Formula 1's 2016 driver ratings

Who was the best driver in Formula 1 in 2016? The answer to that question is a matter of opinion, some better informed than others.

Autosport has already decided that Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was F1's best overall performer this year, because of the consistently excellent level he reached throughout the season in Red Bull's underpowered Renault-engined RB12.

That decision is the result of painstaking analysis and observation, drawing on information gleaned from a team of journalists in place at every one of the 21 grands prix held this year - reporting on sessions, talking to drivers and key team personnel, as well as other experts.

Ricciardo was our pick for 2016's outstanding driver (and we weren't alone in making that choice), but the Australian did not top the rankings based on an average of the driver ratings we award at the end of each race.

That's because these rankings take place in isolation immediately after the event, so cannot account for the bigger picture painted across the year, as new information about certain performances, and the wider context in which those performances occurred, inevitably comes to light.

Nevertheless, a look at the average ratings at the end of the season is always an instructive exercise as part of a review of each driver's performance. They are not designed to decide who the best and worst drivers on the grid are, but simply to indicate how well they drove over the course of their individual campaigns.

LEWIS HAMILTON 8.2

Hamilton feels he drives well every year, and of course that's true - he is a triple world champion after all. But, while good, Hamilton will not reflect on this season as his best.

He was still good enough to be world champion again had his Mercedes not proved so uncharacteristically unreliable, but Hamilton also made too many mistakes, particularly at the starts of races, which contributed to him losing his crown to team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Ultimately, the reason he edged to the top of this ranking is the scintillating form he showed in dominating the final four races of the season while trying to hunt Rosberg down.

DANIEL RICCIARDO 8.1

Ricciardo was F1's outstanding driver this season, principally because of how consistently well he drove with inferior equipment.

The season is so long and drawn out it's easy to forget he qualified his Red Bull on the front row in China - ahead of both Ferraris - before Renault had introduced its only major engine update. Armed with that Ricciardo took pole at Monaco, where he deserved to win but for a strategic blunder.

Bad strategy undid him a few times this year, so results did not always reflect how well he performed, but Ricciardo responded well to the challenge posed by Max Verstappen's arrival at Red Bull, and generally drove better than ever this year.

MAX VERSTAPPEN 8.1

Verstappen is Formula 1's most exciting driver, likely to make something (good or bad, but usually good) happen in races. He is still raw and impetuous, but he's also 19 years old and inexperienced, so that's to be expected.

Of course he won on his Red Bull debut in Spain, but his best drives (Silverstone and Interlagos) came in the rain, where his fearless approach found him grip few others could. There were mistakes - defying Toro Rosso's strategy in Melbourne, crashing twice in Monaco, making bad starts in Singapore and at Monza, making a rogue pitstop at Austin - but Verstappen learns quickly.

It really is "scary" (Ricciardo's words) to think how good he may yet become, given the level he's reached already in such a short space of time.

FERNANDO ALONSO 8.0

Alonso continues to underline his reputation as one of F1's most consistently excellent operators, despite the fact that he hasn't driven a car worthy of that reputation for at least three seasons now.

This year's McLaren-Honda was much better than the last, and consequently gave Alonso many more opportunities to shine. He often made up places with storming starts and strong opening laps, and his drives from the back of the grid into the points at Spa and Sepang were outstanding.

But it was the unerring consistency of his driving that most impressed. He often made Q3 in a car only marginally capable of doing so, beat one of the Williams drivers into the championship top 10, and very rarely got outperformed by team-mate Jenson Button.

CARLOS SAINZ JR 7.7

Verstappen leaving Toro Rosso for Red Bull four races into this season is arguably the best thing that ever happened to Sainz.

The particular circumstances of Verstappen's rise to prominence cast a long shadow, but Sainz emerged from that shadow as Toro Rosso's leading driver once Verstappen moved on, and an outstanding Red Bull prospect in his own right, even though Sainz says he changed nothing in terms of his approach behind the wheel.

Like a sort of junior version of Alonso, Sainz stood out for consistently excellent performances in a car that faded competitively as the season wore on. Last season Sainz proved he is a quick driver, but greater maturity (and reliability from the car) in 2016 showed he is also a very formidable racer.

