The TAG Heuer Racing Awards !

A few days after the 2 most prestigious races in the world at Monaco and Indianapolis, a brand new and independent competition has been launched to determine the best racing driver on the planet.

The TAG Heuer Racing Awards will be an accurate way of determining the best driver at any period in time, and at the end of any year.

‘’Using our heritage and DNA in motor racing, we thought it was appropriate to try to identify the best driver of the world’’ declares Jean Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer chairman and CEO. ‘’Our idea is not to revise each championship or race results but to offer to the fans the opportunity to discover new categories, to celebrate amazing performances and to promote drivers. I’m sure there will be some surprises’’.

Using a jury of ex-drivers, team principles, race promoters and journalists, TAG Heuer has produced its own method of judging skills and analyzing results on a weekly basis.

Using an objective criteria validated by the panel of 8 international motor racing experts, race results will be analyzed every Monday. The 5 categories selected are Formula One, GP2, Indycar, NASCAR and the World Rally Championship.

Based on the official results of each event, points will be awarded to the first five finishers, with additional points for the fastest lap or the winner of most legs in a Rally event.

A simple calculation will then be applied to determine the best driver overall, after each race. The driver with the most points  will be presented with the TAG Heuer Racing Awards at the end of the year. The ranking will take into account more than 150 drivers from the 5 categories.

The importance and legitimacy of the awards can be measured by the quality and variety of skills brought by members of the jury:

- Michèle Mouton (1982 World Rally vice-champion, President of the Jury for the TAG Heuer Racing Awards)
- Alain Prost ( Four-times Formula One World Champion)
- Fredrik Johnsson (CEO of IMP and Promoter of The Race of Champions)
- Lord March ( Founder and Promoter of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival meeting)
- David Richards ( Chairman and Chief Executive of Prodrive Group and Chairman of Aston Martin Racing)
- Antonio Mandiola (President of Fangio Foundation and director of Fangio Museum)
- Jacques Dechenaux (ex TSR  journalist and writer)
- James Allen (ITV F1 commentator and motor sport correspondent for The Financial Times)

The jury panel is intimately aware of the problems associated with assessing driving talent across the broad spectrum of motor sport necessary to make the TAG Heuer Racing Awards worthwhile. Not only that, it is often difficult to compare drivers from different eras within the same category of racing. TAG Heuer and the panel believe they have devised a fail-safe formula.

After each race, points will be awarded to the first five finishers: 1st – 6 points; 2nd- 4 points; 3rd – 3 points; 4th – 2 points; 5th - 1 point.  In addition, 1 point will be given for fastest lap or, in the case of the WRC, the winner of the most legs throughout the rally.