Warning! Long post alert!I provide my ratings here:
1) Riccardo - speedy in Australia, unlucky but fast in Bahrain, masterful weekend in China
2) Alonso - feisty and with fighting optimism in Australia, decent in Bahrain, overtaking of iffy legality but exciting effect in China
3) Vettel - won on strategy in Australia, speed let down by tactical mis-steps in Bahrain, wrong strategy prevented good result in China
4) Stroll - went as fast as the car would let him every race so far, barring minor errors
5) Vandoorne - did what was expected in Australia, decent in Bahrain, good fightback from a bad start in China
*imagine a small gap to the next "bunch" here*
6) Magnussen - speedy in Australia, pushed hard and was rewarded in Bahrain, anonymous China
7) Ericsson - anonymous Australia, showed the world what a Sauber could do, partly due to a good strategy call in Bahrain, bad qualifying but good race in China
8 ) Perez - got the best possible from the car in Australia, forgot to install logic module during the installation lap in Bahrain (but did a decent job when the lights went out), bad start but well-handled team-mate duel in China
9) Raikkonen - working to design throughout this phase of the season. Signs that some of his skill is being wasted by strategy.
10) Ocon - opportunistic in Australia, slightly disappointing in Bahrain, bad qualifying but well-handled team-mate duel in China
*imagine a small gap here*
11) Grosjean - optimistic, speedy and displaying great team leadership in Australia, poor qualifying and collision ruined race in Bahrain, indifferent China
12) Hulkenberg - pessimistic despite (because) over-performing his car in Australia, OK-to-good in Bahrain, maximised his car in China
13) Hamilton - lost on strategy but otherwise brilliant performance in Australia, good fightback marred by being a total windbag in Bahrain, just plain slow in China
*imagine a fairly large gap here*
14) Sirotkin - barely seen in Australia, went as fast as the car would let him in Bahrain, underwhelming in China
15) Sainz - good defensive work despite illness in Australia, quietly underwhelming Bahrain, OK in China
*imagine a small canyon here*
16) Gasly - anonymous Australia, roof-raising performance in Bahrain, roof-lowering team-mate duel in China
17) Leclerc - quiet Australia, error-strewn race compounded by a bad strategy call in Bahrain, spin-defined China
18) Bottas - quietly underwhelming in Australia, mis-timed final charge in Bahrain, not quite fast enough to counter Safety Car-related strategy issues in China
19) Hartley - mistake in beginning followed by audacious but non-functional strategy in Australia, apparently took 2 crucial laps to install his logic module in Bahrain (formation lap silliness was followed by a collision), arguably badly-handled team-mate duel in China
20) Verstappen - race defined by error-strewn first lap in Australia, two huge errors in Bahrain, another two huge errors in China
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As for who I'd hire, it would depend what my team's realistic aims were for the season:
Fight for the titles: Daniel Riccardo and Stoffel Vandoorne (I wish I could rely on Alonso to play nice in this scenario, but I don't think I could. Vettel and Riccardo are not the best combo despite individual strengths. Stroll's not ready for this level of team. I could see Vandoorne as a reliable and calm counterbalance to Riccardo's title-fighting enthusiasm).
Win one/a few races: Daniel Riccardo and Fernando Alonso (this would be the optimal driver situation mathematically, and I think Alonso would behave himself towards his team-mate in this situation).
Win the midfield battle: Sergio Perez and Stoffel Vandoorne (I don't think I could get Riccardo or Alonso to join a team with such low ambitions. Stroll's not ready for this level of team. I wrote Stoffel second, even though he's the stronger driver of the two, because he shows zero leadership potential so far. Magnussen has the same issue, but Vandoorne seems a better driver to me, hence the latter gets the nod. Not sure Ericsson could quite jump to this level).
Join midfield battle/win backmarker battle: Lance Stroll (I can't believe I'm writing this!) and Marcus Ericsson (I don't think I could get Riccardo, Alonso or Vandoorne to join a team with such low ambitions. Nor would Magnussen would likely join a team in this scenario).
Now to read the article that prompted this thread
Edited to add: having read the article, the manner in which the Autosport reader list was decided - a 100-point scale issued to each voter three times - doesn't have enough similarity with my "look at each driver and arrange relative to each other by feel" for an exact "how many matches" approach to make sense. Instead, I've identified the "tiers" of similarly-performing drivers each of our systems produces and will say how much agreement on those "tiers" our respective systems produce:
Tier 1:
Me - Riccardo, Alonso, Vettel, Stroll, Vandoorne
Autosport readers (8+) - Magnussen, Vettel, Riccardo, Alonso, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg
Tier 2:
Me - Magnussen, Ericsson, Perez, Raikkonen, Ocon
Autosport Readers (7.2-7.3) - Ericsson, Hamilton
Tier 3
Me - Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Hamilton
Autosport readers (6.2-6.9)- Bottas, Gasly, Ocon, Vandoorne, Sainz, Perez
Tier 4
Me - Sirotkin, Sainz
Autosport readers (5.4-5.9)- Leclerc, Grosjean, Hartley
Tier 5
Me - Gasly, Leclerc, Bottas, Hartley, Verstappen
Autosport readers (below 5) - Stroll, Sirotkin, Verstappen
Drivers in the same "tier" on both systems: 5 (Riccardo, Alonso, Vettel, Ericcson, Verstappen)
Drivers seen as doing better in the 3 races in my system than Autosport readers': 6 (Stroll, Vandoorne, Perez, Ocon, Grosjean, Sirotkin)
Drivers seen as doing better in the 3 races in Autosport readers' eyes than mine: 9 (Magnussen, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Leclerc, Hartley, Sainz, Gasly, Bottas)
I wouldn't say that either system is necessarily fairer or less fair than the other. It is simply striking that they have such different results!