[Driver] Your top ten drivers of the F1 season

[Knowlesy]

In true Autocourse style, give me your top ten drivers for the season.

1) Fernando Alonso - I found it hard to separate my top two. Both were near damn perfect all year and were hampered by inefficiencies of their teams. By virtue of the fact that Alonso managed to do some near impossible things, though, I will give number one to him. Did anyone see him being in the title fight in the final race after Melbourne? Difficult to believe how evil those red cars looked in the early rounds.

2) Lewis Hamilton - after a diabolical 2011, by anyones standards, Hamilton had to turn it around and he did. Consistently rapid, virtually no errors. The points table does not tell the story of his superb driving this season, with wins and/or big points being lost through a series of mechanical failures and pit errors.

3) Sebastien Vettel - World champion again and, you'd have to say, deservedly so. Stayed in the hunt when the Red Bull was merely very good and stamped his authority on the season once he assumed the lead of the Singapore GP and Red Bull finally took flight. Just a small step behind my top two.

4) Kimi Raikkonen - I had my doubts about Kimi pre-season. He was dire in his last two seasons mostly, but I also recognised that he would probably have a bit of fire about him again. So it proved, with metronomic consistency and speed finally being rewarded with a late season victory in Abu Dhabi. Welcome back, the real Kimi!

5) Jenson Button - Not a wonderful season but still three wins! Spent large swathes of 2012 struggling with car setup and was undeniably in the shadow of Hamilton all year, comprehensively. Still, when it all shook out, he wasn't far behind in the points at all from his teammate which perhaps isn't justice. Really got it together again after Hungary. Should shine again in 2013 as McLaren number one.

6) Nico Hulkenberg - slow start but once he got going he (rather sadly from my point of view) destroyed his teammate Paul di Resta. Close to signing off the season with a podium before frittering it away in the excitement. Moves sideways to Sauber next season, here's hoping he continues to impress and makes a step up for 2014.

7) Sergio Perez - When the Pirelli tyres were made of cheese for the first portion of the year, one of the characteristics of the races was a certain Sauber driver suddenly storming up the order in the late stages and picking up a podium place occasionally. Perez showed an ability to make his tyres last on a par with his teammate for 2013, Jenson Button. But is it married to blistering speed? Is he good enough for McLaren? You suspect so, but next year may be much trickier than this one for the young Mexican.

8) Mark Webber - started like a house on fire, faded away to miserable and pathetic mediocrity once Red Bull actually got the car dominating races. Is Webber only capable of being his best when everything else is imperfect? Keeps his drive for next season.

9) Nico Rosberg - an early season winner, faded with Mercedes. Even got beaten by Schumacher once or twice. But he still had a solid enough year to merit inclusion here.

10) Pastor Maldonado - should be much higher up the table were it not for severe impetuosity. Time and again he qualified the Williams outrageously well, he even won a race. And yet he had half the points finishes of the unimpressive Bruno Senna. If he ever calms down he will be a major force in this sport because he has incredible speed.

[m355y]

1. Lewis Hamilton
impossible to imagine without the stats how many points were lost from winning positions over the course of the season, when it all came together he was unbeatable and he was the season's fastest driver in terms of poles positions, ultimate race pace...pretty much everything aside from the final points table. Destroyed Button most weekends. Probably his best all-round season since his 2007 debut. Odd move to Mercedes but they've got themselves a hell of a driver.

2. Fernando Alonso
heart says 1st, but he did an incredible job anyway especially early on when the Ferrari was terrible. Kept absolutely maximising results, lost the title through incidents not of his doing and very gracious in defeat. Only reason he loses out ironically is that in the last few races Massa was probably marginally more impressive and had to gift him a few results to keep him in the hunt.

3. Sebastian Vettel
messy start to the season, but proved he could mix it when he wasn't outright fastest. IMO very, VERY lucky to win the championship, though. Would have cruised to victory in Valencia he his car not stopped but you could say the same about Hamilton on quite a few more occasions. Everything fell in his favour in Abu Dhabi but he still drove well to salvage third place. Deserved, but not his best title.

