Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Brazilian 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 Interlagos.
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.
Who was the best driver of the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix weekend?
- No opinion (0%)
- Kevin Magnussen (5%)
- Mick Schumacher (0%)
- Nicholas Latifi (0%)
- Alexander Albon (0%)
- Guanyu Zhou (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (2%)
- Sebastian Vettel (1%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
- Pierre Gasly (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (18%)
- Esteban Ocon (0%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (2%)
- Lando Norris (0%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (5%)
- Charles Leclerc (2%)
- Sergio Perez (1%)
- Max Verstappen (0%)
- George Russell (50%)
- Lewis Hamilton (15%)
Total Voters: 131

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David BR (@david-br)
14th November 2022, 1:28
Russell given his performance in the sprint race and the GP, impossible to fault really.
Hamilton didn’t really do anything wrong, though, either, and was probably a tad quicker of the weekend. No doubt he’ll be blamed for not giving Max more room at turn 2. But really? They’d still have collided at some point on the lap. Verstappen was a man on a very particular mission.
Hendy (@hendy)
14th November 2022, 2:08
How can you not vote Alonso today? It seems he has magical drives on a regular basis.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
14th November 2022, 9:13
@hendy It’s a tricky vote because there are reasons to not vote for almost every driver this weekend. Alonso had a great race but losing his wing in the sprint was a poor mistake and he did get out qualified before that.
I went for Russell because his pace and composure under pressure to take his first win were impressive, though he also had his off in qualifying.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
14th November 2022, 9:30
It’s driver of the weekend, not of the race day. Alonso crashed twice with his teammate. That makes him ineligible in my book.
Tago
15th November 2022, 14:22
His teammate pushed him out. The second hit might be 60/40 Alonso’s fault, but he was trusting Ocon (clearly he shouldn’t have)
Even with this, he did a great recovery on the sprint race, before receiving a dubious penalty (he had already lost his front wing. This type of penalty seems to be related to the stewards mood of the day)
On Sunday he was just incredibly fast (3 stops, 10 seconds one of them) and passed possibly more cars than anybody else. He beat the Red Bulls and with a couple more laps, he could have had Charles. 17th to 5th.
hyoko
14th November 2022, 2:55
Alonso of course but George Russell deserves a mention, even if his quali was subpar
With today’s win GR has almost succeed in asserting his dominance in the team. The count back does not favor hin with one 2P vs four. Anyway a 9P is enough for him, even if his teammate makes the win + flap at Abu Dabhi, a 10P if his teammate makes the win but not the flap. If his teammate does not get the win, or full points are not awarded, GR remains on top even with a DNF. So GR is very close to do what Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg already did.
Fahlen
14th November 2022, 12:09
Dominance? Hamilton would have finished ahead more often than not in both quali and race had it not been for safety cars. In spite of the first third of the season of testing.
13 vs 8 12 vs 10 in quali, in spite of Hamilton being unable to do a proper quali in Monaco, Hungary, and Brazil. Už
hyoko
15th November 2022, 22:44
Bad losers always have plenty of excuses
Nick T.
14th November 2022, 3:56
Alonso. Vettel was doing great for the car he’s in too. The disasters befalling all of GR’s top competitors behind him, made this a fairly easy victory for him.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th November 2022, 6:29
Went with alonso cause he was really impressive, faster than a red bull (on worse tyres) with an alpine, overtaking perez, was even gaining on leclerc for a bit, let’s not forget he also got a terrible pit stop where he lost 10 sec; russell obviously will win the vote and deserves it, he got every single possible point this weekend and even without final SC he had the race in hand.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
14th November 2022, 9:17
Went with Sainz. Alonso had a nightmare sprint. Russell’s lofty grid position was fortuitous. Magnussen comes close, but had he kept Norris behind in the sprint I would have considered him.
Craig
14th November 2022, 9:32
Russell, Hamilton and Alonso were definately the cream of the crop, though Sainz deserves credit for getting back into the mix.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th November 2022, 11:15
DOTW: RUS with honorable mention to MAG
DOTD: RUS with honorable mention to ALO.
Claus J
14th November 2022, 11:22
Kmag significantly outperformed his car all weekend before being punted out. All other drivers made serious mistakes, some with luckier results than others.
Sebastian is a close second due to the race day performance. Ocon did better than usual on the day, but was unimpressive in the sprint
George beached his car, Fernando ran stockcars, Lewis missed out on so many chances in the best car of the week and was not entirely blameless in a major accident. I know the British drivers are closer to the hearts of sky and f1tv commentators but it’s OK to form own opinions…
BTW, why do people let the result influence the evaluation of the driver performance so much? The combination of car performance and driver performance is already being evaluated in the points scoring, isn’t it?
David BR (@david-br)
14th November 2022, 12:34
It’s a valid question but I think one response is that drivers competing at the front end of a race also often face extra pressure going for the win and are competing (usually) against the faster and more talented drivers. Russell was driving for his first win and one he’d had to fight for all the way in the sprint and the GP (not handed to him because of exceptional events, SC timings, pit stop luck etc.). On the other hand, I’d say it’s also true that drivers further down the order are more likely to become tangled up in racing incidents as the racing is closer and more hectic in general. On that basis, though, I thought Alonso was more impressive than K-Mag.
Claus J
15th November 2022, 13:16
Yep, Alonso was more impressive. Well, he is a better racing driver after all, so small wonder, but he made ugly mistakes and nasty driving again this week, which in my book disqualifies him as dotw. His highs are amazing, but the lows are simply too deep.
I’m not convinced the pressure on the front runners is significantly worse than what the midfielders and back markers face – they all fight to keep their seat and all face opponents with similar equipment/skill combinations as their own.
George drove a very good sprint and a very decent race. His lack of car control during qualifying on the other hand was less than impressive. He is simply not up there along Max, Lewis, Charles, Seb and Alonso. Not yet, at least.
Kmag is a bit similar to Alonso, actually, Remarkable (not quite at Alonsos level, but easily in top 10) on good days with spouts of overly aggressive maneuvers and cases of poor judgement on bad days. Shame, really, but I’m glad he’s in F1. Much more watchable performances than the efforts of solid, but uninspired drivers like Checo, Carlos, Valtteri, Esteban and Pierre. And even George, quite often. In my book he’s on par with drivers like Lando. Sometimes, at least :o). It’ll be interesting to see him in a better car next year (provided the whole Haas-at-full-budget thing is true). I expect he and and Alex will be the positive surprises next year. More so then the rookies, actually.
Biker56 (@biker56)
14th November 2022, 20:53
Interesting that after 20 hours and 108 votes Verstappen has 0%. Maybe because you have to have a paid subscription to vote?
Todfod (@todfod)
15th November 2022, 6:16
@biker56
Seems like the driver has to be deserving of a vote. It’s not vote for Max every weekend by default around here.
Fu Manchu (@fumanchu)
15th November 2022, 7:49
Sainz this time. Best weekend of the year for him. Kudos to RUS, ALO & VET.