25.Narain Karthikeyan
The most underrated driver in F1, Narain is much better than many many drivers who have been around. That he's slowest says everything about the quality of the field these days, not him.
24.Jean-Eric Vergne
Has struggled. In hindsight, Toro Rosso would have been so much better keeping Alguersuari on, or even Buemi, as a yardstick for Ricciardo.
23.Jerome D'Ambrosio
Couldn't have asked for more on his one-off filling in for Grosjean at Monza really, given the current regulations.
22.Bruno Senna
Unfortunately, there's no way Bruno's first full season can be seen as much other than a disappointment really. Maldonado has shown that the Williams is actually a top car. So to be consistently starting well down the midfield almost every time is not really good enough. The race performances are more convincing however, and Bruno has shown himself to be more reliable than his team-mate, but sadly not as fast, which is what matters. He looks like a very good driver, but so many drivers are at a high level these days. But I have a feeling that Bruno would be a late bloomer if he could just get the chance. Missing practice for most races has been a big loss for him. It is interesting that he seems to get quicker and quicker through a weekend. This shows that if he could get practice 1 time, he might do much better. If he loses his Williams drive, expect him to find another home at somewhere like Caterham.
21.Pedro de la Rosa
It's a good sight to see someone over the age of 40 pushing so hard with a positive attitude for F1's smallest team. Has led HRT very well and much deserves to stay.
20.Charles Pic
The best 2nd driver Marussia have had so far. Has really compared well to Glock, and on talent alone looks like he has a future in F1. His connections (he is managed by the respected OIivier Panis, and his Godfather is Panis' first team-mate Eric Bernard) are a great asset.
19.Timo Glock
Hmmm I'm not sure Timo is close in performance to Vettel. I don't think Vettel would be outperformed by Charles Pic so often.
18.Vitaly Petrov
Has qualified only 1/4 sec behind Kovalainen, and is often his equal in the races. Very good for what I feel is an underrated driver. A possible point may have been on in Valencia, but Vitaly says not.
17.Daniel Ricciardo
Has defied my expectations by easily beating Vergne in qualifying. 6th on the grid in Bahrain was fantastic, but as has often been the case, this was spoiled by a scrappier race. As such, he is behind his team-mate in the points standings.
16.Kamui Kobayashi
Some say he's a top 5 driver and should be in a Ferrari. That causes me to sigh. He's good, but there are more deserving drivers. Spectacular style is nice, but who's got all the podiums and near race wins for Sauber this year (apart from one)?
I feel he should have done a bit better in a car this good, if he's really that hot. Looks a bit cowed by Perez and his results.
I feel he should have done a bit better in a car this good, if he's really that hot. Looks a bit cowed by Perez and his results.
15.Felipe Massa
Rubbish. But getting better. Turns out this is better than 2011. Looks good for 7th in the championship if he keeps this up. That's quite good considering the start. But then it's that start that shows he's not the top driver so many say he is. Excuses only last so long. I think it's Hockenheim 2010 that did him in, not the crash. The man himself says so. The crash isn't an issue I don't think - I say it's got everything to do with the fact that there are so many great drivers in the top cars now and Felipe is simply being shown up. The truth hurts, but I had to face up to it when my all-time favourite Fisichella went against Alonso in 2005-6.
14.Paul di Resta
Professional, more than solid. Very high quality performances, replicating Alonso in getting the best from each race early in the season, but seems to be getting shown up a little by Hulkenberg lately. But he suffered a massive KERS failure at Spa, and has had other problems elsewhere. Beat Vettel once in F3, but then Eddie Irvine beat Barrichello just the one year too...
13.Pastor Maldonado
Brilliantly fast, and the win was incredible. Has blown away Senna, but has otherwise wasted many opportunities in a top car. Pastor may have been better off making hay, as there is no guarantee the sun will keep shining this brightly i.e. the car might not always be this competitive...
12.Nico Rosberg
Often fast, but a disappointment this year. Outshone by Michael who has struggled less with the car. His points total advantage over his team-mate is an utterly misleading statistic. Great win in China, but too often shown up in races, lagging well behind Schumacher.
11.Romain Grosjean
Being quicker than Kimi in qualifying in your first full season is something very impressive! Shame about all the crashes. Similar to Maldonado, but doing it on less experience (but a better car though). Like Maldonado, should have won a race this year.
10.Heikki Kovalainen
9.Sergio Perez
8.Nico Hulkenberg
A slow but solid start saw Nico consistently just a tiny bit behind di Resta, who was grabbing the glory. But from Valencia onwards, Nico has really asserted himself, and after India, shades di Resta in both qualifying and the points standings. Hulkenberg took 5th in Valencia, started 4th at Hockenheim, grabbed 4th (his best finish) at Spa, and has followed this up with a 7th-6th-8th from Japan-Korea-India. His high points have been higher than di Resta's, which is telling. Paul has qualified as high as 6th, but Nico has started from 4th. I also don't know if Paul could have matched what Nico did in Brazil 2010 either.
