F1 man of the year

[nipo]

Michael Schumacher for a failed comeback that disappointed so many, including me.

Second to that Nelson Piquet Jr who scored nothing but caused havoc to Renault and some individuals.

Seriously so many things happened this year:
- Birth of Brawn GP
- Brawn 1-2 on debut race
- DDD debate
- Budget cap and FOTA series
- Lie-gate
- Crash-gate
- Massa's accident
- Schumacher's (failed) comeback
- BMW pull-out
- Alonso to replace Kimi
(Am I missing anything?)

Many of those could give you a man-of-the-year...

[TheMinister]

It's gotta be Ross Brawn- and not just for the car. Sure, him and newey both produced outstanding cars, but for me the most impressive thing is the way that Ross managed to pull the team out of the fire and into a brilliant season. The performance of the Brawns was exceptional given everything that happened to them.

Brawn did so much more than design a winning car; he put his name and his reputation on it, and saved a team that was falling apart.

In terms of top driver, I don't think this year has seen any truly exceptional performances across the season- every single driver has looked weak and slow at some point this season. Perhaps that's just because the field is tighter than ever before, and I think this is probably the best grid in terms of drivers we've ever seen, so for one driver to shine is pretty impossible.

[gibells]

Nods go to how well Hamilton 'came of age'- finally silencing his critics by getting the opportunity to drive a poor car. A true champion's performance. I mean really, he always had it in him, just now he was able to show it. (Let's forget what happened after the race in Melbourne). Also nods to Vettel for realising his potential (in a good car- it must be said), and Webber.

A mention too of Button, who took the opportunity with both hands and did as well as he ever could in the first 7 races. Credit must go to him. Yes he had a good car, but I ask you, didn't Mansell, Prost, Senna, Hill, Villeneuve also have good cars when they won their championships.

But for me the honour must go to the 'Big Bear'. In sport you must always play to the ref's interpretation of the rules, and he did that nicely. He put his name and reputation on the engine cover, and brought the team together with the kind of humility Dennis & Montezemelo to only dream of. He accepted punishment graciously (Suzuka) and that is certainly something which other teams could learn from. There was a second where I thought Branson was going to ruin the party by buying the rights to name the team, but fortunately he was too tight for that and we have Brawn GP as Constructors Champions in 2009. I hope that Brawn GP is around for many years to come.

And that managed to get through the whole season without allocating much resources to the development of the BGP01 must surely bode well for BGP02 in 2010.

[Fil]

Nico Rosberg as driver of the year. no incredibly poor race comes to mind (probably his major blemish of the year was his Singapore pit exit), smashed his opponent out of a drive for next year, raced incredibly consistently and with pace but most importantly with results.

Brawn as non-driver of the year. His skills and management nous was already known, but the fruits of his work over the couple years he's been at Honda finally bloomed this season, even under the incredible duress of the pre-season. Each team owner has a budget to work with - you can't hold that against him - he made his work, look at Toyota, BMW on how not to..

[Ciro Pabón]

I moved some posts to the Fanboy Yingyang thread. They're too good to be true. Thanks, the collection is increasing.

sophrosyne , ciro ?

For the others:

Sophrosyne (Wikipedia): "The term suggests a life-long happiness obtained when one's philosophical needs are satisfied, resembling the idea of enlightenment through harmonious living. It is a nearly lost Classical ideal, but is enjoying some revival today..."

I'd say part of the revival is taking place in this forum.

[ISLAMATRON]

MAn O/T year... probly Brawn

driver O/T year... toss up between JB & LH

and that aint no yingyang!

[Ciro Pabón]

Sorry for quoting myself (and for the umpteenth time! Frankly, I have no shame):

The Tao of Racing

...

8.4

Design met Testing on the road to Changtse. Testing said: "You are Yin and I am Yang. If we travel together we will become famous and earn vast sums of money." And so they set forth together, thinking to conquer the world.

Presently they met Construction, who was dressed in tattered rags and hobbled along propped on a thorny stick. Construction said to them: "The Tao lies beyond Yin and Yang. It is silent and still as a pool of water. It does not seek fame, therefore nobody knows its presence. It does not seek fortune, for it is complete within itself. It exists beyond space and time."

Design and Testing, ashamed, returned to their homes.

[Mr Alcatraz]

I think Ciro has an excellent point of view here (as usual...), and the cars were the stars this year.

