AUTOSPORT's top 10 F1 drivers of 2014

The 2014 Formula 1 world championship was extraordinarily close-fought on the track, and the top 10 driver vote among the AUTOSPORT team was even tighter still - with the top spot changing hands almost every time another writer's votes came in.

Here's the final ranking and selected comments from our expert panel:

10 DANIIL KVYAT

EDD STRAW: The results didn't do justice to the Russian. The early points finishes proved he belonged, and often he dragged superb laptimes out of the Toro Rosso. A real prospect.

GLENN FREEMAN: The size of the step from GP3 to F1 should not be underestimated, but Kvyat looked assured from the start. Red Bull made the right call to promote him.

PABLO ELIZALDE: The aplomb with which Kvyat faced his rookie season was impressive. One of the big positive surprises of the year.

JONATHAN NOBLE: Brilliant car control, and he adapted to the demands of F1 instantly. Good things beckon at Red Bull.

9 SEBASTIAN VETTEL

BEN ANDERSON: Below par by his own high standards, but it's easy to underestimate the challenge of re-adjusting to uncompetitive machinery after so long at the top. He still produced flashes of the old brilliance.

MATT BEER: Anyone who thinks 2014 proves Vettel is actually 'rubbish' is talking nonsense, but it's fair to say he didn't do himself justice in adversity.

GLENN FREEMAN: Soundly beaten by a team-mate who had previously only ever raced in the midfield. Is there much more to say? It doesn't cheapen his previous achievements, it just makes 2014 one to forget.

JAMES ROBERTS: Struggled in comparison to his young team-mate, but he's still one of the quickest in the sport.

PABLO ELIZALDE: His detractors had been long waiting to see Vettel in a car that was not the class of the field after four years of dominance. In 2014, their wish was granted and, to their satisfaction, the four-time champion struggled. The excuses about adapting to life without blown diffusers may have been valid early on, but even at the final race he was miles away from Ricciardo.

8 NICO HULKENBERG

DIETER RENCKEN: He had the power unit, but not the overall package. He showed flair, but overdrove too often. Still deserved to be higher than ninth in the points.

BEN ANDERSON: The big German's form fell away with Force India's, but he was mighty in the early part of the campaign.

STUART CODLING: F1's biggest wasted talent.

SCOTT MITCHELL: Hulkenberg's first half of the year was brilliant, but he lost momentum halfway through. That was bound to happen as bigger teams ramped up development. Beat his team-mate again, though.

7 JENSON BUTTON

STUART CODLING: He raced well, didn't get hammered by Magnussen, and was more diplomatic about the car than McLaren deserved.

BEN ANDERSON: Got stronger through the season as the MP4-29 improved, and earned his chance to stay in F1 on pure performance. His heavy scoring made the difference for McLaren in the constructors' championship.

JAMES ROBERTS: Despite his F1 career reaching a plateau, he raised his game to put Magnussen in his place.

JONATHAN NOBLE: There were plenty of times when his performance on Saturday was a disappointment, but on the day when points are scored Button gave his all - and showed why he can still cut it in F1.

6 FELIPE MASSA

GLENN FREEMAN: I enjoyed watching the rejuvenated post-Ferrari Massa - and if he'd taken a win this year it would have been well-deserved. This was the best he has looked since his Hungaroring incident in 2009.

BEN ANDERSON: The Brazilian looked a driver reborn by swapping the intense pressure-cooker of Ferrari for a fresh start at Williams. He put in some great drives, but wasn't as consistent as Bottas in the same car.

SCOTT MITCHELL: The speed is still there - as he showed with a pole and a near-win - but so are the mistakes.

DIETER RENCKEN: It took Felipe five years to return to full form, but what a pleasure to see that chirpy smile again. A rough mid-season run - not of his making - knocked the stuffing out of him, but he regrouped bravely.

5 FERNANDO ALONSO

PETER MILLS: Everyone knows how classy the double world champion is. The superb drive to second in Hungary was typical.

HENRY HOPE-FROST: Yet again Alonso did the best he could in a lame Ferrari that not even he could get on to the front row. Watch him reinvigorate McLaren...

GLENN FREEMAN: Yes, he demolished Kimi Raikkonen, but in 2014 was that really much of an achievement? This wasn't the usual never-say-die Alonso, it was one tired of Ferrari's underachievement.

JONATHAN NOBLE: Alonso may not have had a car capable of winning, but he made the most of every opportunity and dominated Raikkonen.

DIETER RENCKEN: See that red car shooting through from the fifth row? Time and again we were treated to a Ferrari battling where it had no right to be; time and again the driver had a blue/yellow helmet. But eventually, after five years of defeat, the fighting took its toll.

4 VALTTERI BOTTAS

GLENN FREEMAN: Proved his class with the right car underneath him. Surely it's only a matter of time before he's a grand prix winner.

JONATHAN NOBLE: Bottas joined the top league this year.

STUART CODLING: Good to see what he can do in a pretty competitive car, but if he's really world champion material he ought to have thrashed Massa a little more.

PETER MILLS: Now rightly recognised as an enormous talent.

