Outside the top 10
Alex Albon impressed in 2019 and is unlucky not to make the top 10, squeezed out thanks to too many crashes and the fact that he lagged just over four tenths behind Verstappen on pace in the second half of the season. But he proved he has the makings of a first-class grand prix driver.
Nico Hulkenberg was close to Ricciardo over the season in qualifying, but too often not at the same level in the races.
But despite throwing away a potential podium with an off at Hockenheim after losing it on the slick runoff, he put together another good season, even though he ceased to be
Renault’s focal point.
At Alfa Romeo, Kimi
Raikkonen made an outstanding start to the season and arguably overachieved thanks to his consistency. But the old speed isn’t quite there and, while integral to Alfa’s growth, he was outpaced by his team-mate more often than he would like and faded in the second half of the season to underachieve relative to the admittedly less competitive machinery.
For Pierre Gasly, it was a season of two halves as one of the worst performers of the first 12 races with Red Bull became a strong performer for Toro Rosso over the final nine. Judged only over the second half of the year, he’d be nailed on to make the top 10.
Daniil Kvyat made a strong return to F1 and delivered consistently in the first half of the year, but trailed off when up against Gasly. The podium at Hockenheim was the highlight after a slick-tyre gamble, but he couldn’t build on his strong start over the rest of the season. That said, it was still a very respectable comeback.
Judging the Haas drivers is unfair and almost impossible given the capriciousness of the car. Both Kevin Magnussen and
Romain Grosjean had their moments for better or worse, but neither could be relied upon to get the maximum out of the car over a whole weekend.
Antonio Giovinazzi was a source of frustration and took longer than he should have done to shake off the ring-rustiness after contesting only three races over the previous two years. But his underlying pace was good and, when he strung things together, he was the faster Alfa Romeo driver. Big mistakes, such as crashing out of the points at the end of the Belgian GP, and the many small and often unnoticed ones were the problem here – but he has the chance to show next year that he’s ironed them out.
Lance Stroll had a disappointing year, with little errors on qualifying laps blighting his season, and his aggressive approach to first laps occasionally backfiring. He must take a big step forward to get to Perez’s level, but did deliver some race drives to remind everyone that there is a driver in there capable of thriving at this level if he can string it all together.
Robert Kubica’s return to F1 was an amazing story, but his performances weren’t up to scratch, even though he proved more than capable of driving an F1 car quickly despite his limitations.