My Top 10 F1 Drivers of 2018: The Rest…

Here are my views on those F1 drivers from 2018 who didn't make my top 10 ranking from a few days ago. If you're interested, you can read the top 10 here.

Photo: Octane Photography

Going through the 'other 10' in final drivers' table order brings us first to Sergio Perez, for whom 2018 was more of the same – for good and ill. He racked up plenty of points plus in the way that apparently only he can bagged a podium finish when the very rare opportunity offered itself. Yet Perez couldn't alter his long-time predicament of lingering in the middle ground between being a good midfielder (with money) and a talent that a top team will covet. It didn't help that, while there as ever wasn't much in it, his Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon had the pace edge for the most part. Nor did his hooligan performance in Singapore, first showing not much effort to avoid a collision with Ocon then – far worse – having a rage swipe at Sergey Sirotkin.

Kevin Magnussen's season was rather a breakthrough. With him at last getting the many benefits of a second season in a race seat, the results flowed particularly in the early part of the campaign. He didn't always string things together though, and more broadly once team-mate Romain Grosjean sorted himself out Magnussen tended to be the second Haas. He also gave more evidence to sustain his enfant terrible image – the criticisms can be excessive but still his move on Pierre Gasly in Baku then on Charles Leclerc at Suzuka were hard to defend. He sometimes gives the impression of revelling in the status but equally it may become a burden.

My Top 10 F1 Drivers of 2018

Here is my personal rating of the top 10 F1 drivers of the 2018 season, taking into account their performances as well as the machinery that they had access to. 

A run down of my views on the drivers who didn't make the top 10 will follow in the next few days.

1 Lewis Hamilton

Photo: Octane Photography

A driver who always has been astonishingly skilled, yet these days minimises his previous weaknesses to nearly nothing. Do the math, as the kids say. For Lewis Hamilton it added up this year to a majority of races won and a fifth championship taken crushingly, in a car that for much of the season by consensus was not considered the best out there.

The things we knew already about him were still there. His blinding speed of course, quintessentially with his scarcely-credible Singapore qualifying lap on which the championship momentum shifted irrecoverably. His unmatched skills in the wet as demonstrated in his Hockenheim win and Hungary pole – both vital in stemming the Ferrari tide. His piercing aggression and immaculate judgement when wheel-to-wheel, such as on Monza's opening lap. While those intimated weaknesses were all but eliminated. Off-days weren't conspicuous; he even unlike before kept on winning races after the title was clinched. In China, Azerbaijan and Canada he was slightly subdued but he still in each brought his car home for solid points. His mistakes across the piece amounted to disappearing down a Baku escape road. A formidable force at something like his peak.

2 Max Verstappen

Photo: Octane Photography

It now seems like something from another age, but in Monaco it was open season on Max Verstappen. A qualifying prang there that dashed a victory opportunity, which was the latest of a succession of errors. A 'six crashes in six rounds' count was banded around liberally. Yet from that very moment, almost literally overnight, he righted his ways and his towering talent again came to the fore. Maybe even with a season started in Canada he make a genuine claim to deprive Hamilton of the number one slot.

He admitted that he had changed after his Monaco long dark night of the soul, realising smartly that a Max Verstappen driving within his limits still is considerably faster than just about anyone else. It manifested in persistent astonishing drives, repeated podium finishes and two victories. There still was the odd falter, such as his erratic Monza run while his Brazil antics with Esteban Ocon, off track and arguably on it, still betray creases to iron out. Yet even so we ended this campaign more convinced than ever that Verstappen is a phenomenon who surely is destined to win multiple championships.

My Top 10 F1 Drivers of 2017

Here is my personal rating of the top ten F1 drivers of the 2017 season, taking into account their performances as well as the machinery that they had access to. 

A run down of my views on the drivers who didn't make the top ten will follow in the next few days.

1. Lewis Hamilton

Photo: Octane Photography

For years almost no one has doubted that Lewis Hamilton's peaks are higher than anyone else's. This year he strung them together more regularly than perhaps he ever has done, certainly since his prodigious F1 debut campaign a decade ago.

Clearly he relished his title battle with Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari as well as relished his focal point position in the post-Nico Rosberg Mercedes squad. And it all had an impact where it matters – nine wins and 11 poles are the stuff of crushing championships as well as demonstrate his status as the year's default front-runner. Crushing is the adjective for many of his race wins as well, though in plenty (China, Spain, Spa, USA) he had to fight as well as use his wholly underrated brain power. But it was his qualifying that really set him apart – particularly important in a year wherein overtaking was tough. In Britain, Italy (in the wet) and Malaysia his Saturday efforts stunned even his closest engineers. He showed in his drive through the field in Brazil he's lost nothing of his well-honed racing instincts either.

There were bum notes along the way. While the Mercedes was in Toto Wolff's words a "diva", equally in the year's first half when the Merc wouldn't get its tyres into range Lewis was less able to find a compromise than his team mate Valtteri Bottas, such as in Russia and Monaco as well as in qualifying in Austria and Hungary. He also binned it in Brazil's qualifying after the championship was wrapped up. Yet the fact is that Lewis was unflinching and fast in an intense title battle against a formidable driver and team foe, and when the championship hit its crucial phase Lewis reached for the stars – stepping well clear of Bottas and getting the best possible race results whether his car was on top or not. And it was his rival who wavered. It was likely Lewis's finest title. Little wonder plenty talk of the ever-enigmatic Englishman now finding a new equilibrium.

2. Sebastian Vettel

Photo: Octane Photography

We always thought a Sebastian Vettel campaign could go one of two ways. This year, for the first time perhaps, it wandered off one of them. For the first two-thirds it looked classic Seb with the scent of a title, maximising final qualifying laps as if flicking a switch then maximising race results as if he is the puppeteer of the whole show. In Baku he lost his temper with consequences for his points and reputation, but at the time many wrote that off as an aberration.

