Infinite Improbablity Drive of the Race - Canada

[CarlosFerreira]

As half the field piles up in front of the Mercedes garage with torches and pitchforks looking for The Schu, 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): Liuzzi: qualified 6th, went through all the trouble with Massa, and came home 9th, clashing into The Schu and beating Sutil.
2nd (6 points): Kovalainen: on song all weekend, beat Petrov in the end, great showing.

[Ed24]

1st - Liuzzi
2nd - Buemi

[Bob]

1. Buemi
2. Kovalainen

[DemocalypseNow]

1. Liuzzi On the recieveing end of more argy-bargy than a touring car driver, and still held onto 9th place despite losing a front wing. Qualified ahead of his team-mate, dropped behind him because of Massa, but still finished ahead of Sutil. One of the best drives of his career.
2. Buemi Crap quali made up for by a great race - even leading at one point. For once, made Alguersuari look like the clear number 2 driver.

[Bleu]

1. Buemi
- Managed tyres well in the beginning, led a lap, nice pass on Schumacher.
2. Liuzzi
- Great qualifying, unlucky at the start (racing incident IMO), fought from way back to two points in a race where only two drivers from the established teams retired.

[FullMetalJack]

1. Liuzzi - If he hadn't got caught up in an incident, he probably would have escaped reject status.
2. Buemi - Led the race at one point, drove very well today.

[Salamander]

1. Heikki Kovalainen - He just drove out of his skin the whole weekend, didn't he? He became the first of the new teams to genuinely put the established teams under pressure in qualifying, took advantage of the first corner melee to jump into 12th, ran in the points when the leaders pitted, and held off Petrov's Renault at the end. Fantastic stuff.

2. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Liuzzi may well have just saved his drive with that performance, and had Massa not been so aggressive on the start, he may well have taken 6th place. He still clearly had the legs on Sutil, and it was great to see him back on form.

[eagleash]

Michael...just for being such a shambling punch drunk shadow of his former self.....never expected he could be so bad.

Buemi for considerately pit-stopping as the real race caught up with him....

[AndreaModa]

1st Kovalainen for a very strong drive in the Lotus, finishing only two laps down when the Virgin was 4 laps and Hispania was 5 laps adrift. Having said that it was good to see Di Grassi having a good competitive race for once.

2nd Buemi for a stellar drive in the midfield reminding us all he's not actually that bad, I for one was writing him off earlier in the season.

[dr-baker]

1. Buemi for leading a race and for scoring multiple points. Seriously, how many people had him to sore in their Predicament Predictions, eh?

2. Liuzzi, I suppose. The only other result to vaguely surprise me, although I do expect Force Indias to reguarly pick up minor points nowadays...

[Pieman]

1. Kovalainen - best drive he and Lotus have had so far. I feel a point coming soon.

2. Liuzzi - I wonder if he had been told "one more bad showing and Di Resta gets your drive"? Very good all-round showing.

[Dj_bereta]

1-Buemi: Great job. Leading with toro rosso and owned Alonso's victory.

2-Kovalainen: Great race, no mistakes. Finished ahead of petrov.

[Cynon]

1: The fire that Force India put under Liuzzi's ass. Great drive by Tonio, but all he's doing is making his usual form look even worse because he seems unable to perform at this level consistently! He well and truly had the better of Sutil all weekend!

2: The fire that Toro Rosso put under Buemi's ass. It did its job, but Buemi still sucks more this year than Bourdais did last year!

I'd nominate Kovalainen, but I don't think his drive was necessarily as good as much as other people's drives were just really bad, and the Saubers were horrendous. Not to mention all the problems Trulli was having...

[shinji]

Buemi, Liuzzi

[thehemogoblin]

Kovalainen

Buemi

[dr-baker]

Honourable mention in this thread for Schumacher for getting away with it - how does he do it? Where did that come from? WhileKubica getes reprimaned for NOT having an accident, dangerous as that was...

[watka]

Honourable mention in this thread for Schumacher for getting away with it - how does he do it? Where did that come from? WhileKubica getes reprimaned for NOT having an accident, dangerous as that was...

He probably made a pact with the FIA after Monaco that because they punished him there, he could get away scot free the next time he pulled a dirty trick.

My IIDOTRs:

1. Buemi - led at one point, defended well when in the lead. It was a mature drive whilst others were crashing into each other, and I also predicted him to get in the points this race!

2. Kovalainen - sooner or later, he's going to beat one of the Saubers or Williams in qualifying. He really is driving the team forward and is the clear no. 1 driver. I don't quite understand why he seems to drive better for the struggling teams (Renault, Lotus) than he did for the better teams (McLaren, Arden in GP2).

