The top 10 drivers of the year

This season has seen some fantastic racing. All the way down the grid there have been so many epic wheel to wheel battles, but not all can get to be in the top 10. Click on the links for part 1 and part 2 of my driver countdown. These are my ten best drivers of the year from a brilliant year of Formula 1.

10. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)

A very impressive rookie season from the young Russian. He had pace in abundance, two fifth places in qualifying remind me of Daniel Ricciardo's excellence on a Saturday for Toro Rosso. He may have scored 14 points fewer than his team mate Jean-Eric Vergne but he did out-qualify him overall and lost a fair few points scoring finishes through unreliability. 

However, there were a few clumsy errors and when some of the radio advice from the team was banned during races he did seem to lose his way a little, but he found his way back by the end. His drive from the back of the grid in the Italian Grand Prix to challenge for points before a brake failure was brilliant, and again in Abu Dhabi he was mixing it within the points after starting fifth, an engine problem forcing him out on that occasion. 

It looked like he would be leading Toro Rosso next year alongside Max Verstappen, but his Red Bull opportunity comes early after Sebastian Vettel's departure. It'll be tough for Kvyat, but I think he's more than up to the job and with a season of experience behind him and a top line car to drive I'm sure he'll be on the podium soon. As I wrote earlier in the year 'If Vergne could match Ricciardo, and Ricciardo can beat Vettel, then Kvyat must be awesome'.

9. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)

This guy should have been in a top team by now. It has been said for years, people are still saying it but perception is everything in Formula 1 and unless it happens at the end of next season then sadly, I think Hulkenberg may have missed his shot. Perhaps that's why he's branching out to Le Mans with Porsche next year. 

This season Nico was as consistently good as he ever has been, bringing the car home for decent points, but he lacked that special result that he's so easily capable of. He suffered a blip in form when he was outshone by his team mate Sergio Perez in the middle of the year, but he brought it back on track. I think Perez was a lot closer than people thought he might be, which begs the question I asked of Perez, is Perez better than people think, or Hulkenberg worse?

8. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

In a way I wanted to put Vettel lower on this list, but found I couldn't. The reasons why I thought that perhaps he should be lower is that like Kimi Raikkonen, he never got to grips with these new breed of cars (lucky Ferrari) and despite moments which showed his talent was still there he still wasn't performing at his maximum come the end of the year. 

I wrote at the beginning of the year wondering if Vettel would struggle. I said he would but he'd get on top of it and be beating Ricciardo, but that didn't happen. Every time there looked to be a resurgence it was then halted. Something would go wrong with the car, or he just couldn't extract the pace that Ricciardo proved was there. It was a shame to see the sports most recent four time champion be exposed like this which is not to take anything away from Ricciardo at all. I have no doubts that if you put Vettel in the best car that is suited to him he is as fast as anyone. No one was better than him at exploiting the last generation of cars.

But unless the car is suited to him, it seems Vettel is not capable of driving round the problems like Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, or even Daniel Ricciardo and hustling a car to a result it doesn't deserve. But on the plus side we saw more than ever how good he is at wheel to wheel battle, his fight with Alonso at Silverstone was fantastic, and his drive in Singapore superb as well. What impressed me most was that he didn't throw his toys out of the pram when Ricciardo beat him, he just kept plugging away, at times he got somewhere, at others he didn't. 

Perhaps after four years of success coming into a season where he made no secret he didn't like the new Formula demotivated him. A new challenge at Ferrari is perhaps just the thing to create renewed motivation, to conquer with the scarlet cars just like his hero Michael Schumacher did before him.

7. Felipe Massa (Williams)

Massa gets caught up in too many accidents, it's a problem he's had through his career and it's followed him to Williams, admittedly most of them weren't his fault but it does ask questions. He was out qualified and scored 52 less points than his team mate Valtteri Bottas. Yet I kind of think he deserves to be higher up in this list than he is. Ultimately he was soundly beaten by Bottas which is why he's down at number seven, but this year saw a rejuvenated Massa at Williams, freed from the shackles of being Alonso's support he was able to race for himself once more. 

