Vote for your 2015 F1 Driver of the Year

2015 F1 season review

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Who was your top driver of 2015? Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.

Who was the best F1 driver of 2015?

  • Alexander Rossi (0%)
  • Roberto Merhi (0%)
  • Will Stevens (0%)
  • Felipe Nasr (0%)
  • Marcus Ericsson (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (3%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (1%)
  • Max Verstappen (16%)
  • Sergio Perez (6%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Jenson Button (2%)
  • Fernando Alonso (1%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (53%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (1%)
  • Felipe Massa (0%)
  • Daniil Kvyat (1%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
  • Nico Rosberg (1%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (15%)

Total Voters: 537

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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111 comments on “Vote for your 2015 F1 Driver of the Year”

  1. Vettel. Not only for stunning performances after a low-key 2014, but also for giving fans a hope he can take the fight to Mercedes from time to time. It was a feat no other driver managed. He was an even better version of Ricciardo from last season. Combining his sense of humour with his enthusiasm in Ferrari, he is a completely different person to the one from Red Bull. It is even more stark when you were rooting for the red cars and seeing Sebastian stealing the title from Alonso’s grasp all the time.

    1. Very well said!

    2. I’m not really sure he was any different. Perhaps it’s just easier to notice when he isn’t winning.

  2. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    18th December 2015, 13:15

    1 Vettel
    2 Ham
    3 Ros
    4 Vers
    5 Per
    The rest bored me.

    1. 1 Vers
      2 Vettel
      3 Per
      The rest bored me.

  3. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
    18th December 2015, 13:17

    Inclined to agree with Keith. Much like Toothy lasy year, stealing 3 wins against the Merc machine is tougher acheivement than winning the tile with them.

  4. Sebastian Vettel. His performance this year was arguably as strong as his performance in any year to date. Mexico aside, he rarely put a foot wrong. And that was just on the track. He produced some absolutely incredible performances despite Mercedes’ massive advantage and even when he had a poor weekend, he usually delivered.

    His charisma, his attitude and the work he has put in off the track to return Ferrari to the top step has been nothing short of sensational and that is why he is my driver of the year.

  5. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    18th December 2015, 13:33

    Guess Verstappen should have higher votes than Hamilton. But I actually voted Vettel.

    1. Sebastian Vettel was the best F1 driver of 2015. But I actually voted Verstappen .

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        18th December 2015, 15:44

        @iluvsoundtracks, you should not read too much into who comes ‘second’ in this poll.
        The question is to vote for your DOTY, not a ranking as such.
        Second could very well be the driver with the largest myopic fan base.

        1. Then it’s definitely gonna be Verstappen.

    2. I think it is interesting how much concensus there is on Vettel. If I remember the DOTW polls correctly, it took an exceptional performance to get 58%, with many winners below 50%.

    3. There’s only one driver making me shout multiple times at my screen. And it ain’t Vettel…

      1. Was it Nasr? :)

  6. Vettel for results and Verstappen for entertainment.

    1. Exactly my thoughts

    2. Mine as well

      1. Hear hear!

    3. Well, out of the car: Vettel for the entertainment as well!

    4. I’m happy!

  7. Sebastian Vettel. He show is a great champion. Only one bad race (Mexico) in the year.

    1. Bahrain.

      1. Yeah, it wasn’t his greatest performance in Bahrain, but nor was it disgraceful.

        1. Depends on the criteria applied. I’d rank it somewhere halfway between “not great” and “downright bad”.
          – he was overtaken no less than 3 times by Rosberg
          – he went off the track a few times, locking up his tyres quite often
          – he ruined his last stint by flatspotting his tyres, forcing him to pit immediately, losing P4 to Bottas
          – he finshed 43 seconds behind the lead, in a race that could’ve been won by a Ferrari

          P5 doesn’t look too bad, but one has to consider that behind Mercedes and Ferrari, there was a huge gap, at least most of the time. Thus, a Ferrari driver had to mess up quite badly before having to defend a Top 4 position.

