Felipe Massa (Ferrari): Blown away by Alonso for the second season
running, Massa can consider himself fortunate that he is being allowed to
see out his contract with Ferrari. Not that the Scuderia are mincing their
words. “We expect great things from him in 2012,” Ferrari president Luca di
Montezemolo said recently. “Then we’ll decide how to proceed. Let’s say
he’ll have to prove himself next season.”
Runners-up:
Mark Webber (Red Bull) – a huge shame that he couldn’t put Vettel under
more pressure considering how close he went to winning the title in 2010.
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) – by his own admission his “most difficult”
season in F1. He said he felt as if he “fell off a steep cliff” this year.
Most disappointing driver of the year
TEAM OF THE YEAR
Red Bull: After the mistakes of 2010, when the car was less reliable
and team spirit was badly damaged by the Webber-Vettel rivalry, this was a
rock solid year from Red Bull. Virtually no reliability issues, lightning
quick pit-stops and few off-track dramas.
Runners-up:
Force India – deserve a mention for being ‘best of the rest’; a solid
season for the team and both their drivers.
Virgin – no great shakes on the track but a favourite with many in F1
off it.
DISAPPOINTING TEAM OF THE YEAR
Williams: All true F1 fans will be disappointed by the fall and fall of
Williams. 2011 was their annus horribilis, with chairman Adam Parr offering
to resign after the worst start in the team’s history. With a major changing
of the guard in the technical team and a new partnership with former engine
suppliers Renault, let’s hope for better things next year.
Runners-up:
Renault – not helped by Robert Kubica’s untimely, near fatal crash in a
rally in pre-season, Enstone did not punch its weight.
HRT – still not bringing much to the party.
Most disappointing team of the year
MOST IMPROVED DRIVER:
Michael Schumacher: Seems funny to say it of a 42 year-old, seven-time
world champion, but Michael Schumacher was probably the most improved driver
of 2011. His qualifying is still not at the level of team mate Nico Rosberg
but his race pace is good and he’s a handful out there.
Runners-up:
Paul di Resta (Force India) – easy to forget that this was di Resta’s
rookie year; a safe pair of hands straight out of the traps.
Adrian Sutil (Force India) – reacted well to di Resta’s arrival, upping
his consistency and all-round game in second half of year.
QUOTE OF THE YEAR:
“Maybe it’s because I’m black. That’s what Ali G says. I don’t
know.” A furious Lewis Hamilton makes an ill-advised ‘joke’
about the FIA stewards in Monaco after being asked by the BBC why he felt he
kept receiving penalties.
Runners-up
“The information I have is that the situation is settled in Bahrain.” FIA
president Jean Todt, speaking in June, defends the ‘fact-finding’
mission carried out by vice-president Carlos Gracia as the race is
temporarily rescheduled for later in the year despite civil unrest.
“Maintain the gap.” Mark Webber is instructed by his Red Bull
team not to attempt to overtake team mate Sebastian Vettel towards the
end of the British Grand Prix, leading to accusations of hypocrisy after Red
Bull said the previous summer that they did not manipulate races like
Ferrari.
RACE OF THE YEAR:
Canadian Grand Prix: Not just the race of the year but a strong
contender for All-time Classic status. Lasting over four hours – the longest
race in history – due to torrential rain, Montreal 2011 was insane: red
flags, yellow flags, six safety cars and at the end of it all a British
winner, Jenson Button recovering from a collision with team mate Hamilton to
come through from 21st to 1st, overtaking Vettel on the final lap after the
German made a mistake under pressure (he is human after all). As Rio
Ferdinand remarked on Twiiter: “@JensonButton take a bow fella…”
Runners-up:
China – this was the race that got 2011 going and proved the
regulations could be a success. Lewis Hamilton, driving a three-stop
strategy, timed it perfectly to pick Vettel off with four laps remaining.
Monaco – another thriller, although not because of rain. Vettel showed
real fight here, managing almost 60 laps on one set of tyres to hold off
Alonso and Button before a late red flag caused the race to be restarted,
allowing everyone to change their rubber.
FEUD OF THE YEAR
Hamilton v Massa: At times during 2011 their cars seemed almost
magnetically attracted to one another, colliding six times in all. But if
their on-track skirmishes were racing incidents, the off-track behaviour was
less excusable. Singapore was the low point; Massa clapping Hamilton on the
back in the interview pen and giving him a sarcastic thumbs up after the
Briton had clipped the back of him. They’re yet to put it behind them.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has told them to grow up. “They’re
young drivers but they’re not that young,” he said. “They’re men.”
Runners-up:
Lotus v Lotus – millions spent in court led to a no-score draw so they
agreed an out-of-court settlement. Ridiculous.
Bernie v Jean – F1’s chief executive took on the FIA president over
first engines and then Bahrain. Power games.
CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR
Bahrain Grand Prix: Undoubtedly the biggest story of the year in terms
of the impact it had on F1’s image. The sport’s rulers dithered far too long
over whether or not to reschedule Bahrain, whose season-opening race had
been postponed following civil unrest resulting in over 30 deaths. When they
did make a decision they made the wrong one, trying to shoehorn the race
into a congested end-of-season fixture list when it was still far too early
to return. It looked worryingly as if commercial interests were coming
first. Not many from within the sport spoke up. Not many came out of the
episode very well.
Runners-up:
Sky-BBC deal – furious fans bombarded message boards, set up ePetitions
and demanded answers after it was announced that the BBC would be sharing
the rights with Sky from next season, with Sky getting all the races live
and the BBC only half. Still simmering.
Hamilton visiting Christian Horner in Canada – the disgruntled McLaren
driver’s very public, very impromptu visit to the Red Bull motor home set
tongues wagging about a possible move to Milton Keynes at some point in the
future. Still on the cards.