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[CigarGuy]

Since most are in agreement over the top 3, who you got next?

[vaptin]

Haha, good premise.

I would have said Bianchi :/

Bottas.

[myownalias]

I don't necessarily agree that LH, FA and SV are the top three, I feel Vettel has been flattered by his machinery, as soon as the blown diffuser was taken away, he dropped off significantly. LH and FA definitely in the top 3; but I would propose that Daniel Ricciardo should be in the top 3 battling for the top spot with LH/FA, I don't know how many of you watch Top Gear UK but Ricciardo beat Hamilton by seven tenths of a second in the F1 power laps in the Suzuki Liana. I do believe that Ricciardo is extremely underrated, Vettel still has a lot to prove in my mind. If he can turn Ferrari around and claim at least one more title, I will give him his dues, the the 2010-2013 Red Bull was a monster car in which many of the current grid could have claimed multiple world drivers titles.

Oh yes, fourth best driver... Valteri Bottas, if Williams have gotten a good grip on the Merc engine, I expect wins from Bottas.

[overboost]

Bottas is a good pick for #4 based on his 2014 performance.

[CookinFlat6]

Since most are in agreement over the top 3, who you got next?

Racing drivers age, they lose motivation, they become less sharp, some have babies and cut the risks etc, so we need to be clear that we are talking about best current drivers. Everyone will agree that Kimi looked like Mika and MS rolled into one at one point, but currently is not the best on the grid

So on current form most rational observers agree about the top 2, whilst one season does not a swan make, most agree that Seb is no longer arguable the very best or in the top 2. Therefore based on the last couple of years we would have reasonable say that Seb, Ricciardo, Bottas, Bianchi and Rosberg are all arguably the protagonists for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th

Now we all have opinions, mostly subjective and biased, although for some it goes into boycotting based on profiling. However the only group we can trust to collectively give us the most objective appraisal of who is behind the top 2 are those guys who are commercially dependent on the objectiveness of these decisions - the current TPs

Like they say in Monza, money talks and bullsh!t walks

AUTOSPORT TEAM PRINCIPALS' TOP 10 2014

1. LEWIS HAMILTON (194 points)
2. FERNANDO ALONSO (155 points)
3. DANIEL RICCIARDO (135 points)
4. VALTTERI BOTTAS (119 points)
5. NICO ROSBERG (115 points)
6. FELIPE MASSA (55 points)
7. SEBASTIAN VETTEL (53 points)
8. JULES BIANCHI (44 points)
9. JENSON BUTTON (40 points)
10. DANIIL KVYAT (28 points)

These lists are kept secret, so the bosses can be honest about their opinions, and only the overall results are collated together using the F1 scoring system of 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1.

[racechick]

I don't rate Vettel as a top top three driver. I'd go with the above three
1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Ricciardo

And my fourth driver would be either Rosberg, Bottas or Kvyat.

[CookinFlat6]

just on what I have seen I have to reserve judgement on Ricc, so right now I would class him as equal to Kyviat, altho i have seen more fire from Kyviat than ever from Seb or Ricc and so I would have to put it like this

Lewis


Alonso

Kyviat Ricc

Bottas
Seb Rosberg JEV Bianchi

Button Massa

[overboost]

just on what I have seen I have to reserve judgement on Ricc, so right now I would class him as equal to Kyviat, altho i have seen more fire from Kyviat than ever from Seb or Ricc and so I would have to put it like this

Lewis


Alonso

Kyviat Ricc

Bottas
Seb Rosberg JEV Bianchi

Button Massa

Interesting. You have pegged Vettel as an exact equal to Rosberg.

So this sets up a little bit of math to see where Ricciardo potentially would land if he were not held back by the inferior engine and chassis of the RB-10.

Ricc points/ Vett points x Rosberg points = Ricciardo's potential points driving the W05rld Champion. 238/167x317 = 452

Easily enough to be wdc over Hamilton who had earned 384.

Only theoretical of course based on cookinflat6's expert analysis but it definitely fits with the talent and ability shown by Ricciardo last season.

[CookinFlat6]

someone missed out the part I said judgement was suspendd on Ricc but I was placing him by Kyviat(who I rate very highly) until further notice

Lets not spend time trying to revise history, lets look forward to this year and the next and the next

Or lets boycott F1 where Honda are held back by Merc despite not even making it onto the track to test

[overboost]

someone missed out the part I said judgement was suspendd on Ricc but I was placing him by Kyviat(who I rate very highly) until further notice

Lets not spend time trying to revise history, lets look forward to this year and the next and the next

Or lets boycott F1 where Honda are held back by Merc despite not even making it onto the track to test

But cookin that's what we are talking about. Ricciardo. He is the future.

[RyRy]

3rd best driver is the one you should ask about, I put many drivers above Vettel...

[1Lemon]

I'm going to spout an unpopular opinion here, my 4th driver (Looking at everything, completeness of a driver). But to clarify in my honest opinion there is very little separating the top 5 drivers on the grid, I'd almost put them all as number 1 they are so close in my view.

1) Alonso
2) Ricciardo
3) Bottas
4) Hamilton
5) Button



Edit: if we could include non f1 drivers on the list Dean Stoneman would be pushing out JB

[racechick]

[1Lemon]

Well that's probably the best response I could expect

[sagi58]

Well that's probably the best response I could expect

Love it!!