[Dan]

1 FERNANDO ALONSO
“Consistently appeared in the top 6 in what frankly was a midfield car at best. Humiliated his world champion team-mate with his race nous and ability to adapt. Ferrari will miss him but both parties need a change.”
2 DANIEL RICCIARDO
“A stunning season, quick, aggressive yet impressively gentle on his tyres and fuel. The best wheel-to-wheel racer this season. Will be expected to lead the team next season. Looks up to the task”
3 LEWIS HAMILTON
“A richly deserved world champion and would have won it earlier had he not borne the brunt of reliability problems early on in the year. Did make more mistakes compared to the top 2 on this list but his performance post-Spa was faultless”.
4 VALTTERI BOTTAS
“Like Ricciardo, looks like a world champ in waiting. Quick, consistent and calm behind the wheel. Maybe could have benefited from a more aggressive approach from Williams at times but hopefully will see more of that in 2015”.
5 JENSON BUTTON
“Deserves at least another year in the sport. Consistent as ever and his points were priceless for McLaren given yet another average chassis from the Woking team. Saw off his highly-rated young team-mate with ease.”
6 NICO ROSBERG
“Stunning in qualifying and proved to be mentally a tough competitor to Hamilton but always seemed to slightly lack the edge his team-mate had in the races. Can’t help suspect he is good rather than great. Which rather describes his year”
7 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
“Beaten pretty consistently (but not by a huge margin) by his charging young team mate but regardless still had some good moments. Did bear the brunt of Red Bull reliability issues though. Whether this was a poor year or an outlier of his true class may be seen by how well he builds a team at Ferrari”.
8 FELIPE MASSA
“Although his team-mate may have got more plaudits, Massa tended to have the worse luck and was often a match or not far behind. Ended the season extremely strongly”.
9 NICO HULKENBURG
“May have missed his chance to ever get a big seat. A supreme start to the season slowly ebbed away to a somewhat anonymous but still consistently-finishing middle to end of year. Surprisingly beaten by Perez more often than expected.”
10 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
“Hard to be noticed at times in an appalling car but still managed to bring it home in the points a few times. Annihilated his team-mate. Should feature more prominently next season with a Mercedes engine”
11 JULES BIANCHI
“His terrible accident is a tragedy on so many levels but in a racing sense he had shown himself worthy of a step up to a top team. His drive in Monaco was one of the season’s best.”
12 JEAN-ERIC VERGNE
“A feisty racer who is far stronger on Sundays than on Saturdays. Deserves to stay in the sport even if one suspects he is not quite the level of his ex-team mates”
13 DANIIL KVYAT
“Has enormous potential. Very quick indeed yet smart and street-wise, evidently still learning his trade but wouldn’t be too surprised to see him “do a Ricciardo” in the Red Bull next year. An exciting prospect albeit generally beaten by his team-mate this year in races.”
14 SERGIO PEREZ
“His rare skill of being able to make his tyres last longer than almost anyone else was his main calling card again. Is also a great driver at raising his game on the big occasion. Does make rather too many racing mistakes for a guy with almost 80 GP starts”
15 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
“A brilliant debut weekend never looked like being bettered all year. A lively wheel-to-wheel racer and occasionally qualified well but had a lot of races you forgot he was there. Deserves another chance in F1 but no evidence yet of his “lightening pace” as was billed”.
16 KIMI RAIKKONEN
“His poorest season in F1. Well down on consistent pace and racecraft against his stellar team mate. Uncomfortable with his car but simply looked like he didn’t have the skills to deal with it. 2015 looks certain to be his valedictory year.”
17 KAMUI KOBAYASHI
“Plugged away in the awful Caterham. Generally had the better of his team-mate and was usually 2nd in the battle between the Marussia and Caterham cars.”
18 PASTOR MALDONADO
“Hard to judge as the Lotus was appalling this year and had awful reliability but was pretty comfortably beaten by his team-mate. His presence, as ever, in the sport is solely dependant on his large sponsorship cheque not his talent”.
19 MARCUS ERICSSON
“Looked out of his depth in the first half of the year but came back quite well towards the end of the season. Curious to see how he will do at Sauber next year (at least as well as their 2014 drivers I suspect).”
20 MAX CHILTON
“Closer to Bianchi this season and generally a safe pair of hands. Hard to think of a memorable moment though.”
21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
“An anonymous season in an admittedly poor car but in 2 years of racing is hard to think of one memorable moment other than his flip in Bahrain.”
22 ADRIAN SUTIL
“Made far too many mistakes for a guy with over 100 starts. Perhaps 22nd place is harsh but he made more mistake then his team-mate and displayed neither the sensible approach of Chilton nor the capacity for improvement of Ericsson”

