In my opinion...
Drivers
1. Daniel Ricciardo - 8.5: In a season where much of the time he has been seen to have bad luck, he’s not exactly letting it get to him. Daniel’s been consistently excellent, even though the car probably isn’t up to the standard as the 2014 model (at least not over a full season). He has once again been the man to take the majority of the spoils that the Mercedes drivers have left behind, he’s won a race, had a pole and hasn’t retired yet. Just another great season.
2. Nico Rosberg - 8.0: Nico “Chokesberg” “Cheatsberg” Rosberg is actually in contention for the title in 2016. Until the last race. In fact, he has on many occasions been the genuinely faster Mercedes driver. He hasn’t made any major blunders or thrown any tantrums, he has taken advantage of his teammate’s issues. He’s just a good season without any major cockups, and if he wins this season, he deserves it.
= Lewis Hamilton - 8.0: A good season marred by many mechanical problems. He has generally driven pretty solidly in spite of this, though on occasion he has been bettered by his teammate on even terms, which does reduce his own score by a little.
4. Sergio Perez - 7.5: Having achieved the highest highs of anyone outside the top three teams, Sergio’s efforts have produced a really good season, and he has been the leading driver in Force India’s fantastic achievement of 4th in the constructors’ championship.
5. Max Verstappen - 7.5: He is making it very difficult for me to like him, but I cannot deny that his overtaking moves this year have on occasion been fantastic. He is still erratic, but he is impressing a lot of people. His achievements have really been hard to argue with during this season, and it is hard to argue that he didn’t earn that win in Spain. However much I disagree with his express promotion to the front of the grid, he is doing very well. If he irons out the mistakes he could be a serious force for the championship from next year onwards. If only he would win DOTD a little less often.
6. Fernando Alonso - 7.0: The motivation is back as McLaren have been on an upward streak since the start of the 2016 season. He has convincingly beaten Jenson all year, and has produced almost all of the best results. The car isn’t perfect, but shades of his best years have reappeared this year, and it’s great to see the guy back in the points again, even if it’s not at the front.
7. Carlos Sainz Jr. - 7.0: The unnoticed achiever in 2016, Carlos has produced great results in a car that really shouldn’t be achieving those results. With an almost-invisible Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso seat for most of the season, his results have been so good that for a while the team were genuinely contending for 6th in the championship against McLaren for much of the season.
8. Kimi Raikkonen - 6.5: An ok season. By post-2012 Kimi standards that means he deserves at least a 3-year contract from Ferrari until about 2020.
9. Valtteri Bottas - 6.0: Whilst 2015 was a lot more even between the two, 2016 has seen Valtteri lead the Williams Team against Massa. Still nothing of the masterpiece that was 2014, though this year’s car is clearly not up to the pace of the former. Hopefully 2017 can be more fruitful, to avoid his best season stamps him as a one-season wonder.
10. Sebastian Vettel - 6.0: Much like Charlie Whiting, I’m penalising his score, not just for his on-track performances, but his general attitude. The audience were promised that Ferrari and Vettel would fight for the championship, and instead we got a lacklustre car driven by an increasingly disillusioned Sebastian. A couple of very strong races when the car was at its best earlier in the year, though he never really outperformed Raikkonen. I would think that a four-time world champion should be able to take the good years with the bad ones, but Vettel has been seemingly lacking in self-respect this year, and there has barely been a race where he hasn’t complained loudly about something. His apparent entitlement to everything this year can’t possibly have won him any new fans.
11. Pascal Wehrlein - 6.0: In my opinion, easily the strongest of the rookies. Got Manor points in a car that, though improved significantly from last year, really shouldn’t be there. Deserves a stronger seat, though it looks as if he will have to wait another year for one.
12. Romain Grosjean - 6.0: A driver I previously seriously disliked, Rmn Grsjn has gone up in my estimation this year, and I respect his decision to move teams to Haas, even if the results were better than many were probably expecting before the season began. He took some great results early on, and had some issues later on. But I would say he’s a had a solid, if not great, season in 2016.
13. Nico Hulkenberg - 5.5: Just kind of there. Not a weak season by any means, but certainly not a strong one. Sergio took the best results, though that is not to say that Nico hasn’t had strong results himself. Nothing outstanding, though not terrible.
14. Jenson Button - 5.5: Had a good beginning to the season, but now that Fernando has regained his motivation after the disastrous 2015 campaign, Jenson is being seriously outclassed. He is still bringing in points and is largely consistent, but it is hard to tell whether he is being beaten outright by one of the best drivers in the sport, or if the car is simply not to his liking. Either way, he should retire even though I’ll miss him.
15. Kevin Magnussen - 5.0: Much the same as Hulkenberg, though in inferior machinery. He’s produced Renault’s best results, though his season hasn’t been perfect in itself. It is likely that his season, much like Renault’s, has simply been an attempt to stay motivated in a car that is simply not going to produce very many good results under anything short of miracle conditions. He was there and he was ok.
16. Felipe Massa - 4.0: He decided to retire at the right time. 2014 and 2015 were two quite good seasons from a man most people had declared had lost his edge post-2009. But 2016 has been poor, and following a few good results earlier in the year, he has disappeared off the face of the planet and has had some absolutely catastrophic performances (I’m thinking specifically of Hungary). It will be sad to see him go, but he definitely made the right choice.
17. Marcus Ericsson - 4.0: Um, apparently this guy was fantastic this year… He was alright I suppose. He has definitely been the better driver at Sauber this year, and has threatened on occasions towards the end of the season to score some points. But I haven’t seen anything exceptional or even solid from the guy to warrant praise. This was nowhere near the level of Kovalainen 2011 for me.
18. Daniil Kvyat - 3.0: I’d give him a hug, but not a contract for 2017.
19. Jolyon Palmer - 3.0: Oh yeah, that guy. The Roberto Mehri / Lucas di Grassi of 2016. Um, he wasn’t great. I mean, he wasn’t the worst driver we ever had. But then again, I don’t really remember him doing much. He came last in that race where all the drivers finished. And then he got a point once.
20. Rio Haryanto - 3.0: And it seems to me that you lived your life like a candle in the wind – never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in. And I would have liked to have known you, but I was just a kid. The candle burned out long before the legend ever did.
= Esteban Ocon - 3.0: I find it hard to judge this guy. He seems to have a ton of hype that I haven’t understood (yet).
22. Felipe Nasr - 1.5: I find this guy even harder to judge. I’ve barely even seen him this year, and if he’s not back next year I can see him becoming 2016’s Roberto Merhi. He underperformed in an already underperforming car. Even Marcus Ericsson performed better than him, which is not a sign of a good season. He didn’t have enough significant poor moments to give him ROTY, and it would be harsh to give him the award in the wake of his points in Brazil.
23. Esteban Gutierrez - 1.0: I’m still waiting for the day when Esteban is fighting Lewis Hamilton for a championship. Whiny and petulant, not very fast and missed out on points all year whilst his teammate was, while not perfect, comparatively much more graceful about it.
- Stoffel Vandoorne: Seems to be alright, looking forward to an actual season by the guy. Hopefully the hype is worth it this time; it’s been a while since we had a real star rookie.
Teams
1. Mercedes - 10.0: There's really nothing more to say. Just perfect.
2. Force India - 8.0: A fantastic season for a team that is still apparently running on a shoestring budget. As Williams faltered, the team has made itself known and is on an upward streak. I wonder if this is their high-water mark – it’s hard to see how they could improve from here…
3. Red Bull - 7.5: A good season, though it took its time getting underway. Back into a race-winning performance level, the team has improved greatly, though had a huge number of cock-ups under strategy and other instances. It hasn’t stopped them from getting a solid runner-up place, and both their drivers are looking like serious contenders for 2017.
4. Ferrari - 6.5: #RedSeason didn’t exactly pan out the way Ferrari hoped and had shouted would happen. They started out relatively strong but just tailed off whilst Red Bull beat them strongly by the season’s end. I think Vettel is beginning to understand where Alonso was coming from…
5. Haas - 6.0: A brand-new team with a serious number of points on the board. Good news for Formula 1! All power to them. I only hope they can keep it up for next year.
6. McLaren - 5.0: Hard to rate. Still no podiums or wins, but the car is definitely better than it was last year. They’re improving, but a lot were hoping for much more this year.
7. Williams - 5.0: Mediocre season, and worrying for the team after we have seen what has happened when Williams get themselves into downward spirals. Beaten by Force India, their high-points of 2014 seem long ago, and I for one am hoping they get the hang of next year’s rules.
8. Manor - 4.5: A vast improvement from 2015, when nobody was even aware they were on the track. I’m placing them this lowly because in terms of results, they didn’t achieve very many points and the hype was there from the beginning that this year was going to be their strongest yet. A good season by a backmarker’s standards, I suppose, but there was a lot more promised.
9. Toro Rosso - 4.0: A bad car whose results were gifted to them by the talents of a certain Mr Sainz. Perhaps I’m placing them too lowly, but as a team they had bad driver-relationships at the very beginning, and handled their Kvyat situation very poorly, whilst the car itself has just been poor. A very mixed bag.
10. Renault - 3.0: They had said before the season even began that 2016 would be a transition year, and I sure hope next year proves more fruitful. Bad car and an increasingly de-motivated lead driver, with a handful of points. Next year can’t come soon enough.
11. Sauber - 2.5: Regardless of their lucky points in Brazil, they have been toiling all season long and were getting beaten by Manor on occasion. There has to be something major to improve this once-proud team.
EDIT:
My Reject of the year podium is:
3.Felipe Nasr
2. Daniil Kvyat
1. Esteban Gutierrez
The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
Felipe Nasr - the least forgettable F1 driver!Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
Re: The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
Drivers
Lewis Hamilton - 7.5 - While he lost the championship. He won 10 races and did really well. Though shouldn't have really let Nico back into this.
Nico Rosberg - 9.0 - Won the Championship and a massive run after the summer break.
Sebastian Vettel - 6.5 - Not his best season but still quick and a great driver.
