2016 mid-season driver rankings part one: 22-13

Driver Rankings

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With the exception of the Mercedes, the Formula One field is rather closer this year than it was 12 months ago. This has given even the drivers in back-of-the-grid cars more of a chance to demonstrate what they can do.

As always F1 Fanatic has used the mid-season break to take stock of who’s performed well so far and who needs to raise their game in the second half of the year.

The rankings have been assembled by re-considering the statistics for each driver so far this season and the race-by-race notes on their performance in every weekend. Stoffel Vandoorne has not been included as he only started a single race.

The rest of the rankings will appear on Thursday and Friday later this week. Until then, here’s the verdicts on the ten drivers at the foot of the list.

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22. Rio Haryanto

Haryanto’s F1 career appears to be over already

Rio Haryanto

Beat team mate in qualifying4/11
Beat team mate in race0/8
Races finished9/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate96/583
Points0

While Haryanto has made no secret about the fact he was paying for his Manor ride, nor was his half-season littered with the kind of errors we’ve seen from other ‘pay drivers‘.

He out-qualified Pascal Wehrlein – a fellow rookie with far less real-world experience of most F1 tracks but tens of thousands of simulated kilometres – four times in eleven attempts. One of those occasions was at the Baku circuit, which was new to both of them, though it bears pointing out his team mate wasn’t able to use DRS on that occasion.

As the summer break wore out and the state of Haryanto’s finances became ever clearer, his driving seemed to suffer under the pressure. He spun off at Silverstone, and while it’s true Wehrlein did that same on other occasions, for Haryanto it’s started to look like a habit. He hit the wall in qualifying at Montreal and the Hungaroring. Given a final chance in Germany as his funds ran dry he unwisely tangled with his team mate while continuing his 100% record of being beaten by him in the races.

Over to you

People make a fuss he’s out-qualified Wehrlein a few times. I’m not impressed.

He’s vastly more experienced on most of the tracks, so that helps to string a qualy lap together. But he’s been smashed by Wehrlein in the races. Clearly not F1 material.
@Montreal95

What’s your verdict on Rio Haryanto’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

21. Daniil Kvyat

Kvyat’s home race was a turning point for the wrong reasons

Daniil Kvyat

Beat team mate in qualifying2/11
Beat team mate in race1/8
Races finished8/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate95/510
Points23

After four races featuring some conspicuously poor performances and one high point Daniil Kvyat was booted out of Red Bull and sent back to Toro Rosso. His year had started badly in Melbourne where he dropped out in Q1 while Daniel Ricciardo bagged a place on the fourth row. Kvyat didn’t accompany his team mate into Q3 in Bahrain either.

His podium finish in China owed something to a ballsy move on the first lap which infuriated Sebastian Vettel, but was also thanks to the kind of fortune which had deserted his team mate, who suffered a puncture while leading. Then came Russia.

Two driving errors within a few seconds of the start served to derail the races of three-quarters of the Red Bull contingent and eliminate a now-incensed Vettel. Max Verstappen, the only one of the Red Bull quartet who was not a victim of Kvyat’s carelessness, exchanged places with him at the next race and, capping Kvyat’s misery, won it.

At Toro Rosso he has less external pressure but still faces tough competition from the other side of the garage. Carlos Sainz Jnr has comprehensively blown away the increasingly disconsolate Kvyat. And it was just his luck that when he turned in one of his better qualifying performances with sixth on the grid at Baku both cars retired with suspension failure.

Over to you

His promotion to Red Bull was premature and he is now where he belongs – in a midfield car.

He was disastrous in qualifying even before China. He was simply not good enough and shouldn’t have raced for Red Bull in first place.
@Michal2009b

What’s your verdict on Daniil Kvyat’s 2016 season? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

20. Felipe Nasr

There was no repeat of last year’s points-scoring feat at Melbourne – or anywhere – for Nasr

Felipe Nasr

Beat team mate in qualifying4/10
Beat team mate in race3/8
Races finished10/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate275/638
Points0

Sauber didn’t have their new car ready for the first test, lost several of their technical staff due to financial problems and have managed little in the way of development for the same reason. On top of that Felipe Nasr was flummoxed by his original chassis in the opening races and was eventually given a replacement.

