End of season F1 driver ratings: Who flopped and who starred in 2022?

The chequered flag has fallen on the 2022 season and after 22 races, it is time to run the rule over the 20 full-time drivers who took part, ranking and rating them. Yes, Max Verstappen won the championship and we know what the standings say, but we try to delve a little deeper behind the headline numbers to give you our driver ratings.

For that, we have a system. The system is quite a complicated beast but in essence it takes into account how a driver performs in qualifying and races both overall and relative to their team-mate.

As not all team-mates are created equal, each driver has their own personal rating heading into the season, which reflects how many points a driver can score by beating his team-mate. Sergio Perez beating Max Verstappen by three places, for example, should obviously be worth more than Alexander Albon beating Nicholas Latifi by the same margin. A driver’s penalty points are also taken into account, as well as our subjective ratings throughout the season.

Who comes out on top, then?

20. Nicholas Latifi – Williams (594 rating points)

After a couple of years of moderate progress, Latifi has been thoroughly shown up in his third season in F1. There are probably two or three bright points only for the Canadian this season: getting into Q3 at Silverstone, scoring two points in Japan and (perhaps tenuously), finishing fastest in a practice session in Hungary.

He leaves the grid at the end of this year and there has been little – or frankly nothing – in his results to suggest that he should retain his place at Williams, as likeable a person as he seems to be. F1 is a tough sport and Latifi has been found wanting, trounced by team-mate Alexander Albon in every area.

Championship points: 2 (20th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 1-19
Our season rating/100: 30

19. Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren (710pts)

The affable Australia is also on the way out of F1. That would have sounded ridiculous at the start of the season, never mind before he joined McLaren in 2021. Last year he was firmly beaten by Lando Norris but there were mitigating factors – it was his first year at the team, the gap was not enormous (45 points) and he delivered McLaren’s first win in nearly a decade at Monza.

This year there are no excuses for his baffling form. Even at the end of the season Ricciardo seemed confused as to what went wrong, with any progress extremely short lived, though with a slight improvement in the final five or six rounds. This year he has just under a third of Norris’s points and with just seven points finishes to 17. It is sad to see such a talented driver leave, but it is fully warranted.

Championship points: 37 (11th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 4-18
Our season rating/100: 35

18. Guanyu Zhou – Alfa Romeo (734pts)

It is difficult to call this an impressive debut season for Zhou Guanyu, with just three points finishes compared to team-mate Bottas’s nine. Part of the problem is that he was still getting up to speed with F1 in the early part of the season, when the Alfa Romeo was at its strongest. Bottas took advantage, but Zhou did not.

There has been improvement since, and a little bit of bad luck in there, too. His qualifying certainly improved once we got into July and from Canada to Mexico he outscored his team-mate, five points to one. Given Alfa Romeo allowed Antonio Giovinazzi the luxury of three full seasons before dropping him, another crack in 2023 seems about right.

Overall, a season a little better than the standings show – and with crucial progress. Still, he fares so badly in this because of how comprehensively he was beaten by his team-mate.

Championship points: 6 (18th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 7-14
Our season rating/100: 55

17. Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri (757pts)

It is debatable whether Tsunoda deserves a third year in F1 but it is not like there are legions of better options banging down the door at AlphaTauri. He has again been comfortably beaten by Gasly in both the overall standings and our system but the gap is much smaller than it was last year. And he has, generally, cut out the crashes. There were few standout moments, though.

In truth, in all the main areas, Tsunoda has improved but like a few other drivers on the grid the car has not been there for him to deliver as it would have been in 2021. Such is the way with new regulations. Toning down the aggression and effing and jeffing in the cockpit or at least channelling it more positively might be worth a shot. Faces a crucial year in 2023 with highly-rated rookie Nyck de Vries alongside him.

Championship points: 12 (17th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 9-12
Our season rating/100: 60

16. Mick Schuamacher – Haas (806pts)

Again, like Zhou, if you look at the overall standings you get a picture of Schumacher being firmly beaten by his team-mate. That does not tell the whole story. Like Zhou, too, his better races came as the Haas slipped back down the grid.

Early on in the season there were too many costly errors – some resulting in huge, expensive crashes – whilst Magnussen quietly went about his business.  His best run of form came between Silverstone (his first points finish) until the flyaway in Singapore. In that seven-race stint he had the beating of the Dane and ranked in the top 10 of our system too.

