2022 Spanish Grand Prix driver ratings

2022 Spanish Grand Prix

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A scorching hot race in Barcelona for the sixth round of the 2022 Formula 1 championship saw some on the grid rise to the occasion and other wilt under the heat.

Misfortune struck Charles Leclerc for the first time in 2022, while Max Verstappen was lucky that an early race mistake did not prevent him from being able to take advantage of Leclerc’s failure and claim his third successive victory and the championship lead.

Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for a memorable Spanish Grand Prix weekend…

Lewis Hamilton – 7

Qualified: 6th (-2 places behind team mate)
+0.119s slower than team mate in Q3
Finished: 5th (-2 places behind team mate)

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 2022
Hamilton recovered from 19th to finish fifth
  • Took sixth on the grid, lowest of the top three teams after
  • Contact with Magnussen on the opening lap left him crawling to the pits with a puncture
  • Rejoined in 19th, falling a minute behind the leader
  • Moved up to 16th by first scheduled stop, then gained ten more places on his long middle stint on mediums
  • Passed Ocon, Bottas and Sainz to move up to fourth position
  • Forced to back off severely in closing laps due to a water leak, costing him fourth place to Sainz

George Russell – 8

Qualified: 4th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
-0.119s quicker than team mate in Q3
Finished: 3rd (+2 places ahead of team mate)

  • Consistently in the top four every practice and qualifying session
  • Secured best grid position of the year in fourth
  • Passed poor-starting Sainz off the line to take third
  • Held off Perez, then Verstappen before pitting
  • Absorbed pressure from Verstappen for 14 laps, helped by the Red Bull’s DRS malfunctioning
  • Lost lead of the race to Perez before second stop
  • Ran third through final two stints, passing two-stopping Bottas on way to final podium place
  • Ahead of team mate in every session

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Max Verstappen – 7

Verstappen won after Perez let him by twice
Qualified: 2nd (+3 places ahead of team mate)
-0.347s quicker than team mate in Q3
Finished: 1st (+1 place ahead of team mate)

  • Showed strong long run pace in practice
  • Had to settle for second on grid after DRS failed to deploy on final Q3 lap
  • Held second place at start
  • Ran off at turn four, dropping him to fourth, but was allowed through to third by team mate
  • Struggled to pass Russell with intermittent DRS problems, eventually undercutting him in the pits
  • Rejoined second after final pit stop but rapidly caught team mate out front with fresh tyres
  • Gifted the lead of the race through team orders, cruised to comfortable win

Sergio Perez – 6

Qualified: 5th (-3 places behind team mate)
+0.347s slower than team mate in Q3
Finished: 2nd (-1 place behind team mate)

  • Sat out first practice as Juri Vips took his seat
  • Qualified fifth behind Russell’s Mercedes after admitting Q3 lap was “not great”
  • Gained a place from Sainz at the start to run fourth, which became third after Verstappen’s off
  • Allowed team mate by to attack Russell under orders
  • Pitted later than Russell and Verstappen, allowing him to catch the pair, but was denied request to switch
  • Passed Russell for lead of the race before pitting, regaining the lead after Verstappen stopped
  • Could not match Verstappen’s fresh tyre pace and surrendered the lead to his team mate under orders
  • Took fastest lap after third stop for softs, finishing second comfortably ahead of Russell

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Carlos Sainz Jnr – 4

Qualified: 3rd (2 places behind team mate)
+0.416s slower than team mate in Q3
Finished: 4th

  • Secured third on the grid but was four-tenths slower than team mate
  • Almost jumped the start, falling into anti-stall momentarily, which cost him two positions
  • Spun off at turn four and dropped to 11th, later claiming to have damaged his car
  • Passed Norris and Ocon to move back up to sixth before Leclerc’s retirement moved him to fifth
  • Ran behind Bottas for over half of the race until eventually passing him in the final stint
  • Lost fourth to Hamilton, before gaining it back in final laps after Hamilton’s water leak problem
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 2022
Leclerc had led every lap until his retirement

Charles Leclerc – 8

Qualified: Pole (+2 places ahead of team mate)
-0.416s quicker than team mate in Q3
Finished: Retired (Power unit, L27)