Come Singapore as he sat on pole for the race start his retaking of the championship lead looked inevitable, but we know what came next. Yes Ferrari unreliability sealed his fate in following rounds but once the title was as good as gone ahead of time some calculated the points ceded in Baku and Singapore and it didn't look flattering for Seb. Particularly as he showed more misjudgement in Mexico's opening corners then rooted his tyres in Austin.

But still his well-judged Brazil win was timely in reminding us what he'd spent the best part of the season doing – operating on a plateau as noted. This was whether he was dominating at the front (Bahrain, Spain, Monaco and Brazil), nursing mechanical maladies (Hungary), chasing down foes (Australia, Russia and Austria) or coming through the pack (China, Canada, Azerbaijan and Mexico). It was straight from his Red Bull championship winning pomp. It's easy to forget also that he would likely have got two more triumphs early in the campaign without unfortunate safety car appearances. These ended his title chances early as much as any of his errors.

New Motorsport Week article: The top ten drivers of the 2017 Formula 1 season so far...

Photo: Octane Photography

Everyone loves a top ten. And now that we're in F1's summer break as well as at, roughly, the halfway point of the season I've compiled my own top ten drivers' ranking for the year so far for Motorsport Week.

In addition to the ranking order I've written something on how each of those selected have done this year and my reasoning for placing them where I did.

You can have a read of it all via this link: https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/15579

Feel free to let me know why I'm wrong or even shock horror if you agree with any of it...

My Top Ten Drivers of 2016: The Rest...

Here are my views on those F1 drivers from 2016 who didn't make my top 10 ranking that I published a few days ago.

My top 10 drivers of 2016 can be read here.

Nico Hulkenberg
Photo: Octane Photography

As noted Nico Hulkenberg came close to sneaking into the top ten, and would have waltzed in had it been based only on the second half of the year. During the first part he in most rounds looked a shadow – possibly the accumulation of various frustrations from over the years rather weighing him down. And some reckoned in a similar sense that his Renault switch being confirmed for 2017 – a long overdue break – resulted in the Hulk finding his urge of old. But in fact his upturn could be traced to before that, to his home round in Germany before the summer holidays. From then on his drives were almost invariably excellent. We've long known about Hulkenberg’s tremendous raw speed but also that he's been unable or unwilling (or both) to adapt to the gentle touch the modern Pirelli requires, and some said that this campaign he'd finally started to learn from his team mate on how to get the best out of the rubber. And with his works move mentioned and that reportedly next year's tyres will be able to be leant on more, things may be coming right for him at last. 

Going through the rest in championship order brings us first to Felipe Massa, for whom the 2016 campaign was his F1 swansong. He started it well and got a run of points finishes – with China likely his season's high point on track at least – but over time he floundered somewhat and the deficit in qualifying and the races to his Williams team mate Valtteri Bottas often gaped. For all of the affection that his departure was greeted with, you'll struggle to find anyone who doesn't think he timed his retirement well.

My Top Ten Drivers of 2016

Here is my personal rating of the top ten F1 drivers of the 2016 season, taking into account their performances as well as the machinery that they had access to. 

A run down of my views on the drivers who didn't make the top ten will follow in the next few days.

1. Daniel Ricciardo

Photo: Octane Photography

Daniel Ricciardo has in 2016 continued the same thread as he has pretty much the whole time since stepping into a Red Bull. That he's a driver of the very top bracket; probably the driver of the hybrid era.

And one with everything – stunning pace particularly on a qualifying lap; being equally at home on the fast and mighty as in the tight and technical; Alonso-like racecraft and ability to avoid trouble; resolute consistency; a voracious willingness to race; sound judgement; fine brain power and imperviousness to pressure. As for faults? Nothing obvious. Errors, even off days, from him are genuinely hard to pinpoint.

This season we witnessed all of it. His solitary win was fortunate but even so in an improved but certainly never table-topping package up to three more wins – Spain, Monaco and Abu Dhabi possibly – were lost through no fault of his. Nevertheless it added up to a clear best-of-the-rest in the points table behind the Mercedes. That fight really should have been close but he wrapped it up with two rounds remaining.

And it was Monaco, in more ways than one, that told us most, even over and above that his pace in the wet or dry that weekend was as scintillating as it was untouchable. His transparent simmering disappointment in the aftermath at the win lost confirmed that for all Ricciardo's perma-smile he lacks absolutely nothing in seriousness and determination.

Alongside Max Verstappen's prodigious pace Ricciardo's still won out 11-6 in their qualifying match-up and in their early days he often was quicker by several tenths. On the other hand Max beat him in qualifying with some consistency in the late rounds, as well as frequently got more out of the tyres in races. And we had Brazil’s rain when Max took him to the cleaners. Then again we keep being told how special Max is.

But so is Ricciardo. And if next year's Red Bull is as good as everyone is saying it is surely he starts the campaign as title favourite.

2. Lewis Hamilton

Photo: Octane Photography

Lewis Hamilton should have won the 2016 world championship, inasmuch that his season was derailed by a series of technical failures that had nothing to do with him and that even equalising a single one of them would likely have sent the title his way.

But, critics will point out, so would have eliminating some of his sporadic error and bewildering underperformance. In Singapore – a weekend that he usually has to himself and at a vital part of the title chase – insiders say he turned up in no state to work, and it showed. Some reckon similar of Japan. In Baku also he looked set to dominate but put in a hooligan performance in qualifying then was delayed more than his team said he should have been by a technical problem in the race. And did it really require the best part of the season to sort his persistent poor starts?

New Grand Prix Times article: The top 10 drivers of the 2016 season so far...

Photo: Octane Photography

Everyone loves a top ten and now that we're in F1's summer break as well as at, roughly, the halfway point of the 2016 season I've compiled my own top ten drivers' ranking for the season so far for Grand Prix Times.

In addition to the ranking I've written something on how in my view each of the ten selected drivers have done this year and my reasoning for placing them where I did.

You can have a read of it all via this link: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/id/12626

Feel free to let me know why I'm wrong or even shock horror if you agree with any of it...

My Top Ten Drivers of 2015: The Rest...

Photo: Octane Photography

Here are my views on those F1 drivers from 2015 who didn't make my top 10 ranking that I published a few days ago.