          1. @nase I think you are a bit harsh. Being overtaken by Rosberg was only possible because he was ahead those times in the first place, and then again the Mercedes was still plenty faster. He didn’t lock his tyres that often to make a case about it, if you sit on the track you see a lot of drivers locking up but this just doesn’t come on TV. He ran wide once and that damaged his wing losing him P4, no? It’s quite normal that an extra pitstop loses you places, it was only really one place in this case and passing Bottas was never going to be easy with their top speed, one that Ferrari at that stage still could not match. Then to finish 43s behind the lead after making an extra stop and being stuck behind Bottas isn’t that unique for any (top)driver.

          2. one has to consider that behind Mercedes and Ferrari, there was a huge gap

            That’s not true at all. There was a huge gap between Mercedes and everybody else. The FW06 was typically three quarters of a second quicker then any other car in qualifying. There wasn’t much of a gap between Ferrari and the rest, and what gap there was was almost entirely attributable to Vettel’s performances.

            It’s true that if you simply look at points scored by driver you could easily assume that the Ferrari was much quicker than the non-Merc’s and nearly equal to the Merc’s. Vettel richly deserves his No 1 ranking for creating that optical illusion.

          3. i agree, Bahrain was sloppy. maybe worst than Mexico. He should have had the pace to push the Mercs, but on that day Kimi was above him, so i think he over drove the car. Hence the errors.

          4. I think in Bahrain Vettel/Ferrari didn’t have the pace to stay with the Mercedes and pushed the limit of what the car could do. Finding himself in front of a Merc 3 times? It probably says more about Rosberg’s early form than a negative against Vettel. Many drivers run wide as well, it was unfortunate Vettel broke his wing coming back on the track.

            An argument could be made that it would have been better for him to drive a bit more conservatively to prevent those errors. But here’s the thing, victory was only on offer because the Mercs had brake issues later in the race. Vettel could race to stay close and pick up the pieces of any mistakes/issues in front of him. But that’s not his mentality. Hamilton is the same way too – races to win, not to play the long game hoping for something to happen.

            Now Alonso tends to play the long game, stay close and hope for your competitors to take themselves out. Perhaps that’s the only opportunity he’s had for many years. It worked great for him in 2012.

            I think Bahrain was the one race in 2015 that if Alonso was driving the Ferrari, he may have stole a victory. The question is whether that’s an interesting style of racing? I’m personally not a fan of that. Rosberg tends to do the same.

            Re Mexico – I wouldn’t actually hold it against him. Folks tend to forget what was at stake in that race – P2 in the WDC. Once Ricciardo gave him that puncture at T1, it was really an all or nothing race for Vettel. The best he could hope for was an early SC (ironically the SC he needed was the one he caused lol). So he DNF’d pushing the car beyond it’s limits? He didn’t lose anything he had gained during the season (P3 in the WDC).

            Folks too easily miss the context of the races. That’s why Rosberg’s late surge, while great to see, loses it’s meaning a bit due to the context (it was too late to really matter). One great example of this was listening to Sky towards the end of the race in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton’s ahead but has one more stop. Rosberg had already made his 2nd stop and would take over the lead when Hamilton pits. That was his strategy for victory. Brundle, Croft and Kravitz, all spent the better part of a few minutes discussing whether Mercedes would also bring Rosberg in for one more stop as a precaution to ensure his tires made it to the end and stayed ahead of Vettel. What the ….??? Talk about losing the plot. I’d expect Ted of all folks to say “hold on, that would me Rosberg would lose the race – I don’t think Mercedes would do that.”

            So in Bahrain and Mexico, Vettel is driving to win or beat one of the Mercedes that literally are just plain faster. He’s not racing for P3. He made a couple of errors in those races, yes, but he drove the exact same way in 17 other races without error.

            And if you compare Bahrain to Hamilton in Hungary (or even Austria), Vettel was much cleaner and had fewer mistakes. Hamilton did have the luck of the green this year. His one DNF came when he was probably going to finish 5th or 6th at best and his teammate/closest competitor the same, and his worst race performance (Hungary) he still scored more points than Rosberg who drove a much cleaner race.

            ‘ol Seb, he did alright lol.

