That would be my list as well, except I would exchange Heikki Kovalainen for Vettel. Trick is to rate them in order.... One thing seems clear, there is a new order on the way with Hami, Kovalainen, Vettel and Kubica all rising fast.
1) Hamilton 2) Alonso 3) Raikkonen 4) (and I'm gonna throw you all a curve here - don't laugh) Button 5) Vettel IMO Button is a victim of circumstance. He's never had a superbly quick car, and when he's had a fast car he's done wonders with it. He's very smooth, very composed, very competent, just has never had a worthy car beneath him to show us that. I also know it's controversial putting Hamilton at the top. It's a hell of a lot of speculation, I admit. I think he's got the goods but it's not really proven and it will take 2-3 more seasons to see how he does in good cars, in bad cars, from the back and from the middle before we can say for sure. I tend to think Alonso may have more skill than Kimi - hard to tell. It would be great to see them in equal cars and see who wins. I still Alonso is a jackass and I hate him personally but he has skill. Vettel showed some flashes of brilliance but then again, so did JV, Webber and Ralf and we know how bad they suck.
I read Road and Track's driver rankings last night. Kimi Alonso Hamilton Massa I don't quite remember but I think they put Kubica 5th
Kinda sad because it's all subjective to how GOOD your team is. What I mean is, if Honda turns it around with Ross Brawn, Button would be rated higher. If BMW gets better, Heidfeld would be rated higher. (as examples) Alas, if Renault goes totally down the crapper, Alonso would NOT fall much; on the basis of his two prior WDC's... 1A) Hamilton 1B) Kimi 3) Alonso 4) Heidfeld 5) Vettell - maybe The reason I have a tie at 1) is because both drivers are blindingly fast, and both have made unbelievably dumb mistakes on the track. Like throw away a WDC last year, or spin off at odd times.
I used to agree with you. But he made some stupid decisions and that's the price you pay. Good driver Jense is, one of my favourite characters... but not solely other people's fault for his decisions. How come Hamilton isn't in there? He is in the best car (1 of 4) on the grid and does well when qualifying goes well. During a race, his passing is not refined and his race pace is severely effected when following someone. If he is in front, he can check out. But as it is, Kimi, Alonso, the BMWs all do a much better job actually racing. Kimi can turn fast laps and put pressure on while he's following! You can tell me qualifying is half the race nowadays and I would tell you that its BS when Hamilton can barely move up on the grid. He had a much better carreer in Karts. I'm just playing devil's advocate.... Put Vettel in the McLaren car and I bet he'd be in everyone's top 5.
The second half of your post is somewhat confusing with the way you worded it or perhaps some of them were typos?
On the Button!! excuse the pun. I still find it very hard to say but 3 point's: Lewis,s history show's it will only be a matter of time before he win's WDC, and Lewis was up against FA last year so that in it's self show's how good he really is. Button, I just hope before it's to late he can show IMO that he is a top notch driver. Webber has flashes of brillance but doesn,t have the luck needed to go with it
In that order: Hamilton Alonso Raikkoenen Rosberg Vettel Surprised nobody mentioned Rosberg. Not his fault that he sits in the wrong car.
Kimi Rosberg Alonso Hamilton Vettel I reckon Rosberg is the only driver who regularly outperforms the level of his car, but Vettel is showing signs of doing the same. We haven't seen what Hamilton can do with a bad car yet.