Drivers of the year Q2

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

17. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham)

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

16. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

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

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

15. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)

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

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

14. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)

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

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

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

13. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)

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

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

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

12. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

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

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

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

11. Sergio Perez (Force India)

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

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