The top 10 drivers of the year

This season has seen some fantastic racing. All the way down the grid there have been so many epic wheel to wheel battles, but not all can get to be in the top 10. Click on the links for part 1 and part 2 of my driver countdown. These are my ten best drivers of the year from a brilliant year of Formula 1.

10. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)

A very impressive rookie season from the young Russian. He had pace in abundance, two fifth places in qualifying remind me of Daniel Ricciardo's excellence on a Saturday for Toro Rosso. He may have scored 14 points fewer than his team mate Jean-Eric Vergne but he did out-qualify him overall and lost a fair few points scoring finishes through unreliability. 

However, there were a few clumsy errors and when some of the radio advice from the team was banned during races he did seem to lose his way a little, but he found his way back by the end. His drive from the back of the grid in the Italian Grand Prix to challenge for points before a brake failure was brilliant, and again in Abu Dhabi he was mixing it within the points after starting fifth, an engine problem forcing him out on that occasion. 

It looked like he would be leading Toro Rosso next year alongside Max Verstappen, but his Red Bull opportunity comes early after Sebastian Vettel's departure. It'll be tough for Kvyat, but I think he's more than up to the job and with a season of experience behind him and a top line car to drive I'm sure he'll be on the podium soon. As I wrote earlier in the year 'If Vergne could match Ricciardo, and Ricciardo can beat Vettel, then Kvyat must be awesome'.

9. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)

This guy should have been in a top team by now. It has been said for years, people are still saying it but perception is everything in Formula 1 and unless it happens at the end of next season then sadly, I think Hulkenberg may have missed his shot. Perhaps that's why he's branching out to Le Mans with Porsche next year. 

This season Nico was as consistently good as he ever has been, bringing the car home for decent points, but he lacked that special result that he's so easily capable of. He suffered a blip in form when he was outshone by his team mate Sergio Perez in the middle of the year, but he brought it back on track. I think Perez was a lot closer than people thought he might be, which begs the question I asked of Perez, is Perez better than people think, or Hulkenberg worse?

8. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

In a way I wanted to put Vettel lower on this list, but found I couldn't. The reasons why I thought that perhaps he should be lower is that like Kimi Raikkonen, he never got to grips with these new breed of cars (lucky Ferrari) and despite moments which showed his talent was still there he still wasn't performing at his maximum come the end of the year. 

I wrote at the beginning of the year wondering if Vettel would struggle. I said he would but he'd get on top of it and be beating Ricciardo, but that didn't happen. Every time there looked to be a resurgence it was then halted. Something would go wrong with the car, or he just couldn't extract the pace that Ricciardo proved was there. It was a shame to see the sports most recent four time champion be exposed like this which is not to take anything away from Ricciardo at all. I have no doubts that if you put Vettel in the best car that is suited to him he is as fast as anyone. No one was better than him at exploiting the last generation of cars.

But unless the car is suited to him, it seems Vettel is not capable of driving round the problems like Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, or even Daniel Ricciardo and hustling a car to a result it doesn't deserve. But on the plus side we saw more than ever how good he is at wheel to wheel battle, his fight with Alonso at Silverstone was fantastic, and his drive in Singapore superb as well. What impressed me most was that he didn't throw his toys out of the pram when Ricciardo beat him, he just kept plugging away, at times he got somewhere, at others he didn't. 

Perhaps after four years of success coming into a season where he made no secret he didn't like the new Formula demotivated him. A new challenge at Ferrari is perhaps just the thing to create renewed motivation, to conquer with the scarlet cars just like his hero Michael Schumacher did before him.

7. Felipe Massa (Williams)

Massa gets caught up in too many accidents, it's a problem he's had through his career and it's followed him to Williams, admittedly most of them weren't his fault but it does ask questions. He was out qualified and scored 52 less points than his team mate Valtteri Bottas. Yet I kind of think he deserves to be higher up in this list than he is. Ultimately he was soundly beaten by Bottas which is why he's down at number seven, but this year saw a rejuvenated Massa at Williams, freed from the shackles of being Alonso's support he was able to race for himself once more. 

I'm afraid I'm one who thinks he hasn't been as good since his accident in 2009, but this year showed signs he could become a winner once more. There's plenty of evidence for this too. When both Williams' finished he actually was ahead of Bottas 8-6, he scored the teams only pole position of the year with a brilliant lap in Austria and came closest of all to scoring the team a victory when he charged down Lewis Hamilton at the finale in Abu Dhabi. 