My top 10 drivers of 2015 can be read here.

Don't listen to what Mark Webber claimed about there not being the depth of talent in F1 that there used to be. This was possibly the most difficult task of whittling drivers down to ten that I can remember, and a number of them who you suspect would have got in, perhaps comfortably, in previous seasons this time had to miss out. This applied especially to, in no particular order, Romain Grosjean, Jenson Button and Carlos Sainz.

Photo: Octane Photography

Romain Grosjean is rated extremely highly by many and there apparently is Pirelli testing data that indicates he is the fastest guy out there, bar none, and consistently. In support of this we can cast our mind back to late in 2013 when he alone it seemed took the fight to far superior Red Bulls. Sadly for him though ever since the Lotus has almost never allowed him to build on that. This year's machine wasn't a disaster as in 2014, but with the team's desperate financial situation in-year development was near zero and there were other manifestations such as using race gearboxes in practice making grid penalties for broken gearboxes more likely (indeed this is precisely what happened to him in Spa). To make matters yet worse he had to sit out a number of opening practice sessions in order to give reserve Jolyon Palmer time behind the wheel.

But just like in 2014 on the solitary occasion that his car allowed Grosjean pounced on the opportunity, and superbly, by fighting through after a grid penalty to finish third in Spa. Perhaps his performances in the final two rounds of the year were about as good too. Also his intra-team qualifying match-up was the most one-sided there was, being 17-2 in his favour over Pastor Maldonado. What counted against him though was that in races Maldonado often looked the quicker, helped by his abilities in eking out life from the Pirellis. Crashes in Canada and Russia were black marks too. But the biggest problem for Grosjean is the creeping risk he'll become the sport's next Nico Hulkenberg in being ignored unfathomably yet repeatedly by those allocating the plumb drives, and indeed again none of them snapped him up for 2016. He does get a move though to the debutant Haas squad, and at least he'll have a good chance there of getting into Ferrari's eyeline.

Photo: Octane Photography

Nothing about Jenson Button's campaign should have surprised us. We know from his time alongside Lewis Hamilton that he relishes a battle with a top-liner team mate. We know too that in such match-ups he rarely gets humiliated, and is more than capable of winning out on occasion. And all of this is exactly what we got in 2015. Generally team mate Fernando Alonso did the better in races but seldom was Button left far behind while in Monaco, as well as in a few late-season rounds, he was the quicker. And although qualifying is considered his weakness he gave away nearly nothing to stable mate Alonso here too.

There's not much we can reproach him for in 2015, though even the ever-sunny Jenson in the desperate McLaren-Honda situation showed frustration like Alonso on occasion, particularly in comments on the team radio towards the year's end. He also clattered into Maldonado in China as well as seemed overly spooked by understeer in Spain. But his effort never seemed to drop, as indicated by that he ended the season as he started it, fighting off far faster opponents. Having repelled Sergio Perez somehow for 42 laps in Melbourne he held off Valtteri Bottas successfully in Abu Dhabi for a P12 finish he seemed delighted with. Perhaps we're guilty of underestimating Button, making the mistake of assuming that behind an easy demeanour and smooth style there is not special talent and considerable pace. As explained he is one who cedes little even to the very best. Perhaps even Ron Dennis, one not always convinced of him it seems, was converted this year as Button is retained for 2016, and indeed showed the confidence to play hardball over his terms. It was befitting of what he did behind the wheel.

My Top Ten Drivers of 2015

Here is my personal rating of the top ten F1 drivers of the 2015 season, taking into account their performances as well as the machinery that they had access to. 

A run down of my views on the drivers who didn't make the top ten will follow in the next few days.

1. Lewis Hamilton

Photo: Octane Photography

Even in this most complex of games explanations can be disarmingly simple. Last season in a campaign that Mercedes had to itself Lewis Hamilton was taken to the wire for the title by his Merc team mate Nico Rosberg, in large part because for much of the season Lewis had the lion's share of the misfortune plus was oddly out of nick in qualifying. 2015 was, when it mattered at least, 2014 without those things.

And boy did Lewis take advantage. Ten victories in a season is hard to argue with, so is that anything up to seven of them were in nearly no doubt after just a few corners and indeed were reduced to Clark-like demonstrations. His ability to get tiny, yet massive, time on his team mate almost corner by corner was the difference. While in his less celebrated attributes his brain power and rationing of the finite resources of a modern day F1 machine were hard to fault.

Yes he had the best car and a team mate whose performances varied, but in F1 as in anything there is always much to be said for Getting The Job Done. And Lewis did that, wrapping up his third title with a win and three races ahead of time; you could even make a coherent case that this outcome looked in little doubt from his first few imperious laps in Melbourne's curtain-raiser race.

Lewis self-admittedly undertook "a small tweak" in his qualifying approach and the outcome was devastating with him taking 11 poles in the first 12 rounds. Some of his qualifying laps were stunning; a couple of poles were won against the odds too. It all ensured that his races were much more straightforward than those in the previous campaign. But the man himself noted the difference with last year also owed something to the assurance of having that 2014 championship to his name - not for nothing did Lewis state that his second title won then actually felt a lot like his first, given it was his first subsequent to fleeing the nest from McLaren.

Ironically it was after his title was assured that the most conspicuous doubts crept in. First of all Rosberg was already establishing a run of pole positions on him, then started to finish races ahead of him too. Did Lewis relent, even by degrees, after the championship was won? Or had Nico finally found something that Lewis couldn't match? Lewis spoke of a technical change to the car from Singapore, roughly when matters switched. He remains firm favourite for the 2016 title, but in the late weeks of 2015 that status softened ever so slightly.

2. Sebastian Vettel

Photo: Octane Photography

So last year was a blip then. And more to the point, Sebastian Vettel is all that after all.

