F1 2020 driver rankings - Page 2

peebee2 · 26 Dec 2020, 20:38 (Ref:4025317)

Quote:

Originally Posted by F1Pete

My list has nothing to do with April Fool's, Christmas wish lists...simply driving ability without taking the car into account.

I am not like many Brits who put Hamilton on top of the list because he is British.

Nationality should have nothing to do with it.

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Lol, if nationality is irrelevant and ability is relevant then I can’t see how anybody could list Latifi or Stroll in top ten. But it’s a free world.

**Aysedasi** · 26 Dec 2020, 20:42 (Ref:4025318)

Quote:

Originally Posted by F1Pete

My list has nothing to do with April Fool's, Christmas wish lists...simply driving ability without taking the car into account.

I am not like many Brits who put Hamilton on top of the list because he is British.

Nationality should have nothing to do with it.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

Come on Pete, that is a list no-one else could come up with..... I think you've had a glass or two too many of the mulled wine....

F1Pete · 26 Dec 2020, 22:49 (Ref:4025331)

There is a little influence of alcohol, but nowhere near to impair judgement. Don't be a detractor because I am a Finn who was born here in Canada. It's like politicizing your favourite drivers.

Imagine what could have happened if Latifi was put into Hamilton's car instead of Russell?

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peebee2 · 26 Dec 2020, 22:51 (Ref:4025332)

Yes, he’d have been proper shown up. A lot slower than the Finn in the other car.

You can teach someone to drive a car but you can’t teach them racing instinct. If they haven’t got ‘it’ they just haven’t got ‘it.’

S griffin · 26 Dec 2020, 23:18 (Ref:4025338)

While I don’t think Latifi is not a bad driver, let’s face it he’s done nothing of note this year. Idk how anyone could put him in the top ten this season, especially above Russell!

wnut · 27 Dec 2020, 01:45 (Ref:4025352)

Quote:

Originally Posted by S griffin

I think even Hamilton’s detractors would be hard pushed not to put him first or second in their list. Note I said ‘detractors’ not ‘haters’

No problem, in no particular order

Verstappen, Leclerc, Ricciardo

and I really really like the look of Russell but need to see more of him.

gert · 27 Dec 2020, 12:41 (Ref:4025404)

My top 5 in no particular order

Sorted alphabetically by last name:
Hamilton - Leclerc - Perez - Sainz - Verstappen

Sorted by car number:
Perez - Leclerc - Verstappen - Hamilton - Sainz

Sorted alphabetically by first name:
Sainz - Leclerc - Hamilton - Verstappen - Perez

These 5 impressed me most during the past year. Hard to say who deserves more praise than the other one. There's more variables at play than I even know.

RWill2073 · 27 Dec 2020, 16:57 (Ref:4025424)

I mean.... it's so unfair that my joke line is now retired.....

Leclerc
Verstappen
Ricciardo
Gasly
Hamilton
Sainz
Perez
Russell
Norris
Ocon
Bottas

No one else matters.

**Adam43** · 27 Dec 2020, 18:31 (Ref:4025432)

We could all get on with ranking the drivers.

Did someone put a driver higher than you wanted? Do they need to be told on the internet. Ah, bless.

/mod

peebee2 · 27 Dec 2020, 18:59 (Ref:4025435)

As I’ve critiqued others I should put my own list up for consideration!

My top ten.

Sainz (didn’t rate him before but has done very, very well IMO.)
Perez
Gasly
Hamilton
Verstappen
Huelkenburg
Ricciardo
Leclerc
Norris
Russell

As always, realistically only comparing to a teammate makes things tricky - they could both be doing great, or both be doing rubbish.

**Adam43** · 27 Dec 2020, 20:55 (Ref:4025443)

I like these McLaren drivers being high up. They’ve just impressed this year. I think Sainz has just shaded Norris, but both have been great.

I’d love to rate Leclerc at the top, he’s my fave, but I’m not sure. He’s destroyed Vettel, but how much was Vettee trying? And Leclerc had a couple of silly mistakes.

Verstappen has obviously been very good, but he’s not been super super good. Hamilton, of course, has been really good and he had that top win in poor conditions. I don’t Mark him down for being in the best car, but it oddly stops you seeing the ultimate sometimes.

Perez has been good and I’ve enjoyed his good results and the win, but I think he’s a good consistent driver. Not top draw.

Other good performances include Gasly and that has reflected well on Kyvat who had some good ones.

Russell had that brilliant race. And was very impressive on Saturday so I think I’d put him in the top 10 on that.

Hulk, great to see him and nice to see him to well. Not top 10.

Dani Ric. Yes he’s been very good and put another of my faves Ocon in the shade, although he didn’t perform badly.

Kimi had some good laps and overtakes and I cheer for him, but I don’t think he makes the top 10.

The others, unless I randomly forgot someone proper, we’re meh.

So I have to put in a top 10.

1. Sainz
2. Hamilton
3. Verstappen
4. Norris
5. Ricciardo
6. Leclerc
7. Gasly
8. Russell
9. Perez
10. Bottas

Bottas is kind of middle I suppose. Losing inspiration in my list there.

**chunterer** · 27 Dec 2020, 23:13 (Ref:4025461)

I think that there were several instances this year where Leclerc did things speed/talent wise in a poor Ferrari that we haven't seen since Alonso or maybe even Gilles!

For that reason alone he is im my top 3.

S griffin · 28 Dec 2020, 07:58 (Ref:4025486)

Leclerc along with Verstappen is a top talent in F1. Got involved in a few incidents he shouldn't have, but he gave it his all in an awful car and got rewarded on occasions as a result, including a couple of podiums. In some ways he reminds me of Jean Alesi, although I think the Alonso/Villeneuve comparisons are good ones too.

