Having dispensed with the chaff, today we look at my top ten drivers from 2009.
10. SÉBASTIEN BUEMI (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 17 GP, 6 points; best result: 7th (AUS, BR)
The only rookie to start the 2009 season was a 20-year old from a country where motor racing is banned and whose last Grand Prix driver, Jean-Denis Deletraz, has become a byword for incompetence in the sport. A double race winner in GP2 in 2008, Buemi also showed impressively consistent pace in pre-season testing. However, the solidity of his performances throughout his debut season were the most impressive thing of all. With limited time in the car, Buemi never looked out of place in an experienced and tightly-packed field. Three times he qualified a resolutely average car in the top 10 and 4 times finished in the points. The difficult second season beckons, but Buemi looks set to be one for the future.
9. FERNANDO ALONSO (Renault) 17 GP, 26 points, 1 pole position, 2 fastest laps; best result: 3rd (SG)
I think that, all things being equal, Fernando Alonso is still the benchmark driver in Formula 1. However, this year he was a little out of sorts. This has much to do with the major shortcomings of the Renault car, but perhaps there are also elements of the in-team political storm and having one eye on his first Formula 1 Ferrari in the mix. Nevertheless, given the merest sniff of a result and Alonso was in. Expect Alonso to be formidable in 2010.
8. NICO ROSBERG (Williams-Toyota) 17 GP, 34.5 points, 1 fastest lap; best result: 4th (D, H)
Exploiting his car's double diffuser from the first race, Rosberg was frequently the pace setter on Friday afternoons. Unable to sustain it throughout the entire weekend he or the team may have been, but Rosberg still enjoyed his best season yet in Formula 1, scoring points in 11 out of the 17 rounds. He now seems set to move to Brawn GP in 2010 for his big break in the sport. However, he still has much to prove. In 70 races, he's yet to qualify on the front row for a Grand Prix, and his failure to get a podium finish this year - particularly in Singapore where he threw it away, much to his own publically expressed disgust - was disappointing. It must also be remembered, however, that Rosberg's father was a late bloomer in Formula 1 and that Nico is still only 24 years old.
7. KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari) 17 GP, 48 points, 1 win (B)
A trying year for Ferrari, particularly due to handling difficulties caused the the team's KERS unit. Räikkönen was solid but little else for the early part of the season, admirably stepping up to the plate to win the Belgian Grand Prix in Felipe Massa's absence. However, the simple fact of the matter is that, by sheer force of personality and performances alone, Felipe Massa had manouvred himself into the position of the number 1 driver at Ferrari, a fact which was not lost on the management, who terminated Kimi's deal a year early. Anyone who doubts that the Finn still has the drive to succeed, however, need only look at his spirited drive to 6th place in Brazil, despite an early stop to mend a broken front wing and streaming eyes due to fuel vapour inside his visor from Heikki Kovalainen's pit fire. Let there be no doubt that Räikkönen could still win multiple world titles. But whether or not he does is seemingly up to him.
6. FELIPE MASSA (Ferrari) 9 GP, 22 points, 1 fastest lap; best result: 3rd (D)
After last year's narrow defeat, Massa came into the 2009 season as the title favourite. What in fact happened, then, was hugely disappointing for him, even before his terrifying accident in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying. Before then, Massa was very much the team leader at Maranello. Although it was Räikkönen who scored the team's first points and first podium of the campaign, Massa outraced him every other time, despite being outqualified 6 to 4. The real test - whether or not Massa can return to the sport without any effects from his brush with death and severe head injuries - awaits us. If he passes it, he is a future world champion.
5. MARK WEBBER (Red Bull-Renault) 17 GP, 69.5 points, 2 wins (D, BR), 1 pole position, 3 fastest laps.
Of all the drivers involved in the title battle this year, Webber was the best value for money entertainment wise. Head down, shoulders out, Webber's muscular and aggressive style lit up a number of on-track scraps in 2009. However, he also showed signs of his maturity and experience. After an adrenaline-fuelled charge to his first Grand Prix win in Germany, his second success in Brazil was calmness and mastery personified. Prevented from a tilt at the championship by a five-race streak of bad luck and mechanical failures after the Hungarian Grand Prix, Webber's biggest problem for a second attempt at the crown looks likely to be his teammate, who more or less had the Aussie covered at every step this season.
