Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of 2020

We were made to wait for it, but the 2020 Formula 1 season eventually delivered the goods. With 13 different drivers stepping onto the podium and two new winners gracing the top step over the 17-race schedule, there was no shortage of intrigue, despite the title race being decided with three races to spare.

It was a season in which drivers previously written off proved their critics wrong, some continued to stake their claim as world champions of the future while one in particular reached new levels of greatness.

Here is Autosport's ranking of 2020's top 10 F1 drivers, with the level of performance relative to expectations, experience and car potential all taken into account.

10. Lando Norris

Down 1

Norris achieved something remarkable in 2020 - he managed to star even while there was no racing to be done as a result of the coronavirus delaying the start of the season. The Briton's entertaining antics while streaming his virtual racing exploits won him fans and deserved attention, which he used to raise money for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund when fulfilling a promise to shave his head.

When the real racing started, he lived up to the hype and delivered a stunning first F1 podium by taking third in the season opener, charging on the final lap to get close enough to Lewis Hamilton that he could take advantage of the Mercedes driver's time penalty.

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That was as good as results got, but he seized a chance when the big teams left openings - something more experienced drivers missed. He also performed well in qualifying at that Austrian GP, taking fourth (and starting third) - a result he replicated in the season finale with what he reckoned was his best lap in F1 so far.

That Abu Dhabi weekend was his strongest performance in 2020, a season during which starts and getting stuck in traffic regularly hampered him. But bad luck also played its part, such as his engine-related retirement while battling at the Nurburgring.

His results looked to be taking a negative slide as the season concluded, but he arrested that with a charging fourth in the Bahrain GP and then that excellent fifth in Abu Dhabi.

9. Carlos Sainz Jr

Down 5

Sainz's 2020 changed dramatically when it was revealed that he would leave McLaren at the end of the campaign to join Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel's replacement alongside Charles Leclerc. This is quite a stunning turnaround for a driver who was briefly staring at the F1 exit as a result of the Daniel Ricciardo/Renault deal in the summer of 2018.

But joining McLaren rescued Sainz's career in motorsport's top flight, and he paid the team back again this year, departing on good terms and with Ricciardo actually coming in as his replacement.

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It was also a campaign that featured rotten luck, such as the tyre failure at Silverstone when he had been running fifth for so long; his non-start thanks to engine issues at Spa when he had been set to start seventh; and his brake problem in qualifying in Bahrain.

But he'd quickly shown his class by qualifying third for the Styrian GP in atrocious conditions, and was also impressive to rise from 15th to fifth in the wet in Turkey. These performances edged him above team-mate Norris in our ranking.

He put in charging drives at the Nurburgring and in the Sakhir GP, but his best result - and overall weekend performance - came at Monza. He matched his Styrian qualifying result behind the Mercedes drivers, then ran second after Valtteri Bottas's poor start. He was showing no signs of losing that place when the race developed into a thriller around the safety car and red flag, and he came home only just adrift of eventual winner Pierre Gasly.

8. George Russell

No change

An intriguing campaign from an F1 up-and-comer. Russell continued to improve and impress at the back with Williams, then made his time at the front pay by scoring his first points on his one-off Mercedes outing.

He took Williams out of Q1 for the first time since the 2018 Brazilian GP at the Styrian GP, a feat he repeated on eight further occasions. This meant he was often starting further forwards than the FW43 arguably deserved to be - particularly early on, as Williams developed strongly compared to new 'Class C' rival Haas - and had to battle hard to keep his positions.

This didn't go massively well initially, as Russell felt he lacked experience coping with the way racing in the pack impacts handling in F1 cars, because the aerodynamic balance suddenly changes. This explains his off early in the Styrian GP, which he had started 11th.

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But Russell improved considerably in combat over the season, enjoying several fights with Sebastian Vettel, which he felt fast-tracked his learning. The result could be seen in his Mercedes one-off in the Sakhir GP, with his decisive pass on Bottas as he desperately tried to rescue the race he had impressively controlled from the off. He felt his tyre management could be inconsistent, as were his starts, but he had it under control when it mattered.

There were also a few big errors - most notably his crash under the safety car at Imola - which cost him a points score for his regular squad.

7. Valtteri Bottas

Down 2

Another intriguing yet exasperating season for Bottas, who is tasked with beating one of F1's best-ever drivers in the same machinery. Again, he came up short, but not for want of trying, and his ability to recover from devastating defeats and horrendous luck should not be underestimated.

He was incredibly strong in qualifying again, taking five poles and finishing just over a tenth shy of Lewis Hamilton on average (in dry sessions). But he pleased himself with his race performances versus the world champion, even if wretched luck ruined several races.