4. Kimi Raikkonen
probably maximised the results of his car as much as Alonso did, or nearly anyway. Struggled a bit in qualifying but his consistency was brilliant and his win in Abu Dhabi was great - took him a while to look convincing in wheel to wheel combat but that came back in the second half of the season as, to a degree, the car's raw pace relative to the other teams fell away slightly. Dealt well with Grosjean, just got on with his thing in the way only Kimi can.

5. Jenson Button
Three great wins, up and down season and pace relative to Hamilton was unconvincing at times. Showed enough in the races to keep his repuation intact and Spa weekend was pretty much perfection. Next season is his big chance, if McLaren come up with a car as quick as this one and the results come more consistently then he could well win a second title.

6. Felipe Massa
Messy and unconvincing at the start of the season, but the pressure must have been overwhelming with Perez being tipped so much for the seat even immediately after Malaysia. Monaco was the first sign of improvement, then Silverstone he picked up his first top four finish and was flying. Got better and better from there on, great recovery drive in Singapore, inch perfect in Japan and genuinely quicker than Alonso in a few of the late races. Confidence back, probably proved closer to Fernando than any of the other 'number twos' on raw pace. Could well return to the top step next season at some point, which would be great for F1.

7. Nico Hulkenberg
Even in the 'slow' early races of the season showed potential, then much like Massa when he got back into his groove the confidence soared and the pace got better and better. Simply left Di Resta behind. Qualifying laps were superb, last few races were brilliant, only blotting it slightly with his mistake while in contention for victory in the season finale. Sauber is a slightly strange move, but let's see.

8. Romain Grosjean
Showed the pace to be a GP winner, made fewer mistakes than Perez or Maldonado but was vilified for the Spa shunt and seemed to lose a bit of his raw pace after that. Beforehand it was fantastic to see such an inexperienced driver mixing it so far up the field so fearlessly. Could have won Valencia, performance in Canada was fantastic and some of his qualifying laps were brilliant, good to see someone a bit unpredictable mixing it up the front. Also edged Kimi in qualifying.

9. Sergio Perez
on his day he was brilliant, should have won at Sepang and cruised through the field at Monza, bringing home some great results. But on its day equally the Sauber looked like a genuine racewinning car and his consistency just never really improved with some silly moves showing his inexperience. Some great results, a decent season but still question marks over just how many more points Sauber might have scored with a better driver, IMO.

10. Jean-Eric Vergne
odd choice maybe, but taking aside his qualfying struggles (easy to overlook Ricciardo's huge advantage there as a result of his 2011 Friday/HRT experience) he was very impressive on racedays and occasionally looked special particularly in changing track conditions. In Brazil was pretty immaculate and was eye catching at Spa too, picked up the best results for Toro Rosso, outscored his team-mate on merit and if with experience of all the tracks now could be a major surprise next season.

not included-
Rosberg - slipped back relative to Schumacher on outright pace this season, didn't he?

Webber - pretty pathetic aside from those two early season wins.

Maldonado - great win in Spain, far too many stupid incidents frittering away points.

[Born Racer]

1. Lewis Hamilton

2. Fernando Alonso

Both were a bit better than Vettel. Both seemed to consistently extract the maximum from their cars and made few mistakes (Alonso in Japan springs to mind). I think Fernando was at his best so far this year, while Lewis laid to rest a lot of doubts from some quarters. Lewis edges it by virtue of making fewer mistakes and a tougher team-mate.

3. Sebastian Vettel

Brilliant. If he spoke one of the Romance Languages and wrote Samurai philosophy on his Twitter feed, perhaps he'd get more credit. Newey's talents are the undoing of his reputation, but he was way ahead of his pretty credible team-mate. He can't get first slot because of how he was beaten by Webber when the car was not so good, while the top two were more consistent come what may.

4. Kimi Raikkonen

Excellent job. Very consistent and quick.

5. Jenson Button

Too inconsistent for a championship, but as usual, untouchable on his day.

6. Sergio Perez

I think this was Sauber's best ever car so far (excluding the BMW days), but his peaks were really good.

