22. Pastor Maldonado
Abysmal this year, compared to what he showed he was capable of last year. The 2013 Williams was awful, and that certainly didn't suit his aggressive style, but he had the wrong mental approach from the moment he knew it. Beaten by Bottas in qualifying all year, and in the races by the end of it. Will do well in a good Lotus.
21. Max Chilton
Unlike most, I gave him a chance coming into the year having done a good job in GP2 last year. But he failed to live up to my optimism. Historically strong in qualifying but lacklustre in races, he was almost always behind his rookie team-mate, and quite often by a big margin, despite plenty of pre-season mileage. Did well to finish all the races I guess, but if a rookie doesn't have a race-ending crash, he just isn't pushing hard enough.
20. Charles Pic
Has an unfair reputation for being invisible, for he was a race winner in every year of his junior career. But this year he failed to progress at Caterham after a good performance versus Glock at Marussia last year. Once Caterham were ahead of Marussia, he led the back four but was gradually overhauled by his rookie team-mate as the season went on. Seemingly the end of the road for his F1 career, which is a shame because he had more promise than most gave him credit for.
19. Giedo van der Garde
Finally made it to F1 after a ten-year stint in the junior categories and made a good impression. Despite all his experience he was all at sea in the first half of the year, typified by his collision with Webber in Canada. Dug deep and made superb progress, generally getting the upper hand on Pic by the end of the season. Came across brilliantly out of the car, and it would be a big shame if he didn't get a second season somewhere.
18. Esteban Gutierrez
Was rushed into F1 before he was ready, because Sauber needed to keep the Mexican money after McLaren nabbed Perez. Looked predictably out of his depth to begin with, with a particularly embarrassing qualifying record compared to Hulkenberg. There was early promise in Barcelona, and in Singapore he made Q3 at his team-mate's expense. Then brilliantly finished not far behind in Japan, although later races were disappointing. Fundamentally a talented driver but with plenty of rough edges to polish, it would have been a travesty if he had been dropped already.
17. Jules Bianchi
Single-handedly got Marussia the tenth place in the constructors with some superb drives while the team was at its best versus Caterham at the beginning of the year. That was a pretty incredible feat given the lateness of his deal. Once Marussia dropped back behind Caterham, he looked a little lacklustre compared to his early performances and let Chilton get closer to him, but that doesn't mean he wasn't still extracting the maximum. We should be thankful that he's even on the grid, but he really ought to be testing himself in the midfield next year rather than staying at the back.
16. Adrian Sutil
Standard Sutil season. Competent but usually unspectacular. To his credit, did well in Monaco and had some bad luck when the car was as its quickest early on. Briefly had the upper hand on his Di Resta when the car was it's worst and his team-mate went on a crashing spree, but lost his way again at the end. Doesn't deserve to stay in F1 over Di Resta, but is admittedly the better fit for steady, Germanic midfielders Sauber.
15. Jean-Eric Vergne
Had absolutely stunning weekends in Monaco and Canada. But then the Red Bull vacancy cropped up and Ricciardo stepped up to the plate and put Vergne back in his place. Certainly unlucky on more than his fair share of occasions, but also not quick enough when it mattered. Red Bull are rightly keeping faith in him, mainly off the back of his outstanding pre-F1 record. But if he gets matched by Kvyat next year, it will be game over. Which would be a shame.
14. Felipe Massa
Finally ditched by Ferrari after a curious series of crashes in Monaco, Canada and the Nurburgring. In true Massa style he upped his game once he had to fight to save his career, and impressively began consistently out-qualifying Alonso. But he still failed to get anything like the most out of the car in the races. A driver dropped by a top team deserves another chance further down the order, but while I'd like to say he will do well at Williams, I reckon he might get destroyed by Bottas.
13. Paul Di Resta
Like the other British drivers, he's not as good as some think he is, but much better than others give him credit for. Fourth in Bahrain was as close as a Force India has got the podium since Spa 2009. Qualified fifth in Silverstone only to be excluded for being inexplicably underweight. His complaints at the team for other poor showings were only intended to get a fast team to stop making small-team mistakes, but didn't go down well. Nor did a run of driver errors when the car was at its most difficult to drive. Still more than good enough for F1, but Force India will have two more exciting prospects next year and every lesser team has a budget deficit.
12. Sergio Perez
Perez did a perfectly good job against Button this year, but was still right to be dropped. Was never really going to have world champion potential, and Whitmarsh has showed a lot of incompetence by choosing him in the first place and then wanting to retain him when his engineers threatened to quit if that happened. A good racer, but evidently lacks in other areas that world champions excel in.