  • Fastest in every session bar Q2, where he opted to run on used softs
  • Took pole on final lap in Q3 after spinning at first attempt
  • Held off Verstappen at the start to lead
  • Built a comfortable lead after Verstappen’s off until sudden power until failure ended his race
Norris suffered from tonsillitis all weekend

Lando Norris – 8

Qualified: 11th (-2 places behind team mate)
+0.184s slower than team mate in Q2
Finished: 8th (+4 places ahead of team mate)

  • Suffered from physical effects of tonsillitis all weekend, missing team briefings over the weekend
  • Missed most of second practice after damaging floor running over kerb
  • Reached Q3 but then had best Q2 time deleted for track limits at turn 12, eliminating him in 11th
  • Lost a place to Ocon at the start
  • Passed Ricciardo and Schumacher before pitting, then ran behind Ocon and ahead of Tsunoda
  • Overtook Vettel on a different strategy to run eighth over final two stints
  • Claimed eighth place after “one of the hardest races I’ve ever done”

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Daniel Ricciardo – 4

Qualified: 9th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
-0.184s quicker than team mate in Q2
Finished: 12th (-4 places behind team mate)

  • Felt he had hit qualifying target by taking ninth on the grid
  • Lost a position to Schumacher at the start, then passed by Ocon and team mate Norris in early laps
  • Passed by Schumacher in second stint to drop to 12th
  • Ran 13th over final two stints, lacking the pace to catch cars ahead
  • Eventually caught Schumacher in final laps as the Haas’ tyres fell off, taking 12th place
Fernando Alonso, Alpine, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 2022
Alonso scored points from the back of the grid

Fernando Alonso – 7

Qualified: 17th (-5 places behind team mate)
+0.163s slower than team mate in Q1
Finished: 9th (-2 places behind team mate)

  • Frustrated by Q1 traffic mix-up that compromised his final run, eliminating him in 17th
  • Started from back of the grid after taking engine penalty
  • Gained five places on lap one, including passing Albon on outside of turn 12
  • Passed Stroll, Vettel and Gasly during first stint
  • Overtook Tsunoda after second stop to gain tenth, which became ninth when Vettel pitted
  • Slow final stop did not cost him any positions, finishing ninth ahead of Tsunoda

Esteban Ocon – 7

Qualified: 12th (+5 places ahead of team mate)
-0.163s quicker than team mate in Q1
Finished: 7th (+2 places ahead of team mate)

  • Reached Q2 but eliminated in 12th
  • Gained one position on track at the start, then passed Ricciardo and Schumacher on consecutive laps
  • Ran behind Bottas in sixth before being passed by recovering Sainz
  • Lacked the pace in seventh to catch cars ahead in second half of race but kept a gap to Norris behind
  • Finished comfortably in seventh

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Pierre Gasly – 4

Qualified: 14th (-1 place behind team mate)
+0.222s slower than team mate in Q2
Finished: 13th (-3 places behind team mate)

  • Missed the entirety of third practice with car problem
  • Gambled on set up in qualifying but eliminated slower than team mate in Q2
  • Held position at the start but contact with Ocon at turn one damaged front wing
  • Collided with Stroll at turn 1 and handed a five second time penalty
  • Spent the second half of the race in 14th, unable to pass Ricciardo, finishing behind the McLaren
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 2022
Tsunoda claimed the final point in tenth

Yuki Tsunoda – 7

Qualified: 13th (+1 place ahead of team mate)
-0.222s quicker than team mate in Q2
Finished: 10th (+3 places ahead of team mate)

  • Secured 13th on the grid but felt he’d extracted the “maximum” from the car after minimal upgrades
  • Held position at the start
  • Committed to three stop strategy with early first stop
  • Ran behind Norris through second stint, then behind Alonso in third stint
  • Passed Schumacher in final stint and claimed final point in tenth

Sebastian Vettel – 6

Qualified: 16th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
-0.464s quicker than team mate in Q1
Finished: 11th (+4 places ahead of team mate)

  • Shocked to be eliminated from Q1 in 16th
  • Gained four places on opening lap – two on the track
  • Overtaken by Alonso in early running
  • Long opening stint before pitting for second set of softs on lap 21, rejoining 17th
  • Got up to eighth before being passed by Norris
  • Caught Schumacher over final stint before passing him for 11th, where he finished

