Rating the best drivers of the century so far

Autosport’s Top 50 drivers of the year rankings always cause controversy and debate – both within our office and the wider motorsport world. It’s our attempt to assess and highlight the best performers each season, but that doesn’t stop some fans (and even drivers) getting very cross about the final list.

The 2021 Top 50, which was topped by Formula 1 world championship runner-up Lewis Hamilton, was the 20th edition. Since the inaugural list in 2002, 292 drivers have appeared in the Top 50, some consistently, some just the once, while others have fallen in and out as their careers ebb and flow.

Autosport launched the Top 50 in the 19-26 December 2002 issue of the magazine, when it covered only six pages as opposed to the 26 in 2021, and much of the original premise remains: “We’ve tried to spread the drivers around the different categories of motorsport as much as possible. Some have received bonus points for versatility, others for shining in adversity. All of them, though, are bloody good drivers, and this is our salute.”

To mark the milestone, we thought it was time to tot up all the scores to find out which drivers have been the outstanding performers this century – or, at least, since 2002…

Autosport's Top 50 winners 2002-2021

How we rate the drivers

The starting point each year is to rate the drivers within the major series, one of the core tasks of each journalist covering their championship. There are many factors taken into account, including the machinery at the drivers’ disposal, circumstances (for example, were they in a title fight?), good and bad luck, outstanding performances and errors, and importance within the team. In 2021, on-track etiquette also had to be taken into account when it came to F1 and the DTM.

Top 50 2021: Autosport's definitive driver ranking

Once all these elements have been considered, each correspondent produces a top 10 drivers of the year in their championship, which traditionally appears as part of their season review. Drivers from the same categories in the Top 50 tend to appear in the same order, unless a driver appears across multiple series.

Sebastien Buemi has raced at the forefront of the WEC and Formula E over the past decade, boosting his scores

Photo by: Toyota Racing

For example, Alessandro Pier Guidi was second in the 2021 World Endurance Championship GTE Pro drivers list to Kevin Estre but jumped ahead in the Top 50 thanks to his efforts in GT World Challenge Europe, particularly the Spa 24 Hours. As our longtime sportscar correspondent Gary Watkins says, “special drivers do special things” and standout moments are also considered in the rankings.

Rating the different series then has to be factored in. This isn’t an exact science and the strength of many categories changes over time. Some seasons are stronger than others, particularly when it comes to junior single-seater championships, which can oscillate significantly from one year to another. Trying to judge all the series and performers within them each year is a challenging task and creates much debate – how do you compare, for example, a Super Formula champion with a NASCAR or World Touring Car race winner?

World championships, most obviously Formula 1 and in rallying, tend to be at the top of the pyramid, with the leading categories of American motorsport – IndyCar and NASCAR Cup – also weighted strongly. Formula E and WEC tend to figure in the higher echelons, too.

Michael Schumacher would undoubtedly be much higher up the list if we’d been doing this since 1992, while other drivers, such as 2021 F1 world champion Max Verstappen, have only recently got going and will doubtless climb up the rankings over the next few years

Once all the championship top 10s have been collated, drivers competing in multiple series considered, and an initial list of 60-70 names (or more) has been produced, it is sent to the correspondents for feedback on who needs to move up or down, in or out. A small panel then determines the final Top 50 to prevent the debate going on forever!

For this ‘20 years’ list, we gave 50 points for the number one driver in each annual list, 49 for second etc, all the way down to one point for 50th. We then added up each driver’s scores over the years to come to a total.
Obviously, this is just one way of rating the drivers. A more holistic view of the century would include other factors, such as the varying gaps between drivers, which cannot be reflected in the data. Similarly, few drivers’ careers fit neatly into our 20-year window.

For example, Michael Schumacher would undoubtedly be much higher up the list if we’d been doing this since 1992, while other drivers, such as 2021 F1 world champion Max Verstappen, have only recently got going and will doubtless climb up the rankings over the next few years.

