Driver Rankings by the Driver on the Grid

[F1nKS]

Interesting rankings by the drivers.

1. Lewis H.
2. Max V.
3. Daniel Riccardo
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Pierre Gasly
6. George Russell
7. Cheko
8. Romain Grosjean
9. Carlos Sainz
10. Alex Albon

Interesting people in the Top 10 - Gasly, Grosjean and Albon. I don't like Gasly. Maybe he will prove me wrong when he goes to Renault. Grosjean must be a sympathy vote. Albon not even on the grid now.

Interesting people missing - Norris, Bottas, Seb

I understand Seb - it is not clear whether Ferrari just stripped all life from him or he is just done.

Norris should be in top 10 ahead of Sainz.

Bottas - well don't let that seat get to warm, because it is Russells.

[Zico]

Interesting.. One or two surprises there but not too far off mine I suppose.

Fifth may be a place or two too high for Gasly but he definately deserves to be in the top ten Imo. He has had some great drives this season.

Yep, Grosjean and Albon are definately a sympathy vote, and I agree, Carlos is a bit too low and Norris should definately be there beside him.

[gm99]

Quite strange to include Albon and omit Bottas. I am not Valtteri's biggest fan, but he did win races (plural) this year and was closer to Hamilton than Albon ever was to Verstappen.
Grosjean is a complete and utter joke - Räikkönen's first lap at Portimao was more impressive than anything Romain did on track all season long. Not to mention Norris.

[Nitrodaze]

Interesting rankings by the drivers.

1. Lewis H.
2. Max V.
3. Daniel Riccardo
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Pierre Gasly
6. George Russell
7. Cheko
8. Romain Grosjean
9. Carlos Sainz
10. Alex Albon

Interesting people in the Top 10 - Gasly, Grosjean and Albon. I don't like Gasly. Maybe he will prove me wrong when he goes to Renault. Grosjean must be a sympathy vote. Albon not even on the grid now.

Interesting people missing - Norris, Bottas, Seb

I understand Seb - it is not clear whether Ferrari just stripped all life from him or he is just done.

Norris should be in top 10 ahead of Sainz.

Bottas - well don't let that seat get to warm, because it is Russells.

Not a truly objective list l think. I would put Checo higher than Ricciado for a start. Where is Bottas? I would also put Gasly ahead of Leclerc. Gasly won a race in a midfield car, that ought to count for something. I would put Sainz ahead of Russell. Norris belong on this list as well.

I don't think Grosjean and Russell belong in this list, as much as l like Russell. Only drivers that contributed to their teams success should be on this list. That means in terms of constructor points.

[The Black Knight]

Interesting rankings by the drivers.

1. Lewis H.
2. Max V.
3. Daniel Riccardo
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Pierre Gasly
6. George Russell
7. Cheko
8. Romain Grosjean
9. Carlos Sainz
10. Alex Albon

Interesting people in the Top 10 - Gasly, Grosjean and Albon. I don't like Gasly. Maybe he will prove me wrong when he goes to Renault. Grosjean must be a sympathy vote. Albon not even on the grid now.

Interesting people missing - Norris, Bottas, Seb

I understand Seb - it is not clear whether Ferrari just stripped all life from him or he is just done.

Norris should be in top 10 ahead of Sainz.

Bottas - well don't let that seat get to warm, because it is Russells.

I’d rate Russell and LeClerc ahead of Verstappen. I think he’s going to be in for a rude awakening if he ever has one of those two as teammates. I’ve said it before that I think Verstappen is overrated and I stand by that assertion. I also think Russell could be a better driver than Hamilton and possibly might become one of the best F1 drivers ever but only time will tell that. Grosjean has no place on that lost and neither does Albon. Sympathy votes as said above.

Norris has not done enough to get the top 10. He should be beating Sainz. Bottas belongs in the bottom 5. His reputation tool a massive hit in Bahrain and quite rightly as well.

I’m hopeful Seb will return to form. He’s not deserving of 4 world championships but he’s definitely not as bad as he’s been made look now. He deserves better.

[Zico]

Why isnt Bottas in the top ten considering his overall results? What isnt 100% clear is if the poll is based on last seasons performance or a more general pecking order, either way it seems Russell really damaged Bottas's reputation with his single Merc showing.

I find it very difficult to have an exact overall pecking order, just an approximate one. Especially now. ie; I wouldn't have expected Russell to perform quite that well in the Merc which also tells me that I may well be underestimating a lot of the other drivers who have uncompetative machinery.

A grid with everyone driving the same car would undoubtedly create a few huge surprises for all of us.