His season-opening win was followed by the tyre failure in the British GP, retirement from the Nurburgring race with an MGU-H issue, and picking up the piece of Ferrari while leading at Imola. These problems inflated the points gap to Hamilton massively and unfairly given Bottas's efforts, but they were accompanied by plenty of issues of his own making.

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There were the poor starts at the Hungaroring, Barcelona, Monza and in both Bahrain races, plus that miserable six-spins day in the wet in Turkey. But the major problem that Bottas still needs to solve if he is to have any chance of beating Hamilton to the 2021 title (and maybe save his Mercedes drive beyond next year, given George Russell's stunning effort against him at the Sakhir GP) is that he still comes up short on tyre management, and cannot produce the kind of charging recoveries along the lines of Hamilton's after being penalised at Monza.

6. Sergio Perez

Up 1

The 2020 season was remarkable for Perez. He started off disappointingly when Racing Point needed to capitalise on the pace of its controversial RP20, missed two races to COVID-19, found his form on return, and improved dramatically from there despite losing his drive at the team. And then he finished the year as a race winner and a Red Bull driver.

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The opening races were curious because Perez compared relatively weakly against team-mate Lance Stroll in qualifying, and cost himself a good result in the Styrian GP by clashing with Alexander Albon. The Racing Point's potential deserved better than the results he delivered early on.

Again, he produced impressive tyre-management displays, but these were often needed to overcome underwhelming qualifying results, such as his fourth place at the Nurburgring. It was the same at the next race at Imola where, were it not for Racing Point's decision to pit under the safety car, he might have finally reached the podium.

But he did manage that at the next race in Turkey, where he mirrored Hamilton's winning strategy to finish second, and he was brilliant in the first Bahrain race. His sensational win in the Sakhir GP and then retirement in Abu Dhabi summed up his bittersweet season.

But the victory will go down as one of the greats given that he had to recover from the lap-one assault from Charles Leclerc, nurse damaged tyres over 46 laps, then charge to the finish.

5. Daniel Ricciardo

Up 1

After his tough first year with Renault, Ricciardo was able to enhance his reputation thanks to a fine season, at the end of which he departed for McLaren. But he did so on good terms, after Renault had initially, and understandably, reacted coldly to his decision to depart before a wheel had been turned in anger thanks to the pandemic delays.

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Things improved from Ricciardo and Renault from the off, as the Australian felt the team's development had worked a treat in practice for the Austrian GP. Essentially, Ricciardo gained much more confidence in the rear of the RS20, but results were still hard to come by in the opening races as Renault had cooling reliability troubles and struggled to break out of the crowded midfield.

Then came the two Silverstone races. In the first, Ricciardo finished fourth, not far off the impressive Leclerc at the flag after rising from eighth. But the second featured a more significant moment, even though he spun during his slide from fifth to 14th: Ricciardo and Renault made a set-up breakthrough, which they used to secure a series of strong results in the season's second half.

There was his charge to finish fourth in Belgium, which just shades his pair of fine third places at the Nurburgring and Imola, because at Spa he didn't need one of the leading trio to retire to get his result. Ricciardo also comprehensively vanquished the highly rated Esteban Ocon in qualifying.

4. Charles Leclerc

Down 1

Leclerc headed into the 2020 season knowing he was Ferrari's latest love, with a long-term contract and team-mate Vettel ushered to the exit. He lived up to the team's expectations this year, with an excellent campaign overall despite the significant limitations of the car, which is why he's rated so highly considering he also made some major mistakes.

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He got the year off to a fine start with second in the chaos of the Austrian GP - boosted, of course, by Hamilton's time addition - but showed this wasn't a fluke by getting back on the podium with third at the British GP. Again, he was helped there by Bottas's tyre failure, but deserves credit for working to put himself in the right position to capitalise.

The two Silverstone races were two of his finest race drives of the season, with the second just edging it as he showed impressive tyre management - something he'd struggled with in Hungary - and speed to finish fourth in seriously challenging hot conditions.

His form against the clock was also strong. Leclerc's quartet of fourths on the grid highlighted his speed impressively - most notably at the Sakhir GP, despite the power circuit not suiting the SF1000.

But we need to cover his significant errors, particularly the two early-race crashes at the Styrian and Sakhir GPs, the first made worse because he wiped out Vettel. Leclerc felt these were down to his need to overcome his car's shortcomings, but he could have displayed better judgement. His late slip in Turkey was also costly, undoing what had been a fine race.

3. Pierre Gasly

Re-entry

Gasly's season story was one of the best in 2020. The year may have started with the AlphaTauri rebranding, but it was actually the first time in his single-seater career that he'd really stayed with a team over an off-season. This paid off big time as Gasly got better integrated with the Italian squad and emerged as a real leader. He also came into the season feeling better prepared than ever and kicked on from there.

