F1 2021 season review - including driver rankings, awards etc.

BTCC frog · 18 Dec 2021, 18:11 (Ref:4090467)

Wow! We have come to the end of the longest season in F1 history, and what a polarising season it was. Some elements of the season make it a contender for the greatest season of all time, while other elements let it down. Overall, I would rank this season among the all-time greatest, despite there being some very clear negatives to it. In terms of the positives, the main one was that we saw one of the greatest title battles in the history of Formula 1 between Lewis Hamilton, the most successful driver of all time, and Max Verstappen, the young and very quick upstart. In terms of the average excitement of each individual race, this season probably comes top of all, with a mixture of awesome Lewis vs Max battles, and exciting races involving other drivers, such as in Budapest, Silverstone and Sochi. The title battle was tense throughout, and it is quite extraordinary that after 21 races, the two contenders went into the final race on equal points. The obvious hatred between Christian Horner and Toto Wolff further heightened the tension of the season, but at times was too much. Another huge positive from the year was the emergence of new talent in Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly. Both have shown themselves to be good drivers in the past, but this season they stepped up to be among the best. The negatives were a string of controversial stewarding decisions, none worse than the finale which was utterly farcical and made a mockery of the sport, a drastic increase in the number of toxic and delusional fans who managed to make the F1 internet a far less pleasant place for discussion than it used to be, none worse than the racist abuse received by Lewis Hamilton after Silverstone. Another negative of the season was the introduction of sprint races to the championship, which I believe was done appallingly, with Liberty effectively admitting that they are only in it for the money.

Was Max Verstappen a worthy champion? Although I didn’t like the way it was ultimately won in Abu Dhabi, he and Red Bull had some awful luck in the first part of the season, losing a win in Baku, and probable second places in Silverstone and Hungary, through little fault of their own. So despite winning the championship on pot luck in the end, overall the luck mostly went against him. So yes, Verstappen deserved the title. Mercedes won the constructors’ title for the eighth year in a row. Despite only having been around since 2010, the team now have the same number of constructors’ titles as McLaren. In my opinion, the current Mercedes team is the greatest team in Formula 1 history, and I fully expect them to produce the fastest car with the new regulations, and for Hamilton to win his eighth title in 2022, where he will be supported by new teammate George Russell, who may put up a surprise title challenge.

It is also worth mentioning that this marks the end of the turbo-hybrid era. Well not really, because next season the cars will still use turbo-hybrid engines. But the end of the era that spanned 2014-21, which we currently call the turbo-hybrid era, but which history will surely call something else. Next year the cars will be very different, and are designed to follow each other more closely, which can only be a good thing. There could be a major shakeup to the pecking order, but my money is on Mercedes to produce the best car again, as I believe they narrowly had in 2021 over the course of the whole season, as I have rated them as the fastest car in 11 races, and Red Bull fastest in 10 races. The era began very badly, with Mercedes dominating for three seasons, and the races far less exciting than they had been before, although the Rosberg-Hamilton rivalry was great. But the era increased in entertainment over the following years, and in my opinion 2021 was among the best in F1 history, with 2020 also ranking very highly considering the difficulties faced with the pandemic. Lewis Hamilton won six titles in this era, with Rosberg and Verstappen taking one each, and Mercedes took all eight constructors’ championships, unprecedented dominance in F1 history.

A special mention should go to Kimi Raikkonen, who retired at the end of the season and currently stands as the driver with more starts than any other in his Formula 1 career. Kimi has always been a popular driver due to his unusual personality of hating the media and always wanting to be left alone, only really being there because he loved motor racing. He will be missed by the F1 community. Farewell also to Antonio Giovinazzi, who raced for three seasons and did an okay job but never really set the world alight. The third Alfa Romeo driver, Robert Kubica, is also unlikely to race in Formula 1 again, and his return after nine years out due to injury is one of the great stories in Formula 1 history. Officially, this is the end of Honda in F1 after seven years, but they’ll still be supplying Red Bull and Alpha Tauri engines next season. Bottas leaves Mercedes after 101 races where he showed himself to be the perfect number two to Lewis Hamilton, while Russell takes his place after three seasons with Williams in which he was only outqualified by a teammate twice, and those both came in his final four races.

So here is my review of the season, I should note that every time I refer to the Driver of the Weekend, or DOTW, I am referring only to my own personal choice, not any official decision.

Off-season – most of the major stories in the silly season happened way back in early 2020, before that season had even begun. Sebastian Vettel lost his drive at Ferrari, and was replaced by Carlos Sainz. His place at McLaren was taken by Daniel Ricciardo. Later in the season, Ricciardo’s place at Renault (later Alpine) was taken by returning champion Fernando Alonso. Sebastian Vettel then moved to Racing Point (later Aston Martin), with Sergio Perez bought out of his contract. It seemed as though Perez would be out of a drive for 2021 despite being one of the top performers of 2020, but not long after Abu Dhabi he got a drive in place of Alex Albon at Red Bull. Elsewhere, Yuki Tsunoda replaced Daniil Kvyat at Alpha Tauri, and Haas duo Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were ousted in favour of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Bahrain – the season started in Sakhir in March, and Red Bull surprised many by converting their testing speed into the fastest car at the first round, with Max Verstappen securing pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Surprises elsewhere were Sergio Perez missing Q3, Fernando Alonso making Q3 on the first race of his return and Yuki Tsunoda initially going second-fastest in Q1. Verstappen led at the start, but Mercedes put Hamilton on a different strategy, and also benefitted from having Bottas close behind. Hamilton’s strategy caused him to lead in the latter part of the race with Verstappen closing him down on fresher tyres, and in the final laps Hamilton made a mistake, Verstappen closed in and passed him for the lead. However, his pass was done off-track, so Verstappen was forced to give the place back and Hamilton took the first victory of the season and the Driver of the Weekend. Bottas finished third with fastest lap, followed by an impressive Lando Norris, Sergio Perez who had started from the pitlane, and Charles Leclerc. Yuki Tsunoda finished ninth on his debut, while Gasly damaged his front wing after contact with Ricciardo early on.

Imola – Formula 1 got a surprise return to Imola for round two. In qualifying, Lewis Hamilton took pole, while Max Verstappen slipped up and lost second place to teammate Sergio Perez. The star of qualifying was Lando Norris, who initially went third as Martin Brundle exclaimed, ‘is he going to put it on the front row? Is he going to put it on pole?’ but had his lap deleted for track limits. The track was wet and Verstappen made an excellent start from row two to narrowly lead Hamilton, after starting in second gear. Leclerc ran third, while Norris showed good pace after being let past Ricciardo. Hamilton made a mistake lapping George Russell and hit the wall, dropping over a minute to Verstappen. However, he was thrown a lifeline as Russell, who had been doing a great job, then hit Bottas and took both out of the race. There was a slow-motion replay shown of Bottas flipping Russell the bird as Russell backhanded Bottas across the face, while David Croft stated, ‘he’s going to check he’s okay.’ This caused the red flag to be thrown, and on the restart, Verstappen nearly dropped it on the final corner. Leclerc didn’t capitalise on the error and allowed Verstappen back in front, and Max then pulled away. Perez spun out of a strong position. Hamilton fought through to second place, while Norris passed Leclerc for the final place on the podium, and DOTW. Stroll and Ocon also impressed. There was controversy as Leclerc, Perez and Raikkonen all made errors on formation laps and safety car laps, but due to different rules Raikkonen didn’t repass when he should have and was penalised, while for Perez the opposite happened.

Portugal – Again, F1 got a surprise visit to a track from 2020, this time Portimao. Verstappen was fastest in qualifying, but had his time deleted for track limits, so Valtteri Bottas took pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was passed by Verstappen early on, and Raikkonen hit Giovinazzi and broke his front wing. Hamilton repassed Verstappen, and then Bottas who went too defensive into turn one. Verstappen then passed Bottas too, and it was status quo at the front until Bottas pitted for fastest lap too early, and Verstappen tried the same but lost it to track limits. Hamilton won from Verstappen, Bottas and Perez. Lando Norris finished fifth with DOTW after excellent conserving of old medium tyres, while Carlos Sainz on similar tyres dropped to eleventh. Alpine managed a double points finish.

Spain – Hamilton took pole position from Verstappen and Bottas, while Perez spun in Q3. Max Verstappen took the lead at the start, and from then on the race was almost a carbon copy of Hungary 2019. Hamilton was unable to undercut Verstappen, so made an extra pitstop and chased down Verstappen, passing him to win with a handful of laps remaining. Bottas finished third, with Leclerc a lonely fourth and the DOTW. Daniel Ricciardo put in a much improved drive with sixth place, while Ocon also impressed again.

Monaco – the fifth round of the season was back at Monte Carlo. Qualifying threw up a major surprise as Ferrari finally seemed to be on the pace of Mercedes and Red Bull, and Charles Leclerc securing pole position after crashing on his final lap and stopping any drivers challenging him. Ferrari said they would change Leclerc’s gearbox if they had to, but decided it wasn’t necessary and it failed on the way to the grid, leaving the pole position slot empty. Verstappen was now the effective pole-sitter and led away from Bottas and Sainz, while Hamilton was stuck behind Gasly in sixth. The next major story of the race was Valtteri Bottas getting a cross-threaded wheel-nut in his pitstop and Mercedes being unable to remove it for 43 hours. Lewis Hamilton was overcut by both Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel, and ended up in seventh. Verstappen then won from Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, mirroring the 2011 podium. Norris had another outstanding performance as he lapped teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who was still struggling. But DOTW went to Vettel who finished fifth, his first points for Aston Martin. Lewis Hamilton was only seventh and lost the championship lead to Verstappen, while Giovinazzi finished tenth for Alfa Romeo.

Baku – Qualifying was heavily interrupted with crashes for Stroll, Giovinazzi, Ricciardo and Tsunoda, but it was Leclerc who took his second consecutive pole position, and this time kept it. However, he dropped behind Hamilton and Verstappen early on, as the Ferrari did not have the race pace of the Mercedes or Red Bull. In the first round of pitstops, Red Bull managed to get Verstappen and Perez into first and second, while Vettel jumped up ahead of the midfield for Aston Martin. There was a dangerous crash for Lance Stroll, who suffered a puncture on the main straight and had to fight the car to avoid spinning into the middle of the road. Then, with a handful of laps remaining, Verstappen too suffered a puncture while leading and was seen kicking his tyre in anger. The red flag was shown, and Sergio Perez led from Lewis Hamilton with two racing laps remaining. On the restart, Hamilton got a great start and looked to have taken the lead, but pressed the brake magic button by mistake, massively changing the brake bias and sending him off at the first corner. Perez then won his second Grand Prix from Vettel, who took a second consecutive DOTW, while Pierre Gasly won a late scrap with Leclerc for third. Alonso finished sixth after making up four places in the two-lap sprint. There were zero points for Verstappen, Hamilton, or Valtteri Bottas who had an awful race and finished twelfth.

