Our Top 50 drivers of the year… (40th to 31st)

Find all the sections of our Top 50: 

Our Top 50 drivers of the year: 50th to 41st (1/5)
Our Top 50 drivers of the year: 30th to 21st (3/5)
Our Top 50 drivers of the year: 20th to 11st (4/5)
Our Top 50 drivers of the year: 10th to 1st (5/5)

40. James Calado (GBR)

Champion WEC (GTE Pro)

With a double 24 Hours of Le Mans and world championshipEndurance, James Calado signed a full season with AF Corse. The Italian team won the title and was represented on all the podiums by the Englishman and his teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi, a first in the GTE Pro category. If this is his second success in these two competitions, it is the first time that the Briton has achieved the double in the same exercise. Aged 32, the native of Crotphorne had already been crowned champion in 2017 and in Sarthe in 2019. It is a shame that the final of the 8 Hours of Bahrain ended in controversy following the collision involving his partner and Michael Christensen at the wheel of the Porsche n°91, in the fight for the title with the Italian-British duo of AF Corse…

James Calado. © Florent Gooden / DPPI

39. Dries Vanthoor (BEL)
GT World Challenge & GT World Challenge Sprint Cup Champion

Reigning champion in the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup, Dries Vanthoor retained his title in 2021 alongside Charles Weerts by adding the general classification of the series this year with WRT, dominating almost everywhere this season. The Belgian structure only failed in the Endurance Cup with a third place, again with the driver from across Quiévrain. The cadet of Laurens Vanthoor had a successful Sprint campaign with four successes in ten races, winning at Magny-Cours (first round), Misano (both rounds) and Brands Hatch (first round). His second participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans went less well for the 23-year-old driver, from Heusden-Zolder, with a premature retirement on the 227th lap.

Dries Vanthoor. © François Flamand / DPPI

38. Isack Hadjar (FRA)
Best FRECA rookie

He is one of the great revelations of the season. After two years of F4 France punctuated in 3rd position in a very tough 2020 vintage, the Habs broke the screen in F3 Asia last winter, signing five podiums in nine races against drivers competing in F2as an Guanyu-Zhou who will go F1 next year. He especially made an impression in Monaco, by being on a different pace than the others all weekend. Result: a pole and a victory, and a signing with Red Bull in the process. Opposed to Gabriele Mini in the rookie championship, he won the title of best beginner by signing two victories and four podiums, which also earned him a promising 5th place in the general classification of the series. Performances that will allow it to rise in Formula 3 next season.

Isack Hadjar. © Red Bull

37. Colton Herta
5th of theIndyCar, 3 victories

We expected better from Colton Herta in 2021. Having become the youngest winner in the North American single-seater series in 2019 at just 18 years old, the son of Bryan Herta concluded the 2020 financial year in third place, and entered the following season as an asset major player in the Andretti armada against the Penske and Chip Ganassi teams. However, he had difficulty accepting the emergence of his teammate (and future champion) Alex Palou at the start of the season, between uninspired strategies, mechanical problems and driving errors. The 21-year-old Californian learned adversity, like in Nashville, where he went into the background wanting to regain the lead at the end of the race. However, the final sprint was the opportunity for him to claim two successes in a row at Laguna Seca and Long Beach; enough to restore the confidence to continue its momentum?

Colton Herta. © Indycar media

36. Felipe Nasr (BRÉ)
Champion IMSA

It's difficult to dissociate Felipe Nasr from his partner Pipo Derani. With three victories in the last five races of the year, the Auriverde duo finished strong a season that had started poorly in IMSA to beat Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor in the championship during the final meeting at Petit Le Mans, their second title in WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after 2018, already with Whelen Engineering Racing. The Brazilian had put his team on track to close the gap with Wayne Taylor Racing in the general classification by placing the Cadillac in first place for the start of the last round of the 2021 campaign before finishing 2nd. Enough to secure the crown. The native of Brasilia was decisive in the qualifying exercise this year since he signed no less than five pole positions. So many results which allowed him to become a development driver for Porsche's LMDh program.

