Drivers of the year 2013 - Q1

Over the next few days I will be counting down the best drivers of the year in a three stage format pretty much exactly like qualifying. Accepting that it's not always the easiest to tell which drivers have shown better given the differences in car performance, but also allowing that in general the best drivers mostly end up in the best cars (with the exception of Nico Hulkenberg) then starting with 23 to 17 here are the first drivers to be knocked out of possibly (but probably not) the definitive Formula 1 driver list of the year.

23. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus)

A bit of a squandered opportunity for Heikki as he replaced Kimi Raikkonen for the final two races of the year. One Q3 appearance and two dreadful starts didn’t make the impression he wanted.

22. Max Chilton (Marussia)

It was a solid rookie year, in fact he finished all the races which is something a first year driver has never done before. It still doesn’t stop me wanting to put him last as mostly he finished there and was completely trounced by his team mate Jules Bianchi. The most infuriating thing was the likes of the BBC and Sky making excuses for him; even though he did improve as the year went on if he finds himself with a seat next year it’s another poor reflection on F1 that money talks just a bit too much.

21. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham)

There was a perception that van der Garde was being dominated by Pic as much as Chilton was by Bianchi but that was not the case at all. He was outstanding in the wet qualifying of Belgium and actually out-qualified Pic 10-9 over the season. Deserves another year as he seemed to be getting better.

20. Charles Pic (Caterham)

It is of course very difficult to judge the drivers from the newer teams as they were consistently about a second off even the slowest of the midfield runners. So despite his qualifying against van der Garde the fact that Pic was leading 8-4 when both Caterhams finished the races showed that Pic had it when it counted this year.

19. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)

Out in Q1 10 times isn’t exactly a great advertisement for future job prospects. But in truth his first year while patchy wasn’t that bad in my eyes at least. Admittedly he had trouble putting an entire weekend together but when looked at closely he often wasn’t that far off his highly thought of team mate Nico Hulkenberg. The second half was when he really came alive when Sauber made the car more driveable, while his seventh place in Japan was a fantastic drive. 

Again with the lack of testing in F1 at the moment, he deserved at least one more year which Sauber obliged by not employing a barely born but rich Russian Sergey Sirotkin.

18. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)

After 2012’s heroics Williams produced a dog of a car which left dear Pastor frustrated. It didn’t help that his rookie team mate was consistently out qualifying him. His race experience told on Sundays when he more often than not finished in front but his criticism of Williams when he knew he was leaving was poor and his single point for the year was equally so. His move to Lotus next year is defined by money even though on his day he can compete with the best.

17. Adrian Sutil (Force India)

Sutil made quite the comeback in Australia after being away for a year with a spectacular performance that rather overshadowed his team mate Paul di Resta. It’s strange that for the majority of the year Sutil lingered behind di Resta and didn’t have nearly as many highlight showings, but Sutil is still the one with the higher profile and by the looks of it the one to stay in Formula as he’s signed for Sauber. He’s a good solid driver, but despite the odd standout showing, he’s never going to give you that spark every race.

For 16 - 11 click here 

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The 2014 driver game

 

As you may have noticed over the past week there has been a lot of movement in the driver market for next year, and even for this year. Let’s start with the biggest story, that of Kimi Raikkonen leaving Lotus before the end of the season so he can have an operation to cure his recurrent back problems.

It could appear to be that Kimi has left Lotus in the lurch but to be fair to the Finn, he hasn’t been paid this year, that money is not looking like it’s going to be forthcoming any time soon either. Added to that and probably more importantly, the recovery time of this op is estimated at around four weeks.

He’s facing a huge challenge with taking on Fernando Alonso at Ferrari next year, so will want to be ready to hit the ground running as soon as 2014 testing starts early next year. With the season finishing so late, it’s probably a good plan to get it done and dusted as soon as possible.

It’s probably a wise decision, although a disappointment for all Kimi fans not to see his smiling face for the final two grand prix. Nico Hulkenberg apparently turned down the chance to replace him as he felt it was too big a risk for just two races. Heikki Kovalainen grabbed the opportunity with both hands though. Having only played a bit part for Caterham in practice sessions this year he will be eager to show he still has what it takes. I sincerely hope he takes this opportunity.

However, I’d have liked to have seen 2012’s GP2 champion and Lotus reserve driver Davide Valsecchi be given the chance. After all what’s the point of having a reserve driver contracted if when the opportunity arises he is passed over? I know they are in a scrap to be in the top 3 of the constructors championship, but how are these reserve drivers ever likely to progress if they are not trusted for the job they’ve been employed to do?