I'm afraid I'm one who thinks he hasn't been as good since his accident in 2009, but this year showed signs he could become a winner once more. There's plenty of evidence for this too. When both Williams' finished he actually was ahead of Bottas 8-6, he scored the teams only pole position of the year with a brilliant lap in Austria and came closest of all to scoring the team a victory when he charged down Lewis Hamilton at the finale in Abu Dhabi. 

If he can stay out of trouble next year and Williams continue their improvement, I don't see why he can't take a few wins, when he's got that scent of victory and he's running at the front, it reminds me of 2008 when he nearly, and perhaps should have won the title. Lot's more to come from Massa next year.

6.Jenson Button (McLaren)
Jenson has finally been retained for 2015 by McLaren Honda. That McLaren made him hang on for so long after what has actually been a pretty decent showing from the Briton was a bit of a slap in the face. Qualifying isn't his strong point and yet he's out qualified the highly rated Magnussen and scored far more points than him. 

Yes, there are still times when he can be a bit anonymous, or just can't get the car to work for him, but this season, perhaps more than any other, he's dragged a number of impressive results. He's made it work for him. In the last quarter of the year he scored 4 top five finishes from five races. His races at Silverstone, Japan and Brazil were outstanding results. Give him a car and he'll get you wins even now. 

I do think Magnussen deserves a drive for next season and ultimately he is the future. But I think Button as he approaches 35 has another couple of years at the top level left in him. Like when he was team mate to Lewis Hamilton, I think now he's to partner Fernando Alonso next season he will be able to match him.

5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)

It is often the case that when a driver is given a better car, their performance gets better too. Bottas had shown sporadic moments of brilliance in his rookie campaign in 2013 with a difficult car, this year Williams gave him a car that allowed him to star consistently. Despite Massa's impressive year with Williams, it was Bottas, along with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo who became the go to drivers if you were looking for potential challengers to the Mercedes juggernaut.

It took a while to get going, both he and the team were guilty of missing opportunities. I feel sure a win could have gone the way of Bottas or Massa in Austria after they locked out the front row. But after all that the podiums started to arrive, six in all for Bottas. He was consistent, fast, and looked like he had always been running near the front of the grid, which I thought was particularly impressive. 

He was in the top three in qualifying more than any other non works Mercedes driver. It was an impressive campaign and if the team can build on these foundations, perhaps there's a sliver of a chance at a title tilt next season? There's a lot to come from Finland's top driver.

4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)

Alonso will drag a car to the very edge and still find more performance. Once again this year he has been superb. He has crushed the challenge of Kimi Raikkonen and driven the wheels off of a Ferrari, which to be polite was a bit rubbish. Just two podiums in the year, his lowest since 2009, was a poor return on what has been another brilliant year from the Spaniard. 

Let's put it this way, the best cars were Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams. Mercedes had a second in hand, so we'll exclude then, but he was often the only driver who could mix it with the best of the rest. His season is littered with fourths, fifths and sixths, which is more than the car often deserved and if you think about it, it means he was often ahead of at least one or two cars which were better than his. 

Alonso is able to drive round problems and exploit the car as much as is humanly possible, but not even he could haul it much further than the top five yet still he nearly won in Hungary, one of the drives of the season. Ultimately this has led Ferrari and Alonso to part ways. What started as an exciting partnership with glory surely awaiting them has culminated in a winless campaign filled with behind closed doors acrimony. But whatever people say about Alonso with regards the way he acts in a team, he still was fully committed to the cause. 

There were a few off days as the strain began to tell of yet another fruitless campaign with Ferrari, but nothing that would suggest his powers are on the wane. McLaren Honda have him for next year, with an already difficult relationship, a less than successful first year could bring storm clouds. After all the effort, he deserves one last chance at a title challenge. 

3. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

Rosberg had a fantastic campaign, he just keeps on defying expectations. Let's get the bad stuff out the way first. Monaco qualifying and Spa misdemeanours were heat of the moment stuff, not pre-planned at all. Besides that, it was a brilliant season built on speed and consistency. This was his first title challenge, the pressure must have been intense right from the start of winter testing, both he and Lewis Hamilton knew they had a car that was clearly the best in the field. 

Even then subtle battle lines would have been being drawn. Rosberg has never really been thought of as one of the best out there, well I think this year has proved beyond doubt he's a tough competitor. In qualifying despite some Lewis quali woes, Rosberg outshone his team mate. Lewis was meant to be the strong one over one lap and Rosberg would get him in the races as the new fuel efficient rules would suit him more. 

It wasn't to be though, but he was so nearly there. With Lewis operating at such a high level, you have to have Rosberg high up in the list too, because he was often just missing fractions. However at the end of the season when both cars had finished Hamilton beat him 10-4. He never passed his team mate, but was passed several times during the season, his wheel to wheel racing is something he has already acknowledged he'll need to work on. He is capable of dominating a weekend like in Monaco, or Brazil, even when like in the latter race, he is not the quickest out there. This years title challenging experience will be logged away, Rosberg will come back stronger in 2015.

2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

The best always operate at the highest level whether they have a bad car or good. But when the title chance comes, they can still get better. I think Hamilton was brilliant this year, but he made mistakes under pressure, particularly on a Saturday and was beaten by his team mate in qualifying. I think this season could have been easier for him, which is why I can't give him the top spot.

The pressure would have been mounting since winter testing. In Monaco after Rosberg's quali incident, it broke out into war between the pair of them and suddenly it looked like it was effecting Lewis' head. So prone to letting things get to him in the past, it began to look like a title which should have been easy for the fastest man in the sport was going to be lost. 

Between Monaco and Belgium he won just once. Several mistakes in qualifying and reliability problems meant Rosberg got an edge, and then the coming together at Spa changed everything. The team had chosen to remain quiet about Monaco, this time they backed Hamilton, finally he felt he had the team behind him, suddenly he reeled off five victories in a row. Even when there were issues, he'd reset his head and come back stronger. It was brilliant mind management which enabled him to focus on the driving. I found that very impressive, something he'd rarely display before. 

But most of all, I thought it was brilliant that he defied the expectations of the media that thought this wasn't a Formula for Lewis. He just wants to go flat out, he won't be able to save the tyres or the fuel they said. In fact he was brilliant with the Pirelli rubber and was the best at conserving fuel, almost always using less than Rosberg during the races. His passing was better than ever. As one of the best passers on the grid this was to be expected and he exploited that on Rosberg. 

Perhaps what perfectly exemplifies the difference between the two Mercedes drivers was in Hungary. Rosberg sat stuck behind Vergne for lap after lap playing the percentages. Hamilton, on the charge, gets ahead of his team mate then immediately gets in front of Vergne too. Incisiveness. Lewis knows Rosberg will learn from this season and come back stronger, however I think this title will launch Lewis to an even higher level, I'll not be surprised to be writing about him as a three time world champion this time next year.

1. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

Revelation. What a season Ricciardo has had. He's walked into four time champion Sebastian Vettel's team and blown him away. He had the measure of him from winter testing, and when Vettel looked to be getting back on terms, he upped it another notch. I thought if the car was dodgy he'd have a chance of upsetting Vettel but ultimately the German would prevail. Not a bit of it, Ricciardo took charge of that team and it wasn't long before Vettel sometimes looked like the forgotten man. Ricciardo was even beating him at tracks that Vettel had made his own. 