NICO ROSBERG 7.6

Rosberg poured his heart and soul into winning the world championship this year, and promptly retired from Formula 1 as its new king.

His victory was the result of a process of tireless self-improvement and a never-say-die attitude in the face of repeated defeat at Lewis Hamilton's hands. Rosberg has always been a hard worker, and his response to last year's title defeat was to dig deeper still - upping his mental strength, upping his on-track aggression, upping his intensity, even buying a kart to do more driving practice.

It worked, just. Rosberg wasn't often better than Hamilton this year, but good enough to make the most of Hamilton's repeated poor starts and mechanical misfortune.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL 7.4

Vettel's 2016 campaign looks pretty underwhelming when viewed against the backdrop of an outstanding '15 season, when he won three races for Ferrari and wasn't too far off finishing second in the championship. But it was still pretty decent even though it lacked those same outstanding peaks.

He was actually consistently strong in the races, and particularly good in recovering from a suspension failure in qualifying in Singapore, and a grid penalty in Japan. But his qualifying form tailed off badly from July's British Grand Prix onwards, and he often overdrove during the second half of the year, amid technical upheaval behind the scenes at Maranello, and suggestions of a rift with team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.

Vettel off-form is still competitive, but he needs to come out swinging in 2017.

NICO HULKENBERG 7.3

Hulkenberg's season started slowly, but exploded into life with a strong display in Monaco, where he split the Ferraris in qualifying and might have finished on the podium in the race (where he overtook Rosberg at the final corner) with better strategy.

He was generally closely matched with Force India team-mate Sergio Perez again, but Hulkenberg was marginally the better qualifier overall, drove superbly at Spa, and was consistently excellent from Japan onwards, following news of his switch to the Renault works team for 2017.

Hulkenberg reckoned that move made no difference, but Force India felt the deal settled him down, and it certainly looks as though he's rediscovered his best form as a new chapter in his career approaches.

VALTTERI BOTTAS 7.2

Williams's competitive slide back into the midfield made it more difficult for Bottas to stand out this season, but he was still quietly effective, and when the car was good enough to fight for a decent result Bottas was usually the Williams driver putting himself in the mix.

He fought a valiant losing battle with Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari for the podium in Russia, and beat Raikkonen, both Red Bulls, and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes to grab third in Canada. But qualifying is where Bottas really stood out, defeating team-mate Felipe Massa comprehensively in their internal battle.

Still occasionally hesitant at the start of races, the Finn is otherwise a fast and ultra-consistent driver - certainly among the best operating outside of F1's established top teams.

SERGIO PEREZ 7.2

Perez is really flourishing at Force India, emerging as a consistent and highly capable grand prix driver following his ill-fated season at McLaren in 2013.

Building on the strong form he showed in the second half of last season, Perez produced his highest championship finish yet in F1 (seventh) by breaking the 100-points barrier for the first time in his career. He has a great knack for staying out of trouble in races and bagging big results when the chances come.

His qualifying form wasn't as strong as Hulkenberg's, but Perez pushed the German hard, showing how much he's developed his Saturday game. The big test comes next year, with Hulkenberg off to Renault and Force India relying on Perez to lead the team.

PASCAL WEHRLEIN 7.1

Wehrlein was the outstanding performer among Formula 1's rookies this season.

Manor was much improved thanks to using a bespoke chassis, Mercedes engine and Williams rear end, but the team still had the smallest budget and crudest aerodynamics on the grid. Yet Wehrlein put Manor into Q2 five times, including a stunning 12th place in Austria, where he also scored the team's only point.

He struggled a bit in the wet (Silverstone and Interlagos), and was a bit overzealous on the first lap at Spa, but Wehrlein readjusted quickly to single-seaters from the DTM, coped well with the tricky Pirelli tyres, and deserves to remain on the grid next year, even though Force India preferred Esteban Ocon to become Hulkenberg's replacement.

JENSON BUTTON 7.1

Is Button stepping back from Formula 1 too soon? On the evidence of this season, arguably yes.

The 2009 world champion was no match for team-mate Alonso in qualifying this year, but he often raced very closely with the Spaniard in the early part of the season (Barcelona, Baku), and beat Alonso fair and square at Hockenheim and Monza.

Button's drive to sixth in Austria, after qualifying his McLaren-Honda fifth in mixed conditions, was truly outstanding - and a reminder of why he's enjoyed such a long and successful career at this level.

