Who was the 2nd and 3rd best driver of 2024?

Number 1 was max. No question. Then it’s a close run thing between Charles, Lando and Russel. No body else is worthy of top 4 contention.

Alonso, the dark horse of the pack. Put him in a competitive car and he could be right up there. Same for Ham. They just need the motivation to perform at their best.

Piastri has the potential to break into the tier 1 group.

The rest, I don’t care - as long as Stroll is last and Perez is second last. Honourable mention to Sargent.

 

That's the easiest way to sort it out!

 

They rank Stroll above Perez - 'simply lovely' lol

 

Lance should get a 0.0 after his gravel trap escapade in Brazil

 

That and an off road safety driving course lol

 

What a great question to think about. If I let my personal preference rule, I'd be talking LCH, Russel, and Sainz, but I need to be more objective. It has to be said that Ferrari has been performing at a much higher level than recently. I'm not just talking car performance, there seems to be better pit lane calls and organization, less shooting themselves in the foot, especially compared to other teams, which is a big change from the past. While I root more for Sainz, I have to say that LeClerc has impressed me this year, as Sainz continues to do. Lando has been driving really well but has made some mistakes. Piastri is improving, but I don't think he's there yet. Hamilton has really shown flashes of his old form, but its hard to tell when he's leaving the team. Alonso, it's hard to rate, I know he's massively popular here, but I don't think we can tell. I supported Stroll being in F1 for a lot of years, he was at least as worthy as many others despite the hate, but it's now been too long and he should go. I don't think we can really tell where Alonso is until we gets a better #2 to compare him to. He's also made some poor on track decisions. With consideration, I'll go with:
1. Max
2. LeClerc
3. Lando and Sainz tied
5. Russel
6. LCH and Piastri tied

I won't be offended if people disagree, just my opinion.

Best question on here for a while.

 

What you posted is a combined driver/car ranking based on a single metric. The question stated in the OP says nothing about car, only driver. So your ranking is purely subjective based on your chosen metric.

 

I cannot disassociate cars and drivers. So I rank drivers by the way they end up in the WDC during the year.
That's the only metric I recognise, just like the FIA does.
You can only speculate what a driver could have achieved with a better car, but that's totally subjective.

 

I think Lando had a phenomenal season! Went from 0 wins to challenging for drivers championship. Hands down, the most improved driver in F1.

LEC improved and probably exceeded expectations. He has to improve more next year. They are all second to Verstappen as was shown in Brazil.

Bearman finished 18th! He shocked the world. I can't wait to see what he can do over a season.

 

Ummm, Lando had a hard time converting P1 poles into P1 wins and he had quite a few of them. Phenomenal isn't a word I would use. He had a good season.

 

That's logical, which is the only way I know.
Our forefathers instaured a World Championship to determine who where the best drivers each year.
It's maybe not perfect, but I stick to that.
Anything else is subjective, speculative or emotional, for me.

 

Anyone saying Norris did better than Charles didn't watch the races..or d9oesn't know what he's talkin about...in you case, both are probably true....

 

Charles doesn't need to improve to beat max..his car does!...he already proved that long time ago.

 

Are you contesting that Lando Norris won 4GPs this year and earned himself 374 points.
Charles Leclerc won 3 GPs and ended up with 356 points.
The results tell you who was the best of the two this season.
It's up to you if you chose to ignore them.

 

"C'mon Charles, quit making so many mistakes!" Did I get it pretty close? Max, Brazil.

He converted in Abu Dhabi!

Pastri seemed to peak in Baku. That was an amazing race! Watching them lap after lap was amazing. That was definitely one of LEC's best drives of the year.

If you have the F1 TV app. you should watch the Monza analysis of how he approached the corners to make his tires last! An amazing drive and teamwork!

 

Not as much as "One Lap Wonder" Leclerc !!!
Chuck had 26 Poles in his career, but only won 8 GPs.

 

By this logic Albon and Alonso are better than both. Look at Russell's results slipping into Hamilton's car instead of the Williams when Hamilton contracted COVID. But sure, the car has nothing to do with the Lando vs LeClerc point spread whatsoever. Right.

 

2nd best was Leclerc. Mclaren was the quickest over the season, Mclaren ultra reliable. Leclerc came ever so close to finishing P2 in WDC.

I would almost put Sainz as 3rd best of the season even, perhaps joint 3rd with Norris. Norris I think only retained 1 of his pole positions on the lead lap and that was when it didn't matter anymore in Abu Dhabi. Good job I guess? Norris has some really nice drives, but so did Sainz.

Norris making statements that this season he's proven he can't back up and frankly speaking, piss poor excuses why he didn't win the title pegs him down as well. Statements such as "you had the fastest car of course you have to win" and "no one has overcome such a large points gap to become champion". Whilst that is true, no one also had that many races to do it:
Norris had to overcome a 53 point gap since Miami. He had 19 races and multiple sprints to do so. Norris lost by 63
Max in 2022 had a 46 points gap after Australia 2022. He had 19 races + sprints to overcome the gap. Max overcame (admittedly a slightly smaller gap) by 146 points. Yes post Belgium 2022 Max's car was faster in relation to the field than Norris' Mclaren was post Miami relative to the field, it's Norris' own excuses that he needs to look at.

 

Wich only shows how good he is by achieving pole in a car that can't win races...thanks for making my point

 

Let’s see how well Leclerc does next year against Hamilton. He’s expected to destroy the old man to prove his quality. Otherwise he’s just another ‘nearly’ man…

 

The championship determines who is the champion (and in which order the drivers are ranked in the championship), taking into account all parameters including the cars. Assuming that the championship ranking exactly represents the driving skills is actually subjective, speculative or emotional

 

Imagine a 16 race season where Driver A won the first 12 races in a row, along with pole and fastest lap. Unfortunately getting injured and misses the final 4 races, where Driver B who got 2nd in those first 12 races, won the final 4. Driver B wins the championship 320 pts to Driver A's 312. Could anyone defend that Driver B was the best driver that season?

 

William!