planetf1.com

Inspired by the thread over at autosport I though I'd get your guys opinions on your top 10 of the season and see how everyone compares.
A hard number to fit all candidates in for me but I managed to get my top 10.

1. Lewis Hamilton - Consistently performed all season, misfortune of the highest and manages to reach Q3 in all 20 races. How anyone can call his driving or his consistency after this season is deluded.
Fernando Alonso - Punched above his weight at the start of the season, managed to maintain a lead but saw it slowly decreased as SV dominated 4 races. Still though put in stellar performances in Austin and Brazil and never gave up once in the title fight only to be beaten by 3 points in the last race of the season.
Sebastian Vettel - Did well at the start even though the car wasn't up to scratch to start off with, strung together 4 victories when nobody else could do 3, consistently put in good performances even with a faulty alternator, drove from the back of the grid to claim 3rd place and obviously the most important thing; The 2012 World Champion and not only that but a Triple world champion!

4. Kimi Raikkonen - Great season for him, managed to stay out of trouble all season, finished every race of the year, was hoping he would win in Bahrain though, consistent is an under statement.
5. Nico Hulkenberg - Constantly puts in great performances and finishes ahead of his team mate, puts in an excellent performance at the last gp of the year, but still makes silly errors.
6. Jenson Button - Even though he had his mid season woes, he dominated in Australia and Spa, managed to win in Brazil as well. Nowhere near the top 4 however and the points standing is a bit generous in his favour.
7. Michael Schumacher - What a brilliant season plagued by reliability and misfortune from start to finish, that pole in Monaco proved he hadn't lost his speed and finally begun to match Nico Rosberg.
8. Felipe Massa - Excellent second half of the season, great to see he can still perform on a solid level and getting two podiums after some huge drought is brilliant.
9. Nico Rosberg - After so many races and season it looked like he'd never get a race victory until he stuck that Mercedes Benz on pole in China and lead from start to finish, first victory and I feel it isn't the last from him.
10. Pastor Maldonado - I feel he has been excellent all season, besides the points drought and his over zealous overtake on Hamilton in Valencia, of course though, a Williams back on pole in Barcelona and a victory to follow, not loosing his cool whilst being chased down by Fernando Alonso and this win was one of the surprising and best of the season to be honest.

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Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes

Vettel
Alonso
Hamilton
Raikkonen

-- No explanations needed--

5. Hulkenberg - Mature driver when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing. Unbelievable results in the second half season, totally outclassed a typical over-hyped British driver.
6. Maldonado - Top 5 in quali on 5 occasions and a brilliant race win. Responded to criticism on track, preserved his aggressive driving style, yet got good results.
7. Perez - No consistency, but some great drives in Canada and Italy.
8. Schumacher - For beating Rosberg on more occasions this year.
9. Rosberg - For his first victory, and few fighting races in the first half.
10. Button - Should have done better with a car that won the same number of races as RedBull

1/2 Hamilton/Alonso
3. Vettel
4. Raikonnen
5. Webber
6. Hulkenberg
7. Button
8. Maldonado
9. Perez
10. Schumacher

1.Vettel
2.Hamilton
3.Alonso
4.Raikkonen
5.Maldonado
6.Button
7.Perez
8.Schumacher
9.Webber
10.Hulkenberg

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Drivers I like:
Raikkonen
Grosjean
Perez
Vettel

Teams I like:
Lotus
Merc
RBR
Marussia

1.Alonso
2.Vettel
3.Hamilton
4.Kimi
5.Button
6.Webber
7.Hulk
8.Massa
9.Rosberg
10.Maldonado

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Signature created by Adaemus

1/2 Hamilton/Alonso
3. Vettel
4. Raikonnen
5. Webber
6. Hulkenberg
7. Button
8. Maldonado
9. Schumacher
10. Rosberg

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

1. Alonso
2. Hamilton
3. Raikonnen
3. Vettel
5. Webber
6. Hulkenberg
7. Perez
8. Maldonado
9. Button
10. Schumacher

This is a bit easier than the other thread where you list out all 24 (25 with D'Ambrosio I think?)

