I'm
staggered that Rosberg wasn't in the top 10. I can appreciate there are vastly differing views on him to my own, but not in the top 10?! He showed excellent pace in races, fantastic consistency and had very few incidents. What more can you ask? I felt he was the best all-round performer of the season, just edging Vettel.
And Kubica? Really? He was utterly appalling for 2/3 of the season, and only showed any of his plentiful ability in the final few races. He was like Kimi pre-Hungary, but his lull went on for longer.
It's like the majority of the result has been decided on the final few rounds.
1) Rosberg
2) Vettel (did have a couple of incidents, but was clearly trying very, very hard to match the pace of the Brawn - certainly the fastest and most determined (in the cockpit) driver of the top 4). Very much like Alonso in 2008.
3) Fisichella (yes, he nose-dived at Ferrari, but for 3/4 of the season he was excellent. It's easy to forget how good he was, culminating in that result at Spa)
4) Button (though without any mechanical issues at all... hmm... probably level with Barrichello overall)
4) Barrichello
6) Webber
7) Alonso (he showed fewer heroic drives than in 2008, but was clearly still working his socks off)
8) Raikkonen (a bit of a Kubica, but when he came alive in the final 3rd of the season he was something else)
9) Hamilton (only woke up when the car was with him and his attitude in the early races was appalling - his good races were very good, but he only seemed to hustle the car when it had a chance of a strong result)
10) Sutil or Heidfeld (Sutil was soundly beaten by Fisi, but still had some good races, and Liuzzi wasn't far off him when Fisi left, even in Sutil's strongest races. Heidfeld was more consistent than Kubica, though as ever with Nick (unless it's wet), almost yawn-inducingly unspectacular on the track).
Special mention for Kobayashi for a fine few races. For Alguersuari for being consistent as a debutante and not being at all far off of Buemi (will be interesting to see what Jaime will be like after a winter of testing). And for Massa, who missed too much of the season for me, and wasn't especially impressive when he did race.