Your top-10 drivers of the season

This poll will close at 12.00 GMT on Sunday. As always it would be great to hear the views of members of the "silent majority" who read this blog but do not normally post comments, so have a go if you like. "D" will be doing the tallying up which we will publish on Monday morning.

Ed writes: Bob M, a contributor to this blog, has suggested we vote on our top-10 drivers for the season. Good idea. Here are his thoughts to start things off. (In his top-six, incidentally, I would argue with Alonso at 4 and Vettel at 6. My instinctive assessment would look more like this: 1, Massa, 2, Hamilton, 3, Alonso, 4, Vettel, 5, Kubica, 6, Raikkonen).

Bob M writes: In advance of Autocourse's top-10 (which used to be eagerly awaited – is it still? -, and was frequently controversial), I was wondering whether we should have a go ourselves. This therefore is a review of the year's performance by all drivers in Formula One.

I began by asking myself whether any of those who finished in the bottom half of the points table would merit consideration. Webber and Rosberg spring to mind. Who might they displace? Glock, Trulli, Heidfeld, and Kovalainen could all be for the chop. The remaining 6 are incontrovertibly top-10 material.

Let's start with the top-6, in reverse order:

6. Vettel - stunning 2nd half of season

5. Raikkonnen - most fastest laps, but poor qualifying has proved his undoing

4. Alonso - I know many of you will rank him first!

3. Kubica - lacklustre at the end, but otherwise brilliantly consistent.

2. Lewis – enough has been said, congratulations – awesome achievement.

1. Massa – I think he shades it; even more bad luck than Lewis this season.

As for the bottom 4, I think I would swap Nico for Heikki, who has been a bit of a Jochen Maas (if I was to think of No.2s at McLaren).

10. Rosberg

9. Glock – come on Ed, better than you thought?

8. Trulli

7. Heidfeld, normally in the shadow of his team-mate

Too many outcomes decided in the pit lane, or in the steward's office – otherwise a superlative season.

So what's your top 10?

Bob M

Comments

[Kirk Austin]

Ed,
Sad to say it but you're deluded.
The driver of the year was Lewis Hamilton.
To say that Felipe shaded it only reinforces my point, for reasons we all know.
Otherwise, a fine blog.
See you next year...

[David Lightman]

1 Kubica for overall performance considering his car
2 Massa for improving so much
3 Lewis - brilliant but silly mistakes to iron out
4 Alonso - the most complete driver
5 Vettel - a future huge star
6 All the rest!

Most disappointing was Kimi and Heikki.

[birdie]

1 - Alonso
2 - Kubica
3 - Vettel
4 - Hamilton
5 - Massa
6 - Raikkonen
7 - Webber
8 - Trulli
9 - Rosberg
10 - Glock

[Kohque]

This one http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2008/10/8605.html answers the position between Hamilton and Massa. The same should be done for the first 10 drivers. It would not be a definite answer, but it would get a much better clue than what-you-think type of statistics.

I am also pretty sure that Piquet would be dead last. I can't believe he has been renewed by Renault. I thought they would go for Grosjean.

[FordGT40]

1. Hamilton & Massa
(they were both too good for the rest with essentially nothing separating them)
3. Alonso
4. Kubica
5. Vettel
6. Raikkonen
7. Trulli
8. Webber
9. Glock
10. Everyone else

[Lucas]

1. Massa, 6 wins (2 inherited, but 2 "robbed" by his team/engine, so it is fine), 6 poles, 3 fastest laps. Brilliant.

2. Lewis, 5 wins, 7 poles, 1 fastest lap, the championshipe. Shaded by his own mistakes: I think he deserved the penalty in spa, as well the others.

3. Fernando Alonso. 2 wins with the 3rd fastest car - Amazing (last year he had 4 with a McLaren). The guy scored more points than anyone else in the last 6 races. The best driver in the grid by a mile and a half.

4. Vettel, 1 win, 1 pole with a midfield car. After a pathetic start with 5 retirements, he shone to remind us that Lewis is just one of the new generation, not better not worst than the others.

5. Kubica, 1 win, 1 pole with the 3rd fastest car by that time. Same feat of Vettel, but with a better car. Consistent season dampered by the lack of development of his team.

6. Raikkonen. 2 wins, 2 poles, 10 (!) fastest laps. The guy is still good and I think he will come back. Nobody seems to mention that Lewis trashed his season (Canada, Spa) - Canada on purpose (he could have chosen Kubica).

Suggestion: Who should leave F1?

Sutil - Can't believe McLaren is considering him...
Fisichella - You proved your point, thanks and bye.
(Force India would have a point with better drivers)
Bourdais - Sorry, it did not work out...
Barichello - Very, Very unfair, but sometimes one needs to leave just make space for the young (if age does not count, Button should leave, not him)
Kovalainen - Please, leave, you are making a fool of yourself...

[JSA]

Difficult to say since you can't evaluate a driver without taking into account the team performance. So I would say:

1. Vettel / Toro Roso. Small team doing a pretty good job. They won at Monza!
2. Alonso / Renault. Very impressive how they improve a car that was something like a pumpkin with wheels at the beginning of the season. Best team on the second half in terms of overall performance, big suprise and really good job.
3. Hamilton / McLaren. They won the driver’s championship with the 2nd better car of the grid. Solid performance during the year but bad decisions in some races, specially in Brazil, they almost lost the championship due to a bad strategy.
4. Kubica / BMW. Really good start but they shadow on the second half of season. BMW wasn't able of evolving the car during the year and fight for both championships. It seems that they don't believe on their chances, lack of winning mentality?.
5. Massa / Ferrari. Drivers and team mistakes cost them the driver's championship. They had the best car and fail to win driver's title, but almost did it in the last race again. Solid driving for Massa, he handles a lot of pressure pretty well (media talk and talk about how bad he is).
6. Barichello / Honda. One of the worse cars of the grid, but he did some solid performance with a podium.
7. Bourdais / Toro Roso. Not bad for his first year. Some solid races and a really bad luck in some races.
8. Rest of them except:

Most disappointing: The Finn pack (Raikkonen, Kovalainen), it's seems that climate change is affecting cold people, Piquet, Button.

[Tim]

1. Robert Kubica - best season long campaign in what was never more than the third/fourth fastest car on the grid. Very few mistakes - spinning in the wet at Silverstone is the only one that stands out. Hopefully, BMW Sauber's early decision to focus on 2009 will provide him with a fully competitive car for next year.

2. Felipe Massa - most improved driver of the year and next best overall season (as a whole) after Kubica. Messy early races in Melbourne and Sepang but Silverstone was the only real blip for the rest of the year. Desperately unlucky in several races, without which he could have won the title at a canter (even allowing for the Spa controversy). His reaction to losing the title at the last gasp was admirable, having driven a perfect race to win his home Grand Prix.

3. Lewis Hamilton - either peerless or clumsy but rarely boring. Hamilton's best drives (Silverstone, Hockenheim, Istanbul) stood out head and shoulders above the rest of the field. But he was badly let down by his mistakes (Bahrain, Montreal, Fuji). A combination of good luck (Monaco, Singapore) and bulletproof McLaren reliability secured him his first world title. Almost Mansell-esque in nearly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory - if he can stop making mistakes he stands a chance of breaking some of Michael Schumacher's records.

4. Fernando Alonso - a strong end to the year following a difficult start, and displayed his quality as a driver. Always outspoken but not always tactful, it was a shame to see such a strong driver hamstrung by a poor performing car for most of the year. Still probably the most complete driver on the grid, who helped lead the Renault team from also rans to race winners in less than ideal circumstances.

5. Sebastian Vettel - built on a low key start to the year to win in spectacular fashion at Monza and lead STR to outscore their parent team at Red Bull. Excellent in the wet and changeable conditions, although the STR was no Minardi. Vettel was helped by the team's no nonsense approach as well as Ferrari power, but made the most of it to put his former F3000 and Champ Car champion team mate in the shade.

6. Kimi Raikkonen - what looked like it was going to be an Alain Prost-style canter to the title went horribly wrong for the 2007 champion. Early races were very promising before a string of bad luck (Canada, France) then a puzzling run of poor form hit Raikkonen's hopes of retaining his crown. Still a driver to be reckoned with, even in a Ferrari he found difficult to drive - his speed in the wet at Spa was an underrated highlight of the year.

7. Nick Heidfeld - continually underrated but a canny racer who finished sixth in the championship. Heidfeld struggled to get his car working in qualifying, especially in comparison to his team mate, but often managed to pull a few points out of the bag. Generally steered clear of trouble and his races were often quietly brilliant.

8. Timo Glock - a spectacular shunt in the opening race of the season appeared to be setting the tone for the rest of the season, but Glock turned things around and was at least a match for his much more experienced team mate in the second half of the year. A tough racer who seems to be a good partner for his team mate.

9. Heikki Kovalainen - a disappointing year as McLaren's bad luck magnet, but Kovalainen put in some very good performances despite fading in the second half of the year. Any problems at McLaren generally went Kovalainen's way and his Budapest victory seems only reasonable compensation. But Istanbul could also have been his race, as could Fuji. There were also a few other potentially good results that went begging for one reason or another and his qualifying form was often disguised by a heavier fuel load.

10. Mark Webber - the new Chris Amon had a fairly typical season and wasn't left with much to show for it, but he was well ahead of his experienced team mate and deserved better. Webber is a strong racer from the Alan Jones mould, although it's difficult to know just how good he is. The comparison with Vettel in 2009 should be interesting.

[nuzzaci]

Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Kubica, Lewis, Kimi.

[Gordon]

1, Hamilton, 2,Massa , 3, Vettel , 4,Alonso , 5, Kubica, 6, Raikkonen

[Ruby Wallace]

i simply cant agree that massa was the best driver! Both Hamilton and massa have made mistakes but it seemed massa got of far more lightly than hamilton. The stewards decision in Belgium then in prove it! im sorry but i think ferrari got of lightly! secondly in the later races of the season massa was helped a huge amout by his team mate. Hamilton had no such help because in my opinion Kovalienen had an awful season. If you need any proof than Hamilton was better just compare his performance to that of Kovalienens in the same car! In my opinion the top drivers are as follows...
1. Hamilton - enough said
2. Alonso - im not a fan of alonso at all, but theres no doubt his a great driver
3. Massa - he drove his way to tital contension
4. Vettel - He was in a torro rosso!!!
4. Raikkonen

[Jon T]

That's a great question, hopefully IDR or one of the regulars can brush up some statistics when the dust has settled. I think you're being a bit harsh on Toyota Ed, Glock has been one of the stars of the year for me and deserves a top 10 no doubt. I dropped 3 teams that weren't worthy of consideration and then cut Piquet from the list without a doubt. With 13 names left, that's a real headache about who gets through or not. My 3 that missed the cut are:

Bourdais - showed some promise this year, albeit against a faster (but more experienced) team-mate and I think deserves a second season if only because Piquet got the chance with a lesser performance.

