Top ten British racing drivers for 2008

Hamilton scored nine consecutive podiums on his debut, led more laps than anyone else in F1 this year and won four races

Lewis Hamilton came oh-so close to winning the Formula 1 title on his debut, while Andy Priaulx triumphed for a third time in the World Touring Car Championship.

But who was the very best in 2007? Trackside’s Keith Collantine gives his verdict.

1 Lewis Hamilton

What more can be said about the stunning Lewis Hamilton? He scored nine consecutive podiums on his debut, led more laps than anyone else in F1 this year and won four races.

A mini-backlash followed his galling defeat in the final two rounds, suggesting he threw away his shot at championship victory. But the other title contenders as many (if not, more) mistakes as he did over the course of the year.

Within the first two races he had embarrassed all three of his major rivals with impudent first-corner passes. He may have missed out on the title by a single point, but he was the man of the year in motor sport.

2 Andy Priaulx

The 2007 World Touring Car Championship was not supposed to go to Andy Priaulx and BMW. But while the series organisers did their best to tilt the playing field in favour of Priaulx’s rivals, he prevailed to claim his third world title in a row.

Some claimed he was lucky rival Yvan Muller suffered car failure in the finale. But Priaulx had plenty of misfortune of his own this year, yet overcame it in style.

3 Jason Plato

At the end of this year’s British Touring Car Championship everyone was saying it was a shame the title couldn’t be shared by Plato and rival Fabrizio Giovanardi, because both drove impeccably.

Over the course of the season Giovanardi’s Vauxhall Vectra was fractionally quicker than Plato’s Seat Leon, which proved decisive. But it took Giovanardi until the final round to wrest the lead of the championship from Plato, the British driver scoring in all 30 races.

4 Jenson Button

This year’s Honda was a howler, but the fact Button still drove magnificently was a reminder of his class. Whenever it rained Button’s skill brought the car to the front of the field and his fifth place in Shanghai must have felt like a victory.

He’s kept the faith with Honda and has been rewarded by the arrival of top team manager Ross Brawn for next year.

5 Paul di Resta

Di Resta won the Formula Three Euroseries the year after Lewis Hamilton, and he clearly deserves better than racing a two year-old car in the German Touring Car Championship.

Nevertheless he scored an improbable victory in his 2005-spec car and should get promoted to the top team next year.

6 David Coulthard

Many expected Coulthard’s new team mate Mark Webber to show him the way in 2007, but Coulthard ended the season with more points.

Admittedly Webber suffered the worst of Red Bull’s unreliability. But Coulthard raced hard, slicing through the field at Bahrain and scoring an impressive fifth in Barcelona despite gearbox problems.

7 James Thompson

Andy Priaulx may have been the star of the World Touring Car Championship yet again, but ‘Thommo’ put in some giant-killing performances in his now very dated Alfa Romeo.

He was the only driver to win two races in the same weekend all year, with a brilliant performance in Valencia.

8 Colin Turkington

Turkington’s West Surrey Racing team had a tricky new car to get to grips with in 2007. The rear-wheel drive BMW 3 Series gave them a few headaches, especially when Turkington was disqualified from victory at Snetterton for a technical infringement.

But they persevered, took three (official) wins and impressed on their occasional forays into the World Touring Car Championship.

9 Anthony Davidson

Britain’s unsung Formula 1 hero. Davidson usually had the upper hand over Super Aguri team mate Takuma Sato, despite the Japanese team being entirely geared towards its Japanese driver.

Davidson’s qualifying lap at Istanbul was sheer magic – and he would have scored big points in Canada had he not struck a groundhog that ran onto the track…

10 Dan Wheldon

At the start of the year it looked like Wheldon was going to easily reclaim the Indy Racing League title he won in 2005.

But after two wins in the first four races he fell out of contention and it was team mate Scott Dixon who took the fight for the title down to the final round.

Honorary mentions

Justin Wilson took a single win in the Champ Car World Series in America, and is tipped to join champions Newman Haas Lanigan Racing next year.

Also making waves in America is Alex Lloyd, who is looking to follow in Dan Wheldon’s footsteps after winning the junior Indy Pro Series.

Last year’s British F3 champion Mike Conway had a difficult debut season in GP2, fraught with misfortune, but Honda showed faith in the driver by giving him a test for their F1 team.

Who do you think were Britain’s best racing divers of 2007? Have your say on the Auto Trader blog.