Kimi Raikkonen - 6.0 - Not his best season but a lot better than last.
Dan Ricciardo - 8.0 - The only non Mercedes pole and held off Max Verstappen. 3rd in WDC and considered one of the best all round drivers.
Max Verstappen - 8.0 - Great job in the RBR, great pace but too accident prone and his driving has caused a few issues but bloody quick.
Sergio Perez - 8.5 - Best of the rest. Beat him teammate but a decent amount. 101 points.
Nico Hulkenberg - 6.0 - While he did get 72 points. He really could have done better. He was beaten comfortably by Perez
Valtteri Bottas - 6.0 - Got points but tallied off from a great 2014 and 2015.
Felipe Massa - 5.5 - Some great drives but a pretty average season. Still a legend.
Fernando Alonso - 9.5 - 10th with that McLaren. Amazing season. Drove the balls out of that car.
Jenson Button - 6.5 - Some great drives like in Brazil but was beaten by Fernando by 33 points.
Stoffel Vandoorne - 8.0 - Came in and got a point.
Carlos Sainz - 8.0 - Amazing season with 46 points in that STR.
Daniil Kvyat - 5.0 - Great podium but all down hill from there.
Romain Grosjean - 7.0 - Points, 29 points for Haas. Great debut season from them.
Esteban Gutierrez - 3.5 - Unlucky but also some poor performances.
Kevin Magnussen - 6.0 - Drove well considering.
Jolyon Palmer - 4.0 - Looked really out of his depth at the start of the season but looked better near the end. Smashed in Sainz with a rookie error in Abu Dhabi
Felipe Nasr - 5.0 - Some great drives this season but not much else to say.
Marcus Ericsson - 5.5 - Real unlucky this season but some great drives.
Pascal Wehrlein - 8.0 - Solid stuff
Esteban Ocon - 7.0 - Amazing debut and then driving well solidly.
Rio Haryanto - 3.0 - Ehhhh
Teams
Mercedes - 9.0 - Won the championships.
Red Bull - 8.0 - 2nd best team of the season.
Force India - 8.0
Ferrari - 6.0
Williams - 5.0
Toro Rosso - 6.0
McLaren - 6.0
Haas - 7.0 - Great debut season
Manor - 6.0
Renault - 5.0
Sauber - 3.5
Lewis Hamilton - 7.5 - While he lost the championship. He won 10 races and did really well. Though shouldn't have really let Nico back into this.
Nico Rosberg - 9.0 - Won the Championship and a massive run after the summer break.
Sebastian Vettel - 6.5 - Not his best season but still quick and a great driver.
Kimi Raikkonen - 6.0 - Not his best season but a lot better than last.
Dan Ricciardo - 8.0 - The only non Mercedes pole and held off Max Verstappen. 3rd in WDC and considered one of the best all round drivers.
Max Verstappen - 8.0 - Great job in the RBR, great pace but too accident prone and his driving has caused a few issues but bloody quick.
Sergio Perez - 8.5 - Best of the rest. Beat him teammate but a decent amount. 101 points.
Nico Hulkenberg - 6.0 - While he did get 72 points. He really could have done better. He was beaten comfortably by Perez
Valtteri Bottas - 6.0 - Got points but tallied off from a great 2014 and 2015.
Felipe Massa - 5.5 - Some great drives but a pretty average season. Still a legend.
Fernando Alonso - 9.5 - 10th with that McLaren. Amazing season. Drove the balls out of that car.
Jenson Button - 6.5 - Some great drives like in Brazil but was beaten by Fernando by 33 points.
Stoffel Vandoorne - 8.0 - Came in and got a point.
Carlos Sainz - 8.0 - Amazing season with 46 points in that STR.
Daniil Kvyat - 5.0 - Great podium but all down hill from there.
Romain Grosjean - 7.0 - Points, 29 points for Haas. Great debut season from them.
Esteban Gutierrez - 3.5 - Unlucky but also some poor performances.
Kevin Magnussen - 6.0 - Drove well considering.
Jolyon Palmer - 4.0 - Looked really out of his depth at the start of the season but looked better near the end. Smashed in Sainz with a rookie error in Abu Dhabi
Felipe Nasr - 5.0 - Some great drives this season but not much else to say.
Marcus Ericsson - 5.5 - Real unlucky this season but some great drives.
Pascal Wehrlein - 8.0 - Solid stuff
Esteban Ocon - 7.0 - Amazing debut and then driving well solidly.
Rio Haryanto - 3.0 - Ehhhh
Teams
Mercedes - 9.0 - Won the championships.
Red Bull - 8.0 - 2nd best team of the season.
Force India - 8.0
Ferrari - 6.0
Williams - 5.0
Toro Rosso - 6.0
McLaren - 6.0
Haas - 7.0 - Great debut season
Manor - 6.0
Renault - 5.0
Sauber - 3.5
Re: The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
1. Daniel Ricciardo - After a shaky 2015 casting a shadow over his status as a top driver, the Australian returned on form and pulled another 2014 out of his bag. His consistency was impeccable, even if his young team-mate might have been more visible in his respective high points of the season.
2. Sergio Pérez - The best of the rest. May have been out-qualified by Hülkenberg, but the Mexican duly out-raced him, scored two impressive podiums in a Force India, and the rest of the time generally tended to sway away from any trouble while spending plenty of time in the top 8. The Mexican is in a truly impressive form.
3. Fernando Alonso - Groundhog day. Metronomically racks up the points while whining about McLaren, Honda and the piece of turd he has to drive. Absolutely maximizes his results while complaining about the state of Formula One at the frequency of Jacques Villeneuve. I don't even know whether to wish Fred gets one last opportunity in a title-capable car.
4. Max Verstappen - After his sudden promotion to the main team, one can't really argue against this young Dutchman being the most impressive debutant we have seen for a while, by a large margin. However, those fans clearly expecting him to develop into a new Senna and Clark in one driver, ought to worry about a couple of things: Verstappen's outright qualifying pace - Ricciardo easily had the upper hand there - and most importantly, his self-entitled, nothing-is-my-fault type behaviour. Here's hoping that he takes the Clark, not the Senna track in the future.
5. Lewis Hamilton - Yeah, was better than Nico and was more deserving of the title blah blah. Still, he was somewhat AWOL at the start of the year allowing Nico a healthy point gap, and then repeated that in the middle of it. Also tended to make mistakes in qualifying. Lewis not winning 2016 is not the travesty of the century.
6. Nico Rosberg - I can respect his hard work, I can respect his skills as a racer, I recognize he's not the worst driver to have won a WDC. But when it came to actually competing for the title, it seemed Nico was lost. Again. Whenever he tried to play tough - Spain, Austria, Germany - it failed. When Malaysia handed him a second chance to control Lewis and the title battle, it occasionally seemed way too much that instead of being in control, Nico was way behind Lewis and rather at the mercy of Red Bull and Ferrari. Let's see if the title will remove the gorilla off his shoulders when it comes to contesting Lewis.
7. Carlos Sainz - Consistently quick, especially in qualifying. Had a few clumsy moments, but overall it was a fine display at the wheel of a Toro Rosso.
8. Nico Hülkenberg - Consistently quick, especially in qualifying late in the season - but overall, beaten by Checo. Moving to Renault next season, I'm afraid it still is not the up-swinging career move the German desperately needs.
9. Kimi Räikkönen - Perhaps Kimi no longer delivers magic in 2016, but after two annus terribilis, at least the veteran was able to demonstrate that perhaps Ferrari wasn't quite that insane to have patience in him: still has genuine speed when the car is right. Had plenty of unluck and Ferrari-strategies.
10. Sebastian Vettel - Beaten in qualifying by Kimi Räikkönen. Words that I would have never expected to write any more. Vettel hasn't lost his pure ability anywhere, as demonstrated by a few of his early season drives - this year, though, he allowed his frustration spill over way too many times, resulting in clumsy collisions and silly antics. A major letdown after a strong 2015.
11. Valtteri Bottas - Plenty of unluck and Williams-strategies characterized the other Finn's season, as well. Early on the season Bottas wasn't quite as much on the ball as he should have been, and Williams gradually slipping down the grid later during the year didn't help him stay in the premier spotlight.
12. Jenson Button - Talking of unluck though, Jenson dominated that genre. Didn't show up against Fernando as well as he did in 2015, bringing home only one really good performance in Austria - but how could he ever have? His suspension breaking down in his farewell race was the cherry on the terrible cake. I will miss Jenson.
13. Romain Grosjean - Haas entered F1 with a bang, and it was not least thanks to Romain - heroically took his opportunities and brought the required points home where needed. However, as the season wore on, Romain gradually became weary and error-prone, starting to struggle with Esteban Gutiérrez way more than he should ever have.
14. Kevin Magnussen - As in the case of Grosjean, Magnussen was maximizing the opportunities he had (although Renault provided fewer of them), bringing home a great seventh place out of Sochi. And as Grosjean, when not racing for points he struggled with his team-mate way more than he should ever have.
15. Pascal Wehrlein - Had the upper hand on Haryanto in races, and on Ocon in qualifying. Brought the heroic point home, as well. However, Rio was right on his heels in qualifying, and then Esteban was more convincing in the races.
16. Esteban Ocon - Took a few races to get acquianted with the car - but a super impressive drive at Brazil, albeit eventually resulting in zero points, demonstrated why exactly Force India saw something in him instead of Wehrlein.
17. Felipe Nasr - Allowing Marcus Ericsson hold the upper hand in the intra-Sauber battle whilst making all kinds of accusations against his team was taking Felipe towards the ROTY at a vast rate of knots. Then he got his one opportunity at his home race, seized it and rescued Sauber's 10th place in the WCC, while Ericsson used the same opportunity by putting it into the wall. Arguably, that opportunity was the only job Nasr had that mattered, and he did it.
