This thread is usually started by Taxi, but I'm impatient!
Sebastian Vettel has just been crowned world drivers champion, getting a hard-fought third title, but how did the drivers stack up this year, in your opinion.
Which drivers performed best?
Here's my list:
1. Lewis Hamilton
This season has been his best ever, and he's been the best driver this year, no doubt there for me. The way he came through the field in Spain, having lost that fantastic pole, was really, really impressive. Also how he made his two-stopper work in Canada; that was an amazing, white-knuckle drive.
A shame that he was so often robbed of great results, but with the way he's performed this year, he's the moral winner.
2. Fernando Alonso
Staying in the title fight till the last race; Alonso has been tremendous this year! I can only remember one costly mistake and that was spinning in Melbourne qualifying. He's always been there to maximise the cars potential, and could never be ruled out, we learned that quickly this year.
Who would have thought he'd be contending so convincingly for the title this year, after what pre-season testing and the first few races suggested?
3. Kimi Räikkönen
What a comeback! Personally, I never doubted he'd be on the pace straight away, but that he could race so superbly from the off, was perhaps a little surprise. He took a while to get comfortable in qualifying, and there's probably more potential there still, but he's always had very, very impressive races.
4. Sebastian Vettel
He gets fourth mainly because he's made a couple more mistakes than Hamilton and Alonso, but apart from that he's been extremely good once again. Winning four races on the trot required some luck, but you got to be there to take over too, when someone drops out.
5. Mark Webber
A very good season from Webber, so it's such a huge shame he lost momentum after the summer-break, with gearbox woes and of course continuing KERS-dramas. Won Monaco of course, and also took a very fine win on Silverstone! Should have been more points on the board this year, but Webber did his part.
6. Nico Hülkenberg
I put him here thanks to his very impressive second half of the season. In the beginning of the year there wasn't much between the two Force India drivers, but in the second half it's been pretty one-sided there. An amazing drive today (Interlagos) in difficult conditions, mixing it with the McLaren's. An embarassing mistake ruined what could have been a win. Only his second season though, so that has to be taken into consideration.
7. Nico Rosberg
With the team falling back so badly in the last third or fourth of the season, it wasn't so easy to pay attention to Rosberg, but before the summer-break atleast, Rosberg was great. His win was dominant!
8. Jenson Button
Three wins this year, and a lot of points, but in the middle of the season Button was nowhere.
9. Sergio Perez
Many of his races has shown that he's still got a lot to learn, of course, but he's also had a a couple of handfuls of very impressive races, often coming from way back to net a lot of points.
10. Michael Schumacher/Vitaly Petrov
Schumacher has had his best season by far after his comeback. He's usually been on the pace, but sometimes even noticeably quicker. Fastest in Monaco qualifying was absolutely fantastic! What's been riding all his Mercedes-seasons though, is the slightly too many mistakes. Horrible luck, so the points table doesn't give a true picture of the intra team battle at Mercedes.
Petrov has been impressive this year! It's my impression that he established himself as quicker than Kovalainen, atleast on Sundays, but he's had a string of eyebrow-raising Saturdays too.
-Honourable mention; Felipe Massa, and how he picked himself up and improved to basically be a match for Alonso at seasons end.
Edited by race addicted, 25 November 2012 - 21:30.