318 replies to this topic

[Piet Eastsea]

Hamilton (wdc)
Alonso
Vettel
Kubica
Massa
Raikkonen
Glock
Trulli
Webber
Bourdais

[ensign14]

Probably change tomorrow, but at the moment:

1. Hamilton - because when he was on there was no-one close. Silverstone was the greatest drive this century.
2. Alonso - needed half a season to get used to the Renault.
3. Kubica - for consistency more than anything, only one bad race, exploited the maximum potential of his car.
4. Vettel - definite World Champ material.
5. Massa - when his car advantage was negated he seemed lost, maybe after Brazil that will change.
6. Webber - did he run over a million black cats? Deserved a lot better.
7. Glock - a real step-up from Ralf for Toyota, seemed to be ahead of Trulli more often than not when it mattered.
8. Raikkonen - but if it were the last part of the season alone he wouldn't have made it.
9. Rosberg - he had two chances and took them both.
10. Bourdais - the Webber of Toro Rosso, could have had big scores at Australia and Monza.

A lot of very disappointing drivers, though. Heidfeld perhaps the biggest disappointment.

[V8 Fireworks]

1. Massa - Class of field.
2. Kubica - Very consistent.
3. Alonso - very solid in improved Renault.
4. Vettel - blindingly quick in midfield team.
5. Heidfeld - strong racer.
6. Webber - reasonable pace, but RBR lacking in set-up compared to toro rosso.
7. Trulli - plently of quick races.
8. Barrichello - putting the Honda where it weren't meant to go.
9. Fisichella - putting the FI up the field and hanging on as best as possible in many races.
10. Hamilton - off the boil, would an Alonso have more easily won the title? Are we looking at a Newman-Haas lead car driven by Wilson and not Bourdais, is that the difference?

Just outside Top 10:
- Kimi
- Glock
- Nakajima

Last places:
- Kova
- Rosberg
- Sutil

[Logan#70]

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Felipe Massa
3. Sebastian Vettel
4. Fernando Alonso
5. Robert Kubica
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Heikki Kovalainen
8. Kimi Raikkönen
9. Timo Glock
10. Nick Heidfeld

[krapmeister]

Originally posted by ensign14
Probably change tomorrow, but at the moment:

1. Hamilton - because when he was on there was no-one close. Silverstone was the greatest drive this century.
2. Alonso - needed half a season to get used to the Renault.
3. Kubica - for consistency more than anything, only one bad race, exploited the maximum potential of his car.
4. Vettel - definite World Champ material.
5. Massa - when his car advantage was negated he seemed lost, maybe after Brazil that will change.
6. Webber - did he run over a million black cats? Deserved a lot better.
7. Glock - a real step-up from Ralf for Toyota, seemed to be ahead of Trulli more often than not when it mattered.
8. Raikkonen - but if it were the last part of the season alone he wouldn't have made it.
9. Rosberg - he had two chances and took them both.
10. Bourdais - the Webber of Toro Rosso, could have had big scores at Australia and Monza.

A lot of very disappointing drivers, though. Heidfeld perhaps the biggest disappointment.

Not a bad list

My comments added below:

1. Hamilton - as much as he has a tendency to annoy me I agree

2. Alonso - when the car was bad he was still fighting to the maximum

3. Kubica - IMO BMW let him down in latter stage of season

4. Vettel - outstanding season - awesome in wet - used good car to its maximum

5. Massa - changed my perception of him as a driver this year - when starting from front was imperious, struggled a little when starting further back/car setup not quite right

6. Webber - I have said it before and I will say it again - probably the fastest driver out there over one lap, definately deserves a quick reliable car - looking forward to him and Vettel pairing up next year - just hope car will be able to do their talents justice

7. Glock - one of the drivers to impress me the most - after his Hockenheim shunt he really delivered some great drives

8. Raikkonen - a bit dissappoiting this season - looked like he didn't want to be there some weekends and then others the old Kimi would show up

9. Rosberg - took a couple of chances but then still dissappointed me a bit this season - made a few errors and didn't dominate his team mate like I thought he would - driving a poor car though

10. Bourdais - some bad luck for sure but was outclassed by Vettel after they recieved the new car. Deserves a seat for next year though.


I don't think Rosberg would be in my Top 10 - instead I would have:

Trulli - still blindingly quick but a little inconsistent and race pace not as quick - Trulli train appeared again this season.

See other thread for my dissappointments.

[Bruce]

1) Robert Kubica - a shame that BMW didn't develop the car - he was solidly impressive throughout the season.
2) Felipe Massa - I'm not a big fan of him, but he was very solid, and beat Kimi on merit - something I would not have expected.
3) Fernando Alonso - a bit unfair this, as his form improved so much at the END of the season...(had it been rveresed, would anyone be voting for him?)
4) Lewis Hamilton: Some really solid drives and had to fight some dodgy penalties, but I do think that with the car and team situation he had, he should have been able to wrap it up as early as Japan - Good on him for getting it done tho.
5) Sebastian Vettel: - Fantastic - very impressive. Looking forward to this guy's performance nest year.
6) Timo Glock - exciting guy to watch and a guy with a great future.
7) Kimi Raikkonen - well - he won some races - that's about the best you can say about his season.
8) Sebastian Bourdais: Did a god job, ins spite of getting shaded by his team-mate.
9) Mark Webber - some good performances peppered with his usual atrocious luck.
10) Rubens Barrichello - deserves a mention for carrying the Honda around on his back all year!

