Our countdown of 2017's best drivers continues with a driver who impressed not just for one team this season but two.
6. Carlos Sainz
Championship position: 9th (54 points)
Carlos Sainz created some headaches for Red Bull this year. While few would argue that Helmut Marko's decision to promote Max Verstappen ahead of the Spaniard last year was the wrong one, Sainz's performances since have highlighted his long-term potential in F1. At the risk of seeing a genuine talent become increasingly frustrated at Red Bull's junior team Toro Rosso, a deal was agreed with the Renault works team for Sainz to join on loan from the U.S. Grand Prix onwards.
That move was instantly justified in Austin as he qualified and finished seventh on his debut with Renault -- a remarkable achievement in a brand new car with no testing. Alongside two outstanding performances in mixed conditions in China and Singapore for Toro Rosso, it acted as a reminder as to why Red Bull is so keen to retain a stake in Sainz's F1 future.
While the drivers' standings don't always tell the full story of any season, Sainz's ninth-place finish behind the drivers from the top four teams was well deserved. When the Toro Rosso was competitive at the start of the season, he extracted a series of impressive results from it while teammate Daniil Kvyat looked increasingly desperate in a bid to keep up. He scored points at six of the first eight races, while Kvyat struggled to just two ninth place finishes in the same period.
But it was not a season without errors. A collision with Lance Stroll midway through a solid recovery drive in Bahrain and a first lap collision with Romain Grosjean in Canada stand out as two big errors that simply shouldn't happen to a top-flight F1 driver. A spin at the Japanese Grand Prix in his last race for Toro Rosso also hinted at desperation as he tried to recover from another engine penalty by making up positions on the first lap.
In Nico Hulkenberg he faces his toughest teammate since Verstappen, but the early signs are good. Hulkenberg had the edge at their final four races together, but that is to be expected of a driver who has a whole season of experience in the car and Sainz was close enough to keep the more-experienced German on his toes. Given a full pre-season of preparation, Sainz should be in a position to show his true potential next year.