Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Suzuka.
Driver performance summary
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Vote for your 2022 Japanese Grand Prix driver of the weekend
- No opinion (1%)
- Kevin Magnussen (0%)
- Mick Schumacher (0%)
- Nicholas Latifi (8%)
- Alexander Albon (1%)
- Guanyu Zhou (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (0%)
- Sebastian Vettel (25%)
- Lance Stroll (1%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
- Pierre Gasly (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (1%)
- Esteban Ocon (10%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
- Lando Norris (0%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
- Charles Leclerc (1%)
- Sergio Perez (3%)
- Max Verstappen (45%)
- George Russell (0%)
- Lewis Hamilton (5%)
Total Voters: 153
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JB22
9th October 2022, 20:24
GOATifi obviously
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
9th October 2022, 20:30
Hamilton and Ricciardo are getting votes, but not Ocon. Lol.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
9th October 2022, 21:22
@wsrgo I voted for Ocon. Qualified 5th on merit and finished ahead of two faster Mercedes’ while having to defend the whole race.
elchinero (@elchinero)
10th October 2022, 15:33
Same here … and Ocon thwarted Lewis at every turn.
Moshambles (@moshambles)
9th October 2022, 23:06
Ocon has more. I gave it to Max but Ocon would be my number 2
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
10th October 2022, 6:59
Ric was stiffed by his team again ,should of been box same time as max ECT ..no upgrades last race..sad end for him
MCG (@malrg)
11th October 2022, 5:56
Yep, Ric has been on the receiving end of his Teams bad decisions this season, which has just added to his own troubles.
SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
9th October 2022, 21:34
Who else to vote for other than Verstappen? The guy is in the form of his life and has been absolutely unbeatable. Unbeatable in qualifying and unbeatable in the race, showing absolute dominance allround in the extreme conditions this weekend.
MacLeod (@macleod)
10th October 2022, 8:00
Over the weekend Max but Ocon for the race. With Vettel, Perez as honoured mentions.
Todfod (@todfod)
10th October 2022, 8:33
Surprised you included Perez there. He was nothing spectacular on Saturday or Sunday. He was luck Leclerc cracked under pressure on the last corner of the last lap, because up until then, Perez was finishing a position lower than he should have.
I thought this was Max’s most deserving DOTW. Followed by Vettel and Ocon.
jff
10th October 2022, 12:28
I would rate Perez’ race above Vettel’s.
Vettel caused the accident which demoted him to the bottom.
MCG (@malrg)
11th October 2022, 5:58
This vote is for Driver of the WEEKEND, not the Race.
“Vote for your 2022 Japanese Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
9th October 2022, 21:45
Last week HAM was whining about not starting on wet tires when the team sent him out on inters. This weekend, in much worse conditions, he starts the race with inters instead of wets. Everyone should have been on wets at the start of this thing.
jff
10th October 2022, 12:29
I still believe he merely wanted a different set of Inters last week.
MichaelN
9th October 2022, 21:59
Ocon has a strong claim, pretty much the best result possible in that Alpine. Vettel worked his Suzuka magic to get another great result for Aston Martin moving them comfortably clear of Haas and the other Red Bull team.
Also a good race (not weekend) from Latifi, though long overdue.
MGus.ai
9th October 2022, 22:22
I think Perez deserved a mention – he had ample opportunity to create a lot of controversy by taking out LEC during the last laps. Not that he would intended this, but under those conditions a touch and spin would be considered barely a racing incident.
bull mello (@bullmello)
9th October 2022, 22:34
Vettel loves this track. Did a great job with qualifying and the race. Good for him.
Nick T.
9th October 2022, 22:52
Hated him at RBR, but like many, appreciate him now and was so happy he got a great result in his final race at a track he so loves.
Nick T.
9th October 2022, 22:51
Anyone not whining about racing in the wet. So, that excludes Bottas who is horrible in the wet and now losing to an unrated rookie almost every race.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
9th October 2022, 23:28
If I list the last 8 races, you are incorrect that Bottas is losing to zhou almost every race.