Nevertheless, as a novel way of starting the conversation, and celebrating two decades of outstanding driving and the Top 50 itself, we hope this is a fun way to begin the New Year.

Schumacher was the dominant force when Autosport's Top 50 feature began, but Button features higher in this list as the German retired sooner

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

The leading performers

One of the key things about the Top 50 is that it is not restricted by championship finishing order. All but the most casual of motorsport fans (or those wanting to avoid a debate!) will concede that any given championship result does not necessarily reflect the performance levels of the drivers that year. Over the 20 editions, the Top 50 has been headed by someone other than that year’s champion on six occasions.

This can help those sometimes saddled with mediocre machinery, so it is perhaps not a surprise that the top scorer is Fernando Alonso (with 810). In his two F1 title-winning years he was second (to World Rally champ Sebastien Loeb in 2005) and first (2006), and he has been a consistently superb performer for most of the period. He topped the list again in 2012, when his brilliant F1 campaign with Ferrari fell just shy of denying Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel the crown.

Alonso’s quest for motorsport’s triple crown, combined with some stellar performances for the then beleaguered McLaren team, also kept him in the frame when his F1 results alone looked unremarkable. He was third in our 2017 listings, when he made his first appearance in the Indianapolis 500, and climbed to second in 2018 when he won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Toyota. His quiet 2020 meant he dropped off the list but his return with Alpine in 2021 and subsequent finish of 24th meant he stayed ahead – by 12 points – of the second-placed driver on the list.

The battle between Alonso and Hamilton is the one motorsport has missed most over much of the past decade and a half, so it is perhaps appropriate that the Briton (on 798) is right behind the leader. Just as Alonso has both won the world title twice and topped our list twice, seven-time world champion Hamilton has taken our number one spot on seven occasions.

Whereas Alonso’s first Top 50 appearance was second in 2003, Hamilton arrived in 24th two years later after his Formula 3 Euro Series title success. He was 11th after winning GP2 as a rookie in 2006, before rising to second – ahead of Alonso – in his first F1 season. He has been in the top two every year since then, apart from after his troubled year in 2011 (eighth) and first campaign at Mercedes in 2013 (seventh). If the 2021 Top 50 result is repeated this year, Hamilton will overtake Alonso for top spot.

There is a big gap to Vettel in third, partly because the German arrived in the higher echelons of the sport later and partly because his career, arguably, started tailing off sooner.

Vettel first made it into the Top 50 in 2006 in 41st as F3 Euro Series runner-up (behind Paul di Resta, 52nd in our big list) and rose to 22nd the following year, when he was a Formula Renault 3.5 race winner and made his F1 debut. He was then a fixture in the top 10 for six years, topping the list as world champion three times (2010-11 and 2013). There was a dip as he struggled alongside Daniel Ricciardo – twice our top pick and 12th overall – at Red Bull in 2014, followed by a revival at Ferrari before a steep fall after 2018.

Alonso's longevity has kept him ahead of Hamilton in the cumulative scores, although only by a slender margin

Photo by: FIA Pool

Three more F1 world champions, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg, make the top 10, while ninth-placed Mark Webber is the top F1 driver not to be world champion – though of course he did become World Endurance champion with Porsche.

Aside from Verstappen, who on his current trajectory will make it into the top 10 in the next two years, there are several youngsters lurking in the list who will surely rise in the seasons to come. Charles Leclerc is already 30th off the back of just six appearances, with a highest position of fourth in 2019. Incoming Mercedes driver George Russell has appeared five times and is 44th, while fellow McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Lando Norris is 50th, 17 points behind, having also made the Top 50 five times.

Top non-F1 drivers

With F1 at the pinnacle of motorsport, it is not a surprise that it normally provides the leading contenders for our Top 50. However, other championships have been well represented over the years.