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Lance Stroll – 4

Qualified: 18th (-2 places behind team mate)
+0.464s slower than team mate in Q1
Finished: 15th (-4 places behind team mate)

  • Eliminated in Q1 as the slowest non-Williams after complaining of poor balance
  • Gained two places at the start
  • Hit by Gasly at turn one, spinning him and forcing him to pit for damage
  • Finished in 15th behind Gasly, ahead of Latifi, Magnussen and Albon

Nicholas Latifi – 5

Qualified: 20th (-1 place behind team mate)
+0.270s slower than team mate in Q1
Finished: 16th (+2 places ahead of team mate)

  • Slower than practice stand-in Nyck de Vries and Albon in every practice session
  • Slowest in qualifying to start 19th on the grid after Alonso penalty
  • Lost position to Alonso at start
  • Ran in 16th ahead of Magnussen and team mate Albon
  • Caught Magnussen after his final stop and overtook him to finish 16th
Alex Albon, Williams, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 2022
Albon was well off the pace in the race

Alexander Albon – 3

Qualified: 19th (+1 place ahead of team mate)
-0.270s quicker than team mate in Q1
Finished: 18th (-2 places behind team mate)

  • Handed car over to Nyck de Vries in first practice
  • Final Q1 run compromised by pit lane traffic, but still quicker than team mate
  • Gained one position from Zhou at the start but lost one to Alonso
  • Sustained floor damage after first stop, leading to visible understeer
  • Overtaken by team mate Latifi before falling to a distant last place by the chequered flag
  • Handed five second time penalty for exceeding track limits four times

Valtteri Bottas – 6

Qualified: 7th (+8 places ahead of team mate)
-1.041s quicker than team mate in Q2
Finished: 6th

  • Lost power unit with failure in second practice
  • Secured ‘best of the rest’ grid position of seventh
  • Lost two places at the start but gained them back from Magnussen and Hamilton
  • Passed Schumacher, then gained fifth when Sainz spun
  • Ran ahead of Sainz in fourth for most of the second half of the race on a two-stop strategy
  • Lost tyre performance in the closing laps, passed by Sainz and Hamilton to eventually finish sixth

Zhou Guanyu – 4

Qualified: 15th (-8 places behind team mate)
+1.041s slower than team mate in Q2
Finished: Retired (Cooling system, L28)

  • Sat out first practice for Robert Kubica
  • Knocked out of Q2 a second slower than team mate and over half a second slower than his best Q1 time
  • Dropped two positions at the start, but gained them back passing Albon and Stroll in early laps
  • Was among first to pit for mediums on lap 10
  • Overtook Gasly for 13th, but retired with identical problem that struck him in Miami

Mick Schumacher – 4

Qualified: 10th (-2 places behind team mate)
+0.686s slower than team mate in Q3
Finished: 14th (+3 places ahead of team mate)

  • Lost almost 50 minutes of third practice due to brake fire
  • Earned first ever Q3 appearance after Norris had Q2 time deleted, taking tenth on grid
  • Investigated and warned by stewards for exceeding maximum lap time in qualifying
  • Gained two places at the start, then two more after Magnussen and Hamilton collided
  • Passed by Bottas, Ocon and Norris before pitting, then overtook Ricciardo
  • Ran a long final stint on mediums on a two-stop strategy but fell off the cliff, ending up 14th

Kevin Magnussen – 4

Qualified: 8th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
-0.686s quicker than team mate in Q3
Finished: 17th (-3 places behind team mate)

  • Faster than team mate in all three qualifying phases
  • Investigated and warned by stewards for exceeding maximum lap time in qualifying
  • Passed Bottas off the line but contact with Hamilton at turn four left him with puncture
  • Gambled on a two stop in hope of a Safety Car that never came
  • Passed by Latifi in closing laps to finish 17th

Over to you

Vote for the driver who impressed you most last weekend and find out whether other RaceFans share your view here:

2022 Spanish Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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47 comments on “2022 Spanish Grand Prix driver ratings”

  1. Mercs, BOT, NOR, ALO, & to a lesser extent, OCO & TSU impressed me the most.
    The most disappointing ones were RIC, GAS, Haases, & ALB, albeit the last one suffered from excessive deg.

