97 replies to this topic

[Auzz]

Epic season which made my life at least 5 years shorter. 10/10, but deducted one point for the shithousery between RBR and Mercedes and deducted another point for the inconsistent stewarding. So an 8 it is for me.

[Jordan199]

I gave it a 9, and voted Max Verstappen.

 

It has been an epic fight, mostly marred by dodgy officiating, taking the shine off a little. 

 

Congratulations Max! 

[Sparky68]

Gave it 9 and Max as driver of the season. Honestly just glad its over.

[DeKnyff]

I gave it a ten. Among the five best seasons ever, or even three. Not only the Championship was very tightly contested, but also there was plenty of on-track action, which doesn't necessarily happen.

[jacdaniel]

10 and Max.

Although I hated the last 4 rounds. They were too dominant and it was sad to see once again.

[Augurk]

Gave it a 9, Max was definitely the driver of the season. Can't recall many campaigns on that level. 

The shifting performance between Red Bull and Mercedes was spot on most of the year for great intensity on track. 

Hamilton bringing his absolute A game from the second half on made for an amazing battle of titans. 

 

A bit too much controversy and off-track political fights to score a 10. 

So glad this season is over, it became a bit too much and too long near the end. 

[Gareth]

10 for me. The whole thing was just incredible. A crazy tight battle between two amazing drivers, culminating in a last lap showdown. The only WDC I can remember switching hands so late in the season was 2008.

 

Went for Max as driver of the season. It was really tight between the top two, but I think he edged it.

[dweller23]

It felt odd when during the first round, either post-race or post-quali interviews, the interviewer (Brundle I think) said to Verstappen "this is the most epic season of Formula One ever". I made note of that and kept remembering this all season. And the "most epic" theme was circling around the entire season, regardless of point situation. I rate this season rigged/10, because it feels rigged. It felt that way even before the finale today.

[maximilian]

Pretty good season, too bad it was decided by a backmarker and resulting stewarding lottery.

[Augurk]

Wow this has dropped back to page 3 already.

Time for a little bump.

 

I've thought about it a bit and have decided this was simultaneously the best and the worst season in a very long while. 

[rf90]

Gave it an 8 mainly because only 2 drivers in with a chance (no, their team-mates didn't). Max definitely the driver of the season for getting the upper hand against the most dominant car in F1. His bad luck has been swept under the table (I assume because he's not English) but without it he would have deservedly been champion a few races ago.

[HeadFirst]

I gave the season a 7. I've tried to rate it compared to seasons this century, and not let the recent Merc dominance influence my decision. There was some great racing for sure, and a title battle right up to the final race is something we all wanted to see, but (you knew there had to be a but) I think the officiating took too prominent a role. The stewards, and race director have difficult jobs  and I think they dropped the ball on a number of occasions. Although I don't think there was favoritism, the decision definitely affected the outcome of several races, and left the drivers (and fans)  confused about rulings and perhaps wondering if there was in fact a rule book at all.

 

As for the driver of the year ... I couldn't decide between Lewis and Max, so I picked Fernando. His podium was the highlight of the season for me. Honorable mentions go to Esteban Ocon (first win), and Pierre Gasly (a number of strong drives). 

[Gravelngrass]

A fantastic season which exposed some flaws about how F1 is ruled and officiated.

An incredible battle against a virtual monopoly of the sport and a rare historical occurrence of an, in the final balance, inferior car, beating a faster one.

A changing of the guard to the “PlayStation” generation maybe, who may start to show that the older guys just can’t compete against all that very early simulator experience.

A bad look of teams meddling with race direction and lobbying for results and lack of clarity about passing written and unwritten rules.

A still too large difference between the top two teams and drivers and the rest.

[RPM40]

It was a great season until the final 5 laps. 

 

As Game of Thrones has shown, an ending can define the entire show.

 

Its hard to consider the season anything other than a non event at this stage. 

[shure]

For the first two thirds of the season it was a 9 for me, with some genuinely thrilling battles at the sharp end, something we've been sadly starved of for a good while.  It got way too political for much of it, though, with claims and counter claims flying around all over the place, but if you could ignore that on track it was pretty spellbinding and I've actually gotten excited at the start of a race again.  I genuinely didn't know who was going to win any given race and that's enough on its own to give it a high mark.

