For the second year in a row, Formula 1 managed to squeeze a record 25 races into a season by hosting 22 grands prix and three sprint races in the space of eight months.
There wasn’t a year-long title fight this time around, but the 2022 technical regulations did lead to a closer season of on-track action as drivers could spend longer sat behind other cars without the same level of performance loss as in previous seasons.
For each race, we asked RaceFans readers to give a rating between one and ten of how enjoyable each one had been. The polls were compiled to create averages, and this is how the grands prix fared – starting with the lowest rated race and finishing on the highest.
22. Mexican Grand Prix
Average rating: 3.90/10
An entertaining race for Daniel Ricciardo fans, particularly after the struggling McLaren driver received soft tyres for his final stint and made multiple overtakes to rise from 13th to seventh. But a combination of the thin air at high altitude leading to a weakened slipstream effect and less cool air for temperature management, and a slippery track surface made overtaking too difficult for most.
It was one of many dominant wins for Max Verstappen, with the top positions staying the same through the pit stops, and not even a popular home podium for Sergio Perez – celebrated in style in the track’s stadium section – could redeem this race, which now features among your bottom 10.
21. Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Average rating: 5.03/10
Verstappen dominated in a Red Bull one-two, although it was Perez who led early on after passing pole winner Charles Leclerc. An early-season trend for Ferrari continued here as Carlos Sainz Jnr had an off and Leclerc retired from a comfortable lead with an engine failure.
There was little on-track action with more pit stops than overtakes. Lewis Hamilton fighting Pierre Gasly late in the race to take fourth place was one of few notable moments in an unusually tepid encounter at Baku.
20. Italian Grand Prix
Average rating: 5.28/10
Power unit penalties shook up the grid and left Leclerc in a position to take a win for Ferrari on home soil. Verstappen started seventh and Perez lined up 13th.
The Tifosi’s cheers were mostly towards Sainz, who had to start 18th as the result of changing power unit components, as he charged through the field making pass after pass to finish fourth. The cheers for Leclerc were more subdued as Verstappen demoted him to the runner-up spot.
There wasn’t the usual slipstream action in the midfield, although Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi put on a show for a few corners late on with some ambitious moves at the first chicane and the Lesmos. An otherwise forgettable race which ended behind the Safety Car, to the disappointment of many.
19. Japanese Grand Prix
Average rating: 5.44/10
Delayed by rain and then red-flagged, it required a lot of patience from fans at the track and at home to see any racing. Verstappen made a slow start from pole and was briefly passed by Leclerc but immediately retook his lead at turn one. That was the closest anyone got to Verstappen all afternoon.
Low visibility and a soaked track led to many drivers going off-track and yellow flags at multiple corners before the lap two red flags once Sainz went off – and a recovery vehicle went to get him while drivers were still circulating at speed.That proved the focus of the paddock’s frustrations, rather than the lengthy stoppage to the race, and when the green flag did wave again a dominant display from Verstappen earned him the world championship title four races early. But the moment of his crowning was soured by the podium fight behind being determined by a penalty plus an unexpected rules interpretation.
Between those embarrassing moments for F1 there was action to enjoy, including Schumacher very briefly leading and a battle for second between Leclerc and Perez that went all the way to the finish (and then into the stewards’ room).
Sebastian Vettel also pipped Fernando Alonso to sixth by the closest of margins, but the spray meant the battle wasn’t seen in all its glory by television audiences until post-race.
18. Miami Grand Prix
Average rating: 5.63/10
A new race around a car park produced the kind of race you would expect from a circuit built around a car park.
Leclerc claimed pole, but only led until lap nine when Verstappen passed him. From then on it was a straightforward affair, with a late Safety Car appearance doing little to enliven the action.
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17. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Average rating: 5.65/10
With the title long settled there was nothing like the same drama around this year’s season finale. Verstappen scored the 15th win of the campaign in dominant style.
Several attempted overtakes led to drivers going off at the chicanes, other moves were made too easy by DRS, and the battle for third was ended by car trouble for Hamilton. Zhou Guanyu’s excellent last-lap pass on Alexander Albon was missed on the world television broadcast.
16. Belgian Grand Prix
Average rating: 5.68/10
After a farcical one-lap event which received the lowest-ever rating by RaceFans readers last year, the Belgian Grand Prix could only do better in 2022.
Power unit penalties left Verstappen and Leclerc 14th and 15th on the grid, making Sainz favourite to win from pole. There was drama on lap one as Alpine’s Fernando Alonso got into second place and then sent Hamilton flying into the air at Les Combes when the Mercedes driver turned in on him, then on the next lap Nicholas Latifi caused a multi-car crash.
But the chaos, which included Leclerc having to pit due to a tear-off entering his brake cooling, only aided Verstappen’s rise up the order and it was only a matter of time before the race was his to win and in dominant style. Alonso’s team mate Esteban Ocon enlivened proceedings by pulling off two Hakkinen-style double moves.
15. Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
Average rating: 6.05/10
Sprint race: 5.4/10
A start on a wet track meant more action, but once again that only set up Verstappen to dominate. This time he started from pole, so it was a far easier and less exciting path to victory.