HENRY HOPE-FROST: Cool and calm in the races, with six podiums in an effective Williams. Had a better strike rate than the experienced Massa, too.

BEN ANDERSON: Many times in 2014 Bottas was the only driver capable of giving the dominant Mercedes drivers a headache.

3 NICO ROSBERG

HENRY HOPE-FROST: No doubting his speed - especially against someone like Hamilton - but his conversion rate in the best car drops him down.

SCOTT MITCHELL: With a stronger resolve the German would have been world champion. In qualifying he excelled, but he converted just three of 11 poles into victories.

GLENN FREEMAN: Proved that he is in that group of drivers just a fraction adrift of the elite, and should be proud of his 2014 campaign. Wasn't a match for Hamilton quite enough times, though.

PETER MILLS: Many fantastic drives, but I was surprised how conciliatory he was after Spa. I would've liked to see a bit more fight. He handled car problems commendably - you couldn't imagine Nigel Mansell dealing with Singapore and Abu Dhabi like that.

JONATHAN NOBLE: Rosberg stepped up his game this year, but it was not quite enough to beat Hamilton in the end. Some very impressive qualifying performances, though.

PABLO ELIZALDE: It's hard to judge the effect Spa had on Rosberg's title challenge. Things changed after that incident and he was not the same threat to Hamilton again. To his credit, he dominated qualifying against a team-mate considered one of the fastest over a single lap.

2 LEWIS HAMILTON

BEN ANDERSON: Thoroughly deserved to take his second world title having generally outraced Rosberg, but gets marked down for uncharacteristic qualifying errors under pressure.

GLENN FREEMAN: When all things were equal in the Mercedes battle, Hamilton had a clear edge over Rosberg. A deserving champion.

JONATHAN NOBLE: It wasn't a flawless campaign, but most of the time Hamilton was brilliant. Reliability problems disguised how much he stamped his authority on this season.

STUART CODLING: Raced brilliantly and won more grands prix than anyone else, so a deserving champion. But I still feel he made slightly heavier weather of it than he could have.

EDD STRAW: He had the best car, but he still had to beat Rosberg. What really impressed me was his superb execution of races, particularly in the second half of the year. Still super-fast, but looking ever-more complete a driver.

JAMES ROBERTS: Though he often lost out to his team-mate on Saturdays, he had the measure of him on race day.

MATT BEER: Still has a knack for creating unnecessary drama for himself, but really took the season by the throat when it mattered. Finally ticking a second title could bring him back to his early-2007 care-free best.

1 DANIEL RICCIARDO

EDD STRAW: The speed was never in doubt, but the ability to deliver consistently under pressure, and cut it in battle, was. That's not the case after 2014.

GLENN FREEMAN: It was no coincidence that the same man picked up the pieces every time Mercedes dropped the ball, and if you add in the trouncing of his four-time world champion team-mate it makes for a phenomenal first year at Red Bull.

JONATHAN NOBLE: The surprise performance of the year. Week in, week out Ricciardo knuckled down and delivered.

BEN ANDERSON: No one expected Ricciardo to step up from Toro Rosso and defeat a four-time champion in the same equipment - except perhaps the man himself. Looks like Red Bull has its new smiling assassin...

JAMES ROBERTS: Knocked Vettel out of the park in a brilliant breakthrough season.

STUART CODLING: Gets the nod on account of being consistently excellent, while also rarely seeming ruffled on the team radio, even when the going got tough. Like Fausto Coppi reeling in Jean Robic on Alpe d'Huez in the 1952 Tour de France, he never flaunts the fact that he's working hard.

MATT BEER: Had the imagination to make victories happen when others wouldn't have seen the possibilities.

SCOTT MITCHELL: The likeable Aussie doesn't need a reason to smile but this year meant his grin was wider than usual. Firmly put his record-setting team-mate in the shade.

PABLO ELIZALDE: The times when Ricciardo did not extract the absolute best from his car can be counted with the fingers of one hand. He made fewer significant mistakes than any other driver on the grid.

CLOSE, BUT...

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN

Magnussen performed well but won't be on the grid in 2015 © XPB

GLENN FREEMAN: The way Magnussen took to F1 - a few silly clashes aside - proved that teams should not fear promoting juniors and throwing them in at the deep end.

SERGIO PEREZ

MATT BEER: Hulkenberg is (rightly) considered a potential superstar, but he couldn't take Force India to the podium. Perez did.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN

PETER MILLS: The Lotus was so bad it's difficult to rate his season. Gets a vote partly for sympathy and partly for battling on valiantly.

JULES BIANCHI

JONATHAN NOBLE: Produced everything he could until the terrible events of Suzuka.

JEAN-ERIC VERGNE

HENRY HOPE-FROST: Often overlooked in the midfield scrap. When the Toro Rosso was working, he was good and eclipsed the highly-rated Kvyat.

KIMI RAIKKONEN

JAMES ROBERTS: Once on top of his woes, he can still be a threat.

ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ

STUART CODLING: Someone needs to give the poor lamb a pat on the back for nearly getting that piece of junk into the points on more than one occasion.