In the meantime he wasn’t able to assert himself over Marcus Ericsson as effectively as he did last year, often finishing well in arrears of his team mate. Other problems have added to the frustration: his engine failed in qualifying at Monaco and after making a great start in Germany a slow pit stop ruined his race.

Nasr has been more competitive over the last few races, and with some upgrades now arriving for the C35 he should be eyeing the team’s first points as a possibility in the second half of the season.

Over to you

Couldn’t get going in the slow Sauber car in the early races but has picked form up since then and has threatened to score points.
@Lolzerbob

What’s your verdict on Felipe Nasr’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

19. Jolyon Palmer

Palmer shunted heavily in Monaco

Jolyon Palmer

Beat team mate in qualifying3/11
Beat team mate in race4/8
Races finished8/11
Laps spent ahead of team mate219/543
Points0

When Jolyon Palmer started 13th and finished one place outside the points in Australia I thought I might soon have to revise my view of a driver who seemed to have won GP2 two years earlier largely by hanging around the championship longer than anyone else could afford to. However that remains both his best qualifying and race position to date and even taking attrition into account it’s hard to make a case for him belonging much higher on this list.

Since then Kevin Magnussen has been the standard-bearer for Renault and Palmer has been caught out more than once. Monaco was a tough weekend: he found the barriers three times, eventually crashing his car in front of the pits shortly after the start.

Last time out in Germany he tangled with Felipe Massa early on. However Hungary was more promising: arguably his best drive of the season so far until he spun at turn four. The arrival of Renault junior driver Esteban Ocon at Manor in the second half of the season will be a contest to watch.

Over to you

Making a few rookie mistakes here and there but otherwise not too bad for a first half-season.
@Craig-o

What’s your verdict on Jolyon Palmer’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

18. Marcus Ericsson

Ericsson was beaten by Wehrlein in Germany

Marcus Ericsson

Beat team mate in qualifying6/10
Beat team mate in race5/8
Races finished9/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate363/638
Points0

Ericsson led the way for Sauber while Nasr struggled with his car in the opening races. But as Nasr has begun to look more assured, Ericsson appears to have become shakier. And he’s made the kind of mistakes his team can ill-afford.

They include two a pair of sizeable crashes at Silverstone and the Hungaroring. And in Monaco he lunged at his team mate – who was refusing an order to let him through – and caused contact between the pair of them.

He put in notably good drives at the Circuit de Catalunya and Montreal. But even so it’s hard to shake the impression that his edge over his team mate has been more a case of Nasr’s problems than Ericsson’s driving, and that there’s more to come from both drivers.

Over to you

He had his chance in 2014, then he got another in 2015. I was a bit baffled as to why he got another in 2016.

Surely this will be his last season now Sauber have new owners.
@GeeMac

What’s your verdict on Marcus Ericsson’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

17. Esteban Gutierrez

Gutierrez has been low on luck

Esteban Gutierrez

Beat team mate in qualifying4/12
Beat team mate in race5/8
Races finished10/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate286/604
Points0

Surely Esteban Gutierrez is finally going to claim a point in the second half of the season after finishing eleventh four times so far. Though his better drives have arguably been those which resulted in slightly lower finishing positions: qualifying 12th in Monaco and running well for 13th in Canada.

There have been times when Gutierrez has found better answers to the difficulties Haas has endured with its tyres. In recent races this has been despite having to hand his car over to Charles Leclerc in the first practice sessions.

But too often Gutierrez compromised his chances with over-aggressive moves on the first lap, tangling with Nico Hulkenberg on two occasions. He’s also the leading candidate for the Rene Arnoux Order of Obstinacy, having collected two penalties in one race alone for ignoring blue flags.