[Dan]

1 – Sebastian Vettel.
Flawless season. Honestly can’t recall a mistake he made all year. Yes, he had the best car after the tyres were changed but in my time of watching F1 for the past 25 odd years only the true greats like Senna, Prost or Schumacher have extracted the maximum from their ride to such dominant effect. Completely annihilated his team-mate and many of his wins – Germany, Singapore, Japan and India were masterclasses.

2 – Fernando Alonso.
Conjured another second place in the championship in a car that from mid-season was probably fourth best. His first few corners in Barcelona weren’t quite Senna at Donington but not far off either. A little disappointing in qualifying but his relentlessness and hunger on Sundays quite often made up for it. Expect him to raise his game even further (and win) against Kimi next year.

3 – Kimi Raikkonen.
Chosing third place was a hard call but I had to plump for Kimi as up until Hungary he was still a championship contender due to his superb run of 1st half podiums and his victory in Oz. Even when he qualified badly (which he did way too much this year), he generally drove fault-free races – think Hungary, Korea and Singapore. Perhaps the gentle tyre wear of the Lotus flattered his results at times and once he was off to Ferrari, he was surprisingly thrashed by Grosjean.

4 – Lewis Hamilton.
Rather like Kimi, I think a slightly limp end to the year shouldn’t negate the fact that more often that not he beat his team-mate. His qualifying performances still suggest he might be the fastest driver on pure pace alone and was robbed of a win in Silverstone but as always for Lewis there were emotional ups and downs that rarely seem to affect the guys above him in this list. Felt his “off” days were better than Rosberg’s which is why he’s quite a bit ahead of him.

5 – Romain Grosjean.
12 months ago he looked like such a liability and now he looks like a dead cert race winner. Was pretty anonymous for the first half of the year and did make some dopey errors in Monaco and Hungary. However his run of 6 races towards the end of the season were sensational – only Vettel and that Red Bull beat him. Curious to see how he performs as a team leader who is expected to beat his team mate and consistently rack up points over 19 races – particularly if the Lotus is not as good as it was this year.

6 – Nico Hulkenburg.
Hard to judge his early season form other than he annihilated Gutierrez but from Monza onwards he certainly made the most of his improved machinery. His performance to beat the Mercs and Ferraris in Korea was one of the most heroic of the season and suggest he oozes star quality. Why have I only made him 6th? He had a great end to the year but do I think he would have out performed the likes of Hamilton or Raikkonen in the same car all year long? Jury is still out for me – although a disgrace he isn’t getting the chance to show if he could in a top car next year.

7 – Jenson Button.
A quiet season in a poor car but if you look closely you’ll actually see that weekend after weekend he generally maximised his car to finish in the lower-scoring points positions. Was perhaps outqualified by Perez a little too often for a World Champion but come race day he rarely let the team down. Deserves a better car for next year as when he’s comfortable, he delivers.

8 – Nico Rosberg.
A classic “on his day” driver. On his day, he can produce sublimely judged, consistent races such as Monaco, Silverstone or his end of season run of podiums. Generally stacked up well against Hamilton but the problem I’ve always had is he has too many races you forget he’s even there. Had the brunt of reliability problems at Merc to be fair but after 8 seasons in the sport, I still don’t see him as a champion in waiting.

9 – Mark Webber.
Beaten 13-0 for wins and 17-2 in qualifying suggests he was right to call it a day. How he might have performed without the Multi-21 saga would have been interesting and it surprising to see him not perform at Monaco, Silverstone and Spa like he has done in the past. Would have scored more podiums had it not been for duff reliability but rather like Patrese in ‘92, this was a classy driver made to look worse by not being as suited to his car as his team mate. Still, some great overtakes and solid results towards the end of the year – if only he’d sorted out his starts.