  8. Simple answer, the guy who successfully defended his title breaking countless records along the way. But given who that person is, the majority will give the nod to Seb. But awe well still can’t change the fact that Lewis topped every official category this season and defended his crown.

    1. You have to give a consideration to the machinery, this is F1 not sprinting. It’s still just an opinion but I totally understand those who believe Vettel did a better job relative to his car than Hamilton.

      1. I would rather have the Championship….Viewers polls … not so much.

    2. What “countless records” did Hamilton break this season? You must be counting records of the “Most wins …. for a British driver” sort, because considering he was driving a car more dominant than the 1988 McLaren it seems noteworthy that he did not even mount a serious challenge on the records for most poles or most wins or most fastest laps or most hat-tricks in a season.

      1. true, especially considering he was the luckiest guy out there reliability-wise.
        but he beat that smug/asking-to-be-punched face Rosberg and these years that was all someone needed to do to get a WDC.

      2. Only driver to win 10+ races in back to back seasons

        Stewart’s record for the most consecutive laps lead in a Grand Prix

        Etc… You can look up the rest if you like

        1. had a more dominant car than vettel and can’t win 13 races in a year or get 15 poles, there’s the main records he failed to break, sebastian vettel’s two years in a less dominant car than hamiltons 24 wins, 24 poles. Hamilton, 21 wins, 18 poles. yet lewis was acting as if he would do better back in 2013 #goodlewis and that’s why he’s not the driver of the year

          1. Excellent.

            (Waiting eagerly for Kgn11’s pro-HAM reply)

          2. Hamilton had a more competitive teammate relative to his ability, there is your offset.

          3. @J
            Not enough of an offset vs. having the more dominant car and being beaten by the teammate far more often.

  9. 1 Vet
    2 Ham
    3 Ver
    4 Ros
    5 No idea, they’re all more or less the same to me.

    This was a season of largely similar performances barring a few standout drivers.

  10. I should add that my driver of the year is Verstappen, but Vettel was the best. Verstappen for being so young, for outperforming his car, for being an absolute star as a rookie. But he wasn’t the ‘best’. A difference.

  11. I love how everyone is all of a sudden so pro-Vettel, he hasn’t changed at all, just the color of his racing suit.

    1. His relationship with Kimi is a lot better than what he had with Webber. That would have definitely polarised some opinions. Not to mention the cocky attitude of the RBR management.

      Mercedes although look like dufus are actually more likeable despite them winning everything in sight.

      Vettel didn’t win many fans with the Malaysia incident and his comments post that. And Webber took every opportunity to show that RBR weren’t acting fair (whether it is true or not is another topic).

      Consolidate all this and you know why he is more likeable to people these days.

      Finally, a person at 22 and the same person at 26 will have a little change in personality (for the good). If one is the same, then he hasn’t progressed.
      @xtwl

      1. Good god @evered7. He grew from 22-25 the same way any red-blooded human naturally does. He’s put on the same driving clinic year after year.

        It’s just too many of you thought it was ‘newey’s doing’ or ‘he can only win from the front’ or ‘Red Bull are giving him all the go-fast parts’ bla bla bla.

        Welcome to finally getting what many of us have seen all along.

        1. @johanness Did I even comment about his driving? He has showed he can win with a non Newey designed car but each driver has his preferences which he would want in a car to drive it as fast as possible. Vettel has his, so did Alonso and others. It is plenty clear now.

          All I mentioned was the way he is shown to the world, to the rest of us who can’t see the personal side of him or shake hands with him & share a laugh or a pic. It is different from his RBR days.

          When you get what I said in the first post and this, take the congrats that is seen below.

          Congrats!!!!

    2. He may not have changed, but the way he conducts himself in the paddock and press room certainly has; last year we had Mr Grumpy, this year Mr Happy :)

    3. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
      18th December 2015, 16:06

      @xtwl You can’t not like Vettel if you’ve had the pleasure of meeting him. He’s such a lovely young chap.

