Autosport Top 50 drivers 2014

[Tedracing]

Is there anyone here who could inform me the complete list of top 50 drivers elected by Autosport for 2014? It would be appreciated..

[Rodger Davies]

http://rankings.autosport.com/rankings/

[Simmi]

I think the OP was referring to the list published in the Christmas edition of Autosport - which is more subjective than the result-driven info in the link.

It's not really the right area of the forum - and I'm not going to list them all out. Someone might be kinder than me.

I'll give you the top 5:
5. Sebastian Ogier
4. Marco Wittmann
3. Fernando Alonso
2. Lewis Hamilton
1. Daniel Ricciardo

[Rodger Davies]

Ah,sorry, I assumed they just based that list on a snapshot of their rankings site! I learn something new.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I think the OP was referring to the list published in the Christmas edition of Autosport - which is more subjective than the result-driven info in the link.

It's not really the right area of the forum - and I'm not going to list them all out. Someone might be kinder than me.

I'll give you the top 5:
5. Sebastian Ogier
4. Marco Wittmann
3. Fernando Alonso
2. Lewis Hamilton
1. Daniel Ricciardo

According to the link its Hamilton, Rosberg, Ogier, Ricciardo then Keselowski as the top 5. The whole ranking system is pointless imo.

[Rodger Davies]

Yeah, sorry, ignore the link, that's not what the OP was requesting.

Nice to see two sportscar drivers (and one wannabe) in the top 5 though

[Tedracing]

Thank you guys! Simmi is right, I was referring to the top 50 which the magazine elects every year before Christmas. I tried to find a link on the website, but they didn't have it there.

I have seen the top 5 and top 10 already, but does anyone know the whole list?

[Rennen]

Ricciardo
Hamilton
Alonso
Wittman
Ogier
Rosberg
Lotterer
Power
Buemi
Bottas
Harvick
Jani
Vandoorne
Davidson
Button
Sainz
Palmer
Lopez
Latvala
Castroneves
Whincup
Hulkenburg
Bruni
Vettel
Pagenaud
Massa
Rowland
Ocon
Kvyat
Verstappen
Keselowski
Lynn
Vanthor
Ekstrom
Gasly
Muller
Turkington
Montoya
Blomquist
Grosjean
Neuville
Magnussen
Stoneman
Nakajima
Solberg
Bianchi
Tandy
Meeke
Bamber

[Beryl]

I don't understand the list. Nakajima won SF and is #45. Lotterer, his teammate, finished 3rd and is #7.

They completely ignore Japanese and South American motorsport and they completely overrate junior drivers. The likes of Ocon, Verstappen, Lynn and Gasly look good against fellow junior drivers, but if that's just it, they are junior drivers in junior series. Last year Magnusson won FR3.5 fairly easily. Now that he has moved out of junior categories, he is behind the likes of Sainz, Gasly, Lynn and Vandoorne? Do they seriously think Carlos Sainz drove better in 2014 than Sebastian Vettel?

The list is a sham. They just grabbed a bunch of names from the tops of various European and American categories and they shamelessly try to pass this off as something credible to gullible casual motorsport viewers.

[TF110]

Agreed. Just like their best lmp drivers list. Anthony and Buemi had nothing between them, but the former isnt in the top 3? Ricciardo above Hamilton is the first thing wrong with the list. All the races he won, Hamilton either dnf'ed or started from the back. Thats being in the right place at the right time. Opportunistic. Eleven wins, never off the podium when finishing and the wdc is somehow < three wins and 3rd place in the wdc? maybe some will disagree on that front, but its pretty obvious this is a bogus list.

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by TF110

Ricciardo above Hamilton is the first thing wrong with the list. All the races he won, Hamilton either dnf'ed or started from the back. Thats being in the right place at the right time. Opportunistic. Eleven wins, never off the podium when finishing and the wdc is somehow < three wins and 3rd place in the wdc? maybe some will disagree on that front, but its pretty obvious this is a bogus list.

If you didn't notice, Ricciardo wasn't driving the Mercedes W05. It's certainly plausible that Daniel drove better than Lewis this year.

That's not my complaint. My complaint is that it's hard enough to compare drivers from different cars and different teams in the same category, it's downright impossible to compare across different disciplines. How do you compare the performance of Jean-Eric Vergne in his STR9 to the performance of Laurens Vanthoor in his Audi R8 LMS ultra this year? How do you compare Jamie Whincup to Jose Maria Lopez? It's impossible to do with any sort precision as there's simply too many different variables. Might as well throw darts at a wall while blindfolded. It's a worthless list because it's not based on anything of any value and it doesn't contribute to motorsport media in any way.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Beryl

If you didn't notice, Ricciardo wasn't driving the Mercedes W05. It's certainly plausible that Daniel drove better than Lewis this year.

That's not my complaint. My complaint is that it's hard enough to compare drivers from different cars and different teams in the same category, it's downright impossible to compare across different disciplines. How do you compare the performance of Jean-Eric Vergne in his STR9 to the performance of Laurens Vanthoor in his Audi R8 LMS ultra this year? How do you compare Jamie Whincup to Jose Maria Lopez? It's impossible to do with any sort precision as there's simply too many different variables. Might as well throw darts at a wall while blindfolded. It's a worthless list because it's not based on anything of any value and it doesn't contribute to motorsport media in any way.

Youre right. But the guy who drove the other w05 'only' had 5 wins. Lewis was never passed on track this year, in the sense he never finished (when he finished) lower than his start position. Not once. No one besides him can say that. Ric came third in the 2nd best car. Thats not doing anything more than what Lewis did. Its a subjective, opinionated piece. Thats all I agree that the comparison with other forms of motorsport is troublesome. What makes a driver the best? Maybe its Harvick or Lewis or Buemi/Davidson or Ogier!

