Over the course of this week we will be releasing the official Australian Autosport Community Season Review. We asked a panel of senior members and the administration team here to rank every driver from this season from 1st to 25th and collected their opinions on certain drivers and teams. To start off today, here are the first 10 drivers that our panel ranked from 25th to 16th. There's not a lot of surprises in these first 10, none the less I hope you enjoy the first part of our review.
Spoiler: Part1 - Click to show
Written by Matt.
25th Luca Badoer
Team: Ferrari
Points: 0
Championship Position: 25
Score: 18
Poor Luca Badoer suffered much criticism during his short lived stint as a super sub, or perhaps more appropriately a super sub-par. But was he really that bad? The last time Luca raced, a second and a half off he pace wasn’t much of a big deal, but this years hyper competitive grid meant the Italian languished at the bottom of the timing pages for almost the entire duration of his stand in role for Massa. The media ripped him apart, some hacks appropriating the nick name Look-how (Luca) Bad-you-are (Badoer) and Ferrari dumped the Italian on the eve of his home Grand Prix.
24th Nelson Piquet Jr
Team: Renault
Points: 0
Championship Position: 21
Score: 20
Many rookies come to Formula One and experience a culture shock. These drivers spend their formative years pampered with the best cars, leading from the front and winning. Winning a lot. They have constant reinforcement by those around them that they are the best. They’re told they're special and destined for great things. Nelson entered F1 and suddenly has the security blanket of his father’s money and reputation pulled out from under his feet. Junior found himself in the wilderness. He talked the talk, to a fault, but never found his footing in a sport that has come to find itself with little patience or regard for unpolished products. It would be typical to write about crash-gate or equality and Fernando in this space but what really defines Nelson as a driver is how he handled the contrast of the minor leagues and the big league. To succeed in any sport you need equal parts talent and psychological resilience. Piquet in spite what you might think had the first but not the latter.
Bleeding Gums adds: Piquet dared put himself ahead of the sport, gambled and lost. He is proof surname does not equal talent and I would have loved to have ranked him lower than 25th. If he never races again I'll shed no tears. Good riddance...
23rd Kazuki Nakajima
Team: Williams Toyota
Points: 0
Championship Position: 20
Score: 27
“Always tried hard but just not quite in this league.” Those are the words Oldtony described the Japanese driver and I find no reason to embellish. Nakajima did try his hardest and had a real passion for racing but lacked those last few tenths of a second to be competitive. Toyota’s exit from the sport likely closes the Formula One chapter of Nakajima’s career
Goatlemon adds: Of all the non-points finishers this year Nakajima is the only one to have raced in all the GPs, and he managed this miserable feat with a car in which his team mate scored 34.5 points and finished seventh over all.
22nd Jaime Alguersuari
Team: STR Ferrari
Points: 0
Championship Position: 24
Score: 29
Jaime Alguersuari may be young and what he lacks in years he unfortunately doesn’t make up for in talent. Given the keys to an STR at 19 years old, Jaime became the youngest grand prix starter and the first driver to be born in the ‘90s to race in Formula One. Should STR let go of the young Spaniard he’ll be forever known as the guy that drove into the wrong pit box.
21st Romain Grosjean
Team: Renault
Points: 0
Championship Position: 23
Score: 29
Romain Grosjean qualified an average of 5.28 places behind Fernando Alonso, scored zero points and spent more time off the circuit during free practice in seven races than most drivers did for the entire season. Nelson Piquet qualified an average 5.3 places behind Alonso. For just 0.02 of a grid position, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symmonds were exposed as cheats and banished from motor sport, taking the reputation of Renault, Formula One and the dollars of ING along for the ride. So what to say about Romain? To his credit he had few incidents during races, generally keeping his nose clean other than an ambitious move at the top of Les Combes that gave Jenson Button his only retirement of the season. The Frenchman’s pace never approached that of a Ferrari bound Fernando Alonso who was visibly mailing in the second half of the season. I’ll be surprised if Renault give him another chance.
20th Sebastien Bourdais
Team: STR Ferrari
Points: 2
Championship Position: 19
Score: 36
Sebastien Bourdais, the Michael Schumacher of Champcar. Le Seb was always on the outs with his team bosses but a gritty rookie season saw some promising drives. The start of 2009 gave Sebastien a dud car to and he struggled to replicate the form he had shown the previous year. Combined with unreasonably high expectations from STR (following a season in which Sebastian Vettel led the team to victory in 2008) this proved too much of strain on the relationship between driver and team and Le Seb was sacked after the German grand prix. At the end of the day Bourdais will join the list of Champcar elites that have failed to convert their success stateside across the Atlantic.
19th Vitantonio Liuzzi
Team: Force India Mercedes
Points: 0
Championship Position: 22
Score: 43
Liuzzi made his return to the grid with a bang, qualifying inside the top 10 and looking set for a top 5 finish at the Italian Grand Prix until a transmission problem on the 22nd lap put an end to an impressive debut drive for Force India. The following races Vitantonio didn't repeat the speed he showed in his opening stanza, infact he was quite a way behind Adrian Sutil who continue to qualify in the top 10. The maturity of that first race was enough in my opinion to warrant Liuzzi a full season with the team. If Force India provides a points scoring car don’t be surprised if Liuzzi scores more points than Adrian even with the apparent speed differential.
18th Sebastian Buemi
Team: STR Ferrari
Points: 6
Championship Position: 16
Score: 65
Buemi quietly had an underrated rookie season, he spent a lot of time flying under the radar and finished with four points finishes to his name, just one less than Robert Kubica. Before the Hamilton and Vettel craze swept F1, this would have been considered a pretty solid drive from a freshman, but in today's message board and twitter F1, the Swiss driver hasn’t turned many heads. The pressure and expecations will be higher in year two and the Swiss driver might be worth keeping an eye on, but without a steady veteran team mate to compare him too it will be tough to place Buemi on the depth chart of F1 pilots.
17th Adrian Sutil
Team: Force India Mercedes
Points: 5
Championship Position: 17
Score: 79
Our panel was pretty much unanimous on voting those previous eight drivers at the bottom of our rankings. We’ve moved past the rookies and pretenders and so it's disappointing that Adrian Sutil is the lowest ranked among the next tier of drivers. Adrian has been around since 2007 and has shown flashes of speed but is yet to show he can perform consistently. Three race ending accidents this season did little to shed his fast but reckless tag, and again he could only match Fisichella in their twelve races together (qualifying: 6-6).
Adrian Sutil is a talented pianist, the son of a first violin with the Munich Philharmonic, and next season is the time for Sutil’s song to reach its crescendo. Another year of mistakes threatens to take his career down to al niente.
Goatlemon adds: Adrian just really impressed me this year. In my opinion McLaren could do worse than take a chance on him for next year. He's been trundling around in that Force India forever now, he deserves a chance in a better team.
EB adds: Sutil showed signs of brilliance, but often found a way to put his name on the DNF list, and often in the barriers.
16th Heikki Kovalainen
Team: McLaren Mercedes
Points: 22
Championship Position: 12
Score: 80
Kovalainen is a lot like Sutil but replace the erratic, unpolished potential with dull mediocrity. Heikki doesn’t crash a lot but it’s hard to crash a car when it’s only being driven at 90% of its potential. It’s difficult to point out any races with McLaren where Kovalainen has impressed, with only the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix standing out when he drove with an aggression and decisiveness we’ve never seen him replicate. Heikki complained recently about a few times this season he didn’t have the latest McLaren updates but these are just the excuses of a beaten man. That is to say the Finn was given every chance to succeed at McLaren and never made the most of the opportunity.
The nadir came at the Italian Grand Prix, Heikki was under pressure to perform and was the best placed driver with a heavy fuel load and a high grid position. McLaren were counting on a strong result to help them secure third in the constructors championship. At Kovalainen's disposal was the Mercedes engine (the most powerful in F1) and a KERS system that propelled Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to many rocket-ship starts throughout the year. Heikki couldn’t possibly fail to turn in a good result. Wrong. The opening lap was a disaster and Kovalainen fell back several places, and for the rest of the race it was the all to familiar story of fading out of sight while his team mate pumped out fastest laps in a desperate attempt to fight off the quick finishing Brawns. Heikki, “Kovalainen’d” himself in this way too often.
Hamilton had his second win of the season a week later in Singapore (Kovalainen finished 7th) and after that Heikki didn’t feature in the top ten in neither a race or qualifying.
The Finn now enters F1 purgatory. No longer considered a top act, he’s destined to bounce around from midfield team to midfield team. It’s easy to feel sorry for him but then I remind myself that other great drivers never get their shot at a top team and a race winning car and that as they say is that.
EB adds: Kovalainen was as frequently bad as Hamilton was good.
Goatlemon adds: He wasn't that bad really. It can't be easy to go up against someone of Hamilton's talent.
25th Luca Badoer
Team: Ferrari
Points: 0
Championship Position: 25
Score: 18
Poor Luca Badoer suffered much criticism during his short lived stint as a super sub, or perhaps more appropriately a super sub-par. But was he really that bad? The last time Luca raced, a second and a half off he pace wasn’t much of a big deal, but this years hyper competitive grid meant the Italian languished at the bottom of the timing pages for almost the entire duration of his stand in role for Massa. The media ripped him apart, some hacks appropriating the nick name Look-how (Luca) Bad-you-are (Badoer) and Ferrari dumped the Italian on the eve of his home Grand Prix.
24th Nelson Piquet Jr
Team: Renault
Points: 0
Championship Position: 21
Score: 20
Many rookies come to Formula One and experience a culture shock. These drivers spend their formative years pampered with the best cars, leading from the front and winning. Winning a lot. They have constant reinforcement by those around them that they are the best. They’re told they're special and destined for great things. Nelson entered F1 and suddenly has the security blanket of his father’s money and reputation pulled out from under his feet. Junior found himself in the wilderness. He talked the talk, to a fault, but never found his footing in a sport that has come to find itself with little patience or regard for unpolished products. It would be typical to write about crash-gate or equality and Fernando in this space but what really defines Nelson as a driver is how he handled the contrast of the minor leagues and the big league. To succeed in any sport you need equal parts talent and psychological resilience. Piquet in spite what you might think had the first but not the latter.
