Grading F1's 2022 drivers at half-term

It’s not the halfway point of the Formula 1 season - that came with the chequered flag for the Austrian Grand Prix back in early July. But with the summer break offering some respite, here’s a ripe opportunity to take stock and assess the performances of the 20 drivers. And since it is A-level results time, why not give them all a grade and school report before they go back to class at Spa later this month?

By extension of them racing in F1, none of these drivers are anything less than exceptional. But even within those extremely high standards, it’s clear to see that some are operating at the top of the class and that there are those who might need to stay behind.

The mid-season interlude also gives chance to put details in perspective. Eagle-eyed readers will note how some of this order is out of sync with our Autosport average driver ratings. Those scores throughout the campaign are a major steer. But this rejigged order reflects new information that has come to light and wasn’t initially known in the first few hours after each respective race.

1. Max Verstappen

Verstappen is the top performer from the first half of 2022, capped by winning from tenth at the Hungaroring

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Team: Red Bull
Championship Pos: 1st
Grading: A+

Top of the class is the points leader and, barring a disaster, surely the champion. Verstappen is also awarded the highest grade to recognise that he is operating at a level above everyone else, even though there are blemishes on his record.

Spins in Spain and Hungary didn’t cost wins, even if those letoffs were down to Ferrari shortcomings. It’s noted too that he didn’t immediately dominate Perez, as might have been expected.

Aside from leaving a little to be desired in qualifying, with the Red Bull RB18’s excess weight considered, Verstappen has few areas left to improve. His all-round composure and behaviour in wheel-to-wheel combat are generally progressing.

2. Charles Leclerc

Leclerc took his third win of the season in Austria, but immediately dropped the ball next time out in France - adding to the points losses suffered through unreliability

Photo by: Ferrari

Team: Ferrari
Championship Pos: 2nd
Grading: A

The problem for Leclerc is that he and the car were ready to win titles before the team. He’s used the Ferrari F1-75’s sublime pace to nail seven remarkable poles but, with only three wins, has been massively short-changed by the strategic and unreliability shockers.

The way Leclerc outsmarted Verstappen for DRS in Bahrain, dominated proceedings in Australia and passed his rival three times in Austria would have put him a whisker in front for this order. But then crashing while leading in France is arguably the biggest blunder by any driver this season. Combined with spinning at Imola, he slots into second place in the class.

3. Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton has shone brightest when the Mercedes has been on-form, although he sits behind Russell in the points

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Team: Mercedes
Championship Pos: 6th
Grading: A

While our head boy for the previous five successive seasons has so far slipped to third, Hamilton does still rank ahead of Russell here. That’s despite his average Autosport driver rating for the season being lower than his team-mate’s.

Changing the order reflects information that has belatedly come to light. Chiefly, Hamilton was stymied by running experimental set-ups as Mercedes used his experience to hone the troublesome W13.

Hamilton also trumps Russell because whenever the car has been properly competitive (Spain, Canada, Britain and France), it’s been the seven-time champion who has enjoyed the better pace among the Mercedes team.

4. George Russell

Russell has notched five podiums thus far, including in France, and placed in the top five in every race he's finished

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Team: Mercedes
Championship Pos: 4th
Grading: A

The Williams graduate has immediately looked comfortable among the top set upon his move to Mercedes. He tamed the difficult Silver Arrow to nine consecutive top-five finishes, lasting until he was involved in the terrifying first-corner Silverstone smash. Even though the Red Bull was hurt by ailing DRS, Russell excelled when dicing with Verstappen at Barcelona.

But the early mainstream media suggestion that he’d dethroned Hamilton was premature. The elder statesman made greater sacrifices to optimise the W13. When the cars did match, Russell didn’t quite equal Hamilton’s Sunday speed. Still, earned a brilliant maiden pole in Hungary when the Ferraris left the door ajar.

5. Lando Norris

Norris has comfortably outperformed Ricciardo, impressing by doing so even with tonsillitis at the Spanish GP

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Team: McLaren
Championship Pos: 7th
Grading: B+

Not quite in that very top bracket because, since Monaco, there’s not been a first-rate display from Norris. Just plenty of good ones.