AndreasDavour · 28 Dec 2020, 10:11 (Ref:4025491)

I think there have been some excellent suggestions in this thread for why some drivers deserves to be on a list for 2020. I know that I have a hard time ranking some of them, and maybe putting up groups for classification is a more fair way of doing it.

I know that there are some drivers I rank very high because I *like* them, that did not deserve to be on a list 2020 because they did nothing much to bring attention to themselves.

I have come to love Seb Vettel for example, after seeing that clip when the whole team was assembled to celebrate and he suddenly interrupted them and had the guy put Kimis name next to his on the score board. I started crying. He is smart, charming, funny and a very decent human being. But, I have never been a fan of the driver Sebastian Vettel. I'd love to hang out with him and chat, though.

Then we have Kimi, which really is an enigma to many. As we don't have any Swedish talent in F1 these days I'll have to cheer for our Finnish brothers (mene Suomeen!). Kimi is also very funny and charming, but he as all out admitted he is doing this more like a hobby! But, when he had the opportunity, you could see he still had it. Hard not to like that, but most of this year, he drove a fast car for fun, and it showed.

Bottas then. He is a uncharismatic number two. But! Compare him to Albon, who paired with a teammate who is really good looks like a deer caught in the headlights. Same thing with Vandoorne, who was paired with one of the truly great and came out wanting. Not surprisingly. Bottas rarely looses it. He does it sometimes, but then he calms down and gets his act together. Imagine being paired with one of the truly great drivers who beat you like he is not even trying, and it happens over and over again. But, Valtteri gets in the car again and sometimes even beats one of the best. Damn, that is impressive. He has one of the strongest minds on the grid. Do I like him? Well. Do I respect him? Hell yeah! He is not one that's easy to cheer for as he is a bit, number two(?), in all he does.

I'm also going to throw it out there, being a part time Canadian, that I rate Stroll much higher this year than I ever did before. That wet driving of his showed skill, real skill. I'm beginning to like him. He needs some of that Finnish mental endurance.

Latifi? The jury is still out on that one...

S griffin · 28 Dec 2020, 10:39 (Ref:4025494)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndreasDavour

I think there have been some excellent suggestions in this thread for why some drivers deserves to be on a list for 2020. I know that I have a hard time ranking some of them, and maybe putting up groups for classification is a more fair way of doing it.

I know that there are some drivers I rank very high because I *like* them, that did not deserve to be on a list 2020 because they did nothing much to bring attention to themselves.

I have come to love Seb Vettel for example, after seeing that clip when the whole team was assembled to celebrate and he suddenly interrupted them and had the guy put Kimis name next to his on the score board. I started crying. He is smart, charming, funny and a very decent human being. But, I have never been a fan of the driver Sebastian Vettel. I'd love to hang out with him and chat, though.

Then we have Kimi, which really is an enigma to many. As we don't have any Swedish talent in F1 these days I'll have to cheer for our Finnish brothers (mene Suomeen!). Kimi is also very funny and charming, but he as all out admitted he is doing this more like a hobby! But, when he had the opportunity, you could see he still had it. Hard not to like that, but most of this year, he drove a fast car for fun, and it showed.

Bottas then. He is a uncharismatic number two. But! Compare him to Albon, who paired with a teammate who is really good looks like a deer caught in the headlights. Same thing with Vandoorne, who was paired with one of the truly great and came out wanting. Not surprisingly. Bottas rarely looses it. He does it sometimes, but then he calms down and gets his act together. Imagine being paired with one of the truly great drivers who beat you like he is not even trying, and it happens over and over again. But, Valtteri gets in the car again and sometimes even beats one of the best. Damn, that is impressive. He has one of the strongest minds on the grid. Do I like him? Well. Do I respect him? Hell yeah! He is not one that's easy to cheer for as he is a bit, number two(?), in all he does.

I'm also going to throw it out there, being a part time Canadian, that I rate Stroll much higher this year than I ever did before. That wet driving of his showed skill, real skill. I'm beginning to like him. He needs some of that Finnish mental endurance.

Latifi? The jury is still out on that one...

Some very good analysis there.

Vettel really had a bad season didn’t he? The only races he looked anything like the Seb of old was Turkey, Hungary and possibly Spain. Otherwise he was pretty anonymous and the only time you would notice him would tend to be when he was making one of his now regular mistakes. Not like Leclerc. He always gave it his all, even if he did make some silly mistakes at times. He deserves a better car in the future

Kimi still has life in the old dog yet. His first lap in Portugal showed that. As well as that he still makes relatively few mistakes and his love for the sport is still there, which is why it’s appropriate he is now the most experienced man ever in F1

Yes I agree on the Bottas-Albon comparison. Bottas had some off days and it’s times like that that make us appreciate how good Rosberg was, but by the same token, Albon’s performances make us realise how good Bottas is. Bottas seems to me to float between number 1 and number 2, depending on his mood. But he’s still been there to pick up the pieces on the odd occasion Lewis has an off day. It has be said that his luck wasn’t always great. Him getting the puncture at Silverstone before Lewis and collecting the piece of debris at Imola are two examples. And in a way it was just his luck that Lewis gets ill when the title has already been decided!

As for Albon, it’s a massive shame it didn’t work out, but he needed to be closer to Max a lot more. Easier said than done I know, but while some weekends he looked on it, others he just seemed to cruise around.

I agree Stroll isn’t as bad as some make out and his weekend at Turkey showed the talent is there. But he still blows hot and cold too often. Some weekends he can be up there, others fairly anonymous. He also seems to at times fail to keep pace for a race distance.

Latifi, he didn’t exactly disgrace himself, but neither did he make you sit up and take notice either