Over to you

At the start of the season he was poor, but he is now starting to beat Grosjean. Hasn’t scored a point though.
@UltimateUzair

What’s your verdict on Esteban Gutierrez’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

16. Felipe Massa

Massa has only scored two points since Monaco

Felipe Massa

Beat team mate in qualifying2/12
Beat team mate in race5/10
Races finished10/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate291/669
Points38

A total of two points from the last seven races shows how Felipe Massa’s season has gone off the rails. This hasn’t entirely been his fault – car problems have been partly to blame as well as tangles with other drivers.

But it’s also true that in consistently failing to qualify as high as Valtteri Bottas can, Massa is leaving himself vulnerable to first-lap incidents. In Germany he was pranged by Jolyon Palmer and the damage ruined his race.

It had looked so much better in the opening fly-away races when he was never out of the top eight and picked up a pair of fifth places. When he failed to make the cut for Q2 in Spain he bounced back in the race with another eighth place. But it’s been downhill since then: while his team overcame Williams’ usual wet weather weakness in qualifying at the Hungaroring, Massa stuck his car in the barriers.

Over to you

Time for Felipe to leave, unless he raises his level considerably.
@Montreal95

What’s your verdict on Felipe Massa’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

15. Kevin Magnussen

Magnussen repaid Renault’s faith with an excellent seventh in Russia

Kevin Magnussen

Beat team mate in qualifying8/11
Beat team mate in race4/8
Races finished11/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate324/543
Points6

Magnussen’s excellent seventh place in Russia has been the highlight of the season for himself and Renault so far. Points-scoring opportunities have been thin on the ground with the under-developed Renault RS16, but that one was exploited to its fullest.

Magnussen’s eagerness to seize any chance to drag his Renault into the front half of the field can be gauged by his bravery in wet weather conditions. In Monaco and Britain he wasted no time in switched to shallow-grooved tyres even in a car which badly needs more downforce.

But too often he’s been constrained by the car’s shortcomings or compromised his efforts with unnecessary mistakes: the red light in Bahrain, weaving in front of Wehrlein in Austria and his somewhat overlooked collision with Palmer in Spain. He’s generally getting the business done in qualifying, but it’s hard to shake an impression he should be beating Palmer more decisively in the races.

Over to you

Doing as well as can be expected. Hope he can hang onto this seat because Renault will come right and he is a real talent.
@GeeMac

What’s your verdict on Kevin Magnussen’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

14. Pascal Wehrlein

Wehrlein unusually reversed his way to a point in Austria

Pascal Wehrlein

Beat team mate in qualifying7/11
Beat team mate in race8/8
Races finished10/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate487/583
Points1

There have been moments of genuine promise from Pascal Wehrlein besides his eye-catching point at the Austrian Grand Prix. That was made possible by an excellent run into Q2, something he also came close to doing in Bahrain, Canada and Germany.

He’s made some terrific starts, climbing seven places on lap on in his first race. And his DTM-hardened race craft has served him well.

There have been mistakes of the type to be expected from a rookie, however. His crash on the start/finish straight during qualifying in China was embarrassing, and his early retirement at Silverstone was borne out of attempting to use intermediate tyres on a wet track in a car with little downforce.

Over to you

He has scored points in a Manor which is no mean feat. Has also destroyed his team mate in the races.
@UltimateUzair

What’s your verdict on Pascal Wehrlein’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

13. Kimi Raikkonen

Raikkonen has seen a lot of Verstappen’s rear wing

Kimi Raikkonen

Beat team mate in qualifying4/12
Beat team mate in race2/7
Races finished10/12
Laps spent ahead of team mate134/489
Points122

Given that Kimi Raikkonen is usually found behind his team mate in the races it’s remarkable he has two more points at this stage. We’ll get to Sebastian Vettel’s misfortunes later, but suffice it to say they have flattered Raikkonen.

Not that Raikkonen has been immune to fortune. A fire put him out in Australia when he was running strongly. And Monaco is about the worst place to get a gearbox change penalty – though it was Raikkonen who ultimately ruined his race with a clumsy crash.

