Vote Time: RD Formula One Driver of the Year Awards

[Paul Jeffrey]

The Formula One season is behind us and we have a new World Champion, a team from the States having just completed its first racing season in the top flight, a hot young Dutchman with wings, two retiring greats and several hot prospects showing signs of future promise.

So now the season is over and done, who do you think has been the shining star throughout the past Grand Prix season? Will Nico Rosberg share some love from our readers? Will the Hamilton army once again show their support with the votes? Or will someone less decorated get the nod from our RaceDepartment readers? Now feels like a good time to find out! Drop your vote in our poll and leave us a comment below explaining your choice. It's down to you now.....

Formula One and RaceDepartment.com - a great place to get together and share the highs and lows of the season just passed. Pop on over to the Formula One sub forum to join in the discussion.

 

[AndrewBo]

Max Verstappen for me. Wow, what a talented driver. And he has just started to learn all about F1. Yes, he will make mistakes, but so what. For me he has the talent to be the Champion in a few years.

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

Let me throw some good old statistics into the mix

Races
Ricciardo 11-6 Verstappen

Qualifying
Ricciardo 11-6 Verstappen

Points
Ricciardo 218-193 Verstappen

Podiums
Ricciardo 8-7 Verstappen

This should be about current form, not future potential. It's quite clear to see that Ricciardo has outperformed Verstappen this season

 

[TobiasR]

Considering this website is pretty Dutch... well

I think Rosberg, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Kimi, Ocon and Perez are this seasons MVPs.

Rosberg beat Hamilton, that's a big feat.
Verstappen showed incredible promise and his victory in Spain was well deserved.
Ricciardo proved again, that he's one of the top 3 drivers on the grid right now.
Kimi proved wrong all the naysayers by putting on a lot of solid performances.
Ocon was quick right off the bat and had Wehrlein's number in more than one race.
Perez was just being Perez.

 

[Erwin Greven]

Ricciardo at the podium: Shoey Shoey....
Max at the podium: SENNA SENNA (the Brazilians went nuts)

 

[Stefan Woudenberg]

The F1 team bosses also voted best driver of 2016... Lewis was voted nr 1, Max 2nd, Rosberg 3rd.... Just saying..

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

Well at least Will Buxton agrees with me

 

[Erwin Greven]

That Ricciardo outperformed Max is obvious. He should do that as being a RBR driver for several years. Max drove the first few races in 2016 in the STR.
And point say much. Yes. But EVERYONE is talking about Verstappen. People start to watch F1 again because of him.

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

That Ricciardo outperformed Max is obvious.

So why the hell are you all saying Max is driver of the season then!!! This isn't about who gets a lot of attention, it's about who has driven the best!!!

 

[Stefan Woudenberg]

So why the hell are you all saying Max is driver of the season then!!! This isn't about who gets a lot of attention, it's about who has driven the best!!!

So you voted for Rosberg? He outperformed everyone. He is the WDC.

 

[Erwin Greven]

and let me add this also: Ricciardo himself said that after Max was added to RBR, he was getting pushed by Max. He pushed Daniel to new limits. And that is good. They make eachother better. Do you think that Daniel would have had that much motivation, when Kvyat was his team mate?

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

I've voted Dani Ric for this one. He's proven his pace against a stunning team mate, make some mature drives throughout the season and shown racecraft time and again that shows he is one of the best wheel to wheel racers on the grid.

Epic stuff!

Max is a very close second however...

 

[rubaru]

Let me throw some good old statistics into the mix
Points
Ricciardo 218-193 Verstappen
Podiums
Ricciardo 8-7 Verstappen

This should be about current form, not future potential. It's quite clear to see that Ricciardo has outperformed Verstappen this season

The points and podium results could be put into question because he spent a few races in a Toro Rosso. Had it been 21 races at RBR, he could conceivable have had a few more. And I do realize you updated the count to post-Kvyat/Verstappen switch.

 

[Szymon Olizarowicz]

My vote goes for Fernando Alonso. He still hasn't killed anyone in management and that, more than anything, deserves recognition.

 

[Erwin Greven]

Stand out driver is not always the driver with the most points.

Look at Ricciardo/Verstappen as Scheckter/Villeneuve. Scheckter scored most points, but everyone, i mean EVERYONE talked about Gilles! (Dyon, Zandvoort 1979)

 

[James Cook]

If you're talking about the stand-out driver, nobody comes close to Max Verstappen.

He made one hell of an impact this year given his tender age and relative lack of experience. Supremely talented with quiet confidence to match. A multiple world champion in waiting.

That's what I call a stand-out driver.

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

So you voted for Rosberg? He outperformed everyone. He is the WDC.

I take into account about the car as well. While I think Rosberg is a worthy world champion, I do think Ricciardo and Verstappen have performed better than him considering their cars.

Ricciardo himself said that after Max was added to RBR, he was getting pushed by Max. He pushed Daniel to new limits. And that is good. They make eachother better. Do you think that Daniel would have had that much motivation, when Kvyat was his team mate?

Max and Daniel are very good for eachother. I think it has the potential to be the best driver pairing of all time. Daniel pushes Max and vise versa, and they have huge amounts of respect for eachother. I'm not denying that. However, when push comes to shove, Daniel was the better driver for me this season and I do think he'll edge it again next season because he's a complete package while Max still has a few rough edges.

 

[Sabine Schmitz]

So why the hell are you all saying Max is driver of the season then!!! This isn't about who gets a lot of attention, it's about who has driven the best!!!

It's not about who has driven the best, this poll is about "who do you think has been the shining star throughout the past Grand Prix season?" So not only related to statistics at all. This is about everything on and off the track. On the track, Max was faaar more present than Ricciardo, Max had faaar more impressing battles with others on track, Max shook the entire F1 world up and made it interesting again.

If statistics is the way to go, I can tell you, Rosberg will win, because he actually won.

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

On the track, Max was faaar more present than Ricciardo, Max had faaar more impressing battles with others on track, Max shook the entire F1 world up and made it interesting again.

Subjective here. Max made mistakes and he was driving very dangerously at points this season. Sure, Brazil was world class, but I'm not judging his season from one race. Ricciardo made no major mistakes, and he has proven that he can make awesome overtakes.

"who do you think has been the shining star throughout the past Grand Prix season?"

The shining star should be the one who has driven the best, and Ricciardo has been the better driver compared to Verstappen.

If statistics is the way to go, I can tell you, Rosberg will win, because he actually won.

But then he had the best car. I'm trying to compare everyone on an equal level here. Teammates are easy to compare, but drivers from other teams are pretty difficult to compare

 

[Tim.E]