18. Marcus Ericsson - Some less talented paydrivers trundle at the back of the grid for a while, get no better and then disappear. Then, less talented paydrivers like Ericsson roll up their sleeves, and work hard to become better setup-wise, more consistent and error-free, they want to help their team develop. I respect drivers like Marcus Ericsson. The Pedro Diniz of the 2010's.
19. Felipe Massa - After a strong and solid start to the year, it somewhow seemed as if Felipe mentally returned to his Ferrari times roughly around Monaco and never returned to his Williams form: demonstratively, formerly lauded a qualifying specialist, Massa got beaten by his team-mate 17-4 in that department. Crashing out from the last place at a wet Interlagos was, sadly, rather a fitting farewell to a 2016 version of Felipe Massa...
20. Jolyon Palmer - Clumsy, error-prone, off the pace of his team-mate at the beginning - but started to get the hang of it as the season progressed, and suddenly became competitive against K-Mag. Scored a point, which was a fitting reward, to be fair. Still, will really have to justify his place on the grid next year.
21. Rio Haryanto - I doubt anybody expected anything. Therefore Rio sort of exceeded those expectations by teasing Wehrlein in qualifying occasionally, even if he generally was off everyone's pace in the long run. Doesn't really belong to an F1 grid, but wasn't an embarrassment either.
22. Daniil Kvyat - One could wonder what we would have missed, had the Sochi start panned out slightly different. Daniil, until then a formidable racer - this year's high point being a strong podium at Shanghai - was a miserable sight after that: I can't remember a driver who was so visibly mentally crushed, and the under-performance showed on the track, too. Got a surprising chance to redeem himself next year, and Daniil must hold on to it.
23. Esteban Gutiérrez - Unlucky in the first few races, the points tally doesn't tell the full story of the Haas internal battle: Esteban is not an untalented driver, far from it. But then again it does: it was frustrating to watch him absolutely waste that talent, in how he never managed to put a full weekend together - instead, he kept getting involved in silly incidents and other poor driving in what seemed like way too many times. Had all the wrong attitude about his misfortunes, resulting in a dumb brawl in the Haas pits and a subsequent loss of Formula One drive. Reject of the Year.
No Rating. Stoffel Vandoorne - Looking forward to seeing him race.
Teams ranking:
Mercedes - almost no errors strategy wise and produced another great car, however, one wonders what will happen with terrible driver management like that, when they no longer have a dominant car
Red Bull - did many thing right, the only thing missing was half a second a lap of pace and a few silly strategy errors
Force India - a terrible start to the season was overturned, eventually stole "the team between the top and the rest" status from Williams
Toro Rosso - out-dated engine, but they did a great job with it
Haas - showed everybody how to enter F1, their new mission is to show everybody how to stop the looming slide towards the back of the grid
Manor - no money, few sponsors...how did they build a car like that which allowd them to bounce put of the eternal last place I will never know - what a shame they lost the 10th and might now really be going bankrupt now after their most promising season, by far
Williams - sliding down the grid whilst still probably being the worst team on the grid
Ferrari - no wins, a few terrible strategy calls, and a terrible mess inside the team - #justferrarithings
McLaren - first season is always difficult, and this one was nowhere near as embarrassing as 2015 - but they really should be rid of 75% of the problems they still seem to suffer in what looks like every race
Sauber - managed to turn their absolutely terrible start of the season around, rescued their 10th place and eventually had a rather competitive car: surely they will hope to never be in a situation like that again
Renault - ok, they had an awful 2015 to build on, but occasionally it seemed like Renault would be the last car any driver would pick to drive - unforgivable for a factory outfit
2. Sergio Pérez - The best of the rest. May have been out-qualified by Hülkenberg, but the Mexican duly out-raced him, scored two impressive podiums in a Force India, and the rest of the time generally tended to sway away from any trouble while spending plenty of time in the top 8. The Mexican is in a truly impressive form.
3. Fernando Alonso - Groundhog day. Metronomically racks up the points while whining about McLaren, Honda and the piece of turd he has to drive. Absolutely maximizes his results while complaining about the state of Formula One at the frequency of Jacques Villeneuve. I don't even know whether to wish Fred gets one last opportunity in a title-capable car.
4. Max Verstappen - After his sudden promotion to the main team, one can't really argue against this young Dutchman being the most impressive debutant we have seen for a while, by a large margin. However, those fans clearly expecting him to develop into a new Senna and Clark in one driver, ought to worry about a couple of things: Verstappen's outright qualifying pace - Ricciardo easily had the upper hand there - and most importantly, his self-entitled, nothing-is-my-fault type behaviour. Here's hoping that he takes the Clark, not the Senna track in the future.
5. Lewis Hamilton - Yeah, was better than Nico and was more deserving of the title blah blah. Still, he was somewhat AWOL at the start of the year allowing Nico a healthy point gap, and then repeated that in the middle of it. Also tended to make mistakes in qualifying. Lewis not winning 2016 is not the travesty of the century.
6. Nico Rosberg - I can respect his hard work, I can respect his skills as a racer, I recognize he's not the worst driver to have won a WDC. But when it came to actually competing for the title, it seemed Nico was lost. Again. Whenever he tried to play tough - Spain, Austria, Germany - it failed. When Malaysia handed him a second chance to control Lewis and the title battle, it occasionally seemed way too much that instead of being in control, Nico was way behind Lewis and rather at the mercy of Red Bull and Ferrari. Let's see if the title will remove the gorilla off his shoulders when it comes to contesting Lewis.
7. Carlos Sainz - Consistently quick, especially in qualifying. Had a few clumsy moments, but overall it was a fine display at the wheel of a Toro Rosso.
8. Nico Hülkenberg - Consistently quick, especially in qualifying late in the season - but overall, beaten by Checo. Moving to Renault next season, I'm afraid it still is not the up-swinging career move the German desperately needs.
9. Kimi Räikkönen - Perhaps Kimi no longer delivers magic in 2016, but after two annus terribilis, at least the veteran was able to demonstrate that perhaps Ferrari wasn't quite that insane to have patience in him: still has genuine speed when the car is right. Had plenty of unluck and Ferrari-strategies.
10. Sebastian Vettel - Beaten in qualifying by Kimi Räikkönen. Words that I would have never expected to write any more. Vettel hasn't lost his pure ability anywhere, as demonstrated by a few of his early season drives - this year, though, he allowed his frustration spill over way too many times, resulting in clumsy collisions and silly antics. A major letdown after a strong 2015.
11. Valtteri Bottas - Plenty of unluck and Williams-strategies characterized the other Finn's season, as well. Early on the season Bottas wasn't quite as much on the ball as he should have been, and Williams gradually slipping down the grid later during the year didn't help him stay in the premier spotlight.
12. Jenson Button - Talking of unluck though, Jenson dominated that genre. Didn't show up against Fernando as well as he did in 2015, bringing home only one really good performance in Austria - but how could he ever have? His suspension breaking down in his farewell race was the cherry on the terrible cake. I will miss Jenson.
13. Romain Grosjean - Haas entered F1 with a bang, and it was not least thanks to Romain - heroically took his opportunities and brought the required points home where needed. However, as the season wore on, Romain gradually became weary and error-prone, starting to struggle with Esteban Gutiérrez way more than he should ever have.
14. Kevin Magnussen - As in the case of Grosjean, Magnussen was maximizing the opportunities he had (although Renault provided fewer of them), bringing home a great seventh place out of Sochi. And as Grosjean, when not racing for points he struggled with his team-mate way more than he should ever have.
15. Pascal Wehrlein - Had the upper hand on Haryanto in races, and on Ocon in qualifying. Brought the heroic point home, as well. However, Rio was right on his heels in qualifying, and then Esteban was more convincing in the races.
16. Esteban Ocon - Took a few races to get acquianted with the car - but a super impressive drive at Brazil, albeit eventually resulting in zero points, demonstrated why exactly Force India saw something in him instead of Wehrlein.
17. Felipe Nasr - Allowing Marcus Ericsson hold the upper hand in the intra-Sauber battle whilst making all kinds of accusations against his team was taking Felipe towards the ROTY at a vast rate of knots. Then he got his one opportunity at his home race, seized it and rescued Sauber's 10th place in the WCC, while Ericsson used the same opportunity by putting it into the wall. Arguably, that opportunity was the only job Nasr had that mattered, and he did it.
18. Marcus Ericsson - Some less talented paydrivers trundle at the back of the grid for a while, get no better and then disappear. Then, less talented paydrivers like Ericsson roll up their sleeves, and work hard to become better setup-wise, more consistent and error-free, they want to help their team develop. I respect drivers like Marcus Ericsson. The Pedro Diniz of the 2010's.
19. Felipe Massa - After a strong and solid start to the year, it somewhow seemed as if Felipe mentally returned to his Ferrari times roughly around Monaco and never returned to his Williams form: demonstratively, formerly lauded a qualifying specialist, Massa got beaten by his team-mate 17-4 in that department. Crashing out from the last place at a wet Interlagos was, sadly, rather a fitting farewell to a 2016 version of Felipe Massa...
20. Jolyon Palmer - Clumsy, error-prone, off the pace of his team-mate at the beginning - but started to get the hang of it as the season progressed, and suddenly became competitive against K-Mag. Scored a point, which was a fitting reward, to be fair. Still, will really have to justify his place on the grid next year.
21. Rio Haryanto - I doubt anybody expected anything. Therefore Rio sort of exceeded those expectations by teasing Wehrlein in qualifying occasionally, even if he generally was off everyone's pace in the long run. Doesn't really belong to an F1 grid, but wasn't an embarrassment either.
22. Daniil Kvyat - One could wonder what we would have missed, had the Sochi start panned out slightly different. Daniil, until then a formidable racer - this year's high point being a strong podium at Shanghai - was a miserable sight after that: I can't remember a driver who was so visibly mentally crushed, and the under-performance showed on the track, too. Got a surprising chance to redeem himself next year, and Daniil must hold on to it.