He collected a fortunate best of second in Spain but was unable to get on terms with Max Verstappen. He was thwarted by the Red Bull driver again in Austria and Hungary – the latter leading to contact between the pair after Raikkonen darted towards a gap down the inside which was only ever going to vanish. As was the case after similar run-ins with rivals last year he was soon on the radio afterwards complaining.

Over to you

Definitely looked stronger than the last couple of years but still outpaced by Vettel.
@Craig-o

What’s your verdict on Kimi Raikkonen’s 2016 season so far? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

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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59 comments on “2016 mid-season driver rankings part one: 22-13”

  1. 13. Wehrlein – He has scored points in a Manor which is no mean feat. Has also destroyed his teammate in the races.
    14. Grosjean – Was very good early in the season but has dropped off. Even the mediocre Esteban Gutiérrez is beating him.
    15. Magnussen – Scored points on one occasion in the slow yellow Lotus with Renault written on it which is pretty good, and has had the measure of Palmer.
    16. Massa – He was consistently finishing in the points early on this season but has started to slip a little recently.
    17. Palmer – Magnussen has been beating him and he could have scored points at Hungary, but he blew it.
    18. Gutiérrez – At the start of the season he was poor, but he is now starting to beat Grosjean. Hasn’t scored a point though.
    19. Ericsson – He has beaten Nasr in most of the races this season. Not much else he can do really.
    20. Nasr – This season has been poor compared to last season. He has beaten Ericsson in the last few races though.
    21. Kvyat – Had a solid start to the season, picking up a podium at China. However, his demotion to Toro Rosso has left a broken and demotivated man and I feel sorry for the guy. However, Sainz has destroyed him.
    22. Haryanto – The worst driver on the grid right now, consistently finishing last in almost every Grand Prix. He is basically Max Chilton.

    1. Yeah agree here, GroJo a little low but granted he should be stuffing Gutiérrez week in week out. Harayanto I’d rate slightly above Chilton due to One lap performance, he’s not F1 material but no Ide.

  2. Regarding P18 Ericsson, I am sure he’ll stay with the team since Longbow appears to be a front for Swedish backers. If Marcus is retained for next season, that would make me very confident that Longbow indeed is shopping with Swedish money.

    1. Well ericsen and nasr are very simular. Take a look at the laptimes in race. ericsen is very consistent which pays of in the end. He would be a solid midfield driver in a competitive car.

  3. Even though I know the reasons why Stoffel Vandoorne is not in the rankings, I’m sure he would be around that 17th position, even with only one race weekend on.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      16th August 2016, 14:06

      Amongst 667 of us he was the 2nd most voted DOTW in Bahrain.
      Not sure based on what you would ‘demote’ him to 17th. In that single weekend he ‘beat’ everybody on this list and 10 of the rest!
      @jeff1s

      This proves why it’s correct to leave 1-race entrants off this list.

      1. Don’t get me wrong @coldfly I was listing him 17th overall on the first part of the season, but if only for his sole race weekend he’d be in the top 5.

        1. I don’t understand the reasonning.

        2. The problem is one race can be misleading. just the first race would have us think Magnussen was being out raced by Palmer.

          If might be that Vandoorne just had a perfect first weekend and isn’t actually that good. Or, he might be a prodigy and he was playing it overly cautious. Or, it might have been perfectly representative of his skills.

          We really can’t know.

          1. Perfect. Taking only the first race of someone’s career into consideration would mean Hamilton and Magnussen are equals, and Vettel a mediocre slow starter…

          2. You’re right. I was misled.

  4. Grammar. Spelling. Coherence. Things that normally are professional and correct in f1fanatic articles. Just not this one…

    1. Hear Hear ‘Mog’ ! Typo’s are occasionally tolerable when some really good contributors
      are stealing a few moments during the working day at their desks…but spelling and
      grammar is sometimes so poor it’s almost impossible grasp the point they are trying
      to make. In the end I mostly give up if it’s really bad and only read the guys you can
      rely on. And the hard truth is that there are some really first class contributors who are
      always worth reading, so why bother with gobbledegook ?

      1. @Loen You do know that there is no space before exclamation or question marks?
        You do however put a space after using three consecutive full stops. Grammar is king.

