2008 half-term driver rankings part 3
There was plenty of discussion yesterday about how to rank the top three drivers of 2008 so far.
Here’s how I rated Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica’s performances so far this year. What’s your verdict?
3. Lewis Hamilton
Lewis overachieved quite a bit last year I feel and he appears to be suffering a case of “second season syndrome” as known in football circles.He hasn’t lost any of his speed but he’s certainly lost his sang froid. – Francois in the forum
Inevitably Lewis Hamilton’s failures and fortunes have been exhaustively documented in the media. No other driver seems to attract as much scathing criticism for his mistakes and fawning adulation for his successes. Putting the hype and hate to one side, how has he actually done this year?
Compared to the first half of last year Hamilton has made an alarming number of mistakes. It’s been a trend among many drivers in the championship this year. But while Hamilton racked up podium finishes in his first nine Grands Prix in 2007, he’s been more ‘crash and win’ over the same events this year.
To reiterate: he was penalised in qualifying at Sepang and blew the start at Bahrain, after which he first nudged and later walloped the rear of Fernando Alonso’s Renault. At Istanbul his qualifying lap was messy, making his three-stop strategy all the more unrealistic. He didn’t see the red light in the pit lane at Montreal and crashed into Kimi Raikkonen, and picked up a drive-through penalty within the first half-lap at Many-Cours.
At Monte-Carlo he burst his rear tyre against the barrier… and survived, winning the wet/dry race by a healthy margin. Indeed, he has thrived in adverse conditions, decimating the field in the rain at Silverstone, and cruising serenely to victory on a messy day in Melbourne. And he was well in charge of proceedings at Montreal before that fateful safety car intervention.
It was obvious from the rare snatch of McLaren’s radio broadcast we heard at Silverstone during qualifying what Hamilton’s problem is: “Don’t over-drive” was the clear message. He’s been too reluctant to settle for a comfortable points finish on the days when that’s all that’s available to him. Unless he tempers his aggression in the second half of this season one can quite easily see him losing the title for a second year to…
2. Kimi Raikkonen
Disappointed to be honest, none of the brilliance I remember him producing in his McLaren days when he won races in terrible cars. Now he has – by quite a margin – the best car on the grid and has won twice in 8 races…I think he is slightly disillusioned with F1, will retire sooner rather that later. – Ben in the forum
Raikkonen invariably defies easy categorisation. On his day he is untouchably quick and Felipe Massa cannot live with him, as we saw quite plainly at Sepang. On other days he follows Massa around a few seconds adrift and no-one can quite tell why.
And some times he just goes to pot. His first race as world champion started as a spirited drive from the middle of the pack (due to a misfortune in qualifying) but was interrupted by two unforced spins on a dry day. He went off twice in the rain at Monaco as well.
Raikkonen is undoubtedly one of F1’s best drivers. These problems and Massa’s often superior qualifying performances have blunted his championship campaign this year but some poor fortune as at least as much to blame.
He was taken out of the race at Montreal when a victory was on the cards. A win looked a certainty at Magny-Cours until an exhaust problem let Massa through. And at Silverstone it seemed Ferrari’s decades of racing experience were discarded and the team instead relied on the toss of a coin to determine strategy, chucking a certain podium and possible victory away.
Even with these problems he’s still joint leader of the championship and, with better luck in the second half of the year and still with the quickest car in F1 underneath him, I’d bet on him being champion. But I don’t think he’s been the best driver so far this year.
1. Robert Kubica
Driver of the year so far. – Omarky on the forum
After a shaky 2007 Kubica has been exceptional in 2008. Simply put, no other driver seems to have consistently got as close to the potential of his car while making so few mistakes.
The banning of traction control seemed to transform Kubica’s performance overnight. After often being behind Nick Heidfeld last year, Kubica has dominated him in qualifying. Heidfeld has only started ahead of his team mate once – when Kubica had a car problem at Silverstone last week.
