Sebastian Vettel’s litany of mistakes, not Ferrari’s late-season slump in performance, was what wrecked his championship chances.
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.
2018 F1 driver rankings #7: Perez
2018 F1 season review
Posted onSergio Perez may not have been quicker than his team mate but he delivered Force India’s best results and most of their points.
2018 F1 driver rankings #8: Gasly
2018 F1 season review
Posted onPierre Gasly made himself an obvious choice for a promotion to Red Bull by grabbing some great results when his Toro Rosso was capable of them.
2018 F1 driver rankings #9: Raikkonen
2018 F1 season review
Posted onDid Kimi Raikkonen raise his game in his final season at Ferrari, or was he simply cast in a better light by his team mate’s too-frequent errors?
2018 F1 driver rankings #10: Ocon
2018 F1 season review
Posted onEsteban Ocon does not deserve to spend 2019 on the sidelines but there are still areas he must improve if he wants to get his hands on a Mercedes one day
2018 F1 driver rankings #11: Bottas
2018 F1 season review
Posted onIt’s easy to forget how strong Valtteri Bottas was in the opening races of 2018, but in the closing stages of the season he was destroyed by his team mate.
2018 F1 driver rankings #12: Hulkenberg
2018 F1 season review
Posted onNico Hulkenberg ended the season as top midfielder – or ‘Formula 1.5 champion’ – but had the potential to do so rather more emphatically.
2018 F1 driver rankings #13: Sainz
2018 F1 season review
Posted onWhile Carlos Sainz Jnr wasn’t able to match Nico Hulkenberg’s points score, he gave a good account of himself alongside one of F1’s most highly-rated midfielders.
2018 F1 driver rankings #14: Magnussen
2018 F1 season review
Posted onKevin Magnussen scored the points Haas were capable of more regularly than Romain Grosjean, but there were still puzzling days when he was well off the pace.
2018 F1 driver rankings #15: Vandoorne
2018 F1 season review
Posted onStoffel Vandoorne suffered the ignominy of being out-qualified in every race by Fernando Alonso, so it was no surprise he lost his drive at the end of the year.
2018 F1 driver rankings #16: Ericsson
2018 F1 season review
Posted onMarcus Ericsson got along well until his new team mate found his footing, and blew him away from that point onwards.
2018 F1 driver rankings #17: Grosjean
2018 F1 season review
Posted onHaving been last in the RaceFans F1 driver rankings at mid-season, Romain Grosjean’s improved form in the second half of the year merits a slight rise.
2018 F1 driver rankings #18: Stroll
2018 F1 season review
Posted onThere was little sign Lance Stroll’s second season was all that much better than his first, though he was statistically F1’s best starter again.
2018 F1 driver rankings #19: Hartley
2018 F1 season review
Posted onBrendon Hartley lost his seat at Toro Rosso after starting the year badly and missing his best chances to deliver a big points score.
2018 F1 driver rankings #20: Sirotkin
2018 F1 season review
Posted onIt was a tough ask for Sergey Sirotkin to make his Formula 1 debut in what turned out to be the worst car of the year by some way.
2018 mid-season F1 driver rankings part 3: 5-1
2018 F1 season
Posted onWhich Formula 1 driver has done the best job so far in 2018? Here’s the final part of our mid-season driver rankings.
2018 mid-season F1 driver rankings part 2: 12-6
2018 F1 season
Posted onThe second part of our mid-season Formula 1 driver rankings includes several drivers increasingly seen as stars of the future.
2018 mid-season F1 driver rankings part 1: 20-13
2018 F1 season
Posted onAs we reach the mid-point in the 2018 Formula 1 season it’s time to run the rule over the grid and assess who’s performing – and who isn’t.
2017 F1 driver rankings #1: Hamilton
2017 F1 season review
Posted onAfter three years of fighting ‘the enemy within’ Lewis Hamilton seemed to thrive on battling for a championship against a rival from another team.
2017 F1 driver rankings #2: Verstappen
2017 F1 season review
Posted onMax Verstappen is arguably the most spectacular driver in Formula One today. So it was especially unfortunate that he completed the fewest racing laps of any driver.