December 16th, 2022
With the annual snoozefest of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 20th, it signaled the end of many things.
It was the end of several careers in F1, some great, some forgettable, and some unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. But it also was the end of the 2022 season, a season that as a whole was just ok. While the on-track racing was without a doubt better, there was no championship battle, the same three teams got podiums every week, and there were some legitimately boring races a lot of the time.
For example, in 2020 and 2021, there were 13 different drivers each season, with 8 different constructors scoring at least one podium in 2021 (every team except Alfa Romeo and Haas). There were 14 podiums total scored outside of the top two teams in 2021, who were the real front runners. In 2022, only 7 drivers scored a podium, from four teams! There was only one instance driver outside of the top 3 teams (this seasons’ front runners) scoring a podium at all! (Lando Norris at Imola, which in hindsight was an insanely good result).
This is mentioned because this is somewhat a microcosm of driver performances as a whole this season; in 2021 several drivers across the grid were on absolute top form, 2022 was far uglier and new for the drivers due to new regulations, so not as many drivers were driving at the levels we had come to expect from them.
This ranking will be going from 20 to 1, so let’s begin with #20, the worst driver in Formula One this season. This ranking is not done by where the drivers actually placed in the standings, instead of how they performed compared to their teammate, where they were considering their car, as well as how they did given the expectations they had.
- Nicholas Latifi (Williams Racing, 20th Overall, 2 PTS)
Unfortunately for Nicholas, he found himself underperforming nearly all of these metrics, and solidified himself as the fan-favorite driver that everyone loves due to his constant crashes, and general lack of pace.
He will also be remembered most for bringing out a late safety car on several occasions due to an unforced error of his, throwing the race into a frenzy as a result. The most famous example of this being Abu Dhabi 2021, where after crashing on his own and bringing out a safety car, this led to the rule breach that allowed Max Verstappen to win his first World Driver’s Title.
Unfortunately this may be Latifi’s legacy in the sport: crashing, being a variable teams must plan around in a race, and on average being nearly a second a lap slower than his teammates. He has now been replaced by American pay driver, Logan Sargeant. If I were able to put this year’s substitute drivers (Hulkenberg and De Vries) on this list, both of them would be ahead of Latifi.
Overall Season Score: 2.5/10.
- Mick Schumacher (Haas, 16th Overall, 12 PTS)
I really wish I could put Mick higher on this list, I really do. However he has done absolutely nothing all season outside of two races other than crash, and total his car on numerous occasions. Something that Haas, the team with the smallest budget on the grid, could not afford. It was getting to the point where Haas could not upgrade the car because Mick was costing so much in repairs on a weekly basis.
He hasn’t shown much development in his two years in F1, especially for a former F2 champion, and Haas were right to drop him for Nico Hulkenberg in 2023. Outside of his two admittedly great races at Silverstone and Austria, he was consistently beaten by drivers with inferior cars, and found himself in P15, 16 or 17 more often than he should have.
The final nail in the coffin for his place on this ranking was qualifying in P20 on pace the same day his teammate took pole position! While I wouldn’t count out a potential return in the future, particularly with Audi in 2026, I don’t see anyone frothing at the mouth to pick him up anytime soon.
Overall Season Score: 4/10.
- Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren, 11th Overall, 37 PTS)
This season as a whole was a complete disaster for Danny Ric. He single handedly cost McLaren P4 in the Constructors Championship against Alpine, in which his lack of performance had left Lando Norris to fight an entire team on his lonesome.
He also was outscored by his teammate by more than 300%! Having your teammate score three times as many points than you isn’t just a loss, it’s a complete dismantling, and exposure of a driver.
His best results were a P6 at his home race in Australia, which was fully deserved, and a P5 in Singapore, where he became a Safety Car Merchant and fully lucked his way into a P5 after running at the bottom of the order for the entire race.
His qualifying all season could be described as abysmal, in races he was slow, couldn’t overtake well, couldn’t defend well, and caused very poor and avoidable collisions several times. (See Tsunoda in Mexico, Magnussen in Brazil).