7.Michael Schumacher
Truth be told, Michael has been much more impressive this year. This is surely true in all but the final points tally. A pole position on merit in Monaco was taken away as a result of one of his few errors of judgment in the first half of the season. I personally believe he would have won that race (though it's obviously not a guarantee). I have been absolutely shocked at the amount of misfortune Michael has suffered. It almost can't be real. I can only think this must be somehow balancing out his season of 10 years ago. During those years, Michael seemed to enjoy an inordinate amount of fortunate circumstances. This is much like Fisichella's 2005 season for Renault, where it was important for Flav to establish Alonso ahead of him. Michael has often qualified and started in the top 4 this season. A possible podium was on in China; he retired from 2nd with mechanical failure. Remarkably, it took until Valencia to enjoy a race without significant problems; and there he finally delivered his first podium performance to claim 3rd. Sadly since then, reflecting Fisichella's 98 season, the car has lost it's way badly. This seems to have hit Michael really hard, to the point where he's tired and has had enough. Therefore, he has announced his retirement, and this time it will almost certainly be the end. It looks like Michael has finally got racing out of his system, to the point where he doesn't want to race anything else. He looks now like he just wants the season to end, and though he's resigned to a low-key finish, it's highly unlikely to be the farce that his old rival Damon Hill suffered.
6.Mark Webber
Has KERS problems a lot. Looks kinda grumpy as he can see the title slipping away again. Only 2 podiums - but both were wins. Is recently being left behind by Vettel again...
5.Jenson Button
This year has shown that 2011 was an aberration. He was ahead of Lewis much more through optimisation than speed. The gap in pure pace between them has been shown this year. Jenson has still done very well though. But the way he seems so at mercy of whatever "balance" his car feels like having on a particular day shows he is not superior to Alonso, who suffers no such problems (but in fact looks like the best of the best at making up car deficiencies - one of the truest marks of a great I think)
4.Kimi Raikkonen
The speed itself has been a little disappointing for what has probably the best car for at least part of the season (James Allison said before the season that this car was (very) good - equal to their 2005 title-winning car - I think he was right!) Given that, maybe more should have been expected. But then again, having been rallying for 2 years, Kimi's racecraft and consistency have been outstanding. An outside bet for the title.
3.Sebastian Vettel
The doubts remain over his ultimate standing in F1. Sebastian has enjoyed Adrian Newey cars and is always showered with love from Christian Horner and Dr. Marko. The favouritism is pretty obvious. But to be fair, Seb has actually used that advantage in a way Hamilton seems unable to.
2.Lewis Hamilton
I don't blame Lewis for leaving really, but maybe he's got to decide whether he wants to be a racing driver or a celebrity who also takes part in races. There's only room for one priority. Shame, cos his talent is so far above even Jenson's super-high standards. Lewis has looked stale at McLaren, but his driving has almost always been sensational this year. Has totally dominated Jenson in qualifying, almost never being headed fair-and-square. In the races has performed mostly immaculately but his team have badly let him down, and lost him the championship. His only real mistake that I can think of is colliding with Maldonado in Valencia, which I believe was mostly not his fault. The only thing about that though, is that it probably wouldn't have happened to Alonso. It looks like Lewis just needs to learn how to choose his battles, and realise you don't need to win every one. But then again, I'm sitting here typing this on my laptop. I wouldn't expect him to take that from me. But I just think of the times Michael Schumacher let Montoya through rather than crash. He saw the bigger picture.
1.Fernando Alonso
Regardless of what anyone thinks of Alonso, no-one can seriously argue that this season (far exceeding Robert Kubica's 2010 I feel) has not been anything short of exceptional. To lead the championship for so long in a dreadful a car as the 2012 Ferrari is something that shouldn't have been possible. To win from 11th on the grid in Valencia with only 2 truly leading cars dropping out, in that car, no less, was quite staggering. The way he took position from other drivers too showed extreme skill. Richly deserves to win another title now, and it would be some injustice for Vettel to reach that landmark first largely through driving an Adrian Newey car.
I'm not an Alonso fanboy; I just give credit where it's due.
I'm not an Alonso fanboy; I just give credit where it's due.
12.HRT - Cosworth
This unfairly maligned team look to have reached the end of the road. They have performed very respectively on their budget, MUCH more professionally than many 80's and 90's teams. They gradually closed the gap over the season, and despite again missing pre-season testing and failing to qualify for Australia, HRT are under the surface now far more of a true Formula One Team and I have faith in them, and believe they could be like Force India one day. So it's really sad that that dream now looks to be over and the doors will be closing at the base in Madrid as the worldwide economy claims another victim in the team's investors Thesan Capital.
11.Caterham - Renault
Caterham are almost 1.5sec quicker than last year, but because teams ahead have improved so dramatically, the Green cars remain on the tenth row. They are close than they have ever been, but truth be told, 2012 has been a disappointment, with the much less equipped Marussia squad challenging them well, and scoring better results! Like HRT, Caterham is suffering badly financially which can be traced to the world economy in general, and the future looks less bright. Tony Fernandes has now stepped down as team principal (actually I think Dany Bahar is much to blame for this, for puncturing the soul of this team to further his own selfish and un-racing-like agenda) and even lead driver Heikki Kovalainen is almost certainly going to be shown the door, so precarious is the teams position with money. What a travesty! To cap it all, Caterham have announced their 2013 car will be nothing more than the unpromising 2012 car, with a few small updates. Cue a tumble down the grid (yes I know they don't have far to tumble) to last place in the WCC. It looks like 2013 for Caterham will be what 1999 was for Arrows... Charles Pic has been confirmed in one seat, with the other probably going to Giedo van der Garde or Bruno Senna, the latter seeming the wiser option right now.
10.Marussia - Cosworth
Considering Marussia were unable to properly test before the season, this has been a very promising season. Beating Caterham to tenth overall, despite no KERS, the Cosworth engine and much less funds, is plenty to celebrate for now. Hopefully they can keep improving, and they may be the first team, rather than Caterham to pick up a prized point.