7. Michael Schumacher

He was crap by his own standards last year and in 2010; of that there is no doubt, but for me he salvaged something from this year and compared well to Rosberg, but results deserted him through no fault of his own. A commendable season by F1 standards.

8. Kamui Kobayashi

Not as much potential as Perez, but did a good job and was closely matched to the new McLaren driver. It just goes to show the fine thread on which careers hang and how close these guys are in talent (and how difficult it is to choose the order of the top ten!).

9. Romain Grosjean

He is quick, very quick (Raikkonen's quick and he compared well), but made too many mistakes. That can be resolved though. He seemed to let his chin drop at the end of the season as he tried to calm down the errors and it affected his pace.

10. Pastor Maldonado

Even more erratic. It's amazing it was Grosjean with the ban and not him, but his peaks were too high to ignore. A very quick driver. His racecraft is looking up to scratch now too, so if he can string all that together, he can be a force.

[Aysedasi]

I'm lazy. So fortunately for me, I can agree with Born Racer's list, although I would squeeze Massa in there somewhere for his end of season performances - certainly ahead of Maldonado, who in my view flattered to deceive much of the time.

[Hawkwood]

1. Alonso
2. Hamilton
3. Raikkonen
4. Vettel
5. Button
6. Perez
7. Maldonado
8. Webber
9. Massa
10. Grosjean/Kobayashi (couldn't decide, so just stuck both in there)

[Marbot]

1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Hamilton
4. Raikkonen
5. Button
6. Maldonado
7. Webber
8. Massa
9. Perez
10. Pic

[steve_r]

1 - Alonso. Drove the wheels off his car all year long. Annhialiated his team-mate. Close to the WDC in a car that seems to be 3rd fastest at best, behiond the McLarens and Red Bulls

2 - Vettel. Slow start to the year, but got back into the race winning groove before too long. 3 times WDC, and yet still so young.

3 - Hamilton. If McLaren got their act together he could and should have been in with a chance of the title going intot he last race.

4 - Raikonnen. Pumped in solid race after solid race, all season long. To take 3rd int he title after having been away for a couple of years is very impressive.

5 - Button. 3 good wins, but never really in the WDC hunt. If McLaren give him a reliable & quick car, he is fast enough to win races.

6 - Hulkenberg - Slowly got the measure of his team-mate, and given the speed he showed over the course of the last 5 or 6 races deseves a crack in a better car.

7 - Webber. Gave Vettel a very hard time early in the year before normal service resumed. Had a solid season.

8 - Perez. Dragged the Sauber into positions that no-one expected. A few dodgy races sees him lower down the order than he could be.

9 - Massa. His form of the last 5 or 6 races show that Ferrari made the right decision to retain him, despite his abysmal start to the season.

10 - Maldonado. Very very quick on his day. His race win was superb. Shame he is such a loose cannon.

[garcon]

I thought about this as the race finished, and decided my list would look remarkably similar to the final standings.

First - Vettel for a superb second half to the season and a couple of immense recovery drives to ultimately win the title from what seemed at one point an almost impossible position.

Second - Alonso for an incredible first half of the season in probably the third or fourth best car on the grid and for dragging the team along with him to sustain a challenge. If he'd won the title it would have been one of the all time finest driver achievements.

Third - Kimi for showing us he still has it, for consistently placing his car where it had no right to be, and for "Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!"

Fourth - Hamilton for overcoming some hefty psychological issues - not least his contract - to put in a number of fine drives that suggest he might be developing the qualities he's going to need on the adventure he's about to begin.

Fifth to Tenth - er... not bothered really. Button had a very average season really. Most of the newer boys impressed and alarmed in almost equal measure, although Perez probably impressed the most in the early part of the season.

[deeks6]

Amazing - up until the last post, not one #1 for Vettel and most have him 3rd or 4th. Are you serious? Or just have short memories?

[Trev Campbell]

1) Alonso - Nearly drove the third fastest car to the WC, Amazing all year

2) Hamilton - Started al little slowly, Seemed to cop the worst of McLaren reliability when he was leading races.

