The votes have been counted and verified. We can now officially reveal the winners of the The F1 Times 2011 Awards, as voted for by you, our readers.
First of all, we’d really like to thank you for the support during the past year. We’re still a small player in the F1 world. Our names out there and we’re growing fast. We hope to bring you even better coverage of the sport in 2012 and beyond, hopefully you’ll join us.
He quite simply blew the competition away with one of the most dominant seasons of the modern era. The Red Bull driver managed to finish on the podium at all but two races; the German GP and the Abu Dhabi GP. As a result, he took 11 victories and beat his nearest competitor and runner-up, Jenson Button, by 122 points.
Winner: Sebastian Vettel (48%)
2nd: Jenson Button (29.5%)
3rd: Fernando Alonso (9%)
With almost 80% of the vote, Red Bull walk away with the ‘Team of the Year’ award for the second season in a row. Albeit by a much larger margin in 2010 when they received just 46% of the vote.
Winner: Red Bull Racing (79%)
2nd: McLaren (9.4%)
3rd: Force India (4.2%)
Not only the best race of 2011 according to our readers, but the longest F1 race ever – the Canadian GP – which lasted just over four hours thanks to a two-hour red flag suspension. The race won’t be remembered for that though, it was surely Jenson Button’s majestic win against all odds having made contact with his teammate, a puncture, being handed a drive-through for speeding and at one point sitting dead last, to steal the win on the very last lap which is surely the fondest memory of the 2011 season.
Winner: Canadian GP (56.5%)
2nd: Belgian GP (6%)
3rd: Monaco GP (5.6%)
There can only be one winner, with a landslide victory, our readers chose the HRT F111 as the ‘Car of the Year’. Oh wait, I think we’ve incorrectly counted the votes. It is of course the Red Bull RB7 which dominated the field, winning more than half the races and securing all but one pole position in 2011.
Winner: Red Bull RB7 (83.8%)
2nd: McLaren MP4-26 (7.3%)
3rd: Ferrari F150º Italia (1.9%)
With well over half the vote, Paul di Resta is crowned rookie of the year after some stunning performances against a much more experienced teammate. The young Scotsman managed to score 27 points, just 15 less than Adrian Sutil, which rightly sees him retain his seat at Force India for 2012.
Winner: Paul di Resta (68.3%)
2nd: Sergio Perez (20.9%)
3rd: Daniel Ricciardo (5.9%)
A few crazy moments to choose from, but the one that stood out amongst our readers the most was of course Jenson Button’s minor memory loss as he believed, for a split second, that he drove for Red Bull as he pitted in the RB box at the Chinese GP to the bewilderment of those around him.
Winner: Jenson Button’s Red Bull pit-stop (40.2%)
2nd: Canadian marshalls struggle to stay on two feet (31%)
3rd: Petrov gets some impressive air in Malaysia (16.3%)
McLaren, despite turning their season round following a dismal pre-season, were only voted into 2nd place as the most improved team. The top honour goes to Force India, a team which just four years ago finished tenth in the Constructors’ championship and has gradually worked its way up the order to finish sixth in 2011, just four points behind Renault – a former championship winning outfit.
Winner: Force India (32.4%)
2nd: McLaren (18.4%)
3rd: Team Lotus (16%)
Very few moments result in the need to cover your eyes in disbelief, but Mark Webber’s move on Fernando Alonso through Eau Rouge was one of those moments. The pair were side-by-side, but one of them had to give in or the result would have been a messy affair. Alonso was that man, resulting in Webber gaining second place behind his teammate.
Winner: Webber on Alonso through Eau Rouge (44.5%)
2nd: Vettel on Alonso on the grass in Italy (23.7%)
3rd: Schumacher on Hamilton at the Monaco hairpin (10.8%)
It’s quite easy to concentrate on what’s happening at the front, forgetting about the little guys at the back, ignoring their stellar efforts in what is often a more intense battle for position. Heikki Kovalainen is awarded our ‘Most Underrated Driver’ of the year award for his brilliant drives and for generally being great.
Winner: Heikki Kovalainen (15%)
2nd: Jaime Alguersuari (10.4%)
3rd: Adrian Sutil (8.7%)
This award recognises not only drivers, but the men outside of the car who contribute just as much. Aimed at identifying those who’ve excelled in their area of expertise. This award was closely contested, but only one many could win it in the end, and that man is the recently honoured Adrian Newey OBE. The design genious behind the RB7, car of the year.
Winner: Adrian Newey (24.5%)
2nd: Jenson Button (19.7%)
3rd: Sebastian Vettel (18.2%)
Thank you to everyone who voted. Look out for our pre-season prediction competition coming soon.