France – Paul Ricard is typically regarded as a dull track, but this year gave us another cracking race. Traditionally a Mercedes stronghold, but Max Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position. He went too deep into turn one and half-spun, dropping behind Lewis Hamilton, but then undercut him in the first round of pitstops. Hamilton and Bottas ran in formation behind, while Perez went long in the second Red Bull. Red Bull made a surprise second pitstop with Verstappen, while Mercedes committed to a one-stop with both cars. Verstappen then chased down the leaders, passing first Bottas and then Hamilton to win the race. Hamilton finished second, while Perez passed Bottas for third. McLaren did an excellent job to salvage fifth and sixth with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo by pitting late, a decision that initially looked like a mistake, while there were also point scoring finishes for Gasly, Alonso, Vettel and Stroll. Ferrari had a nightmare of a race as Sainz finished eleventh and Leclerc sixteenth, both wearing out their tyres. DOTW was George Russell, who put in a magnificent qualifying lap in Q1, and then a strong drive to twelfth for Williams.

Styria – the first of two Austrian GPs, as the Red Bull Ring hosted two Grands Prix for the second year in a row. The Red Bull appeared to have the advantage and Max Verstappen took pole position. Verstappen led from the start ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Lando Norris held up Perez and Bottas in third at the start of the race, before later letting them past without any defence. Leclerc and Gasly collided on the first lap, with Leclerc braking his front wing against Gasly’s tyre on rejoin to the track. Gasly suffered a puncture, which broke his suspension. From then on Leclerc made an impressive fightback to seventh. Max Verstappen won comfortably and was the DOTW, ahead of Hamilton, while Bottas just held off Perez for third. Norris was fifth from Sainz and Leclerc, while Lance Stroll took an impressive eighth. There was disappointment for George Russell, who retired from the race while running in the top ten for Williams.

Austria – in the second Austrian GP, the tyres were one step softer, but Red Bull still had a clear advantage over Mercedes. Verstappen took another pole position, while Lando Norris took an incredible second on the grid, with Sergio Perez third. At the start of the race, the safety car was deployed as Ocon was pincered between two cars and broke his suspension. On the restart, Perez went to the outside of Norris, who forced him off and earned a controversial five-second penalty. Norris then held off Hamilton for many laps, with Hamilton exclaiming, ‘such a great driver, Lando,’ after he finally overtook. Further back, Leclerc made some fantastic overtakes, but was twice forced off the track by Sergio Perez, earning him two five-second penalties. In my opinion, the first was fair, the second wasn’t. Verstappen won, while Hamilton suffered damage on a kerb, and lost positions to Bottas and Norris, who was the DOTW with a fantastic podium. Further back, Alonso passed Russell for tenth in the final few laps to deny Williams their first points in two years. Tsunoda was twice penalised for crossing the white line on pit entry, while Raikkonen clumsily turned in on Vettel on the final lap.

Britain – the British Grand Prix was the first of three sprint weekends, a concept which divided opinions among F1 fans. Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the sprint, while George Russell made headlines with another great lap to make Q3. Max Verstappen took the lead from Hamilton at the start, while Alonso made an excellent start on softs to go from ninth to fifth, but went backwards in the rest. There wasn’t a huge amount of action in the sprint after the first lap, apart from Perez spinning out of fifth place. At the start of the actual race, Hamilton challenged Max Verstappen and after a thrilling first half-lap in which they jockeyed for position, it all came to grief at Copse as Hamilton put his nose down the inside of Verstappen and there was contact, with Verstappen off and into the wall. The beneficiary was Leclerc, who took the lead from Hamilton, and the red flag was called. This crash caused much controversy, as most drivers said it was a racing incident, but Helmut Marko claimed Hamilton should have been given a ban. The penalty awarded was a ten-second penalty, about right in my opinion. Leclerc led at the restart from Hamilton, Norris and Bottas. The Mercedes were expected to charge through, but Leclerc did a great job for Ferrari to hold the lead, despite some hiccups with the engine that never got too serious. His teammate Sainz also fought through well after an incident in the sprint, but got stuck behind Ricciardo once he reached sixth, showing Ferrari’s strong pace. At the pitstops, Hamilton served his ten-second penalty, and dropped behind Norris and Bottas. He passed both for second, and then set after Leclerc. Hamilton took the win from Leclerc by completing the move into Copse that he had intended to make on Verstappen, in the third-to-last lap of the race. Bottas completed the podium ahead of Norris, while Alpine recorded a double-points finish, and Perez was sacrificed from tenth to take the fastest lap away from Hamilton. Despite losing the win in the end, I thought Charles Leclerc was magnificent in Silverstone, and would name his drive there as the second-strongest of any driver all season.

Hungary – the final race before the summer break was at a track typically labelled as a stronghold for Lewis Hamilton, and Mercedes looked very good in qualifying, with Hamilton taking pole ahead of Bottas. The race started in wet conditions, and there was mayhem at the first corner as Bottas locked up and steamed into Lando Norris’ McLaren, taking himself, Norris and Perez out, and damaging Verstappen. Behind, Lance Stroll clattered into Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo. With Pierre Gasly also delayed in the mayhem, it is not unreasonable to suggest that all seven of Hamilton’s main threats for the race had been removed at the first corner, and the red flag was shown. Hamilton led from Esteban Ocon, Sebastian Vettel and Nicholas Latifi! There was a standing start, but the track was drying quickly and almost every driver on the grid dived into the pits for dries, with the one exception being Lewis Hamilton. This created a comical image of the restart as Hamilton was left alone on the grid, and every other driver was lined up in the pits. George Russell crept to the front of the queue due to the positioning of his pit box, but was told to give the places back on the first lap of racing. Leaving Hamilton out turned out to be a significant mistake, and they threw away an easy win as Hamilton pitted at the end of that first lap after the restart and came out at the back. Esteban Ocon now led from Vettel, and the two of them pulled away quickly as Latifi ran third and held up the rest of the pack. Russell selflessly offered for his race to be sacrificed to help Latifi if necessary. Hamilton and Verstappen were at the back of the pack, but while Hamilton made his way up the order, Verstappen struggled with damage. It was not until the round of pitstops that Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso were able to clear Latifi, but by this point Ocon and Vettel had pulled a long way up the road. They then closed the gap on the leaders, while Lewis Hamilton was now in fifth place after making an extra pitstop. Hamilton looked a lot quicker than the leaders and a sure bet to win the race, until he came up behind Alonso. The Alpine driver put in a defensive masterclass to hold up Hamilton for multiple laps, and allow his teammate Ocon to hold on for a maiden victory. Vettel finished second, but was disqualified due to an issue which caused extra fuel to drain from his car, and he was unable to provide a sufficient sample. Hamilton then finished second, ahead of Sainz in third and Alonso, the DOTW, in fourth. Pierre Gasly made a strong recovery to fifth ahead of Tsunoda, and the Williams pair of Latifi and Russell were seventh and eighth, finally taking their first points for the team. Verstappen was only ninth with the damage, and went into the summer break eight points behind Hamilton after much bad luck. The Hungarian Grand Prix was an absolute thriller, the best Grand Prix of 2021.

Belgium – and from the best Grand Prix of the season to something a little different. The weekend was wet from the start, and we had a thrilling qualifying session in the wet. George Russell immediately looked quick as he put his Williams fastest in the first laps of Q1. Lando Norris then starred with the fastest times in both Q1 and Q2, but it all went wrong for him in Q3 as he spun at Eau Rouge and hit the wall, bringing out a red flag which Vettel had said should have been out already. On the final runs of the session, Max Verstappen only snatched pole right at the end from Russell, who did a sensational job to take second for Williams, in what was arguably one of the greatest qualifying laps in Formula 1. Hamilton was third from Ricciardo and Vettel. The rain on Sunday was even worse than on Sunday, as it was relentless all day with low visibility. Perez crashed on the way to the grid. The race was red flagged after a formation lap and a lap behind the safety car, and was not restarted for over three hours after much confusion over whether or not the race had actually started. Eventually, they went round for one more lap behind the safety car, before another red flag brought an end to the proceedings after no racing laps. The most entertaining thing that had happened was watching the drivers and teams trying to distract themselves during the wait. Formula 1 then made the controversial decision of awarding half-points, despite no racing laps, which meant Verstappen had won, while Russell took his first podium with second. I actually agree with this decision, but they also gave no refunds to fans at the track, which I think was wrong. The Belgian GP was the shortest race in Formula 1 history.

Netherlands – for the first time since 1985, Formula 1 returned to the Zandvoort circuit, and the Dutch now had a home hero in Max Verstappen competing for the championship, and ensuring that the entire crowd were dressed in orange and had orange flares. The track was a great addition to the calendar, with spectacular banked corners, and Max Verstappen claimed a home pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Giovinazzi took an excellent seventh in qualifying. Sergio Perez was eliminated in Q1. In the race, Verstappen led from Hamilton, Bottas and an impressive Gasly, while Alonso made a beautiful pass on Ocon and Giovinazzi, around the outside on the banked turn three. Hamilton then tracked Verstappen for the first part of the race, and remained close behind after the first round of pitstops. Valtteri Bottas was left out by Mercedes to help out his teammate, and played his part well as he held up Verstappen and allowed Hamilton to get close, but never close enough to mount a real challenge. Later in the race, Bottas was pitted for new tyres and told not to go for fastest lap, as it would take it away from Hamilton. Bottas ignored this instruction and went for it, only backing off in the final sector but still taking the fastest lap, and forcing Mercedes to pit Hamilton again to take it back. Verstappen then won from Hamilton, Bottas, DOTW Gasly and Leclerc. There were changes further back as Alonso passed Sainz for sixth, and Perez recovered to pass Ocon for eighth after an early pitstop due to a flat spot on his tyre.

Italy – the final race of this triple-header was at Monza, and was the scene of the second sprint race. Valtteri Bottas took pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes regained the superiority over Red Bull. Bottas had taken a new engine so was already being sent to the back of the grid for the main event, but he won the sprint race as Hamilton got a poor start and dropped behind Verstappen and the two McLarens. Pierre Gasly retired from sixth as his front wing went under the car. From then on, the sprint race was processional, and the top five kept their positions. That meant Max Verstappen was on pole position, but there was surprise at the start as Daniel Ricciardo took the lead for McLaren, ahead of Verstappen, Norris and Hamilton, and Ricciardo held the lead until the first round of pitstops. Verstappen pitted later than him, but the stop was botched due to the new rule introduced to increase human involvement in the releasing of cars, and Verstappen came out of the pits ten seconds behind Ricciardo, and alongside Hamilton. Going into the first chicane, Verstappen went to the outside of Hamilton, and Hamilton forced him off. Instead of backing out, Verstappen stayed alongside and hit a sausage kerb, sending the back of his car into the air and on top of Hamilton’s. Both were out, and Verstappen got a three-place grid penalty for Russia. Ricciardo now led the race from Leclerc, while on the restart Lando Norris pulled off the move of the season for second as he passed Leclerc into Curva Grande with two wheels on the grass. Perez then passed Leclerc off the track for third, earning him a five-second penalty. Bottas had initially looked the likely winner and made it into fourth from the back of the grid, but got stuck behind Perez. So Ricciardo claimed his first win in three years for McLaren, with Lando Norris in second giving the team the only one-two of any team all season. Bottas was third, Leclerc fourth and Perez fifth once the penalty was applied. Ricciardo did his trademark shoey on the podium.

