[Official] Top 10 Drivers of the Season and Number 1 Driver Poll

[Born Racer]

Who are your top 10 drivers of the season?

I think I would go with the following:

1. Lewis Hamilton He matured a lot this season and found a calm way to deal with whatever was thrown at his championship campaign, including a strong team-mate and some reliability problems. The Grand Prix at Silverstone was symptomatic of his ability to overturn a bad situation after the qualifying mess. He only once failed to beat Rosberg in a straight fight when neither of them had problems and they started together. So many times he pulled off hard but just about fair and decisive moves.

2. Daniel Ricciardo Did anyone expect him to be so good? This was the surprise of the season as much as Vettel's lack of pace relative to him. However poor Seb was, Daniel kept his form throughout the year and was emphatically the only non-Mercedes driver to win a Grand Prix, three of them in fact. He also pulled off some excellent overtaking manoeuvres. Hungary springs to mind.

3. Nico Rosberg Being Hamilton's team-mate has never been easy and for the second time in his racing career, he was up against him (and indeed up against it, in trying to beat him). His star has been in the ascendancy for a while, with an impressive performance against Michael Schumacher. Now came a bigger challenge and he didn't quite win this one, but did a solid and fast job all year. His wheel-to-wheel combat couldn't top Hamilton's and his ultimate pace neither, but he did show excellent mental resilience, even when Lewis began a strong run in the latter part of the season. Second place in the championship might not be much of a consolation prize, though.

4. Fernando Alonso Typical Alonso really. No championship, no championship chances, but thrashed his team-mate and did nothing to reduce the general impression that he's still one of the absolute finest Formula 1 drivers.

5. Valtteri Bottas He seems so professional. His Williams car was excellent on most tracks this year and the Mercedes engine too, but he knew what to do with it and had an uncanny feel for tyres. I think we can all appreciate the faith Williams had in him now.

6. Daniil Kvyat Red Bull used to be the home of Sebs, but now it seems to be the turn of the Daniels and Daniils. I'm looking forward to seeing how this battle turns out next year, as he was a thoroughly impressive Formula 1 newcomer this year doing the "putting the car where it doesn't deserve to be" thing on several occasions (I don't like that kind of expression, but you know what I'm getting at). Vergne also had some very strong days, but over the season it's Daniil that seemed to get more out of it overall and the one I'd choose for my team of the two.

7. Jenson Button Previously, Perez ran him much closer than the McLaren-rated Magussen did all year. This was, I think, a better season in 2014 by Jenson than in 2013 and he could be relied upon to regularly get as big a points haul as the car allowed him. Jenson has long been known (rightly or wrongly) as a driver with a fairly narrow set-up window in which to perform, but this year he seemed to defeat that impression somewhat by regularly delivering a better performance than his team-mate.

8. Sergio Perez I enjoyed the Force India battle and thought Sergio came back impressively in the second half of the year against his team-mate.

9. Nico Hulkenberg Went out of the blocks ahead of his team-mate in 2014, but was more regularly beaten as the year went on. Still, he had some giant-killing performances.

10. Sebastian Vettel Was tempted to go for Jules Bianchi here, but Max Chilton is not as tough opposition to beat as Daniel Ricciardo, so I figure I must at least include Sebastian in the top ten. A disappointing season whichever way you cut it because he's a four-time champion and I kept expecting him to bounce back and at least beat Daniel a bit more, so continued to be surprised when he didn't. He did, however, get some good race results on occasion and looked quite good. It's just that 'quite good' isn't what you'd expect from a four-time champion.

A poll is included for you to vote for the best driver (only drivers who completed most the season have been included).

[BertMk2]

1 - Ricciardo Fared better against Vettel than anyone would have thought and won races despite the Renault engine.

2 - Bottas Along with Ricciardo consistently took the fight to the Mercedes boys.

3 - Alonso Dragged the dog of a Ferrari to places it probably shouldn't have been.

4 - Hamilton Beat his teammate and only challenger.

5 - Rosberg Still in the fight going in to the last race - I'm not sure how many people thought he'd be that close to Hamilton?

6 - Button Probably got the most out of another disappointing McLaren and comfortably beat his teammate.

7 - Massa There's life in the old dog yet! Shaded by Bottas but still capable of pulling out a decent result - Brazil being a particular highlight.