Not that really it should have been too much of a surprise. We know about the success from his time at Red Bull, which both in its extent and the age at which it was achieved reads more like fantasy than sane motorsport record. We also with this know the hit parade of his doubters however: it was done with a series of fine cars they say; at a team in which he was cosily ensconced and had priority service guaranteed; that the (very good) blown floors suited him peculiarly. The doubters were emboldened by his 2014 struggle too. But the more discerning observers knew that his run of scarcely-credible stats there wasn't all about those those matters mentioned; that Seb was making a contribution all of his own. His stunning pace and confidence enacted consistently and immediately as if flicking a switch; his extraordinary mental capacity; his holistic and industrious approach. But the persistence of those doubts ensured too that he'd only get his full appreciation upon leaving the Milton Keynes squad. And so it proved. This debut season in red underlined in thick lines what Seb is about .

Indeed we might even have seen him improved even further in 2015. Almost never was the Ferrari a match for the Mercedes but Vettel virtually every time could be counted upon to give as little away as possible and maximise the result. And in the two races the Ferrari was on top, in Malaysia and Singapore, Seb drove the ball into the net with aplomb. Just like he did in Hungary on a day when it seemed he alone had his head screwed on. His fleeing the Red Bull nest seemed to add stacks of maturity overnight, and throughout this year Seb out of the car just like in it was one of the paddock's most assured and authoritative figures. He even managed to slip right in and right away at the Scuderia; his calmness, ready smile and willingness to knuckle down were appreciated quickly there.

His error-strewn races in Bahrain and Mexico were curious aberrations, as was flooring it to pass Roberto Merhi under red flags in a Canadian practice session. But otherwise the graph plotted of his performance barely wavered from a sky-scraping level.

Surely only churls and contrarians will now be maintaining that in Seb we do not have a rounded and close to complete F1 performer. And not for the first time we're left to consider that at his age there likely is to be improvement yet to come.

New Grand Prix Times article: The top 10 drivers of the 2015 season so far...

Photo: Octane Photography

We know that top tens are very much en vogue these days and now that we're in the midst of F1's summer break as well as at roughly the halfway point of the 2015 season in my latest effort for Grand Prix Times I've compiled my own top ten drivers' ranking for the season so far.

In addition to the ranking I've written something on how in my view each of the ten selected drivers have done this year and outlined my reasoning for placing them where I did.

You can have a read of it all via this link: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/display/10575

Feel free to let me know why I'm wrong or even shock horror if you agree with any of it...

My Top Ten Drivers of 2014: The Rest...

Photo: Octane Photography

Here are my views on those F1 drivers from 2014 who didn't make my top 10 ranking that I published a few days ago.

My top 10 drivers of 2014 can be read here.

The two drivers who came closest to the top 10 but missed out were Daniil Kvyat and Jules Bianchi.

There was close to unanimity that Kyvat was rookie of the season. For all of the fears about how debutants would adapt to the sport, especially the complex variety of 2014, in the Russian's case the doubts immediately were dispelled as he didn't falter in his confident strut straight from GP3 and impressed in just about every way. His speed on show this season was superb, as was his chutzpah. Frequently he could be seen with his Toro Rosso on the very edge of adhesion, often with the tail hanging out. Indeed him finishing the Italian race without brakes for the last lap or so, at astonishing speed and mainly because he could, took the breath away. His team mate Jean-Eric Vergne is highly rated, and this year did a lot to sort his qualifying out, but herein Kvyat was ahead over the piece, and towards the end of the year often he was far ahead. Perhaps most impressive of all is that Kvyat never appeared at all cowed by his rapid promotion - observing him out of the car was like observing a veteran, and his complete assurance (but never of the excessive kind) could on occasion be astounding. And it reminds us all of the mental toughness and constructive approach that Helmut Marko said is what set him apart for the drive in the first place. There possibly inevitably was the odd example of rookie overreaching, such as qualifying prangs in Monaco, Canada and Hungary as well as being at fault for a collision with Perez in Germany. And for all of his single lap pace he didn't appear to have near to Vergne's ability to look after the tyres over a stint, betrayed possibly by him only scoring eight points to his team mate's 22. Equally though Toro Rosso unreliability cost him points in Monaco, Austria and Abu Dhabi, in each of which he was well-placed. And the big Red Bull team felt it saw enough to promote him without the slightest hesitation when Sebastian Vettel fled for Ferrari. Let's not forget either that Red Bull's judgement just lately on such things has been pretty impeccable.

My Top Ten Drivers of 2014

Here is my personal rating of the top ten F1 drivers of the 2014 season, seeking to take into account their performance in their circumstances as well as the machinery that they had access to. 

A run down of my views on the drivers who didn't make the top ten will follow in the next few days.

Photo: Octane Photography

1. Daniel Ricciardo
What do we know. A guy said by some only in a Red Bull so not to pose a threat to his world champion team mate. A guy whose skill set on display in the Toro Rosso was considered by few to be complete. There were good qualifying laps of course, a Button-like smoothness and precision too. But could he race? Yet what do we know as I said? In 2014 Daniel Ricciardo is in with a shot - straight to the top of the pile.

Throughout the campaign the perma-smiling Australian demonstrated that he is a driver without much recognisable weakness. The smoothness continued and this with his related gentle touch on the Pirelli tyres allowed him most times to employ longer race strategies than his team mate Sebastian Vettel, and usually to lap more quickly as he did them. While the quali pace proved to be stunning. Indeed he managed to beat qualifying master Vettel by 12 times to 7.

My Top Ten Drivers of 2013: The Rest...

Here are my views on those F1 drivers from 2013 who didn't make my top 10 ranking that I published a few days ago.

My top 10 drivers of 2013 can be read here.

There were two drivers that came closest to pipping Paul di Resta for tenth place in the 2013 ranking: Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo.

Felipe Massa is yet another in the F1 fraternity who must feel like 12 months ago may as well be another age. It's terribly easy to forget now, but rewind back to when we had but two races down in this campaign and Felipe looked close to the top of his game, or at least much closer than he had for years. Then he'd just qualified ahead of his haughty stable mate Fernando Alonso four times on the spin (including from the previous year) - some of the overexcited talked of him 'getting under Alonso's skin'.

