Driver of the Year: Sebastian Vettel

It was a tough call to determine the recipient of this accolade as Lewis Hamilton ticked all the boxes with a fantastic season - ten race wins, title decided with three rounds to go and a thorough trouncing of teammate Nico Rosberg when it mattered.

And then there was also young Max Vertappen...

With Hamilton, the only flaw we could find was his drop in form late on in the season. In the end Hamilton bagged the biggest prize of all, namely his third WDC title and that alone is enough to render any other award meaningless.

As for Verstappen - his time will come and that is 100% certain.

In the end we felt that Vettel did enough the snare the Driver of the Year award as he was the hero of the 2015 season, taking the fight to Mercedes whenever he could, and it appears our readers agreed with us - although it was a close call as many felt Hamilton was the man!

Prior to 2015 only Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were regarded as drivers, of the current era, capable of winning in a car that is not the best. For various reasons many felt Vettel was not quite there and was only a winner if he had the best piece of kit at his disposal.

Well that theory went up in smoke as he proved on numerous occasions that he has that extra edge that puts him among the greats of his generation. Three wins, against all the odds, is testament to his supreme ability.

Add to that his charming manner which galvanised a Ferrari team in total disarray, in the aftermath of the age of Alonso and turmoil of new leadership at Maranello.

Vettel switched from the fizz of Red Bull to become a Ferrarista in a click of fingers. He won the hearts and minds of one of the few teams that has the potential to dethrone Mercedes and help him add to his four titles.

Ferrari big boss Sergio Marchionne summed up Vettel's contribution: "Vettel is fantastic. Here in Maranello he made a speech in front of our 1200 people, completely in Italian. It was unbelievable. In only one year, I can say he became more of a Ferrarista than Alonso did in five years."

Take a bow Mr Vettel!