10 – Daniel Ricciardo.
Primary complaint from 2012 was that he tended to qualify well and then go backwards on Sundays. Improved in that regard from last year and there was the odd race where you’d find him slugging it out with a Merc, Lotus or Ferrari for a few laps and he looked composed whilst doing it. Pretty clearly beat his team mate this year but not sure what to make of him at Red Bull next year. I suspect he will be fast but inconsistent (perhaps a bit like Massa at Ferrari in ’06 or ’07).

11 – Sergio Perez.
I thought Perez was fortunate to get the McLaren seat on the back of a few tyre-assisted podiums in 2012 but after ending the year with some solid drives I thought he maybe deserved another season. Probably guilty of over-driving at the start of the year in Bahrain and Monaco but delivered a great race in India. Never a top line driver but at 23 years old, he has time to come back as a strong midfielder.

12 – Felipe Massa.
Probably fared better against Alonso than Webber did against Vettel but was similarly dominated by his team-mate. Seemed to have more of his mojo back for most of this year in qualifying but was remarkable how consistently he would go backwards in races. Rather like Alonso and Kimi, he has perhaps lost a fair bit of his raw pace from his youth but doesn’t seem to as wily as those two to compensate in races. Could surprise at Williams.

13 – Valterri Bottas.
Generally matched or beat his far more experienced team mate (particularly in qualifying which was a surprise) and his performances in Austin and in wet qualifying at Montreal suggest he is a driver of true talent. Having said that, he absolutely must beat Massa next year to be considered as a future winner

14 – Jules Bianchi.
For a guy who had an afternoon of testing in the Marussia before the first race, I thought he performed awesomely. He did seem to get caught up by Chilton as the season progressed but seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Heard it mentioned that time will tell if he’s the new Alonso or the new Fisichella… Surprised Ferrari weren’t more active in getting him into, say, a Sauber for next year.

15 – Paul Di Resta.
Has always been a solid in unspectacular performer so when he kept making mistakes towards the end of the year I worried he had wrecked his career. Certainly deserves another year as when he gets a car that he is comfortable with, he gets in good positions and stays composed. Having said that, a chance to start over at Ganassi in IndyCars would be so hard to turn down.

16 – Jean-Eric Vergne.
Having seen him in junior formulae, I was convinced he would better Ricciardo this year but it just hasn’t come together for him . Qualifying still seems a weakness for him but other than a couple of great races in Monaco and Canada, it’s been a quiet one. He does seem to know he needs to deliver big time next year against Kvyat though. Especially as Ricciardo is no long term guarantee at Red Bull.

17 – Max Chilton.
Gets far too much stick. Yes he brings money in to his team, but he’s also won races in lower formulae. Took an approach this season to bring the car home and add speed later and it generally worked as he crept closer to his much more illustrious team mate as the year wore on. No reason to change his approach next season.

18 – Adrian Sutil.
One rung above the class of “paydriver” resides the “journeyman” classification and after over 100 Grands Prix, I think Sutil is definitely to be found here. A couple of great races in Melbourne and Monaco are the obvious stand out performances but made a lot of mistakes for someone of his experience. Am utterly ambivalent as to whether he stays around for next year.

19 – Pastor Maldonado.
Didn’t make as many mistakes this year and was 11th on 4 separate occasions so was reasonably consistent. Also, given the hype around Bottas, he was by no means embarrassed by him even if he demonstrated fewer stand out performance. Ending the year dissing your team and mindlessly trying to pass your team mate in Suzuka on the last lap was poor form. Unlikely he’d be in the sport next year without his Petrodollars and a fortunate man indeed to end up in the Lotus… Still, as demonstrated at times in 2012, he does have raw pace so could surprise at times.

20 – Esteban Gutierrez.
Would have undoubtedly benefitted from a year of “doing a Bottas” as a Friday driver before stepping up this season – looked to be sinking up until the point Sauber brought out their Monza updates and, actually, he didn’t look too bad therafter. I’d be perhaps be a bit worried if he was Sauber’s de facto team leader next year but certainly deserves at least another half-season to prove his value.

21 – Giedo Van Der Garde.
Surprised to see him perform as well as he did as a guy who took the long road to get to F1. There was a silly mistake in Canada with Webber but on the whole he did a solid job at the back – struck me as a solid guy too.

22 – Charles Pic.
It’s a cliché to describe him as the most anonymous driver in the sport, but its also true. The fact that he was generally bettered by a guy who’s never screamed top quality in the lower formulae suggests he might not be much longer in the sport – especially if Kovalainen is making a return in 2014.

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