[Apex]

Originally posted by Cenotaph
dunno, some of hamilton's worst drives were done in the first couple of races. and china was a great race for him, i think it would not change that much. I took the whole season into consideration which is why Alonso might seem a bit too low on my list to some, he was the best in the end, no doubt, but he was unimpressive at the start and threw away a good result in Canada.

I don't think it would make much difference for Hamilton. Massa's rating, on the other hand, would suffer unfairly from this. Also, Alonso would probably get too little credit for what would then be a great opening of the season.

[Massa_f1]

1. Massa - Most under rated driver still decpite some of his start to finish victorys this year.
2. Alonso - Would of maybe easily won the title had he been in a Ferrari or Mclaren maybe even a BMW,and i am no Alonso fan.
3. Vettel - This guy is fast and maybe even star of the season reminds me of Schumachers 92 season with benetton in many ways.
4. Kubica - Solid season v few mistakes maybe if BMW worked more as he said he could of been in the fight at the last round.
5. Hamilton - Good race victorys this season .
6.Trulli - Sometimes had very suprising pace during GP weekends.
7.Barrichello - He says he is driving better now than at Ferrari and often you can see he is. Shame about the car. but when on a level playing field his experince and speed helps.
8. Bourdais - Out classed by Vettel but had some very good races normaly ending in bad luck
9. Webber - Good qualy performances turned into strong runs during Gp's in a car that was not quick by any means.
10 Rosberg- His drive at singapore and in the first race of the season were brilliant. needs a better car.

[Stibbles]

Originally posted by roxu
1.- Alonso: Impressive job with this Renault.
2.- Massa: Great season.
3.- Hamilton: Mix of great races and mistakes. Could have won the title 3 races before with this McLaren. The man with more points -> Well deserved WDC. Congrats.
4.- Vettel: The new star. Deserve the wheel in a red or silver car.
5.- Kubica: Consistent. In the las races his car did not allow him fight for podiums.
6.- Trulli: Some good results
7.- Webber: Always get the best from his car. Lots of Q3 with his Red Bull. Deserves a better car.


I expected much much more from

8.- Raikkonen: Two races is a poor result for a WDC in a red car.
9.- Rosberg: Some good drives. Second in Hockenheim, great race in Japan. Deserve a better car.
10.a Kovalainen: Seventh in the championship, 1 victory. Very poor results in a McRocket.
10.b Heidfeld: I always liked this driver. Very grey season. Shadowed by his teammate.

Barrichello: Horrible car. Struggled the whole season. Got some finishes in points and one podium that his car did'nt deserve. Good season.
Coulthard: Podium in Montreal. Struggled with his Red Bull.
Piquet: Lots of DNF, 0/18 in Saturdays with his teammate. Being a rookie is not an excuse. Took his chance with that Safety Car in the last part of the race in Hockenheim.
Bourdais: I expected much much more from him. Even in a Toro rosso. In the last races his car allowed better results.


Nakajima: several point finishes. Did his job.
Button: 3 points in Barna. That's all. The car is at least better than force india.
Fisi, Sutil: I saw them in TV when got lapped. Did Sutil reach any Q2?

Great post - can't disagree with anything.
Totally agree with your Webber comment.

[Stibbles]

Originally posted by airwise
1. Hamilton
2. Massa
3. Vettel
4. Alonso
5. Kubica
6.Webber
7. Raikkonen
8.Trulli
9.Kovalainen
10.Glock.

Couldn't disagree with this one either.

Don't know why Heidfield or Rosberg are figuring above Webber in any of these lists.

[Stibbles]

Originally posted by krapmeister


Not a bad list

My comments added below:

6. Webber - I have said it before and I will say it again - probably the fastest driver out there over one lap, definately deserves a quick reliable car - looking forward to him and Vettel pairing up next year - just hope car will be able to do their talents justice

10. Bourdais - some bad luck for sure but was outclassed by Vettel after they recieved the new car. Deserves a seat for next year though.


I don't think Rosberg would be in my Top 10 - instead I would have:

Trulli - still blindingly quick but a little inconsistent and race pace not as quick - Trulli train appeared again this season.

I think the Webber/Vettel contest will be quite mesmerising - Webber may win the Q battle but the race battle will be very interesting.

[Stibbles]

Originally posted by V8 Fireworks

6. Webber - reasonable pace, but RBR lacking in set-up compared to toro rosso.

Or maybe lacking Ferrari push (or the latest Renault engine)

[Motormedia]

Funny, I'm still the only one with the right list...

[Classic Ferrari]

Top 3 on this list have been far and beyond the best drivers this year no question. The rest simply make up the fill ins.

1.Fernando (It's obvious this guy can extract the maximum of any car he drives. This season showed that clear and simple)

1.Robert (I personally would have loved for him to compete for the championship going into the last race. The only thing that stopped him was the development and the guys upstairs in BMW

1.Sebastian Vettel (Outstanding year in a car that should have been considered nothing than a backmarker a midfield car at best. His drive at Monza was by far the drive of the year


4.Felipe (Didn't make very many mistakes this year and I felt it came down to Ferrari reliability and performance that cost him)

5.Lewis (Had the most solid car which I thought would dominate all season but silly mistakes in just about every second or third race made the championship far harder than it could have been for him)

6.Timo (Solid all season even compared to his teammate, His drive to second in Hungary was one of the best performances all year)

7.Kimi After Catalunya it looked like his year, until he lost the feel of the Ferrari first causing him to qualify poorly then make uncharacteristic mistakes. He came good in the end but all too late)

8.Nick (Would have been much higher on the list if he didn't have such a strong teammate in the opposite seat. Bit of a mixed bag one day he puts in solid finished the next he doesn’t even finish in the points)

9.Jarno (Solid all season not much more to say. Extracted just about everything the Toyota gave him this year)

10. Nico, Mark (both show bursts of brilliance but couldn’t continue it throughout the championship)



Disappointments this year

Hekki (I still don't understand why he'll still be with Macca next season, if they're serious about winning constructors that is)

Jenson (One of if not the worst uninterested drivers this season)

David (Brazil summed his entire year up)

[Sakae]

In no particular order: Massa, Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Glock, Raikkonen, and that is probably all for group A.