Photo: Octane Photography

All a long time ago, as I said. The Felipe feelgood factor unravelled fairly quickly, as is often his way given as F1 drivers go he's always seemed particularly vulnerable to 'letting his chin drop', to use the British parlance. And where it really started to go wrong for him was a Monaco weekend wherein he crashed spectacularly in practice (forcing him to sit out qualifying) and then managed to do close to identical in the race. This was the start of a dark cloud passing over his campaign under which errors were frequent, and he crashed in the next two rounds - qualifying in Canada and practice in Silverstone - both of which compromised him, and then in Germany he spun out of the race early on. Sure enough, come Monza Ferrari had informed him that after eight years driving for the Scuderia he would have to seek alternative employers next year.

To a large extent 2013 seemed merely a continuation of what had come before for Massa. Again he scored fewer than half of Alonso's points total; again there were errors; again he seemed to never be quicker than Alonso on a race day; again even when he was about as quick there would be spells in races wherein his pace would taper off unfathomably. However, after his departure was confirmed there was a mini-upturn, him looking roughly as quick as Alonso in Monza, Japan and Abu Dhabi as well as running ahead of the Spaniard for much of the way in each race. His run to fourth in India was good too. And his quali match up with his team mate was more than respectable, being 11-8 to Alonso. Furthermore Felipe's not giving up on the sport, as he's struck a deal to race a Williams next year. How he fares in a new environment, and away from Alonso's long shadow, will be fascinating to watch.

Daniel Ricciardo however is journeying in the opposite direction: doing enough with midfielders Toro Rosso to be selected to join the big league in a Red Bull for 2014. The move was accompanied by a certain amount of cynicism - Red Bull is just signing a rabbit that won't threaten Seb was the gist - but don't be caught thinking that the cynics have a monopoly on wisdom; there are reasons to think that the big team selected Ricciardo for all of the right reasons.

My Top Ten Drivers of 2013

Here is my personal rating of the top ten F1 drivers of the 2013 season, seeking to take into account their performance under the circumstances they were in as well as the machinery that they had access to.

A run down of my views on the drivers who didn't make the top ten will follow in the next few days.

Photo: Octane Photography

1. Sebastian Vettel
There can only be one number one. The overarching plot line of the F1 year just passed was all about the latest steps forward made by the prodigious Sebastian Vettel, him further exploring the outer territory of what is required to be a complete F1 performer. In 2013 he was formidable.

As it was for everyone else for Seb it was a season of two halves: pre and post the mid-year Pirelli changes. Yet it's probably instructive that Vettel mastered both. Early in the year, even though the delicate Pirelli rubber didn't always suit, he quickly adopted the role of man to beat: incrementally establishing a clear championship lead via dominant wins when his machine allowed and sizeable point hauls when it didn't.

Then after the summer break Seb was on a pedestal; such was his clamp on first place that race weekends became strictly a battle over second place at the very most. Seb's path to victory was indeed familiar, yet devastating in its repeated execution: take pole with a stunning lap as if it's yours by right; blast off the line and be seconds clear in the opening laps with devastating pace enacted like flicking a switch; manage the gap to the rest and your limited-resource Pirellis from there; make any passes quickly and decisively; and still be at the front when the chequered flag falls. Familiar, yes. Predictable too. But no less impressive for that.

And in a year wherein he always seemed to be pressing, almost always was at the front, from him there were almost no mistakes. Seeking examples wherein he erred is revealing only in its paucity: tapping a wall and later running across the grass in Canada; slightly damaging his front wing against Jenson Button in Hungary; being slightly scrappy in Japan. But that's your lot from a 19-race season. And on the broader level it's possible that Seb never once threw away points this year; that every time he maximised the possible result. Whichever way you define it, his 2013 campaign was just about flawless.

Perhaps it said something that the only chink in his armour made this year was self-inflicted: that around Malaysia wherein Seb allowed his competitive instincts to get the better of him and he rather ambushed an unsuspecting team mate in Mark Webber, against team orders, to win. And his response - all apologetic in the immediate aftermath; unrepentant three weeks later - was bewildering. Perhaps it showed the limitations of seeking to maintain two rather disparate Sebastian Vettels: the smiling, cherubic media darling, and the ruthless self-seeker on-track.

Yet these days Sebastian Vettel is a driver without obvious weakness. He has stunning pace on a single lap as well as in races that he can summon at will. His brain power in managing a race and mental strength in repelling pressure and attempts at needle bear comparison with the very best in F1 history. No one in contemporary F1 works as hard as he; takes such a holistic approach. His overtakes - previously an area where he was criticised - are these days crisp and assured. Somehow after winning everything there is to win repeatedly his motivation and spontaneous joy in achievement appear absolutely undiminished. And on top of all of this he has the confidence and reinforcement that habitual success brings.

Moreover, 2013 was surely the year wherein even many of Vettel's most hardened doubters will have been converted. Only professional churls and contrarians can by now be maintaining the view that Seb isn't all that.

Photo: Octane Photography

2. Fernando Alonso
There is no shortage of comparisons made between the Vettel-Red Bull reign of triumph now with that of Michael Schumacher-Ferrari roughly a decade earlier. There are some parallels indeed; but as is usually the case such comparisons aren't necessarily wholly applicable. With Schumi-Ferrari at the height of their powers even if you somehow managed to get your machine onto something like the level of the Ferrari you still had the driver factor to contend with: few doubted then that Schumi was the standard bearer. With Vettel and Red Bull this isn't universally thought to be the case, not quite anyway, as there is one man elsewhere who plenty reckon ensures that they do not have such comfort. The argument stands; many take the view that should Fernando Alonso ever over a season have access to a car nearly as good as any of the rest then the Spaniard's personal offering will be capable of making up the rest of the difference. And appropriately this season he was the last man left still standing before the Vettel-Red Bull juggernaut.

My Top Ten Drivers of 2012: The Rest...

Here are my views on those F1 drivers from 2012 who didn't make my top 10 ranking I published a few days ago.

My top 10 drivers of 2012 can be read here.

