Lewis Hamilton
Far from a vintage year for the Brit in terms of his overall performance, indeed it could be argued that with two races to go, his 2007 performance to that point had far eclipsed his 2008 mishmash of dominant victories and stupid mistakes. But then, when in 2007 he had so badly crumbled, in 2008 he got his performances spot-on, dominating in style in China and then keeping where he needed to be (late rain shower madness notwithstanding) in Brazil. True, some may argue there was an element of luck to his ultimate success, but was this year's title really going to be decided on anything else?
High point - Aside from actually clinching the title, winning in the rain at Silverstone by the best part of a lap was probably his zenith.
Low point - Three words: Montreal's pit lane.
Patty Rating - 7/10
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki apologists have more than enough ammunition to explain away his rather tepid performance this year. He had bad luck aplenty, and any driver installed as a second driver in the post-Alonso world of Hamilton's McLaren outfit would probably struggle to assert himself in any great way. So the question was how much of his listless 7th place in the championship was circumstances conspiring against him, and how much was just painfully average driving. The answer is probably a bit of both, but his performances towards the end of the season, when his role to support Hamilton would have ensured a fair division of team resources to his efforts, smacked of a driver who was simply not good enough for the seat he has found himself in. To his credit, he was the most consistent qualifier this year, being the only driver to make the final session at every race weekend.
High point - His first GP win in Hungary was rather handed to him, so his run to his first pole position in Silverstone eclipses that.
Low point - His sickening head-on crash at Barcelona can't have helped his confidence.
Patty Rating - 4/10
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen
How the mighty have fallen. Raikkonen finally looked to be fulfilling his bucket loads of promise after securing his maiden title in 2007. But 2008 was a complete shambles for the Finn. It wasn't littered with too many obvious mistakes, or bits of poor luck, but more a season composed of bafflingly average performances. A pair of wins in the opening four races hinted that he may be on course for a crushing second title win, but he failed to win again, and only registered a single additional top two finish. Fans will point to his exhaust issue in France, his unfortunate demise after a sterling drive at Spa, and his ability to support Massa in Shanghai as signs that the old Kimi is still there somewhere, and the general opinion is that the F12008 didn't suit him anything like it did his team mate, but even with that, it was a painful year for Raikkonen.
High point - The first 42 laps at Spa was a rare display of "vintage Kimi".
Low point - The embarrassment of spinning twice at the same corner in Australia unknowingly set the trend for his year.
Patty Rating - 5/10
Felipe Massa
Depending on how the rest of his career shapes up, 2008 may be looked on as a watershed year for Massa in years to come. He managed to deliver the championship challenge that few believed he would ever be able to muster, particularly after retiring from the opening two events after silly mistakes, and there but for the grace of God's weather, he could well have won the championship in Brazil. With Michael Schumacher as his mentor, 2008-spec Massa was an altogether more Teutonic effort, showing time and again the ability to dominate race weekends just like his old master used to do. But there remains plenty of work to be done on his overall racecraft. Given the prospect of a penalty hanging over his rival's head, should he have been quite so effusive in his efforts to ward off Hamilton's pass on him at Fuji, for example?
High point - One of his dominant wins at Bahrain, Istanbul, Valencia or Brazil.
Low point - That awful moment about half a lap after he had crossed the line in Brazil, when Rob Smedley told him that Hamilton had indeed finished fifth.
Patty Rating - 7/10
BMW Sauber
Nick Heidfeld
A strange old year for Ickle. Coming into the year riding the crest of the wave caused by his brilliant performances in 2007 had rightly produced, most expected him to push on this year and pick up his first win. In actual fact, his stock fell badly this year, as his team mate rose to prominence. The issue seemed to be the car, the F1.08's niggly setup issues causing him no end of misery on Saturday, almost constantly seeing him out of position for the race itself. But, that issue not withstanding, he still managed four podiums (albeit often relying on safety car-inspired luck to elevate him forwards). He keeps his ride for the team next year, and he will need to improve some way to stay for 2010. Getting that first win might be a start, Ickle is still yet to win after 147 Grands Prix.
High point - He had consistency on his side, at least. Heidfeld saw the chequered flag of every race this year, non-DNFing the 18 race season to equal the finishing record of Tiago Monteiro in 2005, and going a whole season without retiring for the first time since Michael Schumacher managed the same feat in 2002.
Low point - Failing to make it through to Q2 in both Hungary and Fuji.