11. Jenson Button
Button is as good as anyone when the car is how he likes it - see Spa 2012 and Japan 2011. But he's never been great with a poor car, be it a Benetton, Honda or even the Brawn in the second half of 2009. Against Perez, it looked like he was usually getting the maximum out of the car (except some poor showings later in the year), but what could Hamilton have done with it?
10. Mark Webber
Webber was made to look quite average by Vettel for much of the season, and didn't win a single race, but did save himself with some strong performances later in the season - particularly his two pole positions in Japan and Abu Dhabi. They were no mean feat given Vettel's form. But his awful starts usually meant he spent the race fighting his way up into second rather than for the lead. The right time to call it a day.
9. Valtteri Bottas
Spent much of his rookie season under the radar thanks to an awful Williams car. Often had the raw talent to outqualify Maladondo but lacked the experience to push forwards in the race as much. Qualifying third in Canada was a hint at what could be to come from him, and he delivered the team's best race result of eighth in the US once they had finally found a little more speed in the car. Expecting him to shine against the slightly more reliable benchmark Massa next year.
8. Daniel Ricciardo
Outrageously fast in qualifying and decent in the races too, Ricciardo earned his graduation to the senior Red Bull team. Like Webber, he ought to be able to take the fight to Vettel on Saturdays in particular. But his long-term ability there shouldn't be judged in one season - Vettel has improved massively since he joined the team and Ricciardo needs to be given a couple of years at least.
7. Kimi Raikkonen
Began the year with a bang with victory in Australia, but lacked that same sparkle for the rest of the year before deciding to skip the last two races. While he was fast and moved forward in the races, he lacked qualifying pace and that was seriously shown up once Grosjean hit his stride late in the year. While Grosjean has been made to move over for him on many occasions, Kimi couldn't hack it when the boot was on the other foot in India and immaturely ran his team-mate off the road. Ferrari know what they're letting themselves in for.
6. Lewis Hamilton
While he expected a difficult first year with Mercedes, the car was quicker than anticipated and once he got comfortable, Hamilton was sublime on Saturdays as he took a run of four straight poles in the middle of the year. That he only converted one into a win was largely out of his hands, but he wasn't the same man once Vettel found another gear at the end of the year. His mental state seems to have too much of a bearing on his performance, and all too often he just isn't all there. Hopefully the Lewis of old returns next year.
5. Fernando Alonso
Alonso may have finished second in the championship in a Ferrari that wasn't that good, but his season wasn't as good as most have given him credit for. Certainly not compared to what he achieved last year. Wins in China and Spain were good, as was a string of second places after the summer break, but he seemed to lose motivation after that as Vettel ran away with it. Evidently didn't get the best out of the car in qualifying because he was regularly beaten by Massa, and although he raced well, he probably would have finished higher if he'd started higher.
4. Nico Rosberg
Rosberg might have been outscored by Hamilton but he wasn't outclassed by him. Three straight poles from Bahrain to Monaco showed just how good he is, and it's a shame that the Mercedes' extreme tyre wear prevented him from getting good results from those first two races before a well-deserved victory in Monaco. His Silverstone win was lucky after problems for others and he then had a brief quiet spell compared to his team-mate, but he was stronger in the run-in and took podiums in India and Abu Dhabi and led in Brazil.
3. Romain Grosjean
After the battering he received from most of the F1 world in 2012, Grosjean didn't look like the same driver earlier in the season and while he was keeping it clean, he wasn't very fast. He then crashed several times in Monaco when he did try to push. Something clicked shortly afterwards though, and he was second-best only to Vettel in the latter half of the year. Put Raikkonen in the shade and took the fight to the Red Bulls, leading them in Japan and then splitting them with a fine second place in the US as he kept the faster Webber behind.
2. Nico Hulkenberg
It will seem rash to put the driver who finished tenth in the standings in second place here, but nobody else seemed to consistently get the most out of his car over the season as Hulkenberg did. The Sauber was awful at the start of the year and so he was fairly quiet, but once it became a car that should be in the points, he wrestled it to third on the grid and fifth in the race at Monza. Then there was the superb fourth in Korea. It takes something to have maybe been a better choice for Ferrari than Raikkonen, but Hulkenberg may well have been just that.
1. Sebastian Vettel
Just superb. While his car was a factor in his previous titles, Vettel absolutely proved he was a step ahead of the rest this year. Ruthless on track but more likeable off it than any of the other top drivers, the hatred for him is irrational.
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