The McLaren MCL36 isn’t as quick as the Alpine, so the Brit’s unlikely podium at Imola plus mega one-lap efforts to snare fourth on the grid in Australia and Hungary (two tracks that suited the car’s tendency to favour low-speed corners) stand out. He has also embarrassed his experienced, race-winning team-mate to do the lion’s share of the work in keeping McLaren in the hunt for fourth in the constructors’ championship.

Fifteenth position in Canada is the only below-par afternoon, the team’s botched tactics noted.

6. Carlos Sainz

Sainz has taken a maiden victory at Silverstone and shaken off his early season struggles

Photo by: Ferrari

Team: Ferrari
Championship Pos: 5th
Grading: B+

It’s the performances since Canada that earn Sainz a very respectable grade and explain him being ranked over Perez, his equivalent at Red Bull. The Spaniard admits it took time to absolutely trust the rear axle of the Ferrari F1-75, which Leclerc was happily throwing around from day dot. As such, his start of the season stuttered, particularly when Sainz beached the Ferrari in the Albert Park gravel. Outings in Spain and Azerbaijan, before unreliability intervened, were blotches also.

But his win at Silverstone ignited his term, and he maintained the high standard through Austria, France and Hungary to be considered the more effective deputy as his Mexican counterpart slumped.

7. Fernando Alonso

Alonso has outperformed team-mate Ocon but results haven't always reflected performances - his best result so far fifth at Silverstone

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Team: Alpine
Championship Pos: 10th
Grading: B

The naughty boy who Alpine reckon deserves a detention. The Aston Martin-bound two-time champion has deployed the so-called ‘Alonso tax’.

He reckoned unreliability cost him 40 points, which then became 70 by the time he’d finished lapping the Austrian GP media pen! Nevertheless, he has a case. Autosport reckons five weekends have legitimately been capped by car failures, and Alpine’s strategy has been fallible also.

There’s no denying that Alonso, 41, has been in superlative form from round six in Spain onwards to comfortably best the younger Ocon at Alpine. But we won’t go as far as the man himself, who says he’s currently equal to his 2012 brilliance.

8. Valtteri Bottas

Bottas was in fine form at Imola, finishing a strong fifth despite a slow pitstop to earn a 9 in Autosport's driver ratings

Photo by: Alfa Romeo

Team: Alfa Romeo
Championship Pos: 9th
Grading: B

Initially led Alfa Romeo with distinction when it had definitively the lightest car at the beginning of the season. Imola (fifth), Barcelona (sixth) and Montreal (seventh) leap out as highlights not only for his results but also the actual performances.

Although the machinery is now less frequently capable of big points scores, his races are generally well-executed even if some recent inconsistency has arrived. Bottas has also been a perfect classmate to Zhou, helping the fresher get up to speed for the good of the whole team.

His major blunder came in Miami, when he got distracted by the Mercedes scrapping to clonk into the wall.

9. Sergio Perez

Perez came out of the blocks quickly and took a first career pole at the Saudi GP - where he was unfortunate not to win

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Team: Red Bull
Championship Pos: 3rd
Grading: B-

Perez came out fighting with pole for the second round in Saudi Arabia, and was robbed in the race by the poorly timed virtual safety car. He won in Monaco and was quicker than his benchmark team-mate in qualifying in Azerbaijan too. These efforts stood out and earn the strong grade. But Perez’s early adaption to the overweight Red Bull RB18 has given way to a dip as the developments better suit team-mate Verstappen.

In Canada, Austria and France, Perez fell behind Sainz as a rear-gunner to his title-contending partner. In those races, he was flirting with the anonymous Gasly and Albon-type drives that got them both dropped from the team.

10. Alex Albon

Albon's kindness on his tyres has helped to lift the Williams into the points on two occasions, placing ninth in Miami

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Team: Williams
Championship Pos: 19th
Grading: B-

After his gap year recreating Verstappen-Hamilton crashes, Albon has returned with some incredible highs but some considerable lows too.

