Top 10 drivers of the 2014 Formula 1 season

Lewis Hamilton’s triumph at Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw him clinch the 2014 drivers’ championship in style. Nico Rosberg was left heartbroken as his title challenge, and his Mercedes car, crumbled to pieces during the epic grand finale. Rosberg did finish a comfortable second in the standings thanks to the sheer dominating pace of the Silver Arrow cars. But, I believe the championship table does not tell the whole story of the 2014 drivers’ battle.With the season now done and dusted, it will only be fair to assess the drivers on equal grounds; this would mean a driver’s car-pace will also be a factor here. Here are the top 10 drivers of the 2014 Formula 1 season in my opinion:

#10 Sebastian Vettel

Championship Position: 5th, Points: 167

2014 was a reality check year for Vettel; he struggled all season long with the underperforming Red Bull RB-10. His title defense looked hampered right from the January-February winter testing sessions, where it was clear that Renault V6 Turbos were miles short, in terms of pace, from the Mercedes power units. Gone were the days when he would just take a pole, get a fastest lap, while he is at it and also pop up a race win. However, this wasn’t the biggest shock felt by the German this season.

The biggest shock came in the form of Daniel Ricciardo, or let us say, from the pace of Ricciardo. Benignly speaking, Vettel’s new Australian teammate destroyed the quadruple world champion this season. With Vettel only taking four podiums all year long, which included a second place at the Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo went on to win three races in the sister car.

Numbers and data wise, Vettel is the best driver on the grid, but this season showed; the kid is human after all. That said, Vettel did fight tooth and nail on a relative unknown territory for him; in the midfield. He faced and overcame some great wheel to wheel battles and showed why he is rated as one of the best drivers in Formula 1. For the 2015 season, the Red Bull protégé is moving boats; he is replacing Fernando Alonso at Ferrari. Good luck to him.

#9 Daniil Kvyat

Championship Position: 15th Points: 8

The young Russian holds the record of being the youngest point-scorer in Formula 1 thanks to his incredible ninth place finish on his debut F1 race in Australia. Since then, the season saw the 20-year-old take couple of points here and there at various races. Even though he was comprehensively outscored by his much experienced French teammate (Jean Eric Vergne), Kvyat always had the upper hand over him in qualifying all through-out the season.

This might have acted as the catalyst in the decision to promote the Russian to the senior Red Bull Team to replace the Ferrari-bound Sebastian Vettel in 2015. Kvyat’s good pace and ability to tackle Formula 1 might have been a reason why another Red Bull youngster and European Formula 3 race winner, 17-year-old Max Verstappen was signed by Toro Rosso for the 2015 season.

#8 Jules Bianchi

Championship Position: 17th, Points: 2

The Frenchman brought home the first ever points for Marussia F1 Team at this year’s chaotic Monaco Grand Prix. Bianchi’s ninth place is, till date, his and also Marussia’s best finishing position. Another huge career resume highlight for Bianchi this season was his qualifying performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Frenchman piped Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, at pitch dry conditions, in the dying seconds of Qualifying 1 to make the cut for the next stage.

Bianchi always led the charge this year, of the so called, small teams in Formula 1 in every qualifying session and race weekends. Bianchi suffered a life threating accident at the Japanese Grand Prix. This accident has still left him fighting for his life at a hospital in France. Prior to this accident, his performance this year made him one of the front runners for the 2015 Ferrari seat. Regarded as a fantastic driver by many experts and pundits in the paddock, the whole of F1 is praying and wishing for a speedy recovery of Bianchi. I am sure when Bianchi wakes up, he will be pleased to know that his two points was the reason Marussia took ninth place in the constructors’ table.

#7 Jenson Button

Championship Position: 8th, Points: 126

Another disappointing, and a winless, season for McLaren saw their star driver Jenson Button battling for points, rather than for wins. The 2009 World Champion only had a solitary podium to celebrate this year at the season opening Australian Grand Prix. Here, Button, after-race, was promoted to 3rd position, thanks to the disqualification of second place man Daniel Ricciardo for fuel flow irregularities. This meant Button didn’t even get to taste the podium champagne even once this year thanks the pace, or rather the lack of it, of the McLaren car.

But the season wasn’t all down for the Brit personally, having narrowly out-qualified (10 to 9) his highly rated rookie teammate Kevin Magnussen. Button also out raced him on most occasions. This was well reflected in the fact that Button had a huge hand in saving McLaren from the embarrassment of finishing lower in the standings than former technical partners, Force India.

The 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix might just become Button’s final race in his long, and a successful, Formula 1 career as he is yet to be retained by McLaren. But, one thing is for sure, Button has showed enough fight and pace this season in order to retain his McLaren seat for next year, let alone a drive in other midfield teams.

#6 Nico Hulkenberg

Championship Position: 9th, Points: 96

Mr. Consistent of Formula 1 has once again outpaced, and out qualified his teammate. The German is making a knack of outperforming his sister car in Formula 1. Apart from his rookie year, the German has dismantled all his teammates during a season. The former A1 Grand Prix Champion dominated his Mexican mate Sergio Perez. Despite Perez scoring a podium this season, the “Hulk” always looked the better package throughout the season. Even with a small mid-season slump, Hulkenberg scored an impressive seven top six finishes this year.

This made sure that in his comeback season with Force India, he positioned himself well inside the top 10 in the drivers’ standings. He also helped the only Indian team in the sport to a comfortable sixth in the standings.