[Alfisti]

Bewilders me how some have KR in the top 6, it just bewilders me. Some are also forgetting the first half of the season.

1. Robert Kubica: Extracted the most from his car, few if any stupid errors and caned a very good team mate.

2. Fernando Alonso: The best driver, probably, but for me some scrappiness in the first half of the year drops his season behind Robert's.

3. Felipe Massa: Had a very similar season to that of Lewis but lost a wade of points due to mechanical issues and the hose. Poor eforts when things go wronmg though and still a B driver imho.

4. Lewis Hamilton: Some extraordinary drives but still an element of scrappiness there, I actually thought he
was stronger last year but has undoubted talent and feel for the brake pedal.

5. Sebastien Vettel: Astounding, maybe moreso than Hamilton last year. Was scrappy early then just drove like a demon.

6. Jarno Trulli: Very solid, more often than not seemed to be there amongst the upper mid pack.

7. Mark Webber: Faded as the season wore on and STR took off. Very strong first half hoiking the car up the grid and lost a bag of points in Melbourne and singapore.

8. Timo Glock: Overcame his early problems to finish the season well.

9. Barrichello: Put button in the shade and did not drop his head, amazing really.

10. Nick Heidfeld: Honestly, he's here because I can't think of anyone else that deserved it.

[Atreiu]

1 - Hamilton;
2 - Massa;
3 - Kubica;
4 - Vettel ;
5 - Alonso;
6 - Raikkonen;
7 - Heidfeld;
8 - Webber;
9 - Glock;
10 - Barrichello.

edited because I have exactly made my mind yet

[Alfisti]

HK? Outside of Button, DC and Sutil did anyone have a worse year? Even in hi slast race he couldn't hold his nerve, just an awful year from HK.

[Atreiu]

Probably, yeah.
That Barcelona crash just knocked him down.
He wasn't the same after, and got no luckier either.

[BMW_F1]

Coming up with these lists is not easy, after watching today's race I have to say Massa was the best driver of the season. Massa needed to beat the reigning world champion, his teammate. It was a constant fight between these two, taking points against each other meanwhile Lewis had his entire team behind him since day one plus a 100% reliable car which is something Massa did not have. Luck, that is something that poor Massa has not had in the last two seasons.. So here is my list...
1. Massa

2. Alonso - this guy is just as good as he was back in 05/06, if a ferrari or mclaren driver is not 100%, you can bet that Alonso would be there taking their place in the podium beating everyone else..

3. Lewis - he was impressive is many races this year, very good in the rain, agressive, which is good but I still think he has a lot of room for improvement..

4. Kubica - this guy can become as good as Alonso. Hopefuly next year it will be BMW's year and he will be able to fight for the title. He is the type of guy that you know would give you a top performance without stupid mistakes if he is given the right equipment. With a little bit more speed from the car he could have fought for the title till the end given his cosistency.

5. Vettel - wow, this guy really raised my eyebrows this year in Monza and today outclassing a mclaren/lewis in the rain. He has ferrari written all over him.

6. Webber - continues to impress in the rain, very good at the start of the season when their car was on par with Renault/Toyota.

7-10 - trulli, nick, bourdais, kimi

[GiancarloF1]

First half and second half produced entirely different results for some reason. Some teams and driver lost it, while others were fired up.

First half:

1. Kubica
2. Webber
3. Trulli
4. Hamilton
5. Raikkonen
6. Massa
7. Barrichello
8. Heidfeld
9. Alonso
10. Kovalainen

Second half:

1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Massa
4. Hamilton
5. Glock
6. Kubica
7. Trulli
8. Heidfeld
9. Raikkonen
10. Piquet


Honorable mentions for Fisichella and Sutil who both had their flashes of brilliances despite driving a piece of junk.

Nico Rosberg had one wonderful race in the first half, and one in the second half. The rest were just forgettable.

[Ricardo F1]

Originally posted by ensign14
Probably change tomorrow, but at the moment:

1. Hamilton - because when he was on there was no-one close. Silverstone was the greatest drive this century.
2. Alonso - needed half a season to get used to the Renault.
3. Kubica - for consistency more than anything, only one bad race, exploited the maximum potential of his car.
4. Vettel - definite World Champ material.
5. Massa - when his car advantage was negated he seemed lost, maybe after Brazil that will change.
6. Webber - did he run over a million black cats? Deserved a lot better.
7. Glock - a real step-up from Ralf for Toyota, seemed to be ahead of Trulli more often than not when it mattered.
8. Raikkonen - but if it were the last part of the season alone he wouldn't have made it.
9. Rosberg - he had two chances and took them both.
10. Bourdais - the Webber of Toro Rosso, could have had big scores at Australia and Monza.

A lot of very disappointing drivers, though. Heidfeld perhaps the biggest disappointment.

Can't argue with much of that - though Rosberg might drop down a bit.