3) Vettel - Was clearly beaten by his teammate early in the year. But Once Red Bull Get the car perfect he was his untouchable self

4) Raikonnen - Only the one win but was suprememly consitent and fast all year

5) Button - The highs were high but some of the lows were quite low, consistency just wasn't there.

6) Webber - Total opposite of Vettel, Looked great when the Red Bull wasn't great as soon as the car is perfect doesn't see his teammate for dust.

7) Perez - Some fantastic drives to put a Sauber in places its never been, but also some silly mistakes.

8) Hulkenberg - Steadily got the better of his teammate and turned in some impressive drives.

9) Maldonardo - Great win and and some impressive drives but punctuated by more than a few stupid mistakes.

10) Rosberg - Jagged a win early but then the Mercedes seemed to drop off the pace and he seemed to lose interest

[Trev Campbell]

Originally Posted by deeks6

Amazing - up until the last post, not one #1 for Vettel and most have him 3rd or 4th. Are you serious? Or just have short memories?

Deeks I would say it is quite the opposite. We have long memories. As I and a few others have said. When the Red Bull is not the best car on the grid (As it wasn't at the start of the year) he didn't really shine and was at best on par with his teammate. Once the car is perfect as it was in the last half of the year, the guy is amazing and almost untouchable. But across the whole year I and many others by the look of it don't think he was the best.

[Massa_number1]

1.) ALONSO Incredible driving this year took advantage of every opportunity that came his way and pulled some great overtakes.No one has put a car in a title battle when it shouldnt be since Schumacher did the same in 1998 taking Hakkinen to the last race., Alonso is driving at that level and if his car even has a slight advantage next season then he will take the title no doubt about it.The best driver of the season and his generation

2.) VETTEL I am not Vettels greatest fan and always doubted his ability enough to not class him at Hamilton and Alonso's level...this season has changed my mind his performance in Valencia before the car let him down was superb and the first time in 2012 a driver dominated a GP, it was a sign of things to come later in the season.His attitude and self belief was admirable as were his drives from the back of the field over turning what as at one stage a 44pts disadvantage to Alonso .He had a great car but he drove it right to its limit in devastating fashion! A Great Champion


3.) HAMILTON This was his best season since 08, started the year using his head consistently finishing on the podium.He achieved some brilliant pole positions and would have took more races wins but for bad reliability.He has established himself again as one of the top 3 drivers in F1 in the eyes of fans and the media.

4.) RAIKKONEN what a great comeback! 7 podiums inc a race win finishing 3rd in the world championship was something no one could have forseen he brought the car home every single race only finishing outside the points once!! incredible..

5.) BUTTON despite a terrible slump from bahrain to silverstone he pulled off some good wins most notably Spa where he led from pole to finish.He really took the fight to Hamilton in Brazil and will go into 2013 as McLarens Num 1 driver with a real chance of being champion given the cars current pace

6.) PEREZ it seems he faded as soon as the deal with McLaren was announced maybe knowing he will be fighting for podiums and wins next year at every GP took this season's motivation from him.His drives in Sepang, Montreal and Monza showed he does have some serious talent when he is dialled into a race weekend

7.) HULKENBERG when the deal was announced I thought Di Resta would out perform him over the season but he drove a solid season with 11 point finishes and soundly beat his team mate even after he had a year out from racing

8.) ROSBERG its pretty hard to gauge just exactly how good rosbergs season was since the car fell down the order.When it was competitive he took advantage finishing p1 in China and p2 in Monaco his qualifying pace was good as usual even getting the car into Q3 a few times when it shouldnt have been there

9.) MASSA he was no where at the start of the year but a confidence boosting drive at Silverstone set him up for the second half of the season where he finished in the points in every race after the summer break ending with a great drive in brazil