I think it’s a bit ridiculous that he hadn’t managed to get a drive while someone like Max Chilton did. Yes, he was a race winner in GP2, but his drive was bought. The top level of motor sport should not be employing drivers who have paid for their seats. They should only be for the best of the best.

Perhaps a restructuring of the revenue generated by this global car circus would enable teams to afford to hire the drivers they really want and not the ones they need for the sake of budget. Even if it is an economic downtime, there is something seriously wrong when the top echelon of the sport has top teams not being able to afford to pay its drivers. But that’s an entirely different blog to be discussed later.

McLaren

Kevin Magnussen was awesome at the young drivers test at Silverstone this year. I was there and for lap after lap he just looked on it all the time, it was certainly very impressive. He also won the Formula Renault 3.5 world series this year, so I am glad that McLaren haven’t chosen to blood him in a lower team but have taken the chance to promote one from their own young driver program. I can’t wait to see how he performs next year alongside Jenson Button. I think Jenson is going to have his work cut out, much like Fernando Alonso did when a rookie Lewis Hamilton partnered him.

However the fact that Sergio Perez has been replaced after just one season seems a bit unfair. I hope he gets a decent driver next year because he deserved a bit more. Yes Button has scored nearly double the points but I think in general Perez has done nearly as good a job and certainly recently has looked the better bet for points.

It’s such a shame that he came to the team on one of their down years, as there is no doubting that on his day he’s a very good driver indeed. Much like Button in fact. And on their day, given the car in a certain year, they can be world champion, like Button was. But this looks like it’s back to the midfield for Perez, at least with his budget he should be able to secure a decent drive somewhere. I hope he does because I don’t think he deserved to be treated like this.

With rumours of Alonso perhaps joining for 2015 when Honda join the team, Button might have to look over his shoulder too, although the Woking team also have Formula Renault 3.5 runner up Stoffel Vandoorne on their books too so there’s another young prospect to look too. At least McLaren (along with Red Bull and Ferrari amongst others) are bringing in fresh good talent to fill the F1 seats. Watch out for Vandoorne, he’s plying his trade in GP2 next year.

Massa gets his 2014 seat

Felipe Massa will continue in Formula 1 next year at Williams. I’m delighted for him, he deserves to lead a team and I think getting away from Ferrari and the shadow of Alonso will do him good. I hope he rediscovers his form from before the accident in 2009 and shows that he’s not done yet.

If some of the rumours that his engineer from Ferrari, Rob Smedley might join the team as well as potentially a link up with Ross Brawn are true, then it could be a fantastic time to be joining the Williams team as they look to move back up the grid.

Valtteri Bottas is a good young hopeful and will keep Massa on his toes, but I think Felipe will believe he’s been hired to lead this team and I think that will give him the impetus to spark a second wave in his career; looking forward to seeing what he can do.

Of course that means Pastor Maldonado is now on the market with his masses of Venezuelan cash behind him, so the 2014 driver market is going to be a hot topic for some time to come with seats at Lotus, Force India, Sauber, Caterham and Marussia still to be announced.  

A final note about young drivers

The fact is money is hard to come by at the moment which is why many teams are looking for their drivers to bring a budget with them. Sometimes this means that a lot of the talented drivers who have not got the money miss out on an opportunity at the top of the sport.

This means that if this trend continues then the sport might not be presenting the best cars with the best drivers driving them. For instance last years GP2 champion did not get an F1 drive. This year at the moment it looks like the top 2 from GP2 are not going to get drives.

This is unacceptable. However the economy means that this may happen more often, so what I would like to see is the FIA buying two cars, perhaps year old ones or perhaps new ones from other teams and running them in free practice.

They would be run independently from the teams that made them so there would be no advantage for a team that sells a car. With these two cars, should a top driver from one of the top feeder series fail to find a drive in Formula 1 or high end alternative he would be given an opportunity to show what he can do to the teams and sponsors in the Friday free practice sessions.

Just put them in the shop window and maybe the teams might take a chance as might some sponsors. What with testing being restricted it would give a decent chance for drivers to get experience too. It’s a plan with perhaps many flaws, but flaws that could be ironed out. Surely worth a thought?

all photo's from autosport.com

The American Forecast

It’s the final week of Formula 1 for the 2013 season. What seemed to start out as a pretty competitive year has turned into a demonstration of just what an incredible force Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull have turned into since they first started their onslaught of the silverware in 2010.