From about seventh place downwards in my ranking a number of drivers were in close contention with each other. Those who came particularly close to making the top 10 (in no particular order) were Sergio Perez, Michael Schumacher, Pastor Maldonado and Paul Di Resta.

Credit: Morio / CC

Sergio Perez is perhaps the most glaring omission from the final cut, given his season featured three memorable podium runs in Malaysia, Montreal and Monza. There he showed astounding confidence and verve and found pace to sail through the field like he was operating with different laws of physics to anyone else, and further he gets his big break for 2013 with a move to McLaren. But Sergio's problem is that an F1 season lasts 20 races, and aside from the three races mentioned there wasn't a great deal to write home about. There was one good race (Hockenheim), a couple more in which he was unlucky to start at the back (Melbourne and Monaco) and three more where first lap contact put him to the back (Spain) or wiped him out altogether (Spa and Brazil). But in the remaining races you'd hardly know that he was there.

And worse, in the latter part of the year and with a signed McLaren contract in his pocket he threw errors into the mix too. He binned it in Suzuka (trying to pass Lewis Hamilton - the guy he's replacing next year - no less) then making what looked avoidable contact with other cars in each of the next four races. Rumour has the top brass at Sauber believing that Perez is inconsistent, and that the C31 was a better car than he tended to make it look. And what about those podium runs themselves: how much of those were down to Perez's driving and how much down to the peculiar magic touch of the C31 on the Pirelli tyres if voodoo-like factors aligned? Next year, in the McLaren glare, we'll start to get answers to some of these questions. Of course, it's a fantastic opportunity and he is young and has time to improve. But at the very least all at McLaren would be forgiven for having some doubts about its new charge. Indeed, some recent comments from Martin Whitmarsh seem to betray as much.

This year we finally witnessed the swansong of the great Michael Schumacher. Debates about the wisdom of his comeback will continue to rage no doubt, but this year Schumi continued his year-on-year improvement since his return in 2010, and for the most part drove more than respectably. The qualifying gap between him and Rosberg was closed for the first time, and he was often the more convincing in races too, particularly in the year's mid-part when the lemon-like characteristics of the W03 became obvious. The main problem Schumi had was that intangible quality called luck. The opening round in Melbourne summed up his season: he qualified fourth (ahead of his team mate) and was running strongly in third...then his hydraulics went. In no fewer than six of the first seven rounds something impeded or stopped Schumi through little fault of his, and over the piece there were five mechanical retirements for him (compared to Rosberg's big fat zero). Without the bad luck it would have been fascinating to see if he could have beaten Rosberg's points total.

My Top Ten Drivers of 2012

Here is my personal top ten F1 drivers of the 2012 season, seeking to take into account their performance under the circumstances and the machinery they had access to. A run down of my views on the drivers who didn't make the top ten will follow in the next few days.

Credit: formulasantander.com / CC

1. Fernando Alonso
A simply stunning season. Fernando Alonso spent 20 races scaling sheer cliff edges in his F2012, and it was an effort that so nearly took him to the high peak of the world title, a title which surely have gone into history as just about the most impressive and unlikely ever.

But, fortunately, championships aren't everything and this is a year wherein Alonso surely made the decisive, and most likely irreversible, stride from being an excellent contemporary performer into being an all-time great. It's certainly genuinely difficult to cite more impressive seasons of driving from F1's history by anyone. If you don't believe me just ask yourself this: has anyone ever come so close to winning the world championship in a car that wasn't the quickest in any round? I don't believe anyone has.

Despite having a car that over the year was no better than third best, in 2012 Alonso was always fighting, always on form, always sharp and aggressive in the overtake as well as in defence; even after 20 races it's hard to point out an off-day of his. Race performances that beggared belief roll off the tongue: somehow hauling the difficult machine to fifth in Melbourne, the quick and flawless win under pressure in Malaysia, the astonishing rise to grab a home win in Valencia, the masterful controlling of the Germany race ahead of quicker cars on his tail, the implausible and imperturbable splitting of the Red Bulls and hunting down of Vettel in India, to name just a few. And the F2012 was a machine that gave him much to do on a Sunday (if it didn't rain). Only once did Alonso start on the front row after a dry qualifying session (Spain) and even then only thanks to Lewis Hamilton getting a grid drop. Only in Canada and Italy did a fight for the front row look even possible. Yet, watching Alonso make up lost ground in the opening laps of race after race was extraordinary, and galling demonstration of what a top-level driver at the top of his game looks like.

Further, even though he was almost always at the outer edges of adhesion there were almost no errors either. The closest he came to one was at the start in Japan, when the tiniest tickle from Kimi Raikkonnen's front wing on his rear tyre put him out, but even there the driving was slightly imprudent rather than egregious. And the extent that some sought to pounce on it only underlined its rarity.

Fernando Alonso's equilibrium at Ferrari is a clear contributory factor to his mighty driving, though the Scuderia would be well advised not to test his patience waiting for a competitive car yet further. But the team can be content though that it doesn't have to worry about its driver; if it provides Alonso with a machine that's half as good as he deserves it to be then championships will follow. He demonstrated as much this year.

Credit: Ryan Bayona / CC

2. Lewis Hamilton
Were you to judge purely from the points standings, Lewis Hamilton's season looks little better than his annus horribilis of 2011: fourth in the table and close to 100 points shy of the summit. But you know what they say about lies, damned lies and statistics.

This year we witnessed a supreme bouncing back of Lewis to his formidable best. For the first time since his stellar debut season he put together a campaign to match it, perhaps even to surpass it, in terms of consistent quality and decisive racing.

Lewis retained his status and F1's quickest, most exciting and instinctively talented performer this year. But the frequent ill-judgement of the last campaign, along with the discontented figure out of the car, was shorn. After a 2011 year where he, in his own words, had a loyalty card with the stewards, Lewis didn't so much as receive a reprimand from the stewards this year. The overtaking was crisp, aggressive and still frequent, but always clean. Lewis also managed to show suitable intelligence and restraint to manage a race on the limited-resource Pirellis (underlined by him driving close to half the Barcelona race on a single set, and was still quick). And what we ended up with was a mighty and complete F1 driver.