1. Alonso
2. Hamilton
3. Raikkonen
4. Vettel
5. Hulkenberg
6. Button
7. Perez
8. Maldonado
9. Webber
10. Massa

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"I am a believer, but I start each Grand Prix with 195 liters of fuel behind me," he explains. "I don't rely entirely on God, I rely on Prost."

At the end of the day the difference is marginal, a single extra race could change the order.

1. Hamilton
(fewer mistakes than anyone and you got the feeling he was always on it - he won the 'Supergrid' by some way)

2. Vettel
(can't believe I'm not picking Alonso, until his form appeared to drop in the last two races he was no. 1 for me)

3. Alonso
(a smattering of mistakes throughout the year, but you could tell he had to overdrive so fair play. Being slower than Massa at the end is very confusing)

4. Raikkonen
(poor quali pace and IMO a lack of on the edge driving knock him down from a possible 1st for me)


The gap to the next category is huge, but I'd have put Hulk at the head of it even before Brazil.

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Klaus Kinski: making me question my heroes since January 2013

1. Vettel, three years in a row dowsn't happen by itself, worthy champion
2. Alonso, by many considered to be the #1
3. Kimi, mighty impressed by his comeback season
4. Hamilton,, much approved from 2011, last season in a top car?
5. Button, strange issues with a grand finale, somewhere 50 secs ahead before SC yesterday?

I'm not going to let Buttons win in Brazil influence me. Apart from the first and last race of the season he was generally nowhere to be seen.

Alonso
Hamilton
Vettel
Hulk
Perez
Maldonado
Kovi
Schumacher
Webber
DiResta

Spa?

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"I am a believer, but I start each Grand Prix with 195 liters of fuel behind me," he explains. "I don't rely entirely on God, I rely on Prost."

Are you honestly saying that diresta was better than button this year??

Vettel
Alonso
Hamilton
Button
Massa
Maldonado
Raikkonen
Hulkenberg
Rosberg
Di Resta

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The end is near

1. Hamilton - No mistakes, only man in Q3 every race this season, driven better than ever, also matures alot.

2. Alonso - Great pace in a bad qualifying-trim car, think he went downhill abit at the end of the season.

3. Vettel - Not the best start to a season, tremendously fought back during the second half of the season, 4 straight wins and of course world champion!

4. Hulkenberg - Fantastic second season, very consistent, fast, not much mistakes.

5. Raikkonen - Fantastic comeback great win in Yas Marina.

6. Rosberg - Don't think he's done much wrong this season, great win in Shanghai.

7. Schumacher - Fabulous first half of the season, lot of reliability failures.

8. Grosjean - Impressed me in his second seas in f1, great podium finishes.

9. Maldonado - Fast but inconsistent - but when he is fast he's very fast!

10. Button/Perez Hard to decide on this one.

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Lewis Hamilton - 2008 World Drivers Champion! Mercedes - 10 Grand Prix Victories.

1. Alonso - No mistakes worthy of the name, punched above his cars weight, shouldn't have finished only three points off the title in that car
2. Hamilton - Few mistakes, fast all season, showed the world he's better than Vettel by always edging him when their cars were close in performance
3. Raikkonen - No mistakes really, a little timid sometimes but got better as the season went on and didn't have any DNFs
4. Vettel - Only won one race in the first 13 races of the year and didn't even regularly pull podiums out of more than acceptable machinery, flawless when his car was best as usual but still clumsy in battle sometimes
5. Hulkenberg - A really brilliant season capped in style in Brazil until he hit Hamilton
6. Button - Three wins and some other good drives along the way but lacked consistency and was awful in the mid season
7. Perez - Three superlative podiums and some other nice drives but a lot of mistakes and some clumsy racecraft
8. Webber - Had the edge on Vettel early on when the car was less planted but just didn't show up at some races despite his car
9. Maldonado - The win was the highlight but he had too many mistakes. Showed his speed though
10. Rosberg - His win was excellent but he had some iffy performances too such as Bahrain. Buckled under pressure during Quali twice early on too

