The F1 2014 Car Throttle End-Of-Season Awards

Welcome to Car Throttle’s inaugural F1 awards, where we take a look back at the past season and pick out some very special achievements.

Biggest Villain - Bernie Ecclestone

Ecclestone introduced the incredibly unpopular double points rule for the 2014 season, seems to care very little about the sport’s currently financial crisis - including the demise of Caterham and Marussia - and his increasingly erratic statements (for example, saying there is no point trying to reach out or chase the younger generation) mean the 84-year-old has undoubtedly been the biggest villain of the 2014 season. A change at the top of F1 is definitely needed.

Honourable mention: Pastor Maldonado. We would hate to know what the Lotus F1 Team’s total spare parts bill is after 2014….

This battle didn’t last particularly long, but Nico Hulkenberg’s overtake on Kevin Magnussen at Portier during the Monaco Grand Prix was spectacular and complete perfection. It is almost impossible to pass another driver around the Circuit de Monaco, but the Force India driver made it look easy.

Honourable mentions: Daniel Ricciardo passing Lewis Hamilton in Hungary and Ricciardo overtaking Sebastian Vettel in Monza.

Best race to watch - Bahrain

Who would have thought it? The Bahrain International Circuit produced a spectacular race this season, with battles up and down the field. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg spent most of the Bahrain Grand Prix battling, and driving under dark skies with floodlights for the first time in the event’s history made it look even better.

Honourable mentions: Plenty of great races in 2014, but the wet-dry Hungarian Grand Prix is a worthy runner-up.

Yes, you guessed correctly, the Facepalm of the Year award goes to Maldonado. There were, naturally, a few incidents to choose from, but we went for his unusual off-track excursion in Chinese Grand Prix practice, where he just steered right off the road and spun at very low speed.

Honourable mentions: Felipe Massa pitting in the wrong box in Brazil and Maldonado crashing at the China pit entrance.

We have seen quite a few crashes this season, but the most spectacular has to be Perez and Massa’s last-lap contact in Canada. The two out-of-control cars almost took out eventual race winner Ricciardo as well. Despite heavy contact with the barrier, both drivers were okay.

Honourable mentions: Maldonado and Esteban Gutierrez in Bahrain, Kimi Raikkonen in Britain and Massa and Magnussen in Germany.

Best driver - Lewis Hamilton

The statistics don’t lie. Sure, he had the fastest car, but Hamilton stormed to 11 race victories and scored podiums in the remaining races that he finished. He put in some spectacular recovery drives, enjoyed a few dominant performances and ended the year by securing his second world title. A great season by the Brit.

Honourable mentions: Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas.

Whilst Max Chilton was the most underwhelming driver of 2014, the worst has to be Maldonado. He got involved in far too many incidents and crashes (again) this season, failing to improve his reputation. Maybe next year will be better? Probably not.

Honourable mentions: Chilton and Adrian Sutil (the latter is one of Sauber’s drivers, in case you had forgotten).

This was just a mess. Let’s hope Nelson Piquet doesn’t return to the podium next year, after a hilariously awkward interview with the top three in Brazil, which consisted of complaining about DRS and hitting on Hamilton’s girlfriend, who wasn’t actually there. Cringe.

Ricciardo showed off a few of his best moves in this hilarious moment during a free practice session in Germany. Fortunately it was caught on camera.

There were lots of options for this category, but with a few of them being mentioned above and the incredibly tense atmosphere it created within the Mercedes camp, we decided to give this award to Hamilton and Rosberg’s lap two contact in Belgium. The collision forced both drivers to pit for repairs and cost them the chance of scoring another one-two finish. Rosberg eventually finished second, while Hamilton - who was in a foul mood after the race - retired with damage. It proved to be the most significant moment of the season.

Honourable mentions: Perez and Massa’s Canada crash, Maldonado and Gutierrez’s Bahrain crash and, unfortunately, Jules Bianchi’s Japanese GP accident - #ForzaJules.

What do you make of our choices? Let us know in the comments!