If he can stay out of trouble next year and Williams continue their improvement, I don't see why he can't take a few wins, when he's got that scent of victory and he's running at the front, it reminds me of 2008 when he nearly, and perhaps should have won the title. Lot's more to come from Massa next year.

6.Jenson Button (McLaren)
Jenson has finally been retained for 2015 by McLaren Honda. That McLaren made him hang on for so long after what has actually been a pretty decent showing from the Briton was a bit of a slap in the face. Qualifying isn't his strong point and yet he's out qualified the highly rated Magnussen and scored far more points than him. 

Yes, there are still times when he can be a bit anonymous, or just can't get the car to work for him, but this season, perhaps more than any other, he's dragged a number of impressive results. He's made it work for him. In the last quarter of the year he scored 4 top five finishes from five races. His races at Silverstone, Japan and Brazil were outstanding results. Give him a car and he'll get you wins even now. 

I do think Magnussen deserves a drive for next season and ultimately he is the future. But I think Button as he approaches 35 has another couple of years at the top level left in him. Like when he was team mate to Lewis Hamilton, I think now he's to partner Fernando Alonso next season he will be able to match him.

5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)

It is often the case that when a driver is given a better car, their performance gets better too. Bottas had shown sporadic moments of brilliance in his rookie campaign in 2013 with a difficult car, this year Williams gave him a car that allowed him to star consistently. Despite Massa's impressive year with Williams, it was Bottas, along with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo who became the go to drivers if you were looking for potential challengers to the Mercedes juggernaut.

It took a while to get going, both he and the team were guilty of missing opportunities. I feel sure a win could have gone the way of Bottas or Massa in Austria after they locked out the front row. But after all that the podiums started to arrive, six in all for Bottas. He was consistent, fast, and looked like he had always been running near the front of the grid, which I thought was particularly impressive. 

He was in the top three in qualifying more than any other non works Mercedes driver. It was an impressive campaign and if the team can build on these foundations, perhaps there's a sliver of a chance at a title tilt next season? There's a lot to come from Finland's top driver.

4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)

Alonso will drag a car to the very edge and still find more performance. Once again this year he has been superb. He has crushed the challenge of Kimi Raikkonen and driven the wheels off of a Ferrari, which to be polite was a bit rubbish. Just two podiums in the year, his lowest since 2009, was a poor return on what has been another brilliant year from the Spaniard. 

Let's put it this way, the best cars were Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams. Mercedes had a second in hand, so we'll exclude then, but he was often the only driver who could mix it with the best of the rest. His season is littered with fourths, fifths and sixths, which is more than the car often deserved and if you think about it, it means he was often ahead of at least one or two cars which were better than his. 

Alonso is able to drive round problems and exploit the car as much as is humanly possible, but not even he could haul it much further than the top five yet still he nearly won in Hungary, one of the drives of the season. Ultimately this has led Ferrari and Alonso to part ways. What started as an exciting partnership with glory surely awaiting them has culminated in a winless campaign filled with behind closed doors acrimony. But whatever people say about Alonso with regards the way he acts in a team, he still was fully committed to the cause. 

There were a few off days as the strain began to tell of yet another fruitless campaign with Ferrari, but nothing that would suggest his powers are on the wane. McLaren Honda have him for next year, with an already difficult relationship, a less than successful first year could bring storm clouds. After all the effort, he deserves one last chance at a title challenge. 

3. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

Rosberg had a fantastic campaign, he just keeps on defying expectations. Let's get the bad stuff out the way first. Monaco qualifying and Spa misdemeanours were heat of the moment stuff, not pre-planned at all. Besides that, it was a brilliant season built on speed and consistency. This was his first title challenge, the pressure must have been intense right from the start of winter testing, both he and Lewis Hamilton knew they had a car that was clearly the best in the field. 

Even then subtle battle lines would have been being drawn. Rosberg has never really been thought of as one of the best out there, well I think this year has proved beyond doubt he's a tough competitor. In qualifying despite some Lewis quali woes, Rosberg outshone his team mate. Lewis was meant to be the strong one over one lap and Rosberg would get him in the races as the new fuel efficient rules would suit him more. 