  2. BOT 7, PER 7, NOR 7/6. Other than that, very fair marks.

  3. Ricciardo, Guanyu and Sainz all underperforming consistantly this year compared to their teammates.

    1. Absolutely @slowmo – RIC and SAI are experienced drivers who are being regularly well beaten by their teammates in both qualy and race. ZHO however is really only being beaten in qualy, albeit by quite a margin but by a driver who was competitive in qualy against one of the all time greats. In the races ZHO is going very well, with excellent speed and racecraft and would have had at least 3 (probably more) pointscoring races by now if not for reliability and pit crew mistakes. ZHO is doing a better number 2 driver than either RIC or SAI.

  4. YTD average based on @WillWood‘s ratings:

    Max Verstappen: 7.5
    Charles Leclerc: 7.0
    Valtteri Bottas: 6.7
    Lando Norris: 6.5
    George Russell: 6.5
    Sergio Perez: 6.2
    Alexander Albon: 5.8
    Fernando Alonso: 5.8
    Lewis Hamilton: 5.7
    Yuki Tsunoda: 5.6
    Esteban Ocon: 5.5
    Kevin Magnussen: 5.3
    Pierre Gasly: 5.3
    Nico Hulkenberg: 5.0
    Sebastian Vettel: 4.8
    Zhou Guanyu: 4.7
    Daniel Ricciardo: 4.7
    Carlos Sainz Jnr: 4.7
    Lance Stroll: 4.5
    Mick Schumacher: 3.8
    Nicholas Latifi: 3.7

    1. @WillWood,
      Why can’t I post with the bars as I did after the initial couple of ratings (gone now)?
      It makes it just easier to see the relative position much quicker than only presenting the values.

    2. Average driver rating per team.
      Redbull: 6.85
      Mercedes: 6.1
      Ferrari: 5.85
      Alfa Romeo: 5.7
      Alpine: 5.65
      Mclaren: 5.6
      Alpha Tauri: 5.45
      Williams: 4.75
      Aston Martin: 4.65
      Haas: 4.55

      Interesting statistic: If Mercedes had dropped Hamilton instead of Bottas, then the team average would be 6.6

  5. It seems I’m the only one who wasn’t all that impressed by Russell’s performance. Look at Hamilton’s pace, and it’s clear Russell should have won the race.

    1. I don’t understand where the “Hamilton could have won” comments come from. Red Bull produced a comfortable 1-2, they probably had more pace at hand if needed but with Leclerc out of the picture and Sainz lapping like he is driving an Alfa Romeo it was not needed. Mercedes did a step forward but the car is not there yet.

      1. The Dolphins
        24th May 2022, 13:04

        It came from a bit of an off the cuff remark Toto made after the race. I agree they are second fiddle at best with Ferrari suffering issues. The track temp might have been flattering on the performance as well.

      2. @afonic it came from comparing lewis’ pace to that of George and the Red Bulls, during the middle 2 stints of the race, when the red bulls were very much still pushing. Hamilton was just as quick if not quicker.

    2. Russel certainly lost a shed load of time defending against VER, which was the right thing to do. But there is no way the Merc is quick enough to win in a normal race, Wolf was certainly having a laugh when he said that.

      1. @tricky go back and watch the live timing if you have the ability to. Hamiltons lap times on mediums suggest otherwise.

        1. Ultimately, as Binotto has pointed out, GR finished 33 seconds back of Max and LH finished 55 seconds back. Yes LH had his issues, but so was CL taken out with unreliability, and Max had his DRS issue, so either of those drivers could have finished the race at least 10 seconds quicker, CL perhaps even 20 seconds the way he was walking away with his lead while he was healthy.

          So yeah I’m sure there is a way to play woulda, coulda, shoulda with LH’s lap times at times, but obviously it wasn’t something sustainable. I’m not sure how LH would have even gotten by GR without an order.