23. Esteban Gutiérrez - Unlucky in the first few races, the points tally doesn't tell the full story of the Haas internal battle: Esteban is not an untalented driver, far from it. But then again it does: it was frustrating to watch him absolutely waste that talent, in how he never managed to put a full weekend together - instead, he kept getting involved in silly incidents and other poor driving in what seemed like way too many times. Had all the wrong attitude about his misfortunes, resulting in a dumb brawl in the Haas pits and a subsequent loss of Formula One drive. Reject of the Year.
No Rating. Stoffel Vandoorne - Looking forward to seeing him race.
Teams ranking:
Mercedes - almost no errors strategy wise and produced another great car, however, one wonders what will happen with terrible driver management like that, when they no longer have a dominant car
Red Bull - did many thing right, the only thing missing was half a second a lap of pace and a few silly strategy errors
Force India - a terrible start to the season was overturned, eventually stole "the team between the top and the rest" status from Williams
Toro Rosso - out-dated engine, but they did a great job with it
Haas - showed everybody how to enter F1, their new mission is to show everybody how to stop the looming slide towards the back of the grid
Manor - no money, few sponsors...how did they build a car like that which allowd them to bounce put of the eternal last place I will never know - what a shame they lost the 10th and might now really be going bankrupt now after their most promising season, by far
Williams - sliding down the grid whilst still probably being the worst team on the grid
Ferrari - no wins, a few terrible strategy calls, and a terrible mess inside the team - #justferrarithings
McLaren - first season is always difficult, and this one was nowhere near as embarrassing as 2015 - but they really should be rid of 75% of the problems they still seem to suffer in what looks like every race
Sauber - managed to turn their absolutely terrible start of the season around, rescued their 10th place and eventually had a rather competitive car: surely they will hope to never be in a situation like that again
Renault - ok, they had an awful 2015 to build on, but occasionally it seemed like Renault would be the last car any driver would pick to drive - unforgivable for a factory outfit
when you're dead people start listening
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lance_rambert
- Posts: 164
- Joined: 03 Apr 2016, 20:02
- Location: Somewhere in the States
Re: The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
Drivers:
1. Daniel Ricciardo: 9.0 - Mr. Smiley has rarely put a foot wrong this entire season. Whenever something goes wrong for Daniel, it's usually his team letting him down. He made short work of dispatching Kvyat, and managed to keep the very hyped up Verstappen in check. If the field bunches up next year, expect Dan to be in the mix for the championship.
2. Sergio Perez: 8.5+ - Easily best of the rest this year. A couple more podiums on the board, en route to helping Force India to also become best of the rest of the teams.
3. Nico Rosberg: 8.5- - Now we have the second pair of father-son Drivers Champions after the Hills. Did what he had to do to keep the lead after taking it back in the wake of Lewis' misfortune and crappy starts.
4. Lewis Hamilton: 8.0+ - Not a bad title defense, especially with the amount of mechanical troubles. Some bad starts really didn't help though.
5. Fernando Alonso: 8.0- - He's still got it. Kept wheeling the mediocre McLaren into the points, even at the supposed power tracks. Please don't make a stinker 2017 engine, Honda.
6. Max Verstappen: 7.5+ - Kept Ricciardo somewhat honest during his tenure at the parent team. Still pretty rough around the edges, but this kid's got time to grow.
7. Carlos Sainz, Jr.: 7.5- - Consistent all season. Did rather well in a car that didn't get the luxury of engine upgrades.
8. Romain Grosjean: 7.0+ - Haas should be thanking Grosjean heavily for their great debut season. He was getting a little testy later in the season, but some of that could be put down to someone at Haas not knowing how to fix crappy brakes.
9. Kimi Raikkonen: 7.0- - Maybe he's not the same blazingly quick Kimi we saw in his McLaren days, but he still has something. Something enough to keep him in touch with Vettel after getting his ass kicked throughout 2015.
10. Valtteri Bottas: 6.0+ - He did what he had to do with the very mediocre Williams, which is keeping it in the points. Not any more, not any less. At least he finally asserted his position over the now-retiring Massa.
11. Jenson Button: 6.0- - Not a bad final season at all, but I was a bit disappointed after how he kept Alonso honest last year. The McLaren not grenading as much probably had a hand in that, but even with that aside, Alonso had the upper hand all year.
12. Pascal Wehrlein: 5.5 - An alright rookie season. Brought home a point for Manor, and generally had some edge on his teammates. The question mark over him though is that he never comprehensively beat them. Haryanto outqualified him more times than expected and Ocon kept him honest in races.
13. Nico Hulkenberg: 5.0+ - Not great, not awful, just okay. Greatly overshadowed by Perez, but there were shades of something good coming from Nico, enough to land the Renault seat. Could've had a podium too, but got screwed by a red flag.
14. Sebastian Vettel: 5.0- - Given how comprehensively he outperformed Kimi, Seb's 2016 is a big disappointment. Add to that his frustration sometimes getting the better of him and we have a season that puts Seb's status in the driver hierarchy into further questioning.
15. Marcus Ericsson: 4.5 - Definitely found something that put him over Nasr, up until Brazil. While Nasr generally had an upper hand in 2015, Marcus flipped the tables in 2016. Aside from that, however, he didn't do anything to bring that wretched Sauber above its weight.
16. Felipe Massa: 4.0 - Just looked unknown for the majority of the season. Outperformed overall by Bottas and definitely showed all the signs of someone on his way out on track.
17. Kevin Magnussen: 3.0+ - He might have scored those points in Russia, but what sticks him down here is his failure to visibly outperform Palmer. If Kevin wanted to really save his career, he should have at least been able to stay ahead of Palmer in races. Even if you're trundling in the back with that banana boat, you're still racing against the other banana boat. The fact that Palmer kept him honest throughout the year does not reflect nicely on Kevin, at all. Now he is up against Grosjean, who's no slouch. Let's see if he can keep up with Grosjean, or else we might see another Magnussen getting booted from F1.
18. Jolyon Palmer: 3.0- - Absolutely nothing special about this guy. Somewhat error-prone and generally not great on pace. At least he kept K-Mag on his toes and scored a point, I guess.
19. Felipe Nasr: 2.5 - Bitching and moaning to Sauber, while the teammate you visibly beat last year beats you, doesn't make you look good, bud. At least those Brazil points kept you from the top step here.
20. Daniil Kvyat: 2.0 - I'd like to give this guy a f*cking hug after all the crap that happened this year to him. Sadly, he didn't do much to show Red Bull he's worth something. This year was just a perfect storm of shite. Next year, I won't be feeling anymore sympathy if he fails to step up after Red Bull kept him on board for next year.
21. Esteban Gutierrez: 1.0 - Haas had a great first year, with absolutely no thanks to this guy. No points at all, while Grosjean runs off with multiple points finishes. Sure, Guti managed to run close to Grosjean later in the season, but not enough to help add on to the points tally. He also didn't show ANY improvement after his third full F1 season. After getting into numerous stupid accidents, being a dick to Lewis while getting lapped, and displaying a terrible attitude towards misfortune that would make Kyle Busch blush, I'd be surprised if any other team wants to deal with Esteban. One last thing: If Wehrlein managed to score points in the Manor, Esteban's got no excuse for failing to score this year. Good bathplugging riddance.
Not ranked, because I don't like to think about drivers with partial seasons:
- Esteban Ocon: He's got the FI drive, all he's got to do is drive well.
- Stoffel Vandoorne: Took long enough to get into F1, sadly at the cost of Button's seat
- Rio Haryanto: Eh...
---------------------------------
I'll be back later with teams...
1. Daniel Ricciardo: 9.0 - Mr. Smiley has rarely put a foot wrong this entire season. Whenever something goes wrong for Daniel, it's usually his team letting him down. He made short work of dispatching Kvyat, and managed to keep the very hyped up Verstappen in check. If the field bunches up next year, expect Dan to be in the mix for the championship.
2. Sergio Perez: 8.5+ - Easily best of the rest this year. A couple more podiums on the board, en route to helping Force India to also become best of the rest of the teams.
3. Nico Rosberg: 8.5- - Now we have the second pair of father-son Drivers Champions after the Hills. Did what he had to do to keep the lead after taking it back in the wake of Lewis' misfortune and crappy starts.
4. Lewis Hamilton: 8.0+ - Not a bad title defense, especially with the amount of mechanical troubles. Some bad starts really didn't help though.
5. Fernando Alonso: 8.0- - He's still got it. Kept wheeling the mediocre McLaren into the points, even at the supposed power tracks. Please don't make a stinker 2017 engine, Honda.
6. Max Verstappen: 7.5+ - Kept Ricciardo somewhat honest during his tenure at the parent team. Still pretty rough around the edges, but this kid's got time to grow.
7. Carlos Sainz, Jr.: 7.5- - Consistent all season. Did rather well in a car that didn't get the luxury of engine upgrades.
8. Romain Grosjean: 7.0+ - Haas should be thanking Grosjean heavily for their great debut season. He was getting a little testy later in the season, but some of that could be put down to someone at Haas not knowing how to fix crappy brakes.
9. Kimi Raikkonen: 7.0- - Maybe he's not the same blazingly quick Kimi we saw in his McLaren days, but he still has something. Something enough to keep him in touch with Vettel after getting his ass kicked throughout 2015.
10. Valtteri Bottas: 6.0+ - He did what he had to do with the very mediocre Williams, which is keeping it in the points. Not any more, not any less. At least he finally asserted his position over the now-retiring Massa.
11. Jenson Button: 6.0- - Not a bad final season at all, but I was a bit disappointed after how he kept Alonso honest last year. The McLaren not grenading as much probably had a hand in that, but even with that aside, Alonso had the upper hand all year.
12. Pascal Wehrlein: 5.5 - An alright rookie season. Brought home a point for Manor, and generally had some edge on his teammates. The question mark over him though is that he never comprehensively beat them. Haryanto outqualified him more times than expected and Ocon kept him honest in races.
13. Nico Hulkenberg: 5.0+ - Not great, not awful, just okay. Greatly overshadowed by Perez, but there were shades of something good coming from Nico, enough to land the Renault seat. Could've had a podium too, but got screwed by a red flag.