It wasn't to be though, but he was so nearly there. With Lewis operating at such a high level, you have to have Rosberg high up in the list too, because he was often just missing fractions. However at the end of the season when both cars had finished Hamilton beat him 10-4. He never passed his team mate, but was passed several times during the season, his wheel to wheel racing is something he has already acknowledged he'll need to work on. He is capable of dominating a weekend like in Monaco, or Brazil, even when like in the latter race, he is not the quickest out there. This years title challenging experience will be logged away, Rosberg will come back stronger in 2015.

2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

The best always operate at the highest level whether they have a bad car or good. But when the title chance comes, they can still get better. I think Hamilton was brilliant this year, but he made mistakes under pressure, particularly on a Saturday and was beaten by his team mate in qualifying. I think this season could have been easier for him, which is why I can't give him the top spot.

The pressure would have been mounting since winter testing. In Monaco after Rosberg's quali incident, it broke out into war between the pair of them and suddenly it looked like it was effecting Lewis' head. So prone to letting things get to him in the past, it began to look like a title which should have been easy for the fastest man in the sport was going to be lost. 

Between Monaco and Belgium he won just once. Several mistakes in qualifying and reliability problems meant Rosberg got an edge, and then the coming together at Spa changed everything. The team had chosen to remain quiet about Monaco, this time they backed Hamilton, finally he felt he had the team behind him, suddenly he reeled off five victories in a row. Even when there were issues, he'd reset his head and come back stronger. It was brilliant mind management which enabled him to focus on the driving. I found that very impressive, something he'd rarely display before. 

But most of all, I thought it was brilliant that he defied the expectations of the media that thought this wasn't a Formula for Lewis. He just wants to go flat out, he won't be able to save the tyres or the fuel they said. In fact he was brilliant with the Pirelli rubber and was the best at conserving fuel, almost always using less than Rosberg during the races. His passing was better than ever. As one of the best passers on the grid this was to be expected and he exploited that on Rosberg. 

Perhaps what perfectly exemplifies the difference between the two Mercedes drivers was in Hungary. Rosberg sat stuck behind Vergne for lap after lap playing the percentages. Hamilton, on the charge, gets ahead of his team mate then immediately gets in front of Vergne too. Incisiveness. Lewis knows Rosberg will learn from this season and come back stronger, however I think this title will launch Lewis to an even higher level, I'll not be surprised to be writing about him as a three time world champion this time next year.

1. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

Revelation. What a season Ricciardo has had. He's walked into four time champion Sebastian Vettel's team and blown him away. He had the measure of him from winter testing, and when Vettel looked to be getting back on terms, he upped it another notch. I thought if the car was dodgy he'd have a chance of upsetting Vettel but ultimately the German would prevail. Not a bit of it, Ricciardo took charge of that team and it wasn't long before Vettel sometimes looked like the forgotten man. Ricciardo was even beating him at tracks that Vettel had made his own. 

His intentions were clear right from the start of the season. Even though the podium was taken away from him in Australia due to fuel flow problems, his second on the grid and second in the race was a bold statement. By Monaco he was ahead of Vettel on points and just pulled away. It became obvious that beating Vettel was secondary as an unlikely title challenge suddenly came on the cards. Although ultimately fruitless it was a measure of how consistently good he was that this was even still a possibility as the season came down to the closing stages. 

His cool smiley demeanour hides an utterly focused driver who will take any opportunity he can get and maximise it. He rarely makes a mistake, and is always on the edge but so in control, looking for a chance. It's no coincidence that the three races Mercedes didn't win this year were picked up by Ricciardo.

His victories in Canada and Belgium may have been down to Mercedes problems but he was in a position to capitalise. The one in Hungary was brilliant though, exploiting the circumstances through a safety car it was early on when he got on the radio to say they could win this. Fighting back after pitting from the lead, with just three laps to go he made a bold around the outside move on Hamilton, then a slick one down the inside on Alonso. 

Passing two of the toughest out there to take the win, it was utterly thrilling and indicative of how comfortable he was mixing it at the top of the sport. He wasn't scared of going toe to toe with anyone out there. His move on Alonso in the USA was close to the edge but brilliant opportunism. It was truly an exceptional season. This guy is the real deal, and if Red Bull can close the gap to Mercedes next year, he'll be on the championship trail.

all photos taken from autosport.com