2009: The good, the bad and the ugly 2

Yesterday I judgementally assigned some really terrible racing drivers a number. Today I will do the same with their perky cousins, the average.

18. HEIKKI KOVALAINEN (McLaren-Mercedes) 17 GP, 22 points; best result: 4th (EU)

Admittedly, McLaren's car at the beginning of the season was dreadful and meagre performances were guaranteed, but Kovalainen never really managed to raise his game from that level even when the car blossomed in mid season. There were times, in the early races, where it looked as if Heikki was even dealing with a difficult situation better than his teammate, the then-reigning World Champion. However, as likely as not this was because Lewis was taking risks with set-up and strategy to try and break the malaise. There's nothing much wrong with a top line team having this dynamic - a lead driver and a solid if unspectacular back-up man. However, too often this year Kovalainen was a way, way back up man, and it looks to have cost him his drive with McLaren for 2010. I expect to see him find a seat elsewhere next year, where we'll finally see if he can live up to his considerable potential.

17. ADRIAN SUTIL (Force India-Mercedes) 17 GP, 5 points, 1 fastest lap; best result: 4th (I)

Whether he's at the back of the field or near the front, there's no doubt that Adrian Sutil makes his presence felt in F1. Too often this results in him climbing out of a steaming pile of wreckage, but this year he finally proved that he could get the job done from lights to flag with a fine display at Monza. However, when his team struck the big time at the race before in Belgium he was nowhere, indicative of a variability in his level of performance which has characterised his three seasons in Grand Prix. Occasionally brilliant, particularly in the wet, Sutil needs to prove he can turn pace into points in 2010, especially as the Force India team are starting to look like genuine midfield runners.

16. GIANCARLO FISICHELLA (Force India-Mercedes, Ferrari) 17 GP, 8 points, 1 pole position; best result: 2nd (B)

A veteran now of almost 230 Grands Prix, Fisichella looks to have reached the end of his top-line racing career. A solid if little else start to the year with Force India suddenly exploded into life with an outstanding pole position, in the dry and on merit, at Spa-Francorchamps. As has been the way throughout his time in F1, Fisichella was unable to keep the fight up on race day, but his second place was nevertheless a notable way for Force India to open their account in the sport. His move to Ferrari was disastrous. Unable to get to grips with the demands the KERS system put on his somewhat unpredictable mount's braking system, he spent the last 5 races of the season, living out every Italian boy's dream from the back of the field. But, I suppose it has to be pointed out that he was better than Luca Badoer. Quite the epitaph for 14 seasons in the Formula. A fairer one would most likely be: Giancarlo Fisichella - fast, flair, fourth.

15. JARNO TRULLI (Toyota) 17 GP, 32.5 points, 1 pole position, 1 fastest lap; best result: 2nd (J)

You may already be aware that my enthusiasm for Jarno Trulli is well under control. This year did little to alter my perceptions. I will never understand how a driver so capable of astonishing speed on Saturday can be quite so palpably useless on Sunday afternoons. Trulli is so slow on race day at times that team strategists actually factor his tooling around - like an old lady looking for a parking spot in a garden centre - into their race plans. Starting the year with the second fastest car, Trulli finished no higher than 3rd in the early races, including in Bahrain where he dawdled his way out of a win which could have persuaded Toyota to stay in the sport for 2010. However, with Trulli you never quite know, and at Suzuka he drove a magnificent race to second, with Lewis Hamilton chasing him all the way. With experienced drivers likely to be very attractive to the glut of new teams due to enter the sport next year, Trulli looks likely to head into a 13th year in F1 next March. I'm mystified as to how this can be.

14. TIMO GLOCK (Toyota) 14 GP, 22 points, 1 fastest lap; best result: 2nd (SG)

There were only brief glimpses of the Timo Glock who so impressed many people last season. However, as the Toyota became more of a handful and less competitive, it was Glock who acquitted himself the better. In a car which could be charitably described as bloody useless on street circuits all year, Glock set fastest lap at Valencia and then drove to a fine second place in Singapore, so far ahead of Jarno Trulli that it would have been daytime again by the time the Italian caught up. Glock seems set to join Kubica at Renault next season, should the team continue in the sport. Otherwise, it's a toss of a coin as to whether he's done enough to whet the appetite of any other outfits in 2009.

13. KAMUI KOBAYASHI (Toyota) 2 GP, 3 points; best result: 6th (ABD)

The season's most outstanding debut came in Brazil, where Kobayashi qualified a car he'd barely driven at a track he'd never driven 11th in the driving rain. On Sunday he grappled and scrapped with some big names, particularly Jenson Button, on his way to 9th place. In a rather more controlled drive, not surprising considering he had more experience of the car, he was the fastest of the one-stoppers in the season finale at Abu Dhabi, scoring a fine 6th place. Seemingly set for a drive at Toyota in 2010, he's now left looking at working in his dad's sushi parlour in Japan again. Hopefully sense will prevail and someone else will snap him up for next season, as drivers like this are far too promising to not give a chance.

12. NICK HEIDFELD (BMW Sauber) 17 GP, 19 points; best result: 2nd (MAL)

An applied demonstration that steady doesn't always win the race, Nick Heidfeld this season blitzed the record for most consecutive Grand Prix finishes. However, in a troubled BMW car, he was forced to do so out of the points more often than not. Having now completed his tenth season of Formula 1, Heidfeld is still waiting for his first Grand Prix win. It is arguable he's still waiting for someone to give him his first car capable of giving him his first Grand Prix win. It seems to be touch and go if Heidfeld will be in a Formula 1 car next year. This seems strange to me, as he's hugely experienced, very quick and as reliable as the Japanese railways - as evidenced by his 2nd place in the sopping wet Malaysian race. McLaren, for one, could really benefit from having Nick as a number 2 driver in 2010.

11. ROBERT KUBICA (BMW Sauber) 17 GP, 17 points; best result: 2nd (BR)

A highlight of the 2009 season was Robert Kubica's team radio transmissions on a Friday, when he would deadpan an epic list of his car's faults to his engineer. However, if his head was dropping, he never let it show on the track. Very evenly matched with his teammate, Kubica, like Heidfeld, extracted the maximum from a pretty stodgy car this year. Kubica gets the nod from me on account of his better head-to-head qualifying record and his tendency to finish ahead of Heidfeld when it really counted, i.e. when the car was good for points. He would have beaten Heidfeld in the championship standings, too, if he'd not tangled with Sebastian Vettel when fighting for 2nd place at the season's opening race. Kubica goes to Renault next year, but if the team pull out, there's no doubt he'll find a decent drive elsewhere.