[noikeee]

****, it's 4AM already. I lost way too much time writing this. Here's my long ass review of driver performances for this season:

1. Robert Kubica
His 2007 had been disappointing, but wow, what an improvement. Hammered his team-mate in qualy, made no mistakes whatsoever except for a DNF at Silverstone (still, thought to be aquaplaning), took his first race win, his first pole, pushed his 3rd best car at most to a championship bid until the penultimate round. It was all about consistency, and hardly about speed though - he didn't have particular moments of brilliance except for 2 that will stay in my mind: the stint in Canada where he pulled a massive gap on Heidfeld to win the race; and the qualy in Hungaroring where the car was blatantly utter shite yet he pulled it to 4th in the grid - Heidfeld doing his best was 16th. Finished the season in a bad note with 2 disappointing qualys and a final race gone completely wrong in Interlagos.

2. Fernando Alonso
Started the season well with a clever race at Melbourne outsmarting the likes of Kimi and Heikki with a slower car, but then disappeared for a large period of time, clearly unmotivated with the Renault's poor performance, and not showing anything particularly special compared to other midfield drivers. From mid-season onwards, however, Renault made massive improvements and what we saw from Fernando was spectacular. Two race wins with that car?! Granted, Singapore was a lottery gift, and he benefited from some really dumb stuff from Lewis and Felipe in Fuji, but still. The second half of the year, Fernando drove to the level we saw in the extremely consistent seasons of 05 and 06. A world class level.

3. Lewis Hamilton
One would think Lewis would build from his amazing rookie season and calm down in 08, but instead what we saw were more mistakes: dumb DNFs in Bahrain and Montreal, and an excess of aggressiveness over the year that awarded him many penalties - some deserved, others almost outrageously not. His all-or-nothing approach benefited him sometimes though - the most remarkable of all being two amazing wins at Silverstone and Hockenheim, where he just killed the entire opposition. At the end of the year, except for another over-eager display at Fuji, he displayed a new side: a conservative side, looking to sum points rather than annihilate everyone. And it paid off in Brazil, despite some drama. Looking at the talent he displayed in his finest performances, and the massive gap over his team-mate (drove circles around him in certain occasions!), there are enough arguments to claim Lewis is a deserving champion.

4. Felipe Massa
Started the year on terrible form, with two pretty funny race-ending mistakes in Melbourne and Sepang. Ferrari fans called for his head, but his answer to the pressure was fantastic. Contrary to expectations, he managed to lead the team instead of Kimi, in large part by being stellar at qualifying and then translating it into results. It was also particularly interesting how he seemed to improve in some of his poor areas, like street circuits and in the rain - although Silverstone was again a flash of how poor he can be. Lost two likely race wins through no fault of his own (Hungary and Singapore) but then again won two that he shouldn't have (France and Belgium) - points-wise he lost more than he won here, though. At the end, despite an hot-headed display at Fuji and lacking some pace at Shanghai, he did great in the final race and only didn't win the championship by chance. He has now finally matured into a top driver.

5. Sebastian Vettel
4 first lap DNFs in the first 4 races. This is the only thing that puts him away from the previous 4 names in this list, because the rest of the year he was fantastic. Hammered Bourdais 35-4 in points, was a constant front runner specially on wet races, and above all, won a race in dominant fashion, in a Toro Rosso! A former Minardi, ffs. As good as the Ferrari engine is, he should not finish the championship ahead of the Red Bull cars. But he did. He is achieving some great things for such an early stage of his career.

6. Mark Webber
He was one of the big highlights from the beginning of the year, as he pulled 5 consecutive points scoring races and then another 6th place at Magny-Cours. It all seemed to be going rather well for him, and his bad luck jinx seemed to have disappeared for once, but then Red Bull fell back - a lot. We barely saw Mark in the second half of the year and he was outshined a lot by Vettel in the STR. The reason for putting him this high in the drivers ratings? Hammered his team-mate like very few in the grid. A former vice-champion, double Monaco GP winner team-mate.

7. Nick Heidfeld
Finished only 15 points behind Robert Kubica despite an obvious big problem in qualifying. It's true that a lot of his points were gifted by conveniently timed safety cars, but his consistency in the races was amazing - remember any spin, any collision, any DNF caused by Nick? It didn't happen. Also seemed about as quick as Robert in most races. And his passing and defending skills were as sharp as ever, amongst the finest in the grid. Low points were 2 or 3 weekends where he seemed dead slow for no reason.

8. Kimi Raikkonen
Everything seemed going really well after Barcelona. 2 wins in 4 races, the Ferrari by far the quickest in the grid, an inconsistent team-mate that was no threat, a big championship lead beginning to increase. And then everything went really, really wrong. The rest of the year Kimi could not find his speed in qualy, neither during most of the races - except in some particular stints or in some particular races, where circumstances would conspire to rob him the win anyway. To top it off, he started doing a lot of silly mistakes. It was overall the worst defending of a WDC we've seen in a long time - a stint of 4 consecutive races without scoring was particularly ****. Yet a bizarre record of 10 fastest laps means the speed certainly still is there - it's just waiting to be unlocked.

9. Jarno Trulli
One of the most consistent drivers in the year, having scored points in 10 occasions and being as strong in qualy as ever. Benefited a bit from Toyota moving forward so was a bit more in the spotlight than often, and seemed outshined by his team-mate in the 2nd half of the year, though. He also clearly gives me the impression that he fades away in the races, something that is also attributed to Webber but that I do not see there as much. Bonus points for remaining an awesome defender of position.

10. Timo Glock
A bit lost in the beginning of the year with several mistakes and not being able to match Trulli, but then a good result fell from the sky in Montreal and that started to fire up Glock. His highlights were more spectacular than Trulli (Hungary, wow) and by the end I clearly felt he had the upper hand at Toyota, despite still not matching Jarno in qualy - but the gap there is never big. Lost in points and that's why he's behind Jarno in these rankings, but it was an impressive first full season for him.