Russia – next up was Sochi, and Max Verstappen and Red Bull opted to take a new engine, thus removing the effect of the three-place grid penalty. The track was a Mercedes stronghold, and even in wet conditions looked clear favourite for a one-two on the grid. But in Q3, the track dried sufficiently for slicks and Hamilton hit the wall on pit entry, delaying himself and Bottas. Only a few teams were able to fire up their tyres quickly enough, and the result was a shock pole position for Lando Norris, second on the grid for Carlos Sainz and an incredible third on the grid for George Russell and Williams. Hamilton was fourth and Bottas seventh. At the start of the race, Sainz jumped Norris for the lead. The two pulled a gap as Russell in third held off the pack behind which included Lance Stroll, Ricciardo, and Hamilton in sixth. Max Verstappen was making solid progress after being waved past Gasly, as was Leclerc, while Bottas got stuck in traffic. Sainz pitted early, one lap after losing the lead to Norris, who then led after all the pitstops had been completed from Hamilton, Sainz, Ricciardo, Perez who was last to pit but had a slow final pitstop that cost him third, Alonso and Verstappen. Hamilton closed the gap on Norris, but the McLaren driver looked to have the legs on him and was set for his maiden victory when a rain shower hit with a handful of laps remaining. The likes of Bottas and Raikkonen pitted further back and made great progress, but Norris refused to pit. This proved to be a mistake when Hamilton pitted behind him, and a lap later the rain intensified, and Norris had zero grip. Hamilton therefore took the lead from Verstappen, who finished second from the back. Sainz was third, Ricciardo fourth, Bottas fifth and Alonso sixth, while Lando Norris was only seventh after avoiding a penalty for crossing the pit entry line. He was my Driver of the Weekend after being so unlucky to lose his first win, while Leclerc also deserves a mention, after starting from the back and looking like he would beat Verstappen and finish top six before the rain hit and he stayed out for too long. The often-maligned Sochi track had delivered a fantastic race.

Turkey – Sochi was followed by another rain-affected weekend in Turkey. This time it was Hamilton who went into the weekend with a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change, but he went fastest in qualifying ahead of Bottas, who therefore started from pole. Bottas led away at the start ahead of Verstappen, Perez and Leclerc, while Gasly collided with Alonso and was controversially penalised five seconds, as the Alpine spun to the back. Hamilton was recovering from eleventh, but got stuck behind Tsunoda for a few laps as the Alpha Tauri put in an impressive defence. Sainz also made some good overtakes as he pushed through the pack. The top four stretched away, as Leclerc was impressive in keeping up. Later in the race, Perez put up a stout defence against Hamilton as the two ran side-by-side for multiple corners. The cars were continuing on intermediates for a long time, but the track never looked ready for slicks (confirmed by Vettel’s fruitless attempt), so they had to look at pitting. Bottas did so, while Leclerc stayed out and led the race, attempting a zero-stop strategy. This failed, and he pitted soon after losing out to Bottas. Hamilton stayed out and ran third, going against Mercedes’ request for him to pit for many laps, until he eventually did so and was annoyed to lose out to Perez in third and Leclerc in fourth, and then couldn’t repass them as the tyres wouldn’t fire up, as per Jenson Button’s prediction. Bottas won his only race of the season in dominant fashion and was the best driver of the weekend. He was followed home by Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc and Hamilton. Gasly was sixth, Norris seventh, Sainz eighth from the back and Stroll ninth. Esteban Ocon claimed a point in tenth after no pitstops, the first time this had happened since Mika Salo in Monaco 1997.

USA – Mercedes initially looked to have the upper hand over Red Bull in Austin, but Red Bull overturned this in qualifying as Verstappen secured pole position ahead of Hamilton and Perez. Hamilton got a great start to take the lead from Verstappen at the start, and this forced Red Bull to try something different. They pitted earlier than Hamilton and undercut him, however, Mercedes tactically decided to go longer on the second stint to close down Verstappen in the final stint. After the second pitstops, Verstappen had a good lead over Hamilton, but the Mercedes driver closed him down and caught the back of Verstappen towards the final few laps of the race. He was close, but not close enough and Verstappen won the race. Hamilton was second from Perez, while Leclerc drove flawlessly for fourth. Behind, Ricciardo did a good job ahead of Bottas, while Sainz was involved in a great battle with the McLarens on the first lap. There was controversy around track limits, with Alonso forcing Raikkonen off and Raikkonen not being penalised for overtaking off-track, and then Alonso passing Giovinazzi off-track and being told to give the place back, leading to Alan Permane complaining to Michael Masi in a petty and sarcastic way. With five races to go, Verstappen led Hamilton by twelve points.

BTCC frog · 18 Dec 2021, 18:12 (Ref:4090468)

Mexico – In the reverse of USA, Red Bull went to Mexico as the clear favourites, but it was Mercedes who beat them to pole position with Bottas ahead of Hamilton. At the first corner, Bottas allowed Verstappen too much space on the outside and the Red Bull passed both Mercedes to take the lead. Things got worse for Bottas as he was hit by Ricciardo’s McLaren and spun into the middle of the pack. Everyone missed him, but contact involving Ocon, Tsunoda and Schumacher took the latter two out and brought out the safety car. Verstappen then led away and won comfortably in a rather processional race from Hamilton and Perez, who put Hamilton under pressure all race but was never close enough to really challenge. Gasly was fourth and the DOTW, ahead of Leclerc and Sainz, while world champions Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso all scored, and Giovinazzi missed out due to poor strategy. Bottas finished outside the points, and was forced to make two extra pitstops for fastest lap after Verstappen closed on him and gave him blue flags the first time around, so he couldn’t go for fastest lap. Verstappen now led by nineteen points.

Brazil – Lewis Hamilton again changed his engine prior to the Sao Paulo GP, and it immediately looked extremely quick as he took pole position for the sprint. However, it turned out his DRS had opened further than was intended by 0.2mm, and so he was disqualified from qualifying, while Verstappen was fined for touching his car. The sprint was the most entertaining of the three, as Bottas grabbed the advantage from Verstappen immediately on soft tyres, and Verstappen had to repass Sainz too before he could get back at Bottas, which he was unable to do. Bottas won, with Verstappen second and Sainz third, while Hamilton put in an incredible drive to fifth from the back of the grid, including a great pass on Norris, and so started tenth. In the race, Verstappen repassed Bottas at the start, as did Sergio Perez, while Sainz and Norris collided immediately, and Norris was given a puncture. Hamilton fought through quickly to third, and then second as he passed Perez. There was drama further back as Tsunoda lunged down the inside of Stroll and damaged both cars. Both Red Bulls made their second stop, and Hamilton and Bottas briefly ran one-two before doing the same. Hamilton then closed down Verstappen for the lead and, after a couple of laps of close racing that included a highly controversial move as Verstappen ran Hamilton off the track and was not penalised, Hamilton finally passed Verstappen for the lead and won from last at the start of the sprint race. It was the greatest drive of the season, and one of the greatest of his career. Verstappen, Bottas and Perez followed him home, then the two Ferraris and Gasly, Ocon and Alonso. Alpine showed good teamwork as Alonso kept Ocon in DRS range to defend from Gasly behind for as long as they could.

Qatar – the first Grand Prix in Qatar saw Hamilton take pole position again, with Verstappen second and Bottas third. However, both Verstappen and Bottas were penalised five and three places respectively for failing to slow for yellow flags when Gasly got a puncture. This put Gasly second and Alonso third on the grid. Hamilton held the lead at the start from Alonso, while Verstappen made immediate progress to fourth, then third as he was waved by Gasly, then he passed Alonso for second. The top two quickly pulled away from the rest of the pack, while Bottas and Perez made their way up from their lowly positions on the grid. Hamilton and Verstappen pulled enough of a gap to each make their pitstops untroubled, with Hamilton always covering Verstappen. Bottas took third when the rest of the grid pitted, but got a puncture after running too long on his tyres, which dropped him out of the points and prompted the leaders to make a second stop. Perez now pitted from third, giving the position to Alonso, then Norris, who also had to pit again due to a slow puncture, and Ocon. Alonso requested that Ocon ‘defend like a lion,’ and he did attack Perez and slow him down. Both Williams drivers suffered late punctures, bringing out a late virtual safety car and preventing Perez from reaching Alonso. Hamilton won from Verstappen, while with third place DOTW Alonso took his first podium since Hungary 2014, the second longest podium gap of all time (after that of Alex Wurz). For reference, the last time Alonso was on the podium, Hamilton was a one-time champion. Behind him it was Perez, Ocon, an impressive Stroll, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris and Vettel, while the Alpha Tauri had a shocker and Gasly came home only eleventh. Verstappen led by eight points with two races remaining.

Saudi Arabia – the first race in Saudi Arabia was controversial even before it had begun, with debates over whether the race should even be going ahead, due to issues surrounding human rights in the country, and the apparent danger of the track, with high-speed corners and walls extremely close. Qualifying was thrilling as the advantage swung between Mercedes and Red Bull. At the start of Q3, Red Bull were faster, but Mercedes had fuelled for more laps and Hamilton and Bottas went first and second late in the session. On his final lap, Verstappen pushed to the absolute limit, and looked to have pole position in the bag when he went too deep into the final corner and hit the wall. It was status quo at the start of the race, until Mick Schumacher hit the wall. The safety car was called and both Mercedes pitted, allowing Verstappen into the lead with old tyres. Then the red flag came out, gifting Verstappen the real lead of the race. On the restart, Hamilton looked to have passed Verstappen but the Red Bull driver cut the corner to stay in front and allowed Ocon past Hamilton. The red flag was called again as Perez spun in contact with Leclerc and Mazepin went into the back of Russell at high-speed. Verstappen was dropped back to third on the grid for the next start, with Ocon on pole and Hamilton second, but he made a great overtake on both to take the lead into turn one. Hamilton passed Ocon on the next lap, and the battle was on. The race between the two was slightly too far, as Verstappen first cut the corner to stay ahead of Hamilton, giving him a five-second penalty, then was asked to give the place back, but did so in such a way that he could repass again easily. When asked again, he slowed in the middle of the track, and Hamilton hit the back of Verstappen. Eventually, Hamilton got through and, aided by hard tyres as opposed to Verstappen’s mediums, pulled away to win, although he did force the Red Bull off at the final corner and was warned. Verstappen was second and was later penalised ten second for what the stewards considered to be a brake test on Hamilton. Bottas finished third after passing the DOTW Ocon on the line. Behind, Ricciardo was fifth from Gasly, Leclerc, Sainz, Giovinazzi who took his best finish of the season, and Norris who was unlucky with the red flag after he had pitted. There were more incidents further back as Tsunoda and Raikkonen were both penalised for hitting Vettel, and Alonso spun. Going into the final race of the season, the two contenders were, incredibly, on equal points, for the first time since 1974 with Emerson Fittipaldi and Clay Regazzoni.

