Now that the season is over, and we’ve all (hopefully) calmed down after what happened in Abu Dhabi, it’s time to rank the drivers of the 2021 season based on performances throughout the whole season based on my own opinion.
20. Nikita Mazepin
I don’t think I have to explain why I put Nikita as the worst driver of this season. After being close to Mick In his F2 campaign, I expected the Haas drivers to put up a great show in the team battle this season, but Nikita got absolutely destroyed by Mick this season. Nikita never out-qualified Mick this season and only finished ahead of Mick in the races when he had a problem. A big shame Nikita.
19. Nicholas Latifi
Even though Nicholas has shown some promise this season, out-qualifying him twice for example. He still hasn’t put up a lot of notable performances like his teammate and still lacks in pretty much every aspect in comparison to George. Next season is going to be crucial for Nicky as he has a newcomer as his teammate.
18. Antonio Giovinazzi
It’s so painful to see how average Giovinazzi is. While he has shown great potential in qualifying, he often gets beaten by 42-year-old Kimi Raikkonen on race pace. Of course a strategic blunder in Mexico and a puncture at Zandvoort didn’t help him, but you would really expect a lot more from the Italian. Let’s hope he can do well in Formula E next season.
17. Kimi Raikkonen
Although Kimi has scored most of Alfa’s points this season. Moments like Portugal, where he crashed into his teammate on a straight. Austria, where he completely steered into Vettel and USA, where he spun while being in the points really overshadow which was apart from that a pretty good season from the iceman. A bit of a shame we don’t get to see him drive in the new cars next year. But it will be exciting to see two new drivers tackle the Alfa Romeo next year.
16. YukI Tsunoda
Yuki looked really promising at Bahrain and Imola at the start of the year, but after that it seemed like the pressure of performing got, with the worst moment of the season being for me that he got out-qualified by 1.5 seconds at Hungary. Luckily enough he got his form back at the end of the season, finishing in fourth place at Abu Dhabi.
15. Mick Schumacher
In comparison to his teammate, Mick did actually put up a few decent performances this season. With highlights being going into Q2 at Turkey, fighting with Verstappen at Hungary, and being close to both Williams drivers at the end of the season. Unfortunately, Mick also had the biggest crashes this season highlighting how difficult the Haas handles.
14. Lance Stroll
Although Lance had his moments this season (for example the Russia race), his season apart from that was solid. Being mostly close to his experienced teammate Vettel in qualifying and constantly picking up points for the underperforming Aston Martin team.
13. Sebastian Vettel
While Sebastian definitely had a few highlights this season, getting podiums at Baku and Hungary and winning the overtake award. His inconsistency this season dropped him a few points this season though, but that might as well be down to the Aston Martin not performing as well…
12. Daniel RIcciardo
I expected a lot of Daniel this year after a great season last year, but he got heavily beaten by teammate Lando Norris at the start of the year. Luckily enough ‘the honeybadger’ picked up his form after Spa, with a deserved win at Italy being his highlight of the season.
11. George Russell
George has definitely shown why he deserves to drive for Mercedes this season, with a front race at a wet Spa being his highlight of the season. He also had good performances at Silverstone, France, Austria, Russia, but he was a bit less impressive at the end of the season, with getting beaten by Latifi at Brazil being his low point of the season.
