Vote for your 2021 Qatar Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2021 Qatar Grand Prix

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Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Qatar Grand Prix weekend?

It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Losail International Circuit.

Driver performance summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton1st-0.651s48/4821st
Valtteri Bottas6th+0.651s0/481
Max Verstappen7th-0.362s57/5732nd-36.563s
Sergio Perez11th+0.362s0/5724th+36.563s
Lando Norris4th-0.381s55/5629th-32.885s
Daniel Ricciardo14th+0.381s1/56112th+32.885s
Lance Stroll12th+0.314s53/5616thNot on same lap
Sebastian Vettel10th-0.314s3/56110thNot on same lap
Esteban Ocon9th+0.358s1/5715th+21.113s
Fernando Alonso3rd-0.358s56/5713rd-21.113s
Charles Leclerc13th+0.222s0/5718th+1.215s
Carlos Sainz Jnr5th-0.222s57/5717th-1.215s
Pierre Gasly2nd-0.241s56/56211th-22.737s
Yuki Tsunoda8th+0.241s0/56213th+22.737s
Kimi Raikkonen16th-0.106s48/56214th-24.408s
Antonio Giovinazzi18th+0.106s8/56215th+24.408s
Mick Schumacher19th-2.452s46/55116thNot on same lap
Nikita Mazepin20th+2.452s9/55118thNot on same lap
George Russell15th-0.35s46/50217th
Nicholas Latifi17th+0.35s4/501

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Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix weekend?

  • No opinion (0%)
  • Nicholas Latifi (0%)
  • George Russell (0%)
  • Nikita Mazepin (1%)
  • Mick Schumacher (0%)
  • Antonio Giovinazzi (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
  • Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
  • Pierre Gasly (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
  • Charles Leclerc (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (64%)
  • Esteban Ocon (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (0%)
  • Lance Stroll (1%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Lando Norris (1%)
  • Sergio Perez (2%)
  • Max Verstappen (6%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (25%)

Total Voters: 193

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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44 comments on “Vote for your 2021 Qatar Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

  1. For me, Alonso. Great qualification, great race.

  2. Alonso, he drove well all weekend and showed he’s still got it.

    1. I voted Perez. Bad qualy so tricky starting position and quite a tall order to come through the field twice with a (imho) suboptimal strategy. So all in all I thought he did really well today.

      1. driver of the weekend and you start off by saying bad qualy. Doesn’t really make sense to me. He put himself him a tricky situation and even Bottas with his bad start would have beaten him and Alonso did too. For Perez to have had a good performance over the weekend, he should have easily qualified 3rd due to Bottas’s penalty and finished there too. Bottas’s weekend was as good or actually slightly better than Perez, but don’t think he is worthy of a vote.

        1. I understand your comment, but given that it is driver OF THE DAY, I would consider a great driving on Sunday even if after a bad Saturday – sometimes, a bad Saturday would allow for a driver to become the driver of the Sunday. But in fact, Perez finishing on 4th is not an acheivement when driving a car 1sec faster than everybody that is not Merc/RB.

          1. This is driver of the weekend.
            Not driver of the day.

          2. Oops 🤦‍♂️

      2. Sincerely, giving how far ahead MErc/RB are form the rest of the field. unless Perez or Bottas saved a children during the race, finishing on 3rd/4th place is a regular day on the job and does not require further prizes.

      3. Why RBR decided to pit Perez so early losing possible strategic options is a mistery to me

        1. Perhaps they saw a potential incoming tyre failure? The kerbs weren’t exactly suited for the Pirelli’s.

        2. Seems like a reasonable conservative strategy when they saw bottas was out of the points but hamilton was not beatable, as in a weekend of damage limitation where you can suddenly gain points? Let’s not risk a puncture!

  3. Fernandooooooooo

  4. Tough to choose between Fernando and Lewis this weekend. Gave it to Fernando as there’s no way that Alpine should be anywhere near the podium. Back to his old best! Great to see.

  5. Señor Fernando Alonso

  6. Fernando Alonso gets my vote. Yes the Alpine was quick this weekend, but Alonso still drove the wheels off it to get on the podium and beat Perez. Honourable mentions to Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris, Ocon (defended like a lion), Stroll and Schumacher (was not far behind the Alfa Romeos, and finished a minute ahead of Mazepin).

    1. Big fan of Norris (/McLaren) but the only reasonable and logical choice this weekend is Fernando…!

  7. Alonso: I’ve never been his greatest fan, but he deserves my vote for that performance

  8. Best: Alonso
    2nd: Max
    Tool of the day: Valtteri
    Botched job of the day: Pierre
    Grossly overrated average driver of the day: exercise for the reader

    1. Jamilton!… Do I get a prize!?

  9. Lewis deserves driver of the day.
    Hate fluke win drivers that do not do anything spectacular winning the award like
    alonso who lucked out inheriting 3rd after due to grid penalties and benefited from Bottas DNF plus suspiciously timed VSC at the end of the race which saved him from being caught by perez and his tyres exploding.

    Sorry but being 3rd because a dozen random things went your way isn’t driver of the day material but the ‘modern’ F1 fan loves supporting mediocre midfield drivers doing midfield things i guess..