 

The last few races did spoil it for me, though.  Merc resorting to just throwing extra PUs at the problem was not so much technical genius as sticking two fingers up at the rules and I'm sorry they were rewarded for that with a WCC.  And it got dirty and unpleasant overall, alongside a return to predictability stemming from a significant car advantage.  Although I'm glad Max won the title, as for me he was by far the best driver over the year, Masi's bumbled handling of the final few laps created unnecessary controversy and took the edge off it.  Not a satisfactory conclusion, which brings it down to an 8 out of 10 overall, but still a much needed reminder of how thrilling F1 can be when you have elite drivers battling it out in relatively equal machinery, and without a doubt the best season of the hybrid era so far.  

 

I'm a little nervous for next year now as it has a lot to live up to and a part of me is worried that this was just an anomaly and we will be back to the status quo, but if it's equally close then we'll be in for a treat.

[PistolPete]

Not particularly positive… The way Verstappen was given the title in the end destroyed it, for several reasons.

1. Verstappen did not win by being the best, but because someone wanted him to win. Why they want to taimt him like this.

2. I spend a lot of hours watching the show. The way this was done simply made me think i spend my time following the wrong sport. Wasted everyones time.

[kumo7]

I thought this was a tense season and Max deserved the title. Ham drove very steady in AbuDhabi for which he could have won the title, but it unfortunately did not.

I gave 8, as there was much incomprehensible, much sort of confusing penalties been given to many drivers. The result appears to me more random than a fair consequences. Many drivers in the mid field could have had a better season. I would not want to point Masi for this as stewardship could be better, in a sense that it could be more structured.

The Driver, I say Alo. I think he had a great come back season and well, Ham was not at his best, Max had some troubled driving, and so forth.

Edited by kumo7, 28 December 2021 - 15:39.

[Deeq]

A season that has Spa 2021 can never be better than 8 sorry.
2009,10,12 & 16 (in only last 14 years were better) Sporting wise, officiating wise this was the nadir absolut worst i have seen since 1992.
The calls were almost always arbitrary...No respect for previous precedents/praxis.
Most entertaining though. Shrugs
A wobly 6,7..

Edited by Deeq, 28 December 2021 - 15:58.

[Coral]

I refuse to even give the 2021 F1 season a rating.

 

It was an absolute disgrace of a season, the likes of which I hope I never see again.

[IrvTheSwerve]

Wow, some sour grapes here.

 

Regardless of the final laps of AD, I’ve no idea how anyone can say that this was less than a 5 out of 10 season. 
 

For what it’s worth, I didn’t care who came out as WDC and I thought that the Abu Dhabi thing was an absolute farce, but the championship as a whole was fantastic. You won’t see many better seasons that this and I think deep down the people who voted less than 5 or 6 know that and are too invested in the Ham/Ver battle.

 

It was an epic season. Almost every race had something happening. I’ve ‘only’ watched F1 since the mid-90s and I could probably count seasons like that on one hand.

 

The way it ended was a massive shame in terms of how I think the rules should have been applied, but that doesn’t taint the whole year for me.

[JordanIreland]

An epic season marred by terrible officiating.

The appalling race officials sapped a lot of joy from the season.

The team principals especially for RedBull and Mercedes acted extremely poorly. Thankfully we wouldn’t hear them bullying the race director every 5 seconds going forward. They were extremely vulgar.

I hope for 2022, we can focus on the cars and drivers and all the team principals can take a backseat.

[SenorSjon]

8 and Max

-1 for all the shenanigans about track limits, midseason rule changes and the like
-1 for the rest of the pack being miles off, making 1st or 2nd an almost absolute certainty for Max/Lewis.

[PlayboyRacer]

Up until Saudi I would have given it 8.

The last two races were garbage. 6.5

Gap between the top two teams and the rest was far too large to be considered a classic season.

[markpenske]

I've been following Formula 1 since the mid '80's. That last lap of the last race was the most exciting, interesting on track moment that I've ever seen. The rest of the season was slightly above average. The point totals were close but for the most part it was either Lew or Max dominating individual races, not much actual on track battles. 