Abu Dhabi – with the drivers level on points going into the final race, but Verstappen ahead on countback of race wins, it looked as though we could have one of the most thrilling finales of all time. This view was heightened further after qualifying, as Verstappen flat-spotted his medium tyres, and had to start the race on softs, but Hamilton was through on mediums. Then Red Bull perfectly executed the tow with Perez and put Verstappen on pole position, ahead of Hamilton and Lando Norris who went third. So Verstappen started ahead, but Hamilton had the superior race tyre. Despite the medium tyres, Hamilton absolutely aced the start of the race and took the lead into the first corner, while Perez moved into third. Then there was controversy immediately at the chicane as Verstappen dived down the inside of Hamilton and forced him to the edge of the track, but Hamilton cut the chicane and continued in the lead. The stewards judged Verstappen’s move to be too aggressive so allowed Hamilton to keep the lead of the race. Hamilton initially looked to be quicker than Verstappen and, after the first pitstops, had a seven-second lead over his rival. This was almost entirely undone by Sergio Perez, as the second Red Bull did a magnificent job to defend from Hamilton and repass him, delaying him for an entire lap and putting Verstappen immediately behind the Mercedes. However, despite this excellent defence, Hamilton pulled away again of Verstappen. Kimi Raikkonen sadly retired from his final race in Formula 1, as did George Russell in his final race for Williams, and then Antonio Giovinazzi in his final race in the sport. Giovinazzi stopped in a dangerous position and the virtual safety car was called, and Verstappen pitted. However, his task to close down Hamilton was too much and petered out before he could get remotely close. Then, in the final few laps of the race, everything changed as Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams and brought out the safety car. Hamilton did not have enough of a gap to pit, but Verstappen put on new softs. Perez had to retire from third due to fears that he would stop on track and prolong the safety car. On the penultimate lap, the instruction was issued that lapped cars could not overtake, and Red Bull expressed their annoyance to Michael Masi. Then Masi reversed the decision just before the end of the lap, but only to allow the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves. The decision was highly controversial and went against the rules of the sport, but it provided great entertainment as Hamilton now led Verstappen on the final lap, on old hards to Verstappen’s new softs. Verstappen dived down the inside into the hairpin, and then Hamilton challenged him twice, running side by side with his rival but eventually giving way, and Max Verstappen won his first Formula 1 World Championship. Behind, Sainz took a podium in third and leapfrogged Leclerc and Norris for fifth in the standings, while the DOTW wasa Tsunoda, who finally had a good race and came fourth, from Gasly, a struggling Bottas and an unlucky Norris with another puncture. As exciting as the final lap was, I believe Masi bent the rules to allow for an entertaining finish, and in doing so compromised the sporting integrity of Formula 1. That final lap massively took away from what had otherwise been the greatest season of all time. But full credit to Max Verstappen, who had bad luck early in the season but overcame that and was a fully deserving champion.

Drivers’ Championship standings:
1. Max Verstappen 395.5
2. Lewis Hamilton 387.5
3. Valtteri Bottas 226
4. Sergio Perez 190
5. Carlos Sainz 164.5
6. Lando Norris 160
7. Charles Leclerc 159
8. Daniel Ricciardo 115
9. Pierre Gasly 110
10. Fernando Alonso 81
11. Esteban Ocon 74
12. Sebastian Vettel 43
13. Lance Stroll 34
14. Yuki Tsunoda 32
15. George Russell 16
16. Kimi Raikkonen 10
17. Nicholas Latifi 7
18. Antonio Giovinazzi 3
19. Mick Schumacher 0
20. Robert Kubica 0
21. Nikita Mazepin 0

Constructors’ Championship standings:
1. Mercedes 613.5
2. Red Bull-Honda 585.5
3. Ferrari 323.5
4. McLaren-Mercedes 275
5. Alpine-Renault 155
6. Alpha Tauri-Honda 142
7. Aston Martin-Mercedes 77
8. Williams-Mercedes 23
9. Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 13
10. Haas-Ferrari 0

BTCC frog · 18 Dec 2021, 18:12 (Ref:4090469)

Driver rankings
1. Max Verstappen – the way he won the championship may have been farcical and unfair, but looking at the whole season, it is clear that he was the deserving champion. Verstappen lost a certain win in Baku and a probable second place in Hungary through no fault of his own, and while he was partly to blame for the Silverstone incident, he still lost 25 points on that day to the driver who was considered predominantly to blame. Without those three incidents of bad luck, he would have comfortably won the title before Abu Dhabi, and so he claims top in my driver rankings for the first time. His best drives were probably two dominant victories in Austria, a great stint on old tyres in Austin and another dominant win after a superb first-lap pass in Mexico. Verstappen also impressed in Monaco with another win, and France where he closed down title rival Hamilton and won. He also deserves a mention for the dominant victory in Imola, where Hamilton hit the wall, for winning in front of his home crowd in Zandvoort. The low point of his season was the Saudi Arabian GP, despite a fantastic double overtake at turn one on Hamilton and Ocon and a tremendous qualifying lap minus the final corner, as his driving was a little too aggressive with a brake-test on Hamilton. He was a little too aggressive multiple times this year, causing Hamilton to back off and give way to avoid a crash, and was blamed for the incident in Monza. But Verstappen was still the best driver in 2021, annihilating his strong teammate in Sergio Perez and winning the title despite awful luck earlier in the season.

2. Lewis Hamilton – for the first time since 2017, Hamilton does not top my end-of-season driver rankings, but made a great recovery at the end of the year to second having spent most of the time scrapping over fourth, fifth and sixth with Gasly and Russell. His first half of the season was his worst since 2011, with key mistakes in Imola, hitting the wall, and Baku, hitting the brake magic button, as well as an awful weekend in Monaco and another poor weekend in Italy that had him closer to eighth than second after Sochi, despite great wins in Bahrain, Spain and Britain, and a cracking fightback to second in Hungary. But from then on, Hamilton drove a brilliant season, with a great drive in USA to just miss out to Verstappen as both drivers were at the top of their game, possibly the greatest drive of his career, and the drive of the season, in Brazil to win having started the sprint race dead last, and then almost flawless wins in Qatar, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi, only for the final one to be cruelly taken away from him, along with the championship, on the final lap. However, while I believe Hamilton to be the rightful champion, the bad luck suffered by Verstappen means that overall Hamilton was lucky to even be in the hunt at the final round. The Silverstone incident also blotted his copybook, but he also deserves a mention for all the times he avoided similar incidents with Verstappen by backing off. I predict he will be champion again in 2022.

3. Lando Norris – for the first half of the season, Lando Norris was an absolute revelation, as he totally dominated highly-rated teammate Daniel Ricciardo, and was without doubt the most improved driver of the season. Despite a great fourth in Bahrain, the first real sign of just how strong he was this season was in Imola, where he initially qualified third before the lap time was deleted, and then recovered for a podium. He then drove brilliantly for fifth in Portugal on the medium tyres, as others on the same tyre tumbled down the order. Monaco was his next podium, where he lapped Daniel Ricciardo on his way to third. In France, he fought through the pack to finish fifth, and perhaps his best weekend came with another third in Austria, after holding Hamilton off for many laps, then coming back at him after the Mercedes was damaged, and would have beaten Bottas for second without the time penalty. In Spa, he lost a probable pole position and therefore a win when he crashed at Eau Rouge, and then he finished second in Monza after the overtake of the season at Curva Grande, and then backed up teammate Ricciardo’s race win. Sochi would have been his greatest drive without the final few laps, as Norris took a maiden pole position, then repassed Sainz for the lead, and pulled a huge gap before Hamilton came back at him, but Norris just looked to have enough to hold him off before the rain came, and he refused to pit, costing him the race. Norris’ form dropped in the latter part of the season and he lost fifth to Sainz in the stronger Ferrari at the final round. However, he was still a lot quicker than Ricciardo and had bad luck in Qatar and Abu Dhabi with punctures. If McLaren can build a good car with the new regulations, Norris will surely win his first race in 2022.

4. Charles Leclerc – despite being beaten by his teammate Sainz in the championship, Leclerc was still the stronger Ferrari driver in 2021. On his day, he is as good as Hamilton or Verstappen, and the British GP was a perfect example of this fact as Leclerc held of Hamilton and Bottas for almost the entire race in a Ferrari, and only lost it at the end in what was one of the greatest drives of the season. He also finished comfortably best of the rest in Catalunya and Austin, when the Ferrari was strong, and briefly led in Turkey before pitting and still claiming fourth. As well as this, he took two incredible pole positions for Ferrari in Monaco and Baku, but only didn’t get to start there in Monaco after crashing in qualifying. But Leclerc is still far too inconsistent to be the best driver on the grid, as these highs were surrounded by poor races like France, where the Ferrari had tyre problems and he finished 16th, and then a strange lack of pace at Qatar and Abu Dhabi. He had more bad luck than Sainz, so was unlucky to finish behind him, but with Sainz new to the team, Leclerc was still expected to have more of an advantage than he did have. I still think he is a potential future champion if Ferrari can get the new regulations right.

5. Pierre Gasly – since losing his drive at Red Bull after a torrid half-season, Gasly has become one of the best drivers on the grid. His 2020 season was impressive as he took an amazing win in Monza and outperformed Daniil Kvyat all season, but in 2021 he stepped up again, achieving fifteen top six starts as rookie teammate Tsunoda claimed zero, and he outqualified his teammate in every race bar Abu Dhabi. His best drives would probably be Mexico and Zandvoort, where he was best of the rest, and he also took a fine podium in Baku after a late battle with Leclerc. He was also very strong in Hungary with fifth after dropping to the back at the start, and in Monaco where he came sixth and beat Hamilton. Gasly finished ninth in the championship, but I would argue he was one of the unluckiest drivers as he lost a lot of points in Monza and Bahrain through tiny mistakes, as well as in Styria. The Alpha Tauri was the fifth best car this season, but only finished sixth in the championship, yet this was not down to Gasly who beat both Alpines comfortably. He is in a good car for now, but I expect Alpha Tauri to drop down the pecking order next season with the new regulations, and Gasly will need to move away from the Red Bull stable to move forward in his career. If Ricciardo continues to disappoint, a place at McLaren could be a good fit.