In the races too Kubica has maintained his advantage over Heidfeld. Had he not been taken out of the first race by Kazuki Nakajima – in an incident where Kubica was clearly blameless – he would still be leading the world championship.
He scored his – and BMW’s – first pole position at Bahrain. He might have done it at the first race of the year at Melbourne but for running wide at one corner. Nevertheless the lap was still good enough for second on the grid.
Other mistakes from Kubica have been pretty rare. He was error-free in the wet at Monaco and finished second on a day when even the winner hit the barrier once. And at Montreal when the cards fell his way he was in the perfect place to capitalise, scoring his first Grand Prix win.
That put him in the lead of the championship and, despite his first major mistake of the season at Silverstone costing him several points, remains just two points off the leaders.
It’s still too much to expect he can win the championship with a BMW that’s up with the front runners often enough, and seems to be drifting off the ultimate pace as the year goes on. But I wouldn’t rule him out picking up one or more further wins as the year goes on, especially with two new street circuits coming up which should play to his strengths.
Kubica is in excellent form and if he keeps driving like this he would be a very worthy world champion.
Who do you think has been the driver of the year so far?
Rubbish, Kubica wouldn’t be a worthy world champion. He is a charisma-free robot without style. Let’s hope Lewis trounces everyone in the final half of the season as he deserves it the most for being a real racer and exciting to watch, as well as being the best personality on the circuit.
^ Personally, I don’t understand why personality should even come into it. The world champion should be the person who drove best that season, it’s as simple as that.
Kubica is strong in street circuits but Lewis is stronger. And I would bet on Lewis winning on the two new tracks as 3 out for 4 races Lewis won last year were on tracks he never raced before.
Kubica has been strong like Lewis last year but will soon get his own fair share of mistakes just like Lewis. Heidfeld is only 10 points behind Kubica and with his improved qualifying pace and better racecraft I wouldn’t be surprised if Heifeld beat Kubica at the end of the year.
I agree wholeheartedly. Had Kubica been racing in the same equipment as Hammy or Iceman he’d be top dog, no question about it. A real class act.
@Sebastian: No one can say for sure. This year he has absolutely no pressure because no one expects much from him. How would be handle himself when the pressure is on? Look at what happened to Webber, been driving flawlessly all year, gets his car into a position where he could win the race at Silverstone and then blew it on the first lap when the pressure was on.
Likewise, if it was Hammy or Iceman on the BMW they would most likely still be leading the WDC by not crashing out at Silverstone.
hamiltons problems is that last year he was team mate to alonso, a double world champion and highly regarded as the most complete driver in f1. if hamilton beat him on occasion then superb but if he didnt people would say well hes a rookie and alonso is a double champion.
that said he was remarkable last year, people can whine that hes stepped into one of the best cars on the grid, but surley that has just raised expectations?? he was never going to be able to match last years perfromance but he hasnt done bad. like keith said he is just too aggressive at times he needs to play the percentage game at tracks he cant win.
Good drivers at melbourne, istanbul, monaco and awesome at silverstone (which i had the pleasure of watching from becketts)
the trend im noticing with hamilton is when hes put on the back foot, malaysia, bahrain mangy cours, he does over drive.
raikkonen has been up and down just really confuses me because when he wants to be he is nigh on unbeatable and great to watch.
kubica has just done nothing wrong and got the maximum out of every opportunity that came his way and definitley been the best this year
If you look at Lewis’ performance in the rain at Silverstone , and going by the fact that most previous multiple champions have excelled in wet weather conditions , on driver skill alone , I would say Lewis is the best driver . Man , he made that McLaren look as though it had traction control even though we know they no longer do. But as it is , this is a look at the overall performance of the year to date. It turns out Lewis , Kimi and Felipe’ have all had up and down races so far . while Robert has been more consistent , so I must agree with the order of Keiths rating , possibly if I were to change anything , it would be dropping Kimi to fourth , Lewis to second and Massa to third.
