10. Michael
Schumacher (Mercedes)
Schumacher’s come back is at an end and it’s fair to say it
didn’t go according to plan. There were far too many incidents, mistakes that
he just wouldn’t have made before, and most important of all his outright speed
had diminished over time.
This season he had the worst reliability of anyone on the
grid but yet after all that, he still showed what he is, an out and out racer.
He’s out qualified Rosberg 10 times this year, was more often than not faster
in the races, and took probably the best pole lap of the season in Monaco. Such
a shame he had a grid penalty for that race.
He said he learnt how to lose in
his second career, but I think he also takes great credit for never giving up
and for showing he could still mix it with today's drivers, some of whom are 20 years
younger. He’ll always remain a legend, and his drive in Brazil in his final
race, charging from the back into the points showed true class; a legend.
9. Sergio Perez
(Sauber)
At one point in the season he’d have been much higher up but
from when he was announced as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at McLaren he seemed
to be trying to prove too much and failed to score in the last six races
through a few too many mistakes. Hopefully this is not a sign of how he’ll
handle the pressure he’ll get at McLaren.
Before then he was brilliant a lot of the time scoring three
podiums, but he also should have had a win in Malaysia. There’s still a lot of
untapped potential there, especially in qualifying but he’s not the finished
article, hopefully McLaren will give him the time to flourish, because he can
be brilliant; his drives in Malaysia and especially in Italy were great charges
through the field.
8. Felipe Massa
(Ferrari)
At one point this season Massa would have barely made the
top 15, but the second half of the year showed that perhaps Felipe wasn’t done
yet. He scored points in all of the last 10 races including two podiums. His
form improved once Ferrari announced he had a seat for 2013, but there had
already been glimpses of the old 2008/9 Massa before his accident.
He actually out-paced and out-raced Alonso in the last two
Grand Prix of the year, I always thought Massa could challenge Fernando on a
more consistent basis and providing Ferrari and Fernando allow it he should be
able to give the Spaniard more of a challenge next year. It’s been a good
recovery which seems to have put him back on the upward curve again.
7. Mark Webber (Red
Bull)
Webber seems to have a slight edge over Vettel when the car
isn’t quite as good as it could be, he can grind out the results. His two
victories at Monaco and Silverstone were some of the most impressive drives of
the year, especially his charging down of Alonso at the British track.
He was 10 points ahead of Vettel at the half way point, but
it was around then that the German got the edge on him. Red Bull improved the
car, and Webber can’t quite exploit the maximum potential of a great car as
well as Vettel. The points dried up albeit a lot of that was due to
unreliability but he also didn’t seem to have the pace that Vettel showed was
there. Still, he can push Vettel, and given the circumstances he can still be a
title challenger.
6. Jenson Button
(McLaren)
Three wins for Jenson this year is the same amount he scored
last year when I rated him the 2nd best driver of the year. It started
so well with the win in Australia it looked like he was carrying on his form
from 2011, but after that the main difference this year is that he was
absolutely trounced by Lewis Hamilton for most of the season. The points don’t
show it but he was soundly beaten, not helped by him completely losing his way
with how to set up the car to use the Pirelli’s usefully.
However on his day he can be unbeatable, he was totally
untouchable in Belgium but those days need to come more consistently if he’s to
mount another title challenge. He’s effectively a team leader next year so if
McLaren have managed to design a car around him he can do the job; he’s
certainly more than capable.
5. Nico Hulkenberg
(Force India)
Yes it is a bit of a surprise to have him up this high, but
whereas the likes of Webber and Button were a bit inconsistent with their
performances Hulkenberg was on a steady upward curve that resulted in him
nearly winning the Brazilian Grand Prix. He had been on the side lines for a
year so it wasn’t unexpected that di Resta had the edge over him at first.
But slowly and surely Hulkenberg emerged as the star driver
of the team. His performances actually seemed to make di Resta’s worse, which
is saying something as the Scot is very highly rated. Nico culminated his year
with a brilliant drive on slicks in wet conditions at Interlagos leading for
the vast majority before two small slip ups saw him collide with Lewis
Hamilton. He still recovered to 5th.
It’s been a good year, although his somewhat puzzling
decision to switch to Sauber for 2013 when Force India were emerging better by
the end might halt his rise to the top for a while.