[Jag_Warrior]

I'm truly sorry about what happened to him, but Grosjean would do well to be in the top 20. OK, to be fair, I'd put him ahead of Latifi. But it would be hard to pick a "winner" between him, Giovinazzi and Magnussen. Haas has the "stable genius" Nikita Mazepin to look forward to next season, so they may end up missing ol' Romain.

[Nitrodaze]

I'm truly sorry about what happened to him, but Grosjean would do well to be in the top 20. OK, to be fair, I'd put him ahead of Latifi. But it would be hard to pick a "winner" between him, Giovinazzi and Magnussen. Haas has the "stable genius" Nikita Mazepin to look forward to next season, so they may end up missing ol' Romain.

I sympathized with Haas when their driver pairing were messing up their chances to take advantage of the rare opportunities that came their way. Magnussen is a tough cookie and l knew he was going to give Grosjean a hardtime when he was put in the Haas seat. It was a strong but debilitating pairing which did no favours to both of their true potential as racers.

I rate Magnussen highly. He is a Perez type racer that would do very well in a competitive car. In a less competitive car like Haas was last season and the one before, brings out an unhappy Magnussen.

That said, you would think Haas would take their time and choose carefully their replacement for Grosjean anbd Magnussen. They choose to pick a driver with a very poor reputation. Who is not really anywhere as quick as any of their ousted drivers. And a PR challenge to say the least. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree that Mazapin is the least worthy driver to be in an F1 seat for the 2021 season.

As much as most have picked on Stroll for his money. Stroll would be considered an angel next to Mazapin. I really wonder what the hell is going on in the thinking heads at Haas.

[djip]

I really wonder what the hell is going on in the thinking heads at Haas.

Dire need for fresh cash, maybe ?

[airshifter]

Why isnt Bottas in the top ten considering his overall results? What isnt 100% clear is if the poll is based on last seasons performance or a more general pecking order, either way it seems Russell really damaged Bottas's reputation with his single Merc showing.

I find it very difficult to have an exact overall pecking order, just an approximate one. Especially now. ie; I wouldn't have expected Russell to perform quite that well in the Merc which also tells me that I may well be underestimating a lot of the other drivers who have uncompetative machinery.

A grid with everyone driving the same car would undoubtedly create a few huge surprises for all of us.

Without cars that are closer in capability, it's really just a wild guess at best.

But even then, some cars just suit certain drivers better, and the cars that don't help us figure out who can adapt to any car better.



I know there is a sympathy aspect, but I still can't understand Rogro being on that list near the top. For the most part I can at least understand the placement of the others.

[N4D13]

TBH having Gasly in the top 10 ahead of the likes of Russell, Pérez, Sainz and Bottas feels like a bad joke and I feel like people are just giving him the credit because he's had a nice redemption story, not because he's driven that good. Something similar happens with Grosjean - the only remarkable thing he's done in the entire season was to walk out of an accident that he caused himself. Just like Gasly, that earns him a lot of sympathy points.

As for Gasly, I don't think he's had a particularly brilliant season, but he came across a win on an utter fluke in which he was gifted not one, but two free pit stops. He was told by the team to pit early because he was slower on softs than Kyvat was on hards, so he found himself on a set of new tires right before the SC and the closed pitlane, so effectively he was able to close the gap to all the drivers in front before they could all pit. And then, the red flag meant that whatever disadvantage he had by being on older tires than his chasers disappeared - while also making sure to put some extra obstacles between himself and the cars with the ability to chase him, such as Stroll and Räikkönen. Sure, everyone loves a redemption story and a surprise winner, but this was ridiculous - the high point in an otherwise anonymous campaign.

I also fail to see how Pérez has been rated relatively low (e.g., behind Gasly and Russell), since he's been on peak form. I can't recall a single mistake from him apart from a spin in the Turkey qualifying (then again, who didn't) and his form, particularly in the second half of the season, has been stellar.

I may also replace Albon with Norris or Stroll. I think Stroll in particular is rather underrated, and he's been quite brilliant at times, even if he's quite inconsistent.

Lastly, I'm missing Bottas near the top. Yes, the points' balance is massive in Hamilton's favor, but then again, this is a person who's outqualified one of the greatest drivers of all time several times this season, and has lost out on (near) certain wins without much (if any) fault of his own, such as the retirement in the Nürburgring or the damage he picked up in Imola. To consistently drive so close to Lewis Hamilton is definitely not an easy feat. And to have him behind Albon, who was almost always way off the pace of Max Verstappen... well, WTF.