Heidfeld - spent a lot of time struggling for pace and failed to shine even by the end of the year. Still wiley and a solid racer, but I think the top 10 would get more from the car than he extracted this year.

Kovalainen - Hmm. I think he's suffered Heidfeld/Piquet/Button syndrome of a car that is fundamentally developed for the other guy and struggled. His last season showed potential and he can be racy on his day but, on this season alone, he's well out the running.

So, my top 10 in reverse is:

10.Trulli - still a great qualifier as he showed in Brazil. I question his fundamental speed over race distances but it's far better than it used to be. Just nicks top 10 this season.

9.Raikonnen - a dog of a season but he's still there next year. His raw pace is awesome, if he can use it. Beats Trulli by potential alone but he must prove it next season.

8.Rosberg - showed his class in Singapore. His choice of team is Button-esque in that it hides his speed but he's worthy of greatness.

7.Webber - fast, consistent and a nice guy to boot. Who remembers his one-lap fliers for Jaguar, putting a car that had no right to it in the top 5 every week? Give him the car and he'll win.

6.Glock - a real star. Didn't have the race-winning equipment of Vettel but has stomped on his more experienced team-mate frequently despite being a rookie and lacking Jarno's quali pace. Future greatness beckons.

5.Vettel - already looking like he can take on the best and win. The STR has been a great car and he's capitalised. I hope Red Bull's the right choice for him.

4.Massa - biggest improvement of the year for me. Poor start but showed he's got pace like Raikonnen's and consistency to boot. If the car's there next year, no doubt he will be at the front fighting too. I still question his ability from the 2nd row.

3.Hamilton - he matched Alonso's pace last year and has dealt with the pain of loss this year and still emerged victorious. Fractionally edges Massa as both are rough round the edges. Hamilton's got better racing credentials for overtaking and he seems a more rounded driver. I think he'll step up next year now the job's done but Massa will shade him, as may Raikonnen.

2.Kubica - Mister Consistency. Quick, delivers in any conditions (bar the horrors of Silverstone) and would be a worthy champion. Hamilton should be worried by this man. But not as much as...

1.Alonso - I have my doubts about his personality and mindset at times, he seems warm and genuine others. Undoubtedly the most complete driver in terms of racecraft, technical ability, consistency etc. Proved to me at least that he deserved 2 WDCs and he still wants more. Hamilton should be worried.

My top 1-10 without comments (to make it easier to collect for statistics):

1.Alonso
Kubica
Hamilton
Massa
Vettel
Glock
Webber
Rosberg
Raikonnen
10.Trulli

Longest post ever? I suspect Anon(with the paragraph) might have something to say on that...

[Basenji]

IMHO best riders of bolids were:
1. KUBICA - Taking into consideration that BMW bolid was definitelly worse ( i.e Brasil), especially in the second part made only a few minor mistakes, cold calcuating and repairing team's tactical and technical mistakes.On podium in 2009
2. ALONSO - with big car problems but much better team support than Kubica showed his value when his car was at least alike 2 the strongest one. One podium in 2009
3. VETTEL - bat out of hell made a big mess (positive) and showed his maestry in several races. We can expect many good races in 2009.
4. HAMILTON - honestly I do not like his childish and often too dangerous behaviour but definitelly he is a great driver with a great privilidge to ride best bolid. Interesting what will he do when other teams ( I count for Renault and BMW) will produce comparable vehicles.
5. MASSA - often briliant in a great car but with a very "hot head" and making several serius mistakes. But thanks to him races are more unpredictable.
6. HEIDFELD - couldn't cope with his ride for a long time but he is a great fighter and when his poor BMW let him, can show good driving.
Might be on podium in 2009

Zdrowko

[LewisNo1]

Here is my firm opinion:

TOP 10 DRIVERS:
1. Lewis (can anybody still doubt it?)
2. Kovalainen (he did the best anybody could do with the car - apart from Lewis who is special). Yes, the R28 was as good car as the MP4 (maybe even better). I do really believe it.
3. Massa
4. Vettel
5. Kubica
6. Button (yes, driving a Honda needs to be taken into consideration)
7. Timo Glock
8. Piquet (clearly Renault did not give him the same treatment than Alonso)
9. Kimi (he did not deserve last year's championship and it showed this year)
10. Alonso ( I don't dislike him, I promise, it's just that the R28 was better car than you think (as good as the MP4 and despite that he only managed to be above Kova). His 2 victories were just lucky.

TOP LOSERS: Kimi, Alonso, Max Mosley, Ferrari and spanish Alonso supporters.

TOP CHEATS: FIA (we all agree)

ABSOLUTE WINNER:
JAVIERVIVAESPANIA (I am new to this blog but I have been browsing through your posts. Yes, you are the winner!!)

Thank you and congratulations to the winners.

[Philip N]

1. Alonso (as a driver not necessarily as a package)
2. Lewis (more penalties than credible)
3. Massa (punched above his weight through sheer hard work, bad luck balanced out FIA favour)
4. Kubica
5. Vettel

[ELCROWLEY]

Seeing the car drives every driver....:

1-Alonso
2-Massa
3-Ham
4-Kubica
5-Kimi
6-Vettel

[Rubeniken]

1. Alonso (the perfect pilot, driving a steel)
2. Hamilton ( a very good and faster pilot, driving a plane )
3. Vettel ( a good pilot and future very good pilot, driving a steel)
4. Massa ( a good pilot, driving a missile )
5. Kubica ( a very good pilot, driving a good car )
6. Trulli ( a good pilot, with a steel )
7. Heidfel ( a medium pilot, with a
good car )
20. Raikonen ( no comment )

[Raquel]

Alonso
Kubica
Vettel
Hamilton
Massa

[D]

For me?

1. Fernando Alonso - still currently and consistently the best.

2. Felipe Massa - several stunning drives, few errors.

3. Sebastian Vettel - soon to be the best.

4. Robert Kubica - great, error-free drives for a team concentrating on 2009.

5. Lewis Hamilton - dazzling, determined, disarming but dim.

6. Kimi Räikkönen - waste a talent long enough and you lose it.

7. Heikki Kovalainen - his spirit was broken by Lewis (suddenly - on lap 5 at Silverstone).

8. Jenson Button - still has the ability; but his cars do not.

9. Timo Glock - several solid, gutsy drives.

10. Jarno Trulli - as always, the wild card in the pack.

My eleventh and twelfth would be Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello.

It all goes to show how irrelevant is the World Drivers Championship and how important is the car (and the team).

(And, for the record, I entirely agree with the post-race decision of the stewards at Spa in regard to Lewis Hamilton's wild manoeuvre from which he undoubtedly then gained an unfair advantage and I am absolutely confounded that the high-speed incursion of Felipe Massa into the pit exit road at Fuji - which could easily have caused a truly catastrophic accident - went unpunished and seemingly unnoticed by the FIA.)

Might I ask if we could prevail one last time this year on the great generosity of IDR and Anon to produce a final result of this poll? I'm sure everyone here would love to know it and be very grateful: I know I would!

[MikeB]

Here goes!

1 Hamilton, displayed genius but also some real howlers but the genius was just that. At the start of the year all of the questions were about whether he was a flash in the pan or could get over the pain of losing last year, well he's the world champion, he delivered. Next year unless Mclaren produce a dog or another team (or teams# a rocket ship I expect him to dominate, a 2009 F1 car is not going to be a million miles from a GP2 car and Hamilton was devasting in that Formula.

2. Massa, very close to Lewis also had his moments of genius #Hungary start) but was let down by his team and his bad days were pretty bad. But in terms of proving doubters wrong he's done it, he reminds me of Mansell everyone had him down as a journeyman but he is proving anything but. Also clearly a class act as a person.

3. Alonso, The wins owed some luck and other people taking themselves out of the equation, but he there to take advantage and mighty in Brazil to beat a Ferrari around their is quite an achievment.

4. Kubica, hardly any mistakes and bloody quick, when BMW stopped developing this years car things slipped badly though. Could he not get BMW to rip up the plan and believe in him?

5. Vettel, pretty lousy start to the year but developing into something incredibly special, although if Hamilton had pulled the same move on Kovi in Brazil that he did plenty of the commentators on this blog would have been sreaming for his head!

6. Kimi, You can't ignore how good he was at the start of the year, If his exhaust had stayed together in France and it hadn't had rained at Silverstone the year could have taken a very shape.

7. Heikki, He could not unlock the same speed from the Mclaren as Lewis could but the Barcelona crash was huge and must have dented his confidence. Did not do a significantly worse job for Mclaren than Kimi did for Ferrari.

8. Heidfeld, the guy can just race, looked all over the place in qualifying unable to get or retain heat in the tyres. But wow what a racer the double overtake at Silverstone was genius.

9. Webber, Solid but you get the feeling it's not all just bad luck and he lacks that last 1 or 2% to ever really become a contender. In the wet at Monza he had the same chassis as Vettel any power gap effectively equalised but it was Seb who starred.

10. Glock, really impressed me, seems a class act as a driver and person to have that massive accident in Germany and come back in Hungary and produce one of the races of the year was very impressive.

[RichyS]

Well, for me it's:

1 - Hamilton. He made more mistakes than last year (where he was exceptional), but he's still the best racing driver (the racing part is important). Superb under braking, fantastic car control, and a real desire to overtake on the track. Exciting to watch. But nervewracking too!

2 - Alonso. I've never really warmed to the fellow, and he appears to have some major character flaws; but there's no denying he's an excellent well rounded driver. Can bang in consistent laps times, and has tactical nouse. Still not afraid to actually race though. And there's no world championship for being a nice guy!

