Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race - USA

[Londoner]

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.

1. Pastor Maldonado - It's all about the Reverend tonight. Get in there.

2. Daniel Ricciardo - That car had no business beating the Williams.

[dinizintheoven]

This is going to nobody other than The Reverend Pastor Maldolan.

Why?

Because car number 13 is finally on the scoresheet.

[sw3ishida]

1. Grosjean- I was disappointed with how things went after his collision with Vergne, but he really impressed me. Especially with that middle stint where he seemed to just slice past everyone. A nice surprise

2. Vettel- After that kind of a terrible start to the race, good on him for coming back and nearly passing Alonso at the end

[Ed24]

1. Ricciardo
2. Maldonado

[Meatwad]

1. Pastor Maldonado: After a good qualifying, he drove a solid race to score his first point of the season, in spite of two five-second penalties. Also broke the curse of number 13!
2. Sebastian Vettel: His last stint was great, after that late pit stop I thought he would finish far down the field.

Honorable mention: Sutil (great qualifying)

[Frogfoot9013]

The Reverend Pastor Maldonado - Who cares about Hamilton? The Reverend scored.

[Alextrax52]

Well it's gotta be Maldonado hasn't it. He fully earned it today

Also Vettel not giving up and salvaging 7th when others might have thrown the towel in

[SgtPepper]

1. KMags - managed his tyres better than his teammate, who is usually the master of it
2. Button - excellent defensive driving.

HM - Bullyardo, and JEV for that divebomb.

[Salamander]

1. Daniel Ricciardo. He's making a case to be considered the best driver in F1 today.
2. Pastor Maldonado. Don't forget, even before JEV's atrocious divebomb which ruined Grosjean's race, he was still the leading Lotus.

[Wallio]

Vettel. Gained 11 positions from where he started. Had fastest lap, and passed I don't know how many cars on track because of his frankly odd strategy. He was up to 6th, before that last stop. If this was Hamilton this board would have exploded in praise. It was an incredible drive.

[Salamander]

Vettel. Gained 11 positions from where he started. Had fastest lap, and passed I don't know how many cars on track because of his frankly odd strategy. He was up to 6th, before that last stop. If this was Hamilton this board would have exploded in praise. It was an incredible drive.

Sorry, I was too busy fanboying over Ricciardo beating cars he had to right to be beating.

And if it was Hamilton, I for one wouldn't have given it a second glance.

[Wallio]

Vettel. Gained 11 positions from where he started. Had fastest lap, and passed I don't know how many cars on track because of his frankly odd strategy. He was up to 6th, before that last stop. If this was Hamilton this board would have exploded in praise. It was an incredible drive.

Sorry, I was too busy fanboying over Ricciardo beating cars he had to right to be beating.

And if it was Hamilton, I for one wouldn't have given it a second glance.

If Riccardo had done the same thing I'd be praising him. He is my teams lead driver after all.

I know this board will never admit it, but Vettel drove like a man possessed today. Fastest lap in the 3rd best car is impressive.

[Alextrax52]

Vettel. Gained 11 positions from where he started. Had fastest lap, and passed I don't know how many cars on track because of his frankly odd strategy. He was up to 6th, before that last stop. If this was Hamilton this board would have exploded in praise. It was an incredible drive.

Sorry, I was too busy fanboying over Ricciardo beating cars he had to right to be beating.

And if it was Hamilton, I for one wouldn't have given it a second glance.

In fairness I think you have every right to fanboy over Ricciardo's driving today

I think the best 2 if it was someone else would be Ricciardo and Bottas

[takagi_for_the_win]

1. Pastor Maldonado
2. I'll go for Ricciardo

[Salamander]

In fairness I think you have every right to fanboy over Ricciardo's driving today

Oh, I wasn't apologising for it.

[good_Ralf]

1) Maldonado - One year after that awful race with the sabotage accusations he gets 1 point
2) Vettel

[CaptainGetz12]

1) Pastor Maldonado. Wow, I did not expect such a strong defense from him, especially in the closing laps. Certainly deserved at least a point from that.