Unfortunately, Button lost his edge after announcing his sabbatical in September, admitting he made the decision to stop racing too soon in the season, which negatively affected his mindset.

ESTEBAN OCON 6.8

Ocon only completed half a season at Manor, and coming into any championship midway through the year is never easy. But the reigning GP3 champion made a strong impression on the team and generally pushed Wehrlein harder than Rio Haryanto did.

The first few races (Belgium, Italy, Singapore) were a struggle, as Ocon suffered from poor reliability, and the fact that he didn't fit properly inside his car. Once it was modified to accommodate his gangly frame, Ocon drove better, and although he sometimes struggled to get the most from the sensitive Pirelli tyres, when things came together he was very impressive - particularly in Japan, and in the wet in Brazil.

Force India is getting its hands on a very promising prospect.

KIMI RAIKKONEN 6.8

Raikkonen has generally underwhelmed during his second stint with Ferrari, getting well beaten by Alonso in 2014, and Vettel last season.

The 2007 world champion wasn't particularly impressive during the first part of this year either, though results were easier to come by thanks to Mercedes collisions and unreliability, plus the fact that Red Bull took time to realise its full potential. But the second half of Raikkonen's campaign was much more encouraging.

After Ferrari re-signed him ahead of July's British GP, he was generally the quicker Ferrari driver in qualifying, and there were some excellent race performances, particularly in Singapore and Japan. He still has a tendency to go missing in the races at times - Austin and Abu Dhabi are good examples - but this was easily the best Raikkonen we've seen so far in F1's V6 era.

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN 6.7

This was Magnussen's big break, a chance to return from F1's reserve-driver wilderness after a season spent on McLaren's sidelines.

Magnussen showed real flashes of promise during his rookie season in 2014, so it was encouraging to see Renault hand him a lifeline when Pastor Maldonado's petro-dollars dried up. Magnussen was occasionally stunning in Renault's difficult RS16, particularly his points-paying drives in Russia and Singapore, and in coming within 0.019s of making Q2 in China despite missing all of Friday practice.

But his campaign was ultimately inconsistent, and the trouble he had beating rookie team-mate Jolyon Palmer in the latter part of the year left Renault unconvinced - though the French manufacturer still ultimately tried to re-sign Magnussen before he jumped ship to Haas for 2017.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN 6.6

This season was nowhere near as consistently outstanding as the last for Grosjean, who did great things with the underfunded and underdeveloped Lotus in 2015.

Moving to Haas afforded him the chance to mould this new team around him, but there were some inevitable growing pains as Grosjean sometimes struggled to work within the limitations created by Haas's inexperience.

When things were working well, Grosjean was brilliant - his race to fifth in Bahrain was exemplary, and he was also very good in Austria, Italy, Japan, USA, and in qualifying a season's best seventh in Brazil (which he undid by crashing en route to the grid).

But he often seemed too preoccupied with the car's failings, and let team-mate Esteban Gutierrez too often get the better of him in qualifying.

JOLYON PALMER 6.6

Palmer's rookie F1 season was a microcosm of his single-seater career so far - a slow burner that ultimately came good in the end.

Making Q2 and outqualifying Renault team-mate Magnussen in Melbourne proved to be a false dawn, as Palmer generally endured a rocky start to his grand prix career. Multiple crashes (including on the start/finish straight in the race) in Monaco were the lowest ebb, but things started coming together after mid-season testing at Silverstone, the lessons from which provided a set-up breakthrough with the tricky RS16 in Hungary.

Palmer spun away points there, but made amends in Malaysia, and was more often the better performing Renault driver in qualifying through the last part of the campaign.

MARCUS ERICSSON 6.6

This wasn't an easy season to be a Sauber driver, given the off-track upheaval that led to the new car arriving late, a loss of key technical personnel, and the team facing potential extinction until a welcome financial boost finally arrived in the summer.

But Ericsson kept his head down and generally worked well within the limitations these challenging circumstances set. He is still occasionally error-prone, but was generally quicker than team-mate Felipe Nasr, and found greater consistency once he stopped trying to always find the absolute peak of the Pirelli tyre.

Though he didn't score Sauber's biggest result of the season, Ericsson was generally its most reliable performer this year.

