F1 Midseason Driver Review

I thought on this occasion rather than writing a review of the British Grand Prix, which could be summed up by saying Vettel got a puncture and fought his way back and Alonso debatedly overtook Kubica, I decided I'd write a review of each drivers performance so far in 2010.

1) JENSON BUTTON - It seemed a stupid move for Jenson to go McLaren. But he's proved he knew best so far and has matched Lewis pretty much blow for blow so far. Those (admittedly like me!) who thought he'd be playing second fiddle from early on have been proved wrong. Is certainly still in the championship hunt.

2) LEWIS HAMILTON - Was desperate to get that number 1 back on his car for 2011 at the start of the year and where is he right now in the championship standings!? Needs to avoid the controversy however, for example weaving along the pit straight at Sepang in front of Vitaly Petrov, it rubs people up the wrong way. Having said this, his recent form has been very impressive, he'll want to make sure he keeps it up.

3) MICHAEL SCHUMACHER - Oh dear. Not sure he envisaged failing to reach the top 10 in qualifying in any race, nevermind 2 in a row with his car seemingly going backwards. That coupled with some rather poor driver decisions on his part, particularly in Montreal, will leave his mouth quite bitter I would think. Needs to up his game for me, all that can get him a seat in 2011 at present is his reputation.

4) NICO ROSBERG - Started the season on fire, but has since slipped away. How much this is to do with the car is debatable, in my view heavily. I've rated Nico highly for a fair few years and he seems to be able to get the results, Valencia and Silverstone are good examples, when the car ain't up to it. Proving his worth in my opinion, especially given his teammate!

5) SEBASTIAN VETTEL - Reliability, reliability, mistakes. Could have this championship pretty much wound up like Jenson did last year, but has been quite consistently unlucky and obviously made a dreadful error in Istanbul. This favouritism row is unfortunate for him, as it isn't his decision who Red Bull favour, but 2010 is a case of what might have been so far.

6) MARK WEBBER - He might make plenty of mistakes with his bitching to the press regarding the favouritism row at Red Bull, but boy doesn't he make up for it on the track! Is probably the best shot at the championship for him, and at the moment he's making it count.

7) FELIPE MASSA - It's difficult to know what to make of Felipe, whether his crash in Budapest last year is still affecting him, I suspect not, but who knows. He seems to show smatterings of brilliance amongst lots of not so good stuff. He's at home at Ferrari though, has a very good relationship with them and lets face it, who wants to see him split from Rob Smedley!? Deserves another shot at the title for me.

8) FERNANDO ALONSO - Many sources I read claim Fernando should be heading the championship, and with his ability coupled with a Ferrari it's difficult to disagree! However his season has been riddled with very poor mistakes, possibly as a result of the pressure Spanish media after 2 seasons in an uncompetitive Renault. Some luck must soon be coming his way, and with his talent he'll be sure to take full advantage.

9) RUBENS BARRICHELLO - Has been an excellent season for Rubens so far, he beat the Stig round the Top Gear test track!! In all seriousness 2010 started badly for him, but he's shown lately this was probably the car, because as the season's gone on he's moving towards the front. His experience must be aiding Williams's development in this case, plus he's keeping his whipper-snapper of a teammate well behind.

10) NICO HULKENBERG - Came into Formula 1 with the racing pedigree of none other than Lewis Hamilton and the manager of a certain Schumacher, but has so far failed to leave his mark particularly. Not every driver can be winning races all the time, but I expected better from him than fighting over 14th-15th place in qualifying. Needs to focus on Rubens and up the game.

11) ROBERT KUBICA - Has arguably proved he is the worlds best driver right now, after having an outstanding season to date and is way outperforming the Renault he has his hands on, I particularly remember his excellent podium on the famous streets (Monte Carlo of course!!). I can't blame Ferrari to be closely monitoring his progress, he's DRIVER OF THE SEASON so far in my view.

12) VITALY PETROV - Is very unfortunate to be in the situation he is right now, with Renault seemingly going to get rid of him. He's performing well within what the car is capable of, and is only looking bad as a result of his incredulous teamate, and sometimes even outperforms Robert. Is definitely the best rookie in 2010 so far and had it not been for terrible luck would have had a hatful more points to show for his efforts.