Unlike Mick Schumacher, who I see potentially coming back full-time one day, I think this is unfortunately the last we’ll see of the Honey Badger, whose career will be best remembered for the poor career choices he made along the way.
Overall Season Score: 4.2/10.
- Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri, 17th Overall, 12 PTS)
This was a very weird season for Yuki Tsunoda. He practically went under the radar in every single race that we was in. This may have been a blessing, considering he only scored points a single time in the last 16 races of the season. It didn’t help much that the Alpha Tauri was legitimately the second-slowest car for the majority of the season.
Yuki got more time, and is staying with Alpha Tauri for 2023, though time isn’t infinite, and he needs to start doing more. He’ll need to outperform Nyck De Vries significantly to maintain his position as a solid young talent.
However he did close the gap to Pierre Gasly this season, which is impressive. But he still needs to do more I feel to keep his seat long-term, as Liam Lawson is starting to become a threat to his seat.
Overall Season Score: 4.8/10.
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin, 15th Overall, 18 PTS)
Lance Stroll’s 2022 campaign was a very mediocre one. He hasn’t quite been able to regain the raw pace and speed that he possessed in his 2020 Racing Point in the previous two seasons. He was by no means bad this season, I think we are out of the drivers who I would say had a bad season, however I feel as though he was the worst of the rest.
He was unable to capitalize on his qualifying results most of the time, where even despite on average being quicker than his four-times world champion teammate, Sebastian Vettel, he was outscored in points 2:1.
He had some good races, he had a good recovery drive at Imola, he went from P18 to P10 in Montreal, he finished P6 at a chaotic Singapore GP purely on speed and merit. There were some good moments! However these were often overshadowed by some very puzzling awareness, poor racecraft, and sometimes just being rather slow.
While his seat is by no means at risk (his Dad owns the team, he is never leaving, for better or for worse), with Fernando Alonso coming to town in 2023 he needs to make a return to form.
Overall Season Score: 5.6/10.
- Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri, 14th Overall, 23 PTS)
This season was a huge regression for Pierre Gasly, and Alpha Tauri as a whole. In 2021 Pierre often found himself on equal pace of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull (which was both a testament to Pierre’s Talent, and Sergio’s lack of speed at times). In 2022 however, this never happened. Alpha Tauri was consistently the second slowest, and at some circuits, the slowest car on the grid.
While this isn’t Pierre’s fault, he was not on top form by any means either, going from ‘King of the Midfield’, to consistently having P13, and P14 be the new normal due to a poor car. He did still drive the wheels off of his trash can of a car sometimes, notably P5 at Azerbaijan, and P8 at Monza and Jeddah. However most of the time he was just ok, not to mention he made some uncharacteristic errors at times too.
At Alpine in 2023 he has his work cut out for him, as he will finally directly be compared to another driver of a similar level. This upcoming season is crucial to Pierre’s future in F1, as it could fast-track him to a seat at a top team, or it could keep him in the midfield for a long, long time.
Overall Season Score: 6/10.
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing, 3rd Overall, 305 PTS, 2 Race Wins, 11 Podiums, 1 Pole Position)
This was a highly underwhelming year for Sergio Perez. In one of the most dominant and fast cars of all time he only managed to win two races all season long. He was on average 5 tenths of a second slower than his teammate (worse than both Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon when they were at Red Bull, and they lost their seats!).
He only had one truly great race, Singapore, which was admittedly dominant, and showed that he may be the best driver on the grid for honest-to-goodness street circuits. He also won the Monaco GP, the crown jewel of F1 (albeit there are conspiracy theories about if he crashed on purpose in qualifying to secure pole position, which I honestly think is a possibility).
In the second half of the season he was consistently either only third place, or off the podium entirely and down the order in fifth, sixth, or seventh. He also only finished on the podium 5 times in the final 12 races, the time Red Bull was the solely dominant car. Something that is frankly unacceptable in a car that was as fast and untouchable at times as the one he had.
