F1: Verstappen tops team bosses’ poll for first time

New Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen has topped Autosports annual team principals’ top 10 drivers ranking – knocking Lewis Hamilton off the top spot.

The two drivers have dominated the rankings over recent years, finishing as the top two every year since 2016. But this is the first time that Verstappen has emerged ahead.

In what has become a long-standing tradition created by Autosport, each of the F1 team bosses were asked to pick their top 10 drivers of the year.

The individual results are kept secret – so the team principals can answer honestly – and the tally totted up using F1’s point structure that runs from 25 points for first down to 1 point for 10th.

For the first time since he entered F1 in 2015, 2021 world champion Verstappen came out on top – earning 188 points compared to Hamilton’s 174.

Oddly, the driver who made the most passes for position in 2021, Sebastian Vettel, did not even crack the top-10, indicating the continued bias against German drivers in F1. Or maybe the F1 bosses prefer drivers who follow, making for a good parade.

The nine team principals who took part were Toto Wolff (Mercedes), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Andreas Seidl (McLaren), Laurent Rossi (Alpine), Otmar Szafnauer (Aston Martin), Fred Vasseur (Alfa Romeo), Franz Tost (AlphaTauri), Jost Capito (Williams) and Gunther Steiner (Haas). The only team that did not take part was Ferrari.

F1 teams principals’ Top 10 drivers of 2021: