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[scotty]

Despite now searching for a 2011 employer, promising rookie Nico Hulkenberg made fewer mistakes than any of his competitors this year.

That is according to an analysis by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, which found that - at the other end of the scale - his fellow rookie Kamui Kobayashi had the most spins, off-track moments and crashes in 2010.

Although named F1's rookie of the year in a recent awards ceremony, Japanese Kobayashi committed no fewer than 60 recordable errors this year, the analysis found.

But in all the practice and qualifying sessions and the races themselves, 23-year-old Hulkenberg only had two incidents in which his car was damaged or he was unable to return to the pits.

2009 Brawn teammates Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, both now with different teams, ranked in second place.

"I don't know if that's a compliment," smiled former reigning world champion Button. "Maybe it means I didn't risk enough."

Title contenders Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber each made 30 mistakes, and world champion Sebastian Vettel's 34 excursions ranked him 13th overall.

Lewis Hamilton also had a lot of incidents this year, as did Vitaly Petrov and Michael Schumacher, with the seven time world champion ranking just 18th on his difficult return to F1.

The most error-prone this season was Kobayashi, but he insists the stereotype as a "kamikaze" driver is not right.

"If I was a kamikaze driver, I would not have got this far," the 24-year-old, who has been retained by Sauber for 2011, told spox.com recently.

Peter Sauber added: "It would be doing him an injustice to only focus on this aspect of his driving. Kamui is also a very clever driver and understands how to put a pre-defined strategy into action."

I have no idea what their criteria are here, but nevertheless, discuss away...

[f1ea]

I think the worst mistake was the RB taking eachother out in Turkey. Without that crash, the rest of the season would have been simply to decide which of the RBs was going to win it.

[F1er]

So every1 favorite new driver is the biggest screw up on the grid?? I guess that's what makes him exciting!

I always said JB is too safe,he needs to be more aggressive,titles wont fall on his lap like last year!

[CarBore]

I want to know what they consider an error. If Kobayashi was so badwhy was he the highest scoring rookie and centre of some of the best overtaking in a car slower than everyone bar the new teams

[racechick]

What a silly list! Drivers who take risks will not always pull it off. drivers who cruise and collect will be more 'error' free. A better way of looking would be to compare so called errors with points or positions gained by overtaking manoevers.
Give me Kobi and his 'errors' any day!

[spankyham]

I don't think this list has any meaning at all. Firstly its totally subjective. Also, you need to considered so many other factors, car, handling, circumstances etc.

Compare Kobi's "mistakes" with Sutil's.

[Fluffy]

The biggest mistake in my mind was Ferrari's "stratagy" in Abu Dabi

[What's Burning?]

First of all they need to clearly define what an "error" is. Because when they talk about Hulkenberg the criteria seems to switch.

So nothing surprising here in the end, the more aggressive drivers are the more successful ones...

[FRAFPDD]

Some threads on here really make no sense at all at its only cause its the off season that im willing to let it slip. what is with all these rankings and votes and blah blah, alonso best of the year hamilton best of the year despite none of which winning the title, kobayashi best of the year despite being the one of two in a points fighting car (although i support him and agree with it i cant be hypocritical and selective, its still also a dodgy "poll") its just agenda pushing, like the daily mail after a terrorist attack.*

*All views expressed are those of an F1 fan that doesnt buy into stupid ficklness so often seen in the F1 fan world and does not necessarily reflect the views of FRAFPDD.

[f1ea]

The biggest mistake in my mind was Ferrari's "stratagy" in Abu Dabi

but that was "the team" not the driver.......
BTW

Other than that... yeah, the list makes no obvious sense.

[tony1979]

I agree that there doesn't seem to be much sense in this list.

Also would have to say that the Red Bull incident in Turkey as the biggest single mistake of the season. Where others have made the point about agressive drivers being the more successful, I think a lot of this is to do with the aerodynamics of the car and the impossibility of overtaking. This forces drivers to take bigger risks in bends/chicanes that are not famous for overtaking manoeuvres in seasons past. This necessity for more "dangerous" overtaking attempts will inevitably lead to more incidents. If the chance works then great, if it doesn't then usually one or other car is taken out of the race.

However, that said, we are still in the safest era of F1 since motor sport began and thankfully everyone who has had any sort of incident in the last 16 years has had the chance to reflect on the incident afterwards!

[Hansy]

I don't think this list has any meaning at all. Firstly its totally subjective. Also, you need to considered so many other factors, car, handling, circumstances etc.

Compare Kobi's "mistakes" with Sutil's.

What about Sutil? He was never this consistent before.

[SennaVille]

What a silly list! Drivers who take risks will not always pull it off. drivers who cruise and collect will be more 'error' free. A better way of looking would be to compare so called errors with points or positions gained by overtaking manoevers.
Give me Kobi and his 'errors' any day!

*high-fives* racechick

[spankyham]

I don't think this list has any meaning at all. Firstly its totally subjective. Also, you need to considered so many other factors, car, handling, circumstances etc.

Compare Kobi's "mistakes" with Sutil's.

What about Sutil? He was never this consistent before.

Consistently running into other cars

[youtube]SgESN-RMeuk[/youtube]

[88mph]

Webber in Korea comes to mind