Patty Rating - 4/10
Robert Kubica
One of the revelations of the season after his middling debut season in 2007, Kubica was still vaguely in the fight for the championship with two races to go, and the fact that his eventual lapse in pace and fourth place in the standings is looked on as a disappointment is testament to the expectations he had set for himself. Taking the BMW baton Heidfeld had held in 2007 and running with it, Kubica was the model of consistency throughout most of the year, picking up BMW Sauber's maiden pole in Bahrain and their first win in Canada, heading a 1-2 for the team. If the extent of his title hopes were thanks to the mistakes from the quicker teams more than any serious title-winning pace from his car, he was nevertheless disappointed by the team's decision to limit development work for 2008 in favour of concentrating on next year's car, and for a while he was mooted to be lining up for a switch to Ferrari for 2009. In the end, he stays for next year, and if BMW provides him with the car, you'd expect him to push for the title all the way.
High point - That first win in Canada, which gave him the championship lead to boot.
Low point - The "closed pit" stop in Singapore led to a penalty which, in effect, ended his title hopes.
Patty Rating - 8/10
Renault
Fernando Alonso
A year of contrasts for the former double champ, with the dividing line being his retirement in Valencia. That retirement left him with 18 points from 11 races, and left the media rampantly speculating about a shock move to Ferrari for the frustrated Spaniard. How much of those rumours were ever true, and how much were efforts by Alonso to frighten Renault into pulling their fingers out, may never be fully known, but it seemed to have the desired effect, as Alonso became the form man for the last seven races, picking up 43 points and leaping up to 5th in the standings. His pair of wins at Singapore and Fuji owed a little to the failures of the frontrunners, but once installed in the lead of each race he was the imperious Alonso of old, and he reminded the incumbent title contenders that they still had some way to go to be considered the best driver in the field. Fingers crossed that the RS28 is a competitive beast, because frankly title scraps these days really need Alonso to be there or thereabouts.
High point - Either of his wins. Both brilliant.
Low point - Smokey retirements at his pair of home races may have been some sort of karmic revenge on his host of fans for their pre-season fancy dress antics.
Patty Rating - 8/10
Nelson Piquet Jr
It is possible that Lewis Hamilton's eminence in his debut year has unfairly penalised new drivers for years to come. After all, we now almost expect fireworks, maiden wins and team mate beating aplenty. On the face of it, the sort of vitriol we (and others) have spouted about Half Nelson this year may be a little unfair, after all he secured second place in Germany, he outperformed Alonso in only his eighth race at Magny-Cours, and he ended the season with 19 points, not terrible work in a 2008-spec Renault. But that is barely 0.1% of the story of his year. Nobody truly expected him to take the fight to Alonso, but the utterly awful performances he turned in for most of the season was something else entirely. He was outqualified in every race by Alonso, easily the most dominant inter-team qualifying scrap of the year, and more often than not ended up crashing, spinning or just generally pootling about so far behind the action as to be forgotten. That he has held onto his drive for next year is a fact that can only be explained by analysing the dent in Flavio Briatore's shoulder caused by Daddy Piquet leaning on him.
High point - His podium in Germany. A result that was only entirely thanks to the timing of a mid-race safety car.
Low point - Qualifying a pitiful 21st for his first race was dreadful even by what became his own standards.
Patty Rating - 1/10
Williams - Toyota
Nico Rosberg
Quickly putting my second eye in for this analysis, it has to be said that 2008 was fairly dismal from Rosberg. Two podiums, in Australia and Singapore, owed plenty to luck, though his pace when it mattered in Singapore offered a glimmer of what might have been, but aside from that he scored a measly three further points, and long afternoons scrambling about in the midfield were de rigueur for the German this year. Granted, the FW30 was a dog, and granted he still comfortably took the team bragging rights, but the only way is up for 2009. Unless of course, the car gets worse.
High point - That 2nd place in Singapore.
Low point - Stuffing his car into the barriers at Monaco.
Patty Rating - 5/10
Kazuki Nakajima
Nakas was expected to struggle this year, particularly on the back of his debut in the final race of 2007, which saw him qualify dismally and crash into his own pit crew during the race, but he leaves 2008 with his head held something close to high. Although the year yielded just five lowly points finishes, and he was more often than not to be found some distance behind Nico, he nevertheless managed to impress on a few occasions. His consistency was a strange trait for a Japanese driver, with viewers memories still filled with Takuma Sato crashes, but he only posted two retirements through the season, and more than once scored points by simply staying on track while the rest of the field capitulated. He retains a drive for next year, and will be looking to repay the team's confidence (i.e. the cheque from Toyota) by pushing Nico more often in 2009.