  5. Evil Homer (@)
    16th August 2016, 14:29

    Kimi at 13 seems a bit low really, and I thought the same of Massa then you do recap his last few months isn’t great. A confidence driver and when Williams talk about all others but him he does drop his head- he has already told he has been moved on I would say.

    With that photo of Palmer’s crash in Monaco I saw that lie right in front of us, was filming he restart and caught the impact but inadvertently stopped the camera and only caught half of it- buggar!

    1. At first I thought “classic Keith, he just really dislikes Kimi”, but in actual fact, I guess we can only consider Bottas or Grosjean as possibly lower than him… ROS had a stellar start, HAM an amazing comeback, RIC, VES and SAI are a pleasure to see most of the time, PER and HUL are doing the best possible with their cars, VET is driving solidly when not for bad luck, ALO and BUT are doing a great job and showing so much patience… I’m a big fan of Kimi’s, but he’s long past his prime… 13th is fair (though I think Bottas may be doing a worse job at the moment).

  6. Malachy Grapes
    16th August 2016, 14:32

    Throughout the year I’m marking each driver’s performance from 0 (disastrous) to 5 (legendary) and currently this is the ranking (obviously, this is just an opinion, and I can of course be wrong with some appreciations):

    Pos. Name Average
    1º RIC 2,92
    2º HAM 2,83
    3º VES 2,75
    4º VET 2,33
    5º= SAI 2,25
    5º= RÄI 2,25
    7º= PÉR 2,17
    7º= ROS 2,17
    7º= GRO 2,17
    10º ALO 2,09
    11º= MAG 2,08
    11º= WEH 2,08
    11º= HÜL 2,08
    11º= BUT 2,08
    15º BOT 2,00
    16º MAS 1,92
    17º= NAS 1,83
    17º= PAL 1,83
    17º= GUT 1,83
    20º= ERI 1,75
    21º= HAR 1,75
    22º KVY 1,67

    (Vandoorne only drove 1 race – not representative)

    1. Your list looks a lot more realistic. Although i would expect Bottas to be a lot higher than Massa and i’d think RIC and VES would be closer.

    2. Looks fun! I’ll try that too.

    3. Much better than the F1 Fanatic “list” but I think Grosjean, Hulk, Perez should be a bit down, and Bottas, Button should be higher up.

    4. Seems lots more objective than Keith’s. Well done.

      1. How is it more objective? How can any such list be objective?

        I think what you’re trying to say is, “I agree more with this list than with Keith’s”.

  7. Looks like Palmer is the DRS of F1 fanatic. But yep in all seriousness I agree he’s been poor. Spinning whilst in the points just confirmed the suspicion he’s out of his depth. WEC/DTM awaits

  8. It’s well document that Keith has it in for Kimi. 13th is a ridiculously low position

    1. definetlly, Kimi is in top 6 this first “half” of the season

    2. I can’t believe that anyone would rate him below Bottas, Hulkenberg, Grosjean etc. He should be at the very least somewhere along with Perez, Sainz etc.

    3. Can’t agree that anybody ‘has it in’ for Kimi Raikkonen, what a lot of us feel
      is that prior to his departure to the Rally world, you could always get a lot of bangs
      for your buck when Mr Raikkonen was around. No matter how good or bad the
      car was. But that does not seem to be true anymore; this later, more mature
      Raikkonen isn’t quite the fireball he once was. And worse…on a few occasions
      his formerly brilliant timing in overtaking moves seems to have gone off song.
      Now…. that could just as well be the way modern F1 cars handle, or the rubber
      they get in tyre structure, or the latest track surfaces. Whatever it is, the old
      fireball ‘ain’t burnin’ so bright’, as a Southern friend of mine puts it.
      Which, for all of us, is a very sad situation.

  9. The case of Harianto vs Werhlein is a weird one. On the face of it, it looks like Rio has held his ground in terms of performance but the facts don’t support the feeling or sense that Rio has not been trounced by PW. I don’t understand it.
    It is a mega feat to score a point in a back-marking team let alone a Manor especially with the current crop of drivers on the grid. Werhlein is indeed a talented driver but could it be his percieved lack of excitement and charisma which is overflowing in the likes of MV, Carlos S and Jules Bianchi (RIP) that makes it look as if he has not wiped the floor with Rio?