4. RUBENS BARRICHELLO (Brawn-Mercedes) 17 GP, 77 points, 2 wins (EU, I), 1 pole position, 2 fastest laps.
Barrichello didn't know he would even be in Formula 1 for his 17th season until the beginning of February this year, with Bruno Senna lurking in the wings. However, it is impossible to understate the role his huge experience played in his team's success this season. Nevertheless, as befits his late inclusion, he was much slower out of the blocks than his teammate, which gave rise to some uncharacteristic petulance from the Brazilian. By the time he finally broke his duck, Jenson Button was already too far gone to realistically catch, but there were times when Rubens made it look like he was the coming man. A second win followed, his third in the Italian Grand Prix, but the increasing shortcomings in his car compared to the Red Bull saw him lose 2nd place in the final standings at the last. However, it's enough to say that Rubens has been snapped up by Williams for 2010 - where he will pass 300 Grand Prix starts - to illustrate the continued quality of his driving and level of his motivation. Fact: Rubens Barrichello outqualified his teammate, the new world champion, 10 races to 7 this year.
3. LEWIS HAMILTON (McLaren-Mercedes) 17 GP, 49 points, 2 wins (H, SG), 4 pole positions
Hamilton's title defence began shamefully with disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix for misleading the race stewards. It continued with frustration and lower-midfield travails in a car which simply would not behave. However, even before McLaren sorted out the mechanical issues, Hamilton was showing signs of driving with a newfound maturity. Refusing to give up, he got his head down and drove whatever he was given as hard as it would go. As soon as that was anywhere good enough for a race win, he was right there. By the end of the season, he was frequently the pace setter, the only shame in his final outing in 2009 being that his car's brakes let him down after perhaps the most dominant single performance by any driver at a race meeting all season in Abu Dhabi. Now battle-hardened by a character building season, but having lost none of his speed or aggression, Lewis Hamilton is probably the closest challenger to Alonso's mantle as the sport's most complete driver. Several more world titles surely await.
2. SEBASTIAN VETTEL (Red Bull-Renault) 17 GP, 84 points, 4 wins (PRC, GB, J, ABD), 4 pole positions, 3 fastest laps.
The question, as Vettel came to the senior Red Bull team after his miraculous 2008 season at Toro Rosso was: can he keep it up. We now have our answer. Yes, he made a few mistakes along the way. But the fact of the matter is that he's not 23-years old until next summer and without those mistakes and Renault engine problems, he could have already been a world champion. His form in the final races of the season was startling, his palpable disappointment at missing out on his slim title chances in Brazil indicative of a man on top of his game, confident and in full control. His head-to-head qualifying statistics againt his teammate, a renowned one-lap specialist, were 15-2 in his favour, his race pace no less impressive. If Sebastian Vettel hasn't won at least one world title within the next three years, I'll be very surprised.
1. JENSON BUTTON (Brawn-Mercedes) 17 GP, 95 points (world champion), 6 wins (AUS, MAL, BAH, E, MC, TR), 4 pole positions, 2 fastest laps.
A lot of historical attention will, no doubt, be focussed on the second half of Jenson Button's championship season. It was, it's fair to say, a notable part of the story of the year. However, to dismiss his performances in the first seven races would be lunacy. Winning six, you could honestly believe watching him that he was on another plain entirely from his rivals. When things started to go wrong, his Brawn car suffering from grip problems in mid-season, it was really only qualifying where Button was lacking - his race performances were outstanding from the first event and never lessened to the season's end. So, the part of the 2009 season that I will always remember Jenson Button for will be his surgically precise overtakes, made with calm assurance under huge pressure, with history waiting in the wings. The question now is, can he and, particularly, his Brawn team ever repeat this success? It doesn't matter. So many drivers in the history of Grand Prix racing have missed out when they've had a chance. If Button never gets the car to challenge for the top honour again, he can always point to the fact that the one time he had the opportunity, he took it.
I hope you've enjoyed me sitting in judgement of brilliant sportsmen these past few days. Stay tuned, as next week I'll begin to look at Formula 1 throughout the noughties, as we leave this century's first decade.
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