The 2009 F1 season is officially over and it certainly finished on a high note, the Webber Button duel on the final lap in Abu Dhabi has got to go down as the best single lap of the entire year. Then there was the completely dominant performance by Vettel, something the British commentators failed to notice. Their ramblings about ‘poor Hamilton‘ being unlucky in that reliability cost him a sure victory completely ignores the fact that Hamilton retired from second place, not the lead. Vettel jumped him in the pits because he was heavier and yet still quicker and was thus able to put in two fastest laps after Hamilton pitted.
That’s my rant for the morning done we can now get onto the first annual F1 AWARDS as the season is over.
Driver of the Year
I was going to give this to Barrichello for his gutsy year despite being the oldest man on the grid but in the end I can’t give him the award when he had that brilliant car and couldn’t even get second in the championship. The winner then goes to a driver who certainly made a lot of mistakes but when he got it right was just the best driver in the world. Sebastain Vettel is my driver of the year 2009.
F1's 'rainmaster' Sebastian Vettel
Car of the Year
This can only be between Brawn and Red Bull, and whilst through the course of the year the Red Bull’s were probably the fastest on average, the Brawn’s have got to take it. They caught everyone napping early on with their notorious double diffuser and were the class of the field for half the year. They did taper off after their storming start but I still think they deserve the accolade of producing the best car of 2009.
Brawn GP F1 Team
Team of the Year
This category is closely linked to the first two awards because it is a combination of drivers, cars and leadership. So Red Bull had the driver but Brawn had the car meaning it comes down to leadership. In the strategic and tactical arena Ross Brawn simply swept the floor with everyone else, not only did he turn around a faltering Honda but then built a team in his own image out of the ashes of Honda. He made the tough call early on and backed one horse for the title in the form of Button as opposed to the squabbling Red Bull’s under Christian Horner. Brawn thus takes the team of the year award for 2009.
Idiot of the Year
2009 produced so many nominees for this one I actually had a tough time narrowing it down. There is for instance the entire Red Bull team, particularly their think tank for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Their error riddled season was simply unacceptable. Then of course Max Mosley sticks up his hand for his systematic attempts at dismantling F1, the budget cap debacle was completely unavoidable as just one example of his ineptitude. All those guys however are mere pretenders to the throne, there could only be one really. Yes it’s Nelson Piquet jr who has run off with this one for his role in Crashgate. It is true that he wasn’t the only one in the wrong but my issue with him is the whiny way he handled it. Briatore, Symonds and Piquet were all in the wrong but at least they kept their traps shut. Piquet only jumped on the moral bandwagon after he had been fired for being a slow, crash happy driver. Before that he had no problem with what he had done, well done Nelson.
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