It's that time again where every aspect of a drivers season goes under the microscope and they get ranked in order of worst to best to find out who really was the best driver of the 2017 Formula Virtual season. Once again the drivers performance against their team mate, their average performances in qualifyings and races, and for the first time ever their performance against their cars average have been taken into account to produce a mathematical answer to the best drivers of 2017, and as ever these are combined with personal opinion as the stats did not watch the races. Only drivers who completed over half the season are ranked, so without further ado... 26. James HardingNever really stood a chance against Elroy Wagner. Harding was totally outclassed all season and only got ahead once - in an off-colour weekend for the German at Indianapolis. Points in Malaysia were a high point but his only of the season, while the heavy impact he suffered when hit by another car in China would have dented his confidence, and ruled him out of the following race in France. 25. Aleksy NowosinkiFaired okay against Judson Sikes while at North Star but switch to Ocelot seemingly demotivated him, and was consistently outperformed by Jochem van Snelheid. Came good at Silverstone with a strong fourth on the grid followed by a best ever finish of seventh, but was them dumped for Beckenbauer and spent five of the final nine races retiring his Ocelot. 24. Felix BeyerAfter an impressively dominant season against Lewis Ellington in 2016, Felix Beyer had former Championship contender Will Hoskins to deal with in 2017, and faired nowhere near as strongly. Seventh in China was the best result but it was a season of very few high points, as even his famous wet pace seemed to desert the Dutchman. 23. Nikolai MilkovichNikolai Milkovich and Jean Mattson may have ended the year tied in terms of out-qualifying and out-racing one another, but that was not quite the case in the rankings. Milkovich's qualifying performances were slightly better but he struggled where it mattered in races, and at no point did he finished higher than 17th, though with an average finish of 18.85, he was one of the most consistent drivers. 22. Stuart HarrisonHarrison was another driver who could not quite match his team mate in 2017, with Johan Halvosen coming out on top for their second full year together. The American was ahead now and then but failed to get to grips with the car, though did pick up the teams best result with 11th in a chaotic Austria. 21. Olen InmanAfter running Adrien Simon close in 2016, great things were expected of Olen Inman against Carson Davenport, but while he was a match for his more experienced Portuguese team mate, he was not as impressive as expected. A lacklustre season was largely down to the car, but his high point came - as many - in Austria, with a thirteenth that ensured he would beat his team mate in the Championship. 20. Jochem van SnelheidJochem van Snelheid can feel incredibly hard done by in 2017. He was first dropped by Franklin after just three races despite taking a pole position and a podium, and then by Ocelot at the end of the season - despite outperforming his team mates at both teams in at least one area. Malaysia was the obvious high point but a win did slip through his fingers, while everything post-Japan was low, even if he did have the comfortable beating of Nowosinki. 19. Jean MattsonJean Mattson finished the race he did alongside Diego Campos in 2017 - while Milkovich did not - which is what mainly counts for the gap. They were incredibly close, but at a glance I would say Mattson just edged the battle. 14th in Germany was clearly his best results, following a strong qualifying of 20th in what was statistically Ingrams worst ever car. 18. Carson DavenportCarson Davenport had the beating of Olen Inman - but only just. The experienced Portuguese racer was strong however, and will look forward to leading new outfit Phoenix in 2018, but will have to beat the rookie on the other side of the garage. 14th in Brazil and 15th in Britain were his best two drives, but he could not hit the lucky 13th his team mate scored in Austria. 17. Judson SikesJudson Sikes started the season strong again, but the shine was very much taken off when Karl Beckenbauer arrived and put the Russian firmly in his place. However he did score his highest ever points tally and was a consistent points scorer, which he will look to continue in 2018 against new team mate Johan Halvosen. Took a stunning front row start in Portugal but the race got away from him, while his entire weekend in France was a disaster. 16. Puccio GiodanoYes, a Franklin driver is just 16th in the rankings, and for very good reason. He may well have taken three pole positions (his highlights) but he was still beaten by Ruiz in qualifying, and utterly outclassed in race trim. While Ruiz took one win (admittedly not while Giodano was in the car) and four podiums, Giodano failed to reach the rostrum on a single occasion. The Italian's high reputation preceded him and this was his big chance, but he fell flat on his face. 15. Oleksandr ZozulyaOleksandr Zozulya did incredibly well for a rookie parachuted into a car four races into the season, but it was far from good enough. The car was very strong - evident from Hutchinsons performances - and he was better than Douglas Bacon (to be fair, not difficult) but failed to outqualify his Austrian team mate even once. He finished ahead in races an equal number of times which shows impressive race pace, but his qualifying needs improving and so does his consistency. Twice he finished in a stunning second, but twice he languished in 13th. 14. Johan HalvosenJohan Halvosen was once again given a car that seemed incapable of scoring points, but unlike his stunning performances of late 2015, he could not quite drag this one into them. Nonetheless he was twelfth on three occasions and outshone Harrison once again, consistently qualifying as the best of the four teams who regularly found themselves towards the back. He was never given the chance to really shine, but he did sparkle now and then and showed he deserves a better car. 13. Hugh DwyerHugh Dwyer is the second driver in this list who failed to outqualify his team mate in the ten races he was alongside him, but he did beat Lewis Ellington five times out of seven in races, and took a stunning third place in the wacky race of Austria. Lacked some consistency but so did the team in general, and overall a solid if unspectacular job from the Canadian after a year and a half out of the series. 12. Allar KangurYes, the man who finished sixth in the Championship and took a win in his maiden season despite not being in the quickest car is just twelfth in the rankings, which means everyone ahead of his must be pretty special right? Not quite, because while Kangur did well for a rookie, he was near-annihilated by Adrien Simon. Okay, so Simon was the reigning Champion and Kangur still put in great drives, and while behind he was not that far oof - which he why he is higher up this list than the likes of Harding, Sikes and Beyer - but he needs to build on his decent start, rather than flat line. Indianapolis was a clear highlight as he finally put in a strong qualifying performance and went to take a fairly dominant win after the troubles that struck his fellow front-runners (though he likely would have won anyway), but Mexico was a disaster afterwards. 11. Finn SchnyderFinn Schnyder falls into much the same category as Kangur, except his highs were not quite as high, but he was closer to Kinnumen to the point that on occasions he beat his much more experienced Finnish team mate. Save for the odd disappointment (Spain was particularly trying) he had a solid season, but his highest and lowest points all came in one moment - Italy. He looked on to take a shock win and end Downtons winning streak, only to collide with a backmarker with just seven laps to go following an incident between other cars. He faces the in-form Karl Beckenbauer in 2018, but will surely fancy his chances.
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