6. Fernando Alonso – after Monaco, I said that Alonso’s return to F1 was akin to that of Michael Schumacher. He was being outclassed by Ocon and just didn’t look like the same driver he had been before his two years out. But from then on, he turned it around, and became the stronger Alpine driver. He made up four places on the final restart in Baku, made some great overtakes in the Silverstone sprint, was strong in both races in Austria and in France. But the highlight of his season was undoubtably in Hungary. Having been delayed in the first lap chaos, Alonso found himself in the middle of the pack but recovered back to fourth later on as teammate Ocon led the race. Then Hamilton appeared behind him after dropping to the back, and looked set to catch Ocon and win the race. But Alonso defended magnificently against Hamilton, holding him up for several laps and preventing him from having a go at Ocon. A great team victory for Alpine, who worked together again in Brazil as Alonso gave Ocon DRS to defend from Gasly, and in Qatar as Ocon defended against Perez to give Alonso his first podium since 2014. Alonso was also mightily impressive in Russia. It turned out to be a strong comeback from Alonso. You would expect Alpine to make strides forward with the new regulations, and so Alonso will hopefully win a race in what is likely to be his final season in the sport.

7. Carlos Sainz – the most impressive thing about Sainz’s season was to jump in a Ferrari that four-time champion Sebastian Vettel had struggled so much with in 2020, and be so close behind Leclerc, tipped by many to be the next big thing. While the final points table flatters him; he was the second-best Ferrari driver this season, Sainz still rates as the best second driver on the grid, and was more consistent than Leclerc, even if his peaks weren’t as high. Sainz took four podiums, with a strong second in Monaco as he pushed Verstappen, a lucky third in Hungary, another strong third in Russia from the front row of the grid, and then again in Abu Dhabi where he outperformed Leclerc. Sainz also deserves a mention for Turkey where he finished eighth from the back of the grid after a multitude of great overtakes. The speed at which he adapted to Ferrari was the highlight of Sainz’s season, and while I don’t believe he is quite on the same level as Leclerc, he did enough to suggest he is more than just a number two, and Ferrari probably had the best lineup in 2021.

8. George Russell – after three seasons with Williams in which he was only outqualified by a teammate twice, Russell moves to Mercedes for 2022, and will finally have his big chance to challenge for race wins and even a championship. If Sakhir 2020 is anything to go by, he should have a lot of success. In 2021, Russell had his best season for Williams, and qualifying continued to be his strong point. After reaching Q2 in every one of the first ten rounds, Russell seemed to be gradually moving up the grid, with a great lap in France and twelfth in a race with no retirements, then just missing Q3 in Styria and running in the top ten before retiring, then making Q3 in Austria and losing his first points for Williams with just a few laps remaining as Alonso passed him, and then making Q3 again in Silverstone with a great lap. In Hungary, he finally scored his first points for Williams, but actually came home behind Latifi who benefitted more from the first lap kerfuffle, and showed great teamwork as he offered for his race to be compromised to help his teammate. In Spa, Russell put in one of the greatest qualifying laps in Formula 1 history to claim second on the grid in the wet, entirely on merit, and then took his first podium as the race never really happened. He scored again in Monza and in Russia after another incredible third on the grid, although this one was more lucky. At the end of the season, Russell went missing as he was surely more focussed on his move to Mercedes, and dropped from sixth to eighth in these rankings. Another low point was his hitting Bottas in Imola. Next year, Russell can’t afford to go missing, and there are question marks over his ability on the first lap. But I expect him to push Hamilton hard.

9. Esteban Ocon – after being one of the biggest disappointments of last season, Ocon stepped up in 2021 and is starting to show the promise he had done in his Force India days again. The obvious highlight of the season was his win in the Hungarian GP, where he repelled pressure from Sebastian Vettel all the way through, and Alonso made it a team victory by holding off Hamilton. Ocon repaid the favour in Qatar with a stout defence against Sergio Perez which allowed Alonso to hold onto third. Another race in which Ocon showed real quality was Saudi Arabia, where he led the race at the second red flag, and only just lost a podium to Bottas on the line. He also impressed at the start of the season when he initially looked to be the stronger Alpine driver in Imola, Portugal, Spain and Monaco. Apparently, Ocon cost his team less in crash damage than any other driver this season, showing how he is good at keeping out of trouble and is one of the most consistent drivers on the grid. Ocon has earned a lengthy contract extension with Alpine, and while I no longer see him as a future championship contender as I did when he was with Force India, he still has the potential to be a solid points scorer for the team in the future.

10. Sebastian Vettel – the final place in the top ten goes to a driver who has made a solid recovery after a woeful 2020 in which I rated him last of the twenty regular drivers. The switch from Ferrari was a good move for both parties, and while the Aston Martin wasn’t as good as its Racing Point predecessor, Vettel was still able to take a fine podium in Baku, and a strong fifth place in Monaco. He was also unlucky to lose a second place in Hungary after a fuel leak in the final laps lost him the fuel required to provide a sufficient sample. In the race, he had shadowed Ocon from start to finish despite driving a slower car. The errors that had plagued his Ferrari days did not disappear entirely, with a costly spin at Silverstone, another spin at Zandvoort and hitting Ocon in Bahrain three such examples. His ranking is also hurt by his failure to comprehensively beat Lance Stroll like Perez had done. Although I expected more from Vettel in 2021, much of his problem was down to the uncompetitive Aston Martin, which should be stronger with the new regulations, and hopefully he will get another win soon. And congratulations to Vettel also for being the only driver able to name every champion in the history of the Formula 1!

11. Valtteri Bottas – after five years with Mercedes, they have finally decided to break the harmony and look to the future, and that means Bottas is out and off to Alfa Romeo for next season. While he is a very quick driver, almost on Hamilton’s level for raw speed, Bottas’ key weakness continues to be his inability to overtake and come through the pack. While this wasn’t such a problem in 2017-19, as he rarely found himself down the grid, it has cost him in 2020 and particularly 2021. Throughout most of the season, Bottas remained a solid number two to Hamilton. He took one excellent win in Turkey, and drove brilliantly to third in Monza from the back of the grid. He was also very unlucky in Monaco to lose second with the now infamous 43-hour pitstop. But there were too many races where Bottas just went missing entirely, and these were usually down to an inability to make his way through the grid, Monza excepted. In Imola, Bottas had no pace in the wet, and was hit by a Williams in a battle for position. In Baku, he got stuck in the midfield all race, and finished outside the points after being swamped at the restart. In Hungary he locked up in the wet and took out Norris, Perez and Verstappen (effectively). Then in USA he got trapped in the midfield and couldn’t pass, and the same was true at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Take away these bad races and Bottas would rank higher than Russell, but he needs to improve his overtaking in Alfa Romeo next year. Hamilton proved it is not the car with his win in Brazil. But I think that on pace, Bottas is among the fastest drivers, and will be a big improvement on Raikkonen and Giovinazzi.

12. Sergio Perez – some may have expected more of Perez at Red Bull, but considering how much Gasly and Albon, two good drivers, struggled in that second seat I think Perez did as well as expected. He was not as fast as Bottas, and had a few qualifying shockers where he missed Q3 or even Q2 in the case of Zandvoort, but he was a loyal number two, and the highlight of his season was surely that stout defence against Hamilton in Abu Dhabi, which allowed Verstappen to close by five seconds in one lap. He also won in Baku, a track where he’s always gone well, but without the late chaos he would have lost to Verstappen, but beaten Hamilton. Perez also took strong podiums in USA, Mexico and France. The only time he outqualified Verstappen on merit was in Imola, and the fact that he was further behind his teammate than Bottas was most of the time is why he ranks behind him. But Perez was a clear improvement on Gasly and Albon, and deserves to keep the difficult job of being the number two driver at Red Bull.

13. Lance Stroll – this was his best season in Formula 1 so far, and he is definitely good enough for Formula 1 now, although it is still slightly unfair that he has had this long to prove himself and effectively has a free drive for as long as he wants it. Stroll didn’t hit the occasional highs that he has in the past in 2021, such as the Turkey pole and Baku podium, but was far more consistent. His best result was a fine sixth in Qatar, while he also had a very strong eighth in Styria and Imola. There were still a few lows, such as his crash in Hungary and a very poor weekend in Mexico, but overall he proved to be a match for his illustrious teammate Vettel. The most impressive moment in Stroll’s season was in Baku, when he successfully fought his car to the side of the road after suffering a puncture, and avoided a big accident. Aston Martin will be faster next year, and hopefully Stroll will continue to improve.

14. Antonio Giovinazzi – he has gradually improved over three seasons in Formula 1, but like last season only seemed to turn up when his job was on the line, and unlike last season it wasn’t enough to save it. The highlight of Giovinazzi’s season was two brilliant efforts in qualifying in Zandvoort and Monza where he was seventh on the grid, but on the first occasion he was unlucky, and on the second he crashed out. He had two points finishes in Monaco and Saudi Arabia, and both were good, solid drives. He also had a lot of bad luck, and would have scored more but for poor strategy in Mexico and elsewhere. He usually had the measure of Raikkonen in qualifying, and was slightly better than him overall, but given that Raikkonen is over forty and had struggled at Ferrari for years before going to Alfa Romeo, I think the team have done the right thing in replacing him with Guan Yu Zhou. I wish Giovinazzi well in the future in Formula e.

15. Daniel Ricciardo – the disappointment of the season was Daniel Ricciardo’s inability to adapt to the McLaren, and he was completely outclassed this season by Lando Norris. The Honey Badger had a horrible first half of the season, where his struggles were first apparent in Imola, having to let Norris through and then falling away from him. Then getting lapped by his teammate in Monaco was a massive low point, as was the huge gap in both Austrian races. Ricciardo’s season looked to have turned after Monza, where he won brilliantly in what was the only real highlight of the season, and McLaren recorded the only one-two of the season. He also drove well in Russia with fourth, and in Austin with fifth. Spain was also a positive towards the start of the season. But after Russia, Ricciardo disappeared again with a very poor end to the season similar to the start, but less obvious due to Norris not hitting the heights that he had early on. He should improve in 2022, but if he doesn’t there will be a lot of hungry drivers looking to take his place at McLaren, not least Pierre Gasly. A move away may be beneficial to both parties.

16. Kimi Raikkonen – ‘Dear Kimi, we will leave you alone now’ was a nice tribute to this retiring great. He had a very under-the-radar last season for Alfa Romeo. There were some great drives, such as the eighth in Mexico where he drove consistently, but perhaps would have been beaten by his teammate but for the poor strategy for Giovinazzi. He was also excellent in Sochi, pitting for intermediates before the majority of the grid and coming home eighth. But in qualifying he was too far off Giovinazzi, and was usually second-best Alfa Romeo driver, contrary to the final standings and the statistic that says he was ahead of Giovinazzi on the road the vast majority of the time in 2021. Raikkonen also made some silly errors, such as hitting Giovinazzi in Portimao and turning in on Vettel in Austria. It is the right time for Raikkonen to go, and he has very much earned his retirement.