1. Fernando Alonso - great season, dipped at the end, not sure the car was as bad as he made it out in interviews though, from Barcelona on it was pretty strong, not as good as McLaren/RB granted.
2. Lewis Hamilton - demon qualifier lost plenty of points due to bad luck, would have been up there.
3. Sebastian Vettel - some great charges through the field after some poor qualifying efforts and when the car was best he capitalised, deserved champion
4. Kimi Raikkonen - not so good in Q, but always shone in races bar Canada, Monaco and Brazil, got a deserved win in Abu Dhabi and plenty of podiums.
5. Sergio Perez - showed his class with three impressive podiums and a great race in Aus from the back, bad run at the end of the season but should win races next win of McLaren have a good car.
6. Nico Hulkenberg - so nearly won in Brazil, neck to neck with di Resta most of the season but had impressive races towards the end of the season when he mixed it with the big boys
7. Michael Schumacher - very quick start of the season robbed of many points and a possible win in Monaco due to crash in previous race. Would have been high up in the WDC table early in the season. Glad he got a podium in Valencia.
8. Pastor Maldonado - strong in Q, 13 times in Q3, five top 4 Q results. Impressive win in Spain. Bad luck in Abu Dhabi. Singapore, Bahrain. Stupid in Aus, Europe, GB and Spa.
9. Nico Rosberg - Impressive dominant win at China, however made errors in several Q laps early in the season, got 2nd in Monaco but overshadowed by Schumacher. Still got a decent points haul and almost beat Grosjean!
10. Mark Webber/Jenson Button, both had great races, but had terrible races, Button's terrible races were much worse, Webber had a real shocker in Abu Dhabi, Jenson in Spain, Monaco, Canada. But they still won multiple races and Webber was doing well v Vettel mid season, Button dominated by Hamilton

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Jenson Button & Williams F1 Team supporter!

I'm not gonna let Button's woes in the middle of the year influence my decision, remember his issue is not entirely his driving, it was something to do with the set up of the car. How can someone who's won 3 races and 3 other podium finishes is "ranked" by the "experts" in this forum below the likes of Hulk, Perez, Maldonado, Kovi, Schumacher, Webber, DiResta is fucking beyond me.

Seriously - Diresta, Kovalainen Maldonado and even Perez?

The thread IMHO is pointless anyway, the top ten of the year is the top ten based on how they are classified at the end of the standings.
Picking a personal top ten only introduces bias and narowmindedness and you'll end up seeing ridiculous lists as evidenced in this thread.

Sometimes, you dont have to (over)analyse everything, look at the results and take it for what it is

This is Karun Chandocks 2012 top 5 drivers list
Top Drivers:
1. Fernando Alonso - Took the championship fight to the wire in a car that didn't deserve to
2. Lewis Hamilton - Superb all season long and without pit stop dramas, puncture, running out of fuel, late season DNF's would've been a contender
3. Kimi Raikkonnen - Very impressive come back. Showed great pace straight away with fantastic consistency ... plus some comedy!
4. Sebastian Vettel - Seems strange putting the world champion at No.4 but it was clear that the Red Bull was once again the car to have in the second half of the season
5. Nico Hulkenburg - Despite the podiums for Perez and wins for Maldonadoand Rosberg, I thought Hulkenburg did a great job particularly in the second half to establish himself

http://en.espnf1.com/brazil/motorsport/story/96620.html

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

Vettel did struggle to beat his team mate until the season was half-way, only after that he was clearly better overall. Vettel and Webber's qualifying battles were 11-9 for Vettel. I too would place him behind Alonso and Hamilton, but definitely ahead of Räikkönen.

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Alonso and Hamilton both impressed again this year.

Vettel was great.

