Yesterday, I began my rating of the drivers in 2008 with the lower ten, taking into account their records in previous years. Most of the comments were favorable with minor adjustments here and there, which surprised me somewhat as I thought I had been fairly controversial. It is in looking at the top ten in the cold light of another morning that I realize all the controversy is in this bunch - yesterday's post was tame by comparison.
Fernando Alonso in Singapore
It is my assessment, however, and I stick with it, even the couple of names that I am going to be told are completely misplaced. This is the kind of thing that could be argued forever and I have my reasons, as well as biases. So, without further ado, here are the top ten drivers of 2008 in my opinion. As before, I begin at the lower end and work upwards.
10 Heikki Kovalainen. Heikki was very difficult to place; he is under a cloud with most fans at the moment, having underperformed this season, but we should remember that his retirements have been mechanical, rather than the result of mistakes. His luck has been awful and, while this counts as a part of any driver's credentials, I am not going to condemn him for failures of the McLaren. More worrying is the feeling that Heikki does not compete very strongly. He has been quick on occasion but has not converted this into strong drives for the top places. It is up to him to prove to us next year that he can race when the car holds together.
9 Nico Rosberg. I think Nico has slipped down everyone's list this season, largely because we expected better results after the Williams FW30 showed so well in winter testing. He has been inconsistent, at times competitive and at others lost in the midfield. The mistakes are almost certainly the result of frustration at not being able to make the car fast enough, which I can forgive him this time. It is his 2007 performance that keeps him in the top ten but he needs to do better next year if his reputation for speed is to survive.
8 Felipe Massa. Remember that this is an assessment that tries to take each driver's F1 career into the reckoning. Felipe has had a good year, nearly making it to the championship, but his erratic results, especially in previous years, hold him back from the top flight. We have all seen that Felipe can be very quick when everything is right - it is when the pressure comes on that he becomes suspect. Shout at me if you will, but I think all of the drivers I have placed above him would have done better with the car that Felipe had this season.
7 Mark Webber. Yes, I still believe in the Australian phenomenon that is Mark Webber. He has done wonders in inferior machinery all his F1 career, beaten now-illustrious team mates, and still he does not have the car to prove himself one of the best. The Red Bull RBR4 has been getting better, even if over-shadowed by the superior power of its sister cars in the latter part of the year, and Mark has been the one to take it as far up the grid as it can go. Give Mark the car to win and he will do so.
6 Sebastian Vettel. Many would put der Seb higher than sixth, I know, but I think there are still too many questions hanging over him. His win at Monza was first class, without a mistake or even a wobble, but he was never seriously challenged - the STR3 was that good in the wet. Let us not forget that Bourdais qualified in fourth for that race and would probably have been on the podium, if not forced to start from the back thanks to mechanical problems - and how good is Bourdais? We just do not know and so I cannot justify putting Vettel any higher than this. Next year will tell.
5 Kimi Raikkonen. Yes, he has come down in my estimation. All season I have had doubts about his reputation and they have not been answered yet. By his own admission, he lacked motivation this year and that sums up Kimi's unreliability - sometimes he is brilliant, sometimes merely present. To me, his series of fastest laps merely show how little he was interested in applying himself all race long and he needs to put in a season of Alonso-like consistency if he wants me to call him the fastest guy in F1 again.
4 Robert Kubica. Robert was impressive this year, getting to grips with the difficult BMW F1.08 early on and troubling the front runners enough to have them looking over their shoulders. He made only one mistake all season and his win in Canada may have been lucky but was deserved through his consistent pace. The only arguments I can see coming are the ones over why I place his team mate above him in this list - so let's get to that.
3 Nick Heidfeld. Okay, I am as surprised as you are that I still rate Nick so highly after a year in which he struggled with the handling of his car. It would be easy to look at Kubica's performance and say that he blew Nick away but I do not think it is as simple as that. Nick's problems were in qualifying - in the races he generally overcame the disadvantage of a poor grid position to pick up the points in the end. And he worked without public complaint to solve his problems, in contrast to Kubica's annoyance when things went wrong towards the end of the season. Then we saw the boot on the other foot and the question must arise: which of the two is more likely to make the best of adverse circumstances? The matter of speed is undecided as well, Nick being the quicker in 2007, Robert this time around - until the end. For me, the last two races resolved their final ratings with Nick marginally ahead. Next year may prove me wrong, if it will.
2 Fernando Alonso. These last two you can swap around and I will still be happy - they are impossible to separate. Fernando has been a joy to watch in an uncompetitive car, always ferociously prepared to give it a go and finally breaking through to win a couple near the end of the season. This is what the best are made of, that urge to compete in whatever machinery they are given and the will to motivate the whole team. Fernando is one of the top two drivers in the world and the only problem is that he knows it.
1 Lewis Hamilton. It's that man again. You may say he has made some silly mistakes but it all goes to the learning process - this is only his second year in F1, after all, and already he is the yardstick by which we measure the rest. He is like Alonso in that he never gives up and his car control is sublime; the superlatives are easy when talking of his driving. I give him top spot for two reasons, primarily because he has had to battle against some of the strangest stewarding decisions in the history of the sport, without which he would have been champion much earlier, and because he has risen to be the only competition for Alonso in so short a time. The promise and potential are obvious.
So there we have it. Now you can accuse me of being a Hamilton groupie (I am not), of giving Heidfeld far too much credit, of allowing my doubts about Massa to overcome reason. But that's the way I see it...