8 - Kvyat Quicker than I thought he'd be and had the edge over his more experienced teammate.

9 - Bianchi Comfortably the quickest of the tail enders. Forza Jules.

10 - Hulkenberg Again showed his class by scoring well in the Force India. Still looks like he's going to miss out on a top seat though.

[Born Racer]

I can see this one being very close for the top spot between Hamilton and Ricciardo.

[p-matt]

1 Ricciardo
2 Hamilton
3 Rosberg
4 Bottas
5 Alonso
6 Button
7 Hulkenberg
8 Kvyat
9 Bianchi
10 Perez
11 Vergne
12 Massa
13 Vettel
14 Magnussen
15 Grosjean
16 Raikkonen
17 Sutil
18 Kobayashi
19 Ericsson
20 Gutierrez
21 Chilton
22 Maldonado

[spider]

Dan all day long.

In the best car by far, Lewis beat Nico Rosberg who I think we can all agree isn't a Sebastian Vettel. To get out qualified as many times as he did by Nico means he surely can't be rated as driver of the year.

Daniel stepped up to face the four time world champion - and comprehensively out-performed him. Winning three races, something the faster Williams couldn't do.

Daniel was utterly first class.

[stripedcat]

1. Daniel Riccardio - A truly impressive driver at Red Bull. Who would have thought that he would beat his more experienced 4 times WDC team mate? Not only that, but he was the only non Mercedes driver to pick up a win - and on 3 separate occasions. Plus, claiming 3rd in the WDC. For that, he is to me, the driver of the season.

2. Lewis Hamilton - He has come a long way from his McLaren days. I think that Lewis probably doesn't have a certain mental toughness needed for F1 - but he has improved of late on that. Sure, this season he has made mistakes - I don't think his attempt to ridicule Rosberg was wise. You can't deny we saw some superb performances from him(Bahrain - on different tyres to his team mate, Silverstone, Monza, Austin and Suzuka). I think he probably has the upper hand of Rosberg when going wheel-to-wheel. He managed to claw back the points gap and in the last quarter of the season, I think there is no denying that then he had the upper hand.

3. Nico Rosberg - Do you fancy being Lewis' team mate? Seems like he was up for the challenge! He took on and beat Schumi, after all. I think it surprised a lot of people how competitive it was with him and Hamilton. He managed to out-qualify him. He also managed to come back into play for the WDC after Lewis 4 in a row victories early in the season - that's some feat. Plus, what about driving that stricken car to 2nd in Canada? True, he got beaten when going wheel-to-wheel with Lewis - only, really Brazil did he resist the pressure from him. A worthy opponent to Hamilton - and probably next year - he'll be even tougher!

4. Valteri Bottas - Quite a find. I always suspected he had some talent. He was sort of lucky that Williams have been able to make a good car - helped by the Mercedes engine. His run of podiums was impressive. A consistent driver. He seems to work well with his team. Claiming 4th in the WDC and helping Williams to 3rd in the WCC only adds to his reputation.

5. Fernando Alonso - I still think that he is probably the best all rounder in F1. It's just a hell of a shame that he doesn't seem to have the decent machinery under him. No wins this season. Still - we did see him outperforming his car on number of occasions - remember his battle with Vettel at Silverstone? China was impressive - with him claiming a podium. I think his performance in Hungary was amazing as well - that was so nearly a victory - incredible what he did on those worn tyres! Truly standout there! He also thrashed Kimi. Let us hope he has more luck with McLaren.

6. Felipe Massa - I was about to write him off - but no, Felipe has still got some of the old magic! He had a sort of unlucky start to the season - but managed to come back and put in some impressive performances. Pole in Austria was very impressive - the only non Mercedes driver to get a pole this season! Then having quite a impressive tally of podiums in the latter part of the season - despite being up against Bottas. I think in later stages of the season - Massa perhaps had the upper hand over Bottas. Helping Williams to 3rd in WCC only cemented that Felipe could perhaps still mix it with the best of them.

