Who is the most under- and overrated driver in F1?

[Dux]

Since we have come to the end of the Season 2013, what is your opinion, who is the most overrated and underrated driver on the circuit ?

[EDIT] since i put two questions, i did mistake with putting the pole, which means you need to select only one for two possible answers, ( little stupid from my side, not to repeat again! ) so ... in the pole lets vote only for underrated while we can still debate on both subjects

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

• Underrated: Hulkenberg
• Overrated: (Lightyears ahead of the rest) Chilton; no clue why such a poor driver is in Formula 1.

 

[Chris Brand]

Underrated: Hulkenburg

Overrated: Hamilton

 

[Johnny Russian]

in what will probably be a controversial choice, I'm going to say that Vettel is the most underrated. i say that because most people say he can only win because of the car, but i really believe he is an extremely talented and supremely quick driver. he's great at qualifying, his race pace is superb, and he rarely makes mistakes. and in 2011 and also this year he has pretty much thrashed Webber in the same car. I have little doubt that you could put Vettel in any car against any team mate and he would still come out on top.

for most overrated I'm going to go with another controversial choice, and that's Alonso. although I think he is an excellent driver, he's often talked about like he's the perfect driver, but in fact he has a number of weaknesses that hardly anyone ever mentions. although his race pace is often great, he's a pretty poor qualifier, and always has been. the only time he's ever qualified well consistently was the two years when he won his world championships. and those were won in the Renault with the mass-damper system. Secondly, he seems to be quite fragile emotionally and mentally. in the past he accused Renault of not wanting him to win the championship, and even recently i've read about him feeling tired and stressed. i also wonder sometimes if his fitness level is up to scratch. he seems to have improved it a bit this year, but last year he looked absolutely exhausted after most of the races, whereas pretty much all the other drivers looked fine.

 

[Kevin McDonald]

Underrated: Di Resta; gets far too much criticism for what's he's achieved.

Overrated: Hamilton; may be in the top 3 in terms of raw speed, but just isn't the complete package like Vettel, Alonso and to an extent, Raikkonen.

 

[Alexander Macdonald]

Most under rated driver- Probably Bianchi. Even though I joke about it a lot, Chilton is not actually an awful driver. He beat Van Der Garde in Gp2 last year, and he hasn't had much trouble keeping up with Pic. So to be beating him by the margin he's doing so is pretty impressive

Most over rated driver- Vettel. I am not saying that he is a bad driver by any stretch of the imagination. He is one of the top drivers in the sport, but he is not a second per lap faster than everyone else in the field

Underrated: Di Resta; gets far too much criticism for what's he's achieved.

Agreed. I don't understand how not beating Hulkenburg makes you a bad driver. I notice a lot of people say that Hulkenburg is much better than Di Resta but then say that Di Resta and Sutil are quite closely matched, even though Di resta is beating Sutil by a larger margin then the one by which Hulkenburg beat him. And for all the praise people have given Hulkenburg this year, Di Resta is actually a point ahead of him.

 

[My993C2]

Most Underrated: Hulkenburg with Bottas a close 2nd.
Most Overrated: Chilton with Maldonado not that far behind.

Just my two cents of course.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Most underrated: Vettel. Some people, still to this day, believe he hasn't even deserved one title, never mind 4.

Most overrated: Paul di Resta. He really isn't that impressive, more in the Rubens category than the Schumi category.

 

[Benutzername]

Underrated: Valtteri Bottas
I think he could really surprise extrem many people if he would sit in a good car. As a test driver without experience he ws often faster in the practices than the normal drivers. And Maldonado... Yes, he crashes often, but he is also underrated. just look at his quali sessions last year. And Bottas was better than him in the practices -> Bottas is faster
In Bottas first season this year Bottas scored more points, i havent seen him doing a mistake, just this practice in brasil. The same mistake Vettel made, soo... I think he is as patient as a Kimi Räikkönen, he is also fast, consistent, but also can overtake.

 

[Leemstradamus]

Underrated: I put Esteban Gutierrez. The kid is quick, but has had bad luck. A very close second goes to Niko Hulkenberg. He just lacks the funds that the other drivers have.

Overrated: I put Jensen Button. I like the guy but, he has never impressed me with his pace. Very close second is Pastor. He is terrible!.