[noisebox]

Buemi (see my sig)!

Button - I thought he was nowhere this weekend, car looked totally wrong for him in practice and qualifying, yet he drove a storming race, pulled a great move on Alonso and kept Hamilton honest.

[Pointrox]

1. Buemi
Brilliant race - going up the grid for the first laps, peaking at 1st for a moment.
If he didn't have to change tyres, he would even finish in the top five.

2. Kovalainen/Di Grassi
It was so close for them to earn first points for their teams.

[Dan B]

Both Force India drivers - Liuzzi for clawing his way back up into the points and Sutil for salvaging the last point after having incidents with Kubica and Hulkenberg. Liuzzi though needs to show this driving more often, and it shows when there is pressure on him.

Kovaleinen - Probably the faster of the two and the one that finishes more often. If they keep going this pace they can catch up to Sauber and Williams.

[Waris]

1. Vitantonio Liuzzi - I facepalmed when he threw away his fifth place at the start tangling with Massa, but he made one of the most awesome recoveries ever and still finished in front of Sutil (who wasn't exactly driving an awful race either, mind you).

2. Sébastien Buemi - Excellent solid drive and very deserved points. I was actually hoping more would come out of it when he was leading, but oh well... I hope he keeps surprising us with performances like this.

[TomWazzleshaw]

I don't quite understand why he seems to drive better for the struggling teams (Renault, Lotus) than he did for the better teams (McLaren, Arden in GP2).

It's called Fisichellaitis

Anyways here are my nominations:

1. Buemi: Led a lap, passed a former world champion late in the race and held off two other former champions at bay early in proceedings. It's drives like this that get you noticed.
2. Liuzzi: Had a barging match with Massa at the start yet still finished 9th following a great qualifying performance.

[RAK]

1) Sebastien Buemi: Solid performance, kept it in the points, leading car for a lap. Good work by the Toro Rosso.

2) Vitantonio Liuzzi: Pity about the accident at the start which seemed to negate his exceptional qualifying, but still managed to get through into the points. Pity he couldn't move out of Rejectdom, but still a strong showing.

[Nessafox]

°buemi, finally did what many people knew he is theoretically capable of
°Liuzzi, for coming back after the accident, still, he need to stay out of trouble. He's only nominated because we don't expect much of him.

[Archie2K]

Buemi
Kovalainen

For the reasons already mentioned.

[Many Blue Flags]

1) Buemi - how many other drivers can honestly say they've led a lap, and fended off Alonso and Hamilton in better cars for a fair enough time?

2) Kovalainen - Outperformed the car all weekend, and put Trulli to absolute shame.

[coops]

Kovalainen makes Lotus not silly.

[Warren Hughes]

Buemi

Kovalainen

[FullMetalJack]

I don't quite understand why he seems to drive better for the struggling teams (Renault, Lotus) than he did for the better teams (McLaren, Arden in GP2).

It's called Fisichellaitis

Kovalainen probably caught Fisichellaitis during his first season whilst they were teammates at Renault.

[thalion]

I want to say Kovalainen, but honestly I'm coming to expect this kind of performance from him so it's no longer really an IIDOTR--meaning:

1. Liuzzi
2. Buemi

[tristan1117]

1. Buemi
2. Liuzzi

[Bleu]

I wouldn't say Kovalainen was bad in GP2 - he was easily 2nd best driver that year in the series after Rosberg. With McLaren performances I agree that he didn't perform as well as he should have been.

[Yannick]

1) Sebastien Buemi - an unexpected lap in the lead has to be awarded with something

2) Jenson Button - his overtake on Alonso for P2 was the move of the race

[MinardiFan95]

1) Buemi
2) Liuzzi

[Collieafc]

1. Buemi - Did we really see leading the race for a lap coming?

2. Liuzzi

[CarlosFerreira]

Anyone still wanting to vote, better get a move on. Results due tomorrow.

[CarlosFerreira]

Oh my goodness! I had never seen that before!

3 drivers (Kovalainen, Liuzzi and Buemi) took almost every vote cast; apart from them, Jenson gets 2 second places, The Schu gets eagleash's humourous 1st vote and the Force India drivers share another first vote (Dan B). It wasn't difficult to add these results up, the spreadsheet didn't break a sweat; Sebastian Buemi wins!

Code: Select all

Nominee   Points
Sebastian Buemi   234
Vitantonio Liuzzi   136
Heikki Kovalainen   104
Jenson Button   12
Michael Schumacher   10
Force India drivers   10