This year was a good demonstration of Bottas' strengths and weaknesses. His qualifying performances have remained impeccable, which is probably what kept him in the team for so long. He actually holds the record for most poles without a championship win. (The contrast to Red Bull regularly switching drivers due to qualifying underperformance is not a coincidence.) However, he has been much less impressive at recovery drivers and general race pace. Overall his results have been consistently adequate, with more 3rd places than any other driver. The low ranking at the start of the season was mostly due to DNFs , but subsequently recovered to about the level expected of him.
The 2021 Formula One World Championship season has so far been undoubtedly one the greatest seasons we have ever seen with the driver's championship going right down to the wire. After Hamilton's back to back wins in the last two Grand Prix's, he has snuck out in front of Verstappen on the tracker, amazingly the fourth time this season the favourite to win has changed. As it stands heading into the Saudi Arabian GP, Hamilton is listed as having a 61.77% chance of taking home the title, his highest since May 10th and the fourth round of the 2021 World Championship. Verstappen, who had an 80.39% chance of winning the title as recently as November 8th, has gone on an incredible slide since and now sits at 45.31%. Norris showed potential in his first two seasons of F1, but emerged as an absolute sensation this year.
In the opening half of the year he thoroughly drubbed Daniel Ricciardo, and was also ahead of both Pérez and Bottas in the standings despite a clearly inferior car. He ended the season with 10 consecutive points finishes, something matched by only Carlos Sainz, and his 3rd place in qualifying for the final race confirmed that the pace was still there. His 2 big missed opportunities of the year came at Belgium and Russia . His Belgium crash was unfortunate, but he surely would have recovered to score points, if not more, had a race actually taken place. In Russia his first victory was cruelly snatched away by late rain, but most of the blame must be placed on his team for not calling him in. Overall it he scored more points, podiums and poles than in his previous 2 seasons combined, despite McLaren falling from 3rd to 4th place in the constructors championship.
In a season packed with close racing, controversy, and tight championship battles, it is easy to pay attention to just the winners and losers. But the season has so much more than just the championship battle between an all-time great and a future great driver. There were break-out performances, stunning qualifying laps, talented rookies looking to make their mark, and the return of a two-time world champion who still has unfinished business in the sport. Took the first pole position of his career at Sochi and would have secured his maiden victory too if not for the sudden deluge which clipped his wings just a few laps from the end. Scored a second-place finish behind Ricciardo at Monza, qualified high up the grid most weekend and delivered consistent Sunday performances which combined strong pace and composed wheel-to-wheel racing. Ocon has beaten Alonso at every race where both cars have finished and has now out-qualified the Spaniard 2–1 so far.
The Alpine looked to be well off the pace of the battle for third in the constructors championship at Bahrain, but both drivers have now shown impressive pace and the team now looks to be in a better place after only a couple races. It may be hard to recall so far back, but Ocon's performances at the start of the season were impressive. In the first 5 races he scored 4 times, and had over double the points of his teammate Alonso. Alpine renewed his contract around this time, only for his form to slump for a few races.
He returned to the points, then earnt a fantastic first victory in Hungary, holding back Sebastian Vettel for much of the race. Overall, he was outpaced and outscored by Alonso in the last two-thirds of the season, and amazingly his fortunate victory his only top 6 finish of the year. Despite this, the model considers 2021 to be his strongest year to date. He made a 46 years unbeaten record by winning the most World Championship of Drivers starting from 1951 and then 4 consecutive times from 1954 to 1957.
With 24 wins, 29 highest pole positions, 35 podiums, 245 career points, and 23 fastest laps, he decorated his career with the greatest possible success. Clark set 33 pole positions and won 25 of the 72 GP starts he made, and can claim numerous records to this day – in 1963, for example, he led 71 per cent of all laps raced that season. As well as his versatility, Clark was revered for his incredible silkiness behind the wheel, and his extraordinary mechanical sympathy. "Jim Clark was everything I aspired to be, as a racing driver and as a man," his great friend Sir Jackie Stewart said. The German is still considered one of the best F1 drivers of all time, with many aspiring F1 drivers looking towards him as a figurehead in the industry.