14. Sebastian Vettel: 5.0- - Given how comprehensively he outperformed Kimi, Seb's 2016 is a big disappointment. Add to that his frustration sometimes getting the better of him and we have a season that puts Seb's status in the driver hierarchy into further questioning.
15. Marcus Ericsson: 4.5 - Definitely found something that put him over Nasr, up until Brazil. While Nasr generally had an upper hand in 2015, Marcus flipped the tables in 2016. Aside from that, however, he didn't do anything to bring that wretched Sauber above its weight.
16. Felipe Massa: 4.0 - Just looked unknown for the majority of the season. Outperformed overall by Bottas and definitely showed all the signs of someone on his way out on track.
17. Kevin Magnussen: 3.0+ - He might have scored those points in Russia, but what sticks him down here is his failure to visibly outperform Palmer. If Kevin wanted to really save his career, he should have at least been able to stay ahead of Palmer in races. Even if you're trundling in the back with that banana boat, you're still racing against the other banana boat. The fact that Palmer kept him honest throughout the year does not reflect nicely on Kevin, at all. Now he is up against Grosjean, who's no slouch. Let's see if he can keep up with Grosjean, or else we might see another Magnussen getting booted from F1.
18. Jolyon Palmer: 3.0- - Absolutely nothing special about this guy. Somewhat error-prone and generally not great on pace. At least he kept K-Mag on his toes and scored a point, I guess.
19. Felipe Nasr: 2.5 - Bitching and moaning to Sauber, while the teammate you visibly beat last year beats you, doesn't make you look good, bud. At least those Brazil points kept you from the top step here.
20. Daniil Kvyat: 2.0 - I'd like to give this guy a f*cking hug after all the crap that happened this year to him. Sadly, he didn't do much to show Red Bull he's worth something. This year was just a perfect storm of shite. Next year, I won't be feeling anymore sympathy if he fails to step up after Red Bull kept him on board for next year.
21. Esteban Gutierrez: 1.0 - Haas had a great first year, with absolutely no thanks to this guy. No points at all, while Grosjean runs off with multiple points finishes. Sure, Guti managed to run close to Grosjean later in the season, but not enough to help add on to the points tally. He also didn't show ANY improvement after his third full F1 season. After getting into numerous stupid accidents, being a dick to Lewis while getting lapped, and displaying a terrible attitude towards misfortune that would make Kyle Busch blush, I'd be surprised if any other team wants to deal with Esteban. One last thing: If Wehrlein managed to score points in the Manor, Esteban's got no excuse for failing to score this year. Good bathplugging riddance.
Not ranked, because I don't like to think about drivers with partial seasons:
- Esteban Ocon: He's got the FI drive, all he's got to do is drive well.
- Stoffel Vandoorne: Took long enough to get into F1, sadly at the cost of Button's seat
- Rio Haryanto: Eh...
---------------------------------
I'll be back later with teams...
Last edited by lance_rambert on 28 Nov 2016, 03:59, edited 1 time in total.
Re: The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
1. Max Verstappen 9.0
2. Nico Rosberg 8.5
3. Lewis Hamilton 8.5
4. Daniel Ricciardo 8.0
5. Sergio Perez 7.5
6. Kimi Raikkonen 7.5
7. Fernando Alonso 7.5
8. Jenson Button 7.0
9. Carlos Sainz Jr. 7.0
10. Pascal Wehrlein 6.5
11. Sebastian Vettel 6.5
12. Kevin Magnussen 6.0
13. Romain Grosjean 6.0
14. Valteri Bottas 6.0
15. Felipe Massa 6.0
16. Nico Hulkenberg 5.5
17. Marcus Ericsson 5.0
18. Romain Grosjean 5.0
19. Esteban Gutierrez 4.5
20. Daniil Kvyat 4.5
21. Felipe Nasr 1.5
NC. Stoffel Vandoorne (good first impresions), Rio Haryanto (Rio Haryanto), Esteban Ocon (should have scored points in Interlagos)
Teams:
1. Mercedes 11/11
2. Red Bull 9.5/10
3. Force India 8.5/10
4. Ferrari 8.5/10
5. McLaren 7.5/10
6. Toro Rosso 7.5/10
7. Williams 7/10
8. Haas 5.5/10
9. Manor 5/10
10. Renault 4/10
11. Sauber 2.5/10
2. Nico Rosberg 8.5
3. Lewis Hamilton 8.5
4. Daniel Ricciardo 8.0
5. Sergio Perez 7.5
6. Kimi Raikkonen 7.5
7. Fernando Alonso 7.5
8. Jenson Button 7.0
9. Carlos Sainz Jr. 7.0
10. Pascal Wehrlein 6.5
11. Sebastian Vettel 6.5
12. Kevin Magnussen 6.0
13. Romain Grosjean 6.0
14. Valteri Bottas 6.0
15. Felipe Massa 6.0
16. Nico Hulkenberg 5.5
17. Marcus Ericsson 5.0
18. Romain Grosjean 5.0
19. Esteban Gutierrez 4.5
20. Daniil Kvyat 4.5
21. Felipe Nasr 1.5
NC. Stoffel Vandoorne (good first impresions), Rio Haryanto (Rio Haryanto), Esteban Ocon (should have scored points in Interlagos)
Teams:
1. Mercedes 11/11
2. Red Bull 9.5/10
3. Force India 8.5/10
4. Ferrari 8.5/10
5. McLaren 7.5/10
6. Toro Rosso 7.5/10
7. Williams 7/10
8. Haas 5.5/10
9. Manor 5/10
10. Renault 4/10
11. Sauber 2.5/10
Pasta_maldonado wrote:I think normal32 is an old English farmer re-incarnated
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UncreativeUsername37
- Posts: 3420
- Joined: 25 May 2012, 14:36
- Location: Earth
Re: The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
Who got the maximum out of their car the most often? And who sucked the least often?
The answer is Sainz. And yet Verstappen was clearly better than him, and Ricciardo was about equal with Verstappen himself. The Red Bull stable is an extreme example, but it isn't just them, it's a difficult season to rank all round. We had close matchups at all three big teams, Hamilton had more speed than Rosberg but more huge mistakes so you have to make a value judgment as it were, and there are unanswerable questions about the motivational states of both McLaren drivers, Vettel, Kvyat, and post-Malaysia Rosberg. So even compared to most driver season rankings, this list includes a lot of huge guesses.
1. Fernando Alonso
If any of the top six had really smashed their teammate, they would be the one here. With not a single driver on the grid putting together a year that makes you go "that guy, he really deserves a championship"—we did have three in 2011 and two in 2013 and 2015, so I guess we have to finally pay the bills—Alonso is the best option. He may not have done it by a lot, but he was the only one to clearly outperform a highly-rated teammate, so he gets the top spot. Not that complicated in the end.
2. Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo beat Verstappen more often, plus he didn't make a bunch of stupid mistakes. They were quite close, though, with Verstappen getting better as he got more used to the car and team. Taking experience into account, Verstappen was probably slightly better, depending on how you count his mistakes. Of course, that's also what I said about Kvyat last year, so that doesn't mean he's just eternally better. I do hope Red Bull are the best team in 2017 like everyone thinks they will be, because a Ricciardo-Verstappen title fight will be a classic.
3. Lewis Hamilton
On head-to-head results, this year is just slightly worse than 2015, but unlike last year, a lot of Hamilton's bad races were really bad. He was the better Mercedes driver, so it's annoying he didn't win, but we'll never know what Rosberg would have done if he actually needed to. So yeah, 2015, but when he lost he lost hard. Think that sums it up.
4. Sebastian Vettel
Vettel and Räikkönen were close as could be in qualifying, but Vettel was the clear winner in what they give out the points for. Like Alonso, he didn't destroy his teammate, but at least he was clearly better than him. I don't feel he put together something close to a championship year like the three above him, but most of the time he did what he could with the Ferrari. He made a few mistakes and his pace wasn't on the level of his odd-numbered years, but it was a solid performance.
5. Nico Rosberg
It isn't the worst thing in the world that Rosberg is the 2016 champion. Like Hamilton, he had his terrible races—Austria, Germany, and Malaysia—but only counting the ones where he was trying, he was the faster driver almost as often, and didn't have quite as many really bad races. He may not be a legend like some other single champions are, but he won't be deposing Villeneuve as the go-to undeserving guy.
6. Max Verstappen
Imagine if Hamilton lost two of the final four races, and that's how I feel about Verstappen's season. He's got the pace, and if he can find it just slightly more often and cut out all the mistakes, he is the champion of 2017. Of course, "beat Ricciardo more often" and "go from Maldonado consistency to Rosberg in three months" aren't things that are just a quick talk with your engineer. Still, he was more or less an equal to Ricciardo, and without all the mistakes he would be higher up. I'll say it again, I'm optimistic for 2017 to give us the kind of title fight for the ages we haven't had for quite a while.
7. Carlos Sainz
Why Sainz waited until after Red Bull chose their new driver to drag the Toro Rosso where he did, who knows. Maybe it's to do with pressure and team politics, maybe it's a coincidence, maybe the car was just better and Verstappen would be doing the same things. Whatever the case, it's a midfield driver dragging their car into crazy positions. You talk about getting the most out of the car, just look at him. With no bad performances, I can't put him any lower than this. Other than his hero, Carlos Sainz is the best of the rest.
8. Jenson Button
Considering his relative performance to Alonso, he would've beat most of the other drivers on the grid. He was still flattering the McLaren, or more to the point the Honda. Not much to say, he wasn't championship level, but it's a shame he's retiring because he still has it.
9. Sergio Pérez
Diet Sainz. He beat his teammate most of the time and put in some amazing performances, something he's done one of in most years past. He could have beat Hülkenberg a lot more often, but still, he confirmed 2015 was the new him and not an aberration.
