Season review 2016: readers’ rankings!

More than a month after the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi, your favorite motorsport site offered you a participatory survey throughout the second half of December. Your opinion matters to us, and it was very interesting to see you share your thoughts on creating your own ranking over the past season.

Numerous and enthusiastic voters!

It is therefore appropriate to thank you for your involvement. Beyond the votes, there were numerous debates, all conducted with a relative respect for mutual rules, which should be commended.

Under the watchful eye of our bailiff, the editorial team reviewed all of your ballots. For the sake of fairness, we considered each of the votes that listed ten drivers, taking ties into account. For this, the actual Formula 1 scoring system was respected. We note in passing that two votes, via « AP01 » and « Ayenge », expressed ties in different positions: Bottas and Hülkenberg tied for 10th in one case, Rosberg and Verstappen tied for 3rd in the other. Another reader, « ClemYNWA », had the cleverness to place Maldonado as a special mention in his ranking! Without participating in a Grand Prix this season, the former Williams and Lotus driver was very close to scoring a point, even if this point would not have been validated by our jury…

Another noteworthy aspect, let’s pay tribute to Martin Doyer, the first voter who submitted a complete ballot by establishing a full ranking for the 2016 lineup. Of course, we only considered the top 10 as mandated by the strict regulations!

The complete ranking:

The Lessons from the Votes:

Three-time Formula 1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton finished the year 2016 with the esteem of the majority of Motorsinside readers. Cited eleven times at the top of the rankings, the Briton’s consistency was nearly flawless: he was never placed lower than 4th in the various rankings…

The Mercedes driver dominated this poll overwhelmingly, establishing a gap of 79 points over his closest rival, his former competitor: Nico Rosberg. The reigning world champion couldn’t achieve the double with our readers. The German still secured nine first-place finishes and can take solace in being one of the two drivers consistently ranked in the top 10 by different readers, along with Daniel Ricciardo.

But the Australian was still outpaced by his teammate. It was indeed Max Verstappen who seized the last spot on the final podium, with 4 first-place nominations. The young Dutchman clinched the win over Dan the Man by securing, among other things, 10 second places!

Behind this quartet, a chasm has formed with the rest of the pack. Dominant over Vettel on the track in Qualifications and generally reinvigorated, Kimi Räikkönen secured fifth place, with a second place as his best result.

Let’s then acknowledge Sergio Pérez’s sixth place. The Mexican driver’s two podiums in Monaco and Baku have certainly tipped the scales. The Force India driver has collected fifth places in various top 10 finishes, eight times to be precise.

In the process, let’s also note the impressive seventh place of Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard is one of the most significant value additions in this survey, given the final standings of the driver championship, with five places gained (Sainz finished his season on the track in 12th position, with a total of 46 points). In this little game, Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Ocon have made the biggest gains, each climbing six positions from their real rankings. The French are certainly not left behind as Romain Grosjean rounds out the top 10 of our votes.

On a collective level, McLaren-Honda made a mark and can boast of being the only team to have three drivers in the rankings. Besides Alonso and Button, it was especially Vandoorne who impressed, capturing the votes of four voters, all in just one Grand Prix held in Bahrain!

On the side of disappointments, two drivers have been especially overlooked. Vettel’s frustration on the radio and his relative dip in form have completely worked against him. The four-time world champion was mentioned on the podium by just one internet user! Even worse, the likely ex-retiree Felipe Massa did not score a single point! The Brazilian is among the six drivers who weren’t mentioned. Besides the 2008 vice world champion, Daniil Kyvat, Kevin Magnussen, Felipe Nasr, Esteban Gutiérrez, and Rio Haryanto were not mentioned once by our readers.

And now, on to 2017!

The curtain on 2016 has definitively fallen, and it will soon be time to look towards future events with the arrival of this new year.

2017 should in this respect be the scene of a new revolution at the heart of the premier discipline. Changes, especially on the aerodynamics side, are expected. These are supposed to improve the cornering speeds of the cars. They will greatly increase lap performance: gains of five seconds per lap are even hoped for…

Can’t wait for the 2017 @F1 season and the new cars! Here’s a great illustration of the changes we will see! https://t.co/bS0ZAKA7Kf

— Brian Murphy (@Brian_Murphy_) 19 décembre 2016

In any case, all these changes will be detailed with more precision over the first few months. A year that will also be symbolic for Motors Inside, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in September 2017! Formerly “MotorsInside,” the site maintains robust health, thanks to the contribution of volunteer writers who passionately and committedly dedicate part of their time to bring you the best of Formula 1 news; including being accredited and present at various races. Let’s not forget other related disciplines like the GP2 Series and Formula E, which will still be part of the lineup!

You have understood correctly, the future promises to be busy on your site! Once again, we thank you for your loyalty and participation throughout the racing months.

The entire team wishes you all the best for this new year that is beginning!