These are the best drivers of the 2021 Formula 1 season

The 2021 Formula 1 season is over, so it's time to take stock and analyse the year. Which drivers performed best this season and who failed? After each race, GPblog gave ratings to all the drivers and after 22 races an average has emerged. This is the ranking for the 2021 season.

20. Mazepin: 4.5

It is no surprise that Nikita Mazepin is at the bottom of this list. In his first season, the Russian was comfortably beaten by his team-mate and if his team-mate was an experienced driver, you could understand that, but he was next to another rookie who was much, much better in the mediocre Haas car.

19. Tsunoda: 5.0

Yuki Tsunoda started the season well with a points finish and finished it remarkably strong with a fourth place in Abu Dhabi. In most of the the other 20 races, however, the Japanese driver was too inconsistent and was simply too slow at the start of the season. The difference to his teammate was too big all year.

18. Schumacher: 5.5

Mick Schumacher did all he could really do during his debut season. In the poor Haas car, he beat his teammate by a distance, and if Haas have a competitive car in 2022, we will really see how good the son of the legendary Michael is.

17. Stroll: 5.5

Lance Stroll has finished lower than previous team-mates Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez in the Drivers' Championship, but now he can also add Sebastian Vettel to that list. The Canadian rarely shone, and ran outside the points for the majority of the season, although the machinery was largely at fault.

16. Latifi: 5.6

Nicholas Latifi scored his first points in Formula 1 this season and even out-qualified his teammate George Russell for the first time. However, for the most part, he was again considerably slower than his teammate.

15. Giovinazzi: 5.8

Antonio Giovinazzi has never really been convincing in F1. Maybe he's better than some pay-drivers, but the Italian has never had a moment where he's really shown he's a special talent, except perhaps in qualifying. It's no surprise then that his team has opted for a financial injection in his place, in order to improve the car.

14. Vettel: 6.0

Sebastian Vettel is no longer one of the best drivers in Formula 1, but at Aston Martin he has regained some of his former form. Everyone knew that Vettel was no longer himself at Ferrari, but the four-time world champion is still not back to his old self, with some poor performances this year. He was better than Stroll, however. 

13. Russell: 6.1

Although the end of the season fizzled out and George Russell even lost two qualifying sessions to his teammate, the Briton has earned his seat at Mercedes for 2022. Whether he can compete with Hamilton remains to be seen, but a place in a better team has been due to him for much longer. 

12. Raikkonen: 6.3

Kimi Raikkonen has faded into the background, but he still managed to score some points for Alfa Romeo in his final year. On Sunday's, he showed he can still race, even if there were bouts of insanity, including the crash with Vettel in Austria.

11. Ricciardo: 6.4

Daniel Ricciardo would have imagined his first season at McLaren going quite differently. After the summer break, the Australian showed glimpses of his talent with a win in Italy, but the way he was beaten by his teammate in 2021 shouldn't happen to him again in 2022.

10. Bottas: 6.5

Valtteri Bottas has been the ideal second driver alongside Lewis Hamilton for years, but in 2021 he simply disappointed overall. For example, he was again not on the pace in Abu Dhabi and even if he had the speed to compete at the front, defensively he was never as effective as his opposite number at Red Bull Racing. However, the Finnish driver did have some good races and was generally closer to Hamilton in qualifying than Sergio Perez was to Max Verstappen.

9. Gasly: 6.6

Had this rating been about qualifying, then Gasly would've been rated much higher than this. He was on fire on Saturday's, but couldn't always deliver on a Sunday. However, that was more to do with his car, then his talent. Still, a very solid season for the AlphaTauri driver. 

8. Perez: 6.7

For his first season in a new team, Sergio Perez has mostly lived up to Red Bull Racing's expectations. Of course, the Mexican wasn't always on target, as evidenced by his lagging behind Bottas in the championship, but when he needed to be, Perez was on form. For example, he won in Azerbaijan and played a crucial role in Abu Dhabi.

7. Ocon: 6.9

A three-year contract and a top ten finish in our list for Ocon. In 2020, the Frenchman disappointed on his return to F1, but with a win in Hungary this year he put himself back on the map. He narrowly lost the battle to Alonso though, so how that will play out when Alpine's car is more competitive will be interesting to follow.

6. Alonso: 7.3

To say Fernando Alonso's return to racing has been successful would be an understatment. The Spaniard took a podium in Qatar, and played a crucial role in Ocon's victory in Hungary. On Saturday's, the two-time world champion lacked some sharpness, but on Sunday's, the Spaniard was brighter than ever and few were better in wheel-to-wheel battles.

5. Sainz: 7.5

It's interesting how often Carlos Sainz manages to surprise the outside world. Prior to this season, Sainz was seen as Ferrari's ideal second man, but over the year he scored more points than Leclerc. The Spaniard still made some mistakes and was often too slow on Saturday, but don't rule him out for the title if Ferrari manage to build a good car.

4. Leclerc: 7.9

Although he scored fewer points than his new teammate, Leclerc still managed to impress in 2021 with some great performances. Especially on Saturday's, the Monegasque remains very fast, but he will need to find an extra gear in 2022 if he wants to remain the main man at Ferrari.

3. Norris: 8.0

The surprise of 2021 is of course Lando Norris. Everyone was looking at Daniel Ricciardo at the pre-season press briefings, but the Brit has clearly put his new teammate in his place. It's a great breakthrough for the 22-year-old driver, who this year really showed what he could do in F1.

2. Hamilton: 8.3

Lewis Hamilton struggled in the first half of the season with disappointing performances in Imola, Monaco, Baku, Austria and Hungary, but once again he hit back after the summer break. The seven-time world champion stepped up a gear, but in the end, due to some bad luck, he fell just short of beating his rival for the world title.

1. Verstappen: 8.8

It was neck-and-neck in points, but there should be no doubt that Verstappen was the best driver in 2021. Hamilton came back well in the second half of the season, but that was also due to all the bad luck Verstappen had to contend with. Think about Azerbaijan, Hungary and Great Britain and the Dutchman would have been crowned champion long ago. Verstappen was virtually faultless this year in terms of his consistency, barring Monza, and some moments of overly-aggressive driving, although you could sense his nerves in qualifying in Saudi Arabia and at the start in Abu Dhabi.