However, if we must give the accolade to an actual human, I would vote for a joint nomination of Max Moseley and Flavio Briatorre. It is because between the two of them, with their arrogance, capriciousness and gaul flying out into the great wide open this year that they have marked an end to a decade and a half of degradation of the sport. Regardless of who becomes the next President of the FIA, we will see a return to race oriented sport rather than the media circus events we have now. Luca de Montezemola's recent statement about pulling Ferrari out of F1 after 2012 strongly hint that he wants seriuos change in this direction. So to Mad Max and the Flavinator, thanks for killing the glam years. Let's go racing again.

Right on! I hope your right!

[johnny99]

It has to Ross Brawn. Yes he had a team given to him by Honda, but he took a large risk in damageing his reputation. Honda was generally a good team,but badly run, and he alone made it work.

Also to LH, haveing a crap car early in the season turn a little brat into a man. I have watched Lewis race since he was 12 on "Stars of Tomorrow" and liked the kid a lot, but his arragance in interviews in the last 2 years have not endeared me to him, although I love to watch him drive.

Koybiashi as rookie of the year, he embarrassed a few with his drive at Interlagos.

Adrian Newey for a great job with a non DDD car.

John

[i70q7m7ghw]

Ross Brawn is my choice for man of the year (this is a bit sexist no?). He saved the team and he saved alot of peoples jobs and he showed us that is was so worth saving.

Driver of the year is Kimi, he had some great drives and had some unlucky races like Brazil with the flash fire, like China with the KERS failure and still kept going when others would have just parked it. On top of the fact the Ferrari is not as fast as the McLaren and the development appears to have stopped quite early in the season he's had some great results.

PS - Someone in this thread knows they are wrong, hence my post being moved to 'fanboy ying yang'

[lebesset]

this is a bit sexist yes , I tried to think of a unisex title but nothing sounded right
then I figured it didn't matter as I couldn't think of any one of the female persuasion that one could propose , hardly the most girlie of sports is it ...one day perhaps

[Mr Alcatraz]

I moved some posts to the Fanboy Yingyang thread. They're too good to be true. Thanks, the collection is increasing.

sophrosyne , ciro ?

For the others:

Sophrosyne (Wikipedia): "The term suggests a life-long happiness obtained when one's philosophical needs are satisfied, resembling the idea of enlightenment through harmonious living. It is a nearly lost Classical ideal, but is enjoying some revival today..."

I'd say part of the revival is taking place in this forum.

And as my final tribute to Max
A man I believe as any man living in a Democratic Republic, or Democracy, has a God given right( simply meaning merely that it can't be taken away by any mortal LOL) to the pursuit of happiness. Stated metaphorically that means he has the right to flip his pancake in any fashion he sees fit. (as long as he is not infringing on someone else’s right to flip theirs.)

Actually I don't get the whole S/M thing. The usual passionate, loving, raunchy --- has always worked for me. But some people have some paradoxical ways of pursuing happiness.
Having said all that is there a man (or woman) out there that finds these following items stimulating.
Don’t worry it's a secret ballot





[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEeeGMpM_Nk[/youtube]



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txz9ncZJ ... re=related[/youtube]

[scottmansell]

For me, as with many on here, it has to be Ross. That BAR/Honda/Brawn GP was very fast!

[Richard]

Normally I prefer the man of the match/season/race to be an unsung hero, ie not the winner. Something that has a human interest, triumphs against adversity, punch above their weight/resources.

So for me, that's Ross Brawn for the way he pulled the team out of oblivion and got them up the grid. The way he thanked the redundant staff for the winter contribution on the post race interviews sums it all up. I hope he invites them back all for the end of season party.

The fact his team won is incidental.

[roost89]

For me, the F1 man of the year is Newey. He had a much smaller amount of time to create his super-fast car than Brawn and Honda did. Sure it (Red Bull) was slower than the Brawn at first but it managed to get to the top rather swiftly. I know Ferrari and McLaren are near the top again, however they've got money and lots of it. It also had some rather innovative design features (I am aware some came from the past) that worked really well.

For me, in terms of Drivers. The ones that have stood out for me are Webber, Lewis and Buemi.

Webber because he's held up against Seb Vettel, who's widely regarded as a champ of the future.
Lewis, because I feel he has now had the bad car to show what his skills are. That has given him a bit more kudos than he had before. In my mind at least.
Buemi because as a rookie, he has stood out. He managed to put the Toro Rosso into some of the lime-light in one or two races.