The standouts and disappointments of 2014

The season is now over so time for some evaluation. The purpose of this thread is to evaluate the best and worse performing drivers of the year. Try and set aside your biases and favourites and look at this with an open mind (as I have).


Top 5 performers of 2014:

Daniel Ricciardo 10/10: Flawless performance all season really. Embarrassed 4 time WDC vettel. Showed great pace in qualifying and great aggressive racecraft (which I love). In races they both finished, he outpaced vettel in all but 3. Double as many podiums. Great drive from the back in Abu Dhabi despite vettel actually starting ahead of him in the pitlane. The driver who was there to keep mercedes on their toes and there to steal the victory if they had problems. Superb season all round and future star for sure.

Lewis Hamilton 9.5/10: Hamilton proved this year just how far he has come in terms of his mental strength. Blistering pace all season in the races and beating his team mate by a large margin in some (17,18 sec in malaysia and china and 15 suzuka). Great masterful drives in the rain all season (all aforementioned races in rain). In races that he and Rosberg started in a comparable grid position and both finished Hamilton almost always finished ahead. Amazing drives from the back and the way he turned things around after spa clearly demonstrates how mentally he can deal with almost anything. His amazing start in Abu Dhabi (1.2 sec ahead of rosberg after the first turn) when the title was his to lose and under immense pressure really shows how far his mental game has come. Only reason for the 9.5/10 is the few errors he made in qualifying (most were down to reliability) but he made a few himself and imo Rosberg clearly deserved the pole trophy.

Fernando Alonso 9/10: Alonso, as always, thoroughly outdriving his team mate by scoring 3 times as many points and thrashing him in qualifying 16-3 (the biggest difference of any driver in the field). Somewhat of an anonymous season driving in the dog of the f14t but the way he keeps fighting even when he is never in contention is always highly commendable. I think ferrari made a huge mistake in letting him go.

Nico Rosberg 8.5/10: Rosberg really surprised me with his pace in qualifying this year. One of the best qualifiers if not the best in f1 for sure. He capitalised on Hamiltons poor reliability and would always put the pressure on. His results in the middle of the reason even had me worrying for a little bit that Hamilton may not be able to overcome all the hurdles to win the title. The pressure on both Hamilton and Rosberg was far more immense than on the other drivers which means one should make a greater allowance for mistakes. Nico made a few biggies in sochi and monza for example but I dont think that detracted from the overall great year he had. He took it to Hamilton (one of the best of the best imo) and for that he should be respected (even though I dont particularly like the guy).

Jenson Button 8.3/10: Button certainly is the king of consistency. Always putting in good results despite the demoralising effect the way the team is treating him must be having on his psyche. The lack of respect Mclaren have shown him really makes me dislike Mclaren. Jenson has shown great race craft all season and put down some amazing results particularly in the latter half of the season. The way he looks after the tires and the car in general is masterful.

Narrowly missed out: Bottas - drove great all season aside from the last 2 races where he really floundered imo. massa actually did beat him in 8 races and did quite well himself as well (despite massa facing a lot of bad luck - being taken out in the first corner of lap 1 a few times). I think JEV ran solidly as well and its a shame he will lose his drive next year.

The bottom 5 of the grid - 2014s disappointments:

Kimi Raikkonnen 2/10: I get that the car didn't suit him in 2014 but his performance this year has been dismal. Thoroughly outqualified and outraced by alonso. Probably the biggest embarrassment of a season for any world champion ever. When Fernando retired in Monza kimi nearly lost ferrari their massive streak in the points but was redeemed by penalties to the drivers ahead. Not that it mattered because he lost it in suzuka when alonso retired there. I think someone said this was the worst season for ferrari since 1981 and we can solely thank Kimi for that. His performance at spa, his only redeeming race, saved him from getting a 1/10. Hes lucky to be retaining his seat for 2015.

Kevin Magnussen 3.5/10: Ron Denis's supposed wonderkid was not wonderful at all. Reasonable in qualifying but still lost in that head to head to button. His racecraft is severely lacking - penalties aplenty and always involved in collisions on track. Button outscored him by double and some. I don't see why Mclaren should retain him for 2014.

Pastor Maldanado 4/10: icrash was on fine form this year. Thank god he didnt start in monaco or he wouldve taken out the entire field. he did get one 9th place and when hes not crashing he seems quite close to grosjean imo.

Marcuss errikson 4/10: hard to gauge the drivers at the very back of the grid especially since i barely pay attention to them but he was thoroughly outclassed by kamui and iirc even crashed out under the safety car in hungary. He shouldn't be on the grid next year but he is.

Max Chilton: 4.2/10: Thoroughly outclassed by his team mate. Just another pay driver. Such a shame what happened to Bianchi and for the marussia team in general.

If anyone wants to play, go ahead and post your own ratings.

 

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but the biggest disappointment to me this year were the cars themselves. I can deal with how they look, but I took my son to Austin this year and we left the earplugs in the wrapper. The Ferrari Challenge race on Saturday had more energy...

Other than the cars, I really enjoyed the season and can't wait to see if Honda shakes things up next year.

 

Seb 5/10: He's one of my favorite drivers. I dig the whole Red Bull vibe. He had a ton of issues that really limited his seat team in practice and in the races. I think that really played a pivotal role in him not getting a good handle on the car. He did somewhat better as the season progressed, but I really thought he'd do better.

Looks 1/10: The new low noses are just so ugly. The cars no longer look mean and intimidating like they have in prior years.

Sound 4/10: The sound of the cars is kinda cool... you just can't hear it. Nothing compares to the scream of the V8's of last year... except maybe the 10's.

 

My daughter has really gotten into F1 and the drivers. She's really hooked and calls me from school during the race. Her thoughts on Alonso... pretty spot on I thinik:

"Is Alonso the 'best' driver because he's really the best... or is it because everyone keeps parroting that he's the best for so long that it's just now become fact?"

 

Stand out driver - Ricciardo
Stand out team - Mercedes
Surprise team - Williams
Most disappointing driver - Kimi

Cars were fine and the sound was ok. They were faster than the V8's and we had some good racing and overall they were reliable considering it was first year of the new formula.

 

As much as people complained (every singe race, ad naseum) of how boring every race was. It sure was a hell of a lot more exciting than years past with vettel winning every race by 20+ seconds it seemed like.

Even though mercedes ruled it still seemed there were other drivers in contention, a la Riccardo and both williams drivers.

 

Ricciardo is overrated.

I like the guy but everyone is all googly eyed.

 

He pretty much dominated a 4xWDC! That's not easy, no matter about the car suiting him better or whatever.

Unless you believe Seb is crap?

Cheers,
Ian

 

+1

Just like Checho was the golden child a couple years ago.

G

 

I like Ricci and hope he keeps going as is, quick driver, great personality. That being said, I'd agree that everyone is jumping to conclusions a bit quickly. One season does not a career make.

 

He won races. He made passes that were Hamilton or Fernando - esque. Handled the pressure of a major team home to the 4xWDC and drives as Checho only DREAMS he could. Real talent not hype. Sure 1 season but the results go far beyond luck.

 

I can go with this except that the sound really is bad when you hear them in person.


Not sure disappointment is the right word, but the low points of the season for me were the injuries of MS and Bianchi.

 

That's why we watch

G

 

A Fair question from your daughter, you have bright one there methinks.

 

Granted, Alonso is definitely ONE of the best, but I'm not so sure he can be called "The Best".

 

Highs:
Luckily Hamilton had more than his fair share of DNF's...otherwise it would have been a rather boring title race (well there wouldn't have been one) at the front end.
Ricci smiling and proving he is heading to the top.
Good racing up and down the field.

Lows:

Engines sounding like a leaf blowers.
Nose cones look pathetic.
Pay drivers .. however you could argue rolling chicanes n loose cannons could be a gimmick.
Jules accident.

I could go on...but I'am happy enough overall.

 

Please get real. The guy, as Ian said, has dominated a 4x WDC, but what really stood out to me is his overtaking ability, which IMO is on par with Raikkonen (in terms of ability of passing without touching, so placement of car and awareness of where the other cars are) and the balls of Hamilton.

Driver of the year IMO.

 

Cheeco had 1 outstanding race and his early-McLaren signing, with McLaren pumping up the media to justify their signing of him, didn't help in tempering the hype.

Dani had a long thorough season. There is no hype in finishing the season #3

 

Agree. I think he will only get better as will bottas.

 

+1

 

I agree. The new 2014 formula produces the best F1 season in decades!

 

I agree the biggest disappointment is the sound. Total let down!
And Ricciardo is goggly-eyed worthy. He is definitely in the top 5 I think.

 

Biggest disappointment: The Turbo V6 engine.

I see absolutely NOTHING positive that came out of all of it.

 

fine summation by the OP, I also agree with the point about Vettel, his performance was a shocker to me, also Hamilton's DNF-good point, also bad sound and bad looks-quite a fair wrap up of the 2014 season by the Fchat crew I'd say.

 

Really? You don't think its positive that;

- they're once again pushing the technical envelope?
- they're turning the same times as before while using ~30% less go juice?
- another engine manufacturer has joined the fray?
- they've moved on from the past decades dinosaur motors?
- we saw more overtaking all through the field than in living memory?
- we had some damn good races through the year.
- the title fight came down to the last race & the DP BS played no part?

Sure, they sound like crap and the noses look ridiculous. But I think they'll improve.

Sure, Merc was dominant. One team has dominated the season many, many time over the years. Nature of the beast. Doff the cap, congratulate them, and hope the others can do better next term.

Cheers,
Ian