With 2020 Formula One season now at its conclusion, we count down the five best drivers from a brilliant season.
From COVID-19 forcing a delayed start to what turned out to eventually be a 161 day long campaign to two maiden winners and the crowning of a record-equalling, seven-time champion, 2020 had its highs and lows as we pick out the five top drivers from an unforgettable season, starting with number five.
Number Five – Charles Leclerc
We start with Charles Leclerc because with Ferrari down on power following a suspected illegal 2019 power unit, 2020 would be an uphill battle for the young Ferrari driver who enjoyed much success last season.
What ultimately set Leclerc apart from Sebastian Vettel though was his ability to extract the maximum from a under-performing Ferrari in terms of dragging his car into Q2 and occasionally Q3 on many occasions, plus onto two podiums during the early part of this season whereas Vettel needed a wet Turkish GP to even mount any proper challenge.
I though felt that Sakhir was Leclerc’s best performance combined with the car because to drag his underpowered Ferrari to fourth on a speed central circuit when it was a miracle to see any Ferrari cars in Q3 all season was exceptional, despite clumsily spinning Sergio Perez around to end his own race early in the barriers.
Leclerc’s driving ability is also notable compared to Vettel because although both Ferrari cars often lost places at the start of each races, Leclerc was the one able to mount proper recoveries to scrap together points finishes on a regular basis otherwise Ferrari would of potentially finished seventh if a weaker driver was in his car.
2021 though will be the big test because Leclerc will become team leader following Vettel’s departure to Aston Martin and is set to be joined by Carlos Sainz at the Scuderia in the German’s place, in turn creating bigger pressure on Leclerc to deliver against his more experienced new teammate.
Number Four – Pierre Gasly
Coming in at number four is Italian Grand Prix winner, Pierre Gasly who has bounced back brilliantly this season for AlphaTauri following his demotion from Red Bull midway through the 2019 season before tragically losing his closest friend in Anthoine Hubert just weeks later.
From regularly finishing in the points to his overall race pace, Gasly consistently battered Daniil Kvyat on both qualifying and race head-to-heads and his performance at Monza was simply exceptional.
Although he benefitted from mistakes by teams higher up the grid, Gasly drove a strong controlled race once he assumed the lead to defend from a late charge by McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and clinched victory which answered critics in terms of his ability and potential when he could of easily unravelled since that switch back from Red Bull.
We must also note his emotional post-race reaction because it showed just how much the win meant to him both as a driver and person given his acknowledgement of Hubert because his compatriot is someone who motorsport lost too soon and would of certainly been proud of Gasly’s drive that day.
Gasly also experienced a difficult low of Imola because he had shown excellent pace throughout the rare two-day race weekend but a power unit issue resulted in his race being curtailed early, yet he bounced out with 12 points from the last four races to pip Lance Stroll to tenth in the standings by virtue of his victory on countback.
Ultimately, Gasly had already proven his potential by securing his Red Bull seat in 2019 but to rebuild himself from that relegation back to their sister team is incredible with a win to boot, raising questions about whether he can push on and reclaim his seat at Red Bull in 2022.
Number Three – Lewis Hamilton
It would be stupid to not feature the newly crowned seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton on the list although you might be surprised to see him sat third on the list given that he also finished every race he started inside the points.
Many sceptics believed that Hamilton’s dominance was down to the car but he showed on various occasions like in Portimao that his driving ability can be the difference in how he hunted down Valtteri Bottas and passed him, before racing off to clinch his record-breaking 92nd race victory by 25.952 seconds.
He also executed a superb overcut strategy in Imola with a slice of pure luck to take victory before securing his seventh title with arguably his finest drive of the season as he made a one-stop strategy work in difficult wet-dry conditions in Turkey to fight from sixth to victory on worn intermediate tyres.
Hamilton’s absence in Sakhir however reignited the driver vs car debate because George Russell stepped in and absolutely showed the socks off Mercedes’ W11 only to be robbed of a maiden victory by a pit stop mix-up and late puncture as he fought back through the field.
Ultimately though, many thought that Michael Schumacher’s seven titles and 91 race wins would never be matched let alone surpassed yet Hamilton has absolutely smashed his wins record plus pole positions, which was beaten a few years ago and looks set to go one step ahead with an eighth title given the minimal rule changes in 2021.
Number Two – George Russell
Russell has been outstanding this season but he however didn’t do quite enough to justify being hailed as the best driver of this season, which we will discover soon.
The best place to start with Russell is Qualifying because since arriving in F1 last season, he has outqualified both of his Williams teammates 37-0 and 38-1 overall after narrowly missing out on pole to Bottas in Sakhir by just 0.026s when he stepped up to Mercedes but he has been hailed by critics as Mr. Saturday for his Qualifying record.
Focusing on his guest Mercedes appearance, Russell did a great job to miss out on pole by that small a margin in a car that wasn’t designed for or fitted him well to the extent that he had to squeeze his feet into a smaller shoe size.
Although the events of the race was cruel, I feel that Russell has done enough to prove what he can do if given a great car because he didn’t win the 2017 GP3 title then 2018 F2 crown for nothing, of which he has underlined this season with a step forward in race performance at Williams too, often battling against the likes of Haas and Alfa Romeo drivers plus Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
His mistake at Imola when set for a potential late push for points was however embarrassing but one that the young Brit will of learned from massively in what was a fantastic season in terms of putting the Williams car in positions that it shouldn’t be in and keeping it there.
Number One – Sergio Perez
It is really a no brainer to put Perez as the top driver of 2020 because outside of Hamilton, Perez has simply been super consistent if not for two reliability failures in the last three races, yet somehow finished fourth in the drivers’ standings.
We must also note the fact that Perez missed two races after testing positive for Coronavirus because the Mexican has been excellent at maximising his chances in races whilst executing superb tyre management when required, which makes his Silverstone absence in two tyre management heavy races tough because he could well of been the difference in gifting Racing Point third in the Constructors ahead of McLaren.
Istanbul in particular highlighted Perez’s tyre management ability in that he plus Hamilton were the only two drivers to execute an one-stop strategy and finished as the top two come the checkered flag in that race, which was a huge boost given that Red Bull could be set to drop Albon in the coming weeks.
His Sakhir performance however was simply stunning because after being spun down to last place on lap one, Perez could of let his shoulders drop but he fought back through the field and was well placed take advantage of a Mercedes tyre farce to find himself leading the race to his maiden F1 victory in his 190th Grand Prix with amazing race pace.
At time of writing, it’s heartbreaking to think that Perez’s retirement in Abu Dhabi could very well of been his final race after being harshly dropped by Racing Point but with rumours that he is set to join Red Bull in 2021, it would be ridiculous if he is without a drive next season but he has proven himself as ready for a top drive in future.
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