Hot Rod or Hot Dog? The Top Dog!
- Published on Oct 14th, 2010 by Benson Jammichello
Kobayashi.
It had to be really, didn't it?
After the failure of Kubica to offer any convincing alternative this weekend, the Japanese has to take the prestigious Top Dog crown.
He's gloriously mental and, whereas at other times this season that's resulted in a lot of crashing and general waywardness, this time he was spot on.
We still think he counts as a rookie driver - two good races the previous season do not make a seasoned racer. That said, he's probably been hamstrung this season by his electric performances for Toyota during those races (including his scrap with Button in Brazil).
Looking back a few months to the beginning of the season, the fear was (at least at Badger) that he'd lost his mojo. Thankfully, it turns out it was just the combination of a terrible car and unnecessary hype.
Now that James Key's come in to the team, they've made some real strides with the car - as an aside, how much credit do Kobayashi or de la Rosa deserve for that? - and are finally able to produce the kind of form that allows Kobayashi to do what he does best: scare the living daylights out of other drivers. He's the kind of driver who when you think, "he wouldn't do that, would he?", goes ahead and does it anyway.
For better or worse, for richer or poorer, for crash or no crash, he captures that laissez-faire spirit that people complain has gone out of F1 in recent years. For this Kamui, we salute you.
Characters courtesy of Unlap.co.uk
If you love these great character graphics of the 2010 F1 season, check out Unlap for some brilliant, unique and fun Formula One themed t-shirts, mugs and more...
oh and i’d love to see a mark webber movie he is the most...
Comments and Discussion
Here here Badger! Yes, some of his overtaking moves leave his opponents to decide whether it will result in a crash or not, but - the beauty of it is, he's going for it - proving that overtaking IS possible. Perhaps the majority of the current F1 field have got used to waiting for the pit-stops instead of pushing the limits on an overtake...
i agree with simon he does often stick his car up the inside and lets the other guy decide what to do about it but so did Senna and that was one of the reasons he was so popular.
p.s before anyone complains im not saying Kobayashi is as good as Senna was.
That would depend upon which Senna you were talking about.
I wouldn't go so far as comparing Kamui to one of the Great's after just one season, remember great things were said of Jean Alesi who exploded onto the scene in a similar fashion to the way Kobayashi has. While the French-Sicilian's lack of success thereafter was self-inflicted due to jumping out of a Williams contract into a Ferrari one; he only sometimes showed flashes of brilliance in the proceeding years.
Anyway, i'm going off-topic.
Formula 1 needs the nutcases, the drivers who make things happen for themselves rather than waiting for plans to fall into place.
Kobayashi and Hamilton will always be assets to the success of the sport if they continue to stick two fingers up at convention and do what they do best: RACE.
But focussing on the man of the week. Fantastic performance yet again from Kamui. Perhaps his biggest achievement of all is that he's broken out of the Japanese driver stereotype and doesn't fall off the track regularly. He's quick, daring and controlled, he's the best F1 driver ever to come out of Japan and i look forward to finding out what level he forces himself into on the world stage over time.