We've reached the top, I'm not sure all will agree, but surely no one can deny who is number one...
10. Jenson Button (McLaren)
In his McLaren years and many
before that too, Jenson has never been a great qualifier so perhaps it is
unsurprising that he was out-qualified by his team mate Sergio Perez. Having
said that Perez wasn’t thought of as a great qualifier either…
However, Jenson proved many times
over that he can still bring the car home where it should be, and his race to
fourth in Brazil deserved to be a podium. I wonder sometimes if Button needs
extra impetus, I feel sure we’d have had more of those races if he’d still had
Lewis Hamilton alongside him pushing him. With Kevin Magnussen joining McLaren
and being touted as a rookie that will make as much of an impression as
Hamilton, Button is sure to have his hands full. But I’d expect far more
inspirational performances from him next year as a result as I’m sure he felt
he didn’t have to overly extend himself to get one over Perez. This season he
sparkled on occasion but too much did just seem slightly disillusioned.
9. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
He’s been regularly beaten at
Ferrari since Fernando Alonso joined the team so his performance at beating
Fernando nine times in qualifying is pretty impressive. Once he learned he
wasn’t being kept on he seemed to leap into life a bit more. He managed a
podium early on in the year, but his best racing came in the latter half with
fourth place in India a particular highlight where he out-qualified and
out-raced Alonso pretty comprehensively.
It is time Massa moved away from
Ferrari and I think he’ll have a new lease of life with a safe two year
contract at Williams. As long as the team progress I think he’ll flourish and
certainly show a bit more of the fight that characterised his early years at
Ferrari that allowed him to nearly become world champion before his terrible
accident in 2009. He was overwhelmed by Alonso, but away from that atmosphere
he can show much more of the great racing that we saw only occasionally this
year.
8. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
Webber may have finished third in
the championship and taken eight podiums and took an astounding pole position
in Abu Dhabi that showed total commitment but at other points he seemed
decidedly lacklustre. And perhaps the harshest stat available is that his team
mate Sebastian Vettel took 13 wins while he failed to take one in his final
year of Formula 1.
Admittedly he probably should
have had one in Malaysia after Vettel ignored team orders while mechanical
failures and poor starts hampered other opportunities, but when you only direct
comparison is your team mate he had one of the worst records in 2013. That’s no
shame to a driver who seems to be getting better and better as he was still
very close quite often and could often pull off some fantastic overtakes.
But when the Red Bull is as
strong as it was this year, he’ll be disappointed he couldn’t push it the way
Vettel could. I think Malaysia affected his state of mind and perhaps even a
bit of his motivation. Maybe his mind wondered to his new life with Porsche in
the World Endurance Championship, whatever though there were moments when you
thought why is he retiring, but too often this year he failed to get the better
results that he might once have gritted his teeth and dug in for.
7. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
Well at least he’s still in
Formula 1. Yes, despite more heroics behind the wheel this year Hulkenberg
faced the very real threat that he could end up without a seat for 2014. The
fact he’s ended up back at Force India and not moved up the grid is quite the
travesty. He should have replaced Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus but unfortunately
money talked and they took Pastor Maldonao, someone I’ve ranked 11 places
lower. If he’s not in a top team by 2015
he could well end up missing out.
But let’s hope that doesn’t
happen because if he can produce another season with some giant killing
performances then surely next year someone will give him a call. The Sauber
wasn’t great in the first half of the season, but he still managed to knock out
some points with some hard fought drives. The second half the car improved and
his results rose as they should.
But nothing beats his drive to
fourth in Korea, holding off Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso for lap after
lap under constant pressure. It was a drive along with many others this year
that merited more.
6. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
If there was a prize for the most
improved driver of the year there is no doubt it would go to this man. Although
to start off with he looked tame. Last year ended in a bit of a disaster so
this year to combat his wild ways he almost went in the opposite direction. It
was as if he feared that to unlock his speed he had to push beyond his control.
Thankfully this turned out to not
be the case, he clocked six podiums in total, four in the final six races and
was regularly out pacing Kimi by the end of the season. There were some
circumstances involved in this, the tyre change mid-season didn’t help Kimi,
nor did the introduction of a longer wheelbase car. But Grosjean dealt with it
effectively and outshone his Ferrari bound team mate to the point that in the
latter third of the season Grosjean looked to be the most likely man to take
the fight to Vettel.
Perhaps his sports psychologist
helped, perhaps the birth of his first child made him grow up and mature. He’s
said that he realised he focused too much on Formula 1 and by releasing himself
from that pressure he’s thrived. Whatever it is, he’s matured into a fast,
incisive over taker who looks in total control and will lead Lotus into the
unknown of 2014 with deserved confidence. I look forward to seeing what he can
do next year.
5. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
Everyone expected Nico to fall to
Lewis Hamilton. That he remained strong against him throughout most of the year
is a great credit to Nico. In fact there were times when Rosberg had quite a
significant edge over his World Champion team mate.
Of course Lewis is one of the fastest
out there and that did tell in qualifying, but not by all that much in the end.
And in the races Nico won two races to Lewis’ one. Ok the second win was
because Lewis and Vettel retired, but the first in Monaco was a masterpiece of
control from a great pole position in which he kept the field behind him at a
pace he wanted. It was sublime.