GOOD CHOICE -
I will absolutelygo by Keith, this first half of this year has to be Kubica’s. He has every bit potential to be amongst the winners. He had such a horrible crash at Canada last year, and this year in wet condition he stood first in the podium there!
Kimi’s story has really been a mystery to explain. And his misfortune (like that broken exhaust), poor strategy(not changing tyres at silverstone) add to his misery. I think he needs to be a bit more down the leaderboard so that he can stage yet another comeback!(Like he did last year!!!)
As far as lewis is concerned, apart from wet Silverstone, there is not much to write about, I think, (Obviously I am talking about race only!)
My guess is he’ll loose more in the second half if he does not control himself. May be Dennis should tell him how can one does not get carried away
I agree with you completely. Kubica has done the best this season. To be in the championship hunt with a car thats still not really competitive enough to be up there is amazing.
Keith,
In terms of consistency, I think you´re right, Kubitza deserves the first place.
But looking back to Lewis and Kimi´s mistakes I would consider that is shame a World champion lost the control of the car as Kimi did twice in Australia, twice at Monaco (crashing Sutil!) and twice at Silverstone. This is absolutely driving flaws. I think we´re still forgetting that Lewis has under his belt only 27 races (and Kimi more than 160 races) but the guy can drive as veteran trouncing everyone as he did at Silverstone.
In this case, the Veteran Kimi´s mistake has more importance than Lewis´s on the equation. Another matter about Kimi is how boring a race could be when this guy wins. He´s bored and bores everyone around him…
I would put Lewis above Kimi.
This is an interesting fact:
“This season so far Lewis has led for most laps compared to the competition, 179 from 571 in total that is 31 percent, a little less than one third of all laps and kilometres that have been completed.”
From Mclaren’s Germany preview press release.
“I think we´re still forgetting that Lewis has under his belt only 27 races (and Kimi more than 160 races) but the guy can drive as veteran trouncing everyone as he did at Silverstone.”
Not everyone gets to start their careers in a silver car.
@Sav22
Another couple of intresting facts:
Australian GP Heikki Kovalainen 1:27.418
Malaysian GP Nick Heidfeld 1:35.366
Bahrain GP Heikki Kovalainen 1:33.193
Spanish GP Kimi Räikkönen 1:21.670
Turkish GP Kimi Räikkönen 1:26.506
Monaco GP Kimi Räikkönen 1:16.689
Canadian GP Kimi Räikkönen 1:17.387
French GP Kimi Räikkönen 1:16.630
British GP Kimi Räikkönen 1:32.150
^ fastest laps
I’m with Keith. Those rankings were spot on. In fact, if it weren’t for Silverstone (where Hamilton put in a stirling drive and Massa drove like a muppett), I’d almost have been inclined to switch Hamilton’s and Massa’s rankings.
But I can’t forget Silverstone. Hamilton really did shine and Massa really did drive like a muppett……so yeah……I agree with the rankings.
@Zebra: Kimi started in Sauber. Got beaten by Heidfeld and still ended up in McLaren. Kimi has had more years in a top car than most people on the grid today and has only 1 WDC to show for it.
I think Robert Kubica has really pushed his value through the roof this season. His consistency and maturity has demonstrated to the top teams that if he had a top car, he could run away with it like Schumacher used too. If he can work the BMW team around him he could be very formidable in 2009.
I agree win your number 1 Keith, but would swap Kimi and Lewis round. As mentioned earlier in the discussion, Lewis has only raced in handful of races compared to Kimi, who should be dominating this season and showing his class as champion. Where we should allow Lewis a tiny piece of slack after only 1.5 season in F1( but not too much slack hey!)
Fastest laps aren’t that important, for example Heikki’s fastest lap in Bahrain, yet the Mclaren wasn’t very compeitive compared to their rivals in that race.
Lewis has the most wins equal with Massa, and has lead the most laps this season. That’s more significant to be.
He also raced most of that time during the Ferrari/Schumy years.
@Internet
How reliable was the McLaren Kimi drove back in the day versus what Hamilton drove last year?
