[WheelToWheel]

I’d like to know where you think all the driver’s on the grid stack up in comparison to each other. For me there are three sections, the best drivers on the grid, then the strong midfield runners and then the pay-drivers and backmarkers.

1. Hamilton
2. Vettel
3. Alonso
4. Verstappen
5. Ricciardo
6. Rosberg

Two years ago I would have easily put Alonso at the top, but he hasn’t been putting away Button like I’d expected him to. Hamilton’s current form puts him at the top, but when Vettel can get it right he may be even faster. Max is hard to rank, but I think his raw pace is faster than Ricciardo, and has alot more potential than the top three. Rosberg is fast but is probably not as good as Alonso or the Red Bull guys.

7. Button
8. Raikkonen
9. Perez
10. Sainz
11. Bottas
12. Hulkenberg
13. Grosjean

These guys are all really quick but not ‘top tier’ except Button and Raikkonen possibly. Button has impressed me recently and I think he is close to the level of Rosberg but not quite close enough. Kimi has gone downhill but he is still a good driver and I think he was a good choice for Ferrari in 2017. Perez is the lead of the stronger midfield drivers who can get a top seat soon. It was close between him Sainz and Bottas, but Sainz is too young and has more to offer in the future and Bottas has gone downhill since 2014. Hulkenberg and Grosjean are being forgotten and I think rightly so. Hulk is a good driver but is struggling to beat Checo so I think a move to WEC would be really good because it would suit his driving style. I really don’t rate Grosjean, since I don’t think he has been that good against Gutierrez of late, and his crashing in 2012 and moaning in 2014, have detracted from him

14. Massa
15. Kvyat
16. Magnussen
17. Wehrlein

Massa’s days are done and 14th is where he deserves to be. He has little to offer the sport and he isn’t fast enough or consistent enough to be in the same league as the guys ahead. Kvyat’s confidence has fallen and 26-2 to Sainz against him is very poor and Planet F1 are reporting that his contract has been terminated. Magnussen is very average and he hasn’t humiliated Palmer so far, but his 2014 shows he does have potential to suceed. Wehrlein is young and hasn’t thrashed Haryanto yet, but he has a good future ahead of him

18. Gutierrez
19. Nasr
20. Palmer
21. Ericsson
22. Haryanto

Gutierrez is the best of a bad bunch and I think he is sort of underrated since he has been doing OK against Grosjean. However, one points finish in 2 and a half seasons is useless. Nasr was great last year but struggled at the start this year but recently it seems to be coming back to him. Palmer has done well in the last couple of races but he is a pay driver and shouldn’t be back in 2017. Ericsson keeps crashing of late after a good start to 2016 but overall he is too inconsistent and slow. And Haryanto is Haryanto.

[Michal]

Kevin Kannan – I haven’t looked at your ranking before doing my list though it’s very similar!

Top tier

1. Alonso – he is very fast, extremely consistent and almost always at the top of his game. We shouldn’t read too much into last year’s struggles because McLaren was effected by many technical problems. This year he’s already 8-2 on Button in qualifying.

2. Hamilton – like Alonso, he’s a world-class driver and maybe even quicker than Fernando. The reason why I put him behind is because Lewis have more off-weekends when he just can’t do anything right like Baku 2016 or Hungary 2015.

3. Vettel – in my opinion the fastest driver of the field and almost impossible to beat once he is in front. I rate him behind Alonso and Hamilton because he can be a bit inconsistent at times and doing a few errors.

My rankings then goes:
4. Verstappen
5. Ricciardo
6. Rosberg
7. Button
8. Raikkonen
9. Sainz
10. Perez
11. Bottas
12. Hulkenberg
13. Grosjean
14. Magnussen
15. Massa
16. Wehrlein
17. Kvyat
18. Gutierrez
19. Palmer
20. Nasr
21. Haryanto
22. Ericsson

[PorscheF1]

I very much agree with your list except if I take everything in account (that mainly means off-track activities and mental stability) I’d take Vettel over Hamilton. I think they would be the duo of the century, even more so than either of them with Alonso.

What I really don’t understand is below your number 9 and 10. If you look at the experience and performance of both I don’t see how you could put Perez above Sainz especially if you’re bold enough to put Verstappen above Ricciardo already.

9. Perez
10. Sainz

What I also don’t understand is why you’d put Magnussen down in 16th below the likes of Grosjean and Kvyat

16. Magnussen

I agree Massa isn’t the top driver he used to be but if you take his entire career and look at it he deserves to stand next to Kimi for sure.

[PorscheF1]

Was Hockenheim a missed opportunity. With a competetive pair of Bulls that could’ve finished ahead of Rosberg, Hamilton starting from P10 or even the pitlane might not have been such a bad idea. On top of that from a Mercedes POV they could’ve had Rosberg, a German, winning the German GP in a German car which is just good publicity.

[Alonso]

I see here the start of a huge controversy about the worst driver on the grid. This season Ericsson and Haryanto are the men to beat. They have a Senna-Prost like duel for Less Valuable Driver and, just like the two legends, they are giving no quarter to each other. Ericsson is our Senna, his driving style is sumptuous, grandiose. He crashes where no man could crash and spins where no man could spin. Haryanto is our Prost, of course. He might not have Ericsson’s talent to fail where everybody else has succeeded, but he certainly makes up for that with his consistent lack of pace and his ability to finish race after race as the last classified driver. So which one impresses you most? Haryanto and his relentless thickness or Ericsson and his conspicuous blundering? Have your say.

[Author]

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