Bleeding Gums adds: Piquet dared put himself ahead of the sport, gambled and lost. He is proof surname does not equal talent and I would have loved to have ranked him lower than 25th. If he never races again I'll shed no tears. Good riddance...
23rd Kazuki Nakajima
Team: Williams Toyota
Points: 0
Championship Position: 20
Score: 27
“Always tried hard but just not quite in this league.” Those are the words Oldtony described the Japanese driver and I find no reason to embellish. Nakajima did try his hardest and had a real passion for racing but lacked those last few tenths of a second to be competitive. Toyota’s exit from the sport likely closes the Formula One chapter of Nakajima’s career
Goatlemon adds: Of all the non-points finishers this year Nakajima is the only one to have raced in all the GPs, and he managed this miserable feat with a car in which his team mate scored 34.5 points and finished seventh over all.
22nd Jaime Alguersuari
Team: STR Ferrari
Points: 0
Championship Position: 24
Score: 29
Jaime Alguersuari may be young and what he lacks in years he unfortunately doesn’t make up for in talent. Given the keys to an STR at 19 years old, Jaime became the youngest grand prix starter and the first driver to be born in the ‘90s to race in Formula One. Should STR let go of the young Spaniard he’ll be forever known as the guy that drove into the wrong pit box.
21st Romain Grosjean
Team: Renault
Points: 0
Championship Position: 23
Score: 29
Romain Grosjean qualified an average of 5.28 places behind Fernando Alonso, scored zero points and spent more time off the circuit during free practice in seven races than most drivers did for the entire season. Nelson Piquet qualified an average 5.3 places behind Alonso. For just 0.02 of a grid position, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symmonds were exposed as cheats and banished from motor sport, taking the reputation of Renault, Formula One and the dollars of ING along for the ride. So what to say about Romain? To his credit he had few incidents during races, generally keeping his nose clean other than an ambitious move at the top of Les Combes that gave Jenson Button his only retirement of the season. The Frenchman’s pace never approached that of a Ferrari bound Fernando Alonso who was visibly mailing in the second half of the season. I’ll be surprised if Renault give him another chance.
20th Sebastien Bourdais
Team: STR Ferrari
Points: 2
Championship Position: 19
Score: 36
Sebastien Bourdais, the Michael Schumacher of Champcar. Le Seb was always on the outs with his team bosses but a gritty rookie season saw some promising drives. The start of 2009 gave Sebastien a dud car to and he struggled to replicate the form he had shown the previous year. Combined with unreasonably high expectations from STR (following a season in which Sebastian Vettel led the team to victory in 2008) this proved too much of strain on the relationship between driver and team and Le Seb was sacked after the German grand prix. At the end of the day Bourdais will join the list of Champcar elites that have failed to convert their success stateside across the Atlantic.
19th Vitantonio Liuzzi
Team: Force India Mercedes
Points: 0
Championship Position: 22
Score: 43
Liuzzi made his return to the grid with a bang, qualifying inside the top 10 and looking set for a top 5 finish at the Italian Grand Prix until a transmission problem on the 22nd lap put an end to an impressive debut drive for Force India. The following races Vitantonio didn't repeat the speed he showed in his opening stanza, infact he was quite a way behind Adrian Sutil who continue to qualify in the top 10. The maturity of that first race was enough in my opinion to warrant Liuzzi a full season with the team. If Force India provides a points scoring car don’t be surprised if Liuzzi scores more points than Adrian even with the apparent speed differential.
18th Sebastian Buemi
Team: STR Ferrari
Points: 6
Championship Position: 16
Score: 65
Buemi quietly had an underrated rookie season, he spent a lot of time flying under the radar and finished with four points finishes to his name, just one less than Robert Kubica. Before the Hamilton and Vettel craze swept F1, this would have been considered a pretty solid drive from a freshman, but in today's message board and twitter F1, the Swiss driver hasn’t turned many heads. The pressure and expecations will be higher in year two and the Swiss driver might be worth keeping an eye on, but without a steady veteran team mate to compare him too it will be tough to place Buemi on the depth chart of F1 pilots.
17th Adrian Sutil
Team: Force India Mercedes
Points: 5
Championship Position: 17
Score: 79
Our panel was pretty much unanimous on voting those previous eight drivers at the bottom of our rankings. We’ve moved past the rookies and pretenders and so it's disappointing that Adrian Sutil is the lowest ranked among the next tier of drivers. Adrian has been around since 2007 and has shown flashes of speed but is yet to show he can perform consistently. Three race ending accidents this season did little to shed his fast but reckless tag, and again he could only match Fisichella in their twelve races together (qualifying: 6-6).
Adrian Sutil is a talented pianist, the son of a first violin with the Munich Philharmonic, and next season is the time for Sutil’s song to reach its crescendo. Another year of mistakes threatens to take his career down to al niente.
Goatlemon adds: Adrian just really impressed me this year. In my opinion McLaren could do worse than take a chance on him for next year. He's been trundling around in that Force India forever now, he deserves a chance in a better team.
EB adds: Sutil showed signs of brilliance, but often found a way to put his name on the DNF list, and often in the barriers.
16th Heikki Kovalainen
Team: McLaren Mercedes
Points: 22
Championship Position: 12
Score: 80
Kovalainen is a lot like Sutil but replace the erratic, unpolished potential with dull mediocrity. Heikki doesn’t crash a lot but it’s hard to crash a car when it’s only being driven at 90% of its potential. It’s difficult to point out any races with McLaren where Kovalainen has impressed, with only the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix standing out when he drove with an aggression and decisiveness we’ve never seen him replicate. Heikki complained recently about a few times this season he didn’t have the latest McLaren updates but these are just the excuses of a beaten man. That is to say the Finn was given every chance to succeed at McLaren and never made the most of the opportunity.
The nadir came at the Italian Grand Prix, Heikki was under pressure to perform and was the best placed driver with a heavy fuel load and a high grid position. McLaren were counting on a strong result to help them secure third in the constructors championship. At Kovalainen's disposal was the Mercedes engine (the most powerful in F1) and a KERS system that propelled Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to many rocket-ship starts throughout the year. Heikki couldn’t possibly fail to turn in a good result. Wrong. The opening lap was a disaster and Kovalainen fell back several places, and for the rest of the race it was the all to familiar story of fading out of sight while his team mate pumped out fastest laps in a desperate attempt to fight off the quick finishing Brawns. Heikki, “Kovalainen’d” himself in this way too often.
Hamilton had his second win of the season a week later in Singapore (Kovalainen finished 7th) and after that Heikki didn’t feature in the top ten in neither a race or qualifying.
The Finn now enters F1 purgatory. No longer considered a top act, he’s destined to bounce around from midfield team to midfield team. It’s easy to feel sorry for him but then I remind myself that other great drivers never get their shot at a top team and a race winning car and that as they say is that.
EB adds: Kovalainen was as frequently bad as Hamilton was good.
Goatlemon adds: He wasn't that bad really. It can't be easy to go up against someone of Hamilton's talent.
Spoiler: Part2 - Click to show
Written by Matt.
15th Giancarlo Fisichella
Team: Force India Mercedes / Ferrari
Points: 8
Championship Position: 15
Score: 80
Written off many times over by pundits, the Roman once again lead the way in Force India delivering the team its maiden podium and in doing so earning himself a seat at Ferrari, something he had dreamed of as a boy growing up in Italy. In fulfilling a child hood dream he has perhaps closed the book on his Formula One career. Although the Italian remains hopeful of a race seat next season (should Ferrari release him from his test driver duties), it’s unlikely he will find a home on the grid which looks increasingly unlikely to be the twenty six car behemoth promised by Mosley.
Fisichella tells reporters he doesn’t regret choosing Ferrari over remaining at Force India, a familiar story that’s replayed itself out many times over in Formula One when a driver chooses to follow the heart. Would Fisichella trade that Ferrari drive for a win at Monza? Would he trade that Ferrari drive for a secure contract next season? Only Giancarlo knows, but I expect the emotional Italian will sit back in years to come, relaxing with a slice of his favorite potato pizza and recall fondly his shot in a Ferrari because that’s just the type of guy he is. Very ‘appy.
Schueyfan adds: A year of two distinct halves for Fisi. At Force India, he was fantastic, particularly at Spa, but also with his underrated performances at Monaco and Silverstone. However, he struggled in the Ferrari, in a car that was hard to learn.
Goatlemon adds: He lived every stereotypical Italian driver's dream of driving for Ferrari, earned a legitimate pole in Spa and scored Force India's first ever podium that same race. I think it's worth overlooking his performance at Ferrari considering it was probably a very different car compared to what he was used to.
14th Robert Kubica
Team: BMW-Sauber
Points: 17
Championship Position: 14
Score: 81
To paraphrase my favorite writer, Bill Simmons - Robert Kubica is someone who was underrated for a while, received too much credit for being underrated, then eventually became overrated even as everyone continued to maintain that he was underrated. Judging from this result it looks like people are finally coming around.
Robert got off to a solid start to the season, looking at a podium finish in Australia but his poor race craft (Oldtony: His passing moves indicate a future in NASCAR) led to an incident that Vettel got the blame for but it was Kubica’s poor judgment that which led to the incident. The lesson here for Robert is when the guy in front has shot tyres and is three seconds a lap slower, you don’t, that is do not lunge from way back and expect that car with shot tyres not to under steer into you. With BMW’s pace fading throughout the midseason, Kubica didn’t feature in many races until the home stretch of the year. A strong drive to the podium in Brazil was the highlight of an otherwise disastrous year.
Kubica beat Heidfeld in qualifying by a score of 10 to 7, but for the second year out of their three together, it was Heidfeld who proved the more cagey driver, scoring more points and more points finishes. When one is viewed as a potential superstar and the other a journeyman these numbers don’t fit the picture which is perhaps why Heidfeld is in the running for a seat at McLaren while Kubica is headed for a middling Renault drive and also why Heidfeld was unanimously voted ahead of Robert by our panel.