The final double header of the year starts in Texas at the circuit of the Americas, the second visit to what is a fantastic venue. Last year produced in my opinion, the best race of the year, the purest in terms of out and out racing.

Lewis Hamilton tracked Vettel for the majority of it, and only an intervention by an errant backmarker allowed him to close up enough to execute an admittedly trick DRS pass. It didn’t end there though, Vettel didn’t let Lewis go until the chequered flag, it was intense stuff and we can only hope this weekend produces similar inspiring racing.

At the moment Texas is looking sunny and cloudy on all three days of the event, with not much chance of rain. There are two DRS zones this year, the first is on the start finish straight while the second is after turn 11, where Lewis made his pass for victory last year. The tyre compounds for the race are medium and hard, so I’d say it’s likely to be a one stopper, much like last season.

So will 2013 champion Vettel make it eight wins in a row? Well surely we all know the answer? Well no, you can never be certain with many things in life. However, it sure is likely. He took pole last year, and was close to a win, the form book this season has hints that he could certainly claim victory.

However, I’m not sure he’s going to have it all his own way. Mark Webber’s form over the last few races has certainly been better, and he knows that with just two races of his career left it’s now or never, or next week if he wants to make it ten Formula 1 victories. Just beat Vettel one more time Mark, you’ve done it before, why not do it again?

It’s possibly because Vettel is driving so above everyone else right now he’s making it look just too easy. But it’s never easy to trounce someone quite as highly regarded as Webber. I think the other hope for victory has to come from Mercedes. Either Hamilton or Nico Rosberg can take the fight to Red Bull.

It’s been Rosberg recently, but I’ve a feeling if Lewis feels comfortable then on this track he can produce something special especially now the team have brought him a new chassis after finding two big cracks in his previous one which would have affected performance. Mercedes do still have the pace, at least in qualifying to try and cause an upset. In Abu Dhabi if it wasn’t for a spin, Lewis could have taken pole position, he was up on Vettel before that incident. He is definitely one to look out for.

Lotus too could spring a surprise. Probably only from one car though, that being the car of Romain Grosjean. It was getting to a point where that might have been the case anyway even with Kimi Raikkonen in the other car, but now he has been side-lined with his back injury it seems unlikely that Heikki Kovalainen, the chosen replacement will manage to do better than Kimi.

I do hope Heikki shows what he can do though. He’s a talented driver who has been wasted at Caterham these past few years, he at least deserves another crack at it, so good on him.

I’m also tipping Sergio Perez to give a decent performance for McLaren. He’s been unceremoniously dropped after just a year, and he’ll be out to prove and advertise himself to those teams with seats available and who are willing to except some Mexican money to pay the bills.

I think along with McLaren the battles between Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso will be interesting as they scrap to be the best of the rest. I expect after Abu Dhabi that Force India have finally found out how to work these current tyres, so I’m looking to Paul di Resta to show himself off and secure his seat for next year.

Let’s not forget Ferrari either. Felipe Massa out-qualified Fernando Alonso here in 2012, and given recent showings there’s no reason to expect that not to happen again. With Massa now safely ensconced in a Williams seat for 2014, I hope he’ll race without fear and finally show not just glimpses but really perform like he did in 2008/9.

Despite the championship being sewn up this race has plenty of potential to be a thriller. I’m looking forward to it.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Top drivers of 2012: 25 - 11

This season has been incredible and almost everyone on the grid has had their chance to shine. It's always a matter of opinion about how to judge which drivers have done best over the course of the year. But if you go with the theory that the best drivers end up being in the best cars, then that's one way to start. 

However it is of course possible to see drivers who have had an exceptional year, for instance last season Heikki Kovalainen was brilliant, this year not so much. You're always going to be limited by the strengths of your car, but sometimes some drivers do that little bit more. Here are my top drivers of 2012.

25. Jerome d’Ambrosio (Lotus)

Drove for one race replacing the banned Romain Grosjean at the Italian Grand Prix; didn’t disgrace himself but a KERs failure put paid to any decent result.

24. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)

Angering Vettel was his main claim to fame, and perhaps blocked a few too many people, but certainly give him credit for occasionally beating de la Rosa.

23. Pedro de la Rosa (HRT)

What was he going to do in this car? Exactly, he’s a decent driver but beating his team mate was about as good as it was going to get, but there were days when he did more, his qualifying in Japan was exceptional.

22. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)

I thought he’d be a bit closer to Kovalainen, but as the season wore on he began to put pressure on his team mate and was the team’s saviour in Brazil securing them 10^th place in the constructors.

21. Charles Pic (Marussia)

Pic should rejoice for being the first number 2 driver from this team to secure a second season in Formula 1. He should rejoice still further that it’s with the slightly better Caterham team. Challenged Glock enough through the year.

20. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)

Started off well enough but as the season progressed Petrov gave him more of a run for his money and he seemed to buckle a bit; not on the form of last year. Sadly he might not be in Formula 1 next year, but that’s more because he lacks money!

19. Timo Glock (Marussia)

Was the best driver in the new teams this year, his performance in Brazil looked amazing, such a shame he was hit to prevent what could have secured 10^th place for Marussia.

18. Bruno Senna (Williams)

This position for Senna is more a reflection on how Williams handled him than how he drove. He missed vital set up time as they gave the car to 3^rd driver Valtteri Bottas in first practice at most races. Still he picked up points in half the races, but they were never the big ones.

17. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

Was often the driver who fell in Q1, but to be fair to him he raced very well 

and was taken out of a few good points paying positions but needs more speed from qualifying.

16. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

Qualified better than his team mate but he was a victim of circumstance on a few occasions that robbed him of some better results. Still, he had a certain spark and he seemed to be consistently improving as the season went on; his Korean result was particularly impressive.

15. Paul di Resta (Force India)

He started off brightly against his team mate Nico Hulkenberg, but as the season wore on it started becoming increasingly noticeable that he was being out performed, and the rumours of him becoming the next Mercedes driver started becoming quieter. Needs a more consistently sparkling season in 2013, like his result in Singapore.

14. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)

He may have won an impressive race in Spain, but the Williams was probably at least the 6^th best car on the grid, sometimes better. That they finished 8^th in the constructors championship was down to the large contribution of incidents from Maldonado. Many times he threw away a decent result, scoring just 5 times during the season. That he still beat his team mate is testament to the fact he’s actually bloody quick, next year he must harness his speed because Pastor could be very good indeed.

13. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)

Yes, ok he crashed a lot. And that’s the only reason he’s down here. The ban because of the start line crash in Belgium knocked his confidence, but a lot of the other incidents weren’t his fault, wrong place, wrong time. He had the measure of Kimi in qualifying a lot of the time and for a fair amount of the season looked the most likely to take Lotus’ first win. I think he’ll be very good next year providing Lotus keep him. And they should.

12. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

Rosberg is a good driver, he really is. But that’s all he is, I just don’t see him becoming a world champion. His first year with Schumacher, he thrashed the 7 time champion. He again out-scored Schuey this year and took his first win, but to me he wasn’t the quicker driver in the team. Lewis Hamilton should be comfortably the faster driver next year at Mercedes.

11. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)

He often out qualified and out raced his McLaren bound team mate Sergio Perez this year and took a great result in Japan with 3^rd place. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves; he’s one of the great over takers but having said that he still gets involved in a few incidents and didn’t come close to winning a race, something his team mate showed the Sauber could do.

For the the top 10 drivers, click here

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Musical chairs for 2013 not over yet

There were two major players in the driver market this year and it was all about waiting for them to make their mind up.

Michael Schumacher couldn’t make a decision on his future quick enough, much like when he brakes, so Lewis Hamilton took the decision and made the jump to Mercedes which instigated the move from Sauber to McLaren for Sergio 

Perez. So where does that leave the driver market?

Well it means that most of the top table seats have gone for 2013. Lotus have all but confirmed Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean to remain for next season, so the only seat remaining is Felipe Massa’s at Ferrari.

Other drives which look open are both seats at Sauber, which judging from this year would actually be quite attractive for many drivers.

Force India will probably confirm both current drivers if they don’t get a better option. Paul di Resta had been rumoured for a move to either Mercedes or McLaren but has obviously missed the boat. I imagine Toro Rosso will have to keep faith for at least one more year with their current incumbents.

Williams have had the pace this year, and despite his many incidents Pastor Maldonado has displayed a huge amount of speed, which if he can learn from his mistakes can be harnessed better next year; he’s also got a bunch of Venezuelan money. Bruno Senna has been the more reliable driver but unfortunately has not had the spark that Maldonado has had. The likelihood is that their third driver Valtteri Bottas will be promoted.

That leaves the three new teams with only Timo Glock at Marussia and Pedro de la Rosa at HRT pretty much certain.