3 - Massa. Some absolutely superb qualifying laps, and some excellent races from the front when he's got the car working just right. However, I think the Ferrari was usually a faster car than McLaren, and the real reason that Massa isn't the world champion is because he can't race. It's interesting to note that he's never won a race starting away from the front row. There's no doubt that he's very very quick (if without the Alonso-like consistency), but he can't overtake.

4 - Kubic. Benefitted in the early season from having comfortably the 3rd fastest car, so picked up points regularly. Drove well, if not spectacularly. A good racing brain, but not much evidence of real overtaking (not really his fault -- couldn't catch the casr in front, usually qualified in front of the cars behind. Ergo, no one to overtake!). It'll be interesting to see how he goes in 2009, and whether BMW were right to concentrate their development efforts.

5= - Kimi & Vettel. Vettal had some poor early races with the old chassis, mostly due to qualifying too low and being punted out at the first corner. Coulthard syndrome. However, once he got the Ferrari engined Adrian Newey designed car, he flew. Seems to have an excellent handle on changeable conditions, and could be a real threat if Red Bull get the '09 car sorted. Kimi also had a mixed season. 10 fastest laps shows that he still has the pace; but he set all those times when the other key drivers (see above) had already won the race (or maximised their points), and were cruising. If the new car is to his liking (and with slicks and lower downforce, I think it will be), he'll be a real contender next season.

[David Rodriguez]

1 Hamilton
2 Alonso
3 Massa
4 Kubica
5 Vettel
6 Raikkonen
7 Webber
8 Heidfield
9 Trulli
10 Kovalainen
Greetings from Gran Canaria, Spain.
Nice blog Ed.

[dis]

We have to look at this by comparing what they achieved to what they should have achieved, and what their car was capable of achieving.

Best of the season:

1. Felipe Massa – Was never seen as a title challenging driver and had the car not been developed in a way as to disadvantage Raikkonen then he still would not be considered one. However he improved so much on previous years once it was clear he was the only one of the two that could drive the car he has to be given massive credit. Sure he was driving by far the fastest car on the grid, and sure he was awful in the rain, even at Ferrari’s home track, but he was probably still the best driver all year because he achieved point’s way above his station, while the others around him (Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso) all had poor years giving him a chance.

2. Lewis Hamilton - In the second fastest, sometimes third fastest car, wins the World Championship and annihilated his team mate in the process. However we all expect this from such a supremely talented driver and although he won more races this year he actually scored less points then last year and made more critical errors. Perhaps it is harsh to say that the World Champion was not the best driver of the year but for his own personal standards I think he was much poorer then his true ability, which would make drivers like Massa in a Ferrari look average at best e.g. China, Britain.

3. Robert Kubica – A solid season with lots of good points scored, but he was still in the third fastest car for the first half of the season and during that time was the benefactor of some punishment on McLaren and problems with Ferrari. Indeed he would never have beaten either Hamilton or Raikkonen in Canada for his maiden victory if they had not crashed out. Finishing fourth in the standings is still great though as he beat the other McLaren and two time World Champion Alonso. However with his apparent potential skill, should he not be expected to finish here anyway and should he not be expected to have a much stronger second half of the season.

4. Kimi Räikkönen – Blisteringly fast even in a car it took him half a race to get comfortable with but then you should expect him pulling out fastest laps as the minimum for the current World Champion driving the best car on the grid. Raikkonen was disappointing to the extreme but lets remember he still did finish third in the world rankings and helped Ferrari win the constructors title, so its not like he was totally useless e.g. Kovalainen. Still we expect so much more and losing to Massa as a team mate must be unimaginably embarrassing for him.

5. Fernando Alonso – We must remember Alonso is two time World Champion and has won more races then anybody on the grid. He is often touted as the best driver out there, yet only finished fifth in the standings. Ok so he had a poorer car in the first half of the season, and got more points then anybody in the second half, including two back to back wins. However let’s remember both his wins were gifted to him by massive mistakes from the top two teams and all his other points he achieved were pretty much tactical choices by his pit wall. We saw no real skilled overtaking from him and at the end of the season it would be fair to say the Renault was probably quicker then the BMW and equal with the McLaren. A disappointing year for Alonso in 07 is followed by an even worse season in 08. Can this guy really reach the heights of 05/06 again?

6. Sebastian Vettel – Vettel had a mixed season which is why he finished eighth in the rankings and pretty much exactly where he should be. Baring in mind he had one of the worst team mates all year, was in sometimes the third if not second fastest car toward the end of the season (at least on low fuel levels) and he had zero pressure to actually achieve anything in a B team organisation, he did what he should have. Lets remember he only did anything special in Italy by winning a race he would have lost to Hamilton had it kept raining as he still had to pit and Hamilton didn’t with Hamilton just a few seconds behind him in second. If he lost that race nobody would be ranking him as high as they are, the truth is he just got lucky the top guys had an awful day like Kubica did in Canada and Alonso did in Japan. The irony is of course that after fuelling fairly low to qualify high in Italy and obviously then running away from the more heavily fuelled Kovalainen he only won it because it turned dry. Somehow he came out of that being called the rain master. He will be more pressured next year and I doubt he will achieve much more then he did this year, though that is not to say he is not talented, just a little overrated. Nobody worse finished above him and nobody better below in the drivers standings, exactly where he should be.

7. Nick Heidfeld – Considering he seems to forget you need to go FAST in qualifying finishing sixth in the standings is actually pretty good especially when his much hyped team mate despite multiple race winning opportunities and indeed a race win only ranked fourth. It’s fair to say the car really didn’t suit him, but then you don’t get the sense he is really fighting for points that hard either. For the third fastest team you would expect fifth and sixth place finishes so his season was (in the end) as it should be.

8. Heikki Kovalainen – Considering his team mate finished the season as World Champion, Kovalainen ranking in seventh best this year just shows how much slower the true pace of the McLaren was. Sure he should still be higher, maybe fourth or fifth, but we must also remember that every time he looked to be running well he had problems, or Hamilton was just so much stronger that it totally overshadowed him. Still facts are facts and seventh is just not good enough for a McLaren. To me he looks like a driver without the passion to win (this season) and if that does not change next season he is worthless to McLaren as it’s not like he has the experience to drive for high points or even help develop the car.

9. Jarno Trulli – After years of so-so performances, you have to wonder what is this guy really still doing in F1? He was never a race winning driver and nobody has ever considered him as a good points banker or especially useful in development but yet he is still ranked in as ninth best driver. Best of the rest so to say and this is an achievement in my eyes. He won’t get any higher in future years though, only lower and in reality we don’t want these journeymen in F1 anymore, we want new passionate talent in.

10. Timo Glock – He had some bad mistakes this year but then he is new and inexperienced like a good load of the drivers ahead of him. He was in the Toyota which just got faster and faster all season so perhaps he should expect to be no lower then tenth. In all honesty it’s hard to really say he had a good or bad season, but if he does believe he is a future driving talent then really he should be beating him team mate, which he didn’t do.

Worst of the season:

- Mark Webber – How many years now have commentators been lauding Webber as one of the fastest drivers and even a potential Ferrari guy one day. Please… the only thing that’s fast about Webber is his mouth spouting off excuses when he is walking slowly back to the pits ten laps into the race. This guy has never achieved anything and is just another journeyman. He clearly has not helped with car development much and is a waste of space. Eleventh spot in the rankings is flattering for this guy who should be in a Force India. Please will people once and for all realise he is nothing special just a run of the mill, will never achieve anything driver, whose best days and long-long past him.

- Jenson Button – He is just a journeyman now as well. Still hyped by the British coverage, what’s the point? He has no passion and is one of the highest paid drivers and sits in eighteenth spot in the rankings. He has no car development skills and is useless at Honda. Perhaps as a second solid point scorer alongside a quality driver like Alonso he would do well for the constructors, but even then that would just be a bias hunch. Get him and Barrichello out, is probably the best solution and let him work his way back up again from GP2.

- Nelsinho Piquet – Would anybody argue with me saying this guy is equal worst on the grid with Bourdais. Perhaps a worse driver though he did do better then the Frenchman, but then he is in a team that only won the World Championship a couple of years ago so you would expect him to do better then a B team Red Bull driver. Watching him is painful and astonishing to think Renault actually see anything in him at all. He is the one driver I bet most people here think they could driver better then. He would look slow in a Ferrari. The guy should be banned from F1 for all time, he has no overtaking ability, he can’t qualify at all even when given 20 laps extra practice then anybody else. He couldn’t defend even against the safety car and he can barely keep the car from crashing into the wall at every corner he takes. Still for his ability twelfth is an amazing ranking to finish so he probably had the best season of any driver out there.

- Sebastien Bourdais – Equal worst. This guy can’t drive and although was unlucky when he was doing well, you have to say luck is part of the game. Don’t drive to the limit or qualify bad around slow drivers and you wont get annihilated by your less experienced team mate and look like a total new comer to CARS. He should be dropped and sent back to drive in the States.

[Sam]

1. Massa
2. Hamilton
3. Vettel
4. Alonso
5. Kubica
6. Heidfeld
7. Rosberg
8. Glock
9. Kimi
10. Heikki

[aljuk]

Massa had more bad luck? Sorry Ed, but that's delusional. Massa had assistance from the FIA on many occasions, received no penalties for several serious breaches of the rules, was gifted a win and still lost. Lewis is head and shoulders better.
Hamilton, Vettel, Kubica, Piquet, Button, Glock, Massa, Alonso... in that order.

[Ramon]

1- Alonso
2- Kubica
3- Vettel
4- Hamilton
5- Massa
6- Raikonen
7- Heidfel (not so good but knows how to keep a car)
8- Webber
9- Rosberg
10- Timo glock

[Barack]

1. Alonso (The best)
2. Kubika
3. Hamilton (the best in face to face)
4. Kimi (iceman)
5. Vettel (the future)
6. Massa
7. Webber
8. Bourdais
9. Glock

[Thersites]

Sir John Hackett (he was at Arnhem)wrote: "reflection upon it -WWII- inevitably invites judgment on the quality of professional performance in the chief contenders. There is no doubt at all about who wins first prize. It is the German's. An army's good qualities are best shown when it is losing. The choice of title for the memoirs of an outstanding German field commander... really says it all: General von Senger und Etterlin called his book Wihtout hope and without fear".
Ditto.
..And you know, he was a British General, fought at Arnhem. That's British sportmanship

So,
1st, Alonso
then, the rest in this particular order
2. Hamilton
3. Massa
4. Vettel
5. Kubika

[Furio]

Thank you Ed for this one! I love it.