DANIIL KVYAT 6.5

This was an arduous season for Kvyat, who understandably struggled to readjust after getting unceremoniously dumped from Red Bull after four races.

He made the podium in China, but poor qualifying form (he dropped out in Q1 in Australia and was slowest in Q2 in Bahrain), combined with Red Bull's desire to ward off potential Verstappen suitors, spelled the end.

Well, not quite. Kvyat starred for Toro Rosso as a rookie in 2014, and outscored Daniel Ricciardo last season, so Red Bull still had faith. He struggled to repay that faith while grappling with his circumstances, and adjusting to an unfamiliar Toro Rosso car and engineering team.

Kvyat showed flashes of speed on street tracks, and performed better after the August break, but still not to the level Carlos Sainz Jr reached so regularly. 2017 will be a massive year for Kvyat's prospects.

ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ 6.3

This was meant to be the moment patience paid off for Gutierrez, who bided his time as Ferrari's reserve driver in 2015 in order to rebuild his F1 career as a race driver for newcomer Haas.

But it didn't really work out for the Mexican, who ultimately lost his drive to Kevin Magnussen. Gutierrez reminded F1 that he is undoubtedly quick - his average pace deficit to team-mate Romain Grosjean in qualifying was only 0.006%, and Grosjean is one of F1's best qualifiers - but he struggled to string together a complete weekend, failing to score a single point (he finished 11th five times).

Gutierrez felt faulty equipment let him down too often; the team felt he made too many mistakes, and in the end they went their separate ways.

FELIPE MASSA 6.2

After two seasons spent rebuilding a reputation battered by Maranello politics, and looking like a driver reborn at Williams, Massa's form tailed off considerably this year.

He was the top-scoring Williams driver initially, but suffered a terrible run in the middle of the year, once it became clear that Williams wouldn't be keeping him on and the Brazilian began considering retirement.

In the run-up to the summer break (Britain, Hungary, Germany), Massa looked all over the place on track, but time off in August seemed to settle his mood, and his driving improved after announcing his retirement at Monza.

His final race in Abu Dhabi was as good as any of his early-season efforts, suggesting the fire still burns brightly in there somewhere.

FELIPE NASR 6.1

That Nasr recorded the best debut finish for a Brazilian grand prix driver in last year's Melbourne season-opener feels like a distant memory now.

He's an intelligent and capable racer, but didn't really progress as hoped this year. While it's true Sauber was a difficult place to be early on, Nasr didn't really make the most of the tools at his disposal, showing only occasional flashes of form.

He felt his season was undermined by an unspecified chassis problem early on, not apparent on Ericsson's car, but this remained undetected by the team, or by Ericsson when he raced Nasr's chassis subsequently.

Nasr drove brilliantly to bag two crucial championship points for Sauber in Brazil, but that was a rare bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season, in which he was firmly shaded by his team-mate.

RIO HARYANTO 5.1

Not much to write home about for Haryanto, who ran out of funding part way through his rookie season and had to give up his seat to Mercedes junior Ocon.

Haryanto's qualifying form was decent - he genuinely beat highly-rated team-mate Wehrlein four times (Melbourne, Monaco, Baku and Silverstone), but struggled in the races - particularly when being lapped by faster cars - and got nowhere near achieving the peaks Wehrlein managed over the first half of the year.

Haryanto has a good attitude and a methodical approach, but unless his Indonesian backers somehow rematerialise he is unlikely to progress further at this level.

SUPER SUB
Drivers who completed a handful of races are not included in the main rankings, because the sample set is too small.

STOFFEL VANDOORNE 9.0

The 2015 GP2 champion replaced injured double world champion Fernando Alonso for the Bahrain Grand Prix and gave F1 a promising glimpse of his potential.

Vandoorne coped admirably with being dropped into the car with no testing and little notice (Alonso wanted to race but was denied by FIA doctors on the eve of practice), and built his weekend up carefully.

The Belgian drove within himself all weekend, sensibly minimising the risk of getting caught out by anything unexpected, but still managed to outqualify 2009 world champion Button, and score McLaren's first point of the season in the race.

Vandoorne will take Button's seat in the race team full-time next year, and is already in pole position to be F1's outstanding rookie in 2017.