Ferrari

As great a story as it would be I can’t see Schumacher going for the Ferrari seat alongside Fernando Alonso. No it would be much more worthwhile getting a younger driver who’d be willing to learn from the Spaniard such as Nico Hulkenberg. He’s the main person being linked to the drive, but it’s most likely to be Felipe Massa.

So the rumours go, Sebastian Vettel may already have signed a pre-contract with Ferrari for 2014, and I think if that’s the case Hulkenberg wouldn’t go for just a year. Heikki Kovalainen might, he was adequate back up to Hamilton at Mclaren, but he’s grown a lot since leading Caterham so I’m not sure he would want to accept a subservient role.

No, the most likely scenario seems to be to keep Massa for one more year and then see what the options are, after all he is gradually improving, and you’d hope Ferrari would make an easier car to drive next year for Massa to sit on the tail of Alonso.

Sauber

So the seats at Sauber are when it’ll get really competitive. Sauber traditionally have helped younger talent develop so it might not be a surprise to see a GP2 star get a seat, they have 3^rd in the 2012 championship Esteban Gutierrez on their books, but I’ve a feeling they won’t hire him as he seemed a bit erratic this year. Perhaps they might take a chance of the top 2, champion Davide Valsecchi and runner up Luiz Razia.

Kamui Kobayashi should be allowed to stay, but the team seem to have gone cold on him, with a lot of rumours in the F1 press persisting that his drive was under threat. Perhaps they’ll have a change of heart now Perez has gone, so they at least have some continuity.

The main players for these seats seem to be Jaime Alguersuari and Heikki Kovalainen. Of those drivers I see Heikki eventually remaining at Caterham with Vitaly Petrov. He’s come too far with them to give up on it now, although if there’s no progress next year, he’d be well within his rights to jump ship.

Alguersuari has to be a favourite for a seat at one of the high end midfield seats. I thought he played a starring role in the Toro Rosso during 2011, often making strategies work on less stops like Perez has been doing this year.

He was pretty unceremoniously dropped, he was just about to get off the learning curve and was really developing. He’d have made a good bench mark at least for one of the two current Toro Rosso drivers at least who have no one to learn from and so far have been fairly unremarkable.

However, this situation has allowed him to be Pirelli test driver, so he has the inside scoop on the new compounds for 2013, and according to his twitter account is very hopeful of securing a drive. I think he’s going to be at Sauber next year.

Schumacher

The interesting story from the Hamilton fall out was that Schumacher has not instantly announced his retirement. In fact there's been no mention whatsoever. 

His representatives were seen at Sauber in Singapore and it is known he's still weighing up the options despite the loss of his drive. It would be like going full circle in a way as he was at the Sauber Mercedes sports car team when he got his opportunity in Formula 1.

I’m not sure that would be the most dignified of career ends for a driver of the calibre he once had but he loves to race so maybe he’s not quite done with it yet but he'd surely know that he'd have no chance of another title or probably a win despite this seasons Sauber form. Would he really have the motivation to not be working towards a higher goal than points finishes? 

At least at Mercedes there was that belief of a title challenge, at least to start with. It'll be interesting to see his choice. However, Brawn has said there would be a place open for him at Mercedes in an as yet unspecified role.

The remaining seats

This then leaves us with the final ‘new’ teams as it were. As I said I think Kovalainen will end up staying at Caterham and Petrov might get another year.

There seems to be a revolving door concept for the second drive at Marussia, so a new GP2 star could take the place of Charles Pic, such as their current reserve Max Chilton, or Jules Bianchi who’s been in the third driver role at Force India.

Meanwhile at HRT I can see them potentially employing the Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua who’ve they’ve given some practice run outs too. Of course he would come with some money, and there’s the other thing, especially with these new teams, budget does play a part. Actually it plays a part for most teams these days.

So here’s some of the options for next year.

Ferrari – Alonso and Massa/Hulkenberg as an outside possibility.

Red Bull – Vettel and Webber

McLaren – Button and Perez

Lotus – Raikkonen and Grosjean

Mercedes – Hamilton and Rosberg

Sauber - Alguersuari/Kovalainen/Kobayashi/ Gutierrez/Schumacher/Razia/Valsecchi

Force India – di Resta and Hulkenberg/Bianchi/Alguersuari

Toro Rosso – Ricciardo and Vergne

Williams – Maldonado and Bottas/Senna

Caterham – Kovalainen and Petrov

Marussia – Glock and Pic/Razia/Valsecchi/Chilton

HRT – de la Rosa and Hua/Karthikeyan

all photo's from autosport.com

Best of the rest: driver countdown 28 to 11

So the season has ended, the dust is settling over in Brazil and Sebastian Vettel has come out on top for the second consecutive year. But who were the best drivers over the course of the year?