1. Hamilton - he's the winner, what else shall he do?
2. Massa - I loved his driving this year (from the 3rd GP)
3. Alonso - Great 2nd half of the season in a car that was simply not good enough for him
4. Kubica - tied on points with Kimi, bud driving a BMW which never matched neaither McLaren nor Ferrari
5. Vettel - stunning performance in Monza. I wish he gets a top team drive soon (I wish it was Ferrari, but that wouldn't be soon)
6. Raikkonen - not very lucky in some circumstances but also made a lot of errors. Ten fastest laps are there to remind us he can be very quick...
7. Heidfeld - he's seen the chequered flag in each GP. Can you imagine a driver with the speed of Massa, the personality of Hamilton and the consistency of Heidfeld?
8. Trulli - well, I must put an italian in this, you know ...
9. Rosberg - I was expecting much more from the guy. Hope the Williams team will get into the position of giving him a competitive car
10. Glock - ... wish he learns how to handle with slick tyres on wet track ;-)

[Mattias]

1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Massa
4. Lewis
5. Kubica
6. Kimi
7. Heidfeld
8. Glock
9. Trulli
10. Webber

[Thersites]

BTW I forgot
you censored a previous, polite mail on this. So here it goes again in a less formal tone:

Worst contender of the year:
Ed.
Allowed insults against Alonso loaded with racist overtones (i.e. such as 'dwarf', and he himself indulged in commentaries associating 'blood' with 'nationality': 'the hot-bloooded Spaniard'... How do you call that? Remember, there are many directions in racism.

Ed writes: Hello Thersites. Can you show me where I referred to Fernando as "hot-blooded". Also can I point out that this blog is moderated by an outside company, not by me. If there is a comment which uses the word dwarf it should be removed.

[PTM]

1- Hamilton
2- Massa
3- Kubica
4- vettel
5- Alonso
6- Kimi
7- Hedfeld
8- webber
9- heiki
10- glock

[Oliver]

Of course, Alonso is the best driver out there. He took a heap of old scrap and converted it into a winning F1 car. Let's see what happens next season, with the best driver in a good car.

P.S: If Alonso had driven for Ferrari this season, he would have won a few weeks ago...

[Evonne O]

1: Fred

2: Vettel

3: Kuba

4 = Massa

4 = Boy Blunder

6: Kimi

7: Webbo

8: Glock

9: Jarno

10 Nico

[supercampeaobrasileiro]

1. massa
2. hamilton
3. alonso
4. kubica
5. raikkonen/vettel
6. vettel/raikkonen

[Tom Cawley]

I think that saying Kubica was driver of the season is ridiculous, as he had nothing like the pressure that Lewis or Massa had, nor the expectation to win. F1 is all about pressure and how they cope and react.

After last year's woes with Alonso, the FIA and all of that nonsense I think Lewis and McLaren did an extraordinary job to win the title. The team could easily have capitulated and Lewis, at 23, could have easily cracked. I think he has to be the driver of the year when you consider his historic title amid all of the chaos and politics.

Jenson, though it pains me to say so, just seemed to give up. I really hope that they deliver for him next year. He's a class driver and must be wondering what on earth happened to his career...

[akirafubuki]

those who put alonso as a top driver for 2008 is a total crap ! he only performed well in the last 6 race . if we go for the overall of the season.. more or less the rankings goes like this

1. Felipe Massa
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Kimi Raikkonen
4. Robert Kubica
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Sebastian Vettel

Rest of the rankings is up to u guys to comment.. i doubt that the top6 is more or less like this with their performance this year

[bulb]

1- Alonso (the best)
2- Hamilton (the champion)
3- The others

[Angiox]

1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Kubica
4. Massa
5. Lewis
6. Truli
7. Kimi
8. Heifeld
9. Nelsinho
10. Kovalainen

[Jose M. Doval]

1. Hamilton (I don't like him, but he won and he'll take the nº1 car next season)

2. Alonso (he's proved to be a determined, fast and complete driver. The best one developing a bad car into a good one. Hopefully a different history next year)

3. Massa (contender until the last corner of the year. Not a very lucky year but not excuses being in a Ferrari)

4. Vettel (improving day by day and fighting every race to do the best. Sure you want to go to Red Bull next year?)

5. Kubica (Nice first half of the year. A good car and tones of luck (Ferrari failures, Hamilton red light blindness...) but a disappointing end of the year)

6. Kimi (Time to go? No excuses for a so poor season and a so evident boring temperament. You was the WC, you was defending the Title and never was a real contender for it. Very disappointing)

7. Heidfield (Never brilliant but always there. Lucky to drive a car over his possibilities)

8. Coulthard (Always cool and always driving in style. A good sportman even to know the right time to say goodbye)

9. & 10. Takuma Sato & Anthony Davidson (because they were professionals until the last minute. Bad luck to loose the possibility to drive because financial problems. An example for many other drivers, including some at very wealthy teams)

TOP LOOSERS
1. Kovalainen (I can't believe the lack of performance he has been showing all the year. If it was his fault he deserves to be out of this sport, if it was a team matter and he's accepted then, ... no words about so many indignity) Do you remember when the WC team-mate had a worst position at the end of the year. Please, tell me)

2. Piquet (You can't drive only because your name. I don't understand what happened with him. Will be Senna the next bluff? Aparently has one more chance to show his quality next year. We'll see)

3. Barrichello (It's so sad to still see you there doing it so badly. Get out and become a legend. Stay in and become a joke)

4. Button... but, he was there, isn't it?

[jlk]

Being an American I don't have "dog in the fight" although I am an English native speaker. But being an Economist I have to break it down a bit (sorry) I think the first half and the second should be separated.
1st Half:
Hamilton
Kubica
Felipe
Kimi
Webber
Alonzo
Heidfeld
Heikki
Nico
Rubens (horrible car)

2nd Half:
Massa/Vettl/Alonzo (3-way tie)
Hamilton
Kimi
Kubica
Heidfeld
Glock
Webber
Bourdais

Only one comment about bottom 10:
What the hell is Sutil doing there?
JLK

[Carleton Twitchell]

Ok you would think that the top ten drivers of 08 would be how they finished in the championship standings but then some got boosted by gifts from team mates and some were great drivers in also-ran cars ...
Here's my pick for what its worth:-
Lewis Hamilton
Robert Kubica
Kimi Raikkonen
Felipe Massa
Sebastian Vettel
Fernando Alonso
Timo Glock
Heikki Kovaleinen
Nick Heidfeld
Nelson Piquet Jr
Remember the top driver's total points were lower because the mid-field drivers took bigger points and some big names had DNFs.
I hope the standard engine doesnt fly ..as it is Ferrari and Renault supply other teams ..probably more if I researched it ..Honda could do it for one other and Beamer maybe ?
I was glasd there were no dirty tactics in the last race ..imagine if Lewis had been punted off!Thanks to all the drivers for a clean race! Cheers, CT

[Prof Plum]

1. Hamilton - Skill, fighting spirit
2. Massa - When he's on it, you know he's untouchable
3. Kubica - Repeatedly strong performances, exceeding what his team thought possible
4. Alonso - Skill, fighting spirit. A bit full of himself, I don't think he's going to be WDC again
5. Vettel - Excellent, pretty masterful in dodgy conditions and it's interesting listening to Red Bull trying to explain away the junior team success
6. Raikkonen - All those fastest laps, masses of talent, just not interested some times
7. Trulli - Great qualifying performer
8. Heidfeld - Keep forgetting about Nick, but he's always there or thereabouts

[Javierg]

Hi,

I see pretty funny posts here.
Here is my list.

1. Alonso : Crushed Piquet. 18-0 in qualifying. Ok, that was easy. Made a better Q3 in Hungary than Raikkonen although having the same amount of fuel in the car. Yes, Raikkonen had troubles, but having troubles with a Ferrari vs a R28 twingo tuned.

2. Kubica : Did what he could with the car. Unlucky sometimes. Only one mistake in the whole year, at Silverstone

3. Vettel : crushed Bourdais, won a race with a STR car, making Kovalainen look as a F3000 driver.

4. Massa : Massa lost more points due to other people mistakes than Hamilton. He looked more dominant than Hamilton sometimes (Bahrein, Turkey, Brasil, Valencia, Hungary)

5. Hamilton : Great races mixed with unbelievable mistakes. Was dominant in Australia, Hockenheim and China.
Was very good but still lucky at silverstone as Ferrari got the wrong call with Kimi´s tyres.
It was closed with Massa.

6. Glock. Very solid after his accident in Germany. Outscored Trulli in the second half and was very fast sometimes (hungary for example, without a mistake from his team during the pit stop, he would have won the race, not Kovalainen)

7. Heifeld : He had many problems on saturdays that ruined some races, but made some very interested

8. Raikkonen : low following his standards, but still better than other drivers

9. Trulli : Some podiums, a first row, with a car that is far from the best ones.

10. Rosberg : Some good races, with a bad car, but he did not outscore his teammate as much as we thought. In fact Nakajima had less ups and downs, but ruined so many races fro other pilots...

[17 points in two races]

1.Fernando Alonso
2.Vettel
3.Kubica
4.Glock
5.Massa
6.Hamilton
7.Webber
8.Heidfeld
9.Raikkonen
10. Burdais

[Antonio]

Ok, here it goes:

1) Hamilton: It was difficult to choose between him and Massa. But in the end, he won, so I guess he deserves it.

2) Massa: He did many perfect races, from a good starting position to the win and has improved a lot his qualifying skills. However, he had bad luck with realibility and rain (where he usually is worse than perfect). Massa overtaking Hamilton in the start in Hungary shows why he is a good driver for Ferrari: he can deliver battling against a similar car in normal conditions. However, he has to work for the surprises (rain, safety cars, quickly overtaking slower cars when in the middle of the field)

3) Alonso: His car was not the best at the beginning of the season, but also, he missed some opportunities with it (specially Monaco). However, at the end of the season, when the car improved to the level of BMW, he delivered a lot, taking advantage of every possible circumstance. You have to notice the role of motivation in Alonso's performances. I guess he ended the season motivated.

4) Kimi Raikkonen: He tried but failed. He qualified too bad, and was unable to recover on the start of the races. Hes was usually the fastest of the grid, but it didn't matter. He didn't get any point for four straight races and that took him out of the championship.