Schueyfan adds: Struggled with a poor car early in the season, and didn't always get the best out of it compared to Heidfeld, but stong performances later in the year, such as Spa and Brazil, showed his future potential is still there. A strong drive in Melbourne, in which he could have fought for the win in the last lap or two, also went unrewarded.
13th Kamui Kobayashi
Team: Toyota
Points: 3
Championship Position: 18
Score: 88
A drastic overreaction from our panel or a bright spark for F1 as the dark cloud of manufacturer exodus hangs over F1? Kamui Kobayashi has hit the ground running in F1 with two inspired race performances. His debut in Brazil planted the seed when he stubbornly rebuffed Jenson Button’s challenges and bloomed in Abu Dhabi with a mature one stop drive to sixth from outside the top ten. Before Timo Glock’s injury, Kamui-san had hit a dead end in the road. The money wasn’t there and despite a promising GP2 Asia series, his campaign in the GP2 F1 feeder series was underwhelming to say the least. Romain Grosjean who had looked good in GP2 was struggling at Renault and F1 insiders were shaking their heads at the lack of junior talent available. Kamui was planning to return home and seek employment at his father’s sushi restaurant when the phone rang from Toyota. Timo Glock had sustained a fracture from his shunt at the Japanese Grand Prix and wouldn’t be healthy in time for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Kobayashi would take his place, at a circuit he’s never driven, one of the most challenging on the calendar. No easy task for a rookie who no one expected much from.
Instead Kobayashi was a revelation. The spotlight of Formula One brought the Japanese driver to life and he battled wheel to wheel with world champions and held his own.
Kobayashi has already built up a cult following amongst many F1 fans but neutrals will point to his lack of pace in qualifying and that he really only out performed himself rather than the car - sixth being a pretty standard result for a Toyota. Expectations need to be tempered and it’s possible since Toyota’s withdrawal from the sport that we’ll never see Kobayashi in an F1 car again. I joked after the Brazilian Grand Prix that perhaps he should retire and let the world always wonder. Sometimes the legend is better than the truth. For Kamui Kobayashi we’ll wait and see.
Bleeding Gums adds: Kamui Kobayashi may well be a flash in the pan, then again he may well be something very special to F1 racing and the sport itself. This kid was seriously impressive in only two outings, and his pass on Button was one of my highlights of the year.
12th Timo Glock
Team: Toyota
Points: 24
Championship Position: 10
Score: 96
I’m surprised Timo was ranked quite so high. Of course the saying goes you’re only as good as your last race and sitting out the last couple of the season has probably lowered Glock’s value in my mind but other members of our panel voted him into the top 12. A poor qualifier, Glock has crafted his trade on heavy fuel loads and long Sunday afternoons drives that land him in the lower points scoring positions. Out of six races he qualified inside the top 10, Timo only parlayed this into a points scoring result three times.
Glock had already been told to look elsewhere by Toyota by the time he reached Singapore and the strongest result of the season, second place from sixth on the grid. One week later Glock had an unusual crash during that extraordinary qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix and was replaced for the last two races due to injury -reminiscent of Heidfeld in 2005.
It becomes easy to label drivers like Glock as having potential, a word repeatedly uttered by our review panel and you get the feeling sometimes that F1 has enough potential to sink the titanic, again. But you have to ask yourself where Timo is going to fit within the next five years of F1. Drivers like Webber and Trulli survived this part of their career on qualifying speed alone. Others like Massa and now Sutil carved out a niche in the fast but erratic category. Glock is still looking for an identity.
His name has been discussed as a possible team mate alongside Robert Kubica at Renault which is the perfect opportunity for him. Alternatively a seat at Manor F1 would be a frictionless, lateral move and viewed as a return to square one. Beating Kubica would help Timo, and us, figure out just what he has to offer Formula One.
Schueyfan adds: A year that started with great promise in Malaysia failed to live up to its potential, especially considering he again failed to account for Trulli. Qualifying remained a major problem for Timo, but his racing was good.
11th Nick Heidfeld
Team: BMW-Sauber
Points: 19
Championship Position: 13
Score: 105
If there is a driver that Timo Glock draws the most parallels to it’s his German compatriot, affectionately named Quick Nick by fans, Heidfeld has been a journeyman in Formula One throughout this decade. As a driver, Nick’s gone up against Kimi Raikkonen, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica in the same team and beaten all of them. In 2005 Nick Heidfeld revived his ailing career by winning the second Williams seat over Pizzonia but surprised many by beating Mark Webber and claiming Williams only pole position that season. Impressed by Nick’s abilities, BMW signed him on to drive for their own team and since then he has performed consistently and won over many people with his no nonsense approach. Heidfeld holds to the streak of most consecutive race finishes, one that only came to an end after a misguided recovery spin from Adrian Sutil collected his BMW-Sauber at the Singapore Grand Prix. This consistency in mind it should come as no surprise that Heidfeld is in the discussion for a seat at McLaren or Brawn, both teams recognizing his strengths as a team player, his ability to rack up points and his highly regarded technical experience.
Getting back to the point of this review however, Nick’s 2009 started with a sneaky podium in the rain shortened race at Malaysia and finished the year with another four points finishes and out qualified Kubica at Monaco, Spa and Suzuka though the Pole edged him in overall qualifying head to head.
Should Heidfeld land at McLaren or Brawn in 2010 he’ll be a fan favorite to finally get the monkey off his back and win a race. If you believe in the Hindu concept karma you will point to Canada 2008 when an unselfish driver put the position of his team ahead of himself and gave up his chance to win in order to secure a one-two finish and victory for his team mate. Do good things and good things will happen to you. I hope this mantra finally rings true for Quick Nick.
Schueyfan adds: Regularly got the best out of a poor car, easily accounting for Kubica in the 1st half of the season. He once again showed his guile in weird races by getting on the podium in Malaysia. Had a consistent end to the year, usually just shading Robert.
15th Giancarlo Fisichella
Team: Force India Mercedes / Ferrari
Points: 8
Championship Position: 15
Score: 80
Written off many times over by pundits, the Roman once again lead the way in Force India delivering the team its maiden podium and in doing so earning himself a seat at Ferrari, something he had dreamed of as a boy growing up in Italy. In fulfilling a child hood dream he has perhaps closed the book on his Formula One career. Although the Italian remains hopeful of a race seat next season (should Ferrari release him from his test driver duties), it’s unlikely he will find a home on the grid which looks increasingly unlikely to be the twenty six car behemoth promised by Mosley.
Fisichella tells reporters he doesn’t regret choosing Ferrari over remaining at Force India, a familiar story that’s replayed itself out many times over in Formula One when a driver chooses to follow the heart. Would Fisichella trade that Ferrari drive for a win at Monza? Would he trade that Ferrari drive for a secure contract next season? Only Giancarlo knows, but I expect the emotional Italian will sit back in years to come, relaxing with a slice of his favorite potato pizza and recall fondly his shot in a Ferrari because that’s just the type of guy he is. Very ‘appy.
Schueyfan adds: A year of two distinct halves for Fisi. At Force India, he was fantastic, particularly at Spa, but also with his underrated performances at Monaco and Silverstone. However, he struggled in the Ferrari, in a car that was hard to learn.
Goatlemon adds: He lived every stereotypical Italian driver's dream of driving for Ferrari, earned a legitimate pole in Spa and scored Force India's first ever podium that same race. I think it's worth overlooking his performance at Ferrari considering it was probably a very different car compared to what he was used to.
14th Robert Kubica
Team: BMW-Sauber
Points: 17
Championship Position: 14
Score: 81
To paraphrase my favorite writer, Bill Simmons - Robert Kubica is someone who was underrated for a while, received too much credit for being underrated, then eventually became overrated even as everyone continued to maintain that he was underrated. Judging from this result it looks like people are finally coming around.
Robert got off to a solid start to the season, looking at a podium finish in Australia but his poor race craft (Oldtony: His passing moves indicate a future in NASCAR) led to an incident that Vettel got the blame for but it was Kubica’s poor judgment that which led to the incident. The lesson here for Robert is when the guy in front has shot tyres and is three seconds a lap slower, you don’t, that is do not lunge from way back and expect that car with shot tyres not to under steer into you. With BMW’s pace fading throughout the midseason, Kubica didn’t feature in many races until the home stretch of the year. A strong drive to the podium in Brazil was the highlight of an otherwise disastrous year.
Kubica beat Heidfeld in qualifying by a score of 10 to 7, but for the second year out of their three together, it was Heidfeld who proved the more cagey driver, scoring more points and more points finishes. When one is viewed as a potential superstar and the other a journeyman these numbers don’t fit the picture which is perhaps why Heidfeld is in the running for a seat at McLaren while Kubica is headed for a middling Renault drive and also why Heidfeld was unanimously voted ahead of Robert by our panel.
Schueyfan adds: Struggled with a poor car early in the season, and didn't always get the best out of it compared to Heidfeld, but stong performances later in the year, such as Spa and Brazil, showed his future potential is still there. A strong drive in Melbourne, in which he could have fought for the win in the last lap or two, also went unrewarded.
13th Kamui Kobayashi
Team: Toyota
Points: 3
Championship Position: 18
Score: 88
A drastic overreaction from our panel or a bright spark for F1 as the dark cloud of manufacturer exodus hangs over F1? Kamui Kobayashi has hit the ground running in F1 with two inspired race performances. His debut in Brazil planted the seed when he stubbornly rebuffed Jenson Button’s challenges and bloomed in Abu Dhabi with a mature one stop drive to sixth from outside the top ten. Before Timo Glock’s injury, Kamui-san had hit a dead end in the road. The money wasn’t there and despite a promising GP2 Asia series, his campaign in the GP2 F1 feeder series was underwhelming to say the least. Romain Grosjean who had looked good in GP2 was struggling at Renault and F1 insiders were shaking their heads at the lack of junior talent available. Kamui was planning to return home and seek employment at his father’s sushi restaurant when the phone rang from Toyota. Timo Glock had sustained a fracture from his shunt at the Japanese Grand Prix and wouldn’t be healthy in time for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Kobayashi would take his place, at a circuit he’s never driven, one of the most challenging on the calendar. No easy task for a rookie who no one expected much from.