    1. @ccpbioweapon I think nobody is saying discount Hamilton completely but dismissing the achievement of Alonso is a bit much. I’m not a fan of Alonso but he was there on merit today. Sure Bottas might have got him without the puncture but he had Perez covered. Its also fair to highlight that if doing what he did was so easy then what happened to Gasly. Alonso maximised all he could this weekend to finish ahead of Perez and deserves to be in consideration.

    2. As others already noted, comment quality has been somewhat spiralling down. Anyways, Alonso had a perfect weekend, and had the others not been penalised for errors entirely their fault (Alonso slowed down accordingly in Q3), he’d be still best of the rest. So all in all, Hamilton and Alonso had a really flawless weekend and probably both deserve it, it’s all personal in the end.
      Also, please refrain from posting useless and baseless conspiracy comments next time, thank you.

    3. I could say, “Just like the wins, Lewis got after his lucky switch to Mercedes in 2013”. But I don’t like to belittle one’s achievement.

  10. Nando, Lewis and then Nando again.

  11. Has to be Senor Alonso. Had a great qually, made a very important move on Gasly and its likely he would have held on from Perez, possibly even Bottas. Brilliant to see him on the podium again

  12. Alonso.
    Thought Tsunoda drove well today too.

  13. Absolutely alonso, hamilton and verstappen also drove well, but it’s to be expected, verstappen could’ve avoided the penalty, although that’s more on red bull.

    1. @esploratore1 Verstappen was the one who should have reacted to those double waved yellow flags.

      1. @f1osaurus

        Verstappen was the one who should have reacted to those double waved yellow flags.

        Just because you don’t like the guy, ain’t it right? Where have you been when Vettel failed to slow down to yellow flags in Bahrain and impeded Alonso in Austria II quali? I don’t remember you saying he was the one who should have reacted, is it just because he’s a “nice” guy?

        If you did the same about him, I stand corrected.

  14. Obviously Alonso. If only he’d gone to Merc years ago, you’d be looking at a nine/ten times world champion and statistically (not that he needs it) the GOAT since Schumacher (even though he is anyway)

    1. nandy

      Obviously Alonso. If only he’d gone to Merc years ago, you’d be looking at a nine/ten times world champion and statistically (not that he needs it) the GOAT since Schumacher (even though he is anyway)

      Those statistics alone wouldn’t make him a more amazing than he already is. When competition is hindered, pure statistics become somewhat arbitrary.

  15. Was close between Nando and Lewis this weekend. Had to give it to Nando because he punched above the car’s weight. Great qualifying.. great start and overtake on Pierre. Great tyre management and race pace. Didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend.

    Great to see him back up on a podium

    1. My thoughts as well. Hamilton didn’t put a foot wrong and couldn’t do any better but Alonso beat faster cars to get that podium.

  16. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    22nd November 2021, 4:36

    Let’s be honest. Fernando was awesome but Perez lost the podium due to the 2 stop strategy. But he had messed up in qualifying and didn’t deserve it.

    Great to see Fernando there. I can’t believe it took him this long to podium, very unlucky…

    1. @freelittlebirds Perez was just poor. To start off he completely bottled Q2. Then with a car that’s a second a lap faster (even in Perez’ hands) already and then on tyres that are almost 20 laps younger also giving 1 or 2 seconds a lap pace advantage, he still is unable to catch Alonso.

      1. @f1osaurus

        Perez was just poor. To start off he completely bottled Q2.

        He just hadn’t been poorer than Bottas amongst the drivers in top or upper midfield teams. The bloke had to be awakened by Toto to do something and still could manage just a few passes on much slower cars. And then the stretch in strategy making the tyre blow. Of course it was mostly Mercedes strategists fault, but if he was a driver of the type that take better care of his tyres, like Hamilton and Alonso (just to list drivers that you won’t dispute), maybe he would have avoided that by himself.

  17. Ole Ole Alonso. What a performance!

  18. HUUUGE KUDOS for ALO !
    it’s just that for this season I will only vote for Kimiman

  19. It can only be Alonso I think. Qualified well and got everything he could out of the car to finish where he started. Give him a capable car and if he’s top class. Always has been.

    Honourable mentions to Lewis of course, Max, Esteban and Lance Stroll. Stroll’s best finish of the season I believe.

  20. DOTW: HAM, DOTD: ALO

    1. @jerejj

      DOTW: HAM, DOTD: ALO

      Could be the other way around without any problems. Alonso looked like more impressive in the race than in quali for contextual reasons, but he also maximised everything in quali, second best of the rest from the AlphaTauri of Gasly, who actually paid the price in race trim of an one-lap pace so good.

  21. Hamilton was perfect.. But booring..

    Verstappen did excellent damage control, fun overtakes, avoided crash, recovered well..

    Impossible to pick between them…

    So i vote Alonso.

  22. The sly old fox for sure. Nando is a character and F1 needs the likes of him around post Kimi’s retirement.

    1. The sly old fox for sure. Nando is a character and F1 needs the likes of him around post Kimi’s retirement.

      For sure. In times like these we need the old guard around.

Comments are closed.