  10. Kimi 13th?

    Lol. Well other than that, yeah fair assesment.

    Plenty of good drivers this year so being P13-15 is not at all bad. Cannot wait to see #1…

    1. Yeah, Kimi 13th is a bit strange, but it is Keiths opinion and ranking. Misfortunes of your own and others are part of the sport. To me, he has been one of the most consistent drivers out there. Or how many times Vettel passed either of the RB’s in the races this year? Being almost on par in pace with a 4 time world champion is not too bad considering he is not in his peak anymore. Sometimes he is even ahead, and that is remarkable. How many times Kimi was overtaken by Rb’s this year? Or how many times either of the RB’s passed Merc when the cars were trouble free? Not often, so Kimi 4th in standings is pretty much the maximum he can do with SF16.

      1. Kimi misfortune always count as lower performance of his. But usually its a justification to put Ricciardo in higher rank.

        1. Good point.

  11. A very apt assessment @keithcollantine of driver performance of the season so far. As always surprises await in the final 5 positions but your overview of these drivers are spot on.

  12. Some really weird comments made about Ericsson above, both by KC and GeeMac. First, were it not for Ericsson’s backers, Sauber would have folded and the links between Sauber’s new owners and Swedish giant Tetrapak is well-established (see Kate Walker’s article on ESPN F1). Second, if you take a look at the GP2 race at Monaco, several passes were made, successfully, at Rascasse and the reason for the accident was not Ericsson’s attempted pass but that Nasr, unlike the GP2 drivers overtaken, decided to close the door – no matter the double standards applied by the “steward’s” afterwards, one for GP2 another for F1.

    That said, 18 is about right for Ericsson whereas as low as 14 for Wehrlein is pretty close to an insult.

    1. At the time I wrote the comment no one knew anything about Sauber’s new investors.

      1. Did you write it before April? :-)

        1. (To clarify – that was the first time Ericsson’s backers rescued Sauber F1)

  13. Raikkonen is driving pretty well! P13 is a shame, absurd position for him.

    1. He is driving well, but I don’t think anyone can argue that he should have won in Spain, or that he looks a bit too content to stay in position sometimes.

      1. How? It’s known for a fact that the RB had better traction coming up on the straight.

  14. Raikkonen is sitting 4th in the driver’s standings and Kieth ranks him 13th? Bottas, Grosjean, Button, Hulkenburg all deserve to be lower IMO.

    1. Yeah I would rate him at least along with Button, yeah Vettel has had his bad luck, but Kimi hasn’t been exactly trouble free either and he is very close to Vettel if not faster in almost every race.

    2. I agree. The rankings should be 1. HAM, 2. ROS, 3. RIC, 4. RAI, 5. VET, 6. VER, … 22. HAR.
      Much simpler to just use the WDC points to rank the drivers. Keith, don’t bother doing any more of these superfluous articles.

  15. Agree with most, and the disagreements(Too high: Palmer, Ericsson. Too low: Kvyat, Raikkonen) are documented in my complete rating in the forum post so nothing to add except one small thing. @geemac I don’t know if you’re aware, but well documented sources state that Longbow Finance are connected to Marcus Ericsson via Tetra Pak. He’s basically now has some kind of stake in the team. So unfortunately he’s one driver you’ll definitely gonna see on the grid in 2017. And basically for the same reasons as before: he brings lots of money to the team, one way or another

    1. @montreal95 At the time I wrote the comment no one knew anything about Sauber’s new investors.

      1. @geemac I, on the other hand, didn’t know when your comment was made. Makes us even then :)

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      17th August 2016, 23:50

      Yeah but this isn’t a ‘how fast your car is’ rankings – it’s driver rankings. If you’re in a slow car but getting the most out of it, you are doing a better job than a driver in the fastest car failing to get the most out of it. Kvyat has been terrible in both cars he’s driven this season – he’s in a realistic position IMO.