Schumacher is prolific in F1 and has 155 podiums and 68 pole positions to his name. Furthermore, he has one of the best comeback stories of all time as he managed to return to racing after breaking his leg in a crash and winning in the next championship. Yes, he missed out on the title and was not always on the level of teammate Hamilton. But he took four wins and five pole positions and finished runner up.
It is reasonable to consider whether the comparison is particularly fair, given that Red Bull have a reputation for focusing on their main driver. Pérez's retirement at the final race (caused by a fear that any issues could delay the race restart and scupper Verstappen's chances versus Hamilton) is a good example. Given that the model expected Leclerc to easily outscore Sainz, his slim deficit at the season's end could be interpreted as a poor season for the Monacan driver.
Leclerc did at least enjoy a step up in car performance from 2020, with 2 pole positions and a near victory at Silverstone. However, his single podium suggests that he didn't always take advantage of opportunities throughout the season, with the non-start in Monaco being an obvious example. It serves as a demonstration of his talent that the model considers the season to be slightly underwhelming in terms of results, but he is still considered to be the 5th best driver, and just a whisker away from a top 2 spot. He attended the last race of his career in the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and finished in 14th place. He won 91 races in total in his successful career which includes most of the major championships with the fastest laps and highest pole positions along with 72 Grand Prix victories.
He got his own podium reward in Qatar after a brilliant performance on old tyres to take third place behind the top two drivers in the sport, Verstappen and Hamilton. One of the biggest names in F1, Lewis Hamilton is a British race-car driver who boasts great success. Currently, Hamilton owns the F1 record for career race victories, is tied with Michael Schumacher for the most drivers' championship wins, and is the first black driver to win the F1 World Drivers' Championship in 2008. A long-awaited podium in Turkey was nice to see but only finishing in the top six twice when his team-mate has done it seven times says it all.
It would have been a humbling season for anyone, let alone a four-time world champion with 57 race wins. He has often put in mega qualifying laps and race performances that have rivaled that of the best in the field. But he can be erratic and make mistakes and has thrown away good results a few times. A champions season; Verstappen only once finished a race out of the top 2 .
Going into the season, the model thought Max would score 64% of the team's points, but ended up with 67.5%. Whilst this difference seems small, it actually makes the difference between him winning the title and being 2 full race wins behind Lewis. Kimi's final year can be considered a success given that he easily outscored his teammate despite missing 2 races. He was much closer to teammate Giovanazzi than the 10-3 score in his favour suggests, with a pair of 8th places elevating his standings considerably. The model partially corrects for his by giving credit for non-points finishes, as well as accounting for the ease in which a driver can rack up a high percentage of a.
Whilst Kimi failed to go out on a high in Abu Dhabi, his performances over the year were perfectly respectable. Tsunoda is not only the lowest ranked driver, but he has been so for almost the entire season. After initially impressing (Ross Brawn called him "the best rookie in years" after his debut) Yuki struggled to keep pace with Gasly, both in qualifying and race trim. Whilst he may be considered lucky to be kept on another year, Red Bull typically give drivers 2 years despite their ruthless reputation. Improvements in qualifying towards the end of the season were encouraging, and his fantastic 4th place in the season finale may serve as a springboard going into 2022.
However, the fact remains that Gasly ended up with more than twice as many points finishes and three times as many points. There's no doubt that Tusnoda will need to find further improvements to stay on beyond 2022, particularly as backers Honda are pulling out of the sport. Given the close working relationship that Alfa Romeo and Haas enjoy with Ferrari, it's not surprising that all three drivers are being linked to at least one of the vacant seats at both teams. Who goes where may ultimately be decided by which driver takes the Formula 2 title in 2020, especially considering regulations that state the winning driver is not permitted to continue racing the following year. The smart money seems to be on the son of 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher being the most likely young driver to secure a seat next year, probably with Alfa Romeo.