    4. Guilty as charged… He annoyed me at Red Bull.. But it seems like this year he pulled a 180. It all started last year with admiting Riciardo beat him on merit. Something Hamiltons and Alonsos would never admit.

      He is now a grown up sportsman, pasionate and professional. Before he was really ugly at times, especially to Webber, now he moves over for Kimi if its good for the team. Much more a team player.

      He has a new lease on life. And does not complain in public about slow car the way Alonso did last few years.

      Driver of the year then. Not world champion or runner up… Just driver of the year and race winner.

  12. Vettel… other than Bahrain (uninspiring) and Mexico (horrendous), virtually flawless.

  13. Voted for Grosjean, absolutely trashed Maldonado this year

    1. Same here. More points than Verstappen, a superb podium. Brillant driving and Great pace

  14. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    18th December 2015, 15:23

    For the very fact that he somehow managed to remarkably competitive at just seventeen years of age and with just eighteen months of car racing experience, it ought to be miraculous Max, but for so emphatically silencing those hyperbolic, doubting, didactic critics of his, it has to be Sebastian Vettel.

  15. ColdFly F1 (@)
    18th December 2015, 15:49

    Verstappen surprised/excited me most, and outperformed any expectations I had.

    But that does not make him DOTY (yet).

    I voted for Vettel (consistency, least mistakes; taking his car the furthest beyond its technical capabilities).
    And as I said in the ranking piece before: “Mexico showed how good his rest-of-season was!”

  16. Vettel was the best non-Mercedes driver 13 times in 19 races. At least three more times (Austria, Belgium, Abu Dhabi) he would most probably have finished on the podium without issues that were out of his control. Without Mercedes, Vettel would have been crowned world champion at the Japanese Grand Prix, with five races to go. Mercedes are now often blamed for making F1 boring but Vettel dominated the rest of the field even more in 2015. That is why he is my driver of the year.

    1. Vettel dominated the rest of the field even more in 2015

      @girts Love your comment.

  17. Much of this list seems to be a ranking of the cars more than the drivers but ti is good to see Vettel being recognized for dragging that non competitive Ferrari up the rankings and onto the podium including the top step. Good job Sebastian!

    This is my ranking for 2015, and this is being very generous to the Mercedes drivers as we really don’t know where they stand due to their car essentially being in a higher formula.

    Vettel
    Verstappen
    Ricciardo
    Hamilton
    Bottas
    Perez
    Rosberg
    Hulkenburg
    Raikkonen
    Kvyat

  18. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    18th December 2015, 18:03

    It’s got to be Max Chilton’s year…. oh wait he wasn’t racing in 2015… I have no idea who I can vote for…

  19. Rosberg fan but Vettel was the best driver overall

  20. Also anyone else notice how Button is the only one not wearing a cap in the pic

    1. Look behind!

  21. Hamilton dropped his game at the end of the year. Had to go with Verstappen.

  22. Can’t but be Vettel. For the reasons Keith has mentioned in his ranking, and for those I said myself in the forums. Ferrari had the second-fastest car this year, but at times it looked like Vettel and Raikkonen were driving for separate teams. The results came because he never stopped pushing, and was at the top of his game as he has probably never been, if not at the end of 2013. Imagine the pressure he had on his shoulders entering Ferrari at this stage: he has looked like he’s been there for years. They are a perfect match, and have shown harmony which at Mercedes is slowly fading away.

  23. Max verstappen for making a dull season interesting.
    Credit to seb and Lewis also.

  24. Got to be Vettel. Everyone said ‘take him out of the Red Bull and see what he can do.’ Well…now you know. He is a perfect match for Ferrari. He also deserved “Personality of the Year” just for his post interviews with the Mercedes guys.

    1. He deserves the personality of f1 award, who cares about fia’s personality of 2015 award…

  25. Vettel, pretty much similar to Alonso 2012 seaso .

  26. Hamilton. infuriatingly flawless.

    1. @peartree He wasn’t flawless at all, if he was he would’ve won more of the last 6 races, and gotten his 50th pole long ago.

      1. @xtwl Did it matter? Then there’s your answer. Rosberg got the one’s Merc let him have.