10.) SCHUMACHER hear me out! the sheer fact a 43 year old who raced against Senna, Mansell, Prost is competing against todays generation is incredible, he isnt the driver he once was but he also isnt as bad as you think..at one point early in the year if he finished in the positions he retired in he would have been leading the championship.He out performed Rosberg in 10 of the 20 races and of the ten Rosberg 'won' Schumacher retired 7 times.Took pole at Monaco and would have likely won the race but for the penalty.His mid season form showed when the car was reasonable he could get something out of it with 5 points finishes in 6 races but from there on the car and the desire deserted him, a sad way for him to go out as im 100 per cent sure he can still win races in a competitive car



some mentions for those who didnt get in my top ten in no order

Maldonado great race win in spain and some impressive quali performance His reckless driving means he didnt achieve more

Grosjean strong quali pace and really got amongst the big boys early season I feel his confidence went after taking flak from other drivers and the media for his first lap incidents

Webber started of the season strong but faded badly from the title race all in all he underperformed even tho he won races he should have done much better over the season in that car

Kovalainen after his retirement in Australia he finished in every race finishing as high as 13th twice in a dog of a car

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by deeks6

Amazing - up until the last post, not one #1 for Vettel and most have him 3rd or 4th. Are you serious? Or just have short memories?

Vettel won the title today. How short do you think our memories are?

[ensign14]

1. Hamilton - barely put a wheel wrong all season. With a better-run McLaren would have had the title wrapped up in September.

2. Alonso - monstered his team-mate, which is all anyone can demand.

3. Vettel - well, he got the job done, but I can't help thinking that DRS and kers have done him more good than anyone else; he doesn't have to think about overtaking as much now.

4. Hulk
5. Di Resta

Can't really split them, they seemed to be on perma-different strategies, despite having what didn't seem to be a very good car they were always there or thereabouts.

6. Kimi - if only for his regularity. Had he been more on it he'd've had more wins.

7. Button - seemed a bit like Piquet, only really on it when he had a chance of winning.

8. Kova - never let his head drop despite the impossible odds.

9. Perez - would have been higher up had he not chillaxed after he got his new job.

10. Ricciardo - very promising, just that his best races didn't coincide with the top drop-outs.

And despite winning races I'd consider Rosberg, Maldonado and Webber as underachievers. Webber had a world title winning car and did eff all with it; Rosberg fell off alarmingly towards the end of the season, has he got the development druthers or did Mercedes concentrate entirely on next year?, and Maldonado took his chance, but threw away about 15 others.

[Knowlesy]

Once I got outside the top seven I struggled. I mean Kovalainen for example you think he's done a great job, then you remember Petrov has started coming back at him which is simply unacceptable under any circumstances.

[Massa_number1]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Once I got outside the top seven I struggled. I mean Kovalainen for example you think he's done a great job, then you remember Petrov has started coming back at him which is simply unacceptable under any circumstances.

they both out performed each other in 10 races a piece I see where your coming from it should have been a wash out but heikki kept it more clean and consistent all season from my memory

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Once I got outside the top seven I struggled. I mean Kovalainen for example you think he's done a great job, then you remember Petrov has started coming back at him which is simply unacceptable under any circumstances.

Petrov has his moments. Just ask Alonso.

[Knowlesy]

Yeah, true that.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by deeks6

Amazing - up until the last post, not one #1 for Vettel and most have him 3rd or 4th. Are you serious? Or just have short memories?

Yep, all quite serious.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

I'm lazy. So fortunately for me, I can agree with Born Racer's list, although I would squeeze Massa in there somewhere for his end of season performances - certainly ahead of Maldonado, who in my view flattered to deceive much of the time.

I'm with you there, is more or less like I think.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by deeks6

Amazing - up until the last post, not one #1 for Vettel and most have him 3rd or 4th. Are you serious? Or just have short memories?

I have short memories, or better, too much memories so I'm selective.


Who was champion again ?

[Born Racer]

TGF. No, not that one.

[Oldtony]

1: Vettel
2: Alonso
Equal 3: Hamilton and Button
5: Raikonen
6:Perez
7:Webber
8:Hulkenburg
9:Massa
10:Maldonado.

