The Car Throttle F1 2015 End-Of-Season Awards

With the F1 winter break now well underway and focus soon switching to 2016, we thought it was time to give out some awards!

Jack Leslie

08 Dec 2015

The Car Throttle F1 2015 End-Of-Season Awards

Welcome to Car Throttle’s annual F1 awards, where we take a look back at the past season and pick out some very special achievements.

Best race to watch – US GP

There were quite a few contenders for this award – Malaysia, Britain, Hungary. However, the United States Grand Prix had a bit of everything. It started in the wet and finished in dry conditions, it had great overtakes and battles, contact, late drama and was a title decider, with Lewis Hamilton claiming the world championship.

Best looking car – Lotus E23

Red Bull’s camouflage test livery for the RB11 topped out pre-season best livery poll, but I have always had a soft spot for the Lotus E23. With its sleek design and memorable black and gold livery, it wins our award for best looking car of the year. Props to the Enstone-based outfit for making a looker. It’ll also be the last time we see the livery, with new team owners Renault going for its classic yellow colour scheme.

Best driver – Lewis Hamilton

An unsurprising choice but this was undoubtedly Hamilton’s best season in F1 yet, winning 10 races and scoring seven further podium finishes. He didn’t end the season the way he started it, but it was a stunning performance and he won the title with three rounds to spare.

Honourable mentions: Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen

Worst driver – Pastor Maldonado

Yes, for the second year in a row, Maldonado picks up the award for worst driver of the year. Believe it or not, it was an improved season for the Venezuelan, but his campaign was still littered with silly, unnecessary errors and some bad driving. He scored 27 points in total but his team-mate Romain Grosjean dominated the inter-team battle at Lotus.

This was a tough decision to make, because Max Verstappen made so many brilliant overtakes in 2015. I opted for his spectacular move around the outside of Felipe Nasr at the super-fast Blanchimont during the Belgian Grand Prix, a ballsy move and one that we rarely see.

Honourable mentions: Max Verstappen (Senna S), Max Verstappen (Sepang, Turn 1) and Max Verstappen (China, Turn 6)

Funniest moment – Fernando Alonso in Brazil

Undoubtedly the funniest moment of the season was when Fernando Alonso was forced to stop his car (again) in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Instead of heading straight back to the pits in a huff, he opted to simply grab a chair, sit back, soak up the sun and the on-track action. It also sparked the most hilarious F1-related trend (#PlacesAlonsoWouldRatherBe) of the year.

See more funny moments here.

The Japanese fans are pretty mad and love the sport, but one man clearly loves F1 so much he wanted to get even closer to the action. In second practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, a man somehow managed to get onto the circuit, ran across and tried to enter a team garage before being tackled by security.

Most spectacular crash: Daniil Kvyat, Japan

The most dramatic crash of the season goes to Kvyat after his huge roll in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. He went off at the fast kink of Turn 10, hitting the wall and flipping over. Fortunately he was OK.

Honourable mentions: Max Verstappen (Monaco), Carlos Sainz Jr (Russia)

It is nicknamed the ‘Room of Awkwardness’ for a reason. The US GP saw tensions rise between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, after the former pushed his team-mate wide at Turn 1. The British driver had just won the title and threw a cap to Rosberg before the podium, but it was thrown back at him.

Biggest disappointment - McLaren

It was always going to be a difficult 2015 season for McLaren but few expected it to be quite so disastrous. Reliability problems, a ‘meh’ chassis and lack of progress meant two world champions were left to battle at the back, clinging on to the hope that their cars would make the distance. Hopefully 2016 will be better, although it can’t get much worse…

Best dance – Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, US GP

Qualifying for the US GP was repeatedly postponed due to rain and prior to it being rescheduled to Sunday morning, the teams and drivers were left to entertain themselves. Ricciardo and Kvyat opted to try out their dance skills.

Best radio message – Fernando Alonso, Japan

Alonso’s built up frustration finally emerged in Japan. After being passed easily by Verstappen, the Spaniard shouted over team radio: “GP2 engine! GP2! Aggh!” It unsurprisingly sparked more rumours that he would be leaving McLaren or taking a year out after the end of the season.

Comments

Max Verstappen sure did show all the negative people in F1 what he is capable of! 1 more year in Torro Rosso and then…..?? :D
Hopefully he won’t make the same mistakes in switching teams like what his father did.

Hamilton was not the best driver. He was just the better driver in the best car. Vettel has my vote for actual best driver.

Couldn’t agree more. The way I see it now, Hamilton have the best car so his efforts are about half of what he has during his rookie years in F1. He was more entertaining to watch then.

Ricciardo would have made him cry again. Kimi hasn’t been at his best since he came back after his crash in rally. When Vettel had the best car as good as the Mercedes was this year why didn’t he win as consistently as the Mercedes drivers.

You could just as easily say that about Vettel in his 2 dominant Seasons. Hamilton was peerless for most of the season and rarely put a foot wrong. Vettel stuffed it in the wall a few times and made some silly mistakes.

TL;DR Lewis performed better regardless of the car.

You mean you want a bunch of Britons to say a German was the best driver? That just won’t happen.

Please no hate.

Up until the US GP he was very consistent. But I guess to you that means he was sh*t

“meh’ chassis and lack of progress” that just discredited your whole article. Look at the lap gaps in Albert’s park compared to Yas Marina, and chassis? look at how the cars kept up the pace in wet COTA. Author, get your sh*t together.

I was so furious with this misinformation that I looked up the numbers myself.
Alberts park: Button: 1:31.422, Hamilton 1:26.327
Yas Marina: Button: 1:42.570, Rosberg: 1:40.237

And follow the McLaren cars in this chart, you will see their pace wasn’t off at all.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/10/26/vettel-hails-great-recovery-after-climb-to-third/

But what about the “I love your sense of humor” radio at russia?

Worst f1 driver - Pastor Maldonado…. (lotus fans)

The British being to patriotic on the choice of Hamilton as the best driver. And a “meh chassis” for mxlaren Honda. They got fifth on a handling track!