17. Mick Schumacher – it was always going to be difficult for Mick joining a Haas team not developing the car all season, but it will make him feel better about this season. It is possible that Schumacher is being flattered by his teammate, and had Grosjean or Magnussen been in the car they would have been close to Latifi more often, but this is impossible to say for sure. Schumacher had a couple of good performances at the beginning of the season, beating Latifi in Portugal and going well in Spain. At the end of the season, he went well in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, where he inadvertently stopped Hamilton from beating his father’s record of championships (just a joke!). He was always a lot quicker than his teammate. However, there were too many crashes this season, with Mick costing the team a lot of money and he missed two qualifying sessions because of it. He may not be on the same level as Michael Schumacher, but young Schumacher proved himself to be a nice guy, and potentially an average F1 driver in the future, when he hopefully has a quicker car next season. And in junior formulae he has always excelled in his second season after starting slowly.

18. Nicholas Latifi – his season, and probably his career, will always be remembered for crashing in Abu Dhabi and bringing out the safety car which changed the championship. We will have a better indication of how good Latifi is next season once Russell has had a season against Hamilton, but in general this season he was some way behind his teammate, and usually in no-man’s land between the midfield and Haas. He did a very good job during the middle of the season, when Williams had a strong run of results, taking his first points with seventh in Hungary, where he briefly ran third, and he also scored with ninth in the Spa non-race. Monza was another strong weekend for Latifi, as he was unlucky with the safety car to be beaten by Russell and finish outside the points. He finally ended a 34-race streak of being outqualified by Russell in Brazil. Williams should move up the grid in the next few years with new investment, and it will be interesting to see how long they stick with Latifi and his money for.

19. Yuki Tsunoda – another big disappointment of the season was Yuki Tsunoda not living up to the hype. After a strong Bahrain test, he went into the first weekend of the season and went second fastest in the first runs of Q1. Despite a poor Q2, he then finished the race in ninth, and was labelled ‘the best rookie in years’ by Ross Brawn. But from then on, Tsunoda’s season was a disaster. He caused four red flags in qualifying, and was generally a very long way off Gasly’s pace, never reaching the top six in qualifying while his teammate made it fifteen times. He also made clumsy errors in the races, such as hitting Stroll in Brazil. Finishing fourteenth in the championship with the fifth-best car is a damning indication of his season. However, he showed improvement with a great fourth place in Abu Dhabi, which was his best weekend and the first time he outqualified Gasly. He also took strong points finishes in Baku, USA and Hungary. He retains his seat for 2022, but will need to improve to keep it beyond that.

20. Nikita Mazepin – joined Haas due to the deep pockets of his father, and very little was expected from Mazepin before the season started, after never really challenging for the title in Formula 2. There were fears that dangerous driving from F2 would continue into F1, but he generally avoided that, aside from one swipe on Schumacher in Baku. Unfortunately, Mazepin still didn’t appear good enough for Formula 1, as he usually qualified over half-a-second behind fellow rookie teammate Schumacher, spun often, with his first weekend in Bahrain being particularly poor, and seemed to ignore blue flags and hold up the leaders on many occasions. His best weekend was probably Brazil, where he beat Schumacher, but generally he was just too slow. Will stay in Formula 1 next year, and the Haas will probably be more competitive, allowing him to have more of an impact. Hopefully he will improve in the coming years.

Awards for the 2021:

Driver of the season – Max Verstappen. The way he won the title was unfair, but over the whole season he deserved it. Honourable mentions to Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.

Most improved driver – Lando Norris. Turned a corner compared to 2020, where he was still impressive, and totally crushed Ricciardo. Honourable mentions to Verstappen, Gasly, Ocon and Vettel.

Rookie of the season – Mick Schumacher. Crashed too often, but did what was expected of him. Honourable mention to Tsunoda.

Biggest disappointment (driver) – Daniel Ricciardo. Most expected him to beat Norris, but one good win aside, he was totally beaten and never adapted fully to the McLaren. Honourable mention to Yuki Tsunoda.

Drive of the season – Lewis Hamilton, Brazil. From last in the sprint to first in the race, this was an incredible fightback, one of the best drives I have ever seen. Honourable mentions to Charles Leclerc, Britain, and Lando Norris, Russia.

Qualifier of the season – George Russell. Made Q2 so many times, and even made Q3 a few times for Williams. Belgium was utter brilliance, Russia more lucky. Honourable mentions to Verstappen and Norris.

Qualifying lap of the season – George Russell, Belgium. With second place for Williams, completely on merit, in the wet, this was the best lap since Nico Hulkenberg’s pole in Brazil 2010. Honourable mentions to Charles Leclerc, Baku, and Lando Norris, Austria.

Race lap of the season – Fernando Alonso, Hungary. Can’t pick the exact lap, but this defence against Hamilton was a joy to watch. Honourable mention to the Hamilton-Verstappen scrap on lap one at Silverstone (or half-lap).

Overtake of the season – Lando Norris, on Leclerc at Curva Grande. With a wheel on the grass, this was incredible bravery to take second. Honourable mention to Verstappen, on Hamilton and Ocon in Saudi Arabia turn one.

Blunder of the season (driver) – Lewis Hamilton, Baku. For hitting the brake magic button and, losing eighteen points. Honourable mentions to Bottas, Hungary, and Leclerc, Monaco.

Team of the season – Red Bull. For winning the drivers’ championship despite a lot of bad luck, and finally being the team to challenge Mercedes. Honourable mentions to Ferrari, Alpine.

Most improved team – Ferrari. From sixth to third, although really this was expected. Honourable mentions to Red Bull, Alpha Tauri, Williams.
Biggest disappointment (team) – Aston Martin. It was a shame they couldn’t keep up their 2020 pace with Vettel driving. Honourable mention to Alfa Romeo.

Best innovators – Mercedes. Red Bull were faster in the first half, but the update from Silverstone changed this to Mercedes in the second half. Honourable mention to McLaren.

Best mechanics – Red Bull. For all those quick pitstops, and for fixing Perez’s car in Belgium. Honourable mention to Williams.

Best strategists – Red Bull. So many strategic battles between Mercedes and Red Bull, but Red Bull won more. Honourable mentions to Mercedes, Alpine.

Blunder of the season (team) – Mercedes, Hungary. For leaving Hamilton on the grid. Honourable mention to Ferrari, Monaco.

Race of the season – Hungary. For Alpine’s amazing team victory. Honourable mentions to Britain, Russia.

Best moment of the season – when Hamilton and Verstappen were confirmed to be having equal points going into the final race. An amazing title battle. Honourable mentions to Alpine’s team victory in Hungary, and Russell’s qualifying lap in Spa.

Worst moment of the season – the farcical final lap. The rules were bent to prioritise entertainment over sporting integrity. Honourable mentions to the sprint races and Ross Brawn’s ‘avid fans’ interview.

Thank you, Formula 1, for the 2021 season. As Murray Walker would say, ‘incredible!’

Please give your own driver rankings, nominations for the awards, and any other comments on the 2021 F1 season.

Alan52 · 18 Dec 2021, 22:22 (Ref:4090495)

Great review.Agree with your rankings with the possible exception of swapping Leclerc and Sainz and definitely swapping Russell and Ocon.Russell seemed to go to sleep after the Mercedes drive announcement and was gettting beaten by Latifi on a pretty regular basis.
The only award I can’t agree with is your Worst Moment Of The Season one.Having watched from the Latifi accident on multiple times I struggle to see a satisfactory solution better than what we got.Probably Masi should have made the call for the lapped cars to go past half a lap earlier than he did.That way they all could have unlapped themselves -not that it would have made any difference to the final result.Finishing under safety car or wilfully deciding to break precedent and leave the lapped cars there would have been far worse and definitely would qualify for Worst Moment Of The Season.
When the safety car was called it took 15 seconds for Martin Brundle to sum up the situation ,looking at the lap count and the extent of the accident,and say it would be cleared for 1 or 2 racing laps,the lappped cars would be waved by and Lewis and Max would be nose to tail.Lewis was nowhere near the pit entrance and Mercedes should have worked this out as well and pitted him.They didn’t and lost.It was the later prevarication about the wave by not the wave by itself that is controversial.

wnut · 18 Dec 2021, 22:56 (Ref:4090506)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan52

Great review.Agree with your rankings with the possible exception of swapping Leclerc and Sainz and definitely swapping Russell and Ocon.Russell seemed to go to sleep after the Mercedes drive announcement and was gettting beaten by Latifi on a pretty regular basis.
The only award I can’t agree with is your Worst Moment Of The Season one.Having watched from the Latifi accident on multiple times I struggle to see a satisfactory solution better than what we got.Probably Masi should have made the call for the lapped cars to go past half a lap earlier than he did.That way they all could have unlapped themselves -not that it would have made any difference to the final result.Finishing under safety car or wilfully deciding to break precedent and leave the lapped cars there would have been far worse and definitely would qualify for Worst Moment Of The Season.
When the safety car was called it took 15 seconds for Martin Brundle to sum up the situation ,looking at the lap count and the extent of the accident,and say it would be cleared for 1 or 2 racing laps,the lappped cars would be waved by and Lewis and Max would be nose to tail.Lewis was nowhere near the pit entrance and Mercedes should have worked this out as well and pitted him.They didn’t and lost.It was the later prevarication about the wave by not the wave by itself that is controversial.

Absolutely agree with you Alan52.

Good Summary provided in RBR's and Masi's replies to the protest in FIA stewards hearing of Mercedes protest.

Red Bull’s arguments in defence:
Red Bull argued that
1. “Any” does not mean “all”.
2. The Article 48.13 of the Sporting Regulations states that the message “Safety Car in this
lap” is the signal that it will enter the pit lane at the end of that lap.
3. That therefore Article 48.13 “overrides” Article 48.12.
4. That Article 15.3 gives the Race Director “overriding authority” over “the use of the safety
car”.
5. That even if all cars that had been lapped (8 in total, of which 5 were allowed to overtake
the safety car) it would not have changed the outcome of the race.
Race Director’s Evidence
The Race Director stated that the purpose of Article 48.12 was to remove those lapped cars that
would “interfere” in the racing between the leaders and that in his view Article 48.13 was the one
that applied in this case.
The Race Director also stated that it had long been agreed by all the Teams that where possible
it was highly desirable for the race to end in a “green” condition (i.e. not under a Safety Car).

From FIA Website

**Aysedasi** · 19 Dec 2021, 13:04 (Ref:4090568)

Nice review Mr. Frog!

I'm not developing the last race shenanigans any further here, we already have enough threads and posts about that, but yes, for me too, it was by far the worst moment of the season.

And at the risk of labouring a point, I disagree with the Leclerc ranking. 4th is (for me) over-egging a pudding, based more on past endeavours than the current season. For me, Sainz completed the season looking significantly better than his teammate. It will be interesting to see how that dynamic pans out in 2022. I also agree that Ocon should be ahead of Russell who had a pretty poor second half of the season.