I really get a bit stressed by all the comments that Vettel is winning because he has the best car. There is no doubt that over the season the best package was th McLaren. Nearly so in quallification and almost always the best race car by a margin. Certainly Seb was awesome from pole or the front of the grid but the thing that really made his year outstanding was his ability to come through the field, or to defend a position, in a car which was always markedly slower on the straights, and in particular in the DRS zones. Don't know if anyone keeps statistics on the number of passes for position, and the number of those which resulted from DRS activation. The RBR was flat out staying with other cars with the DRS open, let alone make a pass at most circuits. That is the choice Adrian and the RBR team made, probably because the Renault was down on top end power, but it was a feature that commited Vettel to a much more difficult task than being able to breeze past his opposition in the DRS zone.
Nando was his typical gutsy dedicated self and nearly managed to drag Ferrari to a championship.
Hamilton and Button had the best package. Hamilton was fast but not always smart. Button was smart but not always fast.
Of the rest Kimi probably used the available package best. Great to see he hasn't lost his enthusiasm for rallying

[Razzzor]

1. Alonso
Punched above his weight many times. Sure the car wasn't that great in qualifying, but it was always decent in the race and was fairly strong on it's tyres early in the season when it counted. Even so, it needed a driver like Fernando to get the good start (as he often did) get the positions back and move forwards, instead of making mistakes and going backwards like Massa would do. Surprised at the end of the season that Massa was a little bit quicker, just when Alonso should have been trying his hardest. He only won three races (and Europe was definitely gifted to him) but to stay in the points and only finish three behind Vettel is remarkable. Slightly tarnished for me with his mind games, attitude on the podium (looked like he completely ignore Vettel at the weigh-station after Brazil) and Ferrari's treatment of the lamb.

2=. Vettel
I'll put Vettel and Hamilton equal, considering the stats. Vettel, once he sorted out the quali issues, trounced Webber and left him over 100 points behind by the end. Webber got two wins; but he only won Monaco by virtue of leading into the first lap. Vettel, Rosberg, the Maccers were all faster than him. Then he only JUST won at Britain, but it was an off race for McLaren and Vettel had to pass a few cars after a poor start which dropped him too far back. But only two podiums for the season after this (a 2nd and 3rd). Webber also only got one fastest lap in the season, although he's known to like setting the fastest laps. So I think that helps put into perspective Vettel's pace.

In comparison with Hamilton, Button finished only 2 points behind him, despite a very poor season from Button.

So second goes to Vettel, and it's only second instead of first because the Red Bull just didn't maximise the car for most of the season. He should have easily beaten Alonso in the points. There were too many bad quali's early on that cost him and he couldn't finish where he should have. That's where Alonso differed, apart from Canada Alonso always managed to get the best of his results. Perhaps part of this is the Red Bull's poor straight line speed in a season where you need to be able to pass on the straights.

He also had a few costly errors; the Narain collision, pushing Alonso off track at Monza, trying to pass Button off-track, his excursions at the penultimate round. It was still a fantastic season from Vettel, but not as clean as 2011.

For those who say it was Newey who turned the season around and won the title, you can also put the blame on the team for their poorer performances earlier in the season, not Vettel. There were times when Vettel could make the tyres last very well when they shouldn't have, and the RB wasn't good on it's tyres. Just look at Monaco. Vettel's also clearly one of the best qualifyers around, so some of those poor qualifying results early in the season weren't really his fault.

3=. Hamilton
Start the season over, and Hamilton will probably be champion. McLaren were fastest right from the word go. They had a slump mid-season for a few races (particularly for Button), but came back strong pretty quickly. But I can only put Hamilton third because, despite the fastest overall package, he still only finished fourth in points.

What would he have gained from his six retirements: Europe: 12, Singapore: 25, Abu Dhabi: 25, Brazil: at least 18. Possibly not so many in Belgium and Germany though. That 80 extra points would have put him right up near Vettel and Alonso and in the title fight, probably a narrow points advantage once you deduct the points they picked up. But that's all. For a driver that had the best car from the word go, he should have been much further ahead in points (if you add the back retirements to his score). And if you take the retirements away from Vettel and Alonso, they too would have more points - it would be a very close points battle up front.

Hamilton put his mistakes from past seasons behind him, finally got the better of Button all season long, and I'd be expecting a full-on Vettel vs Hamilton title battle for 2013 if he didn't switch teams. Like Alonso, slightly tarnished with his attitude when Button would beat him.