          I think what will be very interesting is to see how Mercedes does in the coming races after whatever changes or discoveries it is they have made, because I’m sure not convinced they are suddenly all that at every track type and with every weather and track condition. For me I’ll believe it when I see it. Not saying at all that it is not possible, just that they’re going to have to show it rather than just have their fans and some commentators claim the are now suddenly in the fight. 33 and 55 seconds back in a race where leader CL dnf’d and Max was held up with faulty DRS.

          1. Actually the way Binotto worded it as well was that MB’s best qualifier (GR) was .65 seconds back of CL, and in the race their best finisher (GR) was 32 seconds back or about half a second a lap, but that could have been more had CL finished, and it could have been the same 6 or 7 tenths a lap behind that they were in qualifying, for the race. As he said, that is how far back they themselves were in 2021 and they never won a race.

          2. It’s a fair comparison, I like binotto’s way of thinking, and ferrari could’ve definitely won races last year, just didn’t take the opportunities presented.

          3. I agree, Lewis (and team) did a pretty good job getting himself back in the race but at the same as mentioned above; Several of top contenders were having issues, the overall pace of the front was effected by it which probably helped Hamilton and then add the big component of Lewis being able to drive in anger without a lot traffic or disturbance during his stints that typically overall slows down cars (tire deg….etc) in the race.

            One thing I’m sure of is that the Merc engineers back at Brackley must be chuffed with all the massive amounts of clean data they accumulated from Lewis driving full on without interference; a very rare occurrence for them and very timely. I think that maybe the biggest win of the day for the team, other than GR getting on the podium and earning valuable team WCC points. I’m betting that data will benefit them greatly to help iron out some of the kinks.
            When served lemons, make lemonade.

  6. Driver Ratings:

    Max Verstappen – 7. He won the race, but was fortunate that Leclerc retired, and also made the mistake that put him in the gravel at turn four, while also getting too frustrated with the DRS. However, he was still extremely quick, made a great pass on Bottas and would have beaten Perez even without the team orders.

    Sergio Perez – 7. A disappointing qualifying to be behind Russell and it cost him in the early part of the race, but he did enough to jump the Mercedes after the pitstops and took the lead following Leclerc’s retirement, but twice had to cede position to Verstappen on his way to second place.

    George Russell – 7. This might be slightly harsh but Hamilton showed there was more pace in the car during the race, but he did an excellent job in qualifying to beat Perez and put up a strong defence in the race on his way to a good podium. With Mercedes seemingly having the pace once again, his first win can’t be far away.

    Carlos Sainz – 4. Another poor weekend for Sainz, who did a decent job in qualifying to start third but bogged down at the start and lost two positions, and then spun into the gravel. He recovered fairly well to fourth but was still slow considering his teammate had been dominating the race and would have lost out to Hamilton without the water leak.

    Lewis Hamilton – 8. Qualifying was disappointing as he was beaten by Russell, and then was not at fault for the incident with Magnussen that put him to the back. From then on, he was incredibly quick and, having suggested retiring at the start, briefly ran fourth before the water leak. Might have won without the first lap incident.

    Valtteri Bottas – 8. Yet again he dominated F1.5 and also ran ahead of Hamilton and Sainz until late in the race, although it is difficult to rate him as the Alfa Romeo appears the clear fourth-best car, but his teammate is a rookie. Loses a mark for dropping behind the Haas pair at the start.

    Esteban Ocon – 7. After a surprising lack of pace for Alpine in qualifying, Ocon made progress immediately in the start to be second-best of the race and from then on had a quiet race to seventh as he racked up more good points and beat his teammate.

    Lando Norris – 7. Missed out on Q3 due to going millimetres off the track, but recovered in the early laps to get to ‘third in class’ fairly soon and from then on kept a constant gap to Ocon and finished a solid eighth, considering he was feeling ill, a long way ahead of Ricciardo.

    Fernando Alonso – 6. Dropping out in Q1 was poor, although he did have problems with traffic, but the race was much better as he made progress from the back and finished in the points, making many overtakes along the way as the Alpine had far better race pace.

    Yuki Tsunoda – 7. Outqualified teammate Gasly and made some places with an early pitstop and a three-stop strategy to finish an impressive tenth, a long way ahead of his teammate, although he did lose a position to Alonso. One of the most improved drivers of 2022 so far.