Austria: Bottas despite a really bad start and faling to last recovers and finishes 10+ seconds ahead of Zhou just outside the points.
France: Zhou was nearly a minute behind bottas before he was hit with a technical issue that resulted in retirement.
Hungary: Bottas was 20+ seconds ahead of zhou when he retired on lap 68.
Belgium: Bottas had a penalty and made no effort in qualifying other than to help zhou, then got taken out the race on lap 2 by latifi. This race can’t be judged
Netherlands: Bottas was ahead of Zhou before he retired with a technical issue. Zhou also got a time penalty due to track limits.
In Italy, Zhou did do a better job, but Bottas was carrying damage from lap one so it is a bit hard to tell his true pace. in the netherlands,
Zhou fell to last in Singapore race and was 8 seconds behind Bottas just before latifi took him out.
He also finished ahead of Zhou this race, though did look to have worse pace, but zhou did spin at the start.
Out of the last 8 races, 7 can be fairly compared, and Bottas was better than Zhou in 6 of them. He was only close in a few of them.
I’ll also add that bottas isn’t always rubbish in the wet. He won in turkey last year and also finished 5th in Imola this year, and would have been 4th if he didn’t have to take avoiding action for recciardo spinning at the start. I admit he was dreadful at these two same tracks the previous year and it was wet then.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
10th October 2022, 16:09
They are both dreadful. AT and Alfa need new drivers. AT has signed an average driver and Alfa is locked to 2 sub par drivers
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
12th October 2022, 16:58
You can’t call bottas dreadful when you judge his whole season and his bad luck. He and Alonso have had the most retirements of any driver. Bottas’s performance for the first third of the season was excellent. Zhou has recently started to look a lot better and he has had the most impressive rookie season since verstappen. Certainly far better than Tsunoda. I don’t know how you could call Zhou or Bottas dreadful. How did a dreadful Bottas collect all of his points?
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
9th October 2022, 23:59
Surely has to be Max this weekend. Absolutely peerless, especially in the race.
Nerrticus (@nerrticus)
10th October 2022, 1:44
It’s obviously Verstappen, but I voted Seb because he did a great job all weekend in what could be the last shining moment of his career. Kudos to Ocon and Latifi as well.
M
10th October 2022, 4:59
Well it can’t be Max when even Sergio drove the rocketship to second despite having to compete. He did well, but no more than the car and that was all he had to.
Ocon – he did very well at positioning to retain 4th. Sure the Merc didn’t have the straight line speed but he held out through the corners where his car was slower.
MaddMe (@)
10th October 2022, 8:55
Driver of the Day I felt was Seb, he did well to place 6th after his first lap spin.
DotW, has to be Max. He drove flawlessly and pulled a tremendous margin over LeClerc to win.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
10th October 2022, 9:44
I voted for Seb who I think got everything he could out of the Aston Martin this weekend. Podium finishes for Max of course who was very good and Ocon who also got the most from the Alpine as well.
jhg103 (@joshgeake)
10th October 2022, 10:41
Another weekend where Hamilton’s wet weather skills seemed strangely lacking. Beyond Verstappen’s faultless weekend, it has to be Ocon for me.
grapmg
10th October 2022, 10:50
hmm lets see who will I vote to make it look like it was not a dominant performance from Max
David (@nvherman)
10th October 2022, 12:53
Loving all the comments saying things similar to “well it was clearly Verstappen but I need to vote for anyone other than him” to justify themselves.
Also all those answering DOTW questions with their DOTD, when that’s not the question.
Jere (@jerejj)
10th October 2022, 11:21
DOTW & DOTD: VER with honorable mentions to OCO, VET, & LAT
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
10th October 2022, 16:07
Niels Wittich.
David BR (@david-br)
10th October 2022, 18:49
Couldn’t find the ‘Red Bull Accountants’ option :P