High point - Seventh in Monaco, keeping his car on track while the rest of the field didn't.
Low point - Elimination in Q1 on no less than nice occasions. The car was bad, but probably not quite that bad.
Patty Rating - 5/10
Red Bull - Renault
David Coulthard
This year was to DC what 1999 was to his fellow countryman Damon Hill, basically speaking, a season too far. Coulthard was slow, and for most of the season was an accident waiting to happen, more often than not conspiring to eliminate himself and any number of fellow drivers, before complaining about the size of his wing mirrors. He was one of around 13 drivers throughout the year to benefit from a safety car in order to make the podium in Canada, and he managed points as well at Singapore, but by and large it was painful to watch, and the only surprise about his retirement announcement halfway through the year was that it actually wasn't much of a surprise.
High point - One final podium in Canada, the 62nd of his long and (mostly) distinguished career.
Low point - The pitiful inevitability of his first corner elimination in his final race at Interlagos.
Patty Rating - 2/10
Mark Webber
In contrast to his team mate, Webber carried on where he had left off in 2007 this year, as his year followed a predictable pattern of consistent point scoring, coupled with frustration at the ultimate failure of the team to develop the RB4 into the competitive prospect it sometimes threatened to be. Early on, he single-handedly lifted Red Bull to the dizzying heights of fourth in the constructors championship, but as the year progressed and Renault, Toyota and Toro Rosso made leaps forward, Red Bull remained where they were and the points slowly dried up. Canny tactics in Singapore could well have yielded the third podium of his career, but the local tram timetable accounted for that, in suitably bizarre fashion.
High point - Saturday at Silverstone. Fast, error free, second on the grid, done.
Low point - Sunday at Silverstone. Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, 10th in the race, done.
Patty Rating - 8/10
Toyota
Jarno Trulli
A mysterious year for Jarno Trulli. Sometimes right on the pace, and sometimes lapsing back into his old "Trulli train" habits. The fact that Toyota remained so anonymous as an outfit doesn't help when judging his performance, though he dealt fairly well with the prospect of having a competitive team mate for the first time since pre-Ralf Schumacher. Third place in France may have been helped by penalties meted out to McLaren, but he still drove well, while he was predictably quick in qualifying, with his front row start in Brazil a particular highlight.
High point - That third place in France.
Low point - Returning to his old habits, holding up most of the field at Singapore.
Patty Rating - 7/10
Timo Glock
The 2007 GP2 champion arrived in F1 with slightly muted expectations, with the general consensus being that the field in the support series had been fairly weak that year. But after a slow start, he found his feet over the second half of the year with a number of strong performances. His second place in Hungary eclipsed Trulli's French podium, while he held off the pressure of Kimi Raikkonen (until the Ferrari man parked it in the wall anyway) at Singapore. With his drive secure for next year, he would do well to focus on improving his qualifying performances in 09. He made Q3 a mere 8 times compared to 14 for Trulli.
High point - Second place in Hungary was reward for a weekend of driving on the pace.
Low point - His spectacular crash in Australia.
Patty Rating - 6/10
Toro Rosso - Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel
F1's latest star was born in 2008. Up until the start of this year, Vettel had amassed little more of a reputation than being an inconsistent rookie, along with the wrath of the Australian nation after he took Mark Webber out while behind the safety car in Fuji 2007. After a fairly unconvincing first half of the season, little had changed, but then Toro Rosso made a step forward in pace (probably thanks to Ferrari more than anything else), and Vettel began to shine. Finishing in the top six in all but one of the final seven races moved him up to 8th in the standings, and helped Toro Rosso finish ahead of their fellow caffeinated team. The pole-to-flag win in Monza was, naturally, the cherry on the cake, and hints at what potential there might be to come from the young German. His fight with Mark Webber in the main Red Bull crib in 2009 may well be one to watch with interest.
High point - 17th place in Istanbul. Only kidding, Monza just about pips that.
Low point - Retiring from the opening four Grands Prix of the season, usually without completing a single lap.