Instead Kobayashi was a revelation. The spotlight of Formula One brought the Japanese driver to life and he battled wheel to wheel with world champions and held his own.
Kobayashi has already built up a cult following amongst many F1 fans but neutrals will point to his lack of pace in qualifying and that he really only out performed himself rather than the car - sixth being a pretty standard result for a Toyota. Expectations need to be tempered and it’s possible since Toyota’s withdrawal from the sport that we’ll never see Kobayashi in an F1 car again. I joked after the Brazilian Grand Prix that perhaps he should retire and let the world always wonder. Sometimes the legend is better than the truth. For Kamui Kobayashi we’ll wait and see.
Bleeding Gums adds: Kamui Kobayashi may well be a flash in the pan, then again he may well be something very special to F1 racing and the sport itself. This kid was seriously impressive in only two outings, and his pass on Button was one of my highlights of the year.
12th Timo Glock
Team: Toyota
Points: 24
Championship Position: 10
Score: 96
I’m surprised Timo was ranked quite so high. Of course the saying goes you’re only as good as your last race and sitting out the last couple of the season has probably lowered Glock’s value in my mind but other members of our panel voted him into the top 12. A poor qualifier, Glock has crafted his trade on heavy fuel loads and long Sunday afternoons drives that land him in the lower points scoring positions. Out of six races he qualified inside the top 10, Timo only parlayed this into a points scoring result three times.
Glock had already been told to look elsewhere by Toyota by the time he reached Singapore and the strongest result of the season, second place from sixth on the grid. One week later Glock had an unusual crash during that extraordinary qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix and was replaced for the last two races due to injury -reminiscent of Heidfeld in 2005.
It becomes easy to label drivers like Glock as having potential, a word repeatedly uttered by our review panel and you get the feeling sometimes that F1 has enough potential to sink the titanic, again. But you have to ask yourself where Timo is going to fit within the next five years of F1. Drivers like Webber and Trulli survived this part of their career on qualifying speed alone. Others like Massa and now Sutil carved out a niche in the fast but erratic category. Glock is still looking for an identity.
His name has been discussed as a possible team mate alongside Robert Kubica at Renault which is the perfect opportunity for him. Alternatively a seat at Manor F1 would be a frictionless, lateral move and viewed as a return to square one. Beating Kubica would help Timo, and us, figure out just what he has to offer Formula One.
Schueyfan adds: A year that started with great promise in Malaysia failed to live up to its potential, especially considering he again failed to account for Trulli. Qualifying remained a major problem for Timo, but his racing was good.
11th Nick Heidfeld
Team: BMW-Sauber
Points: 19
Championship Position: 13
Score: 105
If there is a driver that Timo Glock draws the most parallels to it’s his German compatriot, affectionately named Quick Nick by fans, Heidfeld has been a journeyman in Formula One throughout this decade. As a driver, Nick’s gone up against Kimi Raikkonen, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica in the same team and beaten all of them. In 2005 Nick Heidfeld revived his ailing career by winning the second Williams seat over Pizzonia but surprised many by beating Mark Webber and claiming Williams only pole position that season. Impressed by Nick’s abilities, BMW signed him on to drive for their own team and since then he has performed consistently and won over many people with his no nonsense approach. Heidfeld holds to the streak of most consecutive race finishes, one that only came to an end after a misguided recovery spin from Adrian Sutil collected his BMW-Sauber at the Singapore Grand Prix. This consistency in mind it should come as no surprise that Heidfeld is in the discussion for a seat at McLaren or Brawn, both teams recognizing his strengths as a team player, his ability to rack up points and his highly regarded technical experience.
Getting back to the point of this review however, Nick’s 2009 started with a sneaky podium in the rain shortened race at Malaysia and finished the year with another four points finishes and out qualified Kubica at Monaco, Spa and Suzuka though the Pole edged him in overall qualifying head to head.
Should Heidfeld land at McLaren or Brawn in 2010 he’ll be a fan favorite to finally get the monkey off his back and win a race. If you believe in the Hindu concept karma you will point to Canada 2008 when an unselfish driver put the position of his team ahead of himself and gave up his chance to win in order to secure a one-two finish and victory for his team mate. Do good things and good things will happen to you. I hope this mantra finally rings true for Quick Nick.
Schueyfan adds: Regularly got the best out of a poor car, easily accounting for Kubica in the 1st half of the season. He once again showed his guile in weird races by getting on the podium in Malaysia. Had a consistent end to the year, usually just shading Robert.
Spoiler: Part3 - Click to show
Written by Matt.
10th Jarno Trulli
Team: Toyota
Points: 32.5
Championship Position: 8
Score: 109
Jarno Trulli, the driver who has long been described as F1’s qualifying specialist and this season was no disappointment, making the front row of the grid four times, twice as many as a fellow former Quali guru, Mark Webber. So perhaps it is fitting that JT should crack the top 10, an achievement he managed to do in qualifying 11 times to his team mates 7.
Jarno, however is often criticized for losing focus and speed in races and has unfairly been brandished as the conductor of the Trulli Train, named for the train of cars that would line up behind him on a Sunday afternoon. Honestly though, this phenomena hasn’t occurred much lately and it was always a case of Jarno’s strong qualifying performance making him look worse on Sundays than a genuine lack of speed. Even so, it was very disappointing that Jarno was unable to crack the top step of the podium during his time at Toyota and a late season hissy fit threatens to tarnish his achievements throughout the season which included three podium finishes, the most important being second place at Toyota’s home grand prix in Japan.
Jarno has been closely linked with Mike Gascoyne whom he has worked with before at both Renault and Toyota. The bulldog holds Jarno in high esteem and a driver of Trulli’s speed and experience will be an enormous asset for the new Lotus-Cosworth team.
Goatlemon adds: Leaving aside his antics at the Brazilian GP and being beaten by a rookie in Abu Dhabi, over the course of the season he scored three podiums, including a second place in Japan, a pole position and a fastest lap. Not bad for someone driving a Corolla.
Schueyfan adds: Mixed year for Trulli, with a mix of awful and amazing drives. Melbourne started the year well for the team, and Suzuka ended it well, but in between, there were a lot of missed opportunities in a volatile car. He should have won in Bahrain if it wasn't for a team mistake.
9th Fernando Alonso
Team: Renault
Points: 26
Championship Position: 9
Score: 115
I personally didn’t have Alonso rated this high but nonetheless Alonso makes it in to our top ten. In 2008 Alonso drove with verve and commitment and earned Renault two wins, two lucky/controversial wins, but two wins nonetheless. This seasons Alonso was clearly bored, pre-occupied or just plainly mailing it in – counting the days until he pulls into Parc Ferme in his scarlet Ferrari, steps out of the car and hears the crowd chanting “Nando. Nando. Nando.” But until then Alonso only came alive when dicing with an old foe like Hamilton, their tussle over 16th an 17th place at Silverstone was great to watch and a reminder of what we had been missing out on in the wake of F1’s great form book shake up.
Prior to 2009 when Fernando had things his way, (a team backing him entirely, an nonthreatening team mate and a championship lead) everything was copacetic. Any disruption to the status quo however would result in a dummy spit. At McLaren, Ron Dennis described Alonso as an incredible recluse; one can’t imagine the awkwardness and terse replies within the McLaren garage during those tough times in 2007.
But what about now? I think if Fernando redoes his McLaren career now it would have been totally different. Alonso is at peace with not being the quickest guy (and make no mistake, Lewis Hamilton was the quicker driver during their year as team-mates) but now instead of turning away from a challenge, Alonso would revel in it. Just like Hamilton, just like Senna and just like so many other great sports men.
And that’s why I think Alonso and Massa are going to make a great pairing at Ferrari. Going up against Jense and Lewis and Seb and Mark and Nico but most importantly going up against Felipe, in equal cars - and for the first time in his career, loving it.
Oldtony adds: Quick in poor car but get the feeling he is on the slide. Next year will tell.
Goatlemon adds: We didn't really get to see Fernando at his best this year unfortunately. As of next year though all the top drivers will be in the top teams and all will be right in the world again, and I can finally stop hiring prostitutes to dress up as Alonso in a Ferrari outfit to fulfill that fantasy.
Bleeding Gums however see it's different and adds: Alonso in my top 5 is probably the most contentious of my placings, however I consider what he was able to do with what he had at his disposal to be mega. Dog of a car, lack of team direction, crashgate, Ferrari contract... Any one of these could have given Fernando the excuse to coast to next year, yet at Abu Dhabi, no chance of points at his final stop and Nando attacks the pit lane speed limit line like he is leading the race. As he did in all races. The consummate professional and worthy of better than 26 points and 9th in the championship.
8th Felipe Massa
Team: Ferrari
Points: 22
Championship Position: 11
Score: 125
The almost world champion. Felipe Massa was unfortunate to have been hit in the head by an 800 gram coil spring at the Hungaroring. Not just because any time you have the equivalent of a 10kg weight being dropped on you from the roof of your house it can be described as unfortunate, but also because Felipe Massa was positioned to have an awesome back 9. Massa was shaping up to repeat his 2008 supremacy of Kimi Raikkonen and if Raikkonen was capable of scoring the second most championship points of anyone from Hungary onwards, then you have to wonder what Massa could have achieved.
Of course it doesn’t matter now but it’s a credit to Massa for him to land this deep in our top ten. We’ve certainly come a long way since Malaysia 2008 (when Massa spun out prompting calls for his sacking).
Next season Massa will have to deal with Fernando Alonso who will be much more of a handful than Raikkonen. How Massa deals with Alonso will affect the way we look at Nando, Kimi and Felipe in years to come. Time to play for all the marbles.