And, I voted for Latifi as my driver on the year

Edited by markpenske, 28 December 2021 - 20:44.

[DW46]

Hated the constant flexi wings, pit stop tweaks, complaints and appeals from the top two. It felt like the last four races of the season was about seeing who was getting a grid drop for a marginal infraction.

Agree with PBR Saudi wasn’t a race and should never have gone ahead and Abu Dhabi was a travesty on the first and last lap.

Some good races but felt a bit manufactured to me for the box office ending and the points tie etc.

Overall a 7 for me behind 94, 96, 97, 00, 03, 05, 07, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18 & 20.

Great racing from top two and some good battles down the field, would have liked to see more teams in the mix at the front.

[Ali623]

8, for a 9 or 10 I would have liked to see more drivers/teams in the championship fight. Every race was basically Max and Lewis.

[AlexPrime]

Duel for the championship, many different winners and a new champion - almost perfect, so 9 out of 10. Best championship since 2012, but not quite on the same level.
Mas has to be the driver of the year.

Edited by AlexPrime, 30 December 2021 - 16:18.

[SpatialTech]

I voted 9, mainly for the drama, and 44 as the better driver, as it looked like 33 was going to pieces over the last 4 races and was comprehensively beaten in all of them too. Probably an 8 in retrospect.

If I took into account the ending, it would likely be a 5, so I’ve not considered that in here; it was like ordering a Cafe Bon-Bon only to find out it was made with salt; to a beautiful bottle of wine that was corked.

[SCUDmissile]

10

Best season since I started watching (2006)

[Misk]

Duel for the championship, many different winners and a new champion - almost perfect, so 9 out of 10. Best championship since 2012, but not quite on the same level.
Mas has to be the driver of the year.

I thought this year was better than 2012. 2012 was great and final run in was nail biting. However in 2012, Vettel was often running away with the race miles out in front or his car was breaking down. There was very little actual on track battels between him and Alonso, while this year we saw the two title rivals mixing up on the track race after race. That's why this is year is a 10/10 for me. I've been watching since 1992 and this might be the best season I've ever watched, even potentially beating out personal favourites of mine 1998, 2003 and 2010.

Edited by Misk, 30 December 2021 - 19:19.

[Misk]

I voted 9, mainly for the drama, and 44 as the better driver, as it looked like 33 was going to pieces over the last 4 races and was comprehensively beaten in all of them too. Probably an 8 in retrospect.
 

I take it you're new to F1? That or you've decided to base who the best driver of a 22 race season was off the final 4 rounds.

[SpatialTech]

I take it you're new to F1? That or you've decided to base who the best driver of a 22 race season was off the final 4 rounds.

Love the passive aggressiveness some feel desperate to use on this forum.

On balance, 33 was ahead by Brazil, but given, imo, he choked in the final 4 races, where it counted the most, and only won due to an illegal (according to the stewards) RD interaction, I marked him down. 44, in comparison, nailed the races he had to, under extreme pressure, so, on balance, I’d pick Hamilton as the driver of the year.

Not to hard to understand.

[AlexPrime]

I thought this year was better than 2012. 2012 was great and final run in was nail biting. However in 2012, Vettel was often running away with the race miles out in front or his car was breaking down. There was very little actual on track battels between him and Alonso, while this year we saw the two title rivals mixing up on the track race after race. That's why this is year is a 10/10 for me. I've been watching since 1992 and this might be the best season I've ever watched, even potentially beating out personal favourites of mine 1998, 2003 and 2010.

Vettel had a dominant car only in several races, they conveniently happened to be in the crucial part of the championship, although in the last rounds McLaren were the fastest. 2012 also had crazy beginning and four championship antagonists, I believe that Kimi and Lewis were in the hunt although in the end it was a duel with Fernando. 
I rate 2010 higher as well, as again it had four antagonists (at least). Great seasons and I remember them fondly. From older eras, 2007 was pretty crazy, I am not a fan of 2008, but it was close as well.
But I thought that F1 is dead, literally stopped watching, so for 2021 to be that close was definetly a surprise for me. The most unexpected good season ever. 
P.S. 2003 was another unexpected good season as well, but the dominator won again.

Edited by AlexPrime, 30 December 2021 - 19:39.

