Ranking: The Top F1 Drivers of the Decade

The question of who is the best Formula 1 driver of all-time is one that, in truth, is impossible to answer with any certainty.

How can you say that Juan Manuel Fangio was better than Michael Schumacher when the pair never directly competed against each other? You can't, you can have an opinion, but there's little that is in common with the F1 in the 50s and the 90s and 00s.

However, it is possible and credible to state who the best drivers of a given generation or decade are and with the 2010s coming to a close at the end of this year, we're taking a look at the drivers which have stood out the most between 2010 and 2019. Here are the most successful F1 drivers of the 2010s!

#5 Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo claimed his first wins in 2014 and has consistently thrilled us ever since.

It was a very close call between the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen, Mark Webber and Jenson Button, but Daniel Ricciardo just comes out on top. The Aussie's seven victories and a further 22 podium finishes puts him in fifth place for the 2010s and he did it all with a beaming smile on his face.

Ricciardo was a part of the Red Bull driver programme since before he joined F1 and made the step up to the senior team in 2014 after three years spent at HRT and Toro Rosso. It took only seven rounds of that season for the Honey Badger to win his first race, and it was thanks to a typically daring move in Canada.

Two more wins followed, in Hungary and Belgium, seeing him finish third overall in the championship and be the only man other the Mercedes men to win a race that year.

Red Bull haven't managed to be genuine title contenders since then, Mercedes have just been on another level and Danny Ric eventually moved on from the Austrian team at the end of last season, but not before achieving four more wins. It could've easily been more too if it wasn't for poor reliability from the Renault engine.

Now at Renault, he'll be hoping to be more of a force in the 2020s with the French outfit.

#4 Nico Rosberg

The only man other than this lists top 2 to have won a driver's world championship this decade, Nico Rosberg had to wait a long time to get into a top car but was a very solid performer once he had done so.

Rosberg spent 2010-16 at the same team, Mercedes, an outfit that wasn't a force to be reckoned with until the 2014 regulation changes. Rosberg had Michael Schumacher as a teammate to compete against for most of this time and although the legend wasn't at his best, he was still a formidable opponent.

Once Lewis Hamilton joined the team in 2013, we now knew Rosberg was a great driver, even by F1's standards. Nico battled with Hamilton for the 2014 and '15 titles but the Brit proved to be too much for the German in both of those years, but 2016 was a reversal in fortunes. Rosberg came out on top after a titanic and controversial season-long battle and subsequently retired from the sport.

Cynics claimed that this was a cowardly move, not giving Hamilton the chance to retake his crown back from Rosberg, but Nico had his young family to think about and he had achieved his ambitions to match his father Keke. Despite retiring at the end of the 2016 season, Rosberg is one of the most successful drivers of the 2010s.

#3 Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso almost dragged his Ferrari to the 2012 title when it had no right to be there.

Fernando Alonso may not have added to his two driver's titles in the 2010s, but the Spanish legend still comfortably finds himself on to this list. In fact, just four more points in 2010 and three more in 2012 would've seen him become a four-time world champion.

Indeed, Alonso was Vettel's most consistent challenger during the early 2010s, dragging his Ferrari into title consideration when it usually wasn't anywhere near good enough.

It's often said that Alonso is a fantastic racing driver but a poor decision maker when it comes to choosing his team and that was never personified more than his return to McLaren in 2015. No wins, no podiums and absolutely nowhere near any title challenge throughout 2015-18. Alonso still had incredible speed though, some of the qualifying laps and results at slower circuits which suited the McLaren were out of this world.

Alonso places higher on this list than Rosberg because of the Spaniard's more consistent title challenges, as Rosberg never ever won a race before 2012 and wasn't winning regularly until 2014. Yes, Alonso struggled hugely in the V6 era (he never won a race after 2013), but Rosberg's retirement after 2016 meant that the German only had 3 top years, compared to Alonso's 4.

#2 Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel won four titles with Red Bull at the start of the decade.

Sebastian Vettel began the 2010s in the same way which his hero Michael Schumacher started the 2000s, in absolutely unstoppable form.

Vettel won four driver's championships in a row between 2010 and 2013, breaking most of the "firsts" records in Formula 1, a lot of which still stand today. This period included the incredible nine-race winning streak from the 2013 summer break onwards, smashing Alberto Ascari's record out of the park. It seemed for all the world like Vettel would soon be breaking every record in the book, but things haven't gone to plan since.

The change to V6-turbocharged engines and the alteration in aerodynamic regulations cost Red Bull in 2014 and Vettel moved to Ferrari for 2015. Despite a good start in 2015, 2016 was a tougher year for Vettel and the team. He has challenged for the driver's title in both of the past two seasons, as Ferrari finally got their act together and produced a leading car.

However, a combination of driving and tactical errors (the latter on the part of the team) cost him dearly in the second half of both seasons. 2019 has started poorly, with some even questioning whether the German will retire at the end of the year, but he remains one of the most successful drivers ever and of this decade.

#1 Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is a five-time F1 champion, winning all but one of his titles in the 2010s.

Lewis Hamilton matches Vettel's four driver's titles in the 2010s but edges out the German thanks to the greater number of GP wins and the fact that he's the strong favourite for this year's title.

Hamilton has also won at least one race in every season he's competed in, - stretching back to 2007 - whereas Vettel failed to stand on the top step in both 2014 and '16, so the Brit has been more consistent for longer, despite not always being in the best car.

For the most part, though, Hamilton has been in the best car, his move to Mercedes in 2013 proving to be an inspired decision. Despite this, though, Hamilton has been extremely impressive and if anything, is looking faster and more mature than ever before going into the 2020s. It's hard to see him falling off the F1 performance cliff anytime.

In total since the start of the decade, Hamilton has won 67 Grands Prix and stood on the podium 114 times from 184 starts. He's also claimed 68 pole positions since 2010, the same amount as Michael Schumacher claimed in his entire illustrious time in F1.

When you also factor in that Hamilton finished runner up in the driver's championship in 2016 and was in contention going into the final round in 2010 and there's nobody that can touch Hammer Time this decade.

Who do you think has been the most impressive driver this decade? Is it Hamilton or Vettel? Let us know in the comments below!

Edited by Debjyoti Samanta