5) Robert Kubica: He was pretty consistent in the 3rd car of the grid. It is a shame they didn't take more risks to win more races. He had an steady flow of points, but that wasn't enough to challenge the championship. I guess that the problem was that they didn't believe they could win the championship. One missed opportunity, but next year they will try for real.

6) Sebastian Vettel: In the end, Toro Rosso had better car than Red Bull (most probably because of the Ferrari engines instead of Renault ones). But he drived incredibly, specially under the rain. I think he is the true rain specialist on the grid. I hope to see him driving thrilling races on that conditions.

7) Jarno Trulli: He qualifies above the qualities of his car. That alone is lots of extra points for a team. He is not very consistent in race, but i want to see him in a good team, where he can qualify in the front and go for the win from there. I am sure most of his deficiencies would be irrelevant to his great qualifying skills.

7) Nick Heidfeld: Like his teammate, he had an steady flow of points. However, he qualified worse than him, and that meant heavy fuel loads that sometimes paid off in the form of safety cars or unusual conditions (rain)

8) Mark Webber: He was pretty regular in a pretty bad car. He is quite a good driver. Maybe he is not a top driver to win the championship, but he can provide lots of points for the constructor championship. He would be much better than Kovalainen in McLaren

9) Timo Glock: He started badly, but he did well in the end. I am still surprised how slow he was in the last lap of Brazil (He was overtook in the last curve, and then he was 6s after Hamilton in the finish line). Even with dry tires, it was not so wet (and he did quite good the 4 laps before that)

10) Takuma Sato: Just kidding.

The worst performers:

1) Nelson Piquet: He was outperformed not only by his teammate, but by bad drivers in worse cars. He showed very little qualifying skills. He crashed his Renault too many times. Bad, bad and bad.

2) Heikki Kovalainen: He showed some promise last year, after a bad first half of the season. But that just if you compare him to Fisichella, a driver that was well beaten by Alonso in his years in Renault. I guess he is not a good driver, he had difficulties at the start of the season with the car, and this year he couldn't choose his strategies because hamilton came first (he complained bitterly about that)

3) David Coulthard: A very bad goodbye season. His best years were well behind today, but last seasons he showed a nice driving with red bull. Not this one.

[andrew myers]

1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Vettel
4. Kubica
5. Massa
6. Heidfeld
7. Raikkonen
8. Glock
9. Trulli
10. Button

[Matt]

I have to go on their ability to deliver peak performances rather than consistency. Consistency is way too boring and far too much encouraged in F1 at the moment.
Fuel in qualifying, the spate of penalties for overtaking and the current points system all conspire to ensure that we never see drivers at their ultimate balls out pace.

So my top 6 based upon what I think F1 ought to reward is as follows:

1. Hamilton – His performance at Silverstone made everyone else look ordinary. In any other era he would not have received the penalties that he did this year.

2. Alonso - still a fighter and seems to be able to conjure wins when given only half a whiff

3. Kubica – has speed in reverse proportion to his looks – is he actually faster than Hamilton/Alonso?

4. Vettel – although his car has been way better, he has clearly been poking it into positions that he shouldn’t rightfully be. Loved that he didn’t care about Hamilton’s world championship and overtook him in Brazil.

5. Massa – sometimes peerless but only if he gets pole – you can never doubt Hamilton’s/Kubica’s and Alonso’s innate speed or craft – you cant say the same for Massa (He must have been giddy at Silverstone)

6. Raikkonen – clearly still has the speed (the number of fastest laps this season!) but where was his mind? Would be good to see the old Raikkonen back.

Who should be out?

1. Heikki Kovalainen – he hardly seemed to feature in most races, struggled to even qualify to act as rear gunner for Hamilton and his position in the world championship is a joke.

2. Piquet – sometimes we wonder if Briatore couldn’t be a little less harsh on his younger drivers (but he was right about Kovalainen)

3. Bourdais – showed up by his team mate.

[Kaneda]

1. Alonso
2. Kubica
3. Massa
4. Vettel
5. Hamilton
6. Raikkonen
7. Webber
8. Trulli
9. Heifeld
10. Glock

[John Smith]

1.Felipe Massa - greatly exceeded expectations. Unlucky not to win
2.Lewis Hamilton - some great drives, a lot of solid drives but also a few mistakes
3.Fernando Alonso - proved he is still a class driver. Watch out if he gets a good car next year
4.Sebastian Vettel - brilliant victory at Monza, scoring solid points for a team who's budget should have prohibited him from doing so
5.Robert Kubica - made very few mistakes. slightly disappointing towards the end of the season
6.Nick Heidfeld - a crafty, underrated driver who quietly produces some very good results
7.Kimi Raikkonen - a lot of fastest laps but in the end they are irrelevant in the drivers standings. Little bit unlucky but a disappointing year
8.Timo Glock - After a bad start, really improved and in the latter half of the season arguably performed better than Trulli. A very solid season
9.Rubens Barrichello - deserves a lot of credit for doing so well with such a bad car. His podium at Silverstone was outstanding. Thoroughly outperformed Button. It would be a shame if he was resigned for next year
10.Nico Rosberg - A couple of great podiums but apart from those he was never better than eighth. Needs a better car to show his class

[Jordi]

For me the best driver is the one that draws most of your car

1-Alonso
2-Vettel
3-Kubica
4-Webber
5-Lewis
6-Felipe
7-Trulii
8-Rosberg
9-Heidfeld
10-Glock

insufficient: Nelson, Kovalainen, Kimi!!

[Big Phil]

It's crazy to see Hamilton so low down the rankings. He did win the championship after all, in possibly not the best car... And Alonso being top is not reallistic (and I love the guy), but his first part of the season was very average, even though he more than made up for it in the second half.

Kubica disappointed a bit at the end of the season, but he possibly was the most consistent driver of the year, he just lacked a bit of brilliance. Vettel was also awesome in the second half... and Massa's engine problems come with having the best car, so it cancels each other out. He has been the most improve driver of the year.

My ranking is:
1. Massa
2. Hamilton
3. Kubica
4. Alonso
5. Vettel
6. Glock
7. Heidfield
8. Raikonen
9. Webber
10. Trulli

[mangstadt]

My ratings will always be biased by statistics--what the sheer numbers tell us. In my opinion, the best driver & car package this season was (1) Lewis Hamilton, a worthy champion who managed to win despite strong opposition from the stewards. Next came (2) Felipe Massa, who was as close as he may ever be to becoming the world champion. He made many mistakes, just like nearly all of the drivers in this first season without traction control (some of the veterans on the grid had raced without TC many years ago). (3) Robert Kubica was still in contention in Shanghai, but sadly his chances withered away. (4) Fernando Alonso reminded us that he is a great driver in terms of sheer speed, strategy, and self-control (not racing for McLaren, that is). In 2009 he will be a serious contender again, assuming the car is good enough. (5) Sebastian Vettel is perhaps the driver with the greatest potential of the 20 who ended the season. I think he'll look good in red in 2010 or 2011 and he'll definitely be worthy of driving for Ferrari.

I won't go any farther down the list. The only other driver besides these five who can be fighting for the championship in 2009 is Kimi Raikkonen, provided that he keeps his focus.

One of our contributors from Spain gave us a from-lost-to-the-riveresque translation for the Spanish expression "conduciendo un hierro" ("driving a steel"). It should be read as "driving a turd" (or any equivalent expression).

[The Spanish Gary M]

1. Alonso - Although he drove an uncompetitive car all season he still managed to get himself in the points on occasions and even got very lucky with a couple of wins when the front runners were hitting problems. Nowhere near the best drivers of the season but he is Spanish and I love him.

2. Kubica - He is Alonso's friend and for a couple of races looked alright.

3. Vettel - He overtook Hamilton in Brazil.

4. Massa - Was gifted races and points by the stewards and only really came to life in the second half of the season but drove some great races and showed much skill to finish a good second in the Championship.

5. Heikki - Suffered from driving for a team that hates him and purposefully sabotaged his winning chances by putting scrambled egg in his petrol tank and filling his tyres with cement. He actually is the best driver at McLaren but was never allowed to show it.

6. Webber - He has got really nice hair and makes a great B-B-Q.

7. Nelsinhio - Did a great job staying out of Fernando's way.

8. Heidfeld - was fast during one race.

9. Glock - nearly won a race once.

10. Hamilton - Got most points during the season, won the World Championship, equal with Massa on number of races won. He would have wrapped up the WC earlier if not for the stewards. He raced all season in the second fastest car on the grid, comprehensively thrashed his team mate and amazed everybody with some stunning drives including Monaco and Silverstone that were just marks of genius and reminded many of a young Senna. The youngest World Champion in the history of the sport and leading the points table for his first two years in the sport. BUT....

He is not really very good and was nasty to the lovely Fernando Alonso, he is lucky and has a cheating team to help him. He has a pussycat girlfriend and I do not like him so he is down at number 10.

[Victor]

Alonso is the best by far
Kimi (odd years)
Kubica, Vettel, Bourdais (for future)
Hamilton (I'm including Ham boy albeit he lost last year champ with all the "aids"... pathetic)
Heidfield, Webber (strong guys)Massa (he did it the best he could and it was pretty good)

[Chris Healy]

The real driver of the year doesn't even compete in F1. Sebastian Loeb has so far won a staggering 10/14 events on the World Rally circuit and for all round abilty on any driving surface eclipses anyone in F1. That said the F1 driver of the year has to be Hamilton. He has the same car as Kovaleinen and totally outperformed him all season. It was only his second season in F1 and he is the World Champion. All done in A McLaren not a Ferrari. 2nd place goes to Massa & 3rd place is shared by Kubica and Vettel who both look like excellent young drivers.

[Alex]

1. Felipe Massa. Most wins. Except for GBR and MAL, nearly 0 mistakes. Were not for unfortunate circumstances, we'd be looking at a 15+ point lead over everyone else and lots of awe.

Plus, the most underrated driver in the championship. I wonder how this season will affect him next year. Will he continue improving? Will he have more punch now that he has seen that he is a serious contender?