Twenty-eight drivers took part during the season, so here is a quick run down from 28 to 11, judging on how I think they performed given their cars.

28. Karun Chandok (Lotus) 0pts; Best Result (BR): 20^th – One race wasn’t enough time, had problems and was four laps down at the end in his only appearance.

27. Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) 0pts; BR: 14^th – Fourteenth wasn’t a bad result in Canada as he replaced the injured Perez.

26. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT) 0pts; BR: 17^th x 3 – Often behind his team mate, although in Indian race was impressive.

25. Jarno Trulli (Lotus) 0pts; BR: 13^th x2 – Couldn’t have had a worse year, absolutely dominated by Kovalainen, looked demotivated and I’m surprised he’s even got a drive next year, although it’s looking debatable whether that’s a race drive or not.

24. Jerome d’Ambrosio (Virgin) 0pts; BR: 14^th – On occasion looked good, but hasn’t done enough to retain his seat.

23. Tonio Liuzzi (HRT) 0pts; BR: 13^th – Was once a bright talent, now I’m doubting he’ll be around next year.

22. Daniel Ricciardo (HRT) 0pts; BR: 18^th x2 – Showed a great deal of promise but was he spectacular enough to deserve a potential seat at Toro Rosso as part of Red Bull’s young driver program?

21. Timo Glock (Virgin) 0pts; BR: 15^th x2 – Generally quicker than d’Ambrosio, but another to look slightly ticked off with the struggle at the back.

20. Bruno Senna (Renault) 2pts; BR: 9^th – Car was lacking development by the time he got in but still showed good speed in qualifying on occasion.

19. Nick Heidfeld (Renault) 34pts; BR: 3^rd – It was wrong to get rid of him, replaced eight races from the end, Petrov still only outscored him by three points. Didn’t make enough use of the car he had at the start of the year though.

18. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) 1pt; BR: 10^th – Drove brilliantly in Monaco before Lewis Hamilton used him as a brake losing sixth place. Often on the pace of his more experienced team mate.

17. Rubens Barrichello (Williams) 4pts; BR: 9^th x2 – Still has the passion and the speed to be in Formula 1, dragged the Williams to more points than it probably deserved.

16. Vitaly Petrov (Renault) 37pts; BR: 3^rd – He may have been in the top 10 in qualifying and he achieved a podium in Australia, but results haven’t been as forthcoming later in the year. By default after Robert Kubica’s rally crash he was team leader but I think there are better drivers than him to be filling that seat for next year.

15. Sergio Perez (Sauber) 14pts; BR: 7^th – Looked quick all year and an impressive talent for the future, although more often than not results didn’t go his way. Dealt well with the bang to the head he received in Monaco to come back even stronger.

14. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) 30pts; BR: 5^th – Scored more points than his team mate, but was often out qualified. Still made some daring moves in the races and had a number of back of the grid charges. However, it all went a bit quiet towards the end of the season.

13. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 118pts; BR: 5^th x6 – What has happened to Massa? Probably the big bang on the head he received in Hungary 2009. There’s no way he should be so far behind Alonso, he’s a better driver than that. While his team mate grabbed podium after podium, Massa had to settle for several fifths as his best result of the year. Although mostly not his fault, his targeting of Lewis Hamilton after their many incidents looked more like he was trying to deflect attention away from how bad his own year was. Really needs to get back to the level he demonstrated in 08/09.

12. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus) 0pts; BR: 13^th – Here is a team player. He knew they were going to struggle and were still building up the team and dealt with it accordingly. Never less than enthusiastic about the future and where the team was heading, something other drivers at the back should take notice of and get a little perspective despite the frustrations. He trounced Trulli in qualifying and was even better in the races, often in the latter half of the year mixing it with the tail end of the mid-field. Great stuff, an integral part of this teams bright future.

11. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) 15pts; BR: 8^th x2 – I’ve got to say I’ve become a big fan of the Toro Rosso pair. Mostly they’ve been fighting for their seats the entire year, so the pressure was intense. Buemi had a number of great drives, the particular highlight in Hungary, finishing eighth from twenty-third on the grid. He lost a few other great results through no fault of his own and should get another year at the team, but I’m doubting whether that’ll be the case.

Top ten driver's can be found here.