Motorsport top 10

Leaders of the pack

There's little left to say about the Brit’s success in 2007 that hasn’t already been said. To enter Formula One at the top level and perform with such consistent excellence is what makes him our number one driver of the year. He proved to be a tenacious opponent, capable of either making up places or winning races from the front. He could perform in both wet and dry conditions, and under extreme pressure. Only at the last race of the year in Brazil did he make the kind of rookie errors we were expecting at the start of 2007.

He's not called the Michael Schumacher of touring cars for no reason, having picked up his third WTCC title in a row in 2007. And he had Schuey-like luck at the last race of the year, when his two main rivals for the title retired through no fault of their own. Even so, in a series that rewards consistency as well as speed, he was one step ahead of the opposition. Even after two rounds where he failed to score a point, he refused to give up, coming back stronger each time.

The Finn was a contender for top spot here; only the time it took him to get to grips with his Ferrari held him back. It meant that halfway through the year, he looked out of title contention. Then, at the US GP, he finally unlocked the Ferrari’s true potential. Despite wins in France and Britain, the gap didn’t fall that dramatically, thanks to big scores from Hamilton and Alonso. But Kimi refused to give up, took five wins from the final 10 races, and rounded out the season a worthy world champion.

After a decade in top-line single-seater racing, Franchitti came good, tapping into a previously undiscovered consistency to string together a challenge for the IndyCar title. Despite winning four races, including the Indianapolis 500, he still seemed set on sabotaging his own chances with some scrappy races towards the end of the year. It doesn’t do his driving justice that he eventually won the title only because rival Scott Dixon’s car ran out of fuel on the final lap of the last race.

Despite playing catch-up throughout the British Touring Car season, the Italian never lost heart, and proved exactly why he’s a multiple champion in this discipline. Admittedly, he was lucky in the last round that main rival Jason Plato was suffering from debilitating burns and was held up by his arch enemy, Matt Neal. But Giovanardi had plugged away all year, honed the Vectra to his liking and won a third of the season’s 30 races in his efforts to narrow Plato’s fast start.

It would be easy to under­estimate Frenchman Loeb because of the relative lack of opposition he faced in this season’s World Rally Championship. But the number of crashes he had over the year show the consistent pressure he was under from his main rival, Marcus Gronholm. In the end, it was the Finnish driver who cracked first, leaving Loeb to triumph with his fourth title.

His ‘slow’ start to the US ChampCar season, as he became used to the one-make series’ new car, lasted all of two races. Then he hit his stride and won four on the trot. He eventually triumphed in eight of the year’s 14 rounds, and took an unprecedented fourth title in a row. A lack of truly top-line rivals shouldn’t diminish this remarkable achievement.

Thommo is on this list as he was a consistent front-runner in the competitive World Touring Car Championship series, even though he was driving an old Alfa Romeo that was run on a tiny budget. Despite the odds, he came third in the overall standings with two wins, a second and five third places.

Yes, the Scot won his class for Audi in the American Le Mans Series for the third year on the trot. But it was his performance at Le Mans that really stood out, and puts him on our list. Along with Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello, McNish pummelled the opposition for 17 hours, until a freak wheel failure ended their domination.

The German’s total composure during 2007 was a world away from the mistake- prone driver we had all seen in the previous season. His pace in the Williams led directly to team-mate Alex Wurz’s retirement from the sport. And his strong finish to the year, where he beat the BMWs in a straight fight during the last race, proved he’s a superstar in waiting.