| McLaren-Mercedes |
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|
 1
Mika Hakkinen (Finland)
By
his own exceptional standards, Mika has gone strangely off the boil,
with his confidence seemingly dented by Schumacher's phenomenal
start to the season. But even more surprising is his surrender of
the initative within the confines of his own garage. Defending his
championship with more of a whimper than a fight at the moment. |
 2
David Coulthard (Britain)
Almost the surprise package of the season so far,
critics scoffed when Coulthard claimed he could re-invent himself
to become meaner, faster, harder and more successful in 2000, after
supplying an admirable supporting role for Hakkinen's two world
titles. But that miraculous plane crash escape may just have swung
the pendulum. |
| Ferrari |
 |
|
 3
Michael Schumacher (Germany)
The hot favourite for the 2000 drivers championship
even before a wheel was turned, Schumacher has lived up to his billing,invariably
outperforming his 21 inferiors on the grid. The definitive man to
beat is well on his way to that elusive first title for Ferrari
- barring any misfortune. But didn't we say that last year? |
 4
Rubens Barrichello (Brazil)
Despite the bullish pre-season claims they've got
equal status, all the expectation is on Michael to bring Ferrari
success, and the peerless German has delivered it. Rubens is playing
an excellent supporting role, and is certainly proving to be a more
seamless cog in the Ferrari gearbox of success than his headstrong
predecessor. |
| Jordan-Mugen
Honda |
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|
 5
Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany)
Finally proved his quality with a couple of wins
in 1999, but some lapses in reliability have undermined the Jordan's
progress this term. Closing the gap to Ferrari and McLaren was their
main objective this campaign, and Heinz-Harald badly needs some
results to build
on last season's upward turn. |
 6
Jarno Trulli (Italy)
A brilliant qualifying performance at Monaco has
so far been the highlight of Jarno's first season in a truly competitive
car, somewhat hampered by Jordan's achillees heel - their gearbox.
But his early-career credentials are impeccable, and as Eddie Jordan
tends to bring the very best out of his drivers, there's undoubtedly
more to come. |
| Jaguar-Cosworth |
 |
|
 7
Eddie Irvine (Britain)
Despite a disappointing start to the season, after
an even more disappointing end to last season, the laid-back Ulsterman
has wrung some decent qualifying performances from an unreliable
and consequently underdeveloped car. Things haven't gone as the
big Cat had been hoping, but on a personal level, Irvine can't be
to blame. |
 8
Johnny Herbert (Britain)
The Johnny Herbert-sized raincloud that has blighted
most of his eleven years in F1 has continued to darken and condense
this year, despite his team's change of ownership. Johnny has suffered
from appalling reliability so far, the consequent lack of testing
explaining why he's been so far off the pace when his car hasn't
ground to a halt. |
| Williams-BMW |
 |
|
 9
Ralf Schumacher (Germany)
Ralf has raised a few eyebrows as the BMW engine
has been both powerful and reliable from the word go. A very consistent
start to the season was upset by a crash at Monaco, and Ralf
needs some good finishes to get his season back on track. But he
should be bang on the pace by the end of the season. |
 10
Jenson Button (Britain
Britain's youngest ever F1 driver was quick to impress
with pace, racecraft and maturity that belied his lack of experience.
But a lack of consistency in
recent races - as question marks over his
future at Williams - have overshadowed Jenson's efforts. He seemingly
needs them answered before continuing to make a name for himself. |
| Benetton |
 |
|
 11
Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy)
Giancarlo has got his stagnated F1 career back on
track this season with some remarkably consistent and tactically
astute performances.
Quickly gaining a reputation as the most mechanically sympathetic
driver since Alain Prost, he was the only driver to finish the first
8 races of the season. As the addage implies, to finish first, you
must first finish. |
 12
Alexander Wurz (Austria)
Has been comprehensively eclipsed by Fisichella in
just about every department so far this season, Alex now has everything
to prove. Hasn't lived up to his impressive F1 introduction in 1997,
and his place in the team will be under threat unless he moves his
personal performances up by several gears. |
| Prost-Peugeot |
 |
|
 14
Jean Alesi (France)
The mercurial French-Sicilian was worthy of far more
than the '99 Sauber could ever deliver, but unfortunately the gallic
partership of Prost and Peugoet have produced a pretty lame excuse
of an F1 car in 2000. Let's hope his career doesn't begin to fizzle
out - that solitary win for Ferrari in Canada must seem a lot longer
than five years ago. |
 15
Nick Heidfeld (Germany)
Has been untimely enough to make his F1 debut in
a team having their least competitve season for over a decade, but
even so, last year's runaway F3000 champ hasn't lived up to the
expectation he generated in 1999. On
a year's loan from Mercedes, he'll be banking on a move to bigger
and better things in 2001. |
| Sauber-Petronas |
 |
|
 16
Pedro Diniz (Brazil)
The under-rated Brazilian quietly managed to further
repair his less-than-worthy image last season, after a nightmare
debut in 1995 left him as the punchline to an unhealthy number of
jokes. Actually being paid to race for the first time
in his six-year career, illustrates
his progress. |
 17
Mika Salo (Finland)
One man's loss is another's gain, and Mika seized
his opportunity at Ferrari
last year with both hands - resuscitating
an F1 career that had started off brightly and gone nowhere since.
Remember he was every bit as good as namesake Hakkinen in British
F3 back in 1990. |
| Arrows-Supertec |
 |
|
 18
Pedro de la Rosa (Spain)
Pedro
has turned in some very impressive performances this season already
- helped by some big investment from Orange and a car that is remarkably
quick in a straight line. Results and reliability have been a bit
thin on the ground, but there's certainly more potential in this
driver/car combination than was evident a year ago. |
 19
Jos Verstappen
(Holland)
Has endured a nomadic F1 career so far, but with
the Arrows-Supertec exceeding all expectations this season, this
could be the start of a stable period that his career has perhaps
needed. The Flying Dutchman certainly needs to finish more races
- being caught up in the hectic midfield battleground certainly
has it's disadvantages. |
| Minardi-Ford |
 |
|
 20
Marc Gene
(Spain)
The latest in a long line of promising newcomers
to quietly impress whilst learn their trade with F1's bargain-basement
team, Gene, and Minardi as a whole, deserve a whole lot more than
the level of funding they enjoy. The chassis is good, but with a
vastly outdated powerplant, this team are never going to move very
far up the grid. |
 21
Gaston Mazzacane (Argentina)
Gaston came into F1 as an unknown quantity who some
thought landed the Minardi drive through sponsorship instead of
good, old-fashioned talent. But he's given his teammate a run for
his money, which considering Minardi's finances - their budget wouldn't
cover the hospitality costs for some teams - is all he could have
expected. |
| BAR-Honda |
 |
|
 22
Jacques Villeneuve (Canada)
The 1997 World Champion made it very clear that only a vast upturn
in reliability - and consequently in performance - would do. BAR
have definately moved in the right direction, but whether it has
been sufficient to keep their trump card for a third season - remains
to be seen. |
 23
Ricardo Zonta (Brazil)
The young Brazilian emerged unscathed from two huge
accidents in a difficult debut season - but will have been encouraged
by the speed he showed inbetween. Last year's equipment gave him
room for improvement, and he should build on that potential. His
over-zealous team are much closer to where they claimed they'd be
straight away. |