    Sebastian Vettel – 7. Maybe a little generous as he was knocked out in Q1 and didn’t score points, but Vettel was still a lot faster than Stroll and made progress despite using a two-stop strategy with a long first stint, that was designed to try something different but didn’t appear optimal, and finished a decent 11th.

    Daniel Ricciardo – 5. Did a good job in qualifying to make Q3 with ninth, but had a strange lack of pace in the race as he fell further and further behind Lando Norris and finished outside of the points in 12th. Not making much progress compared to last year and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave McLaren at the end of the year.

    Pierre Gasly – 5. Qualified directly behind Tsunoda, which was not terrible considering a lack of running in practice, but in the race he fell gradually further and further away and ended up well out of the points, after also hitting and spinning Stroll which earned him a penalty.

    Mick Schumacher – 6. A generous rating after dropping a long way out of the points in part due to a sub-optimal two-stop strategy, but did well to make Q3 and run sixth in the early stages, while the Haas didn’t seem to have good race pace. Surely will score a point soon.

    Lance Stroll – 5. Slower than Vettel in qualifying and the race as he never looked close to a points finish having gone fairly long on his first stint and then dropping to the back of the midfield again, while he was moving back up the order before he was hit by Gasly and spun.

    Nicholas Latifi – 5. Qualified on the back row, but a better race from Latifi as he beat his teammate comfortably and also passed Magnussen, who may have had damage, in the closing stages, although the Williams was still uncompetitive and a long way away from points.

    Kevin Magnussen – 5. A very strong qualifying with eighth on the grid and attempted to take sixth on the first lap when contact with Hamilton put him in the gravel. It was a racing incident, but still perhaps a little clumsy from Magnussen. He never really recovered although might have had damage.

    Alexander Albon – 4. Beat his teammate in qualifying but a very strange lack of pace in the race saw him drop over 40 seconds behind Latifi at the end of the race. Some of this was down to tyre degradation and some down to floor damage, so it’s difficult to know how much he was to blame.

    Zhou Guanyu – 4. Once again, Zhou qualified a long way behind his teammate, only 15th in the 7th/8th fastest car, and was some way out of the points when he retired with a power unit failure. He has shown good racecraft in his rookie season but the pace isn’t there yet.

    Charles Leclerc – 9. Made up for his spin in the first runs of qualifying with an outstanding lap in the second to take pole, and then had the race totally under control as he led from the front when reliability gremlins put him out, and cost him the championship lead.

    Team of the Grand Prix – Mercedes. For a huge improvement in pace that has got them back into the hunt for the championship.

    1. Tim (@tsgoodchild)
      24th May 2022, 11:35

      100% agree with you on your review. Far more than the article!

    2. Nice overview and a great achievment of both Ham and Rus. But I don’t agree with your conclusion that MB had a race wining car and are back in the hunt for the WDC. Just look at the laptimes and analyse the race. The first 20 laps Ham lost another 20s to the lead. The middle stint he gained a lot but this was also part of mistakes and misfortune of the leaders. George was defending his lead against the RB what also explains why Ham was faster. The last stint HAM and RUS had the same pace. Great drive and great tyre managment by HAM but Toto was a bit to optimistic on the radio after the finish

    3. Charles Leclerc – 9

    4. Focussing on the top 5 drivers….
      Maybe not Verstappen best race, but yet only one mistakes he made up by driving the wheels off a malfunctioning car… a 7, all good.
      Perez, significantly slower than Verstappen, Spain was nothing different to previous races…apart from Max being stuck due to his DRS issues. 13 sec behind…a 7…? not remotely close to Verstappen’s performance.
      Russell a 7…? Maybe this driver deserved more this race….
      Sainz indeed should be worried
      Hamilton and 8? After an brief oversteer moment that got him a puncture…? Overtaking many slower cars…..
      It seems a first lap incident doesn’t matter, qualifying behind his team doesn’t either? Hamilton did have good pace compared to the drivers in front defending and overheaetign their tyres…. it seems it doesn’t matter

      1. F1 unbiased
        25th May 2022, 6:24

        @F1frog Hmmm. How has Hamilton got an 8 after being behind Russell at every session and every single moment of the weekend? Are we suddenly moving the goalposts from driver of the lap 2 onwards which has suddenly become a new metric Hamilton fans measure performances by. Also Alonso also getting a 6 despite being shafted by his team in Q1 and then coming from 20th to 9th? I think Will’s ratings are more fair and less biased matey.