#5 Fernando Alonso

Championship Position: 6th, Points: 161

What can you say about the double World Champion? Give him a tractor, and he will literally (no pun intended) push it to its limit to eke out every last performance in it. I guess Ferrari took this notion pretty seriously this season and gave the Spaniard a tractor like Ferrari car (Pun, this time was intended). Actually the problem was with the car’s power unit, it never really challenged the mighty Mercedes horses.

Whatever it may be, Alonso still managed two podium finishes and he confidently -week in week out- outpaced and out qualified his world champion teammate, Kimi Raikkonen. Having scored nearly one-third of the total points Ferrari claimed this year, Alonso dropped a bombshell in November by announcing his plan to leave the Scuderia at the end of this year.(A secret which was known by many in the paddock well before hand). His next destination is still unknown, but a return to his former team, McLaren, looks to be on the cards.

#4 Valtteri Bottas

Championship position: 4th, Points: 186

If you want to win, hire a Finn. Bottas didn’t manage to win any race this season, but boy the kid has made Sir Frank Williams proud. Having 17 points paying finishes, with 6 podiums, in your second Formula 1 season is a stat, which any driver would kill for. The Williams this year had been the second best car for most part of the season, at least in qualifying trim. However, the coveted race win just didn’t come for them. Bottas twice took second place finishes, but the race win was always taken by the Silver Arrows cars in front of him.

Nevertheless, beating two ex-world champions at the final race of the year to grab hold of the 4th place in the standings is no mean feat. And let us not forget to mention Bottas outscored his much experienced teammate, Felipe Massa, by more than 50 points. Bottas has made use of his Mercedes engine power to grab headlines, and it is Williams who have most benefitted from this. The good days are back indeed for the British squad.

#3 Nico Rosberg

Championship Position: 2nd, Points: 317

The margin of 67 points from Nico Rosberg and champion Lewis Hamilton looks very misleading. The gap is thanks to the double points which the Brit got in the final race, and this was where, sadly, Rosberg’s title challenge was hampered thanks to a mechanical problem. However, the German has all the right to hold his head high.

He challenged, and nearly prevailed, in beating the mighty Hamilton. Rosberg’s five superb wins this season are a testimony to the fact that he did all he could to stop the Hamilton brigade this year. His qualifying performances this year was one of the major highlights. Hamilton, who is regarded as a one-lap master, was out qualified by the German 12 times this season. With it, Rosberg took home the inaugural pole position trophy for the 2014 season.

Sadly for the 29-year-old, some might see the Monaco pole position incident, and the Belgium Grand Prix coming together with Hamilton, as the Achilles heel in Rosberg’s campaign. However, the main concern for Rosberg will be his race-craft. The qualifying pace was always there this season (11 poles), but a conversion to win was the problem. Maybe shifting fuel loads made the difference on the Sundays. Here is hoping, next year will be the luck charm for Rosberg.

#2 Lewis Hamilton

Championship Position: 1st, Points: 384

Hamilton is regarded as one of the fastest drivers on the grid, if not the fastest. And with a fast Silver Arrows under his wing, Hamilton made most of the 2014 campaign. The Briton had a shaky mid-season thanks to his multiple car failures, but that didn’t stop him from stamping his authority over his teammate Nico Rosberg.

Having won all the wheel to wheel battles against the German this year, the former McLaren boy sealed the championship last Sunday with a dominating win at Abu Dhabi. Hamilton has had a fantastic season, where he hasn’t kept a wheel wrong all year long. Mercedes dominance this year was imminent, and known, right from the first time the car was unveiled in the winter. However, Hamilton still had to deliver the goods, and he had to contain his fast teammate.

Having done both things perfectly, whilst taking 11 wins in the process, the 29-year-old can now proudly call himself a double World champion. Even though Hamilton says his 2014 triumph means more to him than his 2008 title with McLaren, I personally feel his first championship win was more spectacular to say the least. However, one thing is for sure: if Mercedes make a quick car next year, my money will be on Hamilton yet again.

#1 Daniel Ricciardo

Championship Position: 3rd, Points: 238

Replacing fellow Australian Mark Webber was going to be difficult, and jumping into the lion’s den was always going to be suicidal. These were some of the annotations which came up when Ricciardo was about to step up from graduation to post graduation – meaning going to the parent Red Bull team from Toro Rosso. I am sure not a single soul, or even the Australian himself for that matter, could have predicted what actually happened in 2014.

With three race wins, 8 podium (Nine, if you include the Australian Grand Prix one), and a third place in the championship, the 25-year-old took everyone by surprise. But best of the lot was; beating, out racing, and out qualifying, his four times world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel. Ricciardo comprehensively outclassed Vettel all throughout the season. His wins at Canada, Hungary and Belgium this year, were not-at-all pole-to-flag victories.

Ricciardo showed some amazing overtaking moves, and late braking abilities, to take those wins. I am putting this guy, right up there with Hamilton, as one of the best late brakers in the business. At last Sunday’s race, his climb from the pit lane to fourth position was regarded as the “drive of the day” by many pundits in the paddock. Hamilton did nothing wrong this year, any other season and he would have been number 1 on every driver ranking list. But, it’s Ricciardo who has undoubtedly earned the title of being the best driver this season, at least in my humble opinion. In 2015, Ricciardo will be the lead driver of the Red Bull Team and it won’t be a crime to expect more wonders from this lad.