My Top 10 F1 Drivers of 2011: The rest...

Here are my views on those F1 drivers from 2011 who didn't make the top 10 list I published a few days ago.

My top 10 drivers of 2011 can be read here.

Tenth place in the top ten was a close run thing between a number of drivers. Kamui Kobayashi got it, squeaking ahead of Jaime Alguersuari, Heikki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa.

Felipe Massa
Credit: Mark McArdle / CC

Taking them in reverse order brings us immediately to the curious case of Felipe Massa. In truth it was another desperately disappointing season for the popular Brazilian, in which his coming within two corners of winning the title in 2008 seemed like it was from another age. If anything, he was even further adrift of his team mate Fernando Alonso this year than last - only once (in China) did he clearly out race him. And while the Ferrari 150° Italia wasn't a great car, almost never did Massa look better than it, evidenced by the fact that he never finished higher than fifth in a year that his stable mate claimed ten podium finishes. He can claim to have been unlucky on occasion, there was more than one botched pitstop (see Malaysia, Turkey and Valencia), in Spa he punctured and at Monza he was hit by Webber. But even with these the pace wasn't there most of the time. Further, he didn't help himself, getting involved in a series of incidents to an extent that he didn't do in 2010: crashes in Canada and Hungary stopped better results, as did spins in Spain and Abu Dhabi. He hit a particular low by breaking his suspension twice in two days in India, with almost exactly the same error. Then there was his famous running battle with Lewis Hamilton this year. Yes, he was more the victim of these clashes all told, but he also sometimes displayed a machismo when wheel to wheel with him that didn't help matters, most obviously in Monaco and India. And, to be honest, his Hamilton grudge expressed out of the car struck me as a classic case of displacement.

Mooted reasons for Massa's struggles continue to vary. We'll probably never know how much the Hungary accident has affected him, but my instinct is that a lot of Massa's problems stem from the guy he's sharing a garage with. Massa of all the front runners appears particularly vulnerable to confidence, as well as particularly in need of emotional support. In a team mostly focussed on Alonso, and where Alonso almost always beats him, Massa isn't getting much of either of these things and it shows. Ferrari are retaining him for next year, showing admirable loyalty it has to be said, but next year is very much last chance saloon. They don't expect him to beat Alonso, but they do expect him to finish a bit closer behind him, as well as to take points from rivals more often.

My Top 10 F1 Drivers of 2011

Here is my personal top ten F1 drivers of the 2011 season, seeking to take into account their performance under the circumstances and the machinery they had access to. I hope that you find it interesting reading, and I appreciate that there are perfectly defensible reasons for an alternative top ten. It's a personal selection, as I said!

A run down of my views on the drivers who didn't make the top ten will follow in the next few days.
   

Credit: Morio / CC

1: Sebastian Vettel
The only candidate for top spot: 2011 was very much the year of the Seb.

The 2011 season witnessed the development of Sebastian Vettel into a complete F1 performer. The raw speed in clean air had been there for a while, but the impetuosity and mistakes, especially when in traffic or under pressure, as well as the occasional brattishness displayed in 2010 now seems like it was from someone else. Vettel was almost contemptuous in how he proved his doubters wrong this year. Indeed, the journey can be traced back even further, to the Belgian Grand Prix of 2010, after which it was open season on the young charger. But if the abuse was intended to destroy him then it backfired spectacularly. Since then he has barely looked back, delivering consistent copybook performances of dominating from the front when there and delivering solid points when not. Oh, and he's won two drivers' titles in that time as well. And with a championship in his pocket this season he got even better.

It was a season wherein Seb seemed to lead, and win, virtually everywhere. And the numbers back this up. Fifteen of the 19 pole positions were his, and it's impossible to think of an error on a pivotal qualifying lap this year, even though many were won under pressure. It's not exaggerating to say that Vettel's qualifying abilities are Senna-esque.

From then on the Vettel 'template' victory was seen repeatedly. Blast into the lead, be immediately on the maximum pace and several lengths clear after a few corners. Be out of the DRS zone before it kicks in, and then control the race from there, managing the limited grip resource from the Pirelli tyres perfectly. In Australia, Malaysia, Turkey, Valencia, Italy, Singapore, Korea and India the story was almost identical. This was the basis of his 11 victories, leading 739 of the 1133 laps, and totalling up 394 out of 475 possible points.

But it would be wrong to say that things were easy for Vettel in 2011. They weren't, and it was in such circumstances that he really showed his mettle. The wins at Spain, Monaco and Singapore were achieved under severe pressure for much of the way, and he never so much as put a wheel out of line. Nor did you ever expect him to. He could overtake decisively when required (though given he was usually at the front he didn't get many opportunities to demonstrate it): in Australia he passed Button around the outside of turn 4, in Spain he passed three cars in a lap after his first pitstop, at Spa he passed Nico Rosberg on the outside of Blanchimont at Spa, and most memorably he stuck his RB7 around the outside of Fernando Alonso with two wheels on the grass to take the lead in double-quick time at Monza. The whole 'Seb can't pass' idea received a dignified burial in 2011. He could also bring home good points when he didn't have the legs of the field, as he showed in China, Hungary, Japan and Brazil. Nursing his sick gearbox home to a comfortable second place in Brazil was arguably his best drive of the season. His ability to think through a race was unparalleled, and no one learned as well or as quickly what was required from the Pirellis. No one worked as hard at their game as he did. Only once did he have an off-day, unfortunately for him it was in his home race in Germany. And while the RB7 was clearly a mean set of wheels, it can't be denied that Seb personally brought a lot to the party. That his team mate Mark Webber, no slouch he, won only once in it demonstrates this.

The biggest compliment I can pay to how Vettel's performed in 2011 is that even if Alonso, Hamilton, Button or whoever had access to a Red Bull this season I'm not at all convinced they would have beaten Seb's points total. A truly top class F1 performer, who's only going to get even better.