That’s not the point. Kimi virtually started his career in a silver car, except he got it by getting beaten by Heidfeld at Sauber while Lewis got it by winning all the lower formulas.
Well you are right in that Hamilton had way more races in him when coming into F1.
Kimi´s luck about Ferrari reliability is that the guys from Maranello use to build a tank as a car. Mario Ellen, the ex-McLaren man, says that Ferrari would have a tough job to build a car like that. He said:
“No one drives the machine harder, no one bangs it so hard lap after lap into the kerb,”
Even Withmarsh said that he should change his driving style in Ferrari. That could be another reason why he is struggling against Felipe. We always heard about Lewis been hard on his tyres but I still think that Kimi is hard on an entire car…
About fastest laps, Oliver, in part 2 of the rankings made the best comment ever:
“Fastest laps are often a useless statistic unless it is backed up by a win or good placing. Its possible for a driver to drive a second off the pace for 65 laps, then set the fastest lap on the 66th, and still finish 1 minute behind and almost lapped.
Not saying Kimi has often lapped so far back behind the pace, but if u observe closely his fastest laps have been set after many mediocre performance during the races, Silverstone inclusive. Where he was consistenly behind in pace all through the races but for 3 or four laps when the tract was drying up.
He is not very organized is my summation.”
I agree with Dorian, if it weren’t for Massa torrid drive at Silverstone, I would have switched Hamilton and Massa in the rankings.
Hamilton has made an alarming amount of errors this season so far, and appears to be over-driving for big results like Alonso, whereas in 2007, he didn’t rush it and just stacked up the podiums.
Spot on with the rankings, Keith. Kubica is certainly my driver of the year so far. He has been nearly error-free all season – other than spinning in Silverstone – and has been extracting the maximum from his car and the team have backed up with good pitwork and strategy.
Although now, the BMWs pace has dropped in relation to the Ferraris and McLarens, and Kubica is so close to the top three by their mistakes as well as his consistency. I can’t realistically see him winning the championship with BMWs drop in pace, probably only one or two more wins at best, but if he did win, he would certainly deserve the title!
C’mon brits, forget about Hamilton. If he is ahead on points at the end of the season he will press neutral again!
For me, it’s between Kimi and Massa. And if the title win falls on Massa’s hands, I bet he will cross the line spinning!
@Dizzy: Why do you assume all Brits support Hamilton? If you go to various forums there are a lot of Brits that dislike and even hate Hamilton. That’s one thing that I find weird about the Brits cos I haven’t seen a single Pole who dislikes Kubica, Australian that dislikes Webber or a Spaniard that hates Alonso.
Hamiltomania is makin me wanna choke myself. Anyways, Kubica all the way..
Internet, I think I assume that because I moved to London last year, in the middle of the Hamilton frenzy! Also, I’ve been watching F1 through ITV broadcast since then… That may explain a lot.
It reminds me a lot of the feeling about Senna in Brazil. It was really annoying to see how protected he was, how the media wanted to give him an image of perfection. And Senna, for those who don’t know, always was a boring politically correct type of guy. After his death it became impossible to speak anything bad about him.
I think the only brazilian driver that I really enjoyed off the track was Piquet Sr.
By the way, take a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICsa85ELk2M&feature=related
Without knowing the legitimate problems that a driver might have had during a race, all of this is pure speculation. However, Lewis #1 last year? No way—especially if you look at the last two races of ‘07!
I think the ranking is fair, but hamilton is not the top ranking driver is f1 right now, i believe kubica and raikkonen are better than him. Anyway is just my opinion.
@William Wilgus, so you are saying Kubica shouldn’t be at #1 because he spun out at Silverstone?
i agree with dizzy about senna.
Alot of people say that the bad things schumacher did during his career like driving into villeneuve in 97 taint his reputation and devalues him as a driver. but what about senna?? he deliberatley took prost out in 1990, and sopme of his driving at times was stupid. everyone seems to forget that because of his death, tragic as it was, i dont think it should mean people can forget about what he did to prost.
