[AndreasDavour]

I have a hard time ranking some of the drivers lower down on the grid, even though Latifi and Ricciardo come out as worst, as so many of them where quite anonymous.



Ranking the drivers against the car, and their team mates I have some ideas of who I put in the top ten, though. But, should I name the team driver of the year, those might be not the obvious ones from my list.


1. I would say the best driver of the year, maximizing what he had at hand and beating his team mate is Max Verstappen. That being said, he is a flawed genius. He reminds me of Michael Schumacher. A brilliant driver, but with such moral flaws in his character that I accept his achievement, but I can not admire him.


2. Second best I can not manage to separate two drivers. One of them managed to come out like a man invigorated, and drove really well and used a not very good car to its potential and showed why he is admired for both being smart, kind and an excellent racer. Sebastian Vettel was a standout this year. Gone where the deer in the headlights, and back was the real racer.

The second driver was kind of the other end of the spectrum. A young man asserting himself and not only crushing his team mate, but raced well and took a not very good car beyond what is should be doing. Lando Norris is in my book as good as a four time world champion. They will share my second spot.


3. Fernando Alonso is in my mind (and probably his own) the greatest driver on the grid. Let me clarify. He has driven Indycar, and veterans of the sport was impressed by how he adapted and learned. He has driven rallying, and done decently well there as well. He has driven sportscars, and was there the driver they put in the car to make up time or to dig in and take it that extra bit. He showed he could work well in a team and share the glory, and won Le Mans. Until Lewis or Max does something similar, I will hold up Fernando as the greater driver. Maybe not the better F1 driver, but one up there with the legends that used to do multidisciplinary driving. The best all rounder of this generation. Looking at a car that was decently good but brittle and how he wrestled it up the grid I think he was the driver for my third step. He stepped up this year and showed his skill in many races, until stupidity or reliability killed it.


4. Lewis Hamilton had checked out, that was clear. Then he got a car that was a total dog. But, when the fire was lit, he got points and finishes that a car like that did not deserve. The Lewis at the end of the year rose four steps at least on this list. The way he managed to pull the team together and congratulate them for every small gain was the signs of the world champion. He who used to hate testing worked like a development driver the whole year, and got results. Seriously impressive.



5. Once again I can not separate two drivers. One is a hard worker that worked the media, worked with the team, taught himself how to improve and was not bad at all compared to his team mate who some claim is the golden boy. I think McLaren losing Carlos Sainz was a blow, and at Ferrari he has show how good he is.

Leclerc in comparison started the year like a rocket. When he was good he was sublime. He could clearly take the car and just drive. He is a natural. But, he is insecure and mentally I wonder is he is the match for Carlos. He made stupid mistakes, didn't handle the team in failures like Carlos or Lewis. He is too uneven, and I fear he will suffer in the chaos that will result of Binotto leaving. But, when he shines he is fantastic. I still think this is the best driver pairing on the grid, if the team can pull together.


6. Russel finally got his win. I don't buy into the hype about how he beat Lewis. He is a very, very good driver. He drives with his brain, he handle media well and he obviously is good if he can keep up with Lewis. But, I put him below the Ferrari pairing until we see him in the car next to Lewis when Lewis is not doing development and testing on race day. His win was well deserved though.


Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas come next for me, and I place Albon slightly higher because I felt he had a more commanding presence in his team, and punched a bit more above his weight. He is the real deal, and while is took a pounding next to Max, I think he has benefited from being out of the limelight a bit. His results this year has shown a man that wrestles a car by the neck and make it do more than it should. Valtteri has taken the same kind of pounding mentally in the car next to Lewis, and I has been impressed by his tenure at Mercedes, not only for when he won, but for when he lost and still got on with the show. I think he is the strongest number two driver of all time. But, he is not good enough with the racecraft. He did well at Alfa, but I rate Albon a better racer.



Then there were the rest...



Summary:

Best of the best: Adrian Newey
Driver of the year: Sebastian Vettel
Team of the Year: Mercedes