Credit: formulasantander.com / CC

2: Fernando Alonso

One win and fourth place in the drivers' table this season do not begin to do him justice. This was a magnificent season of fast, tenacious driving from Fernando Alonso. He once again looked every inch the man who won two titles magnificently for Renault in 2005 and 2006. It could be argued that he's now even better than then.

Consistent, relentless, almost permenantly at the outer edge of how quickly his recalcitrant Ferrari would go (and sometimes he was even faster than that it seemed) and yet, unlike in 2010, his was a season almost free of error. Only tagging the back of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren in Malaysia and a slightly scrappy run in the damp Hungarian race can be said to have fallen into that category.

The only problem for Fernando in 2011 was that, despite seeming to be top of the 'pre-season testing championship', his Ferrari proved to be a lemon as soon as things got competitive. A wind tunnel correlation problem was discovered eventually, but by this time the Scuderia were firmly on the back foot. That their blown diffuser was never as good as those of their rivals, and the car invariably had problems getting heat into its tyres for qualifying and into the harder tyres generally (which usually left it a sitting duck in that stint of the race), compounded things. The 150° Italia was rarely anything other than clearly the third best car out there. Indeed, Alonso only qualified in the top three twice in 2011.

That Alonso claimed 10 podium finishes (in a year wherein his team mate never finished higher than fifth) and was still in contention for second place in the championship table in the final race underlines just how he consistently outperformed his wheels, and left almost nothing out on the track. Like Vettel, he only had one off-day (his was in China). Elsewhere, the canvas was magnificent. The win at Silverstone, appropriately on the 60th anniversary of Ferrari's first F1 win, was wonderful, but so was the desperate clinging to the coat tails of the front runners in Turkey, Valencia, Belgium, Italy, India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil, and equally so were the tigerish, battling drives in Monaco, Germany and Japan, each of which he could have won with some of the playing cards falling in his favour. Indeed, virtually every race weekend the story was the same. Nando could be fully expected by the Red Bull and McLaren pilots to make a thorough pest of himself.

Fernando Alonso is clearly in a happy place at Ferrari, and this new found equilibrium has had a positive impact on his driving. Not that the Scuderia would be advised to test his patience waiting for a competitive car further. They can be content though that if they provide Alonso with a machine that's half as good as he deserves it to be then championships will follow.

My Top 10 F1 Drivers of 2010: The Rest...

A big draw back with compiling a top 10 of drivers is the arbitrary way you have to draw a line under the tenth driver. In an attempt to redress that, here are my thoughts on the 2010 F1 drivers that didn't make it into the top 10. 

Kamui Kobayashi came oh-so-close to pipping Felipe Massa for tenth place in the list. He started the year with a promising reputation, after two impressive, if wild, drives for Toyota at the end of last season. This year Peter Sauber's reputation for picking out a young driver (see Raikkonen, Massa etc) seemed to be under threat for a time, as Kobayashi struggled to get to grips with the sport and only maintained the 'wild' part of his 'fast and wild' persona. Three first lap accidents in the first eight races pointed to this, as did the fact he was hardly blowing away his team mate. His season gradually turned around though, qualifying in tenth in Spain and finishing tenth in Turkey. But the real watershed was his run in Valencia, running a long stint on the primes (in a way that became fashionable) before a late dash on the options including impressive outbraking maneuvers on Alonso and Buemi. His progress was underlined by being firmly quicker than Nick Heidfeld when he arrived in the team, as well as the faith Peter Sauber has shown by making Kobayashi his lead driver for 2011, guiding the rookie Sergio Perez. If nothing else, his overtakes usually provide a diversion in dull races.

Alongside Kobayashi, Pedro de la Rosa, who was surprisingly brought into a race seat for the first time since 2006, was safe enough as you'd expect, as well as gave his team mate a good run for his money pace-wise. Like Kobayashi, he struggled initially with car unreliability, though as things improved he scored his only points of the year with seventh place in Hungary. However, there had been some signs of tensions within the team and de la Rosa was dumped after the Italian race. His replacement, Nick Heidfeld, while typically keeping his nose clean, seems to have continued his uncanny ability to position himself away from potential drives. Having spent last winter holding out for a Mercedes seat that never came, he didn't really ever completely get on Kobayashi's pace in his five races, and now finds himself without a drive for 2011. A pity, as there's probably none better at bringing the car home, and he's rarely been embarrassed pace-wise by team mates such as Raikkonen, Massa, Kubica and the like. You'd think he'd be perfect for one of the new teams.

My Top 10 F1 Drivers of 2010: Six to Ten

Following on from one to five below... 

6: Robert Kubica
Robert Kubica is another who may be disappointed with where he's ended up in this list. To an extent, if we're purely to judge drivers on what they achieved with the equipment at their disposal then Kubica would certainly be placed comfortably within the top five. But there also has to be a premium on fighting at the front for wins and the championship when judging drivers, the pressure is of an entirely different level (and pressure does funny things to all of us).

These considerations aren't to take anything away from Kubica, who, after a slightly underwhelming and frustrating 2009 in the lame duck BMW (in which he was outscored by team mate Nick Heidfeld), successfully restored his formidable reputation this year. Like Alonso, he appeared to successfully build his team around him and galvanise them, ending what many thought was a terminal decline. Some in the Renault camp rated him better than Alonso in this regard - high praise indeed. Also like Alonso, he seemed to be getting the absolute maximum from his machinery, and consistently. Unlike Alonso, he didn't pepper this with mistakes, I cannot recall an error of Kubica's costing him points this year.

Kubica's finishing and qualifying records are models of consistent brilliance, and he didn't miss an opportunity to give the front runners hell when such moments arose. He qualified in the top three at the three circuits where the driver has the biggest potential to impact the outcome - Monaco, Spa and Suzuka. At Singapore, Silverstone and elsewhere he showed that there's nothing wrong with his abilities when wheel-to-wheel either.

Consistent, good with the team, bloody quick - with all due respect to Renault it's unfathomable why none of the 'big four' have found a place in their line-up for Robert Kubica.