P5: Carlos Sainz, McLaren 7.76/10 (163 in total)
It has been a great year for Carlos Sainz, who was pleased as punch to pick up sixth place in the final championship standings, and now goes one place better in the overall F1i ratings for 2019. It was a definite gamble for the Spaniard to switch to McLaren 12 months ago, but there's no doubt that it has paid off a treat with Sainz' best season in F1 by a long way after stints at Toro Rosso and Renault. It didn't look that way in Melbourne where he kicked off the year with a nightmare in qualifying followed by an early power unit failure in the race itself. But over the next few races he steadily improved, and he picked up his first points finish in Baku. With the exception of Canada where he just missed out, it started a run of eight points successes over the course of nine races. He flagged a little after the summer break but was back in the points in Russia, culminating with that fabulous podium in Brazil which earned him a rave 9.5 rating from F1i's post-race analysis - his third such ranking of the year after similar success in Austria and Japan. A stellar season, and one for both driver and team to build on in 2020.