I think Nico has an edge with the
conservation role in Formula 1 over Lewis. It’s only Hamilton’s brute force
that has helped push him ahead, but with more tyres to manage and fuel
conservation next year, Formula 1 is no longer about going as fast as you can
which I think can help Nico.
He has continued his good form,
although he still can have a tendency to fall back in races or just disappear,
although that is happening less often.
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Sometimes Lewis is great,
sometimes he seems lost. It seems like he can’t maintain focus for a whole
season anymore. It seemed like he was the ultimate professional in his first
two years in Formula 1 which resulted in his 2008 Championship. Since then
there have been lapses and even with a move to Mercedes these lapses continue
to happen.
Admittedly in 2013 the Mercedes
has not been to his liking. He hasn’t felt completely comfortable in all year,
particularly with the brakes, one tool you certainly need for confidence.
Despite this he has led the way for the team in the most part, taking five pole
positions, a fantastic victory in Hungary and another four podiums too. He has
certainly added impetus to a team that stagnated last year.
However, I feel like he is not
using his full potential a lot of the time. Such is the talent of Lewis
Hamilton he doesn’t have to drive to his maximum to be up there, but if he
could just feel comfortable and get his head fully focused on his driving
again, then we could see something special. Sometimes all it takes is a winning
car, and if Mercedes produce the standard bearer many are predicting for 2014,
then Hamilton can be something to behold.
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
He may have not been paid all
year, he may have been grumpy, had back problems and left the team two races
early to sort said back problems in preparation for his return to Ferrari. He
also may have not liked the change of tyres mid-season or the alterations to
his car, or the fact his team mate Grosjean started getting the better of him.
But the thing with Kimi is, he
just shakes it off, gets in the car and drives it to its maximum potential and that’s
pretty much all you can ask. Ok, his qualifying since he’s been back has not
been as good as it should be, but overall he was still beating Grosjean and
despite his two race absence was still 51 points better off.
Kimi won a great race in
Australia and was always up there fighting, no matter where he started from.
His move to Ferrari could produce fireworks alongside Fernando Alonso, although
I think they’ll get on fine. Kimi is there to do a job. Fernando thinks Kimi
won’t be a problem as Massa was often quicker when they were Ferrari team
mates. But that was Massa before his accident and Kimi when he was on his way
out of Formula 1.
Now the Finn is in the ascendency
again, I think Fernando is going to have a lot tougher time than he thinks.
Kimi is relentless in his consistency and certainly will not be Fernando’s back
up. Maybe not fireworks, but definitely some sparklers.
2. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
I wasn’t sure who was going to be
runner up. It was a tough choice between Kimi and Fernando. They both have
qualifying as a weakness at the moment, but they also both have never say die
attitude in the races and will always be up there fighting it out whatever. In
the end I went for Fernando because he had more of an edge of his team mate and
overall just a slightly more consistent year than Kimi did.
Yet again Fernando produced some
fantastic drives, his wins in China and Spain were fantastic, his podium in
Brazil was another highlight. But unlike in 2012, there seemed to be a few lacklustre
displays too such as Monaco or India where he just didn’t seem as on it. And
the mistake in Malaysia then Bahrain didn’t seem entirely Fernando. Perhaps
even in those early stages that despite having a decent car to start off with
he already knew that some developments weren’t working as they should.
Once again Ferrari couldn’t give
him the car to take the title and that frustration boiled over in the middle of
the year so it’ll be interesting to see how he handles Kimi next season.
However, he still managed to find a pace his team mate couldn’t and obtain
results which seemed out of reach as he always does. I hope he can challenge
properly for the title again next year, he deserves to otherwise I can see his
time at Ferrari not ending pleasantly.
1
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
Well what can you say about this
four time champion that I and many others haven’t already said. He was simply
brilliant this year. He topped anything he’d done before. He showed his
ruthless streak in Malaysia and so many times he demonstrated his just awesome
speed and consistency. He took nine pole positions, his lap in America when he
looked out of it was fantastic. His race winning margins in Abu Dhabi and Korea
just made it look easy while his defensive victory in Germany was a joy.
This year we watched history be
made as he won a record nine times in a row and took 13 wins in total to equal
the most in a season. Some will point to the tyre change helping Red Bull
unleash more of the potential of their car, but it was updates to the rear of
the car too in Belgium that helped optimize the cars potential.
It should also be pointed out
that Vettel was a decent points haul ahead at the mid-way point, I’m not sure
anyone was about to get on terms with him. Vettel only went two consecutive
races without a win in the first 10 Grand Prix. It was under the radar
domination but domination none the less. He showed he could produce the results
when the car couldn’t in the first half and then exploited everything to the
full when the Red Bull stretched its legs in the second half.
Vettel has undoubtedly been the
best in the current regulations with his ability to drive counter-intuitively
with the blown diffusers being a particular asset and one which his team mate
was never able to master. His mastery of the Pirelli tyres has also been second
to none, but next year comes a change. I think in previous years this may have
been a worry, but I do believe he continues to get better and he learns so
quickly I don’t think he has anything to fear. No, the rest of the field need to
fear him as I think he proved this year he’s the best in the world.
all photo's taken from autosport.com
No comments:
Post a Comment