7. Jenson Button - A sad year for Jenson. Losing his dad at the start of the year, and not helped by the uncertainly of what he'll be doing for next year. He did not have a good car this year. The McLaren improved a little bit by the later stages of the season. It was perhaps at Suzuka - in the wet - where Jenson so often prevails - that we saw what a great driver he is! Even though his McLaren did have updates - I think we can say that he did outperform his car on race day. A great performance from him. I made him DOTOR for Suzuka for that very reason. He managed to pull off some more good performances in the latter part of the season(Abu Dhabi being one of them - and that little tussle with Alonso) - and he managed to beat Magnusson. F1 will be less interesting without him.

8. Sergio Pérez - Had a fairly consistent points scoring tally this season. Helped by having the Mercedes engine; sadly, the Force India lost ground performance wise in the late stages of the season. He was mighty at Bahrain(possibly overshadowed by the epic Mercedes duel) - and claimed a well deserved podium. It showed there there is some talent there - despite his rather so-so year at McLaren.

9. Sebastain Vettel - Well, okay he has had a troubled season. Hey, he left a team with Adrian Newey as designer after all! Getting beaten so comprehensively by a younger less experienced team mate must have taken its toll. Likewise, the jibes about how he needs the best machinery must hurt. We did see some glimpses of the old Vettel magic - 2nd in qualifying for Malaysia and then claiming a 3rd place on the podium. He also pulled off another podium in Canada. It seems that in the latter part of the season, he had come to grips more with his car - and seemed happier. He did look amazing at Suzuka - a well deserved 3rd place there and another podium. However, there is no doubt that his reputation has taken a bit of a battering!

10. Nico Hülkenberg - A guy who needs to get a decent drive. I don't think that season he had much of an opportunity to stand out - but despite that - he had an impressive points scoring tally. It did help Force India in the WCC - just a shame that there car wasn't quite up to the Williams.

[bauble]

I've gone for Kvyat because he has exceeded expectations and made it in to Red Bull for 2015. In my view everyone else has done pretty much as expected, although Ricciardo has surprised me.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

1 - Daniel Ricciardo
He's the only driver on the grid never to have done too little in an important session. Phenomenal all season, never put a foot wrong, took the best win of the season in Hungary, and just plain hammered his 4-time WDC Vettel this season. I was sceptical of his ability (still think Vergne should've got this seat) but the stats DO NOT lie, in Formula 1 more than all other sports. 3rd in the table is frankly wrong!

2 - Lewis Hamilton
He won the damn thing.

3 - Valterri Bottas
It's only his 2nd F1 season and I already rate him more highly than just about everyone.

4 - Nico Rosberg
He nearly won the damn thing. But didn't and was poor in several key occasions. Spa was poor, but that followed from a very bad drive at Hungary.

5 - Jenson Button
Never put a foot wrong, but wasn't as spectacular as Ricciardo. But his Japan drive was one of the drives of the season and he could've got a potential podium in Hungary if McLaren weren't so STUPID (think about it, he may well have passed Ricciardo after the restart anyway to lead the race on the correct tyres, and Ricciardo won the race!)

6 - Fernando Alonso
Actually disappointing. Few giant killing performances (compared to normal) and several ones that could have been (Suzuka).

7 - Jules Bianchi
I really wish him and his family the best. He is a truly phenomenal talent and getting Marussia their only ever F1 points is brilliant. He looked destined for a Ferrari drive in 2016 and never made any stupid errors.

8 - Nico Hulkenberg
This is the man who, after Bahrain, sat 3rd in the Formula 1 standings for Force India. And yet the media totally ignored it. The best driver in Formula 1 history to have never achieved a podium, and I really hope that changes next season.

9 - Felipe Massa
Had the best end of season of anyone other than Hamilton, but, mid-season especially, was a crash magnet, and it was often his fault.

10 - Danil Kvyat
After a few seasons in my attention, I still don't know if his forename has 2 'i's in, but however you spell his name, he was a phenomenal rookie talent, had some awesome car control (see Monza brake failure, Silverstone practice) and was bloody fast! Hopefully can win races for RBR next season, he's a deserving talent and has a bright future.

Honourable mention(s):
Sergio Perez, Sebastian Vettel, Kevin Magnussen and Jean-Éric Vergne all had their days in the sun too, but weren't good enough this season in this ridiculous array of talent. Also, a shout out to André Lotterer for his all-too-short F1 debut/swansong. He was great that day, but in a Caterham. A broken Caterham.

[m355y]

1 Lewis Hamilton, fantastic year and comfortably had the measure of Rosberg over a race distance, maybe his best season since his debut.