Hulkenberg, Di Resta and Perez all had flashes of brilliant during the season. Also had moments where you thought they weren't up to scratch.

Button wasn't great, despite this he still picked up 3 or so wins. Still had some great moments, and to win 3 times is still impressive.

Kimi flattered the Lotus imo. While GroJo had similar pace sometimes, Kimi averages out faster, and 3rd in the WDC when he Lotus was on average 4th best of a helluva good season. Well done to Kimi, especially after a few years out. He doesn't seem to have lost any pace.

Massa had a shocking first half, but since then has picked up and imo, was on to beat Alonso in the last 2 races, if the gearbox thing hadn't happened or moving over for his teammate. I'd put him up there because of this.

While Maldonado has only impressed briefly, his win for Williams was one of the top moments in the season for me.


And, that is 10.

My exact same top 5. Karun's been having a look at my posts.

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"I am a believer, but I start each Grand Prix with 195 liters of fuel behind me," he explains. "I don't rely entirely on God, I rely on Prost."

Thank you for making me laugh by putting Di Resta in. I needed that

Alonso
Hamilton
Raikonnen
Vettel
Hulkenberg
Maldonado
Ricciardo
Webber
Perez
Button

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‘Ayrton had taken pole and now Alain said to me: “where the f*** did he find that time? How the hell can he be that quick?” In the corner, Senna…he looked up and winked at me. Ayrton had a look in his eye that said, “I’ve done it.”
Jo Ramírez

Just about right

1. Raikonnen - I wasn't much impressed by Kimi in his spells with top teams, but this season he's won me over. The Lotus may have been competitive at times, but when you consider the top 3 teams are clearly Red Bull, Maclaren and Ferrari, landing 3rd in the championship, finishing every race (and lap bar one), and getting a race win is too much to ignore.
2. Alonso - the Ferrrari was not as bad as he and Ferrari tried to paint it, but never-the-less, Alonso was excellent this season. Decisive on overtaking. Dogged. And just generally brilliant.
3. Hamilton - fastest driver when he stayed out of trouble. But again ruined a good season by letting to much unimportant stuff get in the way of results. I genuinely feel he is the fastest driver out there, and that type of talent cannot be ignored. But he needs to take a leaf out of Alonso's book of "maximising" results. He should have won the WDC comfortably.
4. Vettel - not as good as last year, and benefited from RBR working the car out late in the season. I'm not being mean spirited by placing the World Champ 4th... but I really want to consider performance over the full year. He was out of sorts early on.
5. Button - he had trouble at various races, but the guy is amazing. All being said about being far behind his team-mate, again he's finished not far off. 2 points. As per 3. should have been a long way off a comfortable WDC winning team-mate. Testament to his ability to capatilise on winning positions.
6. Perez - despite his late season jitters, overall he was the most impressive out of the new generation of racers.
7. Webber - not as far off Vettel as last year... but made far too many mistakes late on. Won 2 races, including Monaco, so I wont place him too far adrift of top 5.
8. Massa - not only came good at the end, showed that he can be very very fast. And you have to give him points for this... one of the most emotional drivers on the grid... placed in one of the most soul-destroying drivers seats on the grid. No. 2 to Alonso (not having a go at Alonso either). And despite this, played the game as it needed to be played to gain himself one more season. If he can perform like late 2012, will put his career back on track in 2013.
9. Hulkenberg - Brazil cannot be ignored. The good, and the bad. But in the light of the whole season, mostly good.
10. Ricciardo - About where he finished every race too. But deserves his spot. Solid all season.

I feel strange about excluding two race winners, Maldonado and Rosberg. I rate both really. Maldonado can be quite fast over a lap. Rosberg fast over a whole race. But I don't need to detail Maldonado's failings this season. And for Rosberg, it could be argued that Schumacher had a better season... even though Schumi's season tracked Maldonado's for its number of "incidents".

You are commenting on 2012 and not 2011 right?

This.

