F1 2022 end-of-season report: Best driver, biggest surprise, most under pressure
Despite not having the quickest car for most of🦂 the season, Verstappen enjoyed a 🌊record-breaking campaign.
Verstappen won 15 of the 22 races, taking the title with five r♎aces to sp🐻are at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Ferrari and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc should have made it a closer fight, but a combination of poor reliability and operational errors meant they never sto🍌od a chance.
There might not have been an exciting battle for the major honours, but there’𓄧s still plenty to talk about as we look back on 2022.
Driver of the year - Max Verstappen
The boring answer but ultimately the only🐽 c♑orrect one, Verstappen was clearly the best driver of 2022.
Up untilꦿ the summer break, statistically, Ferrari had the quicker car, but it was Verstappen who was dominating the champio🌱nship standings.
Let’s not forget that Verstappen st🍌ruggled to get to grips with the RB18 in qualifying, especially up until Canada.
He fended off Leclerc in Saudi Arabia and Miami while he resisted immense pressure from 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Carlos Sainz at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s drives through the field were mega - winning from 10th on the grid in Hungary and 14th at 🌳Spa.
Once Red Bull took a step forward in outright performance, he was unstoppable, winning nineཧ of the last 11 races.
Most impressive driver…
While he only stood on the podium just once in 2022, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris was consistently impressive i✨n an underperforming McL♌aren.
McLaren started the year in Bahrain with arguably the slowest car on the grid as Norris and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Daniel Ricciardo fought the Williams duo at the back of the grid.
By round four, Norris finished on the podium at the Emili🐎a༒ Romagna Grand Prix.
Norris was the only driver outside the top 🎐three 𝔍teams to have finished on the podium - a remarkable achievement.
The 🔯British driver ended the year 30 points clear of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Alpine enjoyed a performance advantage over McLaren for most of the season, so to score ꧋122 🦩points in the fifth-fastest car, on average, is mighty impressive.
Like 🌺in 2021, Norris has♈ proven he has the talent and consistency to fight at the front of the grid.
Which driver disappointed the most?
Several drivers up and down the grid failed to live up to eඣxpectations in 2022.
One of them was Ricciardo.
After an underwhelming first year with McLaren, Ricciardo’s performances someho𝓰w go💃t even worse.
Jusཧt seven points finishes for the Australian left him 11th in the final standi♈ngs, a whopping 85 points behind Norris.
Ricciardo did score well in Sing♔apore and Mexico, but that was down to good strategy rather than outright raw pace.
McLaren’s decision to drop Ricciardo for 2023 is completely justified given his severe underperforma💛nce over the pas⛄t two years.
Who was the biggest surprise?
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Alex Albon deserves more credit for how well he performed&nb🐓sp;
The former Red Bull driver’s domination of Nicholas Latifi was in similar fashion to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell.
Albon was 0.544% quicker than Latifi in qualifying across the year, compared to Russell, who was 0.432% ahead of the Canadian on averag൲e.
Granted, Latifi struggled considerably more with this year’s Williams, but it doesn’t take anything away from how impressive Albon was through🥀out the year.
Which driver is most at risk of losing their seat in F1 2023?
A lot of 🅺the major players have contracts sorted for 2024.
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Yuki Tsunoda will need to make another step forward if he wants♛ to remain with AlphaTauri.
The 🍷fiery Japanese driver hasn’t delivered consistently enough since making his F1 debut in 2021.
With a new teammate in the form of Nyck de Vries, Tsunoda has no excuse♐s, particularly as he has more F1 experience than the D🃏utchman.
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Zhou Guanyu performed solidly in his rookie season but will need to become a more frequent 🌌points scorer.
Finally, Sergio Perez does have a contrac𝓰t up until the end of 2024, but the Daniel Ricciardo question will never go away, especially if the Mexican struggles at the start 🅷of next year.
What was the best individual performance of 2022?
Verstappen’s 14t🎐h to 1st at Spa is the obvious choice, but given Red Bull’s lack of competition in B🥃elgium, we’ve gone for the race prior.
Star🐬ting from 10th on the grid, Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Mercedes had race-winning pace, with Russell storming to pole, while Ferrari were on track to win before th🍨ey put Leclerc on the hꦬard tyre.
Verstappen was sensational at the Hung💝aroring, eve🃏n with his little pirouette.
Which race gets our vote as best of the year?
The British Grand Prix was﷽ my favou🐲rite race of the year.
We h🌃ad a number of memorable battles at Silverstone🌠.
The battle between ไSainz and Leclerc for the win, Perez’s recovery thro༺ugh the field, Hamilton’s incredible double overtake after the Safety Car.
Leclerc also pulled of🍃f the best move of the season, han🌜ging it around the outside of Hamilton into Copse.
Who are the main contenders to become F1 champion in 2023?
There are four main contend🎀ers for the title in 2023.
Verstappen remains the clear favo🔯urite as he seems to have hit somewher✃e near his peak.
If Ferrari have upped their game across the board, L🧸eclerc has shown🧸 he has the speed and aggression to compete with Verstappen.
Mercedes have two drivers in Russell and Hamilton that just need a capable car tꦉo take it🥀 to Red Bull’s star driver.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and stﷺorylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