        1. @peartree
          Rosberg won those races because he was faster than Hamilton, pretty simple. Winning the WDC didn’t slow Vettel down one touch in either 2011 or 2013.

          1. @kingshark In basketball there’s something called “garbage time” which is the time where players “pad” their stats, the game by then is either won or lost, these points don’t matter but look good on the stat list. I’m not saying that those 3 wins were either Nico’s merit or Lewis demerit, I stating the last 3 races had no importance at all, therefore I don’t care about these stats, unrepresentative.

          2. @peartree The equivalent of what you’ve explained is whether or not to set fastest laps or continue pulling away when leading a race. Not losing 3 races in a row.

          3. @peartree
            Perhaps if it was not for the fact that Hamilton was already slower than Rosberg in both Russia and USA (before the WDC was decided), and fluked into both of these wins. Likewise, if it was not for the fact that Lewis really wanted to win at Interlagos (see his pre-race interview, he noted that Senna too took 8 tries to win here), and looked absolutely gutted when he lost, I might, might have believed that theory.

    2. Ha ha. Nice joke!!!

    3. David (@schumacher-g-o-a-t)
      20th December 2015, 7:03

      He still wasn’t flawless after being outraced 3 times in a row of rosberg

  27. Deliberated between Hamilton and Vettel. Finally went with Vettel. To me they are so closely matched this year that they both deserve to be No 1. Well lets accept it This is Vettel-Hamilton era.

    Hamilton drove beautifully like a champion all year. He is the best out there, barring the constant whining and the irritating theatrics like Monaco which helps him play mind games with teammates. The way he crushed Rosberg all along was remarkable. I really believe that he is the best driver of the year and deserved to be the WDC . The only fact that goes against him is that he had a car which was way above the competition that anyone could do anything about it.

    Vettel on the other hand came into 2015 from the lowest point of his racing career. He was getting into a new team and new environment which was even worse than his own team in 2014. Not only die he manag to win 3 races in the year, he drove way better than what the car deserves and made very few mistakes while carrying the best of the spirits through out the year. He capitalized every opportunity possible. After joining Ferrari he did not act like a “Been there done that 4 time WDC” but like a rookie who is making his debut in F1. I felt he was logically a more mature driver in 2015 than any of the years before. He produced 120% out of that car every race barring mexico. He truly deserves this spot in 2015.

    1. David (@schumacher-g-o-a-t)
      20th December 2015, 7:05

      Hamilton lost 6 poles and 3 races in a row how can that be worthy of number 1 ?

  28. Vote for Button, because given what he had, he still showed us many good wheel to wheel racing. Probably the best driver who punched above his car weight this year (relatively of course). Also the McLaren radio humor.

    Of course honorable mention to Hamilton, Vettel, Perez, Sainz, Grosjean, and Verstappen.

  29. Clear as water…
    1. Vettel
    2. Ham
    3. Verst
    4. Perez

  30. Vettel. His performance was at least as good as Alonso’s in his first years in Ferrari.

    I hope the result isn’t the same. One champion of the sport disenfranchised with it is enough for me.

  31. In fact,I found that Vettel is actually same class with Alonso, and Hamilton below both of them. Let's see 2011, where was Hamilton in 2011 compare to Vettel ? nowhere near. Button was the closest but I believe Mercedes advantage over Red Bull/Ferrari in 2014/15 is higher by a fair margin than Red Bull to McLaren in 2011. If we look at 2013, Red Bull car was even less dominant (Qualifying pace) than in 2011, but the advantage ? Its way bigger. This is shown by Webber lack of points (around 60 points 2011 vs 2013) and where was Hamilton that season ? More than 200 points behind and Red Bull have very small advantage over Mercedes compare to Mercedes over Ferrari/Red Bull in this year and last year. Also Alonso in a worse Ferrari able to beat Hamilton comfortably in 2013. People can say it was Hamilton first year, well Alonso performed fantastically in his debut for Ferrari, not to mention the recovery he made in 2nd half of the season. Vettel once said RB6 is more dominant than RB7 and he's right, Webber is very competitive in 2010. Rosberg, while not as competitive as Webber, still have a great pace, it just he finished 2nd too much that his points are affected in both season. The closest to him probably was Alonso, both of then trashed Raikkonen in a very similar margin and Alonso challenged Vettel in 2010 and 2012 for WDC until the last race. Out of all Vettel WDC I say the least deserving was 2012, and its still a great season. Ricciardo beat Vettel sure, but Ricciardo himself is actually a pretty good driver but Red Bull clearly favoured Ricciardo over him and he had more bad luck. I guess this make Vettel mentality down, but he recover it this season. I was a Vettel hater back then, but after I discovered this, I know he is as good as Alonso and no, I'm not disgracing Hamilton but I learned that there are better drivers than him this era. All in all the comparison sums up in Vettel 2015 and Alonso 2012 season, same points, same podiums, and same wins with difference situations. But even then, their season were pretty much similar in terms of quality and results. 

