2021 - Summer Break Driver Rankings

[F1nKS]

Attached is plot of driver points (for expanded points).

2146

1. (A) Norris - Is the most consistent driver on the grid. Has performed well at every race. He is outperforming both Bottas and Perez in inferior car.

2. (A-) Hamilton - He leads F1 at the summer break. He does have some negatives. He has made some uncharacteristic mistakes, but even then he has came away with points. Post-summer break is usually when he turns it up a notch. The unknown is how will he handle the second half with his long-haul covid effects. But with Mercedes car now looking superior this grade probably is upgraded at the end of the season to A.

3. (B+) Verstappen - He has left to many points on the table with some of his "eagerness" in the first half and his last 2 races have been a disaster.

4. (B+) Sainz - Of all the new drivers, he has hit the ground running and is competing with Leclerc.

5. (B) Leclerc - Has had a solid first half of the season. Had he a better result in Monaco he would easily be up to B+.

6. (B-) Alonso - He has come on in the 2nd half of the season so far. Looks like he know has his legs under himself.

7. (B-) Gasly - He has consistently qualified well, been in the points, but his final results a not as good as his qualifying.

8. (B-) Russell - He seems to be getting more out of the Williams car in qualifying. But can't sustain it in the race or would give him a higher grade.

9. (C+) Valtteri "Pin Ball" Bottas - has actually taken a step back from last year. But he actually is doing what Mercedes need him to do, finish on the podium and if not there, making sure the Red Bull boys are not there either.

10. (C) Perez - He has had 3 terrible races with 2 of them being the last 2. He struggles to qualify well, and it looks like Norris and Leclerc are faster than him.

11. (C) Ricciardo - he has to be better than this right? Maybe Norris is just that good and it is making Ricardo look bad. He is doing a little better on race day than in qualifying.

12. (C) Ocon - He was off to decent start, then sucked and then pulled out a surprise win.

13. (C) Vettel - Seb looks like he has settled in and is poised to have a better second half.

14. (C) Schumacher - hard to say exactly where he really is when in Haas. But has delivered some decent results compared to where the Haas car is on the grid.

15. (C-) Gio - Ho hum. He can say he is holding his own against his partner.

16. (C-) Latifi - Not much to say about him.

17. (D+) Stroll - Vettel is now outperforming him, and Yuki get a little better the second half will be consistently beating him.

18. (D+) Tsunoda - It clear he wasn't ready for F1. It will be interesting to see if he comes out stronger in the 2nd half.

19. (D+) Raikkonen - we see glimpses. But qualifying has been terrible and just looks like it is time for retirement.

20. (D-) Mazespin - He is probably a F, but gets a upgrade just for enduring the Haas car.

[airshifter]

I'd be fairly close to the same with only a few possible changes.

Lewis/Max - If anything to this point I'd give Max a slight edge. He's been a monster on some starts, always races (even when the pass is off track) and has been fairly consistent. His aggression is still an issue, but it's much more tame than in the past. Lewis has had a few bozo moves this season, but recovers well in most cases. Baku was a rookie error at best, Italy was the luck of the safety car that saved him, and Monaco was just a hot mess. On the up side, he retains the solid recovery drives regardless of why he ends up back in the pack. It almost seems as though he is his best with some pressure applied. But he should have had more of a cushion in points by now. Agreed the second half of the season he usually comes on stronger, and suspect it will be the same this year.

Bottas/Perez - On this one I'd say closer to equal for the season. Neither is consistent, both have had some really bad races, and both have had great races. I'd still put them both at a C+/B- myself. The issue for these two is how strong their other team driver is, and it shows.

Alonso - I'd say a B+ myself. With the limited testing time this year even he needed a few races to get his feet under him again.

Sainz, Leclerc, Gasly, and Russell.... all pretty close and well called IMHO.

Ricciardo - It pains me to agree with your rating, but he just hasn't come to grips with that car yet. And I think in raw talent in past years he should at least be close to Lando, yet is struggling bad in comparison.

And on that point, amazing to see Lando put that Mclaren in the top three WDC points to this point in the season.


I think overall this field has as least 5 or 6 drivers that would easily compete for the WDC if all the cars were closer. Maybe even more. I hope the new regs bring the cars closer still, and it continues to show off driver skill.

[airshifter]

From a news article I saw today... fan rankings as voted on F1.com

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fan-power-rankings-who-did-you-vote-as-the-top-10-drivers-of-2021-so-far.i8DI0OSHHkySjnubAkr1Q.html

[F1nKS]

I'd be fairly close to the same with only a few possible changes.

Lewis/Max - If anything to this point I'd give Max a slight edge. He's been a monster on some starts, always races (even when the pass is off track) and has been fairly consistent. His aggression is still an issue, but it's much more tame than in the past. Lewis has had a few bozo moves this season, but recovers well in most cases. Baku was a rookie error at best, Italy was the luck of the safety car that saved him, and Monaco was just a hot mess. On the up side, he retains the solid recovery drives regardless of why he ends up back in the pack. It almost seems as though he is his best with some pressure applied. But he should have had more of a cushion in points by now. Agreed the second half of the season he usually comes on stronger, and suspect it will be the same this year.

Those are all good points.





Bottas/Perez - On this one I'd say closer to equal for the season. Neither is consistent, both have had some really bad races, and both have had great races. I'd still put them both at a C+/B- myself. The issue for these two is how strong their other team driver is, and it shows.

I probably have been a little too tough on Perez, you are right he should be at least on grade at the same level with Bottas.


Alonso - I'd say a B+ myself. With the limited testing time this year even he needed a few races to get his feet under him again.

This is tough one for me, he started off slow and has came on and finished in the points each of the last 6 races. If he had a podium or more races for podium I would graded him higher.


Sainz, Leclerc, Gasly, and Russell.... all pretty close and well called IMHO.

Ricciardo - It pains me to agree with your rating, but he just hasn't come to grips with that car yet. And I think in raw talent in past years he should at least be close to Lando, yet is struggling bad in comparison.

I won't be surprised to see him have a great second half.

One thing I have heard is Mcclaren wanted Ricciardo especially for 2022. Nobody knows what next year car will be like and how easy it will be to adapt to it. Mcclaren believes Ricciardo has the ability to adapt better than most other drivers on the grid and they think that he will give them a possible edge next season.



I think overall this field has as least 5 or 6 drivers that would easily compete for the WDC if all the cars were closer. Maybe even more. I hope the new regs bring the cars closer still, and it continues to show off driver skill.

I agree. Hopefully the 2022 rules just do that.

This year has been interesting all year, but If Mcclaren was just a little faster where instead of just fighting for a podium, they were fighting for wins, and Perez/Bottas were stealing wins and were in the title hunt - it would be a great championship race.