Although his peak of fifth in the 2013 Top 50 isn’t as high as Loeb (first), Ogier (second in 2013) or Gronholm (second in 2002), Dixon's long career at the top of American single-seaters means he has 15 appearances and it’s possible he could yet overtake Vettel for third in the list

The only non-F1 driver to so far top the list is World Rally legend Loeb. He was number one in 2005, the year he won 10 of the 16 events to take his third consecutive crown with Citroen and won the Race of Champions.
He’s the top WRC driver in sixth, just two spots and 17 points ahead of his successor Sebastien Ogier. Fittingly, given they are in the debate about the greatest rally driver of all-time, both have made 12 Top 50 appearances and are well ahead of the third-placed WRC exponent, double champion Marcus Gronholm in 25th.

But ahead of these rallying stars is six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon. The Kiwi has long been regarded as one of the best drivers outside of F1 and is fourth in the list. Although his peak of fifth in the 2013 Top 50 isn’t as high as Loeb (first), Ogier (second in 2013) or Gronholm (second in 2002), his long career at the top of American single-seaters means he has 15 appearances. His longevity has been remarkable and it’s possible he could yet overtake Vettel for third in the list.

Dixon’s rapid but often unfortunate rival Will Power is 16th, just behind Valtteri Bottas, while four-time champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti completes the IndyCar top three in 27th.
The other big arm of American motorsport also appears in the leading places. Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson – who rose as high as third in 2009, 2010 and 2013 – is 11th, well clear of old rival Kevin Harvick in 33rd.

Sportscar racing traditionally has its peaks and troughs, with the Porsche vs Audi vs Toyota LMP1 era of the last decade putting some drivers into the high placings. Andre Lotterer was sixth in 2013 and seventh the following year (both boosted by race-winning Super Formula campaigns), and Le Mans winner Nick Tandy was eighth in 2015. But in weaker years the leading endurance drivers have naturally fallen back.

Six-time IndyCar champion Dixon is the highest-placed non-F1 driver on the list

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

Sebastien Buemi is the top WEC driver on the two-decade list, in 19th. He never made it into the Top 50 during his F1 career but has been a constant presence since 2014. Normally his combined WEC/Formula E performances leapfrog him high up the list, though his dismal 2021 FE campaign actually dragged him back in last year’s rankings.

Placing drivers from the various tin-top series, which are often esoteric even if competitive, can be tricky. But the main championships are represented. The DTM has at times been home to some of the best drivers outside of F1 and double champion Gary Paffett’s long and successful Mercedes career gets him into 39th on the list. That’s just one place and 10 points ahead of outgoing Australian Supercars hero Jamie Whincup. The seven-time Supercars champion is, in turn, one spot and three points ahead of triple DTM title-winner Rene Rast.

When it comes to the less-powerful touring cars, Yvan Muller is fittingly the top representative. The four-time World Touring Car champion is 43rd and is a driver who would surely be higher had Autosport’s Top 50 started a few years earlier. The leading British Touring Car driver is Muller’s old team-mate and rival Jason Plato in 125th.

Honourable mentions

The names towards the bottom of the list tend to be up-and-coming single-seater racers, likely to score more points in future, or GT and tin-top exponents that have put in at least one outstanding season in their chosen field.

GT aces Dries Vanthoor (twice), Christopher Mies (once) and Stephane Ortelli (once) have all made appearances, while Guanyu Zhou (50th in 2021 after finishing third in F2) currently props up the list but has the opportunity for more points with his graduation to F1.

Perhaps the most random entry towards the bottom, however, is 1992 F1 world champion Nigel Mansell. The 1993 CART champion and 31-time F1 race winner would have been a major factor in a 1980-90s version of the Top 50, but his only appearance in the actual list was 50th in 2005, thanks to his success in the short-lived Grand Prix Masters!

Audi GT3 ace Mies made the list in 2016, and is one of many GT stars whose standout campaigns have merited inclusion

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

The leading drivers 2002-21

Five runner-up finishes in the WRC put Neuville firmly into the top 50

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images