    1. Ahhhh double post, the internet is pretty bad. @keithcollantine you need to delete this !

  32. how public opinion on vettel has changed. Maybe rosberg should move to ferrari too!

  33. People forget that Nico Rosberg’s team mate before Lewis was one Michael Schumacher, who was comprehensively destroyed by Rosberg over three seasons. That makes Rosberg world class in my book. Which by the same logic says Lewis is better.

    The only time Sebastian Vettel has had opposition of this calibre he bottled it, last season and Daniel Ricciardo. I would love to see Lewis and Sebastian in the same team to settle this debate once and for all.

    In the car, Lewis is #1 no question, out of the car, Sebastian is #1, the only German apart from Henning Wehn who makes me laugh.

    1. If Webber can’t be held against Vettel then Schumacher can’t be held against Rosberg.

      1. You’re not seriously holding Webber up as the equal of M Schumacher? That’s a laughable proposition.

        1. @xtwl If you’re going to say it was good Rosberg defeated a 40 year old Schumacher because he was brilliant almost 5 years before his return with a team built around him, then Webber who had his prime at 2010 surely is relevant to Vettel his performances too. Many people go on about Vettel never had a tough teammate (Webber) but then say Rosberg had just that in Schumacher, which he wasn’t. If anything Vettel had a tougher teammate in Webber than Rosberg had in Schumacher.

          So basically

          The only time Sebastian Vettel has had opposition of this calibre he bottled it, last season and Daniel Ricciardo.
          People forget that Nico Rosberg’s team mate before Lewis was one Michael Schumacher

          Those two together for me are contradictory. If you want to praise Rosberg for beating an old Schumacher, you need to do the same for Vettel and Webber.

          Schumacher is one hell of a driver for sure, and a legend of the sport, but when we say that we really mean 1991-2006, not his Mercedes times…

          1. @xtwl The 2010-2012 Webber? Now how many GPs had he won in his previous eight years years in the sport? One, in 2009. How many team managers poached Webber from his then team after the evidence of just one qualifying session? None. Did Webber rescue the worlds most famous F1 team from the doldrums. No. While SV was winning what, 38 odd GPs at RBR, how many did Webber win? 9… He’s a journeyman, Schuey was a superstar. Final judgement call came from team mate SV himself “Mark is too slow”, just before he breezed past…

            Your comparison is deluded, see my reply to Sven for other relevant facts about the performance of ‘old man Schumacher’.

          2. @frasier That’s hardly a fair comparison as Schumacher had (very) competetive cars almost all his career where Webber hadn’t before 2010? Webber was however at the ground of Red Bull, a team that won 4 consecutive constructors titles, not just your everyday achievement. The thing that bothers me is you attribute things to one driver whilst you count it away for the other.

        2. @frasier So to answer your question – 2010-2012 Webber was the better of the 2010-2012 Schumacher.

          1. @xtwl
            Perhaps in 2010, but in 2011 and 2012 Schumacher could have easily done as good or better of a job than Webber did.

            For instance, if Schumacher was in that Red Bull, I have no doubt he would have won at Canada 2011. I also don’t have any doubt that he would have taken pole at Silverstone and Hockenheim 2012.