Sergio Perez’s time at Red Bull may be limited if he continues to perform this way. They have Daniel Ricciardo at reserve, Liam Lawson in the junior programme, and two other drivers at Alpha Tauri who would be thrilled to take his place.
Overall Season Score: 6.3/10.
- Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo, 10th Overall, 49 PTS)
A season that started off incredibly strong, but was absolutely middling beyond the opening few races of the season. He scored only 3 points in the final 13 races of the season. The other 46 came in the opening 9. The Alfa Romeo was an admittedly rapid midfield car at the start of the season, however when the car faded away as the season progressed, it was Zhou Guanyu who was getting more out of it.
Famous for his exceptional qualifying pace, he found himself on near even pegging against his teammate in the second half of the season. This both reflects poorly on Bottas, and well on Zhou. He was simply mediocre for the majority of the season.
Alfa Romeo had next to no expectations going into this season, and he was smashing them early on, however he, and the rest of the team, fell back to earth later on in the season. They were lucky to not lose P6 in the constructors to Aston Martin (they got P6 on countback tiebreaker).
Overall Season Score: 6.4/10.
- Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo, 18th Overall, 6 PTS, 1 Fastest Lap)
Yes, he only scored 6 points on the season. Yes, he got outscored by his teammate over 8:1. However this does not tell the full story, and makes things look worse than what they actually were.
As the lone rookie of the 2022 field, Zhou Guanyu had next to no expectations after Nikita Mazepin left a very, very bad taste in our mouths that affected how we viewed any subsequent pay drivers (drivers that, while still decent, are mainly taken for the sponsorship money they bring, rather than pure talent). While some pay drivers such as Lando Norris are also simply great drivers, some pay drivers are only there for money, and take places on the grid away from more deserving drivers.
This was what the worry was with Zhou Guanyu; that he wouldn’t be good enough, and would struggle in F1. This however was not the case, he scored points in his first race, and put together a solid string of results. He was a fair bit off of his teammate, Valtteri Bottas in qualifying, though in the second half of the season he was on average only a tenth of a second off, which is very impressive considering Valtteri’s status as one of the best qualifiers on the grid. In races, he was level with Bottas for the final ⅔ of the season. He was also very consistent on the tail-end of the season, by this time unfortunately the Alfa Romeo car had fallen off, and wasn’t as good as it was at the start of the season.
As a whole Zhou’s rookie season was incredibly solid, and he showed a good amount of promise. It will be interesting to see how he fares over a full season of Alfa Romeo putting out a good car, if they give him it.
Overall Season Score: 6.5/10.
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas, 13th Overall, 25 PTS, 1 Pole Position)
The fact that I am even including Kevin Magnussen on this list is still something I find great amounts of joy in. Even if he wasn’t doing a good job, he is still more enjoyable to have around, and a better driver than Nikita Mazepin.
All things considered, Kevin Magnussen did an absolutely smashing job. The Haas looked better than it really was at the start of the year because Kevin was punching above his weight on a consistent basis. He did this sometimes later in the season as well, albeit far less frequently than before. Hell, he even took a shock Pole Position in Brazil! (Which caused me to turn on qualifying at the tail-end of Q3 and shout “what the hell, KMag is on pole!!”).
He did a great job on several occasions, however when he wasn’t great he had a tendency to not be noticeable in the slightest. He found himself in incidents a lot, some his fault, some not. No major crashes that cause huge budget cuts like Mick, but crashes of any kind during a race are far from what you want to be a trend.
Kevin Magnussen still made a triumphant and sudden return to the F1 paddock, and solidified himself as a great midfield driver. He practically ended the career of his teammate this season by outperforming him as much as he did. He also did a great job at capitalizing on the opportunities he did have, though he did squander some of them himself.
Overall Season Score: 6.8/10.
Part Two Coming Soon! (Number 10-1)
By Markus Madill
Categories: Sports
