In this list, We are going to be taking a look at some of the best F1 drivers during the time period 2011 to 2020. We will also try to get a little bit of information about them too. The list has been compiled by considering their achievements and performances relative to the car they had to drive. The stats mentioned in the post are based on the time period 2011-2020.
1. Lewis Hamilton
Teams:- Mclaren(2011-2012), Mercedes(2013-2020)
Wins:- 81
Nobody should be surprised that Sir Lewis Hamilton tops this list. I mean the guy has won 8... :P Pardon... 7 F1 World Championships, of which 6 have been won from 2014 to 2020. The Mercedes-Lewis driver pairing was almost unbeatable during this era. Only in 2017 and 2018 did Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel give a close fight to Hamilton. Currently, with 103 wins to his name, Sir Lewis Hamilton sits as THE GREATEST FORMULA 1 DRIVER of all time, as per the records!
2. Sebastian Vettel
Teams:- RedBull(2011-2014), Ferrari(2015-2020)
Wins:- 43
Another Legend! Sebastian Vettel, ReBull's wonderboy back then. The youngest F1 World Champion, The youngest 2 Times F1 World Champion, The youngest 3 Times F1 World Champion and The youngest 4 Times F1 World Champion!
I think That's enough for anyone to understand why this guy sits comfortably on the 2nd position of this list. Sebastian Vettel won 4 championships consecutively from 2010 to 2013 while breaking and making quite a few records.
3. Nico Rosberg
Teams:- Mercedes(2011-2016)
Wins:- 23
So, Seb won 4 championships from 2010-2013. Lewis won 6 champions from 2014 to 2020 which makes 1 another candidate during this era win 1 championship and that is this guy. Nico Rosberg, Son of 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg won the F1 title in 2016 while racing for Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton. Many people would disagree with putting him at no.3 but considering his performances in Williams and when he was racing alongside Michael Schumacher it's fair. Also, how can I not mention that "He beat Prime Lewis in equal machinery as a teammate" although through questionable tactics but hey! He won the championship! Nico Immediately retired from the sport at the end of the 2016 season just after winning the championship. Nico and Lewis used to be best friends but now they don't talk with each other (It's a story of another different post)
(: Can you name another world-champion father-son pair apart from Nico and Keke? Comment down below :)
4. Fernando Alonso
Teams:- Ferrari(2011-2014), Mclaren(2015-2018)
Wins:- 6
Fernando Alonso is probably one of the unluckiest F1 drivers ever. The guy was always in the right team but at the wrong time. Nevertheless, Fernando Alonso's crazy talent can be seen throughout his career Whether it be in the 2010 and 2012 title fights in an uncompetitive Ferrari or in this year's (2023) Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso is easily at the level of Lewis Hamilton in terms of talent and skills if not better. Only if he had a better car in his career could he have definitely become more than a 2 times world champion.
5. Daniel Ricciardo
Teams:- HRT(2011) TorroRosso(2012-2013), RedBull(2014-2018), Renault(2019-2020)
Wins:- 7
6. Max Verstappen
Teams:- TorroRosso(2015-(half of 2016)), Redbull(2016-2020)
Wins:- 10
Prodigy is a perfect word to describe Max Verstappen in one word. Max debuted in F1 at the age of merely 17! Max is also the youngest F1 driver to win an F1 race at the age of 18 in Spain in 2016. Max won the GP in his first Red Bull outing. Since then Max has won 10 races till 2020 and now he is even a 2 times world champion.
7. Sergio Perez
(Source: twitter.com/redbullracing)
Teams:- Sauber(2011-2012), Mclaren(2013), ForceIndia/RacingPoint(2014-2020)
Wins:- 1
The king of street circuits, The king of tyre management, Whatever you want to call him, Sergio Perez aka Checo Perez has been THE BEST OF THE REST driver in F1 for quite a few years. In this era, Checo drove for mid-level teams with mid-level performance cars, But whenever there was a chance to pick up the podium position Checo has always been there. Monaco 2016, Azerbaijan 2018, Malaysia 2012, Tukey 2020 and there are many more examples. Today Checo drives for RedBull racing alongside Max and he totally deserves it!
8. Kimi Raikkonen
Teams:- Lotus(2012-2013), Ferrari(2014-2018), AlfaRomeo(2019-2020)
Wins:- 3
Kimi aka The Iceman made Lotus go bankrupt when he was racing for them in 2012 and 2013. The contract between the team and Kimi stated that he would be rewarded 50,000 euros for every point scored by him. Kimi would end up scoring 320 points combined in two years which would become a huge amount just as a bonus to be paid, for the team. His performances were decent even in Ferrari where he bagged the pole in Monza and Monaco. After Ferrari, Kimi had a few exceptional performances in Alfa Romeo too, 2020 Portuguese GP is one example of that.
9. Valtteri Bottas
Teams:- Williams(2013-2016), Mercedes(2017-2020)
Wins:- 10
Valtteri Bottas secured his Mercedes seat in 2017 after Nico retired, Purely based on outstanding performances in Williams. Although Finn couldn't make a huge mark in F1 due to his lack of consistency. Don't get me wrong, He is a very fast and talented driver and on his day even Lewis wouldn't match him in the pace but all of this happened very less often and not every time.
10. Romain Grosjean
Teams:- Lotus(2012-2015), Haas(2016-2020)
Wins:- 0
Romain Grosjean, famously known for his deadly crash in 2020 had some very outstanding performances when racing for Lotus. 2012 Bahrain GP and 2013 USA are some examples of his outstanding performances. After joining the Haas F1 team in 2016, He had a really great debut race as well a very decent debut season for the team. Although by the end of the decade, he made himself famous for crashes and silly mistakes, Nobody can take away that he was a fast and talented F1 driver. Nowadays he is racing in Indycar for Andretti Autosport and seems to be doing really good.
This is it for the post!
Let me know what you think of the post and what your tier list of drivers is in the comment section down below.
Thank you!
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