Nobody could agree over anything in the PF1 awards - so unlike all the other awards you get the discussion, not the result.
Car of the Year
Frank Hopkinson: Red Bull RB8. Yet another World Championship winning car from the drawing board (and yes it really is a drawing board) of Adrian Newey. The greatest ever designer of F1 machinery managed to package up the car aero-tightly without getting the reliability issues suffered by McLaren, save for the Renault alternator and the usual fluctuating KERS.
Andrew Davies: McLaren MP4-27. Not the most reliable of cars - it won seven races but should have won at least 10. It should also have swept away the Constructors' Championship with ease but a combination of "once-in-a-season" component failures, plus the failure to put enough fuel in in qualifying (Barcelona) and some dodgy pitstops meant the team came in third. To their credit McLaren didn't make the front of their car look like a duckbill platypus, either. The MP4-27 was a swan amongst ugly ducklings.
Dave Jorgensen: Marussia F1 MR01. Sure, I know it didn't score a point, but the MR01 managed to beat the Caterham for speed in a season where the green cars had investment and were going to make a great leap forward. They also did it without KERS.
Frank Cook: McLaren MP4-27. Even though there were seven different winners in the first seven races of the season, it seemed only McLaren had the possibility of winning all of these. In fact, whilst Red Bull had a much faster car in the latter half of the season, McLaren were consistently fast throughout. Shame they didn't capitalise.
Driver of the Year
Frank Hopkinson: Fernando Alonso. Alonso dragged the F2012 by the scruff of its neck round the circuits of the world and nearly pulled off a remarkable sporting achievement. Helping the Scuderia to No.2 in the Constructors' title was a phenomenal result in itself, that mostly went overshadowed after he failed to win the main prize at Interlagos.
Andrew Davies: Lewis Hamilton was transformed from the troubled teenager of 2011. He should have been World Champion. Faults not of his own making robbed him of at least three wins and the fact that he could take it all with a new-found equanimity was impressive. His career decision-making process may not have been so sharply honed.
Dave Jorgensen: Sebastian Vettel. Two stand-out drives were Abu Dhabi, where he started from the pitlane, and Brazil where he got shunted to the back of the field on the opening lap. Allowing his car to roll down hill in a straight line after he was tagged by Bruno Senna in Turn 4, rather than do the reactive conventional thing and stomp on the brakes was just a small vignette of his genius.
Frank Cook: Kimi Raikkonen. If the Iceman didn't make a break for freedom in the closing stages of the Brazilian GP, he wouldn't have got himself lapped by Button. This means he completed every single lap of every single race, bar one. Formula 1 has not seen anywhere near this level of consistency, and I believe it has been painfully overlooked.
Team of the Year
Frank Hopkinson: Williams. They certainly won the prize for the team who threw away the most points in 2012. What could they have achieved if they had retained Rubens Barrichello and got Pastor Maldonado to think about bringing the car home of 5% of the time? In terms of year-on-year improvement they were impressive.
Andrew Davies: Ferrari. Some of the decisions they made may not have been to everyone's taste but they produced a bullet-proof car and had a virtually flawless pit-stop regime. Ultimately they were held back by the limitations of the car, but if you were looking for in-season cock-ups, you'd be looking a long time.
Dave Jorgensen: Red Bull Racing. They managed to win without constantly briefing (off the record) journalists about the illegality of other cars or alleging that rival drivers had signed for them.
Frank Cook: Red Bull Racing. You can't look past the Constructor's champion for the third time running. For all we know, the craziness of the year was part of Newey's masterplan. We should never have doubted him.
Race of the Year
Frank Hopkinson: Brazil. The tension of a title-deciding race often creates extra drama because so much is at stake and mistakes are made, but Interlagos exceeded this and served up another fitting season finale.
Andrew Davies: USA. Would the Circuit of the Americas find the finance and even then, would it be finished in time? As we set off on our 20 stops in Melbourne no-one was at all sure. By November we had our answer. A triumphant return for the USGP at a track worthy of the race. And a great race too, topped off by the best podium hats of the season.
Dave Jorgensen: Spain. Everyone loves a result they're not expecting and nobody was expecting Pastor Maldonado to hold off Fernando Alonso (the Javert of F1) to the flag. Plus there was funny stuff with Schumacher creaming into the back of Senna and a whiff of controversy with Hamilton getting sent to the back of the grid having claimed pole by a mile. Afterward, we had the scenes of everyone (all the teams) pitching in to put out the Williams fire. F1 at its best.
Frank Cook: China. Lots of contenders for this one. But China really contained everything that encompasses great racing. On the one hand, you had a runaway leader, and a new one at that. But you also had drama throughout; a botched pit-stop that certainly cost Button the win, Schumacher's retirement from 2nd place, Webber's attempt to flip his car, Raikkonen being overtaken 8 times in 2 laps, and (hold the press) a semi-clean overtake between Grosjean and Maldonado.
Best Addition to F1 for 2012
Frank Hopkinson: The new race track at Austin. They do things right in Texas.
