Here is a quick recap of the awards so far:
QUOTE OF THE YEAR: KIMI RAIKKONEN "LEAVE ME ALONE! I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING"
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: JEAN-ÉRIC VERGNE
OVERTAKE OF THE YEAR: KIMI TAKES SCHUMACHER AT EAU ROUGE
MY MOMENT OF THE YEAR: VALENCIA PODIUM
GRAND PRIX OF THE YEAR: BRITISH GRAND PRIX
The first award today goes to the driver who has caused the most upset this season. No doubt this will cause some controversy but there will no doubt be world wide consensus regarding the winner. Here are the runners up for The Villain Of The Year Award.
Sorry Romain, but despite winning the Race of Champions and being Kimi's team mate, it hasn't been enough to cover up 7 early lap incidents including one that shocked the world. The one race ban for Monza should have shock him into place, but as we seen at Suzuka, he clearly learned nothing.
No doubt this will bring on the most heat but I have my reasons. For the most of the season he did nothing. He was poor for the overall majority of the season, not even trying for the races. Then come the last 1/4 of the season the puppet master Adrian Newey told his boy to step up and he cruised to 4 straight wins. He ruined Suzuka for me because I was really looking forward to it. People say he had the same amount of bad luck as Alonso did with retirements but I and like any other real fan know, it's not bad luck it's justice. He deserves to have those mechanical failures after being stupidly superior last season. Another of his indiscretions came during Germany where he still pleads to this day that his overtake was legal. What an idiot, something I can call him as he thinks it's okay to call others idiots. He didn't deserve the championship and until he competes in weaker machinery I will refuse to acknowledge his talent, if any. He's an average driver at best. Plus that finger pisses me off.
And the award for The Villain Of The Year goes to...
PASTOR MALDONADO
No surprise here, Bastard Maldonado gets the award for the twat of the year. Winning a grand prix wasn't enough to salvage this man as he didn't score a point until the latter end of the season. He took out driver after driver including Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. He wouldn't have annoyed me so much, if he would just admit he is a dangerous driver. He constantly blamed other drivers for his mistakes which is unacceptable.
With every villain comes the man willing to stand up to evil doing, or in this case for every bad moment our villain gives us, the hero delivers a performance that takes our breath away. No runners up for this award because there is only one man for Hero Of The Year.
There was nobody else up for the award. Kimi wraps up his 3rd award for this title and with good reason. He came back to the sport on a gamble by Lotus, and from this gamble they gained a leader. Though no one knew what to expect. Granted his first qualifying didn't go well after crashing out in Q1. But he raced on to a respectable 7th and it only got better. Bahrain was his first 2nd place of 3 and his first podium of 7. He was a title contender right the way through until he was mathematically out if contention. Although poised to do well, that win was always out of reach with the E20 being mixed on speed from weekend to weekend. Eventually though and with a hint of luck (Hamilton retiring) Kimi stormed to a win at Abu Dhabi, which was the perfect end to a perfect season.
He provided us with funny interviews, amazing on track performances and even better radio transmissions. Even getting lost at Interlagos was a high because it provided so much laughter. He gained more "Driver Of The Year" awards than Fernando and Sebastian put together and lets not forget he broke the record for the most amount of laps completed in a season (all of them). My money is honestly on Kimi next season, not only for his capabilities but because of his love for Formula 1.
Team Of The Year
The team who ascended from Jordan Racing really came into a power of their own this season. With the team of Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta, this line up completed one of the best campaigns from a middle team in years. The drive to win a Grand Prix by di Resta helped steer the team to new heights, and the skill of Hulkenberg proved they had what it takes, The key weekend was Brazil where Nico could have one had it not have been for a silly mistake. They've helped Nico get recognised by other teams and hopefully when they rehire Paul it's only a matter of time before McLaren will take him on
They earn a mention for two reasons. One, because of the way they dealt with the Grosjean problem. They punished him when needed to and then supported him when the rest of the world came down on him. Any team that finds that balance deserves a mention. The second reason is the reliability from the E20. Kimi completed every single lap of the 20 race season through a car that was so solid throughout, and Kimi's knowledge of more so lack of knowledge only occured during one race, in China where he failed to score a point. Kimi even managed the highest top speed of any other car at Monza. No other team can boast this accolade and that's why Lotus deserve a mention.
But the winner for the Team Of The Year goes to...
I think Sauber deserve this award purely because of the way they helped promote their drivers, although it did not work for one of them. Sauber delivered their drivers an extremely competitive car, and Sergio Perez took every single drop of performance from the car, gaining a drive for the quickest team on the grid (McLaren). Kobayashi was also blindingly quick but I think the car preferred Checo a lot more, hence the better results.
Even though Kamui enjoyed a great season, it wasn't enough to salvage a seat with any team. To read my disappointment, click here to read my previous blog about Kobayashi and his departure.
Driver Of The Year
Lewis has bounced back from a God awful couple of years and truly became his own man this season. The only reason he is not the winner of this award is the same reason as why he didn't win the championship: Because of his car and crew. His pit crew made far too many mistakes. Regardless of the quickest stop ever and a fine 5 wheel pit stop, they were totally unprofessional and messed up his race weekends. And then there's the car. A Complete disaster piece. Nevertheless, he completed some fine race weekends and was a true great this season. All I will say is do not expect to see him on any award panel next year.
What can I say that hasn't already been said? 1 race win, 7 podiums, completed every single lap, made us laugh, showed the best how it's done and he achieved a third place finish in the drivers championship after being 2 years out. DRS and Pirelli tyres were all new to him and he still managed to out race the best and quickest. He won more driver of the year awards than the false champion and Alonso, but even for me, it wasn't enough to award him this trophy.
So without further suspense, my 2012 Driver Of The Year is...
In my eyes, this is the man who deserved to win the drivers championship. In inferior machinery he drove to 2 pole positions and 3 race wins. This was the year I fell back in love with Fernando. He proved that he is the ultimate driver in terms of skill, temperament and all round ability. He is without doubt, THE greatest driver on the planet. If Ferrari can get it together, he is the man to deliver them back to the heights of the Schumacher or Raikkonen days. He drove so much better than the rest and his luck got beat on more than one occasion without justice. If it wasn't for the determination of Lotus and Raikkonen, I'd tip Fernando for the win next season. But he will definitely still be a contender.
Here are the full list of winners:
DRIVER OF THE YEAR: FERNANDO ALONSO
TEAM OF THE YEAR: SAUBER
HERO OF THE YEAR: KIMI RAIKKONEN
VILLAIN OF THE YEAR: PASTOR MALDONADO
GRAND PRIX OF THE YEAR: BRITISH GRAND PRIX
MY MOMENT OF THE YEAR: VALENCIA PODIUM
OVERTAKE OF THE YEAR: KIMI TAKES SCHUMACHER AT EAU ROUGE
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: JEAN-ÉRIC VERGNE
QUOTE OF THE YEAR: KIMI RAIKKONEN "LEAVE ME ALONE! I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING"
I'd like to thank you for reading my season review! It has been fun reliving the memories of the greatest season in history! Keep reading on in the new year as I'll be presenting reviews of every race weekend including my predictions for every qualifying session and the podium for each race, complete with race reviews and in depth analysis.
Thank you again for reading and have a safe and happy new year!
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