Our Top 50 drivers of the year… (50th to 41st)

Find all the sections of our Top 50: 

Our Top 50 drivers of the year: 40th to 31st (2/5)
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)

50. Kyle Kirkwood (USA) 
Champion Indy Lights 

Already very lively in his previous years, Kyle Kirkwood once again confirmed the expectations placed on him this season. After consecutively winning the USF2000 in 2018 and the Indy Pro 2000 two years ago, the American reached a new level by winning the Indy Lights hands down. With Andretti Autorsport, the Floridian won 10 of the 20 championship races, finishing in first place with 537 points ahead of his compatriot David Malukas. Promise has a very bright future in Indycar, he announced at the beginning of November that he was taking charge of AJ Foyt Racing. There is no doubt that Kyle Kirkwood will very quickly play the leading roles on the upper level. 

Kyle Kirkwood. © Indy Lights

49. Jamie Chadwick (GBR)
W Series Champion

Already winner of the W Series when it was launched in 2019, the Briton did it again this year, after the cancellation of the championship in 2020. Engaged in a tough fight against her compatriot Alice Powell, the member of the Williams Academy was able to make the difference during the last two rounds of the year in the United States. In seven races, she won four, and only missed the podium once, at the first round of the year. Also entered in Extreme E, she scored a podium in Senegal with Stephane Sarrazin. 

Jamie Chadwick © Joao Filipe / DPPI

48. Victor Martins (FRA)
Best rookie of the F3

Last historic winner of Formula Renault Eurocup, the Tricolore made its debut in F3 in 2021. Highly rated, but with an unlimited budget, Victor Martins spent the season with MP Motorsport, a team which has never taken a driver beyond the 9th place in this championship. And again, it was a repeater, Richard Verschoor. But with his sidekick Caio Collet, Victor was able to be a driving force within the Dutch team to enable it to take a leap forward. The 2016 world kart champion finished 5th in the championship with 1 victory and 5 podiums, but above all the title of rookie of the year. In 2022, he will aim for the Grail, probably with the French team ART Grand Prix.

📻 “FINALLY!”

YES VICTORY by Victor Martins at #DutchGP ! 😍🏆🇫🇷 #F3 pic.twitter.com/HWRxv9Yoz7

- CANAL + Sport (@CanalplusSport) September 4, 2021

47. Robert Shwartzman (RUS)
Vice-champion of F2

Ultimately, Robert Shwartzman's only fault was to have fallen the same year as his meteoric teammate Oscar piastri. After impressing during his first F2 campaign in 2020, which saw him win four times and lead the championship for a good part of the year, the Russian sinned due to a lack of consistency. In 2021, he was able to find consistency in the second part of the season, not leaving the top 6 during the last eleven races. Compared to his five-time pole-sitter teammate, the Russian lacked pace in qualifying, in addition to avoidable errors in Bahrain and Monaco. He left F2 after two great years and six victories in total, with an honorary title of vice-champion, and will take off towards new horizons in 2022.

Robert Shwartzman. © Xavi Bonilla / DPPI

46. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS)
Winner of the Italian Grand Prix, 8th in Formula 1

What is a Grand Prix winner doing in 46th position in our ranking, after having helped a team win for the first time in nine years? Winner at Monza of a historic Grand Prix which saw McLaren signing a fantastic double, Daniel Ricciardo won his 8th success, three years after his previous one obtained in Monaco in 2018 with Red Bull. A remarkable performance, but which will unfortunately remain as the one and only highlight of the season for the man who has the most beautiful smile in the paddock. The rest of the time, the Perth native was outclassed by his teammate's talent Lando Norris. Its difficulties largely explain McLaren's loss of third place in the Constructors' standings. 

45. Grégoire Saucy (SUI)
FRECA Champion

By outperforming the first edition of the FRECA, the Swiss demonstrated that it was never too late to reveal yourself. Present in the pyramid of car for four years, Grégoire was competing this year in only his second full campaign in the category. As a result, within the French ART Grand Prix team, he outperformed the competition. 68 points ahead of his runner-up Hadrien David, ten podiums in twenty races, eight pole positions and as many victories... his record is relentless. Whoever turns 22 on December 29 will remain with ART Grand Prix, but in Formula 3, at the higher level. The Helvetian is one of the great surprises of the season. His last year in Formula Renault had given us a glimpse of good qualities (7th), but we did not expect to see him so sovereign.

First career title for Grégoire Saucy. ©FRECA

44. Valtteri Bottas (END)
3rd F1 world championship, 1 victory

The Finn experienced a contrasting 5th and final season with Mercedes. Often unlucky (the pit stops in Bahrain and Monaco, his collision at Imola, his engine penalties, the puncture at Losail), sometimes disappointing (12th in Baku, 6th in Abu Dhabi) even clumsy (his slip in the Styrian pits, his strike in Budapest), the Finn seemed to green up again after the announcement of his departure for Alfa Romeo, signing an authoritarian victory in Istanbul. His 4 pole positions, one less thanHamilton, speak for him, but what did he do with it in the end? We had the right to expect a little more, for what was surely his last chance to get involved in the fight for the title.

Valtteri Bottas. © Antonin Vincent / DPPI

43. Yohan Rossel (FRA) 
WRC3 world champion
Co-piloted by Jacques-Julien Rennuci

Yohan Rossel's season will have kept us in suspense until the final moments! The Frenchman was in the fight for the WRC3 title with Kajetan Kajetanowicz and the two drivers arrived at Monza, during the final round this year, with the same number of points. The Nîmes rider reversed the trend during an exceptional Power Stage to move up the rankings and definitively overtake the Pole. After a year of discovery in WRC3, the first member of AUTOhebdo's Rookie Academy won three rallies in 2021. In Monte-Carlo, Italy and Belgium. “Winning the title is something incredible, I don’t have the words” savored the 26-year-old pilot. More than ever, the representative of Saintéloc Racing is ready to take the plunge into WRC2.

Yohan Rossel. © Nikos Katikis / DPPI

42. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)
Winner of Rally of Andalusia and the Rally of Morocco

Nasser Al-Attiyah's only problem is that he won everything in 2021... except "THE" supreme race on the program, the Dakar. If we analyze the Qatari's results solely in terms of the winter meeting, then the pilot Toyota comes out with a “good” rating. But that would quickly forget the avalanche of punctures suffered by the Toyota Hilux as well as the rest of the rally-raid season. Always navigated to perfection by Mathieu Baumel, Nasser Al-Attiyah dominated Carlos Sainz at home in Andalusia, then Yazeed Al-Rajhi in Morocco and at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Ah, and he also beat Sébastien to the wire Loeb during the Baja Aragon. For 2022, the T1+ version of the Hilux, with larger tires and greater suspension travel, should allow it to pass through the Saudi desert more easily.

Nasser Al-Attiyah. © Julien Delfosse / DPPI

41. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) 
Champion in ERC and WRC2

This is certainly the most accomplished and successful season for Andreas Mikkelsen since the start of his career. To put it simply, the Norwegian driver won WRC2 and the ERC in the same week. At the start of the year, he expressed his doubts about his ability to obtain results in both disciplines. We can easily say that Mikkelsen succeeded in his mission with flying colors. In ERC, the Oslo native won two rallies (Açores and Serras de Fafe) while in WRC2 he scored three successes (in Monte-Carlo, Estonia and Greece). Great performances for the representative of the Toksport WRT team but unfortunately this will not be enough to allow him to race full time in WRC in 2022. 

Andreas Mikkelsen. © Nikos Katikis / DPPI