2 Daniel Ricciardo, had no idea he was that good. Races breutifully, beats Vettel all season, won three times and barely put a foot wrong.

3 Valtteri Bottas, a string of podiums and had the upper hand over Massa not maybe always on pace but on sheer reliability, brilliant breakthrough year.

4 Nico Rosberg, did a good solid job and on his day took the fight to Lewis. That day wasn't often enough though, massive kudos for pole trophy.

5 Fernando Alonso, destroyed Raikkonen, drove reliably all season although it was hardly his most spectacular due to uncompetitive car.

6 Felipe Massa, always quick but a mess at times this season before pulling it all together and having a real edge over Bottas in the last third of the year. Odd.

7 Jenson Button, over the season as a whole he had a comfortable measure of Magnussen and an almost Fernando-like points gathering machine all year.

8 Nico Hulkenberg, not his most convincing and faded mid season but showed his quality as usual and scored very heavily all season in a midfield car.

9 Sebastian Vettel, not a terrible season in terms of points scored, some good feisty racing and the odd podium, but when you're routinely behind your relatively unknown team-mate all season as a 4x champion? This year did his rep huge damage.

10 Jean-Eric Vergne, genuinely edges Kvyat because he scored three times as many points and raced very well at times. Enough to stay in F1? Doubt it now.

11 Kevin Magnussen, drove beautifully in Australia then rarely caught the eye again, qualified well at times though. Decent rookie season but never delivered on that initial promise.

12 Daniil Kvyat, very unlucky not to score more points and some great qualifying runs late in the season. Suspect it might be a season too early for Red Bull, but..

13 Sergio Perez, his usual solid but not entirely convincing season slightly behind his team-mate but scoring pretty strongly. The odd flash of 2012 potential. In the case of Canade spoiled by a needless crash.

14 Romain Grosjean, plugged away in a diabolical Lotus and had the edge on Maldonado at times by a big margin. Kept his head down and did all he could.

15 Jules Bianchi, was going along very well at times and a great result in Monaco, but hard to tell exactly how good he is. Get well soon.

16 Kimi Raikkonen, struggled with the Ferrari. Hard to tell if Kimi was genuinely bad, or Fernando was just really, really good. Still the odd moment.

17 Adrian Sutil, uninspiring lead driver, rubbish car, like Grosjean seemed to quietly get on with it and was unlucky not to get in the points on occasion.

18 Kamui Kobayashi, you wonder why he bothered really? I guess because he loves F1 and that I'd show with decent pace in a rotten car and way ahead of Ericsson for most of the season.

19 Max Chilton, definite improvement this season, seemed close to Bianchi on pace at times. Not a superstar, but proved his place on the grid.

20 Pastor Maldonado, like last season he actually didn't get into too many scrapes and often ran ok in the races, but if the weekend started badly you might as well have written him off, constantly out lamely in Q1 and often looked like he couldn't really be bothered.

21 Esteban Gutierrez, like last season the odd very occasional flash of being alright but mainly looked nothing like an F1 driver at all.

22 Marcus Ericsson, pretty unimpressive in terms of his pace and despite a late upturn in his last two races, you wonder how he got the Sauber drive.

[Beryl]

1. Ricciardo
2. Alonso
3. Hamilton
4. Button
<gap>
5. Vergne
6. Bottas
7. Massa
8. Rosberg
9. Hulkenburg
10. Vettel
11. Perez
12. Grosjean
13. Bianchi
14. Kvyat
15. Magnusson

Really hard to rate the drivers outside of the top 4. How do you compare someone driving a Williams to someone driving a Lotus? If Grosjean had not crashed under the SC in Hungary (inexcusable), I probably would have ranked him 6th instead of Bottas.

Also, I don't understand how anyone can rank Bottas or Rosberg ahead of Alonso. Alonso destroyed his WDC teammate, made very few mistakes and often put a substandard Ferrari into places where it shouldn't have been. Rosberg was beaten by his teammate 10-4 when both finished, could not overtake when he had a significant advantage (Hungary, Spain, Bahrain) and made major errors under pressure (Russia, Italy, USA). Bottas was beaten by Massa 8-6 when both finished. Furthermore, he was beaten 7-3 when neither Williams had major problems. Bottas was very lucky to have finshed with more points than Massa and, as much as I like Massa, Felipe is no Alonso.

