Verstappen tops the F1 team boss poll for the first time

The two drivers have dominated the rankings in recent years and have been the top two every year since 2016.

In a longstanding tradition of autosport, each of the F1 team bosses was asked to pick their top 10 drivers of the year. The individual results are kept secret – so that the team bosses can answer honestly – and the balance sheet with the F1 point structure, which ranges from 25 points for the first to 1 point for the 10th.

For the first time since joining Formula 1 in 2015, world champion Verstappen took the lead – with 188 points compared to Hamilton’s 174.

The poll results come at the end of a campaign in which his team boss Christian Horner said the Dutchman was a huge inspiration for everyone at Red Bull.

Looking at the season and Verstappen’s progress, Horner said, “I think we just gave him a better car and he made good use of it.

“He finished every race in either the first or second race, except for one where he was halfway missing his car in Budapest. And the statistics speak for themselves: the number of laps driven, pole positions, race victories. He was outstanding and made so few mistakes under massive pressure.

“I think what you forget is the pressure that was built up during the championship. And the way he dealt with and dealt with it as a young man was inspiring. “

Lando Norris moved up to third overall after an impressive season with McLaren in which he took his first pole position at the Russian Grand Prix. He was the highest climber in the top 10, along with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who both gained four spots in their positions in 2020, while returning Fernando Alonso finished fifth.

Despite their victories at the Azerbaijan and Italian GPs, Sergio Perez (fifth in 2020) and Daniel Ricciardo (fourth) fell outside the top 10.

The nine participating team bosses were Toto Wolff (Mercedes), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Andreas Seidl (McLaren), Laurent Rossi (Alpine), Otmar Szafnauer (Aston Martin), Fred Vasseur (Alfa Romeo), Franz Tost (AlphaTauri), Jost Capito (Williams) and Gunther Steiner (Haas). The only team that did not participate was Ferrari.

Top 10 drivers of the F1 team bosses of the year 2021:

The last two seasons

2020

1 Hamilton

2 Verstappen

3 Leclerc

4 Ricciardo

5 perez

6 Russell

7 Norris

8 Sainz

9 Bottas

10 Gasly

2019

1 Hamilton

2 Verstappen

3 Leclerc

4 Bottas

5 Vettel

6 Albon

7 Sainz

8 Ricciardo

9 Russell

10 Norris