10. Kimi Räikkönen
We complained about Räikkönen over Grosjean, but Ferrari sure showed us. He still clearly lost to his teammate, but unlike the past two years, he wasn't pulverised. He outperformed Vettel often enough that no one is complaining about someone else having his seat, and it'll be interesting to see how he performs in 2017. He cut out the mistakes of last year, found a respectable amount of pace, and overall, he slots in nicely behind the car-transcenders and ahead of everyone else.
11. Valtteri Bottas
Like previous years, Bottas really slightly beat Massa in races. He continues to be a boring midfield driver, very rarely dragging the car somewhere crazy in either direction. Which suits his personality, never attracting media attention for a good or bad comment or demeanor in general. When was the last time you saw Bottas in an interview? Or race commentary?
12. Felipe Massa
Really slightly worse than Bottas. So he's here. And just as boring.
13. Esteban Ocon
Coming into F1 mid-season is always tough, so is experience why he was worse than Wehrlein and than better, or is it just noise? I don't know. Mercedes and Force India seem to think they know. Whatever the case, there isn't much to complain about in his season.
14. Pascal Wehrlein
He did what he needed to. He was decent against Ocon, great against the Saubers, and that point in Austria was absolutely incredible. I hope Manor survive not just so that, you know, Manor survive, but for the sake of Wehrlein as well.
15. Nico Hülkenberg
He wasn't significantly worse than Pérez, but all the drivers were so close that this is where he ends up. Everyone above him did what they could with the car more often. He definitely still deserves to be in F1, so I'm glad he's found a seat with someone, but if he didn't I don't think any of us would really be outraged. Would he be a better 2017 Force India driver than Ocon? It's a very close call, and Ocon just got here.
16. Romain Grosjean
Sometimes it was amazing what he was able to do with a Haas, sometimes he couldn't even outrace Gutiérrez. With all the close intra-team battles, this was a great season to be high up in ranking lists on Internet forums, but he blew it with how often he was dead slow. Hamilton and Verstappen may have taken the headlines, but Grosjean may be the true inconsistent driver of the year.
17. Marcus Ericsson
Marcus Ericsson beat his teammate over the course of a season. Crazy stuff. In tricky conditions, the kind of race where a small team can score points, Nasr was fit for the job, but it isn't like Ericsson never put the Sauber in a great position. Just look at how much potential for crashes there was in Mexico, and yet nothing happened and he wasn't rewarded for his great drive. Before Maldonado was completely Trullied out of F1, the only thing silly about the 2016 silly season was this guy still being an F1 driver, but now here he is proving his worth. I just can't believe I'm happy to see another season of Marcus Ericsson.
18. Kevin Magnussen
You wouldn't expect Magnussen to merely equal a driver who needed four seasons to win GP2. This was his chance to show that he does have talent and he was just thrown into a big team too early, but he couldn't do it. He isn't an exciting driver anymore. If Grosjean can pull himself together, the 2018 silly season may be the end of Kevin Magnussen as an F1 driver, and he'll deserve it too.
19. Esteban Gutiérrez
Gutiérrez may have been a rough equal of Grosjean in races, and that's great, but he never showed he was better than the Haas. Whether it was more him beating great or Grosjean failing, we don't know, so equaling Grosjean definitely merits a drive next year. Yet now nobody wants him... not that I'm that sad, but still, it's a bit weird.
20. Jolyon Palmer
If Magnussen performed like Palmer did in Russia, Renault would've finished behind Sauber. His year was extremely similar to Gutiérrez's: slightly worse than his midfield-tier teammate in qualifying and equal in races, but not managing any big performances to show that he deserved better than what he had. He hasn't been terrible and shown that he doesn't deserve to be in F1, but not even his team is really thrilled that he has a seat next year.
21. Felipe Nasr
Soundly beaten by Marcus Ericsson. Read that sentence again. Yes, Brazil was great, but you get one of those in a season and twenty other races where you just have to drive normally. As I said, Ericsson too put in performances deserving of points. 2015 should've been a great year to build upon, but instead he got worse. Sauber would be jerks not to take the guy who saved them, but he wouldn't really be missed.
22. Daniil Kvyat
China was his only decent performance at Red Bull, and he was still the slower driver. Then at Toro Rosso, Sainz kept bringing home points whilst he just circuited around a few positions down. In a 22-car grid with F1-size gaps between the teams, a few positions is a lot. There are no redeeming factors about his season, and why Gasly isn't in instead of him, who knows. After da Costa's sudden failure at life, Ricciardo's greatness, and Verstappen's two sudden advancements that enraged the Internet then turned out great, I'm done questioning Red Bull, but he should consider himself luckier than Sauber.
23. Rio Haryanto
He didn't embarrass himself in qualifying. So there's that.
Who made the best car, considering the money they had? Typically a question with a somewhat less complicated answer.
1. Mercedes
You can't argue against nineteen wins, especially when one of the losses was completely down to the drivers. Besides a few mechanical problems, not even mostly in the races, there isn't anything to criticise. Not even in terms of the media and PR.
2. Force India
Considering the budget, you couldn't ask for more. Often when people say some position is like a win or world championship, it's a massive exaggeration, but beating Williams to fourth really was their championship. They were helped by Williams having some really poor races, but still, that has nothing to do with them. And yes, their drivers were a little better, but both teams have had their drivers for years, so it isn't like they got lucky. They really did earn their fourth place.
3. Red Bull
They beat Ferrari. They did have their embarrassments with Monaco and as expected Baku and Monza, but at least they had a high enough baseline to even be embarrassed with specific results. And there's the masterstroke of Verstappen. With the two wins Mercedes didn't get and only seven races off the podium, they are deserving runners-up.
4. Haas
You couldn't ask more of a new team. Australia and Bahrain got us a bit overexcited, but they soon settled between Toro Rosso and the teams with no money. I can't see them cracking into the four with good budgets, or Williams and Force India, but with a year under their belt, a big regulation change, and no talk of a lack of money, seventh does seem reasonable....
5. Manor
They actually beat Sauber on pace a lot of times. And they almost finished ahead of them. For the first time, they were in a genuine fight with an old team, and you couldn't ask for more.
6. Williams
This is where we get into the teams that clearly could've done more. With their budget, Williams should have been fourth, and to be fair they almost were. Still, Force India were worse off and beat them, and whilst it was hardly 2011, it was still a disappointment. Nothing to do but try and redeem themselves next year. There's certainly room for a change in the hierarchy.
7. Ferrari
Ferrari losing to Red Bull this year is sort of like Williams and Force India, but Ferrari came third instead of second in their personal championship, so they get the lower ranking. This was supposed to be the year they made things interesting with Mercedes, but instead they inexplicably declined. If 2017 turns out the same way, how much will Vettel take?
8. Toro Rosso
I don't know. They did exactly what you would expect. Williams and Ferrari may have been more disappointing, but if you take out expectations, they still did a better job. Not to say Toro Rosso did poorly, they did fine. Meh.
9. McLaren
They aren't there yet, and now if they want to get any further, they'll have to beat some actual skilled competition. Basically Honda will have to stop sucking. Alonso and Vandoorne deserve better than the sixth best car, so hopefully the regulation change will let them leap ahead. Sixth is what we all expected, true, but they should still be fourth at absolute minimum.
10. Sauber
The decline continued, but in 2017 it stops, because they're now at the bottom. If it wasn't for Brazil being Brazil, they would be out of here. Mercedes engine or not, falling into the clutches of Manor speaks for itself.
11. Renault
This is the result of Lotus finally collapsing. Yes, I know that isn't Renault's fault, but I'm judging the team, not Groupe Renault. Besides, they knew what they were buying. Other than the continuing disaster of Sauber and the lemonade stand of Manor, they were a clear last place, and they were really the only team that declined a whole lot. I mean, three places, that's a lot in an eleven-team series. Like the two teams who finished below them, the only way is up.
The answer is Sainz. And yet Verstappen was clearly better than him, and Ricciardo was about equal with Verstappen himself. The Red Bull stable is an extreme example, but it isn't just them, it's a difficult season to rank all round. We had close matchups at all three big teams, Hamilton had more speed than Rosberg but more huge mistakes so you have to make a value judgment as it were, and there are unanswerable questions about the motivational states of both McLaren drivers, Vettel, Kvyat, and post-Malaysia Rosberg. So even compared to most driver season rankings, this list includes a lot of huge guesses.
1. Fernando Alonso
If any of the top six had really smashed their teammate, they would be the one here. With not a single driver on the grid putting together a year that makes you go "that guy, he really deserves a championship"—we did have three in 2011 and two in 2013 and 2015, so I guess we have to finally pay the bills—Alonso is the best option. He may not have done it by a lot, but he was the only one to clearly outperform a highly-rated teammate, so he gets the top spot. Not that complicated in the end.
2. Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo beat Verstappen more often, plus he didn't make a bunch of stupid mistakes. They were quite close, though, with Verstappen getting better as he got more used to the car and team. Taking experience into account, Verstappen was probably slightly better, depending on how you count his mistakes. Of course, that's also what I said about Kvyat last year, so that doesn't mean he's just eternally better. I do hope Red Bull are the best team in 2017 like everyone thinks they will be, because a Ricciardo-Verstappen title fight will be a classic.
3. Lewis Hamilton
On head-to-head results, this year is just slightly worse than 2015, but unlike last year, a lot of Hamilton's bad races were really bad. He was the better Mercedes driver, so it's annoying he didn't win, but we'll never know what Rosberg would have done if he actually needed to. So yeah, 2015, but when he lost he lost hard. Think that sums it up.
4. Sebastian Vettel
Vettel and Räikkönen were close as could be in qualifying, but Vettel was the clear winner in what they give out the points for. Like Alonso, he didn't destroy his teammate, but at least he was clearly better than him. I don't feel he put together something close to a championship year like the three above him, but most of the time he did what he could with the Ferrari. He made a few mistakes and his pace wasn't on the level of his odd-numbered years, but it was a solid performance.