Schueyfan adds: From what we saw of Felipe this year, he did a great job. China and Spain were very impressive, but unfortunately mechanical problems held him back from taking full advantage. Monaco was also solid, and so was Silverstone - capitalising from a poor grid spot with a great strategy. It looked like he was building up for a great 2nd half of the season, and it would have been no surprise to me if he would have scored several podiums and possibly even a win - maybe at Valencia - when the Ferrari was strongest.
10th Jarno Trulli
Team: Toyota
Points: 32.5
Championship Position: 8
Score: 109
Jarno Trulli, the driver who has long been described as F1’s qualifying specialist and this season was no disappointment, making the front row of the grid four times, twice as many as a fellow former Quali guru, Mark Webber. So perhaps it is fitting that JT should crack the top 10, an achievement he managed to do in qualifying 11 times to his team mates 7.
Jarno, however is often criticized for losing focus and speed in races and has unfairly been brandished as the conductor of the Trulli Train, named for the train of cars that would line up behind him on a Sunday afternoon. Honestly though, this phenomena hasn’t occurred much lately and it was always a case of Jarno’s strong qualifying performance making him look worse on Sundays than a genuine lack of speed. Even so, it was very disappointing that Jarno was unable to crack the top step of the podium during his time at Toyota and a late season hissy fit threatens to tarnish his achievements throughout the season which included three podium finishes, the most important being second place at Toyota’s home grand prix in Japan.
Jarno has been closely linked with Mike Gascoyne whom he has worked with before at both Renault and Toyota. The bulldog holds Jarno in high esteem and a driver of Trulli’s speed and experience will be an enormous asset for the new Lotus-Cosworth team.
Goatlemon adds: Leaving aside his antics at the Brazilian GP and being beaten by a rookie in Abu Dhabi, over the course of the season he scored three podiums, including a second place in Japan, a pole position and a fastest lap. Not bad for someone driving a Corolla.
Schueyfan adds: Mixed year for Trulli, with a mix of awful and amazing drives. Melbourne started the year well for the team, and Suzuka ended it well, but in between, there were a lot of missed opportunities in a volatile car. He should have won in Bahrain if it wasn't for a team mistake.
9th Fernando Alonso
Team: Renault
Points: 26
Championship Position: 9
Score: 115
I personally didn’t have Alonso rated this high but nonetheless Alonso makes it in to our top ten. In 2008 Alonso drove with verve and commitment and earned Renault two wins, two lucky/controversial wins, but two wins nonetheless. This seasons Alonso was clearly bored, pre-occupied or just plainly mailing it in – counting the days until he pulls into Parc Ferme in his scarlet Ferrari, steps out of the car and hears the crowd chanting “Nando. Nando. Nando.” But until then Alonso only came alive when dicing with an old foe like Hamilton, their tussle over 16th an 17th place at Silverstone was great to watch and a reminder of what we had been missing out on in the wake of F1’s great form book shake up.
Prior to 2009 when Fernando had things his way, (a team backing him entirely, an nonthreatening team mate and a championship lead) everything was copacetic. Any disruption to the status quo however would result in a dummy spit. At McLaren, Ron Dennis described Alonso as an incredible recluse; one can’t imagine the awkwardness and terse replies within the McLaren garage during those tough times in 2007.
But what about now? I think if Fernando redoes his McLaren career now it would have been totally different. Alonso is at peace with not being the quickest guy (and make no mistake, Lewis Hamilton was the quicker driver during their year as team-mates) but now instead of turning away from a challenge, Alonso would revel in it. Just like Hamilton, just like Senna and just like so many other great sports men.
And that’s why I think Alonso and Massa are going to make a great pairing at Ferrari. Going up against Jense and Lewis and Seb and Mark and Nico but most importantly going up against Felipe, in equal cars - and for the first time in his career, loving it.
Oldtony adds: Quick in poor car but get the feeling he is on the slide. Next year will tell.
Goatlemon adds: We didn't really get to see Fernando at his best this year unfortunately. As of next year though all the top drivers will be in the top teams and all will be right in the world again, and I can finally stop hiring prostitutes to dress up as Alonso in a Ferrari outfit to fulfill that fantasy.
Bleeding Gums however see it's different and adds: Alonso in my top 5 is probably the most contentious of my placings, however I consider what he was able to do with what he had at his disposal to be mega. Dog of a car, lack of team direction, crashgate, Ferrari contract... Any one of these could have given Fernando the excuse to coast to next year, yet at Abu Dhabi, no chance of points at his final stop and Nando attacks the pit lane speed limit line like he is leading the race. As he did in all races. The consummate professional and worthy of better than 26 points and 9th in the championship.
8th Felipe Massa
Team: Ferrari
Points: 22
Championship Position: 11
Score: 125
The almost world champion. Felipe Massa was unfortunate to have been hit in the head by an 800 gram coil spring at the Hungaroring. Not just because any time you have the equivalent of a 10kg weight being dropped on you from the roof of your house it can be described as unfortunate, but also because Felipe Massa was positioned to have an awesome back 9. Massa was shaping up to repeat his 2008 supremacy of Kimi Raikkonen and if Raikkonen was capable of scoring the second most championship points of anyone from Hungary onwards, then you have to wonder what Massa could have achieved.
Of course it doesn’t matter now but it’s a credit to Massa for him to land this deep in our top ten. We’ve certainly come a long way since Malaysia 2008 (when Massa spun out prompting calls for his sacking).
Next season Massa will have to deal with Fernando Alonso who will be much more of a handful than Raikkonen. How Massa deals with Alonso will affect the way we look at Nando, Kimi and Felipe in years to come. Time to play for all the marbles.
Schueyfan adds: From what we saw of Felipe this year, he did a great job. China and Spain were very impressive, but unfortunately mechanical problems held him back from taking full advantage. Monaco was also solid, and so was Silverstone - capitalising from a poor grid spot with a great strategy. It looked like he was building up for a great 2nd half of the season, and it would have been no surprise to me if he would have scored several podiums and possibly even a win - maybe at Valencia - when the Ferrari was strongest.
Spoiler: Part4 - Click to show
Written by Everso Biggyballies.
7th Nico Rosberg
Team: Williams Toyota
Points: 34.5
Championship Position: 7
Score: 126
2009 was an important year for Nico, who having entered the top league in 2006 as a champion elect has been somewhat overshadowed by the explosion onto the scene of Vettel and Hamilton. Prior to this year he had shown he had the speed, on occasions but he also had an erratic side that let him down, leaving a question mark on whether he was quite the full loaf. This year however he showed a side of himself we had not seen. The mistakes and particularly the accidents that dominated his early career saw him have a crash free season, and indeed he scored points in all but a handful of races, and had he not had a mix of bad luck and brain fade at Singapore he was on for a podium if not better. Sadly he came away empty handed after a penalty for a pit exit infringement which was compounded by a safety car. (Matt: A bit of irony after having finished second the previous year after benefiting from the safety car and a long period of deliberation by the stewards for a black and white call.)
For once he had a car that seemed to have some pace this year, and indeed a standing joke at the first races was the sight of a Williams at the top of the times after Practice. He made his teammate look silly, scoring all 34.5 of Williams points for 2010. He has for next year managed to get himself a drive at Brawn / Mercedes. He has to make the most of it if he is to be taken seriously as a championship potential.
Schueyfan adds: Like a lot of the drivers, Nico had an up and down season. He put together an impressive run of finishes in the middle of the year, but failed to turn any of them into podiums. Singapore in particular was a major missed opportunity.
Matt adds: Was unable to turn in the results Williams desired when provided with a speed advantage in the early part of the year. Mercedes and Brawn are putting a lot of faith into Nico and I'm not so sure he'll ever be a franchise guy.
6th Kimi Raikkonen
Team: Ferrari
Points: 48
Championship Position: 6
Score: 138
Lewis Hamilton scored the most points, followed with 2 points less by Kimi Raikkonen, with Sebastien Vettel one point behind Kimi. To me that says something of Raikkonens performances in the second half. Of course the difficulties of comparison are difficult, with Massa gone, but even an inspired Fisi could not manage to get the car in the points, despite having almost beating the Spa Meister when he drove his last race for Force India.
Given a car that was at best awful by Ferrari standards, a fact that Ferrari acknowledged and as mentioned decided was not worth developing further, with their favored driver out of action, and they chose to forget the F60 to develop a car to hopefully make Alonso look good in 2010.
As such, despite the fact that Hamilton drove well in the second half of the season, I actually rate Raikkonen’s performances as high as anyone in the second half of the season, given he was in a woefully undeveloped car, falling further behind the competition by the race. To end up scoring with that car more points than any driver other than Hamilton is in my eyes more impressive than Hamilton’s performance, moreso than Vettel even, who also had a by comparison, superb car in his hands. Kimi's efforts were particularly impressive given that the easy option for someone so apparently uninterested, knowing he had been dumped from a team that had themselves given up on 2009 before half season.
Goatlemon adds: He did well in a car that didn't see continued development, but I can't help but wonder what would've happened if Massa was still there until the end of the year.
Schueyfan adds: It seemed he relished the challenge of being a team leader once Massa went, with a string of fantastic results, which were particularly impressive considering the team stopped development.
Matt adds: Mr. Raikkonen never coalesced with his Ferrari team, failing to stamp authority over a team mate he was expected to dominate and ultimately falling short of the high expectations both parties had heading into the partnership. For Raikkonen to leave Formula One with a single championship after seven years in the two most highly resourced and experienced teams can only be seen as a failure for the guy so many hold in the highest regard when it comes to raw speed. What is raw speed? I don’t know, but I’ll defer to the experts. Obviously whatever it is wasn’t enough to save Raikkonen’s drive at Ferrari and the Finn was moved aside to make way for Fernando Alonso. We shouldn’t feel sorry for Raikkonen, his opportunities were ample and he made a bazillion dollars driving the best cars in the world and yet we do feel sorry for Raikkonen because he is so likable. The charisma and facetious sense of humor occasionally cracked through the ice cool veneer Raikkonen hides behind and even if I voiced many criticism’s of Kimi over the years I’ll miss him dearly.
