Ricciardo beats Verstappen to controversial F1 award

Daniel Ricciardo has picked up the award for the luckiest F1 driver in the GPFans annual awards, edging out Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen in the process.

Luck, as is the case in all sport, plays an important factor in the success or failure of a season.

Teams and drivers alike have their fair share of bad luck, but also plenty of slices of good fortune.

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Fans had earlier crowned McLaren as the luckiest team thanks to the success of their mid-season upgrades, but here at GPFans we wanted to know who you thought was the driver who benefitted the most from Lady Luck in 2023.

Ricciardo crowned luckiest F1 driver

With 39 per cent of the vote, Ricciardo was named as the luckiest driver. Clearly being parachuted into an F1 seat halfway through the season before going on to secure a 2024 grid spot off the back off a handful of races was seen as a fortunate outcome for the Australian by the fans.

Stroll claimed second place in the category, with fans perhaps looking at Stroll's points tally – nearly one third of his team-mate Fernando Alonso's – as a slice of luck for the Canadian to keep his seat at Aston Martin in 2024.

This year's champion, Verstappen, sealed third place with 24 per cent of the vote. It is hard to argue that the Dutchman hasn't made his own luck, but driving a car like the RB19 does not come around all that often.

Alonso and Alex Albon rounded off the award in fourth and fifth respectively. The Spaniard for being handed a sumptuous car to drive, while the Williams star also saw some luck as the recipient of a pressure-free season thanks to the dominance he had over his team-mate.

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