1. Alonso what he did with that car is underestimated in my opnion.
2. Hamilton would have won the title if it werent for terrible bad luck at crucial moments during the races.
3. Kimi showed why he is considered one of the top three imo and probaly top 4 although i put him ahead of Vettel as a driver.
4. Vettel showed that he is a racer and can come true the field still not impressed and would love too see him in a non Redbull car against Ham or Alo or Kimi for that matter.

The rest.

Not important.

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HAMILTON/ALONSO/RAIKONNEN/VETTEL

Yes. I concede that he's had a fair bit of bad luck. Especially with the car. But he also got himself tangled up with other drivers unnecessarily on a few occasions (not brazil of course). And in my opinion, the off track dramas did seem to impact his performance.

If anything was not influenced, it was Hamiltons performance on track. Absolutely nothing to ctiticise there at his driving

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

You mean the few occasions being the one occasion in Valencia... He's done nothing wrong all season, on-track he has been amazing.

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Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes

Its a thread to discuss who you think are the top 10 drivers of this season and to be honest if you don't like it then you're best not joining another forum as they are generally for discussions!

What gets to me the most is you say picking a personal top ten introduces bias, yet your post is plagued with bias in favour of Jenson. People have different opinions and looking at the results isn't as always clear cut of what should have been.

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Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes

Alonso
Hamilton
Vettel
Kimi
Hulk

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#10

Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton
Sebastian Vettel
Kimi Räikkönen
Nico Hulkenberg
Mark Webber
Jenson Button
Pastor Maldonado
Kamui Kobayashi
Felipe Massa
.
.
.

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PF1 Pick 10 Competition Podiums:
2011 Silverstone 1st
2012 Spa 1st
2012 Interlagos 3rd

Yes it was his driving, Ofcourse he's gionna say he was struglling with the setup and tyres. People should know Jenson by now. He is always complaing about the car the, the tyres ect.(Im sounding like Senna in the movie but its true)

He only just managed squeeze 7 points in 6 races thats not a top tier driver. Remember him saying and claiming that 2012 there where no excuses because the car was so great. His highlight of the season was finally managing his first pole position for Mclaren Mercedes.

He should thank god for all Lewis Dnfs at crucial moments wich would put Lewis ahead of him by large margin. He was great in 2011 and managed 3 wins, Lewis sucked and had three wins. This year Lewis would have won 7 times including brazil wich would make Jb have 2 wins in 2012 go figure

This guy is overated, he inherits one win and suddenly he's the best (rainmaister) and THE Top favourite for next year. You guys are dillusional...

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HAMILTON/ALONSO/RAIKONNEN/VETTEL

Should, would, would...wonder who is in an illusion?

Do we really need to plague another thread with Lewis Vs Jenson because to be quite honest it is getting fucking frustrating...

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Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes

Vettel 15.61
Alonso 15.44
Räikkönen 10.35
Hamilton 13.57
Button 11.75
Webber 10.52
Massa 6.42
Grosjean 8.72
Rosberg 5.47
Perez 4.71
Hulkenburg 3.71
Kobayashi 4
Schumacher 4.08
Di Resta 2.55
Maldonado 6.42 (3.75 without the win)
Senna 2.06
Vergne 1
Ricciardo 0.52

Points per finish for all that have any.

I did the first few as I was curious about a few of things-
1 After much talk about Hamilton being a WDC contender if not for car failures and team problems, this doesn't indicate that it would have been likely.
2 Grosjean matching Räikkönen if not for crashing all of the time.

And then I thought I'd do the rest.
Most are pretty clear winners in the team mate wars.

If you look at Massa from his podium at Japan for the reast of the season he stands at 11.83. That puts him atop the "number two drivers" from all the teams. Amazing what a boost of confidence can do for someone who has been down.

1. Alonso
2. Hamilton
3. Vettel
4. Raikkonen
5. Button
6. Rosberg
7. Perez
8. Hulkenberg
9. Kobayashi
10. Maldonado

Yes but Hamilton retired from the lead 3 times.