Driver of the season

[gert]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Oh yes, Sainz was a bit of a revelation this season. Everyone sees Leclerc as a future champion, yet he didn't exactly blow away Sainz. Sainz proved more than a match on several occasions. I'd say in terms of speed Leclerc is ahead, but Sainz is a great racer and not to be underestimated, especially as he makes very few mistakes

He (Sainz) made a few, but when he did he raised his hand and took the blame.... and most importantly: seemed to learn from it.

I have nominated him as my driver of the year.

[GTRMagic]

Mr Ricciardo... brought McLaren back to Victory Lane..
Others with different brand names tried.. and didnt... including the arguably favoured Mr Norris...

[midgetman]

I'd argue 100% opposite. I'd give it to Lando, he helped get McLaren back to the winner's circle. Comprehensively out qualified and out raced Danny Ric, he was just unlucky when it all came together at Monza for the Australian and not him.

It really is perplexing how Danny struggled before and after Italy, but it's good to see he's still a class act. He'll sort his problems I'm sure; maybe next year he will help Lando to put them back where they belong on a regular basis.

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Mr Ricciardo... brought McLaren back to Victory Lane..
Others with different brand names tried.. and didnt... including the arguably favoured Mr Norris...

Yeah, a great win, but Lando had him pretty much hands-down for the rest of the season.....

[bathurst77]

Max for making the biggest wave
If it wasnt for Max the season would have been an easy cruise to #8 by Lewis in a snooze fest.
Like him or not he made the season exciting and memorable. Sometimes for the right reason and sometimes the wrong.

[chunterer]

Yes i think i'll go with the smooth operator from Spain too! (Could actually apply to two drivers).

Coming into Ferrari and beating your mega rated teammate in year one is a huge statement.

Strong racecraft, cool head too althiugh he did stack it a lot as well. Think that was him working out the limitations of the car though.

Also hats off to Alonso. What a class act he has become off track not just on it?

He put in a lot of work and 3 drives really stand out for different but incredibly strong performances; Hungary, Sochi and Qatar.

No doubt at all that if Alpine can get him a bit closer, he will be right in the hunt dor a 3rd title.

[S griffin]

No doubt about it, Fernando is still giving 100% and still is on top top form. In the right car he could still be champion, although the question is how much longer he will go on for

[E.B]

Max Verstappen has topped the annual team principals’ top 10 drivers ranking – knocking Lewis Hamilton off the top spot....

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ve...-2021/6886514/

Edit:
2021 rankings:

1. Max Verstappen 188pts
Up 1

2. Lewis Hamilton 174pts
Down 1

3. Lando Norris 100pts
Up 4

4. Carlos Sainz Jr 70pts
Up 4

5. Fernando Alonso 63pts
Re-entry

6. Charles Leclerc 58pts
Down 3

7. Pierre Gasly 56pts
Up 3

8. George Russell 44pts
Down 2

9. Valtteri Bottas 43pts
No change

10. Esteban Ocon 41pts
Re-entry

[Aysedasi]

I'd say that was a pretty fair list.

[BTCC frog]

Perhaps the most reasonable top ten the bosses have ever come up with, although I don't agree with Sainz ahead of Leclerc. The worst year for them was 2017. They had Raikkonen above Bottas, despite Bottas outscoring Raikkonen by 100 points, and the rankings of Hamilton and Vettel suggesting they were similar cars, and Ocon ranked fifth while Perez didn't make the top ten, although Perez narrowly outscored Ocon.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by BTCC frog

Perhaps the most reasonable top ten the bosses have ever come up with, although I don't agree with Sainz ahead of Leclerc. The worst year for them was 2017. They had Raikkonen above Bottas, despite Bottas outscoring Raikkonen by 100 points, and the rankings of Hamilton and Vettel suggesting they were similar cars, and Ocon ranked fifth while Perez didn't make the top ten, although Perez narrowly outscored Ocon.

The thread is about Max of course (as we've been reminded ), but as I've said before, Sainz well deserves his placing above Leclerc IMO.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

The thread is about Max of course (as we've been reminded ), but as I've said before, Sainz well deserves his placing above Leclerc IMO.

I think the stats would agree Ayse

Leclerc - Sainz

Quali 13 - 4
Sprint 2 - 0
Race 11 - 6
Points 128 - 122.5

I thought Sainz had done better, but for a Ferrari #2 he had a good season.

https://wtf1.com/post/heres-how-f1-t...mpare-in-2021/


AS at 30 October - Got Mislead

[Adam43]

?
Championship
Sainz, 5th, 164.5 points
Leclerc, 7th, 159

Sainz came on strong as the season went on.