5th Rubens Barrichello
Team: Brawn GP Mercedes
Points: 77
Championship Position: 3
Score: 144
Rubens was completely dominated in the early races, and seemed to lack his team mates finesse and tyre management in particular which cost him in races where he could have, and indeed should have outpaced Button. He also seemed to involve himself in incidents from which his races fell apart. By Hungary, Rubens had dropped to 4th in the championship, some 26 points behind his team mate. However, suddenly from Valencia on we seemed to see a different Barrichello, who, in a race where his team mate faltered, came through to win and beat the new threat from McLaren, and indeed take his first win of the year and emerge as a championship challenger. An inspired Rubens then outperformed his team mate as often as not, and won again at Monza. Indeed he managed to close the gap on Button down to just 14 points at the start of the penultimate race of the year in his home race of Brazil. He ended the worlds longest qualifying session on pole with his team mate and Vettel down in the lower echelons it looked like the title would go to Abu Dhabi for settlement as Rubens duly led the race away. However he wasn’t able to hold off Mark Webber and the surprising pace of Robert Kubica in the BMW and fell back to third after the first stops. Later in the race his Interlagos jinx seemed to take over and a puncture was the final nail in Rubens championship hopes.
All in all his season was ultimately doomed by his lackluster start, but I think without doubt he proved to his critics that there is still life in the old dog yet. Barrichello collected six podiums and two excellent victories in Valencia and Monza. If he had woken up earlier in the year he could have won the World Championship.
After 17 seasons in the sport, he kept his motivation and has proved he can just about cope with it physically too.
A Williams seat is his reward for 2010.
Schueyfan adds: Despite the low-points of his complaints about his team, Barrichello did a great job this year. Despite his age, he showed he could still mix it with the best, particularly at Valencia and Monza, where he was the class of the field. However, his pace often faded in the race, which eventually undid his championship campaign in Brazil.
4th Mark Webber
Team: Red Bull Racing
Points: 69.5
Championship Position: 4
Score: 154
Perhaps one of the surprises of the year, he of course started what was probably his most important year ever, as he for once had a real class act as a teamate (not that DC wasnt, but he like Webber was lets say on the downhill part of his career.) He had to make an impression on Vettel. Failure would have likely seen him out of F1. His preparation was of course severely hampered by his off season injuries, and many were anticipating a complete whitewash by Vettel. Considering his close season injuries some of his early performances were bordering on heroic. A season comprising of two wins and 8 podiums seemed unlikely.
Although ironically outclassed in his qualifying specialty, for once in his career Mark drove with a maturity not seen, and although Vettel was clearly the faster driver mistakes by the young charger saw Mark holding his own and indeed by mid year when Red Bull showed their DDD off, Brawn struggled with tyre temperatures, RBR were the fastest car, not only did Webber answer Vettels pair of earlier wins with his first trip to the top step, (at Vettels home GP, made it sweeter)..... Mark was narrowly leading his teamate in the championship.
However after 4 consecutive podiums, the wheels seemed to fall off Marks season temporarily after Hungary. The Australian walked away from 4 consecutive races without scoring a point, including an accident on the opening lap at Monza and a brake related crash at Singapore that were then topped with a mistake in practice at Suzuka, that resulted in a car being unprepared for qualifying. This return to the old Mark saw his WDC chances gone. However he bounced back with a win in Brazil, and a second place in Abu Dhabi, dicing with the new world champion all the way to the flag was a fine way to end the season, 4th overall in the standings.
Undoubtedly his best ever year in F1 by a large margin, he finally had not only credibility in the pit lane but spoke and drove with a new found confidence that will only help him moving into 2010. Another season at RBR is just reward.
Matt adds: Mark Webber turned a corner at last years Italian Grand Prix. The wet/dry weekend left the grid a scramble with Lewis Hamilton starting way down the order. Throughout that race Lewis forced his way through the midfield displaying a confidence and aggression that left him with few admirers among his peers. Amongst Lewis’ victims that day was Mark Webber, whom Hamilton made his prey heading into the first turn chicane. Braking from over 300 km/h on a damp track, he edged Mark to the side of the track leaving him just a Red Bull’s width. Mark tried to turn in on Lewis and the two bumped wheels and Mark took to the escape lane. What does this have to do with this year? For me, ever since that race Mark has taken an a far more aggressive approach to his racing, kind of like an “if he can do it, I can do it” attitude which contrary to all logic and reasoning has actually made Mark a safer bet heading into turn one on the first lap of every other Sunday. With more assurance and less hesitation, Webber has avoided the accidents that once plagued his racing allowing him to get down to the business of driving very quick.
That being said, Mark couldn’t live with Vettel’s speed, particularly in qualifying (15-2) and the momentum he built up after his mid-season win atrophied.
7th Nico Rosberg
Team: Williams Toyota
Points: 34.5
Championship Position: 7
Score: 126
2009 was an important year for Nico, who having entered the top league in 2006 as a champion elect has been somewhat overshadowed by the explosion onto the scene of Vettel and Hamilton. Prior to this year he had shown he had the speed, on occasions but he also had an erratic side that let him down, leaving a question mark on whether he was quite the full loaf. This year however he showed a side of himself we had not seen. The mistakes and particularly the accidents that dominated his early career saw him have a crash free season, and indeed he scored points in all but a handful of races, and had he not had a mix of bad luck and brain fade at Singapore he was on for a podium if not better. Sadly he came away empty handed after a penalty for a pit exit infringement which was compounded by a safety car. (Matt: A bit of irony after having finished second the previous year after benefiting from the safety car and a long period of deliberation by the stewards for a black and white call.)
For once he had a car that seemed to have some pace this year, and indeed a standing joke at the first races was the sight of a Williams at the top of the times after Practice. He made his teammate look silly, scoring all 34.5 of Williams points for 2010. He has for next year managed to get himself a drive at Brawn / Mercedes. He has to make the most of it if he is to be taken seriously as a championship potential.
Schueyfan adds: Like a lot of the drivers, Nico had an up and down season. He put together an impressive run of finishes in the middle of the year, but failed to turn any of them into podiums. Singapore in particular was a major missed opportunity.
Matt adds: Was unable to turn in the results Williams desired when provided with a speed advantage in the early part of the year. Mercedes and Brawn are putting a lot of faith into Nico and I'm not so sure he'll ever be a franchise guy.
6th Kimi Raikkonen
Team: Ferrari
Points: 48
Championship Position: 6
Score: 138
Lewis Hamilton scored the most points, followed with 2 points less by Kimi Raikkonen, with Sebastien Vettel one point behind Kimi. To me that says something of Raikkonens performances in the second half. Of course the difficulties of comparison are difficult, with Massa gone, but even an inspired Fisi could not manage to get the car in the points, despite having almost beating the Spa Meister when he drove his last race for Force India.
Given a car that was at best awful by Ferrari standards, a fact that Ferrari acknowledged and as mentioned decided was not worth developing further, with their favored driver out of action, and they chose to forget the F60 to develop a car to hopefully make Alonso look good in 2010.
As such, despite the fact that Hamilton drove well in the second half of the season, I actually rate Raikkonen’s performances as high as anyone in the second half of the season, given he was in a woefully undeveloped car, falling further behind the competition by the race. To end up scoring with that car more points than any driver other than Hamilton is in my eyes more impressive than Hamilton’s performance, moreso than Vettel even, who also had a by comparison, superb car in his hands. Kimi's efforts were particularly impressive given that the easy option for someone so apparently uninterested, knowing he had been dumped from a team that had themselves given up on 2009 before half season.
Goatlemon adds: He did well in a car that didn't see continued development, but I can't help but wonder what would've happened if Massa was still there until the end of the year.
Schueyfan adds: It seemed he relished the challenge of being a team leader once Massa went, with a string of fantastic results, which were particularly impressive considering the team stopped development.
Matt adds: Mr. Raikkonen never coalesced with his Ferrari team, failing to stamp authority over a team mate he was expected to dominate and ultimately falling short of the high expectations both parties had heading into the partnership. For Raikkonen to leave Formula One with a single championship after seven years in the two most highly resourced and experienced teams can only be seen as a failure for the guy so many hold in the highest regard when it comes to raw speed. What is raw speed? I don’t know, but I’ll defer to the experts. Obviously whatever it is wasn’t enough to save Raikkonen’s drive at Ferrari and the Finn was moved aside to make way for Fernando Alonso. We shouldn’t feel sorry for Raikkonen, his opportunities were ample and he made a bazillion dollars driving the best cars in the world and yet we do feel sorry for Raikkonen because he is so likable. The charisma and facetious sense of humor occasionally cracked through the ice cool veneer Raikkonen hides behind and even if I voiced many criticism’s of Kimi over the years I’ll miss him dearly.
5th Rubens Barrichello
Team: Brawn GP Mercedes
Points: 77
Championship Position: 3
Score: 144
Rubens was completely dominated in the early races, and seemed to lack his team mates finesse and tyre management in particular which cost him in races where he could have, and indeed should have outpaced Button. He also seemed to involve himself in incidents from which his races fell apart. By Hungary, Rubens had dropped to 4th in the championship, some 26 points behind his team mate. However, suddenly from Valencia on we seemed to see a different Barrichello, who, in a race where his team mate faltered, came through to win and beat the new threat from McLaren, and indeed take his first win of the year and emerge as a championship challenger. An inspired Rubens then outperformed his team mate as often as not, and won again at Monza. Indeed he managed to close the gap on Button down to just 14 points at the start of the penultimate race of the year in his home race of Brazil. He ended the worlds longest qualifying session on pole with his team mate and Vettel down in the lower echelons it looked like the title would go to Abu Dhabi for settlement as Rubens duly led the race away. However he wasn’t able to hold off Mark Webber and the surprising pace of Robert Kubica in the BMW and fell back to third after the first stops. Later in the race his Interlagos jinx seemed to take over and a puncture was the final nail in Rubens championship hopes.
All in all his season was ultimately doomed by his lackluster start, but I think without doubt he proved to his critics that there is still life in the old dog yet. Barrichello collected six podiums and two excellent victories in Valencia and Monza. If he had woken up earlier in the year he could have won the World Championship.
