Formula One driver guide 2021

Last year: 4th | Our rating: 10/10

Daniel Ricciardo - McLaren-Mercedes

Ricciardo was the golden boy at Red Bull, the future star – until Verstappen came along, after which he jumped ship to Renault and a poor 2019 poured water on his hot reputation. The fun-loving fan favourite looked rejuvenated last year, however, despite the awkwardness of him announcing his departure for rival team McLaren before the season could even start. He consummately beat team-mate Esteban Ocon, always looked sharp and scored two highly impressive podiums in what was realistically only the fifth best car. Expect that smile to get even wider with a Mercedes engine behind it this year.

Last year: 5th | Our rating: 8/10

Lando Norris - McLaren-Mercedes

He loves a meme, does young Lando, but there’s much more to him than his humorous public persona: he’s also very handy behind the wheel. That was shown most evidently in the first race of last season, when he put in a scintillating fastest lap at the death to get within the five seconds due to be demoted from Hamilton’s time and thus scored his first podium. He was edged by Sainz across the season but consistently hauled bags of points back to Woking.

Last year: 8th | Our rating: 7/10

Sebastian Vettel - Aston Martin-Mercedes

If Hamilton has aged like the finest of wines, Vettel has aged like a bottle of Coke. No other multiple world champion has such doubts looming over his legacy. After a promising start at Ferrari, Vettel quickly slid into despondency, reaching a nadir last year as he was informed of his redundancy before the first race. He looked and sounded miserable while putting in one stellar performance and plenty of depressing ones. A new start at Aston Martin will answer the question around his legacy, and plenty of others ones too.

Last year: 13th | Our rating: 2/10

Lance Stroll - Aston Martin-Mercedes

‘Daddy’s boy’ is the fans’ label for Stroll, and it’s perfectly understandable: by all objective measures, it should have been Pérez racing alongside Vettel at Aston Martin. However, it’s also not entirely fair: the young Canadian scored not only a podium at Monza last year but also took a brilliant pole position in tricky conditions in Turkey. If he can show that kind of pace throughout the season, he will more than deserve his place, but consistency has thus far eluded him.

Last year: 11th | Our rating: 5/10

Fernando Alonso - Alpine-Renault

He’s 39, he’s been out of F1 for two seasons, his two titles came a decade-and-a-half ago and he recently suffered a jaw-shattering bicycle crash. But come on, he’s also Fernando Alonso, one of the finest racing drivers of all time. We fully expect him to be on the pace from the word go, and his desire to succeed has never been in question. Podiums for Alpine (formerly Renault) should be easily within his grasp – shouldn’t they?

Last year: None | Our rating: na

Esteban Ocon - Alpine-Renault

Ocon was Mercedes’ next champion in waiting, until the firm couldn’t find a 2019 seat for him and a young man called George Russell burst onto the F1 season. The Frenchman found a new home at Renault but has yet to truly re-emerge from the shadows. Ricciardo was the team’s better driver throughout 2020, understandably, although Ocon did give us a glimpse of his promise by finishing second in the penultimate race. He’s a dark horse for 2021, although it might be a very tall order for him to beat his new team-mate…

Last year: 12th | Our rating: 4/10

Carlos Sainz Jr. - Ferrari

Sainz has always been rated highly in F1 circles, and his stock has slowly but surely grown as he has gained experience. He ended 2019 with his first podium and continued his good form into 2020, reaching its zenith as he came within a lap of victory at Monza and charged into the lead as the rain started to fall in Portugal. This year will be a real challenge for him as he not only joins F1’s most famous team but also becomes team-mate to one of the top five drivers on the grid, in Charles Leclerc. Expect him to be a solid, if not spectacular, wingman.

Last year: 6th | Our rating: 7/10

Charles Leclerc - Ferrari

Second place in the first race of 2020 in a car that should barely have been troubling the points-scoring places was a sign of things to come from F1’s newest megastar, as he utterly embarrassed his four-time-champion team-mate Vettel. Leclerc showed in 2019 that he can take pole positions and victories in competitive machinery, and in 2020 he showed that he can skilfully flatter bad machinery. His only real mistake was a slide in the wet that lost him a podium – for which he savagely reprimanded himself. A young man ravenous for success.

Last year: 7th | Our rating: 9/10

Pierre Gasly - AlphaTauri-Honda

Even if you discount Pierre Gasly’s shock-of-all-shocks win at Monza, 2020 was a superb season for the Frenchman. He was sent back to Red Bull’s junior team in mid-2019 after falling well short of Verstappen, but he looked an entirely new man at AlphaTauri, usually qualifying with blistering pace and scoring more than twice as many points as experienced team-mate Daniil Kvyat. Strong, strong stuff.

Last year: 10th | Our rating: 9/10

Yuki Tsunoda - AlphaTauri-Honda

You might dismiss young Tsunoda as a marketing exercise: a Japanese driver who has been fast-tracked through the junior formulae by a Japanese manufacturer. But so far he looks to be more of a Kamui Kobayashi than a Kazuki Nakajima. He put in a number of sparkling performances, including three wins, and was consistent enough to finish third in Formula 2 last year, plus he recorded the second-fastest lap in F1 pre-season testing.

Last year: 3rd, Formula 2 | Our rating: 7/10

Kimi Räikkönen - Alfa Romeo-Ferrari

Even at 41 and having called F1 “more of a hobby for me,” the Iceman remains blisteringly quick. Sadly, though, as we saw in Monza, when he went backwards after restarting high up the grid after a red flag, his current machinery simply isn’t a match for his talent. Still, he had the better of 27-year-old Antonio Giovinazzi on the other side of the Alfa Romeo garage.

Last year: 16th | Our rating: 5/10

Antonio Giovinazzi - Alfa Romeo-Ferrari

You might well suspect that the Italian flag that appears next to Giovinazzi’s name is the main reason why he has retained the second Alfa Romeo seat for a third season. But that’s not being entirely fair to the man who finished second in GP2 in 2016: over the course of last season, he overtook more people on the first lap than any other driver, and by some margin.

Last year: 17th | Our rating: 6/10

Mick Schumacher - Haas-Ferrari

Schumacher – yes, Michael’s son – is yet another driver whom you could easily dismiss as in F1 for a reason other than purely his talent. We would have agreed with that, too, given his slow start in the junior formulae, but certainly not now that he has won the F2 title. The Haas is the slowest car and seemingly tricky to drive, so this year will be no more than a learning exercise for MSC the Second. His main task, then, will be beating his fellow rookie team-mate.

Last year: 1st, Formula 2 | Our rating: 8/10

Nikita Mazepin - Haas-Ferrari

Haas has a new livery that looks suspiciously like the Russian flag, which has been banned from international sport due to doping. Perhaps the colour scheme has something to do with one of its cars being driven by the son of an oligarch? As a result of many eye-widening defensive manouevres and some distasteful off-track behaviour, Mazepin is attracting controversy in F1 before he’s even turned a wheel. This could be interesting...

Last year: 5th, Formula 2 | Our rating: 2/10

George Russell - Williams-Mercedes

Russell has gone two seasons at Williams without scoring a top-ten finish, but that says more about how poor the car is than his talent. Everybody could see his potential through glimpses of brilliance and consistently stunning qualifying performances, earning him the nickname Mr Saturday. When he bagged a one-off drive for Mercedes after Hamilton caught Covid-19, he outperformed Bottas and would have won but for two screw-ups on the car. Only his dropping it behind the safety car in Imola when points were possible marks him down.