4. Raikkonen
I still can't believe Kimi is actually 3rd in points. How the hell did that happen? I put him quite a distance behind the top three, but his consistency was impressive. The only disappointment was his lacking of passing ability at times. He did do some great moves, but there were other times when he just sat behind a slower car for entire stints. He could have beaten Vettel and Alonso at Bahrain and Valencia, had he made the move on them. But it was great to see him finally win at Abu Dhabi and maintain good pace on the harder tyres over Fernando. He also left Grosjean behind on race pace, and Grosjean proved he's got great talent with his qualifying. Overall though, he just wasn't expected to be this quick after being out of F1 for so long.

5. Sergio Perez
He fell apart once he signed the McLaren contract, with some stupid moves and accidents. He was also outpaced by Kobayashi at times. But, when he was fast, he was very fast. Better qualifying at both Malaysia and Italy would have seen him probably winning both races. He was much faster than Alonso and Hamilton at the end. And Canada he was also very good, fastest again at the end from memory. And he set fastest lap at Monaco. But too many retirements (six) and problems didn't help him in the points.

6. Grosjean
Sure he had a tonne of incidents, far too many. But an accident is just one single moment in race, and if you exclude those mixtakes, Grosjean was very fast. Often out-qualifying his 2007 champion team-mate and sometimes out-racing him, and don't forget that Grosjean is basically a rookie. This is his first full season, having only started 7 races in 2009 being the Ferrari lamb. Impressive performances for a rookie.

7. Maldonado
Again like Grosjean I try not to put too much emphasis on his crashes throughout the year, because that doesn't really indicate your true speed. His victory said it all really. When it came to qualifying, Pastor was on average over 0.5s faster than Bruno. Bruno only out-qualified Pastor twice in 20 races. Once he sorts out his race aggression, he could become a regular winner (obviously not with Williams though).

8. Webber
For a while there 2/3s through the season, he was the leading RB driver in points and looked like he'd have to be the one to catch Alonso. But once they got down to it with a better performing car, Vettel left Webber behind. Still, he won a couple races and out-qualified Vettel in 9 races. Definitely better than he performed in 2011.

Not sure who'd I'd put after this. Hulkenberg's had a few good races, particularly Brazil, but Di Resta is never far off. Kovalainen was good as always, but Petrov really wasn't far off him as well. Pic kept Glock within sight, and their qualifying was very even, impressive for a rookie.
I know Button has plenty of fans and had some good drivers in the year, including 3 wins, but his mid-season where he was racing with Kovalainen at Canada, and absolutely beaten by Hamilton for much of the season; not a great year for him. Maybe I'd put him #9 or #10.

Schumacher and Rosberg were both good in the early season, particularly Michael despite all his retirements. But what the hell happened - they were both so far off the pace in the second half of the year. Is the car really that bad? Mercedes stating that Brazil was a test session for 2013 is probably an indicator. Schumacher, had he finished where he qualified after the first several rounds, would have been leading the points.

[deeks6]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Yep, all quite serious.

Really ... let me explain further then.

Lets compare the GP winners to Driver Of The Race just for arguments sake:

Alonso 3 wins 3 DOTR
Hamilton 4 wins 2 DOTR
Webber 2 wins 2 DOTR
Rosberg 1 win 1 DOTR
Raikonnen 1 win 3 DOTR
Button 3 wins 3 DOTR
Perez 0 wins 2 DOTR
Maldonado 1 win 1 DOTR
Hulkenberg 0 wins 1 DOTR
Kobayashi 0 wins 1 DOTR
Di Resta 0 wins 1 DOTR

Vettel 5 wins 0 DOTR

Hmm, whats wrong with this picture? Somehow, when Seb wins, someone else manages to put in a better drive. Heck, in Bahrain, he didnt even make the top 3 in DOTR. Yet when he puts in stirring drives from the rear, they are not deemed to be good enough to be better than the winner. Um, seems as though you can not have your cake OR eat it.

Not saying that there is any bias mind you ...