Felipe Nasr, with his partner Pipo Derani. © IMSA

35. Tomoki Nojiri (JAP)
Super Formula winner

Aged 32, the Japanese driver won the most important title of his career this season, by winning the Super Formula. The Mugen Honda team representative seemed untouchable and dominated the championship from start to finish, winning three of the seven races, including the opening round at Fuji. Tomoki Nojiri was even assured of the coronation before participating in the seventh and final event at Suzuka. A rare performance since we have to go back to 2009 to find traces of such a feat with the Frenchman's victory. Loïc duval in this discipline. Next year, the one who beat Yuhi Sekiguchi and Nirei Fukuzumi in the championship will put their title on the line. 

Tomoki Nojiri. © Super Formula

34. Scott McLaughlin (NZL)
14th and rookie of the year in IndyCar

After proving himself in Supercars where he was crowned champion three times in 8 full seasons, Scott McLaughlin decided to leave his comfort zone to try a new experience. Headed to the United States where Scottie signed a contract with Penske to prove himself in IndyCar, his first real experience in car. On the other side of the Pacific, the New Zealander's apprenticeship, under the tutelage of Roger Penske, went rather well. Present on a podium from his third race, his first on an oval (Texas), Scott McLaughlin subsequently obtained encouraging results with 3 Top 10s and a nice 4th place at Gateway at the end of the year guaranteeing him the rookie title of the year in Uncle Sam's country in front of a certain Romain Grosjean.

Scott McLaughlin. ©Team Penske

33. Côme Ledogar (FRA)
Winner of the 24 Hours of Spa & 24 Hours of Le Mans (GTE Pro)

Coming out victorious in a rainy edition of the 24 Hours of Spa is in itself quite an achievement. But what about a double at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (GTE Pro) three weeks apart? Poleman in the Sarthe in the GTE Am class in 2020, Côme Ledogar exploded onto the front of the Endurance GT scene in 2021. More mature after a discreet period, the Haut-Savoyard, now team manager of his own structure in Porsche Carrera Cup (CLRT), is entering its best years. Engaged by AF Corse in these two legendary summer events, Côme Ledogar did well to devote himself exclusively to Ferrari, when we know that the Prancing Horse will return to the premier category at Le Mans in 2023…

32. Patricio O’Ward (MEX)
3rd in IndyCar

Like Alex Palou, “Pato” O’Ward sparkled in IndyCar for his second season. Like the Spaniard, he received his first laurels in 2021 and fought for the title until the final. Without a doubt, the 22-year-old would have been even more excellent if IndyCar roamed the ovals as much as in the 2000s. The Mexican indeed won the AJ Foyt Cup for the most efficient driver on the ovals. . Fourth in the Indianapolis 500, he will have no other ambition in 2022 than to triumph at the Brickyard as well as at the end of the year at Laguna Seca, while waiting to cross the Atlantic; Zak Brown offered him the young driver tests in Abu Dhabi with the McLaren. Officially, it is only a gift to congratulate him on his performance, but a test in F1 is never free.

Patricio O'Ward. ©Indycar Media

31. Yann Ehrlacher (FRA)
World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) winner

His uncle, Yvan Muller, has the best track record in world tourism (4 titles). But at only 25 years old, Yann Ehrlacher is already halfway there. The Alsatian took on a new dimension in 2021. Despite internal adversity at Lynk & Co, the son of Cathy Muller always seemed in control of the situation to sign a second consecutive WTCR title. Well brought up, well surrounded, Yann Ehrlacher can transform into a “racer” and jostle, as his race in the peloton at Pau-Arnos proved. In a competition where clashes are commonplace, he has never finished higher than 10th place and has always seen the finish in 16 races!

Yann Ehrlacher © Evgeniy Safronov / DPPI