Sir Lewis Hamilton was the only driver who declined to vote for the Formula 1 Driver of the Year award as Max Verstappen won the award for the third consecutive year.
Max Verstappen emerged as the winner of the annual Formula 1 Driver of the Year award with all of his fellow drivers save Lewis Hamilton congratulating him for his outstanding season-long performance.
The F1 Driver of the Year voting procedure involves the 20 drivers on the grid ranking their fellow drivers anonymously according to performance using the conventional F1 points system.
A driver is named F1 Driver of the Year based on the number of points they receive, which are awarded based on rankings.
Since the drivers themselves provide their judgments on their colleagues’ abilities and season-long influence, this system provides an independent point of view. The procedure is also anonymous, so there is no likelihood of the process being scrutinized by the public.
Verstappen solidified his status as F1’s best driver with his dominant 2023 campaign, which culminated in his championship win in Qatar with five races left in the season.
Verstappen’s former championship rival Lewis Hamilton moved up to second place, one spot above his 2022 rating. This came after he piloted a Mercedes that was plagued by performance issues to finish in third place in the drivers’ standings.
Hamilton has won the award eight times, but this time he declined to participate in the vote. However, the seven-time world champion was still able to get votes from his peers despite not participating in the vote.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso placed third, moving up three spots from the year before as McLaren’s Lando Norris took fourth. This comes after both drivers endured very competitive individual campaigns that resulted in eight and seven podiums, respectively.
McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri made an impression with an eighth-place finish. Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly made a noteworthy appearance finishing in ninth place, two places higher than the position he held in the drivers’ championship during his first season with Alpine.
Sergio Perez ranked two places down in tenth place compared to the previous year, despite leading Red Bull to their first-ever 1-2 finish in the standings and taking second place in the drivers’ championship.
