The most difficult driver to position in this year’s rankings has to be the one who won the Italian Grand Prix less than four months after being lapped by his team mate in Monaco.
Driver rankings articles archive
How well did each Formula 1 driver perform over the course of an entire season? RaceFans’ Driver Rankings analyse the data and offer our assessment.
2021 F1 driver rankings #14: Kimi Raikkonen
2021 F1 driver rankings
Posted onAlthough Kimi Raikkonen’s qualifying performances were a weakness, he tended to make up for it on race day.
2021 F1 driver rankings #15: Antonio Giovinazzi
2021 F1 driver rankings
Posted onAntonio Giovinazzi usually started ahead of his team mate but scored fewer points than him, and not only because of the times luck wasn’t on his side.
2021 F1 driver rankings #16: Lance Stroll
2021 F1 driver rankings
Posted onLance Stroll was a fairly regularly points finisher in 2021 but there were no notable highs of the kind he has become known for.
2021 F1 driver rankings #17: Mick Schumacher
2021 F1 driver rankings
Posted onMick Schumacher easily had the beating of Haas team mate Nikita Mazepin, but seldom had the opportunity to race against drivers in quicker cars.
2021 F1 driver rankings #18: Nicholas Latifi
2021 F1 driver rankings
Posted onNicholas Latifi managed two points finishes for Williams but remained some way off the pace of team mate George Russell.
2021 F1 driver rankings #19: Yuki Tsunoda
2021 F1 driver rankings
Posted onYuki Tsunoda was well off the pace of his team mate, but showed flashes of promise which justified AlphaTauri’s decision to keep him on.
2021 mid-season F1 driver rankings part 5: 4-1
2021 F1 season
Posted onWhich of the four remaining drivers has taken the top spot in RaceFans’ mid-season F1 rankings? Read on to find out.
2021 mid-season F1 driver rankings part 4: 8-5
2021 F1 season
Posted onWhile some have struggled with team moves in 2021, two of the next drivers in our top 20 ranking have shown how it’s done.
2021 mid-season F1 driver rankings part 3: 12-9
2021 F1 season
Posted onHow well are the championship contenders’ team mates performing in 2021? Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez appear in part three of RaceFans’ mid-season Formula 1 driver rankings.
2021 mid-season F1 driver rankings part 2: 16-13
2021 F1 season
Posted onPart two of RaceFans’ rankings of all 20 Formula 1 drivers so far this season includes a struggling McLaren driver and the Alfa Romeo pair.
2021 mid-season F1 driver rankings part 1: 20-17
2021 F1 season
Posted onIn one of the toughest years ever to be a rookie in F1, all three newcomers appear in the bottom places in our mid-season driver rankings.
2020 F1 season driver rankings #1: Lewis Hamilton
2020 F1 season review
Posted onLewis Hamilton’s seventh world championship victory was his most emphatic to date, and he might have won even more races if he hadn’t caught Covid-19.
2020 F1 driver rankings #2: Max Verstappen
2020 F1 season review
Posted onUnreliability meant Max Verstappen covered fewer racing laps than any driver over the 17-race championship, yet remarkably he came within nine points of beating a Mercedes.
2020 F1 driver rankings #3: Charles Leclerc
2020 F1 season review
Posted onCharles Leclerc repeatedly dragged Ferrari’s dismal SF1000 far higher than it deserved to be in qualifying, and bagged a few excellent race results with it when he had the chance.
2020 F1 driver rankings #4: Carlos Sainz Jnr
2020 F1 season review
Posted onCarlos Sainz Jnr took sixth in the points for the second year running, but without a series of misfortunes could easily have been fourth.
2020 F1 driver rankings #5: Daniel Ricciardo
2020 F1 season review
Posted onDaniel Ricciardo became a major threat in the midfield once Renault figured out how to get the best from its RS20.
2020 F1 driver rankings #6: Pierre Gasly
2020 F1 season review
Posted onPierre Gasly’s 2020 campaign was impressive in far more ways than just his headline-grabbing Italian Grand Prix victory for AlphaTauri.
2020 F1 driver rankings #7: Sergio Perez
2020 F1 season review
Posted onSergio Perez conjured up the most sensational win of 2020, and did not deserve to be shown the door by his Racing Point team.
2020 F1 driver rankings #8: Valtteri Bottas
2020 F1 season review
Posted onIt wasn’t just Lewis Hamilton who Valtteri Bottas struggled to measure up against during 2020 – George Russell proved a threat too.