[SpatialTech]

Vettel had a dominant car only in several races, they conveniently happened to be in the crucial part of the championship, although in the last rounds McLaren were the fastest. 2012 also had crazy beginning and four championship antagonists, I believe that Kimi and Lewis were in the hunt although in the end it was a duel with Fernando. 
I rate 2010 higher as well, as again it had four antagonists (at least). Great seasons and I remember them fondly. From older eras, 2007 was pretty crazy, I am not a fan of 2008, but it was close as well.
But I thought that F1 is dead, literally stopped watching, so for 2021 to be that close was definetly a surprise for me. The most unexpected good season ever. 
P.S. 2003 was another unexpected good season as well, but the dominator won again.

2010 a crazy season, I thought 2012 Mclaren had a fast but fragile car. Yeah, both good seasons, 2007 was a boiler too. I can see why people think 2013
- 2020 were insipid, can understand their ire. Such dominance we’d not seen since the early Ferrari Schumacher years, and then before the MP4/4 - MP4/6 cars.

[Misk]

Vettel had a dominant car only in several races, they conveniently happened to be in the crucial part of the championship, although in the last rounds McLaren were the fastest. 2012 also had crazy beginning and four championship antagonists, I believe that Kimi and Lewis were in the hunt although in the end it was a duel with Fernando. 
I rate 2010 higher as well, as again it had four antagonists (at least). Great seasons and I remember them fondly. From older eras, 2007 was pretty crazy, I am not a fan of 2008, but it was close as well.
But I thought that F1 is dead, literally stopped watching, so for 2021 to be that close was definetly a surprise for me. The most unexpected good season ever. 
P.S. 2003 was another unexpected good season as well, but the dominator won again.

The end of 2012 was so intense between Vettel and Alonso, that I always forgett Hamilton should really have been in the mix that year at the very least. McLaren probably had the fastest car over the course of that season but they amount of errors they made cost them a huge bundle of points.

 

2007 fell in a peroid where I stopped watching F1 for a few years (I was young and had better things to do with my Sunday afternoon ) so I only watched the final race in Brazil. But I imagine it was an interesting season to watch from start to finish.

[Misk]

Love the passive aggressiveness some feel desperate to use on this forum.

On balance, 33 was ahead by Brazil, but given, imo, he choked in the final 4 races, where it counted the most, and only won due to an illegal (according to the stewards) RD interaction, I marked him down. 44, in comparison, nailed the races he had to, under extreme pressure, so, on balance, I’d pick Hamilton as the driver of the year.

Not to hard to understand.

There was a sense that the pressure got to Verstappen a bit I agree, but as I said elsewhere here many great F1 champions got jittery closing out their first world title. Verstappen was pushing very hard in a car that was clearly no longer the quickest on the grid. IMO Hamilton made more (and larger) errors over the course of the whole season.

[Cirio]

A cheat and a fix.

[SpatialTech]

There was a sense that the pressure got to Verstappen a bit I agree, but as I said elsewhere here many great F1 champions got jittery closing out their first world title. Verstappen was pushing very hard in a car that was clearly no longer the quickest on the grid. IMO Hamilton made more (and larger) errors over the course of the whole season.

I can’t argue with that, as I said, pre-Brazil, I’d have put 33 there. However, the squeaky bum stage is what makes champions, and based on this, and the fact that I believe 44 had it taken from it, that 33 didn’t win it, per se, makes me give the very slight edge to 44. It’s all just opinion, and worth as much as the salt on your empty plate at the end of the day, which is why I call them fluff pieces.

As I said earlier, it was that tight between them, I’d have agreed to Autosport giving it to either of them; it was almost a toss of the coin at the end of the season.

[SpatialTech]

What I will say, is that due to the nature of this season, how close it was, how much pressure there was, 33 will become a very potent force in the years ahead. These seasons define you. You either run from them (Rosberg et al), or you embrace it and become even better (Hamilton). Next season, if the cars are closer, it will be great to see; if RBR haven’t spent too much of their 2022 time developing 2021, then if 44 returns, I think it should be epic.

[Wolbo]

Was a great season with a magnificent and deserved new champion. Season had just about everything that makes F1 great. I give it a 9 plus 0,5 bonus point for the salty tears of the whingeing poms. Only thing that keeps it from being a solid 10 was the fact that the competition was too far back from the Red Bull and Mercedes teams.