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

was a crash magnet, and it was often his fault.

Massa had a 50-50 crash with Magnusson in Germany, but otherwise, he was faultless in his crashes. But does that fit your narrative?

[Born Racer]

Rosberg was beaten by his teammate 10-4 when both finished, could not overtake when he had a significant advantage (Hungary, Spain, Bahrain) and made major errors under pressure

Yeah, but Alonso had no pressure and an inferior team-mate.

[Trev Campbell]

1) Ricciardo - The only Non Mercedes winner all year, with a Renault engine and smashed his 4 time WDC team mate, also made some of the best passing moves of the season

2) Hamilton - Won the WDC in the best car by a country mile

3) Alonso - Put the Ferrari in places it shouldn't have been capable of ......... again

4) Rosberg - Took the fight to the end of the season, was surprisingly strong in quali against Lewis

5) Bottas - Took it to the Mercs on may occasions, only have him this low because the 2 race I think he had a real shot at beating the Mercs he blew the start massively on both occasions, Italy and Abu Dhabi

6) Button - Simply drove as Jenson does smooth and gets results, showed his younger team mate how it's done

7) Kvyat - Very impressive in quali, seemed to cope mechanical bafd luck a bit when in strong race positions

8) Hulkenburg - Strong first half of the year but then faded as the year went on

9) Massa - The exact opposite of Hulkenburg, appear all at sae the first half of the year but an impressive run of podiums in the latter half

10) Vettel - Still a good driver but getting smashed by Dan was a huge surprise, motivation may have been an issue after 4 years with the best car then getting a bit of a dog (for him)

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Yeah, but Alonso had no pressure and an inferior team-mate.

No pressure at Ferrari... and suddenly Kimi is inferior. He didn't look inferior alongside Grosjean, but now he is. It has nothing to do with Alonso of course.

Anyway, you say this:

Originally Posted by Born Racer

4. Fernando Alonso ... did nothing to reduce the general impression that he's still one of the absolute finest Formula 1 drivers.

But did Rosberg really do enough to elevate himself into the category of "the absolute finest Formula 1 drivers"? When Fernando was competing for championships, he never made anywhere near the same amount of schoolboy errors as Rosberg did this season and he was never been trounced by his teammate in races the way Rosberg has been. Alonso has never lost to a teammate on race finishes, nevermind getting creamed 10-4. Since Alonso has done nothing to dispel the belief that he is still among the very best, why would Fernando's driving this season be considered inferior to (Rosberg's) driving that is obviously considerably inferior to Alonso's best?

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Beryl

1. Ricciardo
2. Alonso
3. Hamilton
4. Button
<gap>
5. Vergne
6. Bottas
7. Massa
8. Rosberg
9. Hulkenburg
10. Vettel
11. Perez
12. Grosjean
13. Bianchi
14. Kvyat
15. Magnusson

Really hard to rate the drivers outside of the top 4. How do you compare someone driving a Williams to someone driving a Lotus? If Grosjean had not crashed under the SC in Hungary (inexcusable), I probably would have ranked him 6th instead of Bottas.

Also, I don't understand how anyone can rank Bottas or Rosberg ahead of Alonso. Alonso destroyed his WDC teammate, made very few mistakes and often put a substandard Ferrari into places where it shouldn't have been. Rosberg was beaten by his teammate 10-4 when both finished, could not overtake when he had a significant advantage (Hungary, Spain, Bahrain) and made major errors under pressure (Russia, Italy, USA). Bottas was beaten by Massa 8-6 when both finished. Furthermore, he was beaten 7-3 when neither Williams had major problems. Bottas was very lucky to have finshed with more points than Massa and, as much as I like Massa, Felipe is no Alonso.
Massa had a 50-50 crash with Magnusson in Germany, but otherwise, he was faultless in his crashes. But does that fit your narrative?

I'd struggle to argue with your top 4. For the rest, I'd probably drop Vergne down the order and lift Kvyat but it is, I agree, difficult to place them in any specific order.

[Beryl]

Five to thirteen or fourteen are almost arbitrary really. Too many variables to make a reliable driver analysis across teams, and this season it was complicated further by many balanced teammate pairings in the midfield. A lot of strong but unremarkable performances from all of those drivers.