5. Nico Rosberg
It isn't the worst thing in the world that Rosberg is the 2016 champion. Like Hamilton, he had his terrible races—Austria, Germany, and Malaysia—but only counting the ones where he was trying, he was the faster driver almost as often, and didn't have quite as many really bad races. He may not be a legend like some other single champions are, but he won't be deposing Villeneuve as the go-to undeserving guy.
6. Max Verstappen
Imagine if Hamilton lost two of the final four races, and that's how I feel about Verstappen's season. He's got the pace, and if he can find it just slightly more often and cut out all the mistakes, he is the champion of 2017. Of course, "beat Ricciardo more often" and "go from Maldonado consistency to Rosberg in three months" aren't things that are just a quick talk with your engineer. Still, he was more or less an equal to Ricciardo, and without all the mistakes he would be higher up. I'll say it again, I'm optimistic for 2017 to give us the kind of title fight for the ages we haven't had for quite a while.
7. Carlos Sainz
Why Sainz waited until after Red Bull chose their new driver to drag the Toro Rosso where he did, who knows. Maybe it's to do with pressure and team politics, maybe it's a coincidence, maybe the car was just better and Verstappen would be doing the same things. Whatever the case, it's a midfield driver dragging their car into crazy positions. You talk about getting the most out of the car, just look at him. With no bad performances, I can't put him any lower than this. Other than his hero, Carlos Sainz is the best of the rest.
8. Jenson Button
Considering his relative performance to Alonso, he would've beat most of the other drivers on the grid. He was still flattering the McLaren, or more to the point the Honda. Not much to say, he wasn't championship level, but it's a shame he's retiring because he still has it.
9. Sergio Pérez
Diet Sainz. He beat his teammate most of the time and put in some amazing performances, something he's done one of in most years past. He could have beat Hülkenberg a lot more often, but still, he confirmed 2015 was the new him and not an aberration.
10. Kimi Räikkönen
We complained about Räikkönen over Grosjean, but Ferrari sure showed us. He still clearly lost to his teammate, but unlike the past two years, he wasn't pulverised. He outperformed Vettel often enough that no one is complaining about someone else having his seat, and it'll be interesting to see how he performs in 2017. He cut out the mistakes of last year, found a respectable amount of pace, and overall, he slots in nicely behind the car-transcenders and ahead of everyone else.
11. Valtteri Bottas
Like previous years, Bottas really slightly beat Massa in races. He continues to be a boring midfield driver, very rarely dragging the car somewhere crazy in either direction. Which suits his personality, never attracting media attention for a good or bad comment or demeanor in general. When was the last time you saw Bottas in an interview? Or race commentary?
12. Felipe Massa
Really slightly worse than Bottas. So he's here. And just as boring.
13. Esteban Ocon
Coming into F1 mid-season is always tough, so is experience why he was worse than Wehrlein and than better, or is it just noise? I don't know. Mercedes and Force India seem to think they know. Whatever the case, there isn't much to complain about in his season.
14. Pascal Wehrlein
He did what he needed to. He was decent against Ocon, great against the Saubers, and that point in Austria was absolutely incredible. I hope Manor survive not just so that, you know, Manor survive, but for the sake of Wehrlein as well.
15. Nico Hülkenberg
He wasn't significantly worse than Pérez, but all the drivers were so close that this is where he ends up. Everyone above him did what they could with the car more often. He definitely still deserves to be in F1, so I'm glad he's found a seat with someone, but if he didn't I don't think any of us would really be outraged. Would he be a better 2017 Force India driver than Ocon? It's a very close call, and Ocon just got here.
16. Romain Grosjean
Sometimes it was amazing what he was able to do with a Haas, sometimes he couldn't even outrace Gutiérrez. With all the close intra-team battles, this was a great season to be high up in ranking lists on Internet forums, but he blew it with how often he was dead slow. Hamilton and Verstappen may have taken the headlines, but Grosjean may be the true inconsistent driver of the year.
17. Marcus Ericsson
Marcus Ericsson beat his teammate over the course of a season. Crazy stuff. In tricky conditions, the kind of race where a small team can score points, Nasr was fit for the job, but it isn't like Ericsson never put the Sauber in a great position. Just look at how much potential for crashes there was in Mexico, and yet nothing happened and he wasn't rewarded for his great drive. Before Maldonado was completely Trullied out of F1, the only thing silly about the 2016 silly season was this guy still being an F1 driver, but now here he is proving his worth. I just can't believe I'm happy to see another season of Marcus Ericsson.
18. Kevin Magnussen
You wouldn't expect Magnussen to merely equal a driver who needed four seasons to win GP2. This was his chance to show that he does have talent and he was just thrown into a big team too early, but he couldn't do it. He isn't an exciting driver anymore. If Grosjean can pull himself together, the 2018 silly season may be the end of Kevin Magnussen as an F1 driver, and he'll deserve it too.
19. Esteban Gutiérrez
Gutiérrez may have been a rough equal of Grosjean in races, and that's great, but he never showed he was better than the Haas. Whether it was more him beating great or Grosjean failing, we don't know, so equaling Grosjean definitely merits a drive next year. Yet now nobody wants him... not that I'm that sad, but still, it's a bit weird.
20. Jolyon Palmer
If Magnussen performed like Palmer did in Russia, Renault would've finished behind Sauber. His year was extremely similar to Gutiérrez's: slightly worse than his midfield-tier teammate in qualifying and equal in races, but not managing any big performances to show that he deserved better than what he had. He hasn't been terrible and shown that he doesn't deserve to be in F1, but not even his team is really thrilled that he has a seat next year.
21. Felipe Nasr
Soundly beaten by Marcus Ericsson. Read that sentence again. Yes, Brazil was great, but you get one of those in a season and twenty other races where you just have to drive normally. As I said, Ericsson too put in performances deserving of points. 2015 should've been a great year to build upon, but instead he got worse. Sauber would be jerks not to take the guy who saved them, but he wouldn't really be missed.
22. Daniil Kvyat
China was his only decent performance at Red Bull, and he was still the slower driver. Then at Toro Rosso, Sainz kept bringing home points whilst he just circuited around a few positions down. In a 22-car grid with F1-size gaps between the teams, a few positions is a lot. There are no redeeming factors about his season, and why Gasly isn't in instead of him, who knows. After da Costa's sudden failure at life, Ricciardo's greatness, and Verstappen's two sudden advancements that enraged the Internet then turned out great, I'm done questioning Red Bull, but he should consider himself luckier than Sauber.
23. Rio Haryanto
He didn't embarrass himself in qualifying. So there's that.
Who made the best car, considering the money they had? Typically a question with a somewhat less complicated answer.
1. Mercedes
You can't argue against nineteen wins, especially when one of the losses was completely down to the drivers. Besides a few mechanical problems, not even mostly in the races, there isn't anything to criticise. Not even in terms of the media and PR.
2. Force India
Considering the budget, you couldn't ask for more. Often when people say some position is like a win or world championship, it's a massive exaggeration, but beating Williams to fourth really was their championship. They were helped by Williams having some really poor races, but still, that has nothing to do with them. And yes, their drivers were a little better, but both teams have had their drivers for years, so it isn't like they got lucky. They really did earn their fourth place.
3. Red Bull
They beat Ferrari. They did have their embarrassments with Monaco and as expected Baku and Monza, but at least they had a high enough baseline to even be embarrassed with specific results. And there's the masterstroke of Verstappen. With the two wins Mercedes didn't get and only seven races off the podium, they are deserving runners-up.
4. Haas
You couldn't ask more of a new team. Australia and Bahrain got us a bit overexcited, but they soon settled between Toro Rosso and the teams with no money. I can't see them cracking into the four with good budgets, or Williams and Force India, but with a year under their belt, a big regulation change, and no talk of a lack of money, seventh does seem reasonable....
5. Manor
They actually beat Sauber on pace a lot of times. And they almost finished ahead of them. For the first time, they were in a genuine fight with an old team, and you couldn't ask for more.
6. Williams
This is where we get into the teams that clearly could've done more. With their budget, Williams should have been fourth, and to be fair they almost were. Still, Force India were worse off and beat them, and whilst it was hardly 2011, it was still a disappointment. Nothing to do but try and redeem themselves next year. There's certainly room for a change in the hierarchy.
7. Ferrari
Ferrari losing to Red Bull this year is sort of like Williams and Force India, but Ferrari came third instead of second in their personal championship, so they get the lower ranking. This was supposed to be the year they made things interesting with Mercedes, but instead they inexplicably declined. If 2017 turns out the same way, how much will Vettel take?
8. Toro Rosso
I don't know. They did exactly what you would expect. Williams and Ferrari may have been more disappointing, but if you take out expectations, they still did a better job. Not to say Toro Rosso did poorly, they did fine. Meh.
9. McLaren
They aren't there yet, and now if they want to get any further, they'll have to beat some actual skilled competition. Basically Honda will have to stop sucking. Alonso and Vandoorne deserve better than the sixth best car, so hopefully the regulation change will let them leap ahead. Sixth is what we all expected, true, but they should still be fourth at absolute minimum.
10. Sauber
The decline continued, but in 2017 it stops, because they're now at the bottom. If it wasn't for Brazil being Brazil, they would be out of here. Mercedes engine or not, falling into the clutches of Manor speaks for itself.
11. Renault
This is the result of Lotus finally collapsing. Yes, I know that isn't Renault's fault, but I'm judging the team, not Groupe Renault. Besides, they knew what they were buying. Other than the continuing disaster of Sauber and the lemonade stand of Manor, they were a clear last place, and they were really the only team that declined a whole lot. I mean, three places, that's a lot in an eleven-team series. Like the two teams who finished below them, the only way is up.
Last edited by UncreativeUsername37 on 03 Dec 2016, 00:42, edited 1 time in total.
Rob Dylan wrote:Mercedes paying homage to the other W12 chassis by breaking down 30 minutes in
Re: The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
Drivers:
1. Ricciardo: Easily the most consistent driver of the year. Verstappen got the upper hand at the end of the season but otherwise very impressive.