---------------------------------------------------------

11. Nico Rosberg
It did not help him that Williams had a poor year, but I expected more from Nico. While he was always the number 1 man at Williams, the gap on Kazuki didn't seem to me as convincing as it should've been, and he just was involved in way too many incidents. Great races at Melbourne and Singapore though.

12. Rubens Barrichello
People want him to retire, but it is nonsense, have you looked at the points table? 11-3 over Jenson. The tyre gamble at Silverstone was genius, he deserved the podium entirely there. The funny thing about this is that this was the reverse situation of last year: Rubens had the highlight performances and points, but it was actually Jenson who finished more races ahead of Rubens.

13. Giancarlo Fisichella
Extremely difficult to rate people in **** cars, specially in cars that are so bad that they hardly ever get to fight with the other teams ahead, nevermind showing up on TV. Fact is that Giancarlo had easily the measure of "next best thing" Adrian Sutil. In his past, he had often shone in poor cars and I believe Force India was close to getting the best of him back again. But he failed to score points.

14. Heikki Kovalainen
Wow, this really was a shite year for him. Finished with about half the points of Lewis (costing McLaren the WCC) and was humiliated by him in some races. Didn't deserve his debut win at all, as it fell from the sky. The positives were: qualifying, where the fuel loads hidden the fact he was almost a match for Lewis - his debut pole at Silverstone highlighted this; the fact he made no major mistakes throughout the year; and the attenuating factor that a lot of this points gap was due to bad luck - he really had Webber's luck at the beginning of the year.

15. Jenson Button
I pretty much described the situation when commenting Rubens. Jenson was completely invisible and un-motivated in the poor Honda, a long long way far from the guy we saw in the final part of 2006 outscoring everyone. Had a good race at Barcelona and that was all.

16. Sebastien Bourdais
Started showing up on TV when STR moved forward, but was never a match to Vettel. Massive points gap at the end of the year: 35-4?! Still, a lot of that can be explained by circumstances, such as the rain at Spa screwing up a good race, or a problem in the grid at Monza robbing him from a good chance of scoring big points. Unspectacular but deserves another year.

17. Anthony Davidson
It was so long ago that we forgot about Aguri's existence. They only survived 4 races so it's hard to say anything about these guys but Davidson finished twice ahead of Sato, and the opposite didn't happen. I'm going with that.

18. Takuma Sato
Yeah.

19. Adrian Sutil
Last year I figured Adrian could be in a situation similar to Alonso at Minardi - a major talent pushing a terrible car above where it should've been, in his rookie year. Then the guy Alonso drove circles around comes in, and drives circles around Adrian. Except for Monaco - are we sure it wasn't Michael Schumacher under the helmet there? Awesome performance.

20. Nelson Piquet Jr
I don't think I've ever seen anything like this - what an amazingly inconsistent season by Nelson. Made his Renault seem like a GP2 car in several occasions, in others he could build gaps from Ferraris. Pressured Alonso into mistakes so he could overtake, failed under pressure making countless spins and crashes. Unfortunately for him, he was shite about 5 times more often than he was good. But the potential is there.

21. David Coulthard
I don't like to see people retiring from the top, I like to see them giving everything until it is clear they aren't competitive anymore. This is why I think David's retirement timing is perfect - this season was terrible. Seemed to attract contact with other cars like no-one else in the grid, and was hammered by Webber. Goodbye David.

22. Kazuki Nakajima
I don't want to be mean to Kazuki because he did nothing wrong. Did some mistakes that you'd expect from a rookie, but was still consistent enough in the crazy races to grab some points just by surviving. Wasn't that far away from Nico most of the time, even outqualified him at Interlagos. But can you seriously look at any of the 21 names previously mentioned and say: this guy is less talented than Nakajima? The talent on the F1 grid is outstanding these days.

[Cenotaph]

Nice review, i would leave the aguri drivers out of it though, as it seems unfair for Piquet, Sutil and Nakajima to be placed below guys that really didn't do anything special in those 4 races and were not there long enough to be judged as bad or not.

I mostly agree with the individual reviews, not exactly with the positions but it was a good read.

[27GV]

1 Kubica - 1 win
= Vettel - 1 win
= Alonso - 2 wins

gap

4. Hamilton - 5 wins
5. Massa - 6 wins

gap

Trulli
Webber
Heidfeld
Glock
Rosberg

[metz]

Originally posted by Stibbles
Don't know why Heidfield or Rosberg are figuring above Webber in any of these lists.

Could it be that Heidfeld actually outscored Robert over the last 10 races? All while the BMW was falling back in development.
Compared to Webber, Rosberg had a much harder time with that Williams. He put it in places where it didn't belong.
But I don't want to deminish Mark's effort at all. He was still fast on Saturday and had much fewer errors this year. Outclassed DC by a wide margin. He's easy top 10.
Its Kimi and Kovy that don't belong on this list this year.

[Slowinfastout]

Originally posted by paranoik0
****, it's 4AM already. I lost way too much time writing this. Here's my long ass review of driver performances for this season:

1. Robert Kubica

2. Fernando Alonso

3. Lewis Hamilton

4. Felipe Massa

5. Sebastian Vettel

6. Mark Webber

7. Nick Heidfeld

8. Kimi Raikkonen

9. Jarno Trulli

10. Timo Glock

I agree with your top ten, and thank you for giving nice explanations, thats how I would have ranked them as well.... have some issues with the rest though.. difficult, or sometimes impossible, to tell how crap the equipment was in some cases...

heres my 11 to 22 list:

11. Nico Rosberg Flashes of brilliance in uninspiring season. Williams car works only on some specific circuits.

12. Heikki Kovalainen --> Mystery.. wasn't helped by team strategy but that's the case for 1 driver in every team.. points gap with teammate difficult to explain if not for brilliance of said teammate, similar to Bourdais-Vettel.

