It’s not been a perfect year for anyone in Formula 1, so here are my briefly considered thoughts on everyone’s pros and cons in 2009, in championship order.

Jenson Button
- Made hard work of winning the championship
+ Won the championship

Sebastian Vettel
- Made mistakes
+ He’s still young, so that’s allowed

Rubens Barrichello
+ Has been in Formula 1 for a record-breakingly long time, and is still there
- Has played second fiddle to a championship winning team-mate a probably record-breaking number of times, and did again this year

Mark Webber
- Beaten by his young team-mate
+ Next season he has a rematch

Lewis Hamilton
- Scandal!
+ Far more likable after a tough season

Kimi Raikkonen
- Lost his Ferrari drive for next year
+ He had a contract, so he’ll be paid anyway

Nico Rosberg
- Didn’t fully capitalise on a good car early on
+ Should be with a team at the sharp end next year

Jarno Trulli
+ Still bloody good at qualifying
- Still a highly effective rolling road block in races

Fernando Alonso
- Scandal!
+ Has finally escaped to Ferrari

Timo Glock
- Injured
+ Seemingly not forgotten about in the driver market

Felipe Massa
- Injured
+ Still alive

Heikki Kovalainen
+ Improved in qualifying
- But not in races

Nick Heidfeld
- Fairly anonymous season
+ Beat his team-mate

Robert Kubica
- Beaten by his team-mate
+ Still highly regarded nonetheless

Giancarlo Fisichella
+ Performed brilliantly in the Force India
- Not so much in the Ferrari

Sebastien Buemi
+ Top rookie
- But unremarkable, particularly in the second half of the season

Adrian Sutil
- Still cursed by bad luck
+ Widely liked as a result

Kamui Kobayashi
+ Impressed everyone in his brief stint at Toyota
- Which cruelly can’t continue next year because Toyota have pulled out

Sebastien Bourdais
- Lost his job
+ Only to find happier times in Superleague Formula

Kazuki Nakajima
- No points
+ Erm, er…

Nelson Piquet Jr
- Sacked by Renault
+ Returned the favour to Flavio Briatore

Vitantonio Liuzzi
+ Got his chance to race the Force India
- At a point in the season when it wasn’t very competitive

Roman Grosjean
+ Got his F1 break
- Probably too soon

Jaime Alguersuari
- No-one can pronounce his name
+ Reasonable chance that he’ll keep his seat, so we might learn to

Luca Badoer
+ His loyalty to Ferrari finally paid off
- Briefly