On second thought, I probably overvalued Vergne based on his excellent racecraft and how he compared against the (now) superb Ricciardo. If I could edit, I'd probably bump Vergne down to behind Rosberg and Perez down to #14.

[steve_r]

1) Hamilton - WDC. Most race wins. Enhanced his reputation
2) Ricciardo - Would barely register in my top 10 from last season. His annihilation of a 4 time WDC was completely unexpected.
3) Alonso - Still the man in many peoples eyes. Just needs a car to show it.
4) Rosberg - I always thought he was good, but did not expect him to go so close to Hamilton.
5) Vettel - Terrible season, but surely he is still one of the best out there? Is he?
6) Button - Particularly good in the second half of the season. Based on talent alone, should be on the grid next term.
7) Bottas. - I'm not quite buying all the hype just yet, but there is no doubt his is very good indeed.
8) Bianchi - Should have ousted Raikonnen in the Ferrari next season if it were not for that awful accident.
9) Hulkenberg - Perez has taken the shine of him a little. I hope he gets a race winning car before it's too late.
10) Kvyat - Brilliant rookie season. Look forward to seeing him in a top line car.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by steve_r

1) Hamilton - WDC. Most race wins. Enhanced his reputation.

4) Rosberg - I always thought he was good, but did not expect him to go so close to Hamilton.

I don't think Hamilton enhanced his reputation has he? He won the championship in what was a two horse race - and as you said yourself you didn't expect Rosberg to be so close to Hamilton so he didn't really do anything other than the minimum expected of him this season. Saying that the history books now say Hamilton has 2 drivers championships so maybe in a few years when people have forgotten the details of how the season panned out it'll look better.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

1. Daniel Ricciardo. The new Mark Webber? Yes if you think so. He deserved to be in a team that was dominant last year and helped Red Bull to get a single victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. His battles between Fernando Alonso at Germany and Hungary was the best moment during the summer time. He is my favourite driver of the season.

2. Lewis Hamilton. Deserving the 2014 championship, he broke these Grand Prix victory records: Piquet's at Malaysia, Fangio's at Bahrain, Lauda and Clark's at China, Stewart's at Britain, Mansell's at Russia and then Alonso's at USA.

3. Nico Rosberg. At the end of the season, he showed respect to his teammate.

4. Fernando Alonso. The Hungarian GP was unforgettable with him and Ric, but he (and his car) struggled to win.

5. Kevin Magnussen. With a podium finish at Australia that wrote the history of Danish sport I was so proud of him. My mind has never forgotten and will never forget that moment at the Australian Grand Prix.

6. Sebastian Vettel. Struggling to take a victory in all of the races this season, I expected him to get a podium in Germany along with Nico Rosberg and Nico Hülkenberg.

7. Valtteri Bottas. He really deserved a good car and a good engine. Also deserved podiums.

8. Felipe Massa, because of this, this and this. Yeah you know, that's in my view.

9. Sergio Pérez. As he couldn't get better results than he had at Sauber in 2012, his description about his podium at Bahrain was a good one.

10. Nico Hülkenberg. He scored consecutive points finishes from Australia to Germany, but I did expected him to get on the podium as he couldn't do that for 4 seasons.

EDIT: Whoa, more people voting on Ricciardo as the best driver of 2014? I'll put his car as my mobile wallpaper!

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

What happened to Button on your list? Forget about him?

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

What happened to Button on your list? Forget about him?

Not on the list, sorry. As I know that he did good performances in some races, there are also other things that I will never forget what happened in 2014.

[maximus]

Like what? You put Magnussen in 5th for one brilliant race at the beginning, yet he has half of JB's points.

[dsg]

Originally Posted by TheNo1F1Fan

helped Red Bull to get a single victory at the Canadian Grand Prix.

I'm not sure he actually watched any of the races.

[Teretonga]

1.Ricciardo
2.Hamilton
3.Alonso
4.Button
5.Rosberg
6.Bottas
7.Hulkenberg
8.Perez
9.Massa
10.Magnussen


There isn't a lot of difference between this group and Kvyat, Vergne, and Grosjean may deserve a place amongst them but mechanical problems left one in some doubt regarding their real ability.