[Casey]

Awesome season, a solid nine in my book .

Max driver of the year , I'm glad his luck evened out in the very end although a bit of a shame how but I take it . 

[LiJu914]

9 for me.

 

The opener already gave a good foretaste of what was to come. Quite a bunch of good/great races overall.

I didn´t care about the "final lap decision" in Abu Dhabi tbh, rather were Spa and Jeddah the lowlights for me. 

The duel between VES and HAM was great. The cherry on top would´ve been a season with 1-2 more title contenders. 

 

 

Ps. Max as driver of the season.

[Mark1865]

Was a great season with a magnificent and deserved new champion. Season had just about everything that makes F1 great. I give it a 9 plus 0,5 bonus point for the salty tears of the whingeing poms. Only thing that keeps it from being a solid 10 was the fact that the competition was too far back from the Red Bull and Mercedes teams.

Bit harsh on Christian Horner but I see your point.

[AlexPrime]

The end of 2012 was so intense between Vettel and Alonso, that I always forgett Hamilton should really have been in the mix that year at the very least. McLaren probably had the fastest car over the course of that season but they amount of errors they made cost them a huge bundle of points.

 

2007 fell in a peroid where I stopped watching F1 for a few years (I was young and had better things to do with my Sunday afternoon ) so I only watched the final race in Brazil. But I imagine it was an interesting season to watch from start to finish.

I am like this in the last few years, Max made me interested in F1 again and still prefered mostly GT racing this year, it is very nice, not many people care, but has a small fandom and very sexy looking cars. 

[SkidmarksLeadToTheCrash]

Loved the 2021 season. Extremely competitive LH v MV, different winners, new drivers on their first podiums (podia, podii?), strategies, officiating (questionable at times but never dull). Overall, a once in a generation type season. Bring on 2022.  

[romaincrouton]

I gave a 7 and a reluctant Verstappen.

It was the most enthralling season I've seen in F1 and I found myself supporting Max after the first few races. I've thought for the last few years he was currently the fastest guy on the grid and it was great to see what he was able to do with a great car. Max finishing no lower than P2! his stats are undeniable this year make him my choice. But I'm a little hesitant as when the chips were down he frequently drives over the limit of what I think is acceptable. Having said all that he deserved the WDC over Hamilton who although was near perfect in the last few races had a very scruffy first half of the season.

For the past 4 or 5 seasons I've been a fan who would watch virtually every weekend (including practices) and I have really enjoyed the excellent insights of so many forum members here which really adds to the sport. I was more of a casual fan before that always following the results and watching a few races a season. So we're talking hundreds of hours invested.

At the end of this season I'm left scratching my head as to weather I want to invest the same amount of time in a sport that so quickly descended into a farse in the last few races and soured what had been a great season. I also have a really strong feeling that wether by design or incompetency Masi made decisions that were in the interest of entertainment over fairness.

I'm looking forward to seeing the new cars so we'll see I suppose.

[Nemo1965]

I did not vote, because I  am conflicted. I think Max Verstappen was the best driver in F1 this season, actually from 2018... but at the same time I would like to vote Lewis Hamilton. Why? Because I think it is admirable how he lifted his level in the last half of 2021. I had the distinct impression he had fallen asleep at Mercedes a little bit, that he had leveled off. He never seemed troubled by Bottas, even when the Finn outqualified him. He knew that in the race he always had the measure of him.

 

In the beginning of the 2021 season, he was really rocked on his heels by Verstappen. Same as Mercedes, the team. The latter got in whiney mood. Lewis raised his level. The last four races he was just better than Verstappen and he was in the better car. Quite deadly. After Jeddah qualifying, I could see the same slight panic in Verstappens eyes I had seen in that of Lewis. Something like: 'Damn. That guy is so... good now!'

 

So for me Verstappen the driver of 2018 to somewhere in 2021. Lewis for the end. 

[mjjTT]

I gave a 9 for the season. It would be a 10 if not were for the toxicity.

 

Verstappen the driver 2021 by a mile. Really impressed how he handled the pressure and the mindgames of Hamilton.