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
Are you high?
Ranking Riccardo and Bottas above Hamilton and Button...
Firstly you need a few years before ranking Bottas but I do agree Bottas has potential.
Secondly Riccardo needs one our two years more especially in a top car to judge him, however based on the spanking he gave Vettel I agree he will be up with the top 2
I'm forming my views based on the junior catagories that Bottas and Ricciardo was in too, but let me defend my opinion here.
Hamilton is lower because he is the fastest driver by a small margin than anyone else on the grid, but only when he is in the right mindset, this isn't a mental weakness thing but we all know Lewis is very open emotionally and it shows in his times sometimes, on his day (And there have been a lot) he is unbeatable but there are times when he just seems a tad lackluster; even on these lackluster days he can be fighting for wins but he's not as blindingly fast as he can be.
Bottas was able to impress in 2013 in a car that was frankly crap, his junior performances were brilliant too, but the thing is whilst he may not have Hammy's raw speed his is a more consistent entity, same with Ricciardo although I feel he has a bit more race craft than Bottas.
I agree with you it is close at the top and that Bottas and Ricciardo are indeed talented drivers, both showing great promise. Ricciardo especially - arriving at a top team and creating a stir at Red Bull perhaps larger than that of Hamilton at McLaren in 2007. Autosport had him as top rated and even Alonso describes him as 'unbelievable'.
Looking at Hamilton, he hasn't been top rated by the Team Principals since 2008 mainly hovering between third and fourth place if that survey is to be used as an indicator. He didn't do anything really spectacular in 2014 to be suddenly at the top of the TP's list imo and I would think his poor qualifying form that was exposed by Rosberg is a detractor. I think his fortunes were boosted in 2014 mainly because or Raikkonen's and Vettel's misfortunes more than anything else and of course by that 'in a class of its own' Mercedes. An extra 2 secs per lap will help anyone look better making him a bit overrated perhaps!
So imo your not far off! I would just swap Alo and Ricc and Ham with Bottas.
Ricciardo and Bottas do show promise...but it's just just promise. Mags showed promise, so did his dad, so did Perez , so did Kovelainen, so did Frentzen, so did many many drivers, but they didn't deliver, championships that is. So how can you rate those two as top drivers when they haven't yet proven themselves in the thick of a title battle?
Hamilton has delivered championships, and for two different teams, and he's fought against top team mates , one a double world champion . And he's never asked for , needed , or been given number one status, he's fought for what he's got.
You think Hamilton's overrated because his car's fast? Why do you think he's in that car? He's in it because he's rated.
Now qualifying...until last year Hamilton was rated throughout his career as the out and out one lap speed merchant. So what? you think he just forgot how to do it? You buy into the philosophy that Hamilton can't think? You dont wonder why all those Rosberg poles weren't converted, and that maybe that one lap speed was at the expense of race wins? Because Hamilton had a lot more of those race wins than Rosberg. So could it be that Hamilton sacrificed some of the qualifying glory in exchange for the bigger prize? A race win? A championshipip? Or ins Hamilton too thick to think things through like that? It would be a fool who believed that.