The ‘supertimes’ metric rates the paint-striped and wind-sensitive FW44 as the slowest car by a considerable margin. Yet thanks to some remarkable tyre whispering, Albon has dragged it to two points finishes and four Q2 appearances, naturally vanquishing Latifi along the way.

There are doubts as to whether he’s pushing Williams to turn over every stone to improve to the same extent as predecessor Russell, and the ‘nice guy’ tag remains for Albon. His litany of incidents in Monaco contributes to an insecure B.

11. Sebastian Vettel

Vettel's best finish of his swansong campaign to date has come with 11th in Baku after missing the opening two rounds with COVID

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Team: Aston Martin
Championship Pos: 14th
Grading: C+

Vettel showed a sick note (in the form of a positive COVID test) to miss the first two races in the Middle East. He was then playing catch-up with a new generation of machinery, which led to a disappointing showing at Albert Park.

For Imola, he adjusted to claim points in eighth after starting 13th – a legacy of Vettel more than once mismanaging tyre temperatures in qualifying to undermine his one-lap speed. Since the Spanish GP, it’s been only in Austria when the standard (his innocence in crashes with Albon and Gasly noted) has markedly slipped.

Extracurricular activities – climate activism and appearing on Question Time – are acknowledged and praised, but don’t alter his mark.  

12. Kevin Magnussen

Fifth on his comeback in Bahrain marked a triumphant return for Magnussen which has yet to be surpassed

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Team: Haas
Championship Pos: 11th
Grading: C

After what turned out to be an exchange year over in America, Magnussen returned in incredible form with a brilliant opening two rounds to march to fifth in Bahrain and ninth in Saudi Arabia. But after making the Haas VF-22’s box-fresh pace count before the squad was left behind in the development race, the Dane’s work has tailed off a little to mean he doesn’t break into our top 10.

Magnussen returns a middling ‘C’ after a string of bang average drives, and has also already been marked down for clumsily clattering with Stroll in Miami. And according to the ‘supertimes’ data, Magnussen has the smallest pace advantage over a team-mate of those who have been quicker within their own squad. 

13. Esteban Ocon

Ocon has scored a decent haul of points but without hitting the heights of Alonso

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Team: Alpine
Championship Pos: 8th
Grading: C

In the aftermath of the Alonso-Oscar Piastri saga, Ocon’s value to Alpine has only increased. But on track, it’s been a little disappointing for the highly rated Frenchman.

It might be surprising to learn that his pace deficit to his team-mate is the fourth-biggest on the grid, behind only the more obvious Williams, Alfa Romeo and McLaren disparities. Alonso’s stellar recent form in the sister car further limits Ocon to a C.

He hasn’t dropped the ball and turned in a shocker, but neither has he hit the heights expected. Top-six results in Saudi Arabia, Canada and Austria (where fifth was his best of the season so far) stand clear as the best of a humdrum lot.

14. Zhou Guanyu

Zhou hasn't disgraced himself in his rookie year, and quietly set about reducing his early gulf to Bottas

Photo by: Alfa Romeo

Team: Alfa Romeo
Championship Pos: 17th
Grading: C-

A C- shouldn’t be interpreted as a scathing assessment. Set aside the top three teams and focus on the ultra-competitive midfield, among which Zhou is the second-highest number two driver on this list behind only Ocon. As the first-year student says, he’s experienced almost “10 years” of F1 drama in just 13 races.

A point on his Bahrain debut silenced the critics who reckoned his value to the grid was commercial only. His escape from his Alfa Romeo without serious injury at Silverstone was little short of miraculous.

The gap to team-mate Bottas has closed from the early 0.8s deficit to a more respectable three or four tenths. But there’s still a gap, nonetheless.

15. Mick Schumacher

Schumacher has scored his first F1 points, but hasn't been able to impose himself over returnee Magnussen

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Team: Haas
Championship Pos: 15th
Grading: D

It won’t go down well that one of the most popular kids is towards the bottom of the class. However, two points-scoring returns in the back-to-back British and Austrian GPs don’t entirely make up for a campaign hurt by massive car-snapping, Haas-budget-crushing spills in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, plus surely being the more at fault for wiping out mentor Vettel in Miami. His seat has been genuinely under threat as a result.