Or will he fold?

disclaimer: Massa's my fav driver :)

2. Fernando Alonso. Fantastic second half of the championship. How bad was his car and how much he improved thanks to his work- I don't know, but impressive nonetheless.

disclaimer: I'm an Alonso hater :-p

3. Sebastian Vettel. Dominating a weekend with a Toro Rosso in your rookie year? Amazing. That, and his Interlagos exhibition is enough to put him here. As a Ferrari fan, I'm looking forward to a Massa/Vettel pairing.

I'm not particularly impressed by the rest.

4. Lewis Hamilton. Yes, he won the championship. However, he could have easily lost the championship by 15+ points. Lots of rookie mistakes, too hotheaded for a F1 driver.

disclaimer: Am I bitter because he won over Massa? Perhaps...

5. Robert Kubica. Good performance during the first half.

6. Nick Heidfeld. Only driver to finish all races.

7. Timo Glock. Another promising newbie.

8. Mark Webber

9. Jarno Trulli

10. David Coulthard.

[tiptoe]

Ed "Also can I point out that this blog is moderated by an outside company, not by me."

I tried to use that trick once at work and almost got fired.

Ed this is your blog you are responsible for your "outside company" mistakes. Not that I have seen any though

My list:
1. Alonso
2. Lewis
2. Vettel
3. Massa
4. Kubica
5. Webber
6. Heidfeld
7. Raikkonen
8. Truli
9. Rosberg
10 the rest

[D]

^
Hang about!

The question actually posed here was the "Top Ten drivers of the season", not the "Top Ten FORMULA ONE drivers of the season".

That makes it easy, then. Top Driver for the last four years (at least) has, without doubt, been Sébastien Loeb.

(The guy who also was censured by the FIA hierarchy this year for bringing the "sport" into disrepute by appearing unshaven in public, instead of enhancing its image by flogging prostitutes in the "privacy" of a brothel.)

Perhaps, while we are about it and since FIA behaviour has also been deemed a factor in our rankings, we should also have a poll for Bottom Ten officials of the FIA. Bottom being very much the appropriate word to use.

[Veetrag]

My Top 10

1. Alonso - He did wonderfully in improving Renault and got some good results by end of year
2. Massa - Did not expect him to do this well, but he did well. He was destined to be overshadowed by Kimi but he did not let that happen, drove well. He needs to improve him wet weather driving skills though.
3. Vettel - Drove live a champion with not so great car.
4. Hamilton - whenever he got pole, he did well but scumbled under pressure and made mistakes.
5. Kubica - Great driving and good mix of aggression.
6. Kimi - same as yours, bad qualifying. But he was unfortunate, if luck would have favored him he would be #1 by middle of year and Ferrari would have favored him for WC.
7. Trulli - very well qualified and helped a lot in improving Toyota.
8. Glock - same as Trulli.
9. Rosberg - poor car
10. Heidfeld

[IDR]

Well, Bob M have asked us for our top 10 drivers of this season. Why not?

My top drivers of this season are:

1 Lewis Hamilton: He has taken more points than any other, so the title is for him, because he has been the best one. That’s how it works.

2 Fernando Alonso: No one give a penny for him and Renault this year, but they have done an extraordinary second half of this season, thanks to his determination and Renault Team. They never surrendered!

3 Felipe Massa: I must recognize he has arrived so much far than expected. An extraordinary work for a brave runner up!

4 Kubica: Strong, wiling to win, but in a team with other priorities... at least for this year.

5 Sebastian Vettel: The kid.. Impressive kid who is still wondering how things have gone so good!!! It’s not the car, Sebastian, it’s you!

And those are my top 10, just 5.

Sorry Bob but I’m not going to make any stats of the comments of this thread.

I prefer to put another I’ve been doing about this Blog: ED’s long way home.

Ed has made this year 154.745 Km travelling all around this Planet for bringing us comments, thoughts, reports, menus (thanks for this) and pics.

And could have been more, but he had some familiar issues not allowing him to attend the Hungarian Grand Prix, and he not returned back to England after Fuji (I think Ed, if not, we should add another 15.615 Km)

He has been out his home near to 100 days for racing issues only, not adding Hamilton pr activities and Max Mosely “hobbies”.

Your wife still recognizes you when you return back home Ed?

All of this, done in “world class” (not to say economy) flights and standard class hotels.

He had shared with us 262 Threads (up to now), more than 31 Threads per month (From March to October – I have not considered those made in by Times online in February and those two posted by Ben Smith –or JaviervivaHamilton second personality- some days ago)

And he has read many of the 12.768 Comments we have written this season, from the first (CHRIS | 3 MAR 2008 19:07:43) to the last one I considered to make this stats posted in this thread. SAM | 6 NOV 2008 13:44:55

There is no money enough (on a standard salary agreement as an employee) that can pay this effort if you don’t love what you do.

So, for this reason, I think all of us should give you a BIG THANKS for this ED, despite those things we don’t like, (and I have some, for sure).

Thanks also for most of those who have posted those 12.768 comments. And I will add my personal ranking for them:

1 “D” Thanks for your sense of humour, charming stile, and deep knowledge of the history of this sport and his protagonists.

2 “GFher” I don’t know you, but I’m sure you are todo un Señor! Thanks for sharing your remembers with us.

3 “Gary M”, “Derek Smith”, “Richard”, “Anon (with something between brackets), “Jordi”, thanks for demonstrating fans can hardly disagree with others but showing respect. I know, sometimes you go beyond the limit, but who of us don’t? You are fair people and truly fans.

8 “Carleton Twitchell”, “JLK”, “Kathryn-S” The US fans! You are now the 2nd country for this blog, Spanish have came down to 3rd if not lower. (I know Ed works hard to ban any Spanish sign from this blog, but not hard enough. We are a tough cookie!)

9 Henkka (and his 4 years old son) always polite and balanced. Maybe one day you will host a GP in Finland!

10 Javiervivaespaña. Well, I must recognize I should have ranked you in the firsts positons of my personal list. I have always enjoyed your funny comments caricaturizing how Spanish “fan..atics” are seen from outside. But fiction characters cannot be in the top of the list. Well, in any case not to bad for the blog’s mascot!

Finally, if you think Lewis will become one of the greatest, stop to compare him to others, he will put his name in the hall of fame as Hamilton, not as Senna or Schumacher.

One last thing,

To all those who love to use the word “Spanish” or “Spaniards” to despise other blogger of group of them or a whole nation, I would like to use a David Coulthard’s quote after his Melbourne incident with Felipe:

What a season!!!

Time to rest...

[Anon (from Switzerland)]

So very difficult. We'll see about the stats. Not sure if I want to though.

Best driver of the season.

1.) Massa. Give it to him. He deserved the championship because of his mechanical failures which cost him more points than Lewis' penalties. Consistent, aggressive, and not that bad in the rain.

2.) Alonso. Power. Determination. Speed. During the first half, ripped the wheels off of his car. Second half, wrapped it 'round the circuits and drove to victory. As usual, the No1 in F1.

3.) Vettel. Sorry for Lewis, but Vettel was stunning. After four races, Vettel didn't even have a race finish to his name and trailed his teammate. End of season, his joyful innocence was amazing as he steered to victory.

4.) Lewis. Beautiful drives, the very best, but had howlers. If he had driven like in '07, he was finished. But Belgium, Italy, Britain, and Germany were all amazing. Only consistency drops him to fourth. Otherwise, I'd see him on podium.

5.) Barrichello- really good and fast. It is a CRIME that he has to leave Honda (if he does). Britain was amazing and he definitely was the star. Perfect season. Button didn't see it coming.

6.) Kubica. He lot it at the end of the season. Lacks a team leader aura, but is fast, daring, and consistent. Really great; champion next year.

7.) Fisichella. Give him credit, he outraced a rookie who was really praised. Solid experience.

8.) Glock. He will tear apart Jarno next year. Fast and clever. I like him a lot.

9.) Jarno had a pretty sweet season. It was good and I liked seeing him on podium.

10.) Heidfeld. I hope he gets over his problems because he is amazing.

[Mike]

1.Massa - deserved to win (just)
2. Hamilton - deserved to come second (just)
3. Kubica - very good in an average car
4. Vettel - awesome
5. Alonso - sparked into life a bit too late on, but when he did was as good as always
6. Heidfeld - pretty good in an average car
7. Glock - showed real promise
8. Trulli - bit of a rennaisance
9. Raikkonen - good compared to others but totally outclassed by Massa
10. Rosberg - bad car, reasonable results.

The biggest disappointments were Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Webber.

[JoseBelgica]

1 Alonso (No doubts, give him a rocket and he will put it on the Moon)
2 Massa (he was not the champ because engine failure and pitstop mess)
3 Hamilton (i do not like him, but he has balls)
4 Kubica (he believes in himself)
5 Vettel (Won with a Toro rosso )
6 Raikkonen (He performs when nobody expect him to be)
7 Webber (ups and downs)
8 Heidfield (ups and downs)
9 Trulli (surprises)
10 Kovalainen (nice first part of the season and then Mclaren realized he could be a problem)

[IDR]

My comment has been edited by the moderation team of this blog

I just wrote what was published by Ed Gorman in the thread "Was Felipe completely in the wrong or was DC half asleep?" March 17, 2008.

So my final phrase should be:

What a team!!!!

Maxwell Smart would do a better job.

[Miguel]

1. Alonso (took 100% out of a middle class car)
2. Hamilton (It would have been ranked at the top spot had not been overtaken by Vettel in Brazil)
3. Kubica (a shame BMWs were not competitive during the 2nd half of the season)
4. Massa (just driving the fastest car out there, good qualifying anyway)
5. Vettel (no doubt he's the most talented young driver)
6. Raikkonen (where have you been?)
7. Trulli (took the best of the Toyota despite its irregular performance)
8. Heidfeld (poor qualifying, but very solid race driver)
9. Glock (he'll become better and better in the future years)
10.Kovalainen (nothing special if compared to LH, but he really is a quick driver; at least he managed to win one race)

[D]

^
OK, guys: I’ll volunteer to do the compilation statistics on this one. I figure it’s my turn and I owe it to Ed, the blog and all my friends here to make that contribution after my protracted absence this summer, abroad pursuing other pleasurable things.

If I’m to do it, though, three important items I need to know, given that Ed will soon be closing the blog for his well-deserved winter holiday.

1. The cut-off date (and hour) for votes.

2. The date by which the result needs to be posted - hopefully with a few days left thereafter for people to digest it and comment on it before the blog goes into hibernation.