Unlike Ilott and Schumacher, Shwartzman is only competing in his first season of Formula 2 this year and may benefit from another year of honing his racecraft. But the Russian is also highly rated and not far off emulating Charles Leclerc and George Russell, both of whom won Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles in succession before graduating to Formula 1 the following year. Drove the wheels off the Alpha Tauri and out-paced his team-mate on 21 out of 22 Saturdays in another extremely strong season. Took a podium in Baku as well as a glut of fifth and sixth-placed finishes elsewhere as he continued to look a driver capable of challenging for wins in a faster car.
Lead the team with confidence despite still being only 25 and seemed to have a good influence on Tsunoda's manner as the season went on. Raised his level of performance to probably the highest of his career in the face of the challenge posed by Verstappen and Red Bull, and managed to take eight wins in the most hardly-fought season of a generation. Was sensational in winning three race in a row before the finale at Abu Dhabi, and would have taken a deserved, record-breaking eighth title had it not been for Latifi's crash at Yas Marini and the Michael Masi controversy which followed. Also known as 'The Professor,' Alain Prost is a French race-car driver best known for his rivalry with the renowned Senna. Unlike many of the drivers on this list, Prost didn't secure a championship win right away. Rather, it took him six seasons before he was top of the podium for the 1985 World Drivers' Championship.
Legendary across the globe but more so in the United Kingdom, Scottish driver Jackie Steward can still be found spectating F1 races. Stewart has driven 100 races and has secured an impressive 43 podiums, but after the death of his teammate Francois Cevert during qualifying, he decided against driving what would have been the last race of his career. He has been beset by bad luck, so to be right there in the best-of-the-rest battle outside of the top three drivers says a lot for his resilience and consistency. After a run of just two points finishes in seven races in the middle of the season, he finished the next seven all in the points, with six of those in the top-six.
If Hamilton can win in Saudi Arabia, he will be feeling confident of being able to take home the title in Abu Dhabi, a race he has won five times in the past. While Verstappen did win the curtain closer last year, it's hard to bet against Hamilton when he needs the most. The Mercedes driver has shown constantly throughout his career that when the pressure is at its highest, he delivers. If he does indeed take home the championship this year, there would be no doubt that he is indeed the greatest driver to ever compete in Formula 1. Briton Lewis Hamilton , now a seven-time world champion, is the number one driver and the clear favorite to seal yet another championship. His teammate, Valtteri Bottas , is a man who operates more in the background but is capable of more than one or two race wins.
75% positive contribution is excellent from the 7-time world champion. However, being supercritical in the first half of the season there are a few performances that have probably cost him the world title in reality. The mistake in Azerbaijan and lackluster weekends by his standards at Monaco and the Austrian GP on review would be where you would say the title was lost. Incredible performance towards the end of the season to get back in the fight and be a lap away from winning it. The graph above shows how many points the constructor scored (as a %, x-axis) against what percentage of those were scored by the lead driver (y-axis) since 2010. The higher up the y-axis, the more dominant the teammate battle, but we can also see that a large discrepancy is more likely if the team scores fewer points as a whole.
There are 14 occasions where teams have scored more (as a % of points available) than Red Bull in 2021, but of those only Vettel's 2013 performance comes close to Verstappen's level of domination. The most dominant teammate performances (in at least semi-competitive cars) are highlighted, with VER 2021 being comparable to anything anyone else achieved. The difference is that Pérez is considered to be a significantly stronger teammate overall than Massa or Webber.
Räikkönen is considered to be a similar level to Pérez, which leads to the conclusion that Verstappen's 2021 performance is comparable to Alonso's in 2014. Ricciardo very much had a season of two halves, and he was down in 15th place at the Summer Break. The improvement was partly due to the model realising just how good his teammate is (both due to Norris' own performances and Sainz's at Ferrari), but also due to Daniel improving over time. At the summer break, he'd scored just 44% of Norris' points, but he returned to outscore Norris from then on. Ricciardo managed fairly consistent points finishes throughout the season and a historic win at Monza (McLaren's first triumph in almost a decade) was well deserved. Norris vs Ricciardo will be another teammate battle to keep an eye on in 2022.