His intentions were clear right from the start of the season. Even though the podium was taken away from him in Australia due to fuel flow problems, his second on the grid and second in the race was a bold statement. By Monaco he was ahead of Vettel on points and just pulled away. It became obvious that beating Vettel was secondary as an unlikely title challenge suddenly came on the cards. Although ultimately fruitless it was a measure of how consistently good he was that this was even still a possibility as the season came down to the closing stages. 

His cool smiley demeanour hides an utterly focused driver who will take any opportunity he can get and maximise it. He rarely makes a mistake, and is always on the edge but so in control, looking for a chance. It's no coincidence that the three races Mercedes didn't win this year were picked up by Ricciardo.

His victories in Canada and Belgium may have been down to Mercedes problems but he was in a position to capitalise. The one in Hungary was brilliant though, exploiting the circumstances through a safety car it was early on when he got on the radio to say they could win this. Fighting back after pitting from the lead, with just three laps to go he made a bold around the outside move on Hamilton, then a slick one down the inside on Alonso. 

Passing two of the toughest out there to take the win, it was utterly thrilling and indicative of how comfortable he was mixing it at the top of the sport. He wasn't scared of going toe to toe with anyone out there. His move on Alonso in the USA was close to the edge but brilliant opportunism. It was truly an exceptional season. This guy is the real deal, and if Red Bull can close the gap to Mercedes next year, he'll be on the championship trail.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Button to partner Alonso at McLaren Honda

Finally, the driver line up the world of Formula 1 has been waiting for, for what seems like months. It can now be confirmed that Fernando Alonso has returned to McLaren to continue his mission to win a third world title. Jenson Button has been given the nod to continue for another year, while Kevin Magnussen is retained as reserve driver.

It seems like Alonso is on a two year contract with optional clauses to get out if performance is poor, while Button is on a one year contract. I'm quite excited by this line up, I think Button will be able to hassle Alonso far more than Kimi has done this year, but it is going to be very tough for the Briton.

This year, Alonso has almost single handedly kept Ferrari ahead in the constructors championship. He's still driving better than ever. Button really stepped up when he was partnered against Lewis Hamilton, I expect exactly the same scenario here as they make the oldest line up in Formula 1.

Fernando has arrived on a big money deal, but I doubt they'll have retained Button if he was expecting to be given preferential treatment, so I expect them to be treated equally. That in itself could cause tension if Button is giving him a hard time. 

Equally Fernando's relationship with McLaren Group CEO Ron Dennis will come under scrutiny after Alonso's acrimonious departure from the team in 2007. After Button's long wait to be announced as 2015 race driver and the fact Dennis favoured Magnussen, I'm not sure either driver has the best relationship with the teams head. Interesting year ahead at McLaren as they also come to grips with dealing with new partner McLaren and integrating their new power unit.

Magnussen's position as reserve driver means he'll be looking to get back in the race seat by 2016, meaning if Button wants an extension of more than one year he's going to have to be on it. That's not even thinking about McLaren young driver Stoffel Vandoorne, currently plying his trade in GP2.

all photos taken from autosport.com

Drivers of the year Q2

We continue our drivers of the year with 17 down to 11. To read part one click here. And like the previous post we start with a Caterham driver...

17. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham)

It's always difficult to tell drivers relative performances because of the car, in the end you have to make assumptions and compare them to their team mates. Kobayashi destroyed Ericsson after a year away from the sport. Despite driving for free to get back on the grid, he was flat out everywhere, even after Caterham started messing him around. It could have been him to get points in Monaco until he was barged out of the way by Jules Bianchi, which damaged his car. He couldn't have done too much more.

16. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

The Ferrari was terrible this year, of that there is no doubt but surely the intra-team battle would liven it up for Ferrari? Not a bit of it, the facts are Fernando Alonso scored 161 points, Kimi just 55. He was out of sorts all year, could never get the car to his liking and suffered terrible luck when he failed to get a clean weekend for most of the year. Reliability certainly wasn't his friend. But when you see the other car half a minute up the road, then you know that the car is capable of more, Kimi was unable to extract that potential. 

He had some starring moments, he should have had a podium in Monaco, beat Fernando in Belgium and raced hard with his team mate in Brazil. But that was it. I think he was fully motivated to do well, but he's not a driver able to drive round a problem in the mould of Alonso or Hamilton. Disappointing year, but at least Fernando left otherwise he'd be sitting without a drive albeit with a whole heap of money if Ferrari had paid him off. Again.

15. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)

Bianchi looked a bit sketchy at the start of the season, Chilton looked closer on pace but he soon sorted it out and began to impress once again. Dragged the Marussia as high as it could go, often being the lead of the Marussia/Caterham battle. 

One of the best moments of the season was when he crossed the line 9th to score the teams first world championship points in Monaco, which came from one of the best passes of the season when he threw his car up the inside of Kobayashi at La Rascasse. A bit of wheel banging and he was through. A 12th place in a wet British Grand Prix qualifying was equally impressive. Then in Japan came his accident causing severe head injuries which means he currently resides unconscious in a French hospital. A Ferrari academy driver, it was rumoured he could've been in the team next season. #ForzaJules

14. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)

A driver I rated well in the top ten last season doesn't just become my 14th rated pilot because he forgets how to drive. However a car which was often one of the top two vehicles on the track in 2013 but becomes one of the worst this year helps contribute to a fall in driver performance. 

For me Grosjean will be a Grand Prix winner given the equipment, he has learnt to be fast and consistent, long gone are the days of predicting the lap Grosjean might have a crash. But the car was not there for him this year despite two fantastic eighth places in Spain and Monaco.  

His fifth place qualifying at the Catalunya track has to be one of the laps of the season. But as the season went on and he suffered yet another failure of his Renault power unit, things got to him and he started making public his frustrations. With Mercedes power next year in his Lotus, we may see him able to exploit his talent properly.

13. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)

Podium in your first race for McLaren, certainly not a bad way to start your Formula 1 career. Magnussen qualified brilliantly in Australia and took third place which became second after Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification. It was as impressive a debut as any, it looked like Button had a fight on his hands at McLaren. 

The season ended with Button out-qualifying Magnussen 10-9 and out scoring him 126-55. Magnussen was far better than those statistics make out, some of his Saturday afternoons were fantastic. However, you can't escape the fact he lost his way after the podium for several races and barely deserved a mention. But he came back fighting, his driving in Belgium and Italy, particularly his defence was extremely impressive, he suffered penalties but I think both were arguably unfair, it at least made people aware of him once again and brought a spark back to his driving. 

But still there were other times like in Japan, where he looked a little lost. Magnussen is young, quick and is only going to get better. He deserves another year but for now will have to settle for a reserve driver role at McLaren for 2015.

12. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

Vergne isn't the best qualifier but he sure is a racer. 22 points, 14 more than his Red Bull bound team mate Daniil Kvyat managed to score. But Kvyat was in his rookie campaign and still managed to out qualify him over the year and the Russian could have scored a few more points if it weren't for problems. He pretty much matched Vergne in his debut year, he's only going to get better. 

That's Vergne's problem unfortunately, he almost matched Ricciardo, he was matched by a 20 year old rookie while Vergne was in his third year. Very good, but not quite good enough? Toro Rosso is meant to bring on talent so although Vergne would have been a good bench mark for either incoming Toro Rosso drivers, Max Verstappen or Carlos Sainz Jnr, he's had three years in the team, their aim is to breed drivers for Red Bull. They've not promoted him twice now, why would they do it a third time? 

It was a shame, after he thought he was being ousted by Verstappen he came alive in the last third of the season with a number of charging drives, particularly in Singapore. Vergne has got himself a seat in Formula E in that series next race in Uruguay this weekend but he's too good to not be in Formula 1 and deserves a chance with another team, however as other Toro Rosso rejects have found out, it isn't easy getting back in when you've been thrown out.

