Top Ten: Formula One Drivers Currently Racing

Top Ten: Formula One Drivers Currently Racing

David Furst, Beacon Writer

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been finding myself at home a lot more as of recently. I, like many others in my situation, have been seeking new forms of entertainment such as TV shows or games to avoid the looming cabin fever. One thing I’ve been finding to be very entertaining and engaging is actually the sport of racing, and specifically Formula One racing. Not only is watching fast cars go fast exciting, the sport and it’s players create an intense drama of team dynamics, racer ability and personality, and rivalries. Today I will be ranking, of the twenty drivers currently racing in Formula One, my personal pick for the Top Ten drivers. My criteria will be a mash of entertainment factor, personality, and racing ability weighted as I see fit. Let’s jump right in with number ten:

George Russell, of the Williams team. Number 10 out of the 20 racers puts him solidly in the middle in my estimation. He has not put up scoring points this season, but he is young and has potential.

Number 9 is Alexander Albon of Red Bull Racing. Red Bull is an impressive team right now in Formula One and both of its racers put up good results, but Albon doesn’t perform nearly as well as his teammate who will be much higher on this list, or even as well as he has been expected to.

Moving on to number 8, we have Kimi Räikkönen, for Alfa Romeo Racing. He gets this place for his experience, professional personality, and the fact that he has actually won a world championship in his career and has many race victories.

Number 7 goes to Sergio Perez of Racing Point. He is impressively high on the race rankings as of this time very late into the seasons, at 5th place of 20. I cannot assign points based on personality for this one, but he earns this spot on merit.

I will give 6 to Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. This place is earned in much the same way that Perez earns his number 7. Leclerc is very close with Perez when it comes to points and quality of racing, but cannot distinguish personality or entertainment factor points to either racer.

Coming up to the top half of our list, number 5 is earned by Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri. Despite not earning the points of some of his competitors, a recent race win and that being the first win for a French racer in a long while skyrockets Gasly for entertainment factor points.

Number 4: Daniel Ricciardo, of Renault. He has one of the largest personalities of all the racers as a very fun and expressive person. However, he also has the racing ability to back this up by currently being fourth in the overall points scoring.

The top three are leagues away from the other racers in terms of points, and deserve to form the podium on our Top Ten. Number 3 goes to Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes. Mercedes is a powerhouse of a team, holding the number 1 and 2 spots on racer points and already having secured the team championship for this season. Valtteri holds number 2 in the points list but only number 3 on mine due in part to the extreme competition provided by his teammate.

Number 2 belongs to Max Verstappen of Red Bull. This is the teammate that outshines Alex Albon, and currently holds number 3 on the points list. He has a fiery personality that’s very fun to watch express itself on the race track.

Number 1, which should be no surprise to anyone who follows the sport, is Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. He has already clinched the World Championship by having an absurd number of points. He is widely regarded as the greatest racer to ever participate in the sport. Despite this, he is incredibly professional and polite, always acknowledging the efforts of his team and engineers after his frequent wins.

That about does it for my top ten Formula One drivers. Leave a comment to let me know what you thought- would you change my list? Was I unfair in my point distribution? I hope you enjoyed my list, even if there is something you might change about it.