2008 half-term driver rankings part 3

11th July 2008, 12:30 by Keith Collantine 80 Comments »

Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne, start, 2008, 470150

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

2007 rating: 1

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, Melbourne, 2008, 470313

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

2007 rating: 2

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

2007 rating: 8

Robert Kubica, BMW, Montreal, 470313

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?

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