The Autocourse Top 10 2012

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Not my cup of cake
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Something I like to do each year, Autocourse gives a top 10 driver list in it's annual. Over the last few years it's been based on the Championship positions but this year might be different. Anyway, here's my prediction.

1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Hamilton
4. Raikkonen
5. Button
6. Webber
7. Rosberg
8. Maldonado
9. Massa
10. Perez
 
Alonso was compehesively outperformed by Massa after Singapore, this really makes it hard to put him into the number one slot when Hamilton and Vettel were nearly always better than their respective team-mates. Then I can think of mistakes that Vettel and Alonso made, while Hamilton didn't. However Hamilton had the most competitive (not best overall) car... :thinking:
 
I didn't get a speeding ticket either, so I can't give it to siffert fan - sorry SF...

My top ten:
  1. Hamilton
  2. Alonso
  3. Vettel
  4. Raikkonen
  5. Button
  6. Grosjean
  7. Schumacher
  8. Hulkenberg
  9. Perez
  10. Massa
 
I will venture:
The prediction
1 Alonso
2 Hamilton
3 Vettel
4 Raikkonen
5 Button
6 Webber
7 Massa
8 Perez
9 Hulkenberg
10 Rosberg

My personal ranking:

1 Alonso
2 Hamilton
3 Vettel
4 Raikkonen
5 Hulkenberg
6 Perez
7 Kobayashi
8 Button
9 Petrov
10 Webber

(6-10 was mighty difficult!)
 
My first four are easy, then it gets really tricky. Difficult drivers come into contention , like Maldonado and Grosjean. Difficult because their performances are extreme, stunning or mental. But I kind of prefer that to a cruise and collect approach. Pushing the limits I think will ultimately make them closer to their ultimate potential. So here's mine
1. Hamilton ( superb driving, no errors, should have won but........)
2. Alonso. Never gave up, overcame some poor qualifying( driver? Car? Both?) in the hunt till the very end in not the best car.
3. Vettel. Made superb use of a superb car
4. Raikonnen Great come back!
5. Hukenberg showed he's got what it takes
6. Rosberg difficult to gauge in the Mercedes but he outshone Schumacher and won a race
7. Perezlet himself down after signing for Mclaren but some excellent drives and results before that
8.Button Close to Hamilton when things went well but went walk about for a third of the season( or thereabouts)
9. Maldonado won a race, great pace. Needs to cut out the errors, which he did seem to be doing towards he end Of the season
10 Grosjean had the edge on Raikonnen for pace sometimes in both quali and the race but MUSt sort out the start line errors

I realise I've not put Massa or Webber on that list. Perhaps I expect more of them given their experience and car. On that basis I've probably been generous to Button. If Massa had performed all season like he did at the end I'd have placed him much higher but it was all too late. Webber sadly just hasn't impressed me this year.

And now I also realise I've written what I think and not what I think auto course might choose. But who knows, they may think like me :thumbsup:
 
I keep seeing this thing about Massa being better than Alonso in the fianl third of the season, but when I ask for specific races it goes very quiet. How many times did Massa finish in front of Alonso? How many times was Massa in front of Alonso after the end of the first lap despite outqualifying him?

Come to think of it in the final six races Alonso outqualified Massa by four to two. So just what did Massa do better than Alonso?
 
Surely no one is suggesting Massa has outperformed Alonso? Just that towards the end of the season he regained some of his pre crash, pre 'move over for Alonso' speed. And when Massa is on it he does have speed. Speed to rival Alonso. It's just that it's elusive. And one of Alonso's strengths is his consistency.
Alonso is at the top of most people's best driver of the year list, Massa doesn't make the top ten on most lists.
 
There are two teams at the front operating that policy at the moment, in Red Bull and Ferrari, and it is bringing their respective chosen drivers success. It looks like McLaren will be adopting the same philosophy next year after their attempts at driver equality have lost them some big prizes and one of the most coveted drivers currently in F1.
 
I keep seeing this thing about Massa being better than Alonso in the fianl third of the season, but when I ask for specific races it goes very quiet. How many times did Massa finish in front of Alonso? How many times was Massa in front of Alonso after the end of the first lap despite outqualifying him?

Come to think of it in the final six races Alonso outqualified Massa by four to two. So just what did Massa do better than Alonso?

Deliberate penalty in Austin, should be 3-3. Not to mention he had the speed in the race to beat Alonso. Korea he had to be told to back off. Then in Brazil he not only didn't overtake Alonso he sacrificed his own race by defending against multiple people, particularly when he pinned Webber aginst the wall and allowed Alonso to breeze past. No doubt Alonso was significantly weaker in the latter stages of the season...
 
I agree with no-FIAt-please Massa was clearly the fastest of the two at the end of the season. Something has clicked inside Massa. Some time during the summer break something changed for him (and I'm not referring to the renewal of his contract) and he steadily improved to the point that he was out-qualifying and even out-racing Alonso. Back in 2008 nobody expected him to get the better of Raikkonen that year (let alone challenge for the championship). Is this a come back? I certainly hope so.
 
This isn't a Massa vs Alonso thread guys. If you'd like to start one go ahead but this is about the top 10 drivers of the year.
 
And how Alonso fared compared to his team-mate allows us to makes a judgement as to how good his season was as a whole. The Autocourse top 10 is a ranking of the top 10 F1 drivers in a given season.
 
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