The Formula 1 "Driver of the Day" award has been given to the fan-voted best driver after the end of each Grand Prix. As such, it has never been an official accomplishment counted in statistical databases.
Due to the fact that it is voted for entirely by fans, the award is most often granted on merit, but sometimes on pure subjectivity. That subjectivity has resulted in the award being scrutinized for some unjustified winners, and that list continues to grow.
A common example was Driver of the Day being awarded to Lando Norris in Austria last season. The British driver finished in P20, last, after a late collision with Max Verstappen due to an unnecessary divebomb. Some thought it was an immature move from Norris, while others apparently deemed it an overall performance that was “better” than the other 19 drivers.
There is a clear direction for Formula 1 to implement a solution
If Formula 1 were to ever step in and resolve this issue, the only way would be to entirely remove or decrease the subjective voting process from the fans. An objective metric or formula can be created to adequately measure a driver’s performance during a race, even if it's not the only factor involved in handing out the award.
To create that, each driver must be pre-assigned a driver rating. That can be used as a coefficient for when overtaking another driver. Overtaking Gabriel Bortoleto in his Sauber will be far easier than overtaking Max Verstappen in his Red Bull or Oscar Piastri in his McLaren, for instance.
The factors that must be considered in this overall formula must be positions gained, number of overtakes successfully completed, overtake difficulty, collisions caused, and penalties accrued.
That should be the basis of the formula, with the possibility of other factors being added in. Maintaining an objective measurement such as this one would generate less criticism from fans every race, and it would put more confidence in awarding "Driver of the Day" to the most deserving driver.
Even during the Bahrain Grand Prix this past weekend, Lewis Hamilton was awarded Driver of the Day after going from P9 to P5. Afterward, a lot of fans were more in favor of awarding it to Oliver Bearman, as the Haas rookie started in P20 and finished in the points in a much slower car.
A change like this seems insignificant compared to the several other more pressing issues in Formula 1. But it would be a nice change to see in future seasons, effectively putting more meaning behind the award as well.