B]

1) Kobayashi for proving that the Sauber does have speed and collecting their first needed point.
2) Petrov for giving the fight to Alonso until Alonso cut his tire.

Honorable mention goes to Sutil for picking up a point too.

That's all I can think of; while the McLarens did do well that was to be expected of their team, I didn't find anything remarkably exciting other than Vettel's gaff.

[eagleash]

Sauber

Senna

[Pedestrian]

I'm going to be a bit unconventional and nominate Mark Webber. Not for the race, but for leading the championship. Who would have expected it at the start of the season? Before the first race, I think that from the "big 4" teams, only Rosberg had less credibility as a title contender.

Second option: Kobayashi.

[thehemogoblin]

Sauber: Both cars finished

Virgin: Ditto

[Myrvold]

1.Senna. Finally managing to outqualify a driver from an another team in a dry qual!

2.Virgin. A very quick job to fix an oil leak on DiGrassi's car, and then proceeded to finish with both cars!

[mario]

1.Senna. Finally managing to outqualify a driver from an another team in a dry qual!

2.Virgin. A very quick job to fix an oil leak on DiGrassi's car, and then proceeded to finish with both cars!

Actually, that was a forgotten miracle by Virgin Racing - they were working frantically on that car, and it really was touch and go whether they could get it finished in time (Kravitz was down there, and you could see the team desperately bolting on the front nose cone assembly, and other bits and bobs, just before the race. To do that, and get the car to the finish, is a respectable effort from them, given that their rivals both broke down (in fact, it seems that the Lotus cars managed to synchronise their hydraulic system failures on the same lap).

[CarlosFerreira]

1.Senna. Finally managing to outqualify a driver from an another team in a dry qual!

2.Virgin. A very quick job to fix an oil leak on DiGrassi's car, and then proceeded to finish with both cars!

Actually, that was a forgotten miracle by Virgin Racing - they were working frantically on that car, and it really was touch and go whether they could get it finished in time (Kravitz was down there, and you could see the team desperately bolting on the front nose cone assembly, and other bits and bobs, just before the race. To do that, and get the car to the finish, is a respectable effort from them, given that their rivals both broke down (in fact, it seems that the Lotus cars managed to synchronise their hydraulic system failures on the same lap).

While I agree, the Virgin cars were also desperately slow, the updated "limo" version despite looking fancy and modern doesn't seem to have brought anything new in terms of pace, and I can just about imagine Richard Branson seeing di Grassi jostling for position with Bruno Senna's HRT and thinking "what am I doing here again?". It's a shame, because I personally WANT to believe the CFD concept, but the results are not making it any easier.

[Myrvold]

I want to belive in all the new teams, and HRT in special, I would really love to see it work out with someone outside the team making the car, like Dallara, Lola, Reynard etc. But, it isn't looking good...

[Cynon]

Petrov - Superb drive until Alonso basically took him out.

Senna - Solid effort in general.

[Jack O Malley]

1) Kobayashi: first points for Sauber, and another Q3

2) Alguersuari: 3rd fastest lap in the race, nice.

[LionZoo]

Looking at the press release from Sauber it really does look like Kobayashi destroyed his tires. For a big part of the race he was right behind Alonso and leading Sutil by a few seconds and as much as Sauber has gained, I think the Ferrari is still the faster car. For awhile, Kobayashi had the Sauber at a pace that it had no right to be at, but he destroyed his tires in the process. It seems that Kobayashi has the pace, as evidenced by his scorching Q2 lap, but still has issues with tire management.

[tristan1117]

1. Petrov:
2. Alguersuari: I was really surprised when he set fastest lap. If it stuck, it would have been Minardi/STR's first fastest lap!

[pablo_h]

1 Kobayashi
2 Petrov

[TomWazzleshaw]

1. Kamui Kobayashi: To put it simply: KOBAYASHI KAMUI SCORES A POINTA!!!
2. Vitaly Petrov: This was by far his best race to date and was unlucky to be barged out of the way by Alonso and suffer a puncture as a result

[AndreaModa]

1. Sauber

2. Petrov

[coops]

Petrov

HRT (For showing signs of progress)

[Many Blue Flags]

1) McLaren - yeah, it was slightly inherited, but the only team working hard enough to keep up with the Evil Austrian Empire. Plus, the drivers actually showing some spirit in their driving with actual thinking behind it.

2) Senna - I think a fairly spirited drive overall, and a decent move on Di Grassi.

[tommykl]

1. Kobayashi-not only did he finish, he scored a point!
2. Petrov-qualifying in the top 10, unlucky to not finish there.
3. Alguersuari-great end-of-the-race pace (he was probably thinking "what the heck, my race is done, no chance of points, LET'S HAVE FUN!!!)

[CarlosFerreira]

In a close battle, the cyborg from Vybog took on F1Rejects' perennial favourite - and beat him! In a track he likes, Vitaly Petrov was good enough to beat a sushi cook - amazing!

Code: Select all

Nominee   Points
Vitaly Petrov   150
Kamui Kobayashi   124
McLaren   54
Sauber   50
Bruno Senna   34
Jaime Alguersuari   22
Virgin   12
Mark Webber   10
Lewis Hamilton   6
Heikki Kovalainen   6
HRT   6