      Wehrlein should be a bit higher up as well.

  16. It really is a tough one. I tried to come up with my own rankings but there arguments for/against just about every shuffle. It’s all too easy to do a double take/complaint about Raikkonnen’s placement but looking forward to the drivers (and some of their drives so far this season) coming up ahead it’s understandable. Just about every driver ahead has put their car where it doesn’t belong and had great singular or multiple performances or just shown pure consistency.

    Except for Rosberg; I’m hoping to see him 12th tomorrow, the example of capitalising on your team mates misfortune I don’t think has been any stronger than in his case.

  17. The fact that Kimi was unable to get on terms with Max Verstappen in Spain, Hungary and Austria is due to exceptional driving of Verstappen not due to bad driving of Kimi.

    I think Kimi deserves a higher ranking.

  18. It’s more or less accurate, although both Gutierrez and Raikkonen are incredibly hard done by, which I suppose only goes to show how strong the grid is. Look at Gutierrez’s stats and tell me he deserves to be there compared to Grosjean who some still see as a potential top driver. Nah, doesn’t deserve to be 17th.

  19. I never get upset at these articles because it is solely the writers point of view, and everyone has a different one.

    But Kimi 13th?

    I am never clicking on another one of these.

    1. I’m with you on that, though I always think persuasive argument can change minds, so many fanatic can issue an adjustment to these rankings?

  20. as a swede i am happy to see Marcus improve alot and i was surprised he got a chance this season. and the new owners is even a part of Tetra pak i think.

    Marcus is doing a better job than Nasr but when Marcus makes a mistake its often a huge one.

    Rio was slow in the races and i think it was surprising that he got beaten really bad at tracks he had raced on many times before, a simulator is not the real deal.

  21. I think This is Very harsh on Kimi
    Yes having bad luck is one point he was ahead of Seb but considering the bad luck of Kimi where a Horrid strategy left him to be behind RBR’s than Being ahead of them in Austria and VSC Pit stop mess up in Montreal also should not be discounted.
    If we see the Points per race factor then Kimi finished 10 races. In 2 Dnf’s 1 DNF in monaco is self inflicted and other is mechanical issue in Australia He scored as equal to Ricciardo through out the season in which he finished all the races. So i dont think Kimi deserve to be this low. He wasn’t sure a Top 5 but not out of Top 7 for sure.

  22. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    17th August 2016, 13:53

    I think both Massa and Kimi deserve higher ratings. It almost seems like people haven’t noticed that Massa has had to retire in half of the last 6 races due to no fault of his own. In Canada when he ended up retiring, I think he will have had a pretty decent chance of scoring a good amount of points. There is also something he managed to do in the first 6 races which no other driver on the grid managed. Score points in every race. I do think Bottas is clearly better but not by as bigger gap as many people seem to think. I would rate both Bottas and Massa higher than a lot of people do.

    About Kimi, I think he has been much better this season. Pretty much on a similar level to Vettel. But Vettel even though he has been having bad luck just doesn’t look to be quite as solid as he was last year. Maybe it is partly because the Ferrari seems to be going backwards a little.

  23. About Kvyat, I feel his second accident with Vettel in Sochi is not really his fault. Vettel was suddenly slowed when he was going off line and Kvyat is unfortunate to using same outer line with faster speed than him. Granted Vettel problem is most likely because the first contact between them but saying their second contact is Kvyat’s driver error I think it’s not fair for Kvyat.

  24. I disagree with Magnussen and Wehrlein, but the overall trend is bang on.

    With regard to those two, I feel both have not been able to show their worth, but have punched above what their car can do. It’s easy to bump down those who have been in back cars but really, especially in Wehrlein’s case, having scored the point.

    But on the whole a very agreeable ranking there.

  25. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    19th August 2016, 20:02

    Kvyat will be last at the end of the season. I used to like him, but after making Vettel angry I honestly don’t like him anymore. I know I’m repeating that but I’m still angry over that Vettel-Kvyat incident at Russia.

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