      2. While Russell lost time to Hamilton over the race it was for good reason. He was sacrificing laptime every time he defended against the Red Bulls and sacrificed race time every time he pitted early with life still left in the tyres. But it was worthwhile as he was fighting for position with the Red Bulls costing them as much as it did him.

    5. Nice review!

      I think the most curious driver position on the grid is Pierre Gasly. He was looking so good last season and had shown a lot of maturity and brilliantly demonstrated on how to regularly get a B team car across the finish line with good points; in ’21 he finished overall ahead of Alonso and Ocon and almost single handily beat Alpine in ’21 WCC.

      Then this season, he’s been underwhelming when his teammate improves a lot (so far) this season. Make’s me think the characteristics of the news chassis is not suiting him and better suits Tsunoda? Sainz seems to be in the same situation.

      I’m less worried about Gasly as I am of Sainz. That’s harder to deal with at the sharper end of the grid.

    6. I guess Will can safely handover this feature write-up responsibility to @f1frog going forward :) I find this comment-cum-rating a much more balanced take compared to the original piece.

  7. Not sure why Albon got only a 3 – he was faster than his teammate, but suffered that damage and that probably meant he did a 4 stopper. Schumacher also a bit of a question mark for me, since he did a solid job in qualifying and it was more his strategy than his driving that meant him dropping out of the points (same goes for Bottas who really did nothing wrong but just couldn’t fight cars on newer tyres and therefore dropped back).

    And while I get the sympathy towards Norris for having to race in the state he was in, he was still beaten in qualifying by his teammate so not entirely sure why it merited an 8.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      24th May 2022, 13:57

      He caused his own damage though…

      1. Yeah, that is a fair point @thegianthogweed

      2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        24th May 2022, 14:01

        And to add to this, there is no proof he was faster in the race, and he finished over 40 seconds behind, got a black and white flag, then continued to go against track limits and got a 5 second penalty. There is no question he was better than Albon.

    2. while I get the sympathy towards Norris for having to race in the state he was in, he was still beaten in qualifying by his teammate so not entirely sure why it merited an 8.

      I’m thinking he was graded with a curve for finishing where he did under the conditions he was going through. Reading about how his vision was being effected by his ailment must not have been an easy thing for an F1 driver trying to qualify at the top at neck breaking speeds and then race hard the next day; it would be a bit unfair to rate him this weekend against other drivers who weren’t feeling ill and had normal vision.

  8. @bascb I believe Lando has his final laptime in Q2 deleted (for track limits) and hence couldn’t make it to Q3.
    That lap time was better than that of Daniel’s. Simply put, Daniel didn’t out-qualify Lando by merit.

    1. @webtel well you’re saying yourself Lando’s lap wasn’t legal, how’s that not being outqualified by merit?

      1. @warheart going offtrack by a cm yet still avoid the gravel at Catalunya isnt worthy of being dismissed so easily. You’re right it’s illegal. But that’s just it. Contextually and in my opinion (not sure if that matters here), this doesn’t give any sort of merit to Daniel.

      2. petebaldwin (@)
        24th May 2022, 10:38

        It’s semantics… Ultimately, Lando made a mistake and therefore qualified behind Ricciardo. Despite therefore qualifying ahead on merit, the reason he was in front was because he got a clean lap in and Lando didn’t – not because he had more pace.

    2. Yes, Lando did indeed get his laptime deleted because of track limits (by a cm or so) @webtel, which meat he did not get into Q3.

      But the reality is that while he remains faster than Ricciardo more or less all the time, he still did fail to get through.

      1. @petebaldwin
        my point exactly. there was nothing meritorious about Daniel qualifying ahead especially when a sick Lando was doing his very best to keep the car off gravel even after going off track [only by a cm or so]
        Comprehensively beaten otherwise.