BTCC frog · 19 Dec 2021, 16:19 (Ref:4090584)

Leclerc Sainz
Bahrain 9 7
Imola 9 7
Portugal 8 6
Spain 10 7
Monaco 7 9
Azerbaijan 9 5
France 5 7
Styria 7 7
Austria 8 9
Britain 10 8
Hungary 8 7
Spa (/5) 3 2
Zandvoort 9 7
Italy 9 7
Russia 9 9
Turkey 9 9
Austin 10 7
Mexico 8 9
Brazil 8 8
Qatar 6 7
Jeddah 8 6
Abu Dhabi 6 9

Total 175 159

These were my ratings out of ten for the two this season. Looking back, I admit there were a few occasions where I think I was a little harsh on Sainz, but I can't find sixteen points to give him or take from Leclerc. Of course, this does not factor in the fact that Sainz was new to the team and Leclerc seemed like the number one before the season started, and if you do include that then I can understand putting Sainz ahead.

**Aysedasi** · 19 Dec 2021, 16:31 (Ref:4090585)

I'd say you've rated Leclerc generously (more than I would have done). 10 scores of 9 or more? But then again, my view is based more on a very general minds eye overview than any mathematical analysis. I'm probably being unfair to Charles. But I'm looking forward to see how they get on next season.

steve_r · 20 Dec 2021, 10:22 (Ref:4090651)

Driver Rankings -

=1 Verstappen & Hamilton- Its a cop out, but I cannot separate them. These 2 have been head and shoulders above the rest. When non-F1 fans say that it is all about the car, maybe point them towards these two. If RBR had 2 x Perez's or if Mercedes had 2 x Bottas then we would be looking at the most one sided F1 WDC in many years.

3. Norris - Looks like the real deal. Unlucky not to get a race win. Convincingly beat his highly-rated team mate. Several podiums.

4. Sainz - Has matured into a really good driver. Settled in at Ferrari quickly.

5. LeClerc - Quality. I rate both the Ferrari drivers highly.

6. Gasly - Out qualified Perez regularly. Shone at times. Thrashed teammate. The occasional anonymous weekend, which I think is more to do with the car. Maybe needs to move away from Red Bull to progress his F1 career.

7. Ocon - Spells of brilliance. Seemed to go missing for a large part of the season though. Who would of predicted that he would win a race?

8. Russell - Regularly qualified very well, in a car which I can only assume does not have great race pace. We will know whether he is the real deal in 2022.

9. Alonso - I am pleased to see him back on the grid. Great to see him going wheel to wheel. Played a pivotal role in Alpine's race win.

10. Perez - Race winner, but I was probably expecting more drives like we saw at the final race.

11. Bottas - Often equal to Hamilton in qualifying. Did not provide the support that Mercedes desperately needed when it was required. May thrive elsewhere.

12. Ricciardo - Disappointing on the whole, but still won a race. Too many times underperformed.

13 to 16 - Vettel, Stroll, Raikonnen, Giovanazzi
Anonymous for large parts of the season. All occasionally shone. Not easy to catch the eye in the machinery.

17. Latifi. Race pace seemed stronger than his qualifying pace. Contributed to the farcical season end, but generally drove in a tidy manner.

18. Schumacher. Fell out with his teammate, and crashed a few times. No doubt this was the worst car on the grid, so hopefully better things to come. Beat his teammate convincingly.

19. Tsunoda - A couple of really good weekends early season, and then lots of rookie errors crept in. Strong final weekend, so there is talent there.

20. Mazepin - Seemed to be on a mission to upset the whole of the internet before the season started, and then continued to upset the whole F1 grid with various incidents on-track. Lots of spins and crashed. Fell out with teammate. Maybe he has had less controversial incidents in the last few races, so hopefully is maturing? I slightly worry what he will be like if next years Haas enables him to mix it with other teams.

S griffin · 20 Dec 2021, 10:30 (Ref:4090657)

Interesting ranking BTCC Frog, but I agree with Ayse, Sainz should be ahead of Leclerc. Leclerc is probably the faster than Sainz on raw pace, but there's more to it than that. And not sure about putting Vettel 10th, with Checo 12th. Checo was a very effective number 2, certainly more so than Gasly and Albon, even if he did disappear in a few races.

I do think Steve's one is more accurate

**Aysedasi** · 20 Dec 2021, 11:13 (Ref:4090664)

Yes, I'm pretty close to Steve's assessment too.

chillibowl · 20 Dec 2021, 17:16 (Ref:4090736)

Elements of both I like but in the end also agree with sainz ahead of leclerc.

Much like having Ocon ahead of Alonso…started the season expecting it to be one way but in the end turned out the other way? My estimation of Ocon went up so much. He held his own and changed my mind about him.

Gasly with a massive season as well!

Talent wise this might be one of the best grids in a long time. If ever?

steve_r · 21 Dec 2021, 10:01 (Ref:4090802)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Talent wise this might be one of the best grids in a long time. If ever?

Thats's a good topic for debate. The 1st year that pooped into my mind was 1986:
Mansell - WDC
Prost - Multiple WDC
Senna - One of the best ever, multiple WDC
Piquet - Multiple WDC
Rosberg - WDC
Jones - WDC
Plus a whole host of other great drivers such as Berger, Alboretto, Johansson, Nannini, Patrese, Tambay

Maybe that is a topic for a separate debate!

Akrapovic · 21 Dec 2021, 10:43 (Ref:4090808)

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve_r

Driver Rankings -

=1 Verstappen & Hamilton- Its a cop out, but I cannot separate them. These 2 have been head and shoulders above the rest. When non-F1 fans say that it is all about the car, maybe point them towards these two. If RBR had 2 x Perez's or if Mercedes had 2 x Bottas then we would be looking at the most one sided F1 WDC in many years.

3. Norris - Looks like the real deal. Unlucky not to get a race win. Convincingly beat his highly-rated team mate. Several podiums.

4. Sainz - Has matured into a really good driver. Settled in at Ferrari quickly.

5. LeClerc - Quality. I rate both the Ferrari drivers highly.

6. Gasly - Out qualified Perez regularly. Shone at times. Thrashed teammate. The occasional anonymous weekend, which I think is more to do with the car. Maybe needs to move away from Red Bull to progress his F1 career.

7. Ocon - Spells of brilliance. Seemed to go missing for a large part of the season though. Who would of predicted that he would win a race?

8. Russell - Regularly qualified very well, in a car which I can only assume does not have great race pace. We will know whether he is the real deal in 2022.

9. Alonso - I am pleased to see him back on the grid. Great to see him going wheel to wheel. Played a pivotal role in Alpine's race win.

10. Perez - Race winner, but I was probably expecting more drives like we saw at the final race.

11. Bottas - Often equal to Hamilton in qualifying. Did not provide the support that Mercedes desperately needed when it was required. May thrive elsewhere.

12. Ricciardo - Disappointing on the whole, but still won a race. Too many times underperformed.

13 to 16 - Vettel, Stroll, Raikonnen, Giovanazzi
Anonymous for large parts of the season. All occasionally shone. Not easy to catch the eye in the machinery.

17. Latifi. Race pace seemed stronger than his qualifying pace. Contributed to the farcical season end, but generally drove in a tidy manner.

18. Schumacher. Fell out with his teammate, and crashed a few times. No doubt this was the worst car on the grid, so hopefully better things to come. Beat his teammate convincingly.

19. Tsunoda - A couple of really good weekends early season, and then lots of rookie errors crept in. Strong final weekend, so there is talent there.

20. Mazepin - Seemed to be on a mission to upset the whole of the internet before the season started, and then continued to upset the whole F1 grid with various incidents on-track. Lots of spins and crashed. Fell out with teammate. Maybe he has had less controversial incidents in the last few races, so hopefully is maturing? I slightly worry what he will be like if next years Haas enables him to mix it with other teams.

This is a really good post. I'd agree with this, with minor adjustments

1 - Lewis
2 - Max
...
10 Bottas
11 Perez

I'd put Lewis _slightly_ above Max over the year. And I preferred the way Lewis carried himself throughout the season.

I'd put Bottas above Perez - he quite convincingly outscored him. Given Max won the drivers title, Perez inability to even match Bottas over a season is what cost Red Bull the constructors.

Sodemo · 21 Dec 2021, 13:03 (Ref:4090820)

I was pretty disappointed in Kimi this year, he was making some odd errors and his driving just didn't seem like it was.

S griffin · 22 Dec 2021, 14:31 (Ref:4090989)

Here's Autosport's top 10
1) Hamilton
2) Verstappen
3) Norris
4) Leclerc
5) Sainz
6) Gasly
7) Russell
8) Bottas
9) Alonso
10) Perez

Great list. I again question putting Leclerc ahead of Sainz, although I can understand their explanation in that Leclerc was the one who got closer to winning that season. His two poles and him leading at Silverstone show his approach does work

**chunterer** · 23 Dec 2021, 08:42 (Ref:4091053)

I think that if we take the 'what he did with what he had' anlysis, Alonso should be higher up than 9th!

**Born Racer** · 23 Dec 2021, 12:34 (Ref:4091072)

Well done BTCC frog. Very detailed!

Here are my thoughts on the top 20 (not taking Robert Kubica into account).

1. Hamilton

Exceptionally close between him and Verstappen for this one. Is it accurately-judged to put Hamilton and Verstappen in the top two given they had two of the best cars? Yes, I think so. No matter what happened, they both relentlessly and almost flawlessly delivered speed consistently. No matter what happened, you could be guaranteed these two would almost invariably surface battling together at the top. A delight to behold. Hamilton pips it for me, because he probably raised his game and came back from mistakes. Even when making errors, he managed to show a deft touch - that recovery in Imola from the gravel trap was the kind of thing greats do. When you thought Verstappen might have had him covered off, he would excel to new heights. Interlagos showed ridiculously good racing. He may have made more errors than Max, but he showed more racing ethics and didn't rely on rough tactics to get by.

2. Verstappen

Exceptional. I wish to ignore questionable race direction in Abu Dhabi in terms of any argument over whether he should have pipped Hamilton. Ultimately, he did and as we have discussed extensively here, he put together a relentless and consistently fast campaign. He needs to tidy up his racing aggression in my judgement and he sometimes tried to depend upon rough tactics. But ultimately, he doesn't need to. He is fast enough to win without them and often did. One day, we may be talking about him as an elder statesmen who calmed down and remained lightning fast. A very talented world champion.

3. Norris

Where has this come from? Ricciardo VS Norris was being touted as one of the closest potential teammate battled in 2021. In the end, Norris kind of wiped the floor with him, the Daniel who, lest we forget, proved capable against Verstappen. Norris usually found a way to get up there in the results and was a refreshingly honest guy, open to his flaws and self-critical, which perhaps aided him. Sochi was a pity, but despite some anonymity due to Ferrari largely getting the better of McLaren since then, the experience has only served to remind him that when his day comes, he will be calmer and probably more rational when it comes to decision-making.