3. The basis upon which to allocate the votes. The most straightforward and uncontroversial system would be a simple 10 points for each contributor's first choice, descending evenly to 1 point for their tenth. But some may feel that the points should be weighted, FIA-style, to give greater recognition to those at the top of people’s lists.

Doing that, however, would initiate a pre-debate about the scoring system which the timescale still available to us could not easily accommodate.

I also feel there should, if possible, be consistency with our earlier polls. So, I would appreciate the advice of IDR and Anon on this. And, of course, of Ed.

I hope this offer to unleash my Macs on the number-crunching is not presumptuous: if anyone else, including the initiator of the thread, would like to do it themselves I’ll be happy to defer to them. But we do need to sort our quickly who’s going to do it.

In the meantime, keep voting!

[Go Lew1s with luv!]

EXEPTIONALLY I shall do stats. Because I am too kind. I really shouldn't do this. I'll release results this Sunday, I guess.

Points:

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

I had big problems last time because of people who give parts of their ,ist, and it seems worse this time, so I will accept them and convince myself that if a guy lists sixdrivers it is because no one elsemerits to be on the list.

PS: This is very interesting and very close. Keep going for it.

PPS: The guy who said that the Renault is better than the McLaren needs calm down.

[Go Lew1s with luv!]

D: sory mate, but I did all of them up to you. Took me quite a while. I would have said I was doing them earlier, but I posted after I counted...

But go ahead, we can compare results.

How 'bout

12
10
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
?

[Jason Emerick]

My top five -

1. Hamilton - He won the Championship, despite the silly steward decisions, his own mistakes, and some bad luck by giving us a number of amazing drives, especially in wet conditions. He is only going to get better as the years go on - and he is pretty damn good now. By any calculation, he was the one to beat this year - that won't change any time soon.

2. Massa - Simply the best of the Ferrari drivers, time and time again. Even when things went wrong - and they did enough times to cost him the WDC through no fault of his own - he remained cheerful, determined and a through gentleman. Filipe came of age this year and showed us all that he can race with anyone in F1 and win and do it with class! Hopefully he gets a big increase in the pay packet after this season - he certainly deserves it. If Maranello can overcome its penchant for "Stupid Pit Tricks" look for Massa to be a good odds pick for the '09 WDC.

3. Alonso - Redemption is a wonderful thing. FA erased much of the bad taste left from his '07 misbehavior with a series of hammering drives in what started as a mediocre mid-pack car and finished as a serious contender. His victories at Singapore and Japan were sweet reward for a season of unstinting determination and teamwork at Renault. If he is smart, he will stay there next season and ignore Honda's money and Ross Brawn's flattery - FA does best in a team that is neither too corporate or too political and Renault fits the bill. Be happy in your work, Fernando - it's worth more than all the money in the world. Well done!

4. Vettel - Taking your first win in the wet at Monza would be impressive enough for anyone's season, but Vettel added drive after drive into the top third of the grid in a car that really has no business being there by any logical measure. Where will he be next year? Maybe Red Bull...and maybe not; contracts were made to be bought out and this kid is the hottest package of talent on the grid at the moment. If I were Heidfeld, I would be worried - very worried. This young man is the real deal and just needs the right car and team to put his name on a WDC in the next two or three years.

5. Kubica - Brave, tough...and frustrated. He needs some real improvement in the BMW next year and will be putting pressure on the team to deliver. Despite his late-season fade as BMW stopped development on the '08 car, Robert always drives hard and fast and utterly fearlessly. He has a wonderful "touch" with the machinery and that is going to serve him very well next season when the aero gets cut by 50% and more than ever the racing will turn on how the rubber meets the road in every sense of the word. Kubica is not afraid to slip and slide and go fast doing it. He just needs BMW to find some more speed.

So what's not to like about '09? There could be four, five or even six (if someone manages to wake up Kimi again) drivers fighting for the WDC. The cars will be even more twitch as the downforce gets cut. Yahoo!

[Damir]

I'm with JSA above - I'm among the biggest of Ferrari fans, but Massa and my man Kimi both sucked out there at more than one occasion this year.

Alonso (who I don't particularly like as a person..) was a magician; his car looked balanced and fast when we all knew it wasn't, and then when it became fast-ish, the man capitalized like none other.

Vettel - what a guy, what a racer, and most importantly, what an unreal level of maturity. I hope he doesn't get "Jenson Buttoned" and wind up being an almost-great.

[Haas]

My top ten:

1: Alonso - R28 couldnt have won 2 races this year without him and quiet clearly outdrove the car. Only one of two drivers this season to have done that.
2. Vettel - The other driver to have perfromed way better than what that car could have.
3. Massa - Consistent in second half and places where he lost points were mostly without any fault of his
4. Lewis - Champion but clearly not the best. Would have ranked him above Massa but he did hit a championship rival in the pitstop (possibly the blunder of the season)
5. Kubica - Again a great drive and just behind Massa and Lewis coz of a lack luster last few races.
6. Kimi - He knows why
7. Trulli - Brialliant work Qualifying, faded off on races
8. Hiekki - Its sad to see a good driver struggle, hopefully next season the car is more to his liking
9. Sutil - Monaco baby!
10. Webber - Had his days.

[A Parker]

Ed, you just can't give credit where it's due can you?

[Bhavesh]

Hi Ed,

Many thanks to you and the many con-tributors who have helped enliven, discect the twist and turns of this season.

What a classic, I doubt we will see a more nail biting finish for a long time, but then again I said that after last year too.

Before writing out my top ten I must say the top four are difficult to split if only for the what could have beens races/decisions etc. If the teams deliver more cars next year we could be in for a major four/five way fight for the title. There is a lot of top talent in the F1 pool right now.

1. Hamilton- when it comes to balls out racing, never saying die, driving the wheels off your motor he has to be the man. We saw some astonishing drives in the most difficult conditions (Britain, Monaco), fanastic overtaking moves (Italy, Germany), as well as lights to flag processions (Australia, China). Some great pole position laps throughout the season.
When it comes to stiring the soul and leaving you gob smacked he is definately the man. However for the reason above he made heavy weather of this championship, with lots of help from over judicious stewards. There were too many mistakes and marginal calls. If he can iron out these tendancies Schumacher will have to start looking over his shoulders. Remember Schuy raced for 16 years, it took him time to get his teams to the right level. Hamilton is already in a top team that loves him every bit as much he loves them....

2. Massa, really felt for the guy through the season the team let him down far too many times and at races such as Valancia and Turkey it was like Hamilton and him were in a different formula. Sensational in qualifying all the way through the year and when out front unstoppable. At various races when he was leading with Hamilton chasing him, from the timing screens you could see that in terms of lap times pace there was never that much in it, but Massa would always find that extra tenth of grip 1 or 2 laps before LH and his pace was metronomic. The reason he comes 2nd and not first is that you can't spin a car 5 times in a GP and finish 1 min behind your rival and be considered the top driver of the year. Add that to throwing it off in Malaysia, and a general lack of decent overtaking ability (Japan) Hamilton just shades it. However given a reliable car, dry conditions and a clean road Massa lead the way home this year.

3. Kubica for being extremely consistant and dragging the max out of his car at every single race. Just imagine what the championship would have been like if BMW hadn't stopped developing the car after Canada. Kubica normally had indicent free races and yet always turned up on the podium in car that had no business being there. If BMW get their act together, this man is going to be right at the top of the pile next year. Seemed to lose interest in the mid season, just rewards in his haul of points.

4. Alonso, after a friey gusty driving start to the year Alonso faded into irrelavance by mid season but as soon as Renault gave him a car Alonso came alive and was again dazzling us with his brilliance. Still the most complete racing driver of the season and when he stop whining and starts driving he leaves is rivals dazed and confused. Chased Massa home in Brazil in a car that had no business being second. Two cracking wins, but was Singapore staged ?

5. Kimi, when he is on song he is the fastest man in F1 but the iceman went for a wander in the wilderness mid season and never really got it back together. He says he is saving himself was next year, but he'll need to come back at his highest most consistent level. Even in 07 Kimi went missing for a bit but dragged himself back into it.

6. Vettel nice geeky looking kid but getting quicker and quicker. Crap first half of the season but as the car came good so did he. Not sure if Red Bull can give hime the car he needs next year.

7. Webber unlucky but sometimes chokes all on his own.

8. Bourdais, as the season went on this guy improved in leaps and bounds Torro Rosso would be stupid to dump him just when he is coming good. The should have been fourth at Spa show cased what I talent this guy is.

9. Heidfeld - needs to get his qualifying together otherwise raced to some great podiums this year

10. Trulli always in there driving the wheels of his Toyota but somehow always un-noticed. How did he go from 2nd in Brazil to 8th??

Get out of F1 driver- none of them they all deserve their place and shone at various moments during the season.

[Liquid]

1. Alonso
2. Massa
3. Hamilton
4. Vettel
5. Kubica
6. Raikonnen
7. Heidfield
8. Heikki
9. Trulli
10. Glock

[Richard]

SPANISH GARY M - "putting scrambled egg in his petrol tank and filling his tyres with cement"

LOL, hilarious post, thanks, it really made my day!

[Aaron James]

As we all know I'm a big Ferrari fan.

1. Alonso
2. Massa
3. Hamilton
4. Vettel
5. Kubica
6. Raikkonen
7. Barrichello
8. Glock
9. Heidfeld
10. Kovaleinen

[Javier]

Here's my pick:

1. Alonso: it is not because I'm from Spain, but because he's the most well rounded driver in the grid. He makes very few mistakes, is able to keep a high pace and concentration through the 2 hours of the race, understand very well the car and the mechanics, is fast, applys good strategies, ... You can hardly spot a weak point of him (inside the car, we are not judging their personalities).

2. Hamilton: he's brilliant, but he makes too many mistakes still. If he improves on some areas, and gets more consistent he will be one of the greatest. But it is not easy to improve on something you already lack at the age of 23-24; remember that by that age your personality is done. So he will need to focus on these areas very hard, and do not think that his talent will make it all.

3. Kubica: I would like to put Vettel on 3rd positition, but it is too early, he has not had the time to demonstrate enough. Kubica, the same as Fernando, is very constant and makes very few mistakes. A fast driver with focus. That's a winning combination.

4. Vettel: he will be a very good one, everyone agree. Had he been at Ferrari or Maclaren maybe he would be on the WDC battle. But before putting him at the top of the list, he has to demonstrate more good races like the last ones.

