http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80222



I have to say, this list looks a lot better than that produced by Autosport.

Vettel's qualifying is nothing short of brilliant

Race wise, I would put Button over him for 2009

Alonso 4th?
Kubica 9th? Where is Heidfeld?
Raikkonen behind Hamilton and Barrichello(!!!)
Vettel in front of Jenson?

what did nando do to get up there? IMO he should be below rubens and kimi, i.e. #7, WTH?

and you know what guys? a driver missing from that list, that maybe in some people's opinion shudn't have been:
our very own britney, Nico Rosberg!

Go Figure how did that happen!

my rating:
1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Jenson Button
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Rubens Barrichello
5. Kimi Raikkonen
7. Mark Webber
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Felipe Massa
10. Robert Kubica
11. Adrian Sutil = Nico Rosberg.

He is waiting for the safety car.

Vettel 1st
Webber 6th

Team bosses just don't like him uh?

or probably going for the 'most finished races' stat

Why is this so surprising? This top 10 is from within the paddock. They're privy to a lot more information than you, or Autosport.

but, but, he didn't win the WDC!!
oh noes! this is wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111



I think I agree with this list, Alonso in 4th can look wrong, but considering how bad the car was and how le looked compared to his teammates is understandable... Raikkonen could be higher, but while Massa was racing, Kimi didn't look to good.

Id agree Vettel was the best last year

This list would be fine if it were for the second half of the season. Unfortunately most of these polls are always skewed that way because people have short memories. Vettel made loads of mistakes, Hamilton had liegate etc. etc.

I don´t need "a lot more" informations to see that Vettel made 4 times as much mistakes as Jenson, for example.

vettel made a lot of mistakes last year crashing out like a dumba$$ not just once.
sure he's quick, but best driver in 2009?

Of course Vettel in front of Jenson. It´s perfectly rated.

Alonso 4th is perfect too.

Agree with you about Raikkonen.

even with some mistakes, he impressed once again with his speed (and his victories), and finished the championship in 2nd, not bad...
and he will improve for sure.

he deserves to be ranked as the best of 2009

Vettel is how old? Hamilton made a lot of mistakes too for what it is worth. I don't think you can hold mistakes against someone when clearly outperforming their car and teammate.

You hit the nail on the head.

Just as ridiculous as most lists we come up here in the BB. Not because of Vettel, i'd put Button first, but i accept that. But Alonso so high why? Raikkonen so low why? Massa misses half the championship and still makes it? Why Kubica? Oh well, its a list...

How ever did Alonso place so high in 2009 poll?

As was evident by the early pit release by the dead brained lollypop man....

Not sure what to think. When he wasn't staring at the rear wing of the car in front for the whole race, or making a silly error, Vettel was spectacular. I think the Team Prins will have forgiven the errors, but if they're going to do that for Vettel, why wasn't Hamilton higher? Granted that drops Button to third but it would make the thought process a little clearer to me.

I´ll try to explain to you: Alonso is rated fourth because team bosses think so. Raikkonen is rated so low because team bosses think so. Period.

Is that clear enough?

Given your apparently extreme derision I feel we have to ask a couple of questions here;
a) Who knows more about the subject in question; you, or the team bosses?
b) Is JensonWDC likely to be completely inpartial when placing Jenson the WDC at #1?

I am curious to hear how they justify placing Alonso that high on the list.

It was supposed to be about this season and not about the overall career they have had. Based on this season no way Alonso should be ahead of Kimi.

yes I too was having a hard time to understand that ... until i figured it out. his original position doesn't even comes in this list, but when the magical 0.6 tenths FA Special-Limited-Edition were applied, guess what?

he made it into top 4.

talk about being overly-over-rated.

read my post above.

Alonso rules! Well while he is a Ferrari driver that is lol...

Yeah, odd that - I'd switch him with Webber.

Also for you:

Alonso drove the Renault into Q3 quite often, while the car did not seem to be good for that. Maybe not a reason to put him 4th, but it is hard to say how bad the Renault really was.

How the hell is Sutil in that list but Fisi not?

And no Nico Rosberg?

edit: yeah I know Fisi did horrible jumping in the Ferrari, but if Sutil is in the top10, then Fisi deserves to be there too imo if he's so good.

As this list is named as "best" drivers of 2009 and not "fastest", it looks like joke

I think that's right Urawa. This is a list I think you'd hope was independent of finishing positions, and indicative of how they actually see the performances of the drivers.

Surprising that team bosses rate Sutil so highly, yet he is still at Force India.

Which is fortunate, because you don't have a lot more information.

As a point of fact I would, personally, just give JB the nod over Vettel, but given the multitude of greater knowledge, understanding and information available to a whole pit lane full of team chiefs I'm not about to start ridiculing their collective opinions even if I slightly disagree with them.

yeeeeah.... i kinda got that already. can i question their judgement and motives, please? do you let me?

I can live with that list. It's not perfect, just someones opinions. Vettel in front of Jenson definitely

Congratulation to Sebastian. I didn't know how to objectively evalute whether he was best, but certainly I had feeling that he was most improved driver on several levels from last year. I am pleased and vindicated after reading a few silly posts in here in past nine months. Now, lets move on onto 2010!

This is a top ten list everywill agree with:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

I might have a small issue with a couple of those positions, particularly 1 and 2, but nevertheless I respect the opinion of the pitlane 1,000,000 times more than any polls on here about whose driver is the best.

Quite an ok list, always subjective in the end when we comment on stuff like this. Personally I really can't see what Alonso did better compared to Kim for instance. The Renault was bad, sure, but I never really saw that impressive, oppportunistic Alonso of the past. He was anonymous in 2009.

You say that like it wasn't a podium-capable car...

Maybe FOTA members dont want to vote for Williamss - and its rather convienet that Red Bull get votes from its two teams

Sutil's 10th is a riot. He threw away all his chances, underperformed when mattered (Spa, Monza), and crashed out in every second weekend. Someone must have been on drugs, who gave him points.

No, it just means that a single team principle couldve rated him 2nd best.

I assume it was Force India who voted for him.

Yeah,saw this one a while ago.Okayish list,somewhat better that the autosport poll.

1,2 and 3 are all right: you could jumble them up and down and it wouldn't make much of a difference, while 4 is a joke. Also,how does Massa figure when he's been out of action for ages?

Overall,it's a good indicator not of paddock opinion but of the disparity/spread of opinion. Some drivers (like Raikkonen, Hamilton or Button) probably ended up with wildly differing scores from team to team,while others like Vettel or Alonso (probably the only driver on the grid that has two teams that cannot afford to not place him at the top-Renault and Ferrari) received consistent scores,thus boosting their rank. Should explain the massive gulf between third and fourth.

As much as I don't rate Rosberg as a top level driver (hey what do I know?) I think he did enough to be above Sutil in the ratings.

Could this be a case of some F1 bosses being more neutral in their voting than others??? Or couldn't they vote for their own drivers?

Good list, specially when you consider the points. Button and Lewis are about equal and that is how I see it as well. Button was brilliant in the beginning, not good in the middle, but in the end he showed that he was a worthy champion. Vettel did a few mistakes too many, but he is still fresh and he was very impressive. Hamilton also made mistakes and the state that his car was in in the beginning of the season makes it very difficult to judge his personal performance.

Neutral, maybe. More knowledgeable, definitely.