4. Gasly

People constantly talk about how he recovered from failure at Red Bull, but it's difficult not to when you see the transformation. Perhaps the number 2 seat at Red Bull is a poisoned chalice, or maybe Gasly just needed a bit more time, but he has taken the toro by the horns and done even more than he did in his 2020 race-winning season. Some eye-opening results, consistently figuring well on the top 10 and a podium to boot, Gasly was a generally reliable and fast performer.

5. Alonso

Once he had warmed up, there was no stopping him. He added maturity and perspective to his arsenal this season, a powerful combination with his undoubted speed and doggedness. With all due respect to Räikkönen, who remained fairly fast, but wasn't quite operating at such a tough level, Fernando looked like the Alonso of old, but even more rounded. His support for Ocon seemed genuine, and his explanation of how he taught Hamilton how to defend in Hungary looked wry and cheeky. It would be wonderful if Alpine could do a Brawn and give him the lead car. He could win a third championship.

6. Leclerc

It's close between him and Sainz, but Leclerc, who has less F1 experience than his new teammate, just about showed him the way. He had some real highs, including Silverstone and Monaco qualifying (before the crash), but was a little inconsistent. He will have to raise his game versus Carlos if he is to maintain his ranking in front of him for me.

7. Sainz

A shrewd addition to the Prancing Horse's stable. He raced well and often had to, coming back from lower placings. He delivered some big results on occasion. Displayed a keen thirst for awareness of the bigger picture of a race.

8. Ocon

Somewhat written off as someone who will never quite excel after last year, he got a wake-up call in 2021 with Alonso's entrance and upped the ante. He seized the opportunity in Hungary and did not let the sudden opportunity in Saudi Arabia slip by either. Proved a good match for Alonso on a fairly regular basis.

9. Russell

Sometimes stupendous and giant-killing, but a little inconsistent. In his defence, though, the car was of a competitive 'midfield' and did not seem a points contender most the time. When it was, though, it was mightily effective in his hands. That said, Latifi was closer this time than before. At least he seemed to iron out his going backwards in races to a large extent. Now he has the best yardstick in the most successful driver ever. Sakhir can not have been a flash in the pan. You can't just jump in a topline car like that and deliver like he did without a lot of ability.

10. Vettel

A fine recovery from a messy end to his Ferrari career. It was felt he was either going to be put out to pasture by Stroll or rediscover a mojo and thankfully, it was the latter. He was patient with teething troubles and for what it's worth, displayed a sunnier demeanour and was back to being more of an appealing character, without the outbursts and any underhandedness that had been witnessed in tenser, earlier times. Two fine podiums (one removed) were his reward.

11. Pérez

Really good on his day and did a better support job for his championship-contending teammate than Bottas did, but still too far down the pecking order too often and a gulf to Verstappen. He got it together later in the year, though.

12. Bottas

Sometimes brilliant and sometimes mediocre by F1 standards. He will have to improve his racing in the pack at Alfa.

13. Giovinazzi

His best season and ironically, the one where he finally got kicked out. I'd previously felt the rather unkind 'journeyman' label could be applied to him, as he made little impact and was remarkably invisible. This year, he stepped up, though, suddenly appearing in points positions, seemingly from nowhere. He continued to go about it somewhat discreetly, but the car was not consistently that strong, so there were undoubtedly some really solid performances. Lest we forget, his teammate was a world champion.

14. Ricciardo

The ranking order gets tough here. Ricciardo could as easily have been 10th, as he could have been 15th. I have to cut him some slack, though, as he won at Monza and his teammate was formidable (3rd in my list, after all). Nonetheless I'm stacking him up against the weight of my expectations and the results don't make for good reading. He also didn't seem able to come forward in races and make some daring Daniel passes like before. I hope he gets a handle on the 2022 car, as there is no-one able to smile more on a bad day than him. I guess he's got grit to look inside himself at how he can get on top of it, because he need to fare much better alongside his teammate.

15. Räikkönen

I have no way of knowing if he's lost any edge, but he was still capable of some really good races. He was Driver of the Grand Prix for me on a number of occasions, while not being the best out there, but certainly delivered good results in a ropey car. For me, there was no question about motivation in races. A good swansong.

16. Stroll

A bit like Giovinazzi, if you weren't following his strategy, he would sometimes suddenly just appear in the points and proved a decent match for Vettel (and Vettel for him). Another teammate to a world champion, he showed well, but never made me think he was anything more than a decent or reasonable Formula 1 driver, and there's no shame in that.

17. Tsunoda

I want him to do well. I find his comments hilarious. I still think he comes across as a normal young guy who's been hypnotised and drafted in from the outside world to Formula 1 and turns out to display decent speed. Consistency was obviously a massive issue. At times he would strong together a strong performance on a number of levels and at others, he would be well out of contention. Has potential. It makes sense to retain him otherwise this season will have been in vain.

18. Latifi

Much improved. A more decent car coincided with or was the force behind a better season. He certainly didn't disgrace himself. There were still big gaps to Russell at times, though. At least he outqualified him.

19. Schumacher

Accomplished enough for a first season. Quite fast. Dominated Mazepin. Steady but not spectacular. Would like to see if he can mark himself out a bit more in a better car. But will he get that car?

20. Mazepin

Not as bad as some of the 90s pay drivers, but not good. Made some arrive-and-drive karting errors of judgement.

BTCC frog · 23 Dec 2021, 15:48 (Ref:4091084)

Thank you to everyone who bothered to read my very long review

Beau2 · 23 Dec 2021, 21:44 (Ref:4091119)

My own rankings. I'm going backwards just to be different, 20-11 for now:
20. Mazepin - Was a pain for the first half of the season.
Became less difficult as the season went on and it was nice to see his human side at times. Still dreadfully off the pace compared to his team mate.

19. Giovinazzi - Disappointing season from the
Italian Jesus. I felt he was lucky to stay last year after he was so anonymous. This year he was just as anonymous and seemed to blow it when he was in good positions. Deserves to go.

18. Raikkonen - A couple of good moments but these were few and far between compared with some absolutely disastrous errors he's made. The
magic has gone and I found myself cringing at his mid season mistakes.

17. Tsunoda - A great start and a great end but seemed fall apart for 18 or so of the races. He's got potential but needs a lot of honing. Should have got a lot more points finishes in that car.

16. Latifi - Fairly big improvement from King Latifi. Scored some solid points for the team and was generally more consistent than the two Alfa drivers. Looks settled into the team with progress towards his team mate.

15. Schumacher - Mazepin isn't terrible but
Schumacher wiped the floor with him. Hard to tell how good he actually is in the Haas but he somehow got it to Q2 on a couple of occasions. Managed to cut out the silly crashes.

14. Stroll - There was little of the occasional magic we saw from Stroll last season. He's reverted back to a fairly average driver in an average team.

13. Riccardo - I feel that next season is make or break for Ricciardo. Yes, he was in a new team but he just seemed nowhere for most of the year. He performed well at Monza and that saved his bacon on this list.

12. Vettel - A pretty average year again from
Seb. A little improved from 2020 but still lacking confidence. A couple of great drives to get on the podium but a 4x World Champion should be doing better.

11= - Bottas/Perez - I find these two inseparable. Bottas helped Mercedes win the constructors, whilst Perez helped
Max win the Driver's Championship. Both had 1 win. Both had periods where they dipped, both had unlucky moments, both had good races and both were generally blown away by their team mates.

Beau2 · 24 Dec 2021, 00:40 (Ref:4091143)

9. Ocon - A maturing season from Ocon. I feel like he is destined to remain in the midfield for most of his career but he was impressive at times this year. Showed a great level of composure at Hungary.

8. Russell - Continues to impress. Outstanding in qualifying and in the early part of the season he really seemed to be taking that Williams to places it shouldn't be. Still prone to silly mistakes (Imola) and seemed less bothered once confirmed with Mercedes.

7. Leclerc - A slightly disappointing season from the driver who is meant to be Ferrari's future star. He put in some excellent drives at times but then was unusually quiet. His accident at Monaco affected his season a fair bit.

6. Alonso - Just typical Alonso really. Getting the most out of an average car and doing what he can for the team. He's matured a lot in his time away. Is this his final form? Can he fight for a Championship if Alpine build him the car?

5. Sainz - A total surprise for me. I wasn't sure what Ferrari were doing at all when they signed him last year, but maybe this is exactly what they need. A safe pair of hands that will bring the car home. Can't believe he outscored
Leclerc in the end.

4. Gasly - Mr. Consistent. How many times was he best of the rest this season by qualifying or finishing in 6th position. Absolutely destroyed his rookie team mate and did an excellent job for a fairly average team.

3. Norris - Ah Lando, Lando, Lando! Up to
Russia you were pushing 1st position on this list. Not only was he convincingly besting Ricciardo but his run of high finishes in the first half of the season was fantastic.

2. Hamilton - Up to Sochi he was about 7th on this list due to the amount of mistakes he was making. From Brazil onwards he was on top form and genuinely seemed to find another level which almost won him the Championship.

1. Verstappen - Even if he had lost the Championship Verstappen would be top. He took on Hamilton/
Mercedes and won. Not many people can say that since 2014. He made less major mistakes than Hamilton and was generally faster in an equal car. Other than Jeddah, where he did cross the line, he just did what he needed to do to win and was no different to a younger Hamilton.

Taxi645 · 24 Dec 2021, 08:54 (Ref:4091166)

I think many of the above lists and other ones even by the team bosses are pretty well judged, There is always one caveat though; the car. You have to be able to work with the car you are being given. Now one can say, a good driver can adept. This might be true to a large extend. The problem is some drivers who have done really well were in a car that suited them very well and thus end up higher in the list. It says nothing about their ability to cope with different type of cars, many just happen to be in a car that suited them.

Gasly, Albon and Perez were written off in a very difficult set up for Verstappen Red Bull. Ricciardo is at the bottom of the list because he struggles to cope with the type of car. Vettel was written off in earlier seasons, but is now higher up in the lists in a car that better suits them.

Personally, I think it is really hard to accurately judge if it's not a one make series.

S griffin · 24 Dec 2021, 11:07 (Ref:4091181)

I have to say the quality of the grid seemed very high this year and as a result it's hard to pick a top ten. We know Max and Lewis were head and shoulders above the rest, but then it's harder to sort out after that. Really it comes down to what drivers did compared to their team mates

**Aysedasi** · 24 Dec 2021, 14:49 (Ref:4091211)

A slightly different season review......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMciPMIABCM

wnut · 28 Dec 2021, 11:06 (Ref:4091528)

Team mate qualifying battle h2h and average time difference.

https://racingnews365.com/find-out-w...attles-in-2021

Still want to know what went wrong with Ricciardo ....

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