Four points finishes, including a second place in Belgium, suggest a big step up for Russell and Williams in general. Of course his efforts in Spa were aided by a 2 lap "race" with no overtaking, but George still deserves immense credit for putting the car on the 2nd row. The Williams car seemed especially effective in the wet, with Hungary, Belgium and Russia all proving fruitful. At Mercedes he will be expected to be more consistent in results, although in return Russell will expect the car to deliver those results.
The smart money is still on Lewis Hamilton winning that particular intrateam battle, but it will be great to nail down Russell's level with such an established benchmark. What's more, the racing fraternity finally got to witness Max Verstappen put an end to the 7-time world champion's title spree. Following such an ecstatic campaign, it is time to hear from the former F1 world champion, Nico Rosberg, as he reveals his top 5 drivers of the season. Yet for the 21 other races, Hamilton was either on or occasionally above Verstappen's level as the best driver in F1. His performances toward the end of the year were on a remarkable level, and arguably one that we have not seen from Hamilton before.
His victory in Brazil stands out as the best performance by any driver at any race this season, and had the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix been run to the rulebook, it would have marked the start of a remarkable comeback to win the title. His crash in Monaco during the third qualifying session is proof that he still tends to push too hard, but throughout the 2021 season, he has looked remarkably consistent. LeClerc's race finishes haven't been headline-grabbing, but he nearly won the British Grand Prix and finished in fourth place five times this season.
Transitioned to Ferrari so smoothly after leaving McLaren and beat his highly-rated team-mate in a superb debut season. Stood on the podium four times, including taking P2 behind Verstappen at Monaco, and confirmed himself a driver with the potential to challenge for the world championship if given the machinery to do so. The only driver to finish every single race of the season, with only two finishes outside the points. It was really hard to decide which way to place the two Ferrari drivers in fourth and fifth. Leclerc had some superb qualifying laps this year including two pole positions and showed that if Ferrari can give him a car, Charles is ready to fight for the World Championship.
Had a stellar first half of the year in terms of results, picking up three podium finishes. While his season trailed off in terms of results, the performance level didn't and he was unfortunate to lose fifth in the drivers' championship. There is no other way to put it, Charles Leclerc has destroyed Sebastian Vettel in 2020 in almost all areas. In qualifying he has regularly been able to find laps that have been several leagues ahead of his team-mate and he has been able to convert that into strong race performances, too, driving around the car's problems, unlike Vettel. In terms of career wins and total career points, Lewis Hamilton is the best Formula 1 driver to have ever graced a circuit.
The Britain racer has taken wins in 30 different countries, won a race in every season he's competed in, and is currently tied on world championships with Michael Schumacher. With three seasons in F1 under his belt, Lauda joined Ferrari for the 1974 season and secured two wins and fourth place in the championship for 1974, having often set the pace but suffered misfortune. In 1975 Lauda took five wins and the first of his three world titles, but it's his 1976 season – and the infamous Nurburgring crash – that's his most famous. If he wins the Drivers Championship this year, he would be out on his own as the driver with the most World Championships to his name. This season he also became the first driver to win 100 GP's, a truly incredible feat. This could have been a real turning point for Hamilton, but Verstappen bounced back with wins in Belgium and Holland before Verstappen and Hamilton collided at the Italian Grand Prix, causing them both to bow out early.
And this constant battle for first place between Verstappen and Hamilton has continued throughout every race this year. Hamilton regained some points in the race for the Drivers Championship at the Russian Grand Prix on a very wet day in Sochi. Despite starting in 20th on the starting grid due to penalties in qualifying, Verstappen put on a clinic, making his way from 20th to 2nd, but was still 53 seconds behind the eventual winner Hamilton.
This victory put the Brit into the record books, as he became the first driver in Formula 1 history to reach 100 wins. However, on home turf, Hamilton was the fastest in qualifying to start in pole position for the British Grand Prix. Verstappen made a much better start than Hamilton in the inaugural Silverstone Sprint which led him to overtake the British racer at the first corner before leading every lap and winning the sprint with Hamilton in second again. On the first lap of the Grand Prix, the battle came a little too close for comfort with Verstappen and Hamilton colliding at approximately 180mph.
