2017 Villain of the Year (Non-Driver): Cyril Abiteboul

Friday, 15 December 2017 at 23:03

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul made few friends this past season and thus has the dubious accolade of 2017 Villain of the Year for his shenanigans.

Frederic Vasseur departed the team after a short tenure as team principal citing 'difference in vision' for the future of the French team after which Abiteboul declared the role of team principal obsolete.

His treatment of Jolyon Palmer was decidedly shoddy, the Briton getting the boot shortly after Abiteboul suggested that the underperforming driver might be with the team in 2018.

Abiteboul's war of words with Toro Rosso was uncalled for and it was very strange that after that tete-a-tete the Red Bull-owned team never performed at a level they were accustomed to earlier in the season.

Coincidentally they were pipped by Renault in the constructors' championship standings in the final races of the season in which they were plagued by mysterious reliability problems, of course, Abiteboul's team denied any wrong-doing.

Whatever the case our readers agree that Cyril was not a nice guy in 2017 and the fact that he 'beat' perennial villain Bernie Ecclestone to the 'award' is quite telling.

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2017 Awards Notes: The Grand Prix 247 Awards were determined by reader polls which began on 2 December and ran until 8 December. An average of 3000 votes were cast per category, around 42,000 votes were cast in total. Thank you to those who participated.