F1 bosses vote Hamilton as best driver

Lewis Hamilton has been voted the best driver of the 2017 season by Formula One team bosses such as Christian Horner, Toto Wolff, and Maurizio Arrivabene in a poll conducted by Motorsport.com, but it was a disappointing result for his team-mate Valtteri Bottas who dropped down a position from last year to 10th.

The Mercedes driver won the world championship this season with the Silver Arrows which takes his career tally to four, while this is the fourth consecutive year he has won the best driver vote decided by the team bosses.

The voting system is the same as used in Formula One Grand Prix races. Hamilton won nine races in his championship-winning season and topped the vote after scoring an impressive 233 points out of a possible 250, while Max Verstappen of Red Bull retained his second-place position after scoring 143.

This is one point less than what Hamilton received last year, but the field has been reduced by one this year due to the departure of the Manor team, so it is still a dominant vote in favour of the Englishman.

Sebastian Vettel enjoyed a decent vote as he climbed two places from last year from fifth to third, only two points adrift of Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull slotted in at fourth - the same position as last season.

Apart from Hamilton, the most impressive result was arguably for Esteban Ocon who was voted in at fifth in his debut campaign.

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were voted sixth and seventh again, making no change from last year, with Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg in behind.

Mercedes may have enjoyed a good result via Hamilton, but it was a disappointing vote for Bottas who came in at tenth despite winning three races in the campaign.

The vote:

The voters:

Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Maurizio Arrivabene, Ferrari
Christian Horner, Red Bull
Vijay Mallya, Force India
Claire Williams, Williams
Cyril Abiteboul, Renault
Franz Tost, Toro Rosso
Gunther Steiner, Haas
Eric Boullier, McLaren
Fred Vasseur, Sauber