2) Romain Grosjean. Looked like he was really wrestling his disintegrating Lotus through the corners. A shame that he didn't salvage any points from that.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

1. Pastor Maldonado - In the points for the first time since Hungary 2013, and he kept his nose clean too!
2. Daniel Ricciardo - After a poor start he did really well to make it to the podium.

[Aguaman]

1. Maldonado - 2 points in the bag and outdrove Grosjean the whole weekend basically. Dude needs a better car ASAP. Fear the Pastor.

2. Alonso - I expected that run from Vettel and Ricciardo does what he does but Alonso was relentless in that he never gave up I guess. I was just impressed by him

[shinji]

1) Pastor, for 2012-esque competency

2) Ricciardo, for beating both Williams in a fair fight

[CoopsII]

A 1-2 for Lotus for me, they both impressed me.

1- Grosjean
2-Maldonado

[Shizuka]

Thanks for opening the topic I wasn't able to connect with about 10-15 laps left, so I missed the end of the race.

1. Maldonado
Because he scored a point!

2. Grosjean
Because he had a chance to score a point, if it wasn't for Vergne

[Bleu]

1. Maldonado
2. Sutil just because of Q

[watka]

1. Maldonado - points on the board!
2. Vettel - bearing in mind starting from the pits and having 4 pit stops, a 7th place finish and fastest lap is pretty good.

[SeedStriker]

1) Pastor Maldonado: The old Reverend revived! He managed to tame that chainsaw killer of a car and managed to end a solid top 10.

2) Daniel Ricciardo: The only non-Mercedes that can battle the Merc-Army

Honorable mentions to Lotus (finally got to show a solid race all day) and Sebastian Vettel (nice recovery)

The Clash of the Titans Award goes to Lewis Hamilton: His overtake over Rosberg was a KO punch

[Dj_bereta]

1 - Maldonado: Great race. Points even after penalties. Great Job.

2 - Ricciardo: ...and now, he is 65 points ahead of Vettel. Very good job.

[pablo_h]

Going to have to go with the flow
1) Maldonado. Points even after a stop go penalty

2) Ricciardo. Expected bad starts put him back, but great overtakes on MAG and ALO. Stops put him ahead of the williams, but great defending.
By now it's getting a bit weird to nominate him for IIDOTR, but why not if others are nominating 4x WDC Vettel or 2x WDC Alonso?
If any previous winners of WDC weren't regularly nominated, or regular current front runners, I guess I'd have to choose someone else, but until that time I'll stick with RIC this round.

[AxelP800]

Pastor Maldonado. YESYESYESYESYES

[Zergon]

1) Lotus: Looked competitive first time since... well actually I don´t quite remember. Spain, I guess? Sure both drivers made few mistakes but still, it´s quite big step up from them.

2) Daniel Ricciardo: Recovered nicely from the poor start and managed to beat both Williams.

[Miguel98]

1) Maldonado
2) RICCIARDO

[Barbazza]

1) Maldonado
2) Ricciardo

[roblo97]

1.Maldonado
2.Bernie for admitting that the small teams going up the creek is his fault

[DOSBoot]

1. Lotus: Both drivers impressed me enough to give it the team.

2. Riccardo: Yet another good drive from him.

[RAK]

1) Pastor Maldonado: Kept himself out of trouble, made the most of his opportunities, scored a point while wearing car number 13. A good weekend for him.

2) Daniel Ricciardo: Beating the Williams when they seemed like the best-of-the-rest. Another well-deserved podium.

Honourable Mentions: Romain Grosjean - Wrestled his car as much as he could and probably deserved a point himself; Sebastian Vettel - making up a lot of ground after starting from the pitlane and taking a bizarre strategy which didn't look like it would work out.

[Shizuka]

1. Pastor Maldonado - 238
2. Daniel Ricciardo - 86
3. Sebastian Vettel - 40
4. Romain Grosjean - 32
5. Kevin Magnussen - 10
= Lotus - 10
7. Jenson Button - 6
= Fernando Alonso - 6
= Adrian Sutil - 6
= Bernie Ecclestone - 6