13. Rubens Barrichello --> Looks like he still wants to keep going, shame on Honda for that dismal car..

14. Sebastien Bourdais --> Some very good performances ended (..or started, like Monza) up tarnished by bad luck and mistakes, I think the guy deserves another chance.

15. Nelson Piquet Jr --> No match for Alonso, needs a car perfectly dialed for him which is rare thing in F1.

16. David Coulthard --> Being slow in qualy hurt him bad... DC can race but at this end of the pack sh*t tends to stick to ya.. maybe deserves better ranking but can't tell...

17. Kazuki Nakajima Uninspiring season. Williams car works only on some specific circuits.

18. Jenson Button --> Nothing special this year, Rubens looked more motivated.

19. Giancarlo Fisichella --> can't tell Force India drivers apart much, clumsy team for sure.

20. Adrian Sutil --> can't tell Force India drivers apart much, clumsy team for sure.

--. Anthony Davidson --> can't tell how crap the car was exactly, just know it was awful.

--. Takuma Sato --> can't tell how crap the car was exactly, just know it was awful.

[thuGG]

Originally posted by metz

Could it be that Heidfeld had as many podiums as Kubica this year (4).

Kubica had 7 podiums.

[mkay]

No offense, but I don't see how Kubica is the best driver this year, despite being absolutely nowhere in the second half of the season. He looked pretty rubbish in the final stages (China, Brazil) of the season. Even his win is probably less spectacular than Vettel's or than Alonso's multiple wins.

Am I missing something?

I know he was consistent, but he was never under the spotlight at any time (so no pressure at all) and was not excessively fast (bar Montreal and Bahrein) and did not destroy his teammate that often.

[thuGG]

Yes, you missed that in the second part of the season, BMW were nowere near McLaren and Ferrari, later in the year Renault was faster, sometimes Toyota and Torro Rosso. It's hard to be on podium when you got 8-10 cars faster than yours. But sometimes he still managed to pull a very good result, like Japan.

Look at Webber, he was in points practically in every race at the start of the season, bu then Red Bull couldn't keep up with Renault, Toyota and Torro Rosso, which meant Mark was invisible in the second part of the season.

The car is most important in this game.

[dr funkenstein]

1- Fernando Alonso - anybody that can win two races and be the biggest scorer during the second half of the season in a truck well deserves this place. He was lucky in Singapore, granted, but I can't imagine Piquet soaking up the pressure from Rosberg and Hamilton like Alonso did at the end of the race. And he was the only one to beat his team mate 18-0 in qualifying.
2- Robert Kubica - stayed in the title fight until almost the end. If the BMW had been slightly better, or had been developed a bit more, he would have won the championship easily, no question. Emerged clearly as the team leader.
3- Sebastial Vettel - like Alonso, anybody that can wring anything good out of a Toro Rosso has got to be really special. He was on a different planet in Monza, as if he were the only real professional amongst kids.
4- Lewis Hamilton - nobody wins a championship if they're not seriously good. Lewis is brilliant, but he was lucky he was racing against Massa and not Schumacher, Alonso, Kubica in a competitive car or even Vettel in a proper car. Let's hope next year they all have good cars and we can see what Hamilton is really made of.
5 - Felipe Massa - I don't rate him all that highly, and I think it wouldn't have been right for him to win the championship, but he managed to outdrive Kimi Raikkonen. That alone is impressive.
6 - Heiki Kovalainen - Just for putting up with life in McLaren. It can't be easy to be the second driver in a team that revolves around Hamilton. He was only once fuelled lighter than Hamilton and had all the lousy strategies. Anybody who can still keep smiling after that has to be pretty special.
7- Nick Heidfeld - the guy is so discrete that nobody realises that his final score was close to Kubica's, even after all his troubles during qualifying.
8 - Nico Rosberg - managed a couple of impressive podiums in a non-impressive Williams. I'd like to see someone like Massa or Hamilton do something similar.
9 - Kimi Raikkonen - looked initially as if he was going to walk away with the championship, and he should have. The second half of the season made you cringe.
10 - Sebastian Bourdais - got overlooked because of his amazing team mate, but just because he was awfully unlucky with car gremlins (e.g: Monza (how unlucky can you get???)) and with gremlins driving other cars (e.g: Brazil, and Glock screaming 'banzaaaaai' from a mile back).

[mkay]

Originally posted by thuGG
. But sometimes he still managed to pull a very good result, like Japan.
.

Heikki DNF.
Lewis penalized + unplanned pitstop
Massa penalized
Kimi's front wing damaged

Right there, you have 3/4 spots open for Kubica. I don't want to remove any credit, he drove faultlessly that day, but still, his podium is mostly due to circumstances and not necessarily pure merit. He wouldn't have been on the podium, had Hamilton, Massa and Heikki been there.