Patty Rating - 7/10
Sebastien Bourdais
The Frenchman came into F1 with the weight of a certain level of expectation on his shoulders. While being a five time winner of the rapidly imploding Champ Car series wasn't quite the glowing commendation of ability it may have been ten years ago, he was still a man expected to make an impression on the grid. As it turned out, he didn't really. Bourdais seemed to struggle with the immediate demands of the split-session qualifying, and often found himself out at the first hurdle despite having posted promising practice times. But results are what count in F1, and after securing two points on his debut in the crash-fest of Melbourne, he only managed to double that number of points throughout the rest of the year.
High point - Seventh at Spa, after a decent run in the race. He started the last lap in third, but fell back as he was swamped with cars on the right tyres, but a rare high point nonetheless.
Low point - Raceday at Monza. Mechanical issues relegated him to the pit lane from 4th on the grid. His pace for the afternoon indicated that he would likely have joined his team mate on the podium had his car fired up when demanded.
Patty Rating - 3/10
Honda
Jenson Button
A dreadful season for Britain's forgotten hero. Sixth place in Spain were his only points, and 18th place in the final standings his reward. Granted, the Honda he was saddled with was even more dreadful than the team's 2007 effort, but still, the depths which Button scraped were poor even considering all that. Outperformed by his team mate more often than not over the course of the season, Button lasted a mere 20 minutes in qualifying nine times, including the last three events. How much of all of this was down to a demoralised Button simply giving up on 2008 in the same way Honda themselves did is unclear, but it will take quite some effort for Button to resurrect his career from this point forward.
High point - Virtually nothing. The sixth place in Spain helped avoid a humiliating "nil points".
Low point - Too many to choose from. Crashing into Coulthard in Bahrain was probably the most amusing failure.
Patty Rating - 2/10
Rubens Barrichello
Saddled with the same awful car as Button, Barrichello at least had a go this year, although he was in effect driving to save his career. And on that point, he should have done enough, if there is any justice in F1. His points total for the season was chiefly helped out by his third place at Silverstone, as a Ross Brawn-inspired tactical switch the wet tyres saw him breeze through the field when conditions were at their worst. The second half of the year saw Honda reduced to fighting the Force Indias, and so there is little tangible to judge him on, but he shared "bragging" rights with Button to the end of the year. If he is put out to pasture in favour of Bruno Senna for 2009, it will be a travesty.
High point - That performance at Silverstone. There but for a mix up with fuel load, he could even have challenged Hamilton for the win.
Low point - The comical scenes after his retirement in Singapore, as he tried to throw his gloves into the crowd, only to succeed in dropping them into the river running next to the circuit.
Patty Rating - 6/10
Force India - Ferrari
Giancarlo Fisichella
It was always going to be a difficult year for Fisi in 2008. His indifferent Renault years finally caught up with him, and left him with a seat at the backmarkers for his 13th season in F1. As is almost never expected of Giancarlo, he knuckled down and made a pretty good fist of things. Obviously he rarely looked like scoring a point, and he only managed to escape the back row three times once Super Aguri popped their clogs, but he became the first (i.e. only) Force India man to escape Q1 all season at Monza, managing a credible 12th. He remains with the team for 2009 though, and his career looks like winding down in relative obscurity.
High point - The six or so laps in Brazil where he led Lewis Hamilton in the fight for fifth. For a moment, the world championship was his to give and take away.
Low point - Lining up plum last for seven events must have been pretty disheartening.
Patty Verdict - 5/10
Adrian Sutil
The partner in crime to Fisichella had a non-event of a season, save one afternoon of madness in Monaco, where he pretty much shored up his seat for next year with a heartbreaking run to 4th and then helpless retirement. He held himself up fairly well to his illustrious team mate though, outqualifying him eight times in a not-too-shoddy performance. He was the man to put your money on "first retirement" for as well, failing to finish eleven of the 18 events.
High point - Monaco, fourth place, minutes away from glory.
Low point - Monaco, rammed off the track by Kimi, cue tears.
Patty Verdict - 3/10
Super Aguri - Honda
Takuma Sato
Anthony Davidson
Oh dear. They were here for a brief moment, but never really competed. To the point that to try and offer a review of their four races apiece would be like trying to rate a series of 24 based on the first two minutes of hour one. Only a series of 24 that inexplicably got cancelled after four episodes, right on a massive cliff-hanger.
High point - Actually turning up in Melbourne.
Low point - Actually turning up in Melbourne.
Patty Verdict - n/a
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