11. Sergio Perez (Force India)

I'm not sure Nico Hulkenberg thought Perez would be quite as up for the battle within Force India as he turned out to be. Perez took the teams only podium of the year in Bahrain and nearly scored another in Canada. He was still prone to the odd moment of over exuberance, but I was impressed by Perez this year. He scored in eleven races, further shaking off the tag he is just a driver for a few stand out drives while not bringing home the points in the rest. His comparison to Hulkenberg is favourable as Nico is highly rated, Perez was close and many times better over the season. The question is though, do people now think Perez is better or Hulkenberg worse?

Click on the link for the top 10 drivers of the year.
 
all photos taken from autosport.com

Drivers of the year Q1

It's that time of the year, the time to make lists and to wrap 2014 up in a nice little bow. There's nothing better to do that with than a list of the best drivers in Formula 1 this year. I've got three parts to whittle it down to the best of the year. We'll begin with knocking out the first seven of the 24 drivers who competed in this years championship starting with a Caterham driver. And then another...

24. Will Stevens (Caterham)

Replaced Marcus Ericsson at the struggling Caterham outfit for the finale in Abu Dhabi. He's had limited success in Formula Renault 3.5 but didn't disgrace himself, qualifying half a second behind Kamui Kobayashi and making it to the finish in the race.





23. Andre Lotterer (Caterham)

I was tempted to put him higher up than Ericsson, but he was another one race wonder for Caterham in Belgium. His vast experience in single seaters and World Endurance Championship for Audi meant he impressed straight away despite not having driven a Formula 1 car for over 10 years when he tested for Jaguar. Out-qualified Ericsson, but retired after only one lap when his power unit packed up. Made you wish he'd had more of a chance.

22. Marcus Ericsson (Caterham)

A budget got him the drive, a budget has kept him in Formula 1 instead of drivers further up this list. Ericsson has talent, he's won titles in junior Formulae and scored three GP2 wins over four seasons in the category, but for whatever reason he did not shine this season. There were only a couple of races where he looked to have genuinely outpaced his team mate Kobayashi and that looked like it was because the Japanese's car was hobbled.

21. Max Chilton (Marussia)

Two seasons in the sport and it's sad that Chilton's F1 career looks to have come to an end as he comes across as a nice guy. But nice guy status doesn't make you successful and although he looked to have made progress compared to his results last year, ultimately he was blown away by his team mate Jules Bianchi again. Unless he can use his money for a drive elsewhere, it's probably the last we'll see of Chilton.

20. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus)

Maybe, just maybe going off the track while you're looking at something on the steering wheel can be excused once. But a second time? Really? This was not Maldonado's finest season, there were far too many crashes this year. Previously these may have been overlooked because he can be extremely fast, but the Lotus mechanics saw little of that speed, but plenty of broken carbon fibre. The Lotus wasn't a worthy car either, but apart from shining in the USA to pick up two points there was little to be happy about.

19. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)

Another driver to come to the end of their second F1 season with not much to show for it other than being out of a job. Sauber were poor this year, neither car managed to score a point, but their drivers looked to be lacking too. After improving towards the end of 2013 and bagging some points, I thought Gutierrez might blossom this time around. Not to be, comprehensively out qualified by Sutil and just the highlight of 12th in Australia. Looked set for points in Monaco after a decent drive but threw them away, crashing at La Rascasse 19 laps from the end.

18. Adrian Sutil (Sauber)

Sauber have replaced both drivers for next year despite Sutil having a contract. Although it is debatable whether the team have improved their lot on this seasons performance I'm not sure Sutil can have too much to argue about. His first year away from Force India and it couldn't have gone worse. In 2013 Gutierrez was no match for Hulkenberg. In 2014 he matched Sutil for race pace quite often. Sutil often looked in despair with the car and it seemed he just didn't have the heart to drag it around. A sad finish to what must be the end of his F1 career.

Q2 is available here

all photos taken from autosport.com