4. Kimi Raikkonen
(Lotus)
Now this is how you make a comeback! Ok, he is 10 years
younger than a certain Michael Schumacher and was out of F1 for a year less,
but still this was a hugely impressive year. Up until the last few races he was
a genuine title contender such was his consistency.
He’s still not quite as fast in qualifying as he once was,
and he’s not quite as decisive as he could be when overtaking; he almost
certainly lost a win in Bahrain because of that. But generally his race craft
is fantastic, he delivers what the car is capable of in the races and you can’t
ask for much more than that.
He scored seven podiums and scored in every race but one.
His win in Abu Dhabi was brilliantly controlled, he knew what he was doing,
something he had no hesitation in telling his team on the radio.
He was on it as if he’d never been away, his drives in
Bahrain and Hungary onto the podium were truly brilliant. He is certainly going
to be even better next year and if Lotus can develop their car a bit better
next year he should be a championship challenger.
3. Sebastian Vettel
(Red Bull)
There’s one reason I’m putting Vettel third which is he was
in a Red Bull, and they were the best team of the year. He drove brilliantly again this year and as I’ve written
elsewhere is a more than deserving world champion for the third consecutive
time. But two other drivers above him had a car which was never the fastest and
a team which felt he shouldn’t win too often.
Vettel was again fantastic, his car was not great in the
first half of the season, but he managed a win and a few other podiums to keep
himself in the title hunt just like everyone else was doing. He was always
there, and when the opportunity presented itself with a car which became the
best in the field he exploited it fully and took pole and victory as if it were
2011. Four wins in succession pushed him to the top of the standings after he’d
been 44 points down earlier in the year.
But he can drive through the pack too and his recovery from
last on the first lap of the final race after being spun round was fantastic, a
brilliant champion’s drive that demonstrated just how determined he is to keep
on winning.
2. Lewis Hamilton
(McLaren)
If you don’t count his penalty in Spain which dropped him to
the back of the grid, Hamilton recorded 8 pole positions and was in the top 3
on the grid 15 times. The closest anyone else came to him was Vettel with 6
poles and 10 top 3 starting positions. This was how demonstrably fast Lewis was
this year.
He won 4 races but he should have won at least 7, twice
dropping out with mechanical failure while being taken out in the other. He
started the season with the consistency that has made Alonso so remarkable this
year. He kept on scoring the points even when his team were trying to throw
them away with various pit stop problems in the first 7 races.
But then a misjudgement with fighting Maldonado in Valencia
and various other pace, puncture and mechanical issues over the second half
derailed his campaign. 2012 should have been so much more for him, but this is
motor racing. But how good was Hamilton this year?
USA Grand Prix should answer that. Vettel was fastest all
through practice and brilliantly quick in qualifying. Lewis pulled out a lap
that nearly got him pole, he then tracked Vettel relentlessly through most of the race and when the opportunity presented itself he made the move and
held Vettel off. It was pure racing, and he deserved more from the year.
Whether his move to Mercedes will give him anymore anytime soon is very much
open to debate.
1. Fernando Alonso
(Ferrari)
Who else but Fernando? The Ferrari was over a second slower
in testing, when they got to the first race in Australia it wasn’t any better.
He dragged that car up to 5th in the race after starting 12th.
In Malaysia it rained, the Ferrari came alive, he grabbed the opportunity and
took the win. That he went on to take a further 2 victories and 10 more podiums
is a brilliant achievement.
This was Alonso in 2012, taking every opportunity available
and maximising it as best he could. People have raved about his win from 12th
on the grid in Valencia, but to me his best victory was in Germany. After
taking a pole position in wet conditions which the Ferrari liked, the dry race
should have seen him drop back.
But he managed the gap behind him and controlled the race
beautifully, making sure he was out of DRS range just enough, knowing which
parts of the track to be fast to keep him at arms length, and when he could
look after the tyres. It was a fantastically judged drive.
Let’s not kid ourselves though, by race five Ferrari had
done a pretty good job and for the majority of the year it’s race pace easily
made it a podium capable car. But it was in qualifying where it lacked the
most, and it was Alonso’s ability to always make sure that despite his starting
position the race pace available could be used to forge
ahead and into the top 3 and he did it time and again.
all photo's taken from autosport.com