Pastor Maldonado

Pastor Maldonado

 

[Markus Neumann]

Underrated: Bottas - beat the supposed qualifying-specialist Maldonado throughout the season in quali (i think the tally is 12-7 or something like that). Received little attention because Williams basically has had no competitors (too strong for the backmarkers, too weak for the midfield). Plus, he's not British.

Overrated: Chilton. Yes, Bianchi is a difficult teammate to beat, but the comparison between the two is just brutal. Chilton only beat him once in qualifying on merit, and even then Bianchi had no reason to give it his all because he had a grid penalty. Chilton only receives as much attention as he does because of the largely British F1 press.

Oh, and why are so many people voting Hülkenberg and Maldonado? Everyone in F1 knows Hülkenberg is a great driver, it's just that his skill has nothing to do with his ability to get a drive. Same goes for Maldonado, everyone in F1 (apart from himself) knows that he wouldn't have a job without PDVSA, so he's not really overrated.

 

[Risto Kappet]

You cant really say that Hulkenberg is underrated, i think everyone knows that he is one of the best.
EDIT: damn, guy above already mentioned that and you cant delete posts here X-X

 

[Scott Webber]

Underrated: Hulkenberg

Overrated: Hamilton

Hamilton was good back in the GP days, and was good in the couple of years he joined F1, that flame just isn't there right now, hasn' been for years.

 

[Qazdar Karim]

Yeah i agree with Scott on this ! but ,as far as i'm concerned, there are no good pilots these days,i mean really good ones (Ayrton like) ... still waiting for that virtuoso who will be on some bad car and wining races with it !

It's amazing what Hulk can achieve with the sauber ... Hamilton always crying about bad luck ! i start to think that he is maybe a good driver ,but not really awesome !

 

[Tristan Clark]

Underrated - I would've said Hulkenberg, but I think everybody is starting to see just how good he is. For that reason, it's definitely a toss-up between Vettel and Bottas. Edging towards Vettel. Not a fan of his at all, but I do think that the dominance of Red Bull has prevented Vettel getting the credit that he deserves. Honestly, he is the complete package, and has beaten Webber week in, week out for the past five years. (If you assume that their machinery is the same, which is a discussion that doesn't belong here).

Overrated - Would have to say Chilton. I'm a massive Marussia fan, and without Chilton's backing I'd hate to see their bank balance! The stats don't lie though, and Bianchi has obliterated him.

 

[Kevin Ascher]

Underrated: Vettel/ Hülkenberg

Overrated: Maldonado/ Chilton €$€$€$€$

 

[Martin Maaskant]

Overrated: Button. A good driver but not good enough to lead a team. His WC was more the car then Button.

Underrated: Webber. To keep motivated like that after all the crap he had to swallow is unbelievable.

 

[Paul M Jones]

Overrated: Button. A good driver but not good enough to lead a team. His WC was more the car then Button.

Underrated: Webber. To keep motivated like that after all the crap he had to swallow is unbelievable.

I agree with Webber. I'm glad he's going somewhere he'll be happy.

 

[kelaroost]

Most overrated driver is my opinion is SV Its very easy to win in the fastest car,
If you watch how the car behaves you can see it clearly it more speed to give.

Most underrated is LH The man is in a different league to everyone else but lacks the tools to prove it.If you watch how the car behaves you can see clearly his getting more speed out of the car its designed to give.
Bring the disagree i fully expect them but the fact is your mistaken,
Sv had the chance to prove himself against a x world champ and chose not to because of obvious reasons.
If this man wants to show his worth as senna did against prost he needs to have LH as a team mate.
But no that wont happen because of obvious reasons

 

[Kevin Ascher]

Bring the disagree i fully expect them but the fact is your mistaken,
Sv had the chance to prove himself against a x world champ and chose not to because of obvious reasons.
If this man wants to show his worth as senna did against prost he needs to have LH as a team mate.
But no that wont happen because of obvious reasons

The only fact is that a 4 times in a row world champion has nothing to prove to you.

If a driver puts an absolutely flawless, almost perfect season and wins the last eight races, it is ridiculous to vote him the most overrated driver in Formula One with the likes of Maldonado and Chilton around. The fact that Vettel sits in the best car on the grid makes him a worse driver? He has constantly improved in the last seasons, usually out qualifies Webber, has enormous race craft, manages his tyres well and has hardly made ANY mistake this year.