After 17 seasons in the sport, he kept his motivation and has proved he can just about cope with it physically too.
A Williams seat is his reward for 2010.
Schueyfan adds: Despite the low-points of his complaints about his team, Barrichello did a great job this year. Despite his age, he showed he could still mix it with the best, particularly at Valencia and Monza, where he was the class of the field. However, his pace often faded in the race, which eventually undid his championship campaign in Brazil.
4th Mark Webber
Team: Red Bull Racing
Points: 69.5
Championship Position: 4
Score: 154
Perhaps one of the surprises of the year, he of course started what was probably his most important year ever, as he for once had a real class act as a teamate (not that DC wasnt, but he like Webber was lets say on the downhill part of his career.) He had to make an impression on Vettel. Failure would have likely seen him out of F1. His preparation was of course severely hampered by his off season injuries, and many were anticipating a complete whitewash by Vettel. Considering his close season injuries some of his early performances were bordering on heroic. A season comprising of two wins and 8 podiums seemed unlikely.
Although ironically outclassed in his qualifying specialty, for once in his career Mark drove with a maturity not seen, and although Vettel was clearly the faster driver mistakes by the young charger saw Mark holding his own and indeed by mid year when Red Bull showed their DDD off, Brawn struggled with tyre temperatures, RBR were the fastest car, not only did Webber answer Vettels pair of earlier wins with his first trip to the top step, (at Vettels home GP, made it sweeter)..... Mark was narrowly leading his teamate in the championship.
However after 4 consecutive podiums, the wheels seemed to fall off Marks season temporarily after Hungary. The Australian walked away from 4 consecutive races without scoring a point, including an accident on the opening lap at Monza and a brake related crash at Singapore that were then topped with a mistake in practice at Suzuka, that resulted in a car being unprepared for qualifying. This return to the old Mark saw his WDC chances gone. However he bounced back with a win in Brazil, and a second place in Abu Dhabi, dicing with the new world champion all the way to the flag was a fine way to end the season, 4th overall in the standings.
Undoubtedly his best ever year in F1 by a large margin, he finally had not only credibility in the pit lane but spoke and drove with a new found confidence that will only help him moving into 2010. Another season at RBR is just reward.
Matt adds: Mark Webber turned a corner at last years Italian Grand Prix. The wet/dry weekend left the grid a scramble with Lewis Hamilton starting way down the order. Throughout that race Lewis forced his way through the midfield displaying a confidence and aggression that left him with few admirers among his peers. Amongst Lewis’ victims that day was Mark Webber, whom Hamilton made his prey heading into the first turn chicane. Braking from over 300 km/h on a damp track, he edged Mark to the side of the track leaving him just a Red Bull’s width. Mark tried to turn in on Lewis and the two bumped wheels and Mark took to the escape lane. What does this have to do with this year? For me, ever since that race Mark has taken an a far more aggressive approach to his racing, kind of like an “if he can do it, I can do it” attitude which contrary to all logic and reasoning has actually made Mark a safer bet heading into turn one on the first lap of every other Sunday. With more assurance and less hesitation, Webber has avoided the accidents that once plagued his racing allowing him to get down to the business of driving very quick.
That being said, Mark couldn’t live with Vettel’s speed, particularly in qualifying (15-2) and the momentum he built up after his mid-season win atrophied.
Spoiler: Part5 - Click to show
Written by Matt.
3rd Lewis Hamilton
Team: McLaren Mercedes
Points: 49
Championship Position: 5
Score: 154
Coming into third place our panel has voted last years World Champion. Since bursting onto the scene in 2007 Hamilton has proven to be a polarizing figure within the sport, it didn’t take long for people to choose a side. Just a few races into his rookie year he had already replaced Schumacher as the guy you either loved or hated, everything he did was put under intense scrutiny both within the sport from the stewards, rival drivers and the FIA to outside the sport as the media (over)exposure left many fans feeling that Hamilton had learned the walk before he could crawl. Jealousy set it both from fans and his peers about Hamilton’s immediate success, many labeled Hamilton as spoiled and having had everything handed to him, stressing that a rookie should earn his wings before being thrust into a race winning car. The feeling was how come he gets a good car when insert my favorite drivers name has had to struggle in a shit box for years.
And so, 2009, for Lewis Carl Hamilton did more good than his sensational run of nine podiums as a rookie, it served him better than beating Alonso and it won more people over than his title triumph over Felipe Massa. In 2009, Lewis Hamilton earned his wings. Finally slugging it out in a slower car, driving the wheels off his McLaren and willing it into positions it didn’t belong. Hamilton matured as a driver and as a man. Lie-gate was a set back, but few remember that now and while the anti Hamilton agenda lives on, making claims of preferential treatment and KERS advantages they are but a quiet minority now.
Through the second half of the season, it was Lewis Hamilton and McLaren that started most race weekends as the short odds favorite, a testament McLaren’s ability to develop their car from two and a half seconds off the pace to race winner at Hungary and Singapore. That and the new found respect for Hamilton amongst observers of this great sport. Wins at Valencia and Italy were possible had McLaren not underestimated themselves. Nonetheless Hamilton went on to score more points than any other driver in the second half of the year, pulling McLaren ahead of Ferrari in the fight for third in the constructors title.
Now comes the but!
Even with the progress Hamilton made this year with his image, his driving wasn’t without its faults and as such a few situations arrived where points were lost from trying to hard. At China in the wet, Hamilton had a scrappy day of spins and setbacks and for all his speed he finished behind his team mate. A crash in qualifying for Monaco was a wasted opportunity at a time the team most needed something to smile about and his cavalier heroics at the Italian Grand Prix turned south on the final lap blowing a podium position.
Looking ahead to 2010 it will be interesting to see how well Hamilton transitions back into championship preservation mode should McLaren roll out a car quick enough to challenge for wins from race one. Hamilton’s new team mate, Button, is if anything a picture of consistency so early season mistakes will be a big no no if Lewis is to avoid slipping behind.
Bleeding Gums adds: Hamilton proved his class by his finish to the season and once again looks to be the one to beat in the new year.
Goatlemon adds: Lewis arguably did what Fernando Alonso did last season; he outperformed his car, earned the respect of many of his detractors and threw a cat amongst the pigeons of the top two teams.
2nd Sebastian Vettel
Team: Red Bull Renault
Points: 84
Championship Position: 2
Score: 167
Vettel’s speed is without question. He’s faster than Mark Webber which is no mean feat but if you had to ask yourself how Alonso or Raikkonen or Massa or Button or any number of drivers would have handled 2009 in Vettel’s stead you would have to have a long hard think about whether they could have done a better job. Young Sebastian made quite a few mistakes early in the season which had a two fold effect on his championship aspirations. Not only did it let Button establish a lead, it let Mark Webber dig his heels in and make a legitimate claim for top dog status at Red Bull. Had Vettel shown he was a more capable set of hands earlier in the year then it would have been easier for the Red Bull team to move Mark into a supporting role to Seb’s championship challenge. To Mark’s credit he did a fine job of challenging his younger team mate but one look at the stat sheet shows he was outmatched by the Germans pace.
Sebastian’s aggression and race craft have been called into question at times throughout the season, there were a few times early in the year when large portions of a race were spent behind a slower car and Vettel showed little interest in getting past. He’s a bit like Kimi in that respects, letting the race come to him rather than going out and taking it by force. As a result Raikkonen has only left a race weekend leading the World Drivers Championship a dozen times over the course of a nine year career, winning in 2007 only after Hamilton and Alonso tripped themselves up - so this lack of aggression might be a worry for Vettel heading forward.
Regardless of this shortcoming, Vettel will find his way to a Mercedes or a Ferrari or a McLaren in the future, you can count on it so time is on his side and so he can afford to be patient.
Bleeding Gums adds: Sebastian Vettel was the driver to impress me most. As he settles into his place in Formula One he is prone to less incidents of exuberance and took the fight up to a much more experienced campaigner, who it has to be said was given a fairly large free kick at the start of the season. This boy has WDC written all over him.
Goatlemon adds: In the right car he will be champion one day.
Schueyfan adds: Both Red Bull drivers were outstanding in 2009. Unfortunately, their car let them down too many times, compounded by the head-start they gave away to the diffuser teams. However, while Vettel had outstanding one-lap pace, and even race pace, he still made too many mistakes, and this distinguishes him from Webber (just). His crash in Melbourne was clumsy, his spin in Malaysia was disappointing, his crash in Monaco showed his lack of experience, and his spin in Turkey showed his over-enthusiasm. In the end, it was these races, as well as qualifying in Brazil, which cost him the championship.
Everso Biggyballies adds: Vettel had an excellent second half, thwarted by a suspension failure (no doubt assisted by a bit of earlier in the race argie bargie) and an engine failure. Given he was in engine management mode for the last races only enhance his efforts. In the opening races he made a couple of mistakes. His 22nd birthday seemed to bring with it a maturity.
1st Jenson Button
Team: BrawnGP Mercedes
Points: 95
Championship Position: 1
Score: 171
Here we are nearly 8000 words and one week later and finally we arrive at number one. Jenson Button, 2009 world champion, Mr. Smooth and now McLaren bound. Button was voted number one by half our panel, just enough to edge him ahead of Sebastian Vettel and not that far ahead of Hamilton and Webber and that I think is indicative of the year we’ve had in 2009. The closest grid in years, perhaps ever (I’m sure EB will prove me wrong!) and a champion who won by dominating the early stretch of the season while F1 was embroiled in court cases and world motor sport hearings.
From the moment Jenson drove his first laps in late February the championship was his to lose. The car was so perfect right from day 1 and in the perfect car Jenson Button is the perfect driver. A metronome of consistency, he will put in lap after lap of inch perfect consistency with his unwinding driving style that belies his scruffy beard and playboy charisma. Six wins in the first seven races followed and the writing was on the wall.
From that point on, Button was able to sit back and watch his rivals trip over themselves, each race weekend a new pretender would emerge but time after time their championship chances would go into remission while Button continued along with the same consistency he had shown in the first seven races, only this time he was consistently saving his arse with timely overtakes and “lucky Jense” kept tallying up points – sixth, fifth, seventh, seventh, fifth, eight, fifth.
