Driver and Team reviews

[Backmarker]

Let's go controversial:

1) Lewis Hamilton
I was impressed. Forget the last three races, they were meaningless as far as Hamilton was concerned: he could have gone on holiday with a pop star instead and still been World Champion (and yet still came second in each race). He won 10 races, finished on the podium 17 times. After the United States Grand Prix he was 76 points clear of Sebastian Vettel, and 80 points clear of Nico Rosberg, who didn't look like he could cope with Hamilton.

2) Sebastian Vettel
It's easy to forget that in 2014 Vettel was comprehensively beaten by Daniel Ricciardo. Moving to Ferrari, who had finished 4th in the Constructors' Championship in 2014, was a risk, especially given that Kimi Räikkönen had spent a year developing the car and was supposedly settled at Ferrari after a transitional year. Vettel was leaving an organisation he had been with since 1998. And yet, he won 3 races, and at one point looked like an outside chance for the title (and was leading Rosberg before he went on his three race victory spree). Destroyed his team mate.

3) Max Verstappen
I want to resist the hype as much as possible, but once he got used to how the Formula One game is played, he consistently drove above how good the car was, including two fourth places. Nice job! Assuming he keeps this up next season, a move to the senior team seems to be on the cards.

4) Sergio Pérez
Outperformed his (Le Mans-winning) team-mate consistently over the course of a season, topped off by third at the Russian Grand Prix. I thought that his experience at McLaren had destroyed his chances of another drive at a top team, but he might just bring it back.

5) Nico Rosberg
Sorry guy. A lot further off Hamilton than last season. Lost his rag at times, and before his three-race victory spree, looked like he might finish 3rd in the championship. The last three races were impressive, and hopefully will have given him some confidence he can take into next season, but ultimately pointless.

6) Romain Grosjean
I'm unclear as to whether the Lotus was a decent car that Pastor Maldonado made look bad, or bad car Maldonado made look good. Either way, third at the Belgian Grand Prix was a great result. Moving to Haas for next season is a risk, I hope that he doesn't regret it.

7) Valtteri Bottas
He drove very well, and very consistently. Not as good as last season, but still a strong performance. I think he's the lead candidate to replace Räikkönen when he retires.

8) Felipe Massa
Beaten by Bottas, but not by as much as in 2014, and at times he was the better driver.

9) Daniil Kvyat
I thought the promotion was too soon for him (and I thought it should have gone to Jean-Éric Vergne), but he actually did better than I expected, outperformed Daniel Ricciardo.

10) Felipe Nasr
Might have finished higher, had he performed at the level he had at the Australian Grand Prix across the course of the season. Outperformed a (slightly) more experienced team mate.

11) Daniel Ricciardo
Not as impressive as last season. Solid, but unspectacular, so fully deserving of being placed bang in the middle of my rankings.

12) Nico Hülkenberg
It's quite something when you win Le Mans and the season is still a disappointment. He should have performed better, and should have beaten his team mate. The WEC might be where his destiny lies. A shame, I personally like Hülkenberg a lot.

13) Carlos Sainz, Jr.
A very good debut season. It's just a shame that he was up against an even more impressive rookie in that debut season. I'm pleased he gets another season to display his talent (though I think that's more as a result of there not being any Red Bull Juniors in a position to take his place), hopefully he manages to step up.

14) Jenson Button
The McLaren was a crapbox. He drove that crapbox as well as anyone could. To think he might not have ended up on the grid this year.

15) Fernando Alonso
Not quite as good as Button, but he was driving a crapbox.

16) Roberto Merhi
He didn't perform badly, despite being dropped for Alexander Rossi for 5 races.

17) Kimi Räikkönen
All he needed to do was finish second to his team mate at most races. Too often he finished behind Force India. How long can this second chance at Ferrari last? Probably not into 2017.

18) Pastor Maldonado
What was disappointing was that he wasn't as crazy as in other years. But he still makes too many mistakes to be at this level, and was destroyed by Grosjean.

19) Alexander Rossi
Jumped in the car, immediately outperformed his team mate.

20) Marcus Ericsson
So anonymous. He's the new Adrian Sutil. Without the ability.

21) Will Stevens
He's not very good. He's not a bad driver, but doesn't belong in Formula One, even at Manor.

I'll do teams on Sunday.

[good_Ralf]

21) Roberto Mehri - 4/10
20) Will Stevens - 4/10
19) Kimi Raikkonen - 4.5/10
18) Marcus Ericsson - 5.5/10
17) Nico Hulkenberg - 6/10
16) Jenson Button - 6/10
15) Fernando Alonso - 6/10
14) Pastor Maldonado - 6/10
13) Felipe Nasr - 6.5/10
12) Alex Rossi - 6.5/10
11) Valtteri Bottas - 7/10
10) Felipe Massa - 7/10
9) Carlos Sainz Jr. - 7/10
8) Daniil Kvyat - 7/10
7) Romain Grosjean - 7.5/10
6) Nico Rosberg - 7.5/10
5) Daniel Ricciardo - 7.5/10
4) Sergio Perez - 7.5/10
3) Max Verstappen - 8.5/10
2) Sebastian Vettel - 9/10
1) Lewis Hamilton - 9;5/10