Formula 1: Sergey Sirotkin wins Best Driver of 2018 poll

Sergey Sirotkin has won Sky Sports’ Best Driver of 2018 poll, as the fans voted him as the best driver in the 2018 Formula 1 season.

Sky Sports held a poll, which recently ended as the 2018 Formula 1 season came to a close, for fans to vote on who they believe the best driver of the 2018 season was. Williams Martini Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin ended up on top in the voting.

In fact, Sirotkin ended up on top in the voting by quite a large margin. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsports’ Lewis Hamilton, who won his fifth career Formula 1 championship this year to become just the third driver in Formula 1 history to win at least five championships, finished in second place in the voting, and he finished roughly 35,900 votes behind Sirotkin (79,400 to 43,500).

No other drivers aside of Hamilton earned more than half the number of votes that Sirotkin did. This is the case despite the fact that the 23-year-old Russian, who is in his first season competing in Formula 1, finished the season in 20th (last) place in the driver standings having scored just one point in 2018.

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The one point that Sirotkin earned this season was a point that he didn’t even originally earn. He finished in 11th place in the 14th race of the season, the Italian Grand Prix, but Haas’ Romain Grosjean, who originally finished in sixth, was disqualified from the race after it concluded. As a result, Sirotkin was promoted to 10th and scored one point.

In addition to finishing in last place in the driver standings with just one point this season, Sirotkin’s average finish of 15.52 was also the lowest among all drivers.

Sirotkin isn’t even set to return to Formula 1 next year. His financial backing from SMP Racing is the primary reason why he was able to land a ride with the Grove-based team this season as the replacement for Felipe Massa, but he is set to be replaced by current Williams reserve driver Robert Kubica, who he beat out for a ride with the team for this season.

Sirotkin hasn’t even been able to outperform teammate Lance Stroll, who likely would not even have a ride in Formula 1 if not for his father Lawrence’s wallet. The 20-year-old Canadian racked up six points on two top 10 finishes and finished in 18th place in the driver standings with an average finish of 14.35.

How was Sirotkin able to end up on top of this poll with all of this considered? The answer is a two-word answer, and it isn’t “Russian collusion”. It’s “Facebook groups”.

As I stated in a recent article detailing the fact that Sirotkin was poised to end up on top of this poll after he took the lead in the voting and began to pull away from the rest of the field, I am in two heavily populated humor-based Formula 1 Facebook groups, and the members of these groups have united to vote for Sirotkin at all costs solely for the comical aspect of doing so.

While this certainly does not mean that Sirotkin is not the legitimate winner of the poll, which he is, it does mean that the likelihood that this many people actually believe he was the best driver of the 2018 season is literally nonexistent.

That said, Sky Sports still opted to award the honor to Hamilton, who they saw as the more worthy winner despite the fact that Sirotkin won the poll by a huge margin. Instead, they named Sirotkin the “Alternative Driver of the Year”.

Who do you believe the best driver in the 2018 Formula 1 season was? Who do you believe the best driver will be in the 2019 season? The 2019 season is scheduled to begin with the Australian Grand Prix, which is set to be broadcast live from Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia on Sunday, March 17, 2019. Be sure not to this race or any of the 21 races on next year’s schedule.