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50 Sergio Perez
2nd in Formula 1 World Championship
One of this year’s biggest questions in deciding the top 50 was whether Perez deserves to be on the list. He’d started 2023 well, with two wins and two second places in the opening four races to hint at giving Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen more than a notional title challenge.
After his Miami defeat, when Verstappen breezed past for the lead, Perez’s season started to crumble. In a car that has proved to be F1’s most dominant since McLaren’s MP4/4, the Mexican struggled to make regular podium appearances, limping to the runner-up position in the championship. The two wins get Perez over the line, but he’s lucky to be on this list.
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49 Nicky Catsburg
1st in World Endurance Championship (GTE Am)
1st in Nurburgring 24 Hours
If there was a sportscar driver you wanted in your car for a 24-hour race this year, it was Catsburg. Victories at the Nurburgring (outright), Le Mans (GTE Am) and Spa (Pro-Am), each in different cars, underlined that the versatile Dutchman is operating at the top of his game. He was part of the strongest line-up in GTE Am’s WEC swansong, but Catsburg certainly played his part in sealing the title with an unprecedented two rounds to spare. His defence against Alessio Rovera for victory in Portimao was inch-perfect, and he was consistently near the top of the pace averages as Corvette surged into contention at Le Mans.
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48 Thierry Neuville
3rd in World Rally Championship
It was a story of what could have been for Neuville in 2023. The Belgian was Hyundai’s main threat for the WRC title and scored as many podiums as world champion Kalle Rovanpera, but incidents at crucial moments cost him dearly.
Neuville impressed hugely on fast gravel events that had previously been his weakness, scoring second-place finishes in Estonia and Finland. He also starred in tricky wet conditions to win in Sardinia and Central Europe. But a crash from the lead in Croatia and suspension failure while ahead in Greece proved costly, alongside an exclusion from Kenya and an excursion while chasing victory in Japan.
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47 Tomoki Nojiri
3rd in Super Formula, 8th in Super GT
After two years of dominating Super Formula, Nojiri returned to earth in 2023 amid his struggles to come to terms with the new SF23 aero package, with its reduced rear downforce and resultant shift towards oversteer. That showed when he suffered an uncharacteristic pre-season testing crash.
Matters weren’t helped by Liam Lawson’s arrival on the other side of the Team Mugen garage, and yet he still matched the Kiwi’s tally of three wins, with the pair split by just half a point in the standings despite Nojiri missing Autopolis with a health scare. With champion Ritomo Miyata and Lawson both moving on, Nojiri enters 2024 as the heavy favourite.
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46 Jack Hawksworth
1st in IMSA Sportscar Championship (GTD Pro)
Ably assisted by his season-long team-mate Ben Barnicoat, Hawksworth claimed the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s GTD Pro title in his fifth season with the factory-backed Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus squad.
Four class pole positions and two victories at Long Beach and Watkins Glen were the highlights. He finished on the podium of every race apart from Mosport, after Barnicoat lost a turf war with Patrick Pilet at Turn 1, and at Petit Le Mans (where they were crowned champions simply by starting), when Barnicoat’s off inflicted race-ending damage. He also had four LMP2 Pro-Am outings in the European Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro Racing.
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45 Johan Kristoffersson
1st in World Rallycross Championship
1st in Extreme E
He enjoyed another memorable year by securing a record-breaking sixth World Rallycross Championship and became Extreme E’s first double champion. Until the Lydden Hill fire that paused the WRX season, the Swede had been utterly dominant, winning all three of the opening events. Life was harder in the slower ZEROID X1 cars the series fell back on in South Africa and Hong Kong, although a 50% win rate in equal machinery further highlighted his class. Kristoffersson also joined Mikaela
