Sebastian Vettel

Apart from triggering two high-profile and costly collisions – three if you follow Lewis Hamilton’s logic and count Mexico as well – this was a very fine year for Vettel. He won five races in F1’s second-fastest car. More impressively, he qualified that car on the front row of the grid 14 times in 19 attempts.

It is that consistently excellent qualifying form that stands out. Handed a car capable of challenging for the championship – for the first time since 2013 – Vettel raised his game this year. Perhaps the biggest compliment of all to Vettel is that he also forced Hamilton to raise his own game in response.

Vettel is clearly on a Michael Schumacher-esque mission to make Ferrari great again. If he can emulate his hero and win multiple world championships for the team, it will define his legacy as a true grand prix great. Vettel seems to feel Ferrari is on the cusp, and is steeling himself for the fight.

Ferrari is not the same team it was in Schumacher’s time. The balance of power has shifted and the drivers must dance to Maranello’s tune. This played a part in Fernando Alonso’s downfall at the team, and it almost undid Vettel in 2016 too.

But Vettel is humble enough to accept his place in the new world order. This year his work was outstanding for the most part. The nagging doubt remains that capacity to let emotions cloud his judgement in moments of peak stress. This proved Vettel’s undoing in 2017. He says he is now wiser for the experience. He will need to prove it in ’18.