Hamilton is the victim of the british press, like they do to any celebrity, 1 minute theyr the best thing since sliced bread the next they are no one. its sad really hes only 23 and hes either a hero or a villain depending on how good he races. at the moment hes the hero for winning at silverstone, two weeks ago he was no one. i can see why people dont like him hes hyped up soo much on itv its pathetic. im saying this and im a hamilton fan, i want him to win the tittle.
i think its clear that hamilton is the best british driver for years, hes awesomely talented and yes he has made a few msitakes this year, but in time he should make less, every driver does make mistakes why should hamilton be any different because hes driving a mclaren??
@ zebra. what point are you trying to make with the fatsest laps?? raikkonen is already 3rd in the all time rankings for fastest laps, but you dont get points for fastest laps. theres only 1 time when having the fatsest lap means anything and thats in Q3. if anything it shows his inconsistency, the fact he can set the fastest lap but finnish a distand 3rd would infuriate me if i was his team manager.
also note that raikkonen got beaten by coulthard in his 1st season at mclaren. hamilton beat a double world champion, no matter what you say about hamilton he may have been given a better start than most rookies but he took his opportunity.
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Hamilton and Alonso finish with equal wins and equal points last year??
Yes they did, but Hamilton was ahead in the WDC by virtue of 1 more 5th place I think.
I agree with the rankings!
Kubica has been a revelation this year, he has done very well so far and he has certainly been the most impressive.
Kimi had made mistakes but in the last three races he has actually done very well, if only he had some better luck.
Lewis has had some very good races like Siverstone and Monaco, but he seems to balance the good with the bad.
@Internet: That’s because Hamilton comes off as a 23 year old virgin with his father constantly in tow.
If Kubica didn´t made his only mistake this year (I think) he would be the leader. He is only 2 points behind, with the fifth car in the grid.
Hamilton is the fastest. I don´t remember the last time a driver arrived with 1min gap advantage to the second (Senna in Portugal?) (Schumacher where?).
Kimi remains the favourite title contender (But with a little bit of disapointment taste). While Hamilton and Kubica have a clear second driver, Massa is still a contender and that´s is the problem for Kimi.
@Sebastian: That’s because his dad is also his manager. Please try to distinguish the two relationships.
Sorry, I feel the need to take this point
“hamilton beat a double world champion, no matter what you say”
as some kind of joke. I do not want to open the debate again, but you should try to look at the facts with some objectivity before claiming that. At least, “beat” cannot be put on the context of the track and the driving. Yes, he “beat” a double world champion in PR skills, yes, he “beat” a double world champion by copying his car setup, yes he beat a double world champion by having him penalized for things that he didn’t. All of this to a team mate and in the end to “beat” him, by a single point!!!!
Is that “beat” a double world champion? I’d say, it’s “cheat” a double world champion.
@Alonso follower: I know Alonso is having a bad year and you’re frustrated but let’s look at it this way.
If Lewis can copy Alonso’s setup and actually be faster than Alonso in the same car and same setup, what does it say about Alonso? Where did this Lewis copying Alonso’s come from in the first place? I saw it on the forums and it seems everyone latched onto it. This year has proven that Lewis is no setup slouch himself and the car is being developed nicely due to his help.
Secondly, Hamilton wasn’t the one that penalized Alonso, it was the FIA. What Alonso did was violation of the rules. Had it been any other driver he blocked in the pits, I doubt any one would be arguing about the punishment. It just happens to be that he blocked his own team mate.
Third, Hamilton was a rookie. Alonso is a 2xWDC. Hamilton never had the supposed preferential treatment at the start of the year and yet Alonso was unable to consistently beat Hamilton.
@Alonso Follower
Thanx that you raised it again… Just a little correction, Lewis didnot score more than that of Alonso, only managed to win the second spot by virtue of one more 5th place finish.