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His qualifying performances were consistently excellent and he regularly beat faster cars, although he did have a couple of disappointing Saturdays, such as Mugello and Istanbul Park (where AlphaTauri struggled to switch the tyres on in the wet). He also produced several battling displays to score big results early on, which boosted his momentum and helped when things got tricky. He was seventh in the season opener and lost a potentially better result when he suffered damage at the start a week later.

After showing speed on a Hungaroring weekend wrecked by reliability damage, he charged once more in the British GP, again finishing seventh. He kept himself in the points battle after that, with his best results coming in the season's second half, including a brilliant drive on a tricky soft-medium strategy at Algarve Circuit, where his overtaking skills were on full display.

His 2020 season will forever be remembered for that Monza win. He did benefit significantly by the race suspensions, but showed impressive fortitude to hold off the marauding Sainz to take a glorious victory.

2. Max Verstappen

No change

Another excellent season from Verstappen, who was Mercedes' only real threat for so much of the year. Twice he bested the Black Arrows, taking a famous win by executing a better tyre strategy in the 70th Anniversary GP at Silverstone, and then ending the season on a high with a dominant victory from pole position in Abu Dhabi.

The Red Bull RB16 was a difficult car to handle - its inherent aerodynamic weakness meant it was unpredictable at times and prone to oversteer, which Verstappen was able to cope with much better than team-mate Albon.

But the car's deficit to Mercedes for much of the season meant Verstappen generally started behind his rivals and had to punish his rubber keeping up, although he was typically able to keep his pace high and showed his skills in battle whenever he got a chance.

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There were mistakes this year too. He struggled in qualifying for the Hungarian GP, not helped by the unpredictable car, and spun out of the battle for the lead in the Turkish GP rain, costing himself the chance of a famous wet-weather win.

But Verstappen continues to shine at the top level in F1, although he remains unproven in a title battle. The key thing to test this will be Red Bull providing a car to enter such a fight.

1. Lewis Hamilton

No change

Hamilton wasn't bulletproof in 2020. His COVID-19 illness showed that he is just as vulnerable as the rest of us to the accursed virus, which forced him to miss a grand prix for the first time in his (now) 266-race career.

But being bulletproof isn't the overall aim that Hamilton works towards each year in his bid to avoid handing over his crown for the first time since 2016 - instead, it's to get as close to it as possible so that the unexpected can be overcome. And he nailed that again this year.

In the end, it didn't matter that he missed the Sakhir GP and was sub-par in the season finale, where it was impressive to return at all, given the horrible nature of the virus. Hamilton had already secured the 2020 title through a potent mixture of relentless speed, clever decision-making and good fortune.

He brushed aside his defeat in the season opener - probably his scrappiest overall weekend in 2020 - to go on a run of five wins in the next six races. And even on his worst days he was able to rescue results, which title rival and team-mate Bottas could not. These down days came in the 70th Anniversary GP, the Italian GP and in the Russian GP, but on the first occasion he still beat Bottas home, and on the other two he finished just two spots behind him.

Missing the pitlane-closure boards at Monza and slipping off the Sochi road in Q2 - plus his practice-start gaffe there - were his biggest mistakes of the year, but Hamilton bounced back well each time. At Sochi, he shrugged off his qualifying error, which compromised his race strategy, to take pole position by a massive 0.563s over Verstappen.

Overall, Hamilton's 2020 season was masterful, rewarded with 11 wins to go with his seventh title. If he's to go on and better Michael Schumacher's title-haul record with an eighth crown in 2021, it'll surely be down to the same approach that paid off so well again this year.

Hamilton identified a weakness - in 2019, this was his qualifying record - and worked to turn it back into a strength, which he did with 10 poles (five more than in 2019 and five more than Bottas's next-best tally). He also honed his typical advantage in tyre management and used it to devastating effect on several occasions.

This was best shown during the 'normal' phase of the Mugello race, where he pulled away from his struggling team-mate. He also aced the starts far more often than Bottas, although there were slips in this area, such as the first time of asking at Mugello and at Imola.

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The Turkish GP, where he clinched the championship, summed up Hamilton's continuing quality. At an event were Mercedes was struggling, he kept himself out of trouble and still in the game during the tough opening laps on the full-wet tyres, then basically came into his own after the switch to intermediates and when the track began to dry. While others were spinning out of contention or losing ground on pace, Hamilton adapted his lines, kept his tyres hot and alive - and made history.

The Formula 1 season review edition of Autosport magazine, featuring Grand Prix editor Alex Kalinauckas' pick of the 5 best Grand Prix drives in 2020, analysis of Sebastian Vettel's final season at Ferrari and much more, will be available to buy from 31 December.