Whether or not Button was deserving of the championship or deserving of this first place in our season review will be a debate that will rage on forever, but no matter what axis of assessment you want to use, the fact is he won the championship and that’s not achievement we can divvy out value to on a case by case basis. Posterity remembers only numbers and anything else is just a footnote.
Schueyfan adds: It's impossible to ignore Button's near-perfect start to the year. While the diffuser-saga helped him along, he still had to complete the work, beating Barrichello and Vettel in particular at the same time. While the rest of his season was underwhelming - in particular not leading a lap since Turkey, he did just enough, and with his consistency, and two excellent drives in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, showed that he is a worthy championship winner.
Oldtony adds: Button. Most wins, most points, most on track overtakes. (Matt: ‘Nuff said!)
Bleeding Gums adds: Button whilst never really exciting me over the years clearly deserves the top ranking of this year. Yes he was aided by a rule interpretation. Yes he had Ross Brawns wealth of experience behind him. And I even felt at the start of the year Charlie Whiting seemed to be looking out for him. However, that said, Jenson found himself in unfamiliar territory. That being, he found himself not only at the front of the grid, but with a commanding lead in the championship after 6 rounds which became only his to lose. Yet when he needed the points, he found away to get them. Impressively the one time he DNF's for the season it was thru no fault of his own. Whilst I think this will be his only WDC, he will now always be a World Champion. And any time you earn the #1 for your car, I feel you deserve to be ranked #1 for your year.
3rd Lewis Hamilton
Team: McLaren Mercedes
Points: 49
Championship Position: 5
Score: 154
Coming into third place our panel has voted last years World Champion. Since bursting onto the scene in 2007 Hamilton has proven to be a polarizing figure within the sport, it didn’t take long for people to choose a side. Just a few races into his rookie year he had already replaced Schumacher as the guy you either loved or hated, everything he did was put under intense scrutiny both within the sport from the stewards, rival drivers and the FIA to outside the sport as the media (over)exposure left many fans feeling that Hamilton had learned the walk before he could crawl. Jealousy set it both from fans and his peers about Hamilton’s immediate success, many labeled Hamilton as spoiled and having had everything handed to him, stressing that a rookie should earn his wings before being thrust into a race winning car. The feeling was how come he gets a good car when insert my favorite drivers name has had to struggle in a shit box for years.
And so, 2009, for Lewis Carl Hamilton did more good than his sensational run of nine podiums as a rookie, it served him better than beating Alonso and it won more people over than his title triumph over Felipe Massa. In 2009, Lewis Hamilton earned his wings. Finally slugging it out in a slower car, driving the wheels off his McLaren and willing it into positions it didn’t belong. Hamilton matured as a driver and as a man. Lie-gate was a set back, but few remember that now and while the anti Hamilton agenda lives on, making claims of preferential treatment and KERS advantages they are but a quiet minority now.
Through the second half of the season, it was Lewis Hamilton and McLaren that started most race weekends as the short odds favorite, a testament McLaren’s ability to develop their car from two and a half seconds off the pace to race winner at Hungary and Singapore. That and the new found respect for Hamilton amongst observers of this great sport. Wins at Valencia and Italy were possible had McLaren not underestimated themselves. Nonetheless Hamilton went on to score more points than any other driver in the second half of the year, pulling McLaren ahead of Ferrari in the fight for third in the constructors title.
Now comes the but!
Even with the progress Hamilton made this year with his image, his driving wasn’t without its faults and as such a few situations arrived where points were lost from trying to hard. At China in the wet, Hamilton had a scrappy day of spins and setbacks and for all his speed he finished behind his team mate. A crash in qualifying for Monaco was a wasted opportunity at a time the team most needed something to smile about and his cavalier heroics at the Italian Grand Prix turned south on the final lap blowing a podium position.
Looking ahead to 2010 it will be interesting to see how well Hamilton transitions back into championship preservation mode should McLaren roll out a car quick enough to challenge for wins from race one. Hamilton’s new team mate, Button, is if anything a picture of consistency so early season mistakes will be a big no no if Lewis is to avoid slipping behind.
Bleeding Gums adds: Hamilton proved his class by his finish to the season and once again looks to be the one to beat in the new year.
Goatlemon adds: Lewis arguably did what Fernando Alonso did last season; he outperformed his car, earned the respect of many of his detractors and threw a cat amongst the pigeons of the top two teams.
2nd Sebastian Vettel
Team: Red Bull Renault
Points: 84
Championship Position: 2
Score: 167
Vettel’s speed is without question. He’s faster than Mark Webber which is no mean feat but if you had to ask yourself how Alonso or Raikkonen or Massa or Button or any number of drivers would have handled 2009 in Vettel’s stead you would have to have a long hard think about whether they could have done a better job. Young Sebastian made quite a few mistakes early in the season which had a two fold effect on his championship aspirations. Not only did it let Button establish a lead, it let Mark Webber dig his heels in and make a legitimate claim for top dog status at Red Bull. Had Vettel shown he was a more capable set of hands earlier in the year then it would have been easier for the Red Bull team to move Mark into a supporting role to Seb’s championship challenge. To Mark’s credit he did a fine job of challenging his younger team mate but one look at the stat sheet shows he was outmatched by the Germans pace.
Sebastian’s aggression and race craft have been called into question at times throughout the season, there were a few times early in the year when large portions of a race were spent behind a slower car and Vettel showed little interest in getting past. He’s a bit like Kimi in that respects, letting the race come to him rather than going out and taking it by force. As a result Raikkonen has only left a race weekend leading the World Drivers Championship a dozen times over the course of a nine year career, winning in 2007 only after Hamilton and Alonso tripped themselves up - so this lack of aggression might be a worry for Vettel heading forward.
Regardless of this shortcoming, Vettel will find his way to a Mercedes or a Ferrari or a McLaren in the future, you can count on it so time is on his side and so he can afford to be patient.
Bleeding Gums adds: Sebastian Vettel was the driver to impress me most. As he settles into his place in Formula One he is prone to less incidents of exuberance and took the fight up to a much more experienced campaigner, who it has to be said was given a fairly large free kick at the start of the season. This boy has WDC written all over him.
Goatlemon adds: In the right car he will be champion one day.
Schueyfan adds: Both Red Bull drivers were outstanding in 2009. Unfortunately, their car let them down too many times, compounded by the head-start they gave away to the diffuser teams. However, while Vettel had outstanding one-lap pace, and even race pace, he still made too many mistakes, and this distinguishes him from Webber (just). His crash in Melbourne was clumsy, his spin in Malaysia was disappointing, his crash in Monaco showed his lack of experience, and his spin in Turkey showed his over-enthusiasm. In the end, it was these races, as well as qualifying in Brazil, which cost him the championship.
Everso Biggyballies adds: Vettel had an excellent second half, thwarted by a suspension failure (no doubt assisted by a bit of earlier in the race argie bargie) and an engine failure. Given he was in engine management mode for the last races only enhance his efforts. In the opening races he made a couple of mistakes. His 22nd birthday seemed to bring with it a maturity.
1st Jenson Button
Team: BrawnGP Mercedes
Points: 95
Championship Position: 1
Score: 171
Here we are nearly 8000 words and one week later and finally we arrive at number one. Jenson Button, 2009 world champion, Mr. Smooth and now McLaren bound. Button was voted number one by half our panel, just enough to edge him ahead of Sebastian Vettel and not that far ahead of Hamilton and Webber and that I think is indicative of the year we’ve had in 2009. The closest grid in years, perhaps ever (I’m sure EB will prove me wrong!) and a champion who won by dominating the early stretch of the season while F1 was embroiled in court cases and world motor sport hearings.
From the moment Jenson drove his first laps in late February the championship was his to lose. The car was so perfect right from day 1 and in the perfect car Jenson Button is the perfect driver. A metronome of consistency, he will put in lap after lap of inch perfect consistency with his unwinding driving style that belies his scruffy beard and playboy charisma. Six wins in the first seven races followed and the writing was on the wall.
From that point on, Button was able to sit back and watch his rivals trip over themselves, each race weekend a new pretender would emerge but time after time their championship chances would go into remission while Button continued along with the same consistency he had shown in the first seven races, only this time he was consistently saving his arse with timely overtakes and “lucky Jense” kept tallying up points – sixth, fifth, seventh, seventh, fifth, eight, fifth.
Whether or not Button was deserving of the championship or deserving of this first place in our season review will be a debate that will rage on forever, but no matter what axis of assessment you want to use, the fact is he won the championship and that’s not achievement we can divvy out value to on a case by case basis. Posterity remembers only numbers and anything else is just a footnote.
Schueyfan adds: It's impossible to ignore Button's near-perfect start to the year. While the diffuser-saga helped him along, he still had to complete the work, beating Barrichello and Vettel in particular at the same time. While the rest of his season was underwhelming - in particular not leading a lap since Turkey, he did just enough, and with his consistency, and two excellent drives in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, showed that he is a worthy championship winner.
Oldtony adds: Button. Most wins, most points, most on track overtakes. (Matt: ‘Nuff said!)
Bleeding Gums adds: Button whilst never really exciting me over the years clearly deserves the top ranking of this year. Yes he was aided by a rule interpretation. Yes he had Ross Brawns wealth of experience behind him. And I even felt at the start of the year Charlie Whiting seemed to be looking out for him. However, that said, Jenson found himself in unfamiliar territory. That being, he found himself not only at the front of the grid, but with a commanding lead in the championship after 6 rounds which became only his to lose. Yet when he needed the points, he found away to get them. Impressively the one time he DNF's for the season it was thru no fault of his own. Whilst I think this will be his only WDC, he will now always be a World Champion. And any time you earn the #1 for your car, I feel you deserve to be ranked #1 for your year.
It will of course become more interesting as the lower (higher rated) numbers come up, but the comments to date seem pretty fair and impartial. Thanks also to those we called on with short notice for providing feedback to make this more than a one or two sided angle on things.
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