Many may feel that Massa is hard done by but I am also looking at his accidents at Canada and Germany, his incident in Malaysia (or was it China?) and his responses at the time, plus some other earlier events. Was he making the most of his opportunities with that car?
Button may be a little high on some other considerations but his overall performance across the year and perhaps some of the McLaren MP4-29's apparent shortcomings worked in his favour.
Bottas I have always been impressed with, including his GP3 days, and I had no problem placing him there relative to Rosberg and Massa.

Hulkenberg and Perez both had some great races and across the year performed to the car's maximum, certainly as much as STR and the other smaller teams.
I am not sure the Williams team made the most out of the car's potential across the whole season, especially the first half of the year.

Kvyat may push Ricciardo hard next year or be comprehensively beaten but we'll know by November 2015.

[Razzzor]

1. Ricciardo
No doubts about that for me, he took 3 wins (although in some ways Vettel could/should have won 2 of those bad ran out of luck). But otherwise consistently outperformed, even in qualifying where Vettel is supposed to be really strong.

2. Hamilton
This is a tough one even putting Lewis second, because while he did usually make the most of his races, his qualifying performences weren't so flash. And honestly, Nico was much closer to Hamilton than you'd expect from F1's overall #2 driver (after Alonso). Nico was even faster than him in a number of races.

3. Alonso
Pretty plain, forgettable year from Alonso. But you've still gotta put him up there because while the Ferrari might have been a mid-fielder, he still thrashed Kimi who was probably DOTY in 2012.

4. Rosberg
He really took it to Hamiton! And could very easily have won that last race if he got the jump at the start. These two really pushed each other flat out all season. I do think he succumbed to the pressure a few times though.

5. Bottas
I would have put Bottas up at #3 but there were a few races late in the season where he really wasn't able to keep up with Massa. Which wouldn't be a biggy, but I don't rate Massa highly after what is probably the biggest domination of a team mate in decades with Alonso vs Massa. Also, I think if someone like Hamilton or Alonso (or even Ricciardo) were in one of those Williams', they wouldn't have been fighting for 3rd at every race, they'd be taking it to the Mercedes'. Too many missed opportunities for both Bottas and Massa, especially early on.

6. Button
I've never been a Jense fan, but his late season charge was very good, finally getting the most out of the McLaren. I rate Magnussen pretty highly, so for the old dog to beat him quite well a number of times, perhaps it was one last charge from him. Button, in my opinion, has always been a bit of an up and down driver.

7. Kyvat
Vergne is still fast enough to be in F1, shame we probably won't see him next year. But for an inexperienced Kyvat, jumping from GP3 which is a big leap, to straight away be matching and outperforming Vergne, that's quite something.

8. Bianchi
The 2 backmarkers often don't get watched much, but Bianchi is surely good enough to be in the top 10. Dominated Chilton, 9th a Monaco.

9. Magnussen
I might give this to Kmag, he's a rookie, finished 2nd in his debut, matched the pace of a F1 champion teammate most of the season. He just didn't get the results he deserved due to some inconsistency in finishing (mistakes/bad luck) and a few penalties he didn't really deserve.


I'm stuck on 10. Vettel was okay and it was really a bit of bad luck that he didn't win at least one of those races that Ricciardo won.

Verge was also okay, despite having Kyvat as #7, Verge got considerably more points and really wasn't too bad. Deserves a seat, but he'll be very quick in the superior Indycar championship should he get a ride.

There's also the Force India drivers - I think they were very evenly matched. Even if Hulk scored a lot more points, it was Perez that got the podium and I don't think many expected Perez to be as fast, often faster, than Hulkenberg. Got to wonder if Hulk's reputation has gone down slightly this year. He may never get that Ferrari drive now.

Then there's Massa, proving he is still good enough to be on the grid this year, which I wasn't expecting.

[Razzzor]

Trev... we got the same top 7.

Nothing against Perez and Hulk, but considering they had the Mercedes engine they should have been much higher up the grid. They clearly had the speed during the year, so was the chassis really that bad?

Pre-2014 if someone was to say Mercedes engines would be dominant in 2014, your pick would be Rosberg/Lewis, Perez/Hulk and Button/Kmag in Mercedes/FI/McLaren to be the dominant teams. But Perez/Hulk didn't really show up at all, even McLaren struggled and instead the unproven Bottas and past-it Massa were 2nd best, in a car that finished 17th/18th in the drivers championship in 2013. How'd that happen?