No number 2.

[Aysedasi]

Sainz was clearly perceived as the #2 to the much fancied Leclerc. And I think it is important to remember that he was joining Leclerc's team and had to get used to new surroundings, team personnel and car. Taking that into account I thought he had a very good debut Ferrari season while Leclerc was largely treading water.....

[gert]

Sainz generally didn't finish far behind Leclerc when Leclerc was ahead.

But when Sainz stood on the podium (4 times), only once did Leclerc finish in the top 10 (10th in Abu Dhabi)

[Adam43]

I agree. He was perceived to be not as good as Leclerc. My point was more it didn’t have the other connotations that #2 comes with. And in the end of the year ended up ahead in the points.

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Would you say Leclerc has been as outstanding as Sainz this season, all things considered?

I would say it's been close, but Leclerc has certainly stood out a lot. As to who's been more outstanding, it's tricky to say, but we shouldn't forget Sainz has done two more seasons of F1 than Leclerc even though he's the new boy at Ferrari.

In Bahrain and Imola, Leclerc had the edge, as you might expect, given his knowledge of the team and car.

In Portugal, Leclerc was 6th, while Sainz only brought it home 11th with a 23-second gap. There was a 20-second difference between them in Spain, with Leclerc ending up 4th and Sainz 7th.

The highs were higher than Sainz's. It was Leclerc's error in Monaco that sparked his non-start, but it was also that speed over one lap that had ensured him pole. Clearly, the SF21 was suited to Monte Carlo, as Sainz also delivered a deft performance in coming home 2nd.

Let us forget Leclerc was on pole in Baku and held on to 4th by race's end. There's only one way to go from pole if it isn't to the win and that's down, but Sainz also dropped, from 5th on the grid to 8th in his case.

France was a disaster for the team, although Sainz comprehensively beat him, in 11th to Leclerc's 16th.

Sainz had the edge in Austria, beating him in both races. Then, of course, came Silverstone and Leclerc excelled, qualifying 4th and nipping past Hamilton following his collision with Verstappen to grab 1st, only to be beaten by Lewis three laps from home.

Three more races followed in which Leclerc beat Sainz, before Charles only managed 15th in Russia and Sainz led the early laps before finishing 3rd.

Leclerc then beat Sainz for four straight Grands Prix and also in Saudi Arabia, while Sainz turned the tables in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Overall, therefore, it's tough to say who has been more outstanding or, if you like, who has stood out more. In a sense, they've been fairly even, but Leclerc's peaks have been better in my judgement and he has regularly put that car well up there, while making some mistakes and having a few bad ones. Sainz has dug deep and got stronger as the year has gone on, bedding himself into the team and showing the fortitude to race well and come back from lower grid positions.

They have been quite evenly-matched then, so the stage is set to judge them even more fairly this year, now that both will be familiar with the team. I rate both, but if Leclerc can iron out his flaws, I fancy him as being just a bit better. For Sainz to continue to be outstanding, I would therefore expect him to beat Leclerc even more next year, but I think they're perhaps closely-matched in ability anyway.

[Aysedasi]

That's probably fair. It isn't that I don't rate Charles, I just don't have as high an opinion of him as some others, which probably colours my view of his season. As I've already said, I think 2022 will be quite telling as far as who comes out on top in that team, whereas at the start of this season, most bets would have been on Leclerc to be dominant.

[Born Racer]

I think you're right that they would have, but personally, I was always open to Carlos being able to hold his own. I admit to quite sketchily recalling his time alongside Verstappen, but I recall that while Max may have generally shown him the way, he definitely didn't wipe the floor with him. Sainz also stacked up well alongside Norris, who, by all accounts, is now highly-rated. In the absence of access to any telemetry of my own, I would say we have a very good field nowadays, one reason it's been such a privilege to watch Lewis VS Max too - they are both so good and so close.

[GTRMagic]

Do we see any similarities in the last race with the excellent (?) IndyCar movie Driven?

Incidents and accidents on track all year...
A second driver needed to bring up the pace of the lead pilot

Winner takes all....

Just a thought

[Adam43]

now that’s a rubbish film.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Adam43

now that’s a rubbish film.

And that's a compliment!

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

And that's a compliment!

Yes to call it a film is being generous

[Adam43]

2021, F1’s equivalent to Driven.

[Wims]

As much as I want to vote for Norris or perhaps Sainz I had to vote for Hamilton and Verstappen. They made the season very exciting, all the way up until the last lap.