The Red Bull and Mercedes drivers have dominated this ranking, always finishing in the first two places since 2016. But this is the first time that the Dutchman finishes at the top.
In what has now become a long-standing tradition launched by Autosport, each of the Formula 1 team principals were asked to compile their own top 10 of the best drivers of the year.
The individual grades, as always, were kept secret, so that everyone could answer honestly, and the final classification was drawn up using the same scoring system as in F1, with 25 points for the first to climb to one. for the tenth.
For the first time since entering F1 in 2016, world champion Verstappen was the most voted, scoring 188 points compared to Hamilton’s 174.
The poll came at the end of a season in which team principal Christian Horner said the Dutchman was a huge inspiration to everyone at Red Bull.
Reflecting on Verstappen’s season and progress, Horner said: “I think we gave him a better car and he made a great use of it.”
“He finished every race in first or second place, except the one where he lacked half a car in Budapest. And the statistics speak for themselves: the number of laps he did in the lead, the pole positions, the number of wins. And He was exceptional, because he made very few mistakes under pressure. “
“I think what you forget is the amount of pressure a rider is subjected to over the course of the championship. And the way such a young boy has dealt with it has been inspiring.”
Lando Norris moved up to third after an impressive season with McLaren, which included his first pole position at the Russian Grand Prix. He was the driver who gained the most positions in the top 10, together with Carlos Sainz of Ferrari, who follows him in fourth position. Both are up four places compared to 2020.
Conversely, however, for the other Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who fell back to sixth place, closing behind also the returning Fernando Alonso. It is also curious that Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo, who were fifth and fourth last year, both remained out of the top 10, despite having scored one win each. It didn’t go much better then for Valtteri Bottas, just ninth just like in 2020.
The nine team principals who participated in the survey are: Toto Wolff (Mercedes), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Andreas Seidl (McLaren), Laurent Rossi (Alpine), Otmar Szafnauer (Aston Martin), Fred Vasseur (Alfa Romeo), Franz Tost (AlphaTauri), Jost Capito (Williams) and Gunther Steiner (Haas). The only team that did not participate was Ferrari.
F1: the 2021 top 10 of team principals
The previous two seasons
2020
1 Hamilton
2 Verstappen
3 Leclerc
4 Ricciardo
5 Perez
6 Russell
7 Norris
8 Sainz
9 Bottas
10 Gasly
2019
1 Hamilton
2 Verstappen
3 Leclerc
4 Bottas
5 Vettel
6 Albon
7 Sainz
8 Ricciardo
9 Russell
10 Norris
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