5. Massa: good on one lap, which nowadays means you can win a lot of races with a good car. But he lacks that mistic touch of the greatest.

6. Kimi: should be higher on the list. Very fast, but inconsistent. Races last too much to relax. He had a bad season, but I trust he on 2009. You can never discard him.

7. Trulli: the best on one lap. had he had a Ferrari we would have won a few races this year. If he only could keep his pace through the whole grand prix ...

8. Webber: I still like him.

9. Glock: he has had his moments this year. He works hard on the track, he does not give up.

10. Rosberg: just to fill the list. Good driver, but I think he lacks that magic of the best.

[Antonio Xixon but in UK]

My positions are:

1. Kubica: It might surprise some in the blog, but we (I include myself)have very quickly forgoten that this guy was in contention for the title with just four races to go, with a worst car than McLaren and Ferrari, and more exciting overtakings than some of the chaps in the top.

2. Alonso: Yes, he got some of the victories because of other team's blunders, but you have to be there and keep the pace. Also he is a chap that creates or shares strategies with the engineers, unlike some others that have to be told what to do. Impresive with such an uncompetitive car.

3. Massa: What this chap had to endure this year is far beyond belief. Started the season as the "logical" second pilot for Ferrari's top managers only to prove them wrong with consistency, self-belief and hard work. It is difficult to shake away the reputation of "eternal" good companion of the first choice. Still, and eventhough the garage problems, he should have taken out more from the car. Next season will tell if this is the confirmation of a contender on his own right.

4. Hamilton: I had to think about this a lot. He has the merit to qualify consistenly in top positions. But he can't handle to have cars in front of him. All his mistakes have been when he is put under pressure. Had one of the best, if not the best car in the grid. Good potential. It would have been an underachivement not to win this year's WDC when all the team's efforts are directed towards one particular pilot only.

5. Vettel: He shouldn't be here by his merits, but he is because other's demerits and lack of compromise. A diamond in brute. Given the chance he'll emerge as one of the best in the paddock.

6. Kimmi: Some people susprised?. He is one of the big losers of the season, but that doesn't mean that he didn't have great drives this season. Shame that he has a faulty internal switch in his brain that doesn't let him drive as he could and for long enough. He might be the revelation of 2009.

7. Trulli: A very clear and fine example of what experience and good driving can do in a normal car. He deserves better.

8. Heikki: He would have had better points if the team would have backed him more. He is in peril of becoming the new version of Massa in McLaren.

9. Webber: Good drives mixed with mediocre ones.

10. Coulthard: Sutil did better, but I want him to be in my list because he has been a figure in F1 and is his last season. His backing of that charity in Brazil talks loads of him. I wish that Lewis had his personality.

Eager to see the compilation of results.

[Gandalf]

1) Alonso
2) Kubica
3) Vettel
4) Hamilton
5) Massa
6) Raikkonen
7) Trulli
8) Rosberg
9) Heidfeld
10) Fisichella

[Dave Myers]

1. Alonso - He never gave up all season.
2. Massa - Undoubtedly the most improved driver.
3. Kubica - The most consistent of all until the last couple of races.
4. Vettel - Had a wayward start to the year, but had a barnstorming second half.
5. Hamilton - Made too many mistakes, cut too many chicanes, and got too involved in his own hype.
6. Raikkonen - A very lacklustre season.
7. Glock - Came on strong after Germany and was on a par with Trulli.
8. Fisichella - Made Sutil look ordinary in an unfamiliar car in the first few races and was quicker over the season.
9. Webber - Excellent in qualifying, but seffered from Toro Rosso's progression in the second half of the year.
10. Trulli - Some top-quality drives and usual qualifying excellence.

[Zebar]

1. - Alonso - outstanding finish to the season with finishes of 4,4,1,1,4,2 in the last 6 GP's took his opportunities well throughout the year got more points than the disppointingly slow Renault deserved

2. - Vettel - excellent second half of the season a deserved win at Monza and strong performance at Brazil, should be consistenly in the points if Red bull can give him a good car for 2009

=3. - Massa - most improved driver and most consistent after problems in the first 2 rounds unreliabilty and team errors cost him the title

=3 - Hamilton - would have been higher except for rushes of blood to the head in Canada and Japan will have to cut the errors to retain his crown. A couple of brilliant performances in Britain and China and a significant slice of luck in Monaco overall a deserved champion.

5. - Kubica - Good start to the season with consistent points scoring faded late on as BMW began to focus on 2009, should be up there again next year

6. - Heidfeld - unspectacular, got more out of the car in the second half of the season than Kubica but didn't perform in qualifying

7. - Glock - improved throughout the season finished well

8. - Webber
9. - Sutil
10. - Trulli

Biggest disappointments:

Raikkonen - good start to the season but faded badly with a lack of form only emphasised by consistent fastest laps in GP's despite not challenging
Kovalainen - not worthy of a seat at Mclaren lacks the killer instinct to be a champion
Bourdais - was unlucky but should have done better in a good car

[cheers]

My votes:

1- Alonso
2- Kubica
3- Massa
4- Vettel
5- Hamilton
6- Webber
7- Trulli
8- Heidfeld
9- Raikkonen
10- Rosberg

[Larrotcha]

1) Alonso - The best when he feels at home.
2) Massa - Made Raikkonen look silly. Let down by reliability of Ferrari.
3) Kubica - A fighter in an ok car.
4) Hamilton - The Champion in the quickest and most reliable car.
5) Vettel - The future.

[sergio]

My list

Best:

1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Hamilton

Worse

1. Kovalainen
2. Piquet
3. Bourdais

[Nil]

1. Lewis (Very hard choice in-between him and massa.. in the end as he won WDC.. he deserves it!!)
2. Massa (Most improved driver of the season)
3. Vettel (If he end up in a Ferrari.. Watch out Lewis!!!)
4. Alonso (The best developer among current drivers.. no doubt.. and a good racer too.. But for his wins.. I think he was lucky at least in one!!)
5. Kubica (Consistent)
6. Kimi (10 fastest laps.. speaks for him..)
7. Heikki (Very unlucky season.. Just love the guy!!)
8. Glock (He shows some talent too)
9. Heidfield (Overall Good... But average in a BMW)
10. Webber (Good)

[Pinaster]

1.Fernando Alonso
2.Vettel
3.Kubica
4.Hamilton
5.Massa
6.Glock
7.Webber
8.Heidfeld
9.Raikkonen

[ELCROWLEY]

Well, seeing posts Alonso wins as THE BEST ONE!!!

[ELCROWLEY]

7th November, 15:00.......

Alonso: 27 votes or so as BEST driver.

Ham: 17 votes or so as BEST driver.

[Javier]

I'm an Alonso fan because I think he's got talent and something of an aura about him. Yet this year, for me it's clear:

1. Hamilton, because he won, with a bit of luck, as it happens. And it pays off for last year's debacle. And well, he deserves it.
2. Massa, because he was as close as it gets.
3. Kubica, because he brought a new country into the sport, and in style; F1 is huge in Poland.
4. Alonso, because he did well at the end, he should have won the last one, though.
5. Vettel, just because.
6. Raik. Failed but was there, patient as usual.
7, 8, 9, don't matter.

[Dave]

1 Hamilton
2 Vettel
3 Alonso
4 Kubica
5 Massa
6 Sutil
7 Rosberg
8 Bourdais
9 Webber
10 Barrichello

[Colin]

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Robert Kubica
3. Felipe Massa
4. Sebastian Vettel
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Kimi Raikonnen
7. Mark Webber
8. Nico Rosberg
9. Heikki Kovalien
10.Nick Heidfeld

[Akshay]

My top ten are as follows:
1. Massa
2. Hamilton
3. Alonso (he's one heck of a cunning fellow)
4. Vettel (put him in a Ferrari and he'll beat Hamilton's youngest champion record by more than year!!)
5. Kubica
6. Raikkonen (what's wrong with this guy???)
7 - 10. Don't really have anyone else to comment about. No one is worth mentioning..

[Afonso]

1- Hamilton
2- Massa
3- Kubica
4- vettel
5- Kimi
6- Alonso
7- Hedfeld
8- webber
9- heiki
10- glock

1.Massa
2.Hamilton
3.Iceman
4.Alonso
5.Kubica
6.Vettel
7.Kovalainen
8Rosberg
9.Webber
10.Heidfield

[EP]

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Felipe Massa
4. Sebastian Vettel
5. Kimi Räikkönen
6. Robert Kubica
7. Timo Glock
8. Jarno Trulli
9. Heikki Kovalainen
10. Nick Heidfeld

[Talese]

Massa is rubbish. I feel for him losing like that, but ALONSO, VETTEL, WEBBER AND Hamilton are all better.

Massa is the same as Kimi - got lucky with car and no competition. Lewis was alteast good 2 seasons in a row.

Let us see Webber, Vettel and Alonso in good cars. That will be interesting.

Kubica was consisitently boring. You got to be boring in 1st place... he wasnt

[Min]

Well in the line:

1: Alonso, 16 pole 21 wins, the only one doesm't need a pole to win.

2: Hamilton, Spectacular but needs poles (only two victoris without poles)

3: Kimi the fastest. well third if we measure only hability. he doesn't need poles to win. escept this year.

4: Kubica, we don't know what he can do

5: Vettel the sensation.

6: Massa. Only a good car, the one who very much needs pole to win.

7. Rosberg. Bad car this year but two podiums

8. Glock. For me the surprise with a Toyota

9.The others

[YAOMEN!]

1 Alonso
2. Massa
3. Hamilton
4.Vettel
5.Kubica
6.Raikkonen
7.Truli
8.Heidfield
9.Rosberg
10. Webber

[Damon - Birmingham]

My top 10 would be:

1. Hamilton
2. Vettel (seriously considered him for no 1 - he drastically outperformed his car - if you'd told me a Minardi or Torro Rosso would have a lights to flag victory a couple of years ago I'd have laughed)
3. Alonso
4. Kubica
5. Webber
6. Barrichello
7. Massa (he may have had a lot of engine blow ups but he also had the best engine, couldn't overtake and made a lot of mistakes up to the British Grand Prix).
8. Heidfeld
9. Rosberg
10. Trulli

Raikkonen doesn't make my top 10 - he seriously underperformed in the best car on the grid.