But his first points at Silverstone, including shrewdly backing out to avoid tangling with Verstappen, were long overdue after the safety car and fragile Ferrari engine conspired against him in Bahrain and Canada respectively.

16. Pierre Gasly

Fifth in Baku has been a rare highlight for Gasly in a disappointing 2022 so far

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Team: AlphaTauri
Championship Pos: 13th
Grading: D

The AlphaTauri – both before and since its upgrade for the French GP in late July – has been tricky, inconsistent and slow. After a sound start to the year, Gasly’s work hasn’t offset this anywhere near as much as we would have expected. That has enabled an underwhelming Tsunoda to close the gap and even surpass the 2020 Italian GP winner on occasion in qualifying and in races.

There have been costly mistakes – he spun in the Austrian GP sprint and tagged Vettel in the full GP, and he also exceeded track limits on Saturday at the Hungarian GP. To argue Gasly further up this list entails arguing others down it, and no one’s case is weak enough to drop them behind him.  

17. Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo is fighting for his F1 future after a tough start to 2022, being clearly outshone by Norris

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Team: McLaren
Championship Pos: 12th
Grading: F

Ricciardo was the standout student of 2014 and 2016, when Autosport placed him first in our top 50 drivers of the year across the whole of motorsport. Of his subsequent fall from grace, the opening half of 2022 has been the protracted nadir.

It doesn’t help that his McLaren team-mate Norris is a formidable talent, so his standout performances further hurt Ricciardo’s underwhelming showing. But even in isolation, it’s a poor case for the Australian.

His season is aptly summed up by Q3 at the Hungarian GP. Throughout the first sector, he never troubled an apex to cede five places and six tenths to Norris. Only on home soil has he been anything above average.

18. Lance Stroll

A quartet of tenth places, including on home turf in Canada, are all Stroll has to show for a tough season so far

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Team: Aston Martin
Championship Pos: 18th
Grading: F

Stroll earns a certificate heading into half-term for having accrued the most positions gained of anybody so far during the 2022 grands prix, with 47. However, that also reflects a poor qualifying record and his tendency to shunt his Aston Martin. This he managed twice over the Australian GP weekend, twice more in Monaco and twice more on Saturday alone in Baku!

When he’s kept the car out of the barrier, there’s been a deficit to team-mate Vettel, who isn’t enjoying a blinding season anyway. As such, Stroll finds himself in our bottom set. That’s despite the consecutive point scores at Imola and in Miami, plus fair days in Canada, France and Hungary.

19. Yuki Tsunoda

After shining early in the season, Tsunoda has flattered to deceive and clocked no points finishes since the Spanish GP

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Team: AlphaTauri
Championship Pos: 16th
Grading: F

If Leclerc shunting while leading the French GP is the most egregious error of the campaign so far, then Tsunoda exiting the Montreal pits in the Canadian GP and wandering into the wall was the clumsiest.

Showing tangible progress over his rookie year early on, this sophomore student was quite capable of putting AlphaTauri team-mate Gasly in the shade. At Imola, Baku and Paul Ricard, he was a star performer in the difficult AT03.

But the extreme lows, especially wiping out his team-mate at Silverstone and inadvertently ruining Verstappen’s race, ensure it’s tough to argue his case for being considerably higher up this list. Must try harder.

20. Nicholas Latifi

Qualifying in the top 10 for the first time at Silverstone has been the bright point in an otherwise dismal season for Latifi

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Team: Williams
Championship Pos: 20th
Grading: F

Latifi comes closest to receiving the dreaded ‘see me after class’ note on his report. He maintains that from Silverstone in July onward, a new chassis and the way the car was rebuilt have transformed his season, the Williams upgrade package notwithstanding.

Certainly, the cavernous 0.75s deficit to team-mate Albon has diminished in the four races since and the Canadian was downright decent at Silverstone. But his adaption to ground-effects has been the slowest, his two shunts in Saudi Arabia particularly silly. The progress comes too late and is not enough.

Williams, and therefore F1, seems ready to expel him at the end of the term.

Two crashes in Jeddah were the nadir of Latifi's year as he faces a fight to keep hold of his seat

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images