14) ADRIAN SUTIL - I'm not 100% sure what to say about Adrian if I'm honest. He's doing consistently well and is scoring many lower end points finishes, currently 6 consecutively, which is probably the limits of the Force India. Certainly he seems to be cutting out the mistakes from earlier in his career which is putting him out of spotlight as a result. Just needs to keep it going.

15) VITANTONIO LIUZZI - Another underperformer in 2010, and is now under pressure from Scotsman Paul Di Resta for his race seat. Showed plenty of promise when he gained the seat at the back end of 2009 but has failed, often miserably, to live up to it. It can't be long before Di Resta gets his chance, which is disappointing for us all, Tonio is an exciting racer on his day, but he hasn't had enough of them this season.

16) SEBASTIEN BUEMI - Solid yet unspectular would sum Sebastien up rather well. Has scored minor points quite regularly and being a team leader in your second season is a rather huge challenge! In qualifying has explored Q3 a few times, a good achievement from him. Has proved he has the racer characteristics though after his bizarre incident in Shanghai, and when interviewed was more concerned about his phone!!

17) JAIME ALGUERSUARI - Proven to be a feisty little racer and has built on the glimmer of promise we saw last season, what with twice failing to be intimidated by Michael for quite some laps, notably at Melbourne. Needs to try and focus on not being the odd car to be eliminated from Q1 all the time and build on from there into 2011. Definitely one for the future.

18) JARNO TRULLI - Hasn't had much luck in 2010. Made a good choice in my view to stick it out for a year in a bad car, knowing in 2011 with Mike Gascoyne (the best F1 car designer for me) designing the car, he should be back amongst the midfield at least. He just loves racing, could have retired to spend time on his wine, but decided to stay and we'll have to wait until 2011 to see if it's going to pay off.

19) HEIKKI KOVALAINEN - Has certainly been revitalised at Lotus after being pretty much hammered by Lewis and (certainly me!) wrote him off as an F1 driver. However slightly less in the limelight he has really sparkled and if Robert is driver of the season, Heikki takes home 'B' driver of the season by miles. He's hanging onto the tails of the midfield now on some race tracks which shows an excellent season from Heikki.

20) KARUN CHANDHOK - I like many others couldn't believe the news Karun had been given an F1 drive at the beginning of the season with his GP2 crash record, but I have to admit he's gutsy and is developing as a driver. We can't really comment on his ability to be competitive in F1 at this time given the car he's driving would barely win a GP2 race, but compared to Bruno he's doing ok so only time will tell.

21) BRUNO SENNA - Whether the name ultimately carried Bruno to F1 or not I feel he deserves a race seat on his own merit, and is so far generally a few tenths faster than Karun at every track which is all you can ask for. I would think his missing out at Silverstone was due to monetary problems rather than talent issues. Without another seat becoming available however I don't see how Bruno can move forward, unfortunately.

22) PEDRO DE LA ROSA - Not been a great season for Pedro, but by no means a disaster either. The Sauber boys seem to me to always be within a tenth of each other in just about every session at every track, only thing is that's all too often 16th-17th etc. Is matching his young promising teammate which for a driver who's been out for a few years is good. Can't see him getting a seat in 2011 though.

23) KAMUI KOBAYASHI - Japanese drivers have a bit of a reputation for being good....at crashing! Kamui however I'm pleased to say has so far avoided that branding and has pulled out some good results and is starting to live up to his promise from 2009. If the car improves he'd be fighting to make the top 10 shootout on a race in race out basis. After a nervy start is definitely worth his seat.

24) TIMO GLOCK - Like Jarno Trulli, Timo is putting his hopes on a competitive car appearing in 2011. From the performances so far he is certainly worth a shot further up the grid too. Perhaps it will be a very shrewd move as he gains a years F1 racing experience with no media attention. Should be focusing on keeping up with Lotus for the rest of the season, which he's doing.

25) LUCAS DI GRASSI - Didn't have the greatest of starts and was quite heftily dominated by his teammate. Is still more often than not a few tenths of Timo, but is definitely more competitive against his teammate and is showing promise of making the 'B' class a 4 way battle. As such Lucas can be pleased with his debut season to date.

Phew....I'm know not looking forward to the end of the season when a full review is the dish of the day! And I'm sure there'll be plenty to discuss then too.....excellent.