Alas, for him, it was not sustained and he was dropped by Haas for the 2023 season. The decision to replace him with Nico Hulkenberg looks a tad harsh but also fully understandable.

Championship points: 12 (16th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 6-16
Our season rating/100: 65

15. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin (820pts)

At this point the rankings are following the championship order quite closely, but that probably reflects how middling and tight the battle at the back of the midfield has been. In truth, the drivers ranked from 18th to 15th come into a category which could be summed up as under-performing but not awful.

This is Lance Stroll’s sixth season in F1 and he has only beaten his team-mate once in that time. Again in 2022 he finished second-best. In fairness, the quality of his team-mates has been high but it still feels like the Canadian should be delivering more. Qualifying has always been a weak point and that improved to some degree, finishing with a 12-7 loss to Vettel.

Still, Stroll could be delivering more but this is far from his worst season. Next season against Fernando Alonso will be the sternest test of his career so far, no doubt. There will be nowhere to hide.

Championship points: 18 (15th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 7-12
Our season rating/100: 55

14. Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri (884pts)

This year was clearly not the stellar years of 2021 (110pts) or even 2020 (75pts and a win), but the AT03 dropped back to firmly to the back of the midfield. That performance drop left far fewer opportunities for Gasly to score points. He has not taken the opportunities he had, though some of that comes down to a few instances of bad luck.

That said, Gasly has not been able to extract the maximum from a more problematic car this season and that has shown in his performance relative to Tsunoda: still ahead, but not by as much and not nearly as often and that is why he ranks as low as 14th. Seemed to suffer from a frustrated attitude in the final rounds, once he knew he was on his way out.

Championship points: 23 (14th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 12-9
Our season rating/100: 70

13. Kevin Magnussen – Haas (909pts)

Magnussen’s unlikely F1 comeback got off to a brilliant start, with three top-10 finishes in the first four rounds. From then on it became a bit of a slog, more akin to his final couple of years at Haas with just three points in the final 11 rounds. Schumacher became more of a match, but does that say more about the German or the Dane? Perhaps we should reflect more favourably on Schumacher’s results than criticise Magnussen.

The 30-year-old had a long run in the top 10 of our ratings (just slipping to 11th at the summer break) but entered a difficult patch in the middle of the season. He deserves a place at Haas as much as anyone else, but picked up a valuable eighth in Austin, ending a seven-race pointless run. There were probably a few too many collisions, though, clearly the highlight of the year was a maiden pole position in Brazil.

Championship points: 25 (13th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 16-6
Our season rating/100: 65

12. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari (944pts)

After an impressive first season at Ferrari last year, 2022 has been much more of a test for Sainz. There is a fair jump in points from Magnussen in 13th to Sainz in 12th, and that reflects us entering the category of drivers who were probably marginal under-performers.

After an impressive first season at Ferrari last year, 2022 has been much more of a test. Early on he struggled to get to grips with the car, leaving him trailing team-mate Leclerc by a fair and consistent margin in both qualifying (it took him nine races to beat the Monegasque in qualifying) and races (he was 39 points behind after six rounds).

Take out those first six rounds, though, and he fares much more comparably, showing his steady improvement throughout the season. Early retirements derailed any hope of a title charge and, overall, Leclerc has been the better driver. There is some hope for 2023, though, and three poles and one win compared to Leclerc’s nine poles and three wins is no disgrace. Still, a disappointing season on balance and his one-lap pace needs to improve.

Championship points: 246 (5th)
Qualifying record vs team-mate: 6-14
Our season rating/100: 70

11. Sergio Perez – Red Bull (952pts)

In 2021 Perez was only occasionally the type of driver Red Bull needed him to be. With a bit more, Verstappen’s title may have come a little bit easier. In 2022 the stakes have been lower, but Perez has been much improved overall. His strongest period came early in the season, culminating in a terrific win in Monaco.

As the car was developed the gaps started to open up, but credit must be given to Verstappen for that. Still, his record to Verstappen – combined with a particularly poor run in the middle of the year – means he does not place inside the top 10 in our system. That is an improvement from last year’s 17th, though.