[tyronnezx]

Its Autosport. No one takes that C**p serious. did you see their awards? constantly F1 cars almost all of them british made, Top the racing car of the year. what a joke. im willing to put the bet that the Toyota Ts040 is a far more technologically advanced car than the Mercedes, but as per usual the award went to an F1 car. ill never take them serious

[Aysedasi]

That list is complete tosh. We lend it credibility by even discussing it......

[bella]

on the plus side, it's a good excuse for those who normally only read the f1 pages to read a bit about other drivers seasons in other categories and to get them thinking. also they're just a bit of fun really

just cause rankings are nonsense to us doesn't mean they're not useful for other people to discover drivers they haven't heard of/had lost track of.

i agree that they're a bit naff though - the single seater one done by one of the blogs was the same. the top 3 is fairly obvious but outside of that it's just down to writers favourites. to really seriously compare them you have to know the very minute detailed politics, performance variations, favourable circumstances, etc etc. on the other hand they're an interesting starting point for thinking about the whole season.

[Tedracing]

[QUOTE=Beryl;3487483]I don't understand the list. Nakajima won SF and is #45. Lotterer, his teammate, finished 3rd and is #7. "

How can we understand the Autosport judgement on this? Nakajima was SF champion beating Lotterrer fair and square. He was on pole at Le Mans and didn't put a foot wrong. He drove a great season in WEC even missing events, but the Autosport "experts" seem to know better.

Even Oliveira, who finished 2nd in SF, winning most races in the season and having 7 fastest laps out of 9 races with a smaller team than TOMS, deserved to be ahead. But as we all know, this is motor sports. Often we see people do an awesome job and not being recognized as they should. It shows how unprofessional some "professionals" are. But who cares, I'm sure they are making more money than most of us.. so who cares about some magazine ranking

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by tyronnezx

Its Autosport. No one takes that C**p serious. did you see their awards? constantly F1 cars almost all of them british made, Top the racing car of the year. what a joke. im willing to put the bet that the Toyota Ts040 is a far more technologically advanced car than the Mercedes, but as per usual the award went to an F1 car. ill never take them serious

It's a British magazine with a predominantly British readership which vote for the awards. It's hardly surprising that Brits do well, is it?

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

It's a British magazine with a predominantly British readership which vote for the awards. It's hardly surprising that Brits do well, is it?

Yeah and unlike the awards the top 50 isn't a public vote. And to be honest I'd rather see what motorsport journalists think than the public.

There's really no point getting worked up about a list. Any one of us could attempt to put one together and there would be multiple holes in all of them. It's supposed to be subjective - and it's supposed to get people talking. Looks like all most on here can do is sling mud at it.

And on the point of Lotterer. People are forgetting the race weekend this year which did the most for his stock as a driver on the world stage.

[wolfhound]

Crash.net have a top 100. They have started off with the bottom 25.

http://www.crash.net/motorsports/new...14-100-76.html

I see a few names from Autosports top 50 in there.

[Adam43]

I was surprised to see Lotterer higher than some of his fellow Sportscar drivers. I wouldn't have put him there, but the words that went with his ranking put forward a good case. Fair enough.

[Aysedasi]

I think he is one of the very top sportscar drivers Adam. If I were picking drivers with no restrictions, he'd be in my squad.....

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Yeah and unlike the awards the top 50 isn't a public vote. And to be honest I'd rather see what motorsport journalists think than the public.

There's really no point getting worked up about a list. Any one of us could attempt to put one together and there would be multiple holes in all of them. It's supposed to be subjective - and it's supposed to get people talking. Looks like all most on here can do is sling mud at it.

Thank you! I was wondering what all the fuss was about. Everyone has their own bias, but I would trust and expect journalists to be able to account for this more than fans (myself included), even if sportscar fans tend to be a particularly knowledgeable bunch

Originally Posted by Simmi

And on the point of Lotterer. People are forgetting the race weekend this year which did the most for his stock as a driver on the world stage.

I think part of the rankle with Lotterer's rating is the unsubtle reminder that Le Mans is the be-all end-all of sportscar racing, like it or not. Three "hero stints" in four years at one of the flagship events of motorsport is bound to bring a lot of praise. For me Lotterer deserves to be rated highly - but it would be nice if he wasn't the only sportscar driver that high up.

[Rennen]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

It's a British magazine with a predominantly British readership which vote for the awards. It's hardly surprising that Brits do well, is it?

I thought that Top 50 was decided by Autosports staff between them?

Autosports Gary Whatisface did a top 10 WEC list with Lottera, Buemi and Jani ahead of Davidson!

It makes me wonder why we bother with the official championship places and champions and just leave it to Journalists to decide who came where as they seem to know better than the various race series organisers!

[Simmi]

I think G4J was referring to the awards not the top 50 with that post.

Have to admit I found Ant's position in the sportscar list a bit of a head-scratcher. Okay Buemi had a bigger progression from last season but you're effectively penalising Ant for remaining at an elite level.

I know drivers do check out these lists but I think it's clear which prizes matter the most.

[Marcus666]

Originally Posted by TF110

According to the link its Hamilton, Rosberg, Ogier, Ricciardo then Keselowski as the top 5. The whole ranking system is pointless imo.

Keselowski??? No way, that guy will make it.
If Autosport is gonna include Nascar drivers, it will include either Gordon or Kahne.