As the dust settles on the 2016 season, how about some reflection and some report cards? I'm thinking 'Tell us your Top 3 and your Bottom 3" in the following categories Team Driver Your Top 2 and Bottom 2 in the following categories Performance (could be by a driver, a pit crew, a steward, whatever) Individual (i.e. could be anybody - a team principal, a TV pundit, a media rights holder)... Also, your favourite thing about the whole season, and your least favourite thing. (Anything you like - it could be a specific thing that happened, or something about a venue, or something else completely.) The 'rules'... Teams Apply whatever criteria you want. Points success? Contribution to the paddock? Any criteria you like - it's your prerogative. (That's why I'm calling them "Top & Bottom", rather than "Best & Worst".) You don't have to apply the same criteria across them all. You might give top spot to a team because you love seeing an underdog having a go. And you might give second spot to a team because of their engineering excellence... Drivers As above, apply whatever criteria you want to. Raw talent? Great hair? Good egg? Your criteria, your call, and feel free yo mix your criteria up... Performance You get the idea - apply any criteria you like. A fantastic drive? An inspired race strategy? A ridiculous penalty / outrageous application of the rules? Individuals A person trying to bring some common sense into the way the sport is run? A person who makes you laugh? A waste of space? Whatever criteria you like. Favourite thing and least favourite thing Yep - whatever criteria you like. Basically, you have completely free rein to pick your best & worst, for your own reasons.
Teams Top team Second Third 3rd bottom 2nd bottom Bottom team Drivers Top driver Second Third 3rd bottom 2nd bottom Bottom driver Performances Top performance 2nd top 2nd bottom Bottom performance Individuals Top individual 2nd top 2nd bottom Bottom individual Favourite thing Least favourite thing
Teams Top team: FI for performing beyond their budget, having a decent livery and standing their ground within the working technical group. Second: Merc for their ultimate performance achievements. Third: Haas for their ability to not look like The newbies of old. 3rd bottom: Williams, woefully underperformed and have not bettered their driver status moving forward. 2nd bottom: Ferrari, chaos - simple. Bottom team: McLaren, for both their performance on the track and the political wrangling off it. Drivers Top driver: Alonso Second: Riccardo Third: Max 3rd bottom: KMag 2nd bottom: Palmer Bottom driver: Ericsson Performances Top performance: Max's win in Barcelona 2nd top: Ricc not winning in Monaco 2nd bottom: Merc's constant controlling of races, their bare faced lying when trying to convince the sport they are fair and their ironic inability to control their drivers in a micro management environment. Bottom performance: Charlie, The Rule makers and the Stewards. It's a sweeping statement tarring them all with the same brush but the the fundamentally dismantling of the sporting code to the detriment of the sport itself is morally bankrupt. Individuals Top individual: Massa and Button jointly. 2nd top: The independent press/media that bring information, rumours and an element of sanity to the sport. 2nd bottom: Toto, Claims to be one thing but neither has the Motorsport presence or the cut throat nature to be what he claims. He fell out of a PR boardroom and it shows. Bottom individual: David Croft(I refuse to give airtime to his self imposed nick name) and the media in general - biased and uninformative. Favourite thing More races. Least favourite thing VSC and the Max rule. Both pointless knee jerk reactions to existing fundemental issues that remain unresolved.
Teams Top team: Mercedes. that much is undeniable. they are just the best period Second: Red bull. put u pa bit of a fight with a dog of an engine they developed themselves. Third: Haas for their ability to not look like The newbies of old. 3rd bottom: Williams, I agree. given the engine its really poor 2nd bottom: mcclaren. no progress or was there. i can't honestly tell. Bottom team: Ferrari. very dissappointing. Drivers Top driver: Rosberg just to annoy the fanboys Second: Ricciardo Third: Verstappen 3rd bottom: Hamilton. if he'd been bother for half the year and not whining he'd have won this handy IMO. should have 2nd bottom: Kvyat Bottom driver: Palmer Performances Top performance: I think watching verstappen in brazil for me. it just showed a guy alive and trying to find different ways while others tip toed around following a dry line. 2nd top: I think theres a couple mercs that drove through the field performances that are underrated. Very enjoyable. Hamilton at spa for instance. 3rd bottom: european GP quali from hamilton. utterly bizarre and clealry somethign went on and he was not right in the head that day. 2nd bottom: Yes mercedes as above. constant straight jacket to get 1/2 robs fans of a spectacle. Bottom performance: I agree. the making up of rules week by week wa really annoying. The stewards playing favorites very obviously at times. Individuals Top individual: Alonso for having a laugh.. you can only laugh a tthe joke of a car given to him 2nd top: TRosberg for putting up with everyone calling him ****. 2nd bottom: Horner for being a dick and constancy trying to break the rules and get advantage. his antics with backing up vettel, sending ricciardo down a closed pit lane ridiculously and daring to claim a non existant puncture... Bottom individual: I'd put every steward that gave a deliberate time penalty to change results. the penalty to rosberg to put him 4th for example. FFS bump wheels etc is not a penalty IMO. Favourite thing More races. Least favourite thing constant safety cars for nothing cos someone decided in a dark room that bringing the field together for any excuse is good for racing... AND constant ignoring of deadly dangerous antics in the pit lane. Several things have gone on where mechanics have been put at risk and no punihsments have come yet guys are punished for hard racing.
Teams Top team: Force India Second: Mercedes Third: Toro Rosso 3rd bottom: Ferrari 2nd bottom: Williams Bottom team: McLaren All for the same reason as Smithers, except for Toro Rosso who i including for outperforming McLaren on chassis tracks with a year old engine. Drivers Top driver: Alonso Second: Ricciardo Third: Verstappen 3rd bottom: Nasr - One swallow does not make a summer. Got battered by Ericsson (who isn't great himself). 2nd bottom: Kvyat - gave up after losing the Red Bull drive Bottom driver: Gutierrez - why was he ever hired Performances Top performance: Verstappen Brazil. 2nd top: Ricciardo Monaco 2nd bottom: Hamilton Baku Bottom performance: Verstappen Spa. (congrats on winning best and worst in the same season!) Individuals Top individual: Jenson Button - Enjoy retirement buddy. The sport is worse without you. 2nd top: Gene Haas. For bringing in a new team that can actually compete. Again as Smithers said: 2nd bottom: Toto, Claims to be one thing but neither has the Motorsport presence or the cut throat nature to be what he claims. He fell out of a PR boardroom and it shows. Bottom individual: David Croft(I refuse to give airtime to his self imposed nick name) and the media in general - biased and uninformative. Favourite thing Errr.... Well at least it wasn't as bad as 2015 Least favourite thing Dull racing with a winner decided at turn 1 more often than not.
Kept nodding off through the season and eventually only watched if I had nothing else to do. My general comments would be the following: - Mercedes, although I don't like them much and their handling of their drivers, are still quality performers. - Redbull are back. - Verstap is the real deal. - Ferrari are still all over the place and went backwards. - Force India had a blinder. - Williams had an annoyingly bad season. - McLaren improved but showed poor form with the ousting of Ron. - Haas delivered. - Liveries need to improve next year. - There are quite a few races which are not worth watching. Too few places to overtake. Not much else was interesting/worth commenting The racing remained largely very dull and predictable will some exceptions. Needs to improve badly. Watched more BTCC which was great value this year.