Anyway.. lets hope Fernando either shifts to a better constructor or Renaults start making some unbeleivable improvement in their cars(seems impossible though!!)
so that we can have a five way battle(Kimi,Massa,Lewis,Alonso,Kubica) for the top next year!!
How interesting is that going to be? guys..what do u say?
I believe it will still be Kimi vs Massa vs Lewis next year. Alonso won’t have a competitive car and the BMW won’t be as fast as the top two. But we might see Honda and RBR come into play.
@Internet
Honda and RBR are preety good as midfield cars but not as the frontrunners, i guess. I am keeping my fingers crossed for an improved version of R28 though!
And if Alonso joins HONDA (as they are very keen on getting him), i might change the first line!!
I am just guessing since Newey might have something up his sleeve with the new regulations and Brawn too.
@ Internet
Don’t get me wrong, nothing against to you, but your posts look very biased. I have a feeling that no matter what, Lewis will always be the best driver for you.
Most of the other users’ posts seem balanced.
About Hamilton beating Alonso. Hamilton was impressive last year and to be clear, I think he is one of the best, but I, as many people who followed 2007 season, cannot say Lewis was better than Alonso.
The pitstop issue: I would like to remind you that all the dispute was caused by Hamilton who didn’t act fair on the track and didn’t let Alonso past him to give Fernando clean air to do his quick lap – this is why Alonso blocked hi in the pits. I must say that IMO that was internal issue and should be dealt within a team and a 5 grid penalty was a bit harsh.
Many tend to forget something very unusual, something what happend at Nuerburgring last year – why Hamilton’s car, the only one from many, was put back onto track I will never know – I know thar regulations allow that – but….isn’t that cheating?
Fuji – the other example of dodgy FIA’s decisions. Why Kubica was served “drive trouhg” I don’t know – for me, and as I saw also for many, the Kubica/ Hamilton incident was a pure racing incident with no blame on anyone. Moreover, in similar accidents, such things as whether it was racing incident or an avoidable accident had many times been decided after the race.
That is, why IMO, people, incuding some Brits, started calling Lewis Mr Fiamilton.
I really like Lewis, despite his “self PR” problems this year, but I don’t like him enough to be saying that he beat Alonso in 2007 – no, the fact is that they finished with the same amount of points and hadn’t some actions, like mentioned by me above, been made in favour to Hamilton, it would actually have been Fernando who beat Lewis.
I agree with the rankings 100%, and thanks for the great site Keith.
On a sidenote, to anyone complaining about ITV bias – you should hear the kind of commentary we get here in Poland. The worship for Kubica who can do no wrong, the love for Alonso (as supposedly Robert’s friend), the ironic comments about Hamilton. I myself am a Kubica fan, but it actually makes it more difficult to support him. I’m actually impressed by the comments of Brits complaining about ITV’s fixation. I heard nothing like that from the fans here in Poland.
@koper: If I thought no matter what Lewis was the best driver, I would have put him #1 in my rankings. I am the first to admit he has made a lot of stupid mistakes and that his punishments are totally justified. I am just sick of people trying to play down his performance against Alonso.
PS: Blocking a fellow driver in the pits is NOT an internal matter. Otherwise drivers would be blocking each other all the time. Like I said it just happened between two team mates. Had it happened between Alonso and Kimi, would be arguing against the penalty?
(a) Internet,
where in the world do you get your facts from ? First you are telling us that a 12-2 fastest-lap edge for Kimi vs Lewis doesn’t say anything, now you are saying Kimi got beat by Heidfeld at Sauber. Go look at some videos from Kimi’s years with Sauber and that will set you straight. You are obviously a Lewis fan and so your opinions are skewed. The facts are facts and statistics do mean something.
(b) Based on pure performance this year, I agree that Kubica deserves the #1 spot. Almost error-free, in a car far slower than the top 2 teams, and yet only 2 points away from leading the standings (which he actually led for one weekend). I would put Lewis at #2 rather than Kimi, as he has won more races. Kimi is the fastest but has made mistakes, especially in Q.