Can F1 Team Principals Vote for Their Own Drivers While Rating the Top 10 Drivers of 2021?

Following a dramatic 2021 F1 season, the team principals earned the opportunity of ranking the drivers based on the order of Grand Prix points. Meaning, the best driver receives 25 points followed by 18 points for the second-best driver and it goes down to a mere point for the tenth-best driver.

The poll ended recently, and to nobody’s shock, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen led the fight by quite a margin from the rest of the pack. Verstappen found himself leading the table with 213 points, with Hamilton not quite far off with 192 points in P2.

Here’s how the top 10 looked like – 

Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – 213
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG) – 192
Lando Norris (McLaren) – 110
Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 85
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 70
Fernando Alonso (Alpine) – 69
Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) – 64
George Russell (Williams) – 44
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes AMG) – 43

A total of 10 team principals took part in the poll namely, Mattia Binotto, Jost Capito, Christian Horner, Laurent Rossi, Andreas Seidl, Guenther Steiner, Otmar Szafnauer, Franz Tost, and Fred Vasseur, and Toto Wolff.

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Can Team Principals vote for their own F1 drivers?

One might suggest that it would be unfair for team bosses to vote for their respective teams’ drivers amidst the prioritization of favoritism over actual talent. But, the truth is, the team principals can vote for their own drivers.

A total of 9 team principals voted as of last week, with Mattia Binotto being the only remaining driver to offer his verdict.

Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Ferrari talks with Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto in the garage during practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)

And the Italian boss made his vote earlier this week, which witnessed the updated final standings take a tiny mix-up; Charles Leclerc moving up a place. Hence, that indeed makes it quite obvious that Binotto had the Monegasque in his top 10 ranking of the drivers.

Binotto’s possible ranking 

Max Verstappen – 25
Lewis Hamilton – 18
Carlos Sainz – 15
Charles Leclerc – 12
Lando Norris – 10
Pierre Gasly – 8
Fernando Alonso – 6
Driver outside the top 10
Driver outside the top 10
Driver outside the top 10

Overall, while there could be the argument of Hamilton falling so far behind Verstappen, there could also be the question of whether Norris deserved to finish ahead of his former McLaren teammate, Sainz. So, let’s hear it from you – Does the top 10 look reasonable enough?

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