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Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have topped the annual Autosport Formula 1 team principals' Top 10 drivers ranking for the fourth straight year.

In what has become an annual tradition, Autosport asks each of the team bosses to pick their top ten drivers of the year.

The individual results are kept secret so that the team principals can answer honestly. Points are awarded using F1's scoring system (25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1) to generate an overall winner.

Autosport then publishes the final overall results.

In the end, it was Hamilton's charge to his sixth world championship that impressed the bosses enough to earn the top spot over Verstappen, although the gap between them was just 23 points.

The pair have finished as the top two drivers every campaign since 2016.

Charles Leclerc's impressive first season for Ferrari earned him third, and he was the only other driver to get more than 100 points.

Leclerc's team-mate Sebastian Vettel dropped from third in 2018 to fifth this year.

The Top 10 list featured three new entries off the back of impressive campaigns from a host of rookies, as Alex Albon, George Russell and Lando Norris made the cut.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz also returned to the top 10 after winning 'Class B' in his first season at McLaren.

The nine team principals who took part were Toto Wolff, Christian Horner, Cyril Abiteboul, Gunther Steiner, Andreas Seidl, Otmar Szafnauer, Fred Vasseur, Franz Tost and Claire Williams.

Team principals' top 10 2019

Driver Points Change 1. Lewis Hamilton 169 - 2. Max Verstappen 146 - 3. Charles Leclerc 124 Up 3 4. Valtteri Bottas 68 Up 4 5. Sebastian Vettel 58 Down 2 6. Alex Albon 57 New entry 7. Carlos Sainz Jr 55 New entry 8. Daniel Ricciardo 49 Down 3 9. George Russell 41 New entry 10. Lando Norris 38 New entry



