The 5 best performed drivers

'Lewis wins..', 'Vet-trick', 'Alonso Rules..', 'Jenson emerges winner of..'. These are the names that F1 would usually, or in the most cases be associated with. And its the inevitable, because these are today's F1 greats! But if it hadn't been for 2012, Formula 1 would, for many many years continue to be associated with the same old drivers. Which would be wrong because there's no change. But luckily for the sport, Bernie and us fans, this season hosted different and unexpected winners and podium finishers. This is the first spark needed to create fire. I pick out the 5 best performances of the season and those I hope will help create a new trend..

Sergio Perez

Its pretty clear and evident after the 'McLaren move' why Sergio is one of today's 'keep in sight' drivers. Firstly, to go straight with he starting sentence, McLaren never make mistakes in choosing their drivers. They choose the best always. And since they chose Perez.. you can go with the notion there's a spark in him.
Secondly, he has proven himself this season. And we know that too. Podium finishes in Malaysia, Canada and Monza along with a fastest lap in Monaco. Saturdays have been cruel to him, but on  Sunday, seeing Perez finish P5 or P6 from P15 or P17 on Saturday was the usual. But he isn't perfect. Making a move to McLaren means, you've got to make lesser driver errors, which McLaren will help him learn.

Kamui Kobayashi 

Kobayashi's real skill and talent was shone only this year. A flawless drive to 3rd in his home grand prix, Japan and to go with that 9 top 10 finishes. He had a good start this season in Australia, though he managed only a  P6, his race pace and style saw people jaw dropping. Followed by a series of a rather disappointing weekends, he was back in form at the German Grand Prix where he finished P5 but due to a post race penalty for Sebastian Vettel, he moved into P4. After a good season for him and the team, we'd expect Kamui stay in F1 in the future. But unfortunately he lost his seat to Nico Hulkenberg. And as of nw, he's without a race seat for 2013.

Nico Hulkenberg 

Back again in F1, this time with the Force India, is Nico Hulkenberg. Phenomenal drive behind the wheel and brilliant overtakes. No podium finishes in 2012, but he is in the podium contention list now. Valencia, Belgium and Brazil were his star performances. If it hadn't been for Nico's driving misjudgement, we would've seen a 9th different winner this season in Brazil. He's beaten his teammate occasionally and has been a 'watch out for' this season and will be in 2013 too.

Romain Grosjean  

You may be wondering if something was wrong with me. But no, nothing is. And yes, Romain Grosjean does deserve to be in the top 5 performances this year. 'First lap nutcase' he is popularly known as. And no denail that he is. who could ever forget what happened at Spa? Romain didnt have the best year, after crashing in almost every race, and erratic driving in some. Out of the 20 races, he retired in 7, finished out of the points in just 1 race and rest of the 12 races, he finished always in the top 7.  He is an exceptional driver and does have the charge to win. After being crowned champion of champions at the race of champions last week, Lotus has once again given him a chance to shine in their team in 2013. But this is F1, this is where you can't predict until you see.. so we'll see how Roamin goes next year.

Kimi Raikkonen

The Iceman returns!!! and with a bang! The only difference between the 2007 championship winnning Kimi and the 2012 Kimi is that this year his overalls are black and gold. He's got the same pace and the same hunger to win as he had in 2007. He's finished EVERY race this season. 100% finishes and 100% car reliability. The only race where he took the chequered out of the points was in China. 7 podium finishes and 1 race win put him 3rd in the WDC. Kimi's 2012 season can be compared to Sebastian Vettel's 2011 season in a way. They both had good cars and finished top 10 nearly every race.. (though Vettel's case was top 3 every race) A brilliant comeback for Kimi and next year would probably be the year where he'll be fighting for his 2nd championship.

Along with these 5 names, there is Pastor Maldonado and Paul di Resta too. And then there are the greats in F1.. Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button who unarguably are perfect* in what they do.

*conditions apply

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