  9. what is going on with Gasly this year?

    It looks like he is behind Tsunoda more often than not.

    1. Jeffrey Powell
      24th May 2022, 14:27

      Go back to F2 in 2020 to see how quick Tsunoda can be , I am not at all surprised at his pace this year. There may be more to it but it looks like he is just quicker.

      1. Spot on Tsunoda in yr 1 nearly beat Mick in yr 2 more poles or feature wins aswell

        1. Actually, that F2 year; for every time Tsunoda did well, he doubled the amount of bad races and failure to execute race strategy. The guy would be flying in quali and in the beginning of the race but would make contact, spin or burn up his tires before scheduled. Go watch the races again, there was countless times when Tsunoda would be around 4th or 5th near the end and then steadily fall back as his tires burned up before the others, that got a lot of race sprint poles because of it. Or he would quali really well and then muck it up to finish several positions back. His best wins/points gains were in the sprint races. He did do a brilliant job getting it done on the last race of the season to get himself back in position for a F1 license and ahead of Shwartzman and Mazepin to finish 3rd overall but he wasn’t looking so good before that.

  10. It was quite clear from the heat, practice sessions, and F2 race that two-stopping at Barcelona with all those punishing corners was not going to be a fast strategy.

    Yet Alfa-Romeo, Aston-Martin, and Haas all tried that and stayed committed to that failing strategy throughout the race. It probably indicates that some level of improvement in cooperation and dynamic decision-making is possible in all those teams.

  11. Hamilton’s faster pace was due to exceeding track limits on every lap. Race control didn’t care until he ended up in the top 5 or 6.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      24th May 2022, 17:41

      he only did it a few times, but enough to get a black and white flag, and then he never did it again. Stating he did it every lap is entirely false, as s it being the reason why he had faster pace.

  12. I think Verstappen is overrated for his performance, by his own standards. He did manage a great second stint on the softs but it was the team that made it work for him, by its strategy calls and by sacrificing Perez’s chance for the win.

  13. As the philosopher Carl Johnson us

  14. 8 Russell Outqualified Perez and was only beaten by Red Bulls after they overcame his perfect defensive driving
    8 Leclerc Fast throughout and dominated teammate only mistake in qualifying was rectified on second run. Looked on for an easy win
    7 Ocon Very clean and efficient passing early gave him the best result available to Alpine
    7 Norris Slight mistake in Q2 may have been the difference between 7th and 8th but Alpine / Ocon seemed faster when he need to be so did well overall as he did beat Alonso
    7 Verstappen He won but mistake in windy conditions could have been more costly and struggled to pass Russell even when DRS was working and was fortunate that teamorders against Perez worked in his favour. Showed great speed at times which ultimately won him the race
    7 Tsunoda Solid race. Made progress throughout to take a point
    6 Bottas Poor strategy left him 6th when 4th or 5th was possible and made no effort to defend his position against anyone and did not steer Alfa towards a more logical strategy. However his pace was very good and is really showing Zhou the way
    6 Perez Poor qualifying, inability to execute DRS pass on Russell early on, and lack of backbone against team orders cost him a chance of a win, but drove fast enough to complete a 1-2
    6 Hamilton He showed great speed in the race but he should have done better than 5th even with his late car problems. Qualifying was below par and the lap 1 crash was at least 50% his fault.
    6 Alonso Poor qualifying but made up for it in the race to finish 9th
    6 Vettel Good strategy from the team and consistent driving from Vettel got him 11th which is disappointing for the team
    6 Latifi A good race for Latifi passing Albon and Magnussen on track in a slow car
    5 Stroll Slower than Vettel and fairly anonymous apart from being hit by Gasly
    5 Sainz Slower than teammate and spun. Strategy got him ahead of Bottas and reliability problems got him back ahead of Hamilton
    5 Ricciardo Faded throughout the race
    5 Magnussen Came of worst from unecessary collision with Hamilton
    5 Schumacher Still slower than Magnussen and poor strategy meant no points scored
    4 Zhou Poor qualifying and race ended too soon to make up for it
    4 Albon No race pace and poor tyre management
    4 Gasly Slower than Tsunoda then made contact with Stroll while being overtaken

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