Hamilton slides down driver rankings as rivals snub champ

The decline in Lewis Hamilton's reputation has continued at the end of the 2024 season, being snubbed even by other drivers on the grid.

The seven-time world champion has left Mercedes after 12 years together, moving to the legendary Ferrari team for his age-40 season, and possibly the swan-song of his career.

READ MORE: Hamilton set to ditch key partner

The move is intended to allow the all-time leader in race wins to end his career on a high following three seasons of falling out of championship contention with Mercedes.

Hamilton's 2024 season in particular was a dismal one, being outclassed by team-mate George Russell in both qualifying and races, and only finishing seventh in the drivers' standings despite two shock victories.

Hamilton faces huge slide

2023 was considered a very strong season for the seven-time champion, finishing third in the standings just behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez, despite Red Bull's supreme dominance and Mercedes' car performance woes.

However, following the announcement of his move to Ferrari, Hamilton's form has taken a turn for the worst, often appearing rather downbeat across race weekends following some disappointing performances.

Now, Hamilton's struggles have been recognised by his rivals and colleagues, in a vote on the official F1 website.

Drivers were asked to vote for who they believed were the top 10 best-performing drivers throughout the season, with differing points given for each first place, second place and so on.

Unsurprisingly, Max Verstappen came out on top, as he did in the team principals vote, but behind him there was somewhat of a change.

Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc both rose two places compared to their 2023 positions to take second and third respectively, with Russell fourth despite not having even featured in the top 10 last year.

Oscar Piastri rose three places to fifth, but it was Hamilton's position that really caught the eye, the seven-time champion being voted as the 10th-best driver of 2024, down eight places compared to his 2023 rank.

The full list of drivers that voted was as follows, with neither Verstappen nor Hamilton taking part: Alex Albon, Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Charles Leclerc, Kevin Magnussen, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu.

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