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

Vettel cuts title lead as Alonso spins

The Japanese Grand Prix may well be looked at as the pivotal moment in this seasons championship chase. Sebastian Vettel secured his third victory of the year as Fernando Alonso spun off at the first corner to reduce the deficit to a mere four points.

Vettel streaked away from a dominant pole position to be well clear of anyone into the first corner, championship leader Alonso was not so lucky. Having started from 6^th after being delayed by yellow flags in qualifying after Kimi Raikkonen spun his Lotus, it was Kimi again who proved to be the undoing of the Ferrari driver in the race.

Away from the grid, Kimi was on the outside heading into turn 1, Alonso perhaps unaware of where exactly the Lotus was squeezed him towards the grass, a couple of wheels on the turf then a slight touch of the front wing end plate on the Ferrari was all it took for a puncture to spin Alonso round and into retirement. 

Perhaps the Spaniard could have given Kimi slightly more room as he wasn’t exactly being crowded himself, but it was just one of those things. The retirement that Alonso said he had in hand has now disappeared; he can’t afford to get involved in anymore incidents if he’s to take a third world title.

The easiest way of improving those odds is if Ferrari can get some decent updates on their car in the final five races because Red Bull and McLaren are way off in the distance right now. His retirement means he needs to win again, at the moment that doesn’t look likely without a bit of luck.

Vettel’s Red Bull was utterly dominant today, he was untouchable and was setting fastest laps for fun by the end of it as he managed a 20 second lead. No one was really able to live with him as he reeled off the laps.

I think Vettel will be feeling confident about retaining his title now. Judging from today he has the fastest car although it’s probably more like equal fastest with McLaren and this track just suited the Red Bull.

But of the four drivers in those cars, he’s in the best position to take advantage of the slowing Ferrari’s. It didn’t look likely a few races ago, but Vettel can actually do this.

Another Grosjean start accident

Behind Vettel there was chaos at the start. Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber had started third but nipped ahead of Mark Webber to slot in second, Webber was calmly filing into third place when another attack of the crazies from Romain Grosjean sent him spinning around and dislodging the Lotus’ front wing.

After his one race ban, you’d think Grosjean might be tempted to play it safe for a few races and at least give people a chance to forget his past indiscretions, but apparently not.

He had Sergio Perez alongside him into the first corner and just seemed to be fully concentrating on him while forgetting there were another 22 cars around him. Webber later branded him a ‘nutcase’, ‘embarrassing’ and thinks he might ‘need another holiday’.

This incident earned him a 10 second stop go penalty, and also resulted in Nico Rosberg and Bruno Senna coming together while taking avoiding action, although Senna got a drive through for his troubles. Webber managed a great drive to effectively switch to a one stop strategy and climb his way back up to 9^th.

I think Grosjean is a good fast driver, when he gets round the first lap he often has produced solid performances, but he has to curb his impetuousness if he wants to maintain a future in Formula 1.

Deserved podiums for Massa and Kobayashi

Felipe Massa at least gave Ferrari something to cheer about with second place, his first podium for nearly two years. It was a strong drive. He took advantage of the first corner mayhem to move up from tenth to fourth. He stayed near to Kobayashi and Jenson Button and when they pitted on laps 15 

and 14 respectively he was able to stay out until lap 18.

While they got held up in traffic Massa set some very competitive lap times and emerged well ahead. After that he held on to Vettel for a while but didn’t have the outright pace but was far enough ahead not to be troubled from behind.

It was a timely result for Massa, the rumours had been growing louder about possible replacements, so if he can maintain this form, they’ll be no reason why he can’t secure another year at Ferrari.

The loudest cheer of the day went to Kamui Kobayashi who grabbed his chance and took his first podium with a great third place. The atmosphere at the track sounded amazing as the Japanese fans chanted his name.

While his McLaren bound team mate Sergio Perez was falling off the track into retirement, perhaps trying a bit too hard to impress, Kobayashi remained calm and kept it all together and really earned this result.

He might have lost out to Massa in the stops but he did a great job to hold off a charging Jenson Button at the end. As the McLaren inched ever closer, Kamui did just enough with an extra tenth here and there to secure a great podium.

He is another one who has rumours swirling around him that he’s going to lose his drive, so this will do him a lot of good.

McLaren off day

McLaren had an off day after recent performances. They never looked like really challenging the Red Bulls. Perhaps if Button hadn’t suffered a five place grid demotion from 3^rd for a gearbox change Vettel might have been given a tougher challenge, but it’s unlikely.

Button did a good avoiding job to end up in 3^rd at the start but dropped down after the first round of pit stops and couldn’t quite get on terms with Kobayashi.

Lewis Hamilton had a quiet day on the track apart from when exiting the pits he emerged just ahead of Kimi, and just managed to hold the inside line to keep the Lotus behind. At the very least he took 10 points out of Alonso and now is just 42 behind with five races to go. But fifths will not do again, Lewis has got to win.

Rest of the top 10

Kimi Raikkonen took 6^th place, he didn’t really seem to have the speed today, the Lotus team haven’t managed to make their passive F-duct device work properly and this seems to have held them back somewhat in other areas of development. He still lies third in the championship though just 37 behind so he’s still in it. But if he wins it’ll be the stealthiest title win ever.

Nico Hulkenberg has been touted as a replacement for Massa at Ferrari. This drive will have done him some good, as he rose from 15^th to 7^th at the flag and for a large part of the race was hounding Hamilton. His team mate did less well falling a place from 12^th to 13^th.

Finally! Pastor Maldonado got some more points today, the first time he’s had any since his win in Spain. It was a mature drive, avoiding the first lap chaos to run in the top 10 pretty much the whole race, so well done Pastor for his 8^th place.

Daniel Ricciardo picked up the final point, another who ran in the top 10 most of the day after starting 14^th. He did well to stay ahead of a charging Michael Schumacher though, who on fresher softer tyres was all over him but didn’t quite have the straight line speed to get passed.

Apparently he’s retiring again, but Schumacher had a fine drive to 11^th after his 23^rd grid slot with a number of solid moves, especially one on Paul di Resta into turn 1. Whatever anyone says, he can still race with the best of them.

The circus moves onto South Korea next week, and although today was the most exciting race in the world, it did make everything extra close. It’s all to play for now.

all photo's taken from autosport.com