[Classic Ferrari]

Originally posted by 27GV
1 Kubica - 1 win
= Vettel - 1 win
= Alonso - 2 wins

gap

4. Hamilton - 5 wins
5. Massa - 6 wins

gap

Trulli
Webber
Heidfeld
Glock
Rosberg

[santori]

For the first page (up to post 40), my (probably faulty) count is:

Alonso 312
Kubica 284
Vettel 261
Massa 258
Hamilton 256
Raikkonen 91
Trulli 75.5
Heidfeld 66.5
Glock 50.5
Webber 28

(Kovalainen 13.5; Barrichello 6; Bourdais 5; Rosberg 4)

[thuGG]

Originally posted by mkay


Heikki DNF.
Lewis penalized + unplanned pitstop
Massa penalized
Kimi's front wing damaged

Right there, you have 3/4 spots open for Kubica. I don't want to remove any credit, he drove faultlessly that day, but still, his podium is mostly due to circumstances and not necessarily pure merit. He wouldn't have been on the podium, had Hamilton, Massa and Heikki been there.

Oh so you expected him to fight with Ferraris and McLarens on merit in a car that was about 0.5 sec slower. He is a very good racing driver but he is not a God. Besides he battled Kimi quite well.

[fnz]

Originally posted by santori
For the first page (up to post 40), my (probably faulty) count is:

Alonso 312
Kubica 284
Vettel 261
Massa 258
Hamilton 256
Raikkonen 91
Trulli 75.5
Heidfeld 66.5
Glock 50.5
Webber 28

(Kovalainen 13.5; Barrichello 6; Bourdais 5; Rosberg 4)

Tbh this (not definitive) result surprises me.

[Gareth]

A very tight year, so difficult to put people in 1 to 10 order. My thoughts (each section in no particular order):

The Leading Pack

Kubica - the most consistent driver this season

Alonso - poor first half but magnificent second

Vettel - some stunning drives in the wet, great young talent

Massa - one or two errors, but some comanding performances as well

Hamilton - too many errors, but spectacular when error free, some superb overtakes

A high quality year

Webber - consistently good, deserves a better car

Barichello - kept his head up wonderfully and beat his team mate, great drive in Silverstone, deserves another season

Heidfeld - terrible trouble with qualifying, but put in some superb race performances to make up for it and worked hard to overcome his issues

Trulli and Glock - both drove very well this season, IMO

Fisi - good season from him

Fair to middling

Sutil - couple of good drives but overall disappointing for him I suspect, especially losing out to Fisi

Rosberg - didn't really come through on obvious promise

Nakajima - beaten by Rosberg, but not as badly as expected and far less crashes than I thought the son of Satoru would produce

Bordais - tough up against Vettel, may have done just enough to get another season but might not

A year to forget

Kimi - never overcame his Q issues, fastest laps show he obviously still has it but needs to get it together for next season

Kova - looked promising in the early part of the season, just marred by bad luck, but was just slow for the rest of it

DC - disappointing swan song

Button - heart didn't seem to be in it

Piquet - improved towards the end and was in one of the most difficult teams to make an impression, but a poor season

[mkay]

Originally posted by thuGG


Oh so you expected him to fight with Ferraris and McLarens on merit in a car that was about 0.5 sec slower. Besides he battled Kimi - who had a DAMAGED car - quite well.

Well, Alonso was doing it recently... Besides, Kubica was quite often lost, even compared to his teammate. I'd still put him in the Top 5, even Top 3, but to say he was the best, this is pushing it a little. He looked pretty average when things did not go his way (like in Fuji, Montreal).
And, I fixed your message in my quote. Important note.

[thuGG]

mkay, please, if you quote somone, don't change the quote.

To be honest, you don't have to agree with Kubica being 1st, read the thread and you will see that not everyone sees Robert as no 1. Everybody has his own opinion, please respect that.

[gerry nassar]

As highly as I think of Alonso (and Vettel) I think his season is being slightly overrated - especially because everyone is focusing on the second half of the season when the car was improved dramatically. But the main reason is that he wasnt under the same pressure as Mass and Lewis were over the season.

1. Massa
2. Hamilton
3. Vettel
4. Alonso
5. Kubica
-----------------------
6. Webber
7. Trulli
8. Raikkonen
9. Glock
10. Heidfeld

[abc]

Hamilton was a lot better than Felipe over the season.
Felipes two failures were most visible, he lost 10 points in Hungary and 6 pts. in Singapore and thats about it.

Lewis season was full of unlucky incidents and events:
Malaysia - given penalty before start, delayed in pit, lost at least two points
Bahrain - non driving mistake at the start led to zero points
Canada - silly mistake albeit little unlucky caused two zeros in a row
France - grid penalty and penalty again for overtaking, debatable
Hungary - 4 pts. lost due to puncture
Spa -
Monza - unlucky tyre choice in Q2, unlucky with track condition, his strategy was the worst, had to make additional pitstop only for tires
Fuji - IMO shouldnt have been penalised, would finish second if Felipe didnt torpedo him, Felipe deserved zero points there.
Brasil - again bad strategy, he couldnt play his heavier fuel load advantage at the start, only late tire change put him behind Alonso.

And his races in Turkey, Silverstone, Hockenheim and even Monza fall into a magic category. Felipe had less moments of magic, I can give him Brasil and Hungary start (his pace in this race is overrated though as ferrari were blindingly quick there).

EDIT: Felipe lost two points in Monaco also

[fnz]

Originally posted by abc
Hamilton was a lot better than Felipe over the season.
Felipes two failures were most visible, he lost 10 points in Hungary and 6 pts. in Singapore and thats about it.