Andrew Davies: Fernando Alonso's girlfriend Dasha Kapustina. Don't get me wrong, as the cars line up on the grid I adore the camera lingering on the craggy lines of Felipe Massa's dad, or maybe the crooked smile of Ron Dennis. But now that Fernando Alonso's girlfriend is coming to races, there really should be a camera on her the whole race.
Dave Jorgensen: A competitive Sergio Perez. And what's more, McLaren agree with me. Perez was so close to a debut win in Malaysia and has shown a lot of promise. It's an amazing feat to get taken on by one of the grandee teams with less than two seasons' racing.
Frank Cook: Sky F1 Channel. They were able to buy all of BBC's best commentators, and with their channel they are able to show every moment of every race weekend (even the support races).
Biggest Loss to F1 in 2012
Frank Hopkinson: Professor Sid Watkins. He may have retired from the sport, but he still kept a watchful eye over proceedings. The Holy Trinity of F1 Octogenarian codgers is now down to two - Bernie and Murray remain.
Andrew Davies: Eddie Jordan at every race weekend. With the BBC only covering half the races live in 2012 they didn't need the expert flannel of 'The Bard of Bray' for half of them. For a dedicated collector of EJ gems it was a profound loss.
Dave Jorgensen: Still the Turkish GP. Even though it got dropped at the end of 2011 it's the one circuit where you can have multiple overtaking without DRS and without Pirelli.
Frank Cook: Everyone realised how much they missed Rubens Barrichello when he turned up to watch the US Grand Prix. It seemed like Sky Sports F1 interviewed the Indycar driver more than the F1 drivers that weekend, asking Rubinho if he was coming back to F1 (as if it was up to him).Biggest Mistake in 2012
Frank Hopkinson: Not banning Romain Grosjean earlier. The FIA have wonderful slogans and campaigns about safe driving yet allow Grosjean to drive like an arse, till he almost drives over Fernando Alonso's head. In the pantheon of **** moves from the Lotus driver in 2012 the start at Spa wasn't even the worst, Japan (where he drove into Mark Webber) was dreadful.
Andrew Davies: Lewis signing for Mercedes was on the lines of Barcelona's Lionel Messi taking on the challenge of playing midfield for Charlton Athletic.
Dave Jorgensen: Ferrari questioning the result of the Brazilian GP in the week following the race then attributing it to fan pressure. It made them look both bad sports and bad losers. And they were wrong.
Frank Cook: Williams having Valteri Bottas sit on the pitwall for the whole season. It is no surprise that he has been announced as William's second driver for next season, but surely after his performances in Free Practices he should have had a go at some point in the season? Heck, he even beat Maldonado's time for a couple of sessions; roll on 2013.
Funniest Moment
Frank Hopkinson: Kimi Raikkonen's end-of-race feedback to his engineer at Abu Dhabi when he hung on to a slender lead in front of Fernando Alonso - we had the very irritated "yes, yes, yes, I'm doing all of that," and then the classic, "leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!"
Andrew Davies: David Coulthard's reaction after the Chinese GP. The BBC trio of DC, Eddie Jordan and Jake Humphrey were broadcasting from the grid over half an hour after the race when a fan tried to take a photo of DC in front of the television cameras. Cue irate Scotsman in tight trousers.
Dave Jorgensen: The sheer stupidity of Maldonado bumping Perez at Monaco. It wouldn't have been funny if they'd have been going at speed, but into Portiers was harmless enough. It was flabbergastingly dumb for a driver who's actually quite good round Monaco and stood a real chance.
Frank Cook: The HRT cars causing every yellow flag. Whether it was due to a brake failure, or a Mercedes on top of the car, the team's last season in Formula 1 as a moving obstacle on the track was more comical than serious.
Worst Moment
Frank Hopkinson: Realising that the celebrity podium interviews were going to last all season. When a rail crash like this happens and then keeps on happening, you begin to agree with Luca Montezemolo, who thinks someone else should be running the sport.
Andrew Davies: The uncertainty that followed the garage fire at Barcelona.
Dave Jorgensen: Seeing Michael Schumacher fail so conspicuously at Barcelona and in Singapore. Worse was that he still wasn't able to take the blame for his own mistakes.
Frank Cook: When Maldonado crashed into Hamilton with two laps to go at the European Grand Prix. This season, Hamilton drove just as well, if not better, than his championship-winning year. It was, however, forces out of his control that essentially ruined his title charge. This incident epitomised the miserable season he had.
Biggest Surprise
Frank Hopkinson: Seven different winners in the first seven races was an extraordinary start to the season and may never happen again.
Andrew Davies: Williams winning a GP having struggled to get even the smallest of points places through 2011.
Dave Jorgensen: Felipe Massa struggling so badly in the first half of the season, yet rebounding so brilliantly in the second half. Another surprise was no team got 'done' for contravening the rules. Every time they changed the tests, all the "flexy" front wings passed. It was almost like Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France.
Frank Cook: Force India didn't even get a podium. They were the "team to watch" in pre-season testing, expected to be fighting up at the front. After watching their nearest rivals Sauber and Williams rack up the podiums, questions will be raised after a rather disappointing season for the Silverstone-based team.