2. Verstappen: A mid-season move to Red Bull was very risky but he delivered instantly. His inexperience showed at times but he's definitely one to watch.
3. Hamilton: Good season although not his best, lost the championship due to reliability problems.
4. Rosberg: Hamilton did slightly better but he was close enough to capitalize and win the title. Great ending for his career.
5. Pérez: Best of the rest, clearly beat Hülkenberg. Should be considered by the top teams.
6. Alonso: Often invisible (more due to his car than himself) but brought McLaren the results. Still a force to reckon with after all these years.
7. Räikkönen: Improved a lot from the last couple of seasons. Outqualifying Vettel was unexpected, wet races proved his undoing.
8. Sainz: Improved oddly after Verstappen left Toro Rosso. After that, he was one of the most reliable drivers in the field with an occasional highlight.
9. Bottas: Good season after a horrible start. Rarely especially impressive but very solid.
10. Vettel: What would be a decent season for most drivers is a disappointment by his standards. Had a lot of unnecessary crashes which could have cost him more, but occasionally we saw the old Vettel.
11. Wehrlein: Good debut season, highlights being his Q2 appearances and the point he scored in Austria. Should have done better against Ocon, though...
12. Ocon: Great for a mid-season entry. After a few races, he occasionally beat Wehrlein and would have been higher if he had kept that 10th place in Brazil.
13. Grosjean: A mixed season. Great drives when the car was good but at times he was forgettable apart from his complaining.
14. Magnussen: See Grosjean. 7th in Russia was one of the most heroic drives of the season but he often struggled with the awful Renault.
N/A. Vandoorne: Scored McLaren's first point and outqualified Button on his only attempt. Bodes well for next year!
15. Hülkenberg: Clearly outclassed by Pérez. The gap was emphasized by his bad luck, though.
16. Ericsson: Improved a lot from last year. In spite of what the points table says, he was the better Sauber driver almost all year.
17. Button: Occasionally great (Austria being a definite highlight) but he did a lot worse against Alonso than a year ago.
18. Palmer: Typical rookie moves at times but often outpaced Magnussen by the end of the season. I hope we see less of the former and more of the latter Palmer next year.
19. Massa: Good start to the season, then just faded away. Motivation probably played a part.
20. Nasr: Disappointing season apart from Brazil. With it being his second season and Ericsson's third, he should have beaten Ericsson more comprehensively, instead the opposite happened.
21. Kvyat: His races at Red Bull weren't quite bad enough for him to get dumped to Toro Rosso (he even got the team's first podium of the year). That soul-crushing move completely destroyed his year and I can only hope he bounces back next year.
22. Haryanto: Good in qualifying, slow in the races. Q1 in Baku was great, too bad his race was ruined at the start so we never got to see his top form.
23. Gutiérrez: In a year when all the other drivers were decent enough for me to feel bad for ranking the last four guys that low, I can't say the same for him. Complete disaster not to score points when some drivers did in worse cars. He may have been unlucky in Australia and Bahrain but Grosjean scored 11 points in the remaining 19 races. Reject of the year by far.
Teams:
1. Mercedes: Boringly dominant again. They would have won all the races if not for the crash in Spain and both drivers being unlucky in Malaysia.
2. Force India: 4th in the WCC is the best one can imagine for such a small team. Almost perfect season.
3. Red Bull: Great development saw them become Mercedes' closest challenger and snatch 2nd from Ferrari. Still a long way to go if they want to relive their glory days...
4. Haas: Incredible start to their debut season, too many brake problems later in the year.
5. Manor: They actually managed to beat other cars on pace on multiple occasions and should have been tenth in the championship.
6. Ferrari: Not the year they expected. A couple of times they were close to a win but their strategies were awful.
7. McLaren: Much more competitive than they were a year ago, but still too many reliability problems and Suzuka was an embarrassment.
8. Williams: Disappointing year. The way they got worse and worse throughout the season was baffling. Great pit stops, though.
9. Toro Rosso: A few great drives from Sainz were the highlight of their season. Their form fluctuated too much and they had horrible reliability problems.
10. Renault: Bad year with the car looking undrivable at times. Understandable, though, given the state Lotus were in before Renault bought them.
11. Sauber: Awful car, not worthy of the tenth place. Ericsson deserves better.
1. Ricciardo: Easily the most consistent driver of the year. Verstappen got the upper hand at the end of the season but otherwise very impressive.
2. Verstappen: A mid-season move to Red Bull was very risky but he delivered instantly. His inexperience showed at times but he's definitely one to watch.
3. Hamilton: Good season although not his best, lost the championship due to reliability problems.
4. Rosberg: Hamilton did slightly better but he was close enough to capitalize and win the title. Great ending for his career.
5. Pérez: Best of the rest, clearly beat Hülkenberg. Should be considered by the top teams.
6. Alonso: Often invisible (more due to his car than himself) but brought McLaren the results. Still a force to reckon with after all these years.
7. Räikkönen: Improved a lot from the last couple of seasons. Outqualifying Vettel was unexpected, wet races proved his undoing.
8. Sainz: Improved oddly after Verstappen left Toro Rosso. After that, he was one of the most reliable drivers in the field with an occasional highlight.
9. Bottas: Good season after a horrible start. Rarely especially impressive but very solid.
10. Vettel: What would be a decent season for most drivers is a disappointment by his standards. Had a lot of unnecessary crashes which could have cost him more, but occasionally we saw the old Vettel.
11. Wehrlein: Good debut season, highlights being his Q2 appearances and the point he scored in Austria. Should have done better against Ocon, though...
12. Ocon: Great for a mid-season entry. After a few races, he occasionally beat Wehrlein and would have been higher if he had kept that 10th place in Brazil.
13. Grosjean: A mixed season. Great drives when the car was good but at times he was forgettable apart from his complaining.
14. Magnussen: See Grosjean. 7th in Russia was one of the most heroic drives of the season but he often struggled with the awful Renault.
N/A. Vandoorne: Scored McLaren's first point and outqualified Button on his only attempt. Bodes well for next year!
15. Hülkenberg: Clearly outclassed by Pérez. The gap was emphasized by his bad luck, though.
16. Ericsson: Improved a lot from last year. In spite of what the points table says, he was the better Sauber driver almost all year.
17. Button: Occasionally great (Austria being a definite highlight) but he did a lot worse against Alonso than a year ago.
18. Palmer: Typical rookie moves at times but often outpaced Magnussen by the end of the season. I hope we see less of the former and more of the latter Palmer next year.
19. Massa: Good start to the season, then just faded away. Motivation probably played a part.
20. Nasr: Disappointing season apart from Brazil. With it being his second season and Ericsson's third, he should have beaten Ericsson more comprehensively, instead the opposite happened.
21. Kvyat: His races at Red Bull weren't quite bad enough for him to get dumped to Toro Rosso (he even got the team's first podium of the year). That soul-crushing move completely destroyed his year and I can only hope he bounces back next year.
22. Haryanto: Good in qualifying, slow in the races. Q1 in Baku was great, too bad his race was ruined at the start so we never got to see his top form.
23. Gutiérrez: In a year when all the other drivers were decent enough for me to feel bad for ranking the last four guys that low, I can't say the same for him. Complete disaster not to score points when some drivers did in worse cars. He may have been unlucky in Australia and Bahrain but Grosjean scored 11 points in the remaining 19 races. Reject of the year by far.
Teams:
1. Mercedes: Boringly dominant again. They would have won all the races if not for the crash in Spain and both drivers being unlucky in Malaysia.
2. Force India: 4th in the WCC is the best one can imagine for such a small team. Almost perfect season.
3. Red Bull: Great development saw them become Mercedes' closest challenger and snatch 2nd from Ferrari. Still a long way to go if they want to relive their glory days...
4. Haas: Incredible start to their debut season, too many brake problems later in the year.
5. Manor: They actually managed to beat other cars on pace on multiple occasions and should have been tenth in the championship.
6. Ferrari: Not the year they expected. A couple of times they were close to a win but their strategies were awful.
7. McLaren: Much more competitive than they were a year ago, but still too many reliability problems and Suzuka was an embarrassment.
8. Williams: Disappointing year. The way they got worse and worse throughout the season was baffling. Great pit stops, though.
9. Toro Rosso: A few great drives from Sainz were the highlight of their season. Their form fluctuated too much and they had horrible reliability problems.
10. Renault: Bad year with the car looking undrivable at times. Understandable, though, given the state Lotus were in before Renault bought them.
11. Sauber: Awful car, not worthy of the tenth place. Ericsson deserves better.
Re: The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:10. Kimi Räikkönen
We complained about Räikkönen over Grosjean, but Ferrari sure showed us. He still clearly lost to his teammate, but unlike the past two years, he wasn't pulverised. He outperformed Vettel often enough that no one is complaining about someone else having his seat, and it'll be interesting to see how he performs in 2017. He cut out the mistakes of last year, found a respectable amount of pace, and overall, he slots in nicely behind the car-transcenders and ahead of everyone else.
*ahem* I'll stand up and say I've been complaining rather loudly ever since he got that seat that he was wasting it in place of someone who actually has the potential to do well!
Felipe Nasr - the least forgettable F1 driver!Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
Re: The 2016 Driver and Team Reviews
Rob Dylan wrote:UgncreativeUsergname wrote:10. Kimi Räikkönen
We complained about Räikkönen over Grosjean, but Ferrari sure showed us. He still clearly lost to his teammate, but unlike the past two years, he wasn't pulverised. He outperformed Vettel often enough that no one is complaining about someone else having his seat, and it'll be interesting to see how he performs in 2017. He cut out the mistakes of last year, found a respectable amount of pace, and overall, he slots in nicely behind the car-transcenders and ahead of everyone else.
*ahem* I'll stand up and say I've been complaining rather loudly ever since he got that seat that he was wasting it in place of someone who actually has the potential to do well!
I think you could say exactly the same about Vettel this year. However, I don't think that is the case. I think Kimi is a bit underrated at the moment.
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