          2. @kingshark Obviously he would’ve done better at some but also worse at others. That’s why I took the span of 2010-2012…

    2. @frasier The problem with Schumacher´s second career is that it didn´t resemble his first part at all, so you have to wonder whether he was anywhere near a comparable level. And that´s not only because testing was taken away (which he did more than anyone else) and he never came to grips with the simulator, suffering from simulator sickness. It´s even more about Schumacher never seemed like to be the same kind of hungry. Look at an interview after a (any) DNF from his first part of career, you can see him trembling, being really angry and working hard to contain himself. In the second part of his career, in the same situation, he would just shrug. In the same way, he never admitted own mistakes right after the race before his first retirement, but he did so several times between 2010 and 2012, when arguably also grew himself a habit of occasionally running into the back of others in braking zones.
      Rosberg never beat Schumacher the 7-times-champion. He beat Schumacher the pensioneer.

      1. @crammond I hear what you say, it’s all been said before after all, but is this more a case of Schumacher underestimating Rosberg’s threat and coming unstuck? As a rookie Nico was given the nickname Britney [by his then team mate Webber I think] and I think it stuck, all show and no go was the implication. He has since proved everybody wrong on the speed front, I do think some of his ethics suck however..

        Final observations are that the ‘past-it, didn’t care’ Schumacher got pole at Monaco. He also won [with Vettel] the Race of Champions 6 consecutive years from 2007-2012, coming second in the individual twice, that’s not what I call ‘not caring’, or indeed the driving of a pensioner.

    3. David (@schumacher-g-o-a-t)
      20th December 2015, 7:09

      I thought the useless Webber beat the world class nico . Schumacher was past his prime rosberg would be lucky to beat him in 3 races a season at michaels best

    4. @frasier Rosberg beating 41-43 year old Schumacher counts, but Alonso & Vettel beating 34-35 year old Raikkonen doesn’t?

  34. Seb for sure!
    He just came back at his very top and he gave everything at every races (except Mexico)
    brilliant !

  35. im a ham fan. but vettel was best this year, he made kimi look loke a granny lmao

  36. This is a bit of a pointless exercise isn’t it.
    We’ve just spent half a year racing around sorting out who the best driver is, so any comments now fall into the coulda, woulda, shoulda category.
    For a lot of the people voting the actual racing and results are irrelevant as they will always vote for ‘their’ driver and denigrate all others.
    I suppose it’s a bit like trying to decide how many angels can balance on a pin-head, an interesting intellectual exercise but in the final analysis, meaningless.

  37. I think Verstappen deserves it

  38. Angel Bautista
    20th December 2015, 3:46

    My Vote goes to Sebastian Vettel! He was extra ordinary this year and a true Ferrarista!!!

  39. I’m between Vettel, Perez and Verstaeppen

  40. Wow. Cannot believe how one sided the poll is. As a Ferrari fan out of complete bias I would pick Vettel but I am surprised so few voted for Hamilton I thought he was excellent. Ignoring all the off track stuff which I do with all sports people and just focusing on what he does on track I think it was a close call.

  41. I cheer and hope that ……….. for several drivers. But realistically only S.Vettle (paid his dues of woe QUIETLY last year) J. Button (ever cheerful and optimistic) N. Rosberg (also most always cheerful and not due too much bloviating). Thanks, Norris PS so in the final stroke I chose Nico R……………

  42. Is Vettel the best currently? It’s very interesting. :)

  43. Hamilton – easy.

  44. Voted for Grosjean. He had the perfect season as far as his driving was concerned. No other driver had this, not even Vettel or Hamilton in my view

    My full list is also very different to Keith’s:

    1) Grosjean
    2) Vettel
    3) Hamilton
    4) Perez
    5) Ricciardo
    6) Verstappen
    7) Hulkenberg
    8) Bottas
    9) Rosberg
    10) Sainz
    11) Alonso
    12) Button
    13) Nasr
    14) Massa
    15) Kvyat
    16) Raikkonen
    17) Rossi
    18) Stevens
    19) Merhi
    20) Ericsson
    21) Maldonado

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