Lewis season was full of unlucky incidents and events:
Malaysia - given penalty before start, delayed in pit, lost at least two points
Bahrain - non driving mistake at the start led to zero points
Canada - silly mistake albeit little unlucky caused two zeros in a row
France - grid penalty and penalty again for overtaking, debatable
Hungary - 4 pts. lost due to puncture
Spa -
Monza - unlucky tyre choice in Q2, unlucky with track condition, his strategy was the worst, had to make additional pitstop only for tires
Fuji - IMO shouldnt have been penalised, would finish second if Felipe didnt torpedo him, Felipe deserved zero points there.
Brasil - again bad strategy, he couldnt play his heavier fuel load advantage at the start, only late tire change put him behind Alonso.

And his races in Turkey, Silverstone, Hockenheim and even Monza fall into a magic category. Felipe had less moments of magic, I can give him Brasil and Hungary start (his pace in this race is overrated though as ferrari were blindingly quick there).

You make my day

[Spunout]

Question...is this supposed to be Top 10 or Top 10 in comparison to expectations?

[abc]

Originally posted by fnz


You make my day

Care to explain?

[fnz]

Originally posted by Spunout
Question...is this supposed to be Top 10 or Top 10 in comparison to expectations?

just copy wdc final standings... that's THE top 10

[Taxi]

1- Vettel: It's risky I know. His car is not a minardi anymore. But he was simply amasing. The best of the red bull teams, consistent points, top ten qualifying and a win! he's what?21? The next big thing that's for sure.

2- Hamilton: Youngest world champion. Great drives like Silverstone or Monaco. Also some silly mistakes like canada. He seemed the man to beat for most of the year. But he was clearly nº 1 at Mc.

2- Massa: He lost the world championship but got the world's respect. Most wins and won the intra-team batle against Raikkonen. Merit! but some mistakes in the begining of the year and seemed a bit lost in china and Japan.

4- Alonso: Wow! Great final part of the season. That's a mark of a champion: He helped his team to go up. And his motivation and cleaverness did the rest. 2 wins! although the first one was pure luck.

5- Kubica: Consistent all year but faded a bit in the end. The car wasn't good anymore we know, but i'm sure a guy like Alonso would make more damage limitation.

6- Trulli: Still great speed. And some consistent points also! in one of the best toyota years!

7- Raikkonen: That was bad. or wans't it? Kimi won just two races and his qualifying pace was the worse problem. That meant he was in the midle of the pack and never could overcome it in races. Then some silly mistakes. Well he wasn't lucky either in the races he could have won like Canada or France, but it was a bad season. On the positive side his 10 fastest laps show he still has it. He as 3rd in the championship and needs to learn that the diference btw a great champion and a good driver is not the speed. It's the inteligence, and hard work. But does he realy want it?

8- Glock: beeing paired against trulli is not easy. But Timo did very very well! great points and a podium finish for the underated german driver.

9- Heidfield: Good but not great. As I always said. Like Kimi had qualifying problems wich he solved with good races and some extraordinary overtaking!

10- Kovalainen: He was the nº 2 at Mclaren. he's nice and fast expecialy in qualifiyng. But he needs to get his acts togheter in races where is speed goes away. Tires, he said.

Honorable Mention: Bourdais. What an ingrat task to be paired against Vettel! how unlyky he was in some races. But he's good. Make no mistake.

[abc]

OK lets go:

Vettel
Hamilton
Alonso
Kubica
Massa
Kimi
Glock
Heidfeld
Webber
Kova

[karlth]

100 opinions and almost nobody considers the WDC to have been the best driver?

Well I'm voting for Hamilton. Not because he won the championship in his second year of F1. Not because he beat both the Ferrari drivers. Not because he demolished his highly rated teammate and not because he won in spite of receiving penalties nobody had heard of before.

No I'm voting for Hamilton because he was consistently fast. He barely managed any fastest laps during the whole of the season and even during dominant displays like at Silverstone and Monaco he usually wasn't the fastest driver on track. It was his ability to punch in fast laps consistently throughout in any condition that won him the title.

Massa was dominant if he managed to pole, erratic otherwise. Alonso and Vettel were very impressive on occasion but both racing against inexperienced teammates make all comparisons difficult. Kubica an ace qualifier but failed to shine as brightly on race day.

[stevewf1]

I don't think there were 10 worthy drivers, so I'll just do a top 5...

(in the tradition of the late, great Rob Walker's rating system from Road & Track magazine)

1) Hamilton - 4.5 points
2) Massa - 4.5 points
3) Alonso - 3.5 points
4) Vettel - 3 points
5) Kubica - 3 points

[jess]

Alonso ... Never gave up despite having terrible machinery for half the season, and once he got his hands on decent machinery (3rd best car) he outscored the lot of them and won 2 races, beating a mclaren and bmw and finishing close to Kimi and widely acclaimed Kubica. The best driver of the season imo.

Hamilton...Was scrappy and made many mistakes but still dominated his team mate and won the wc in the second best car. Was lucky his main opponent was a fumbling Massa, otherwise he wouldnt have gotten close the wc though.

Kubica...Had a great 2/3's of a season but really fell away from Spa, and was outpaced by Heidfeld once the car started to become difficult. The jury is still out on him as to whether he can be complete or just fast in certain cars. Overall Solid, but overhyped in the end.

Massa...I think he made the most out of his limited abilities in the best car. He probably drove better than he was in the past but hes still not top class and was too inconsistent and made too many mistakes for a driver of his experience. I dont think he will get this close again.


Vettel...Had a great win and some good drives but i think hes been overrated as the car hes driving underrated. A Newey chassis and a ferrari engine is no joke so I dont think he worked the miracles many suggested. Even at Monza, that chassis dominted the front of the grid. Good season but jury still out.

Webber... Dominated his experienced team mate and never stopped trying. I think he will test vettel hard in 09.