Sainz and Ricciardo made contact on lap one and caused a Safety Car period, with Perez pressuring Verstappen after it but then being gapped by his team mate. As frequently happened in the season’s first half, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen found himself fighting a Mercedes in the opening laps and coming out on the losing end of that battle, and Leclerc had a crash but still managed to finish sixth.
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14. Monaco Grand Prix
Average rating: 6.05/10
A delayed start that took place behind the Safety Car didn’t set up the Monaco GP to be a thriller, and predictably there was little in overtaking when the track was slippery or dry. However Ferrari contrived to throw away the advantage of locking out the front row, and Sergio Perez nipped in to take victory.
13. French Grand Prix
Average rating: 6.3/10
Lots of action, but not all of it was necessarily entertaining to watch. The fight for victory ended a third of the way into the race when Leclerc crashed out of the lead, and the gaps were quick to open up after the resulting Safety Car period.
The most impressive driver to watch was Sainz, who carved his way up from 19th on the grid to finish fifth and made some great moves on the way. The Aston Martin drivers also almost collided into each other on the last lap. A fun end to a race which otherwise had a lack of meaningful fights for position.
12. Singapore Grand Prix
Average rating: 6.45/10
A damp track caused significant spray in the first few laps and therefore extra caution from the drivers. Perez beat Leclerc into the lead at the start, which proved to be the race-winning move.
A combination of real and virtual Safety Car periods turned it into a timed race. As Perez drove away up front, Hamilton and Verstappen both had offs that hampered their rises up the order.
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11. Australian Grand Prix
Average rating: 6.49/10
Like Singapore, there was a boost for this event purely off the anticipation of its return to the calendar. It featured a battle for the lead between Leclerc and Verstappen, a common sight in the first few races, and this fight also included George Russell at a time when his Mercedes team wasn’t usually appearing towards the front.
But once a fuel system issue sent Verstappen into retirement, it was lacking in action and Leclerc won by over 20 seconds. Alex Albon’s drive to 10th place in an uncompetitive Williams was something to marvel at, even if it didn’t translate into any memorable moments in the race.
10. Dutch Grand Prix
Average rating: 6.93/10
Zandvoort is narrow and twisting, so overtaking will always be difficult even with banked corners and lengthy DRS zones. But potentially the ‘Orange Army’ fanbase’s excitement at their home track rubs off in race enjoyment given the feverish atmosphere surrounding the race.
DRS-assisted passes were the norm during the race besides the opening laps, where Magnussen went off into the barriers but amazingly kept going, then the pit lane exit also caused several edge-of-seat moments as drivers emerged in front of one another and had to navigate the narrow first sector on cold tyres without colliding.
Arguably most of the race’s drama occurred in the pit lane, and it was to nobody’s surprise that Verstappen won again at home, though he had to pick off Hamilton after a late restart.
9. Canadian Grand Prix
Average rating: 6.96/10
Two Virtual Safety Car periods and a lengthier period behind the actual Safety Car led to most of the overtakes during the Canadian Grand Prix. It enabled Sainz to use fresher tyres to keep winner Verstappen on his toes late in the race. Another returning grand prix that benefited from being much missed by fans during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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8. Spanish Grand Prix
Average rating: 7.17/10
Possibly the most typical race you could get for the first half of the 2022 season, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t entertaining. The tick-list of race moments included: Magnussen making contact with a Mercedes in an early battle, Sainz having an off (which in this instance was repeated by Verstappen to add some unpredictability into who would win), Leclerc having a car problem that would end his victory hopes (in this case power unit failure) and a win for Verstappen, in this case aided by Perez letting him through twice.
What therefore made this race stand out was Russell, who fought Verstappen for position multiple times and even passed him for the lead at one point. But the gulf in pace showed as he finished almost 33 seconds behind in third.
7. Hungarian Grand Prix
Average rating: 7.68/10
Russell claimed his first F1 pole, but once again could only finish a distant third. However Mercedes had the pace to fight Red Bull for victory, and amid all the DRS-assisted passes further down the order there was overtaking action between all three of the top teams.
Ferrari’s strategy choice to put Leclerc on hard tyres took him out of the battle up front. Although Verstappen spun ahead of him, the Red Bull driver quickly re-passed his rival. Although the spin was of no consequence for Verstappen on the way to victory, it made this win more memorable than others and the late fight between the Mercedes for second provided further entertainment.
6. Austrian Grand Prix
Average rating: 7.81/10
Sprint race: 4.5/10
Leclerc’s final win of the season came in another close fight with Verstappen. It came to a tense end, as an engine failure eliminated the other Ferrari, while Leclerc had problems with his throttle in the final laps.
Further back Hamilton ended up fighting a Haas again and Perez spun off after contact with Russell on lap one, then retired later on due to damage.
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5. Bahrain Grand Prix
Average rating: 7.83/10
Leclerc and Verstappen showed how they wanted to approach their title fight straight away in the season opener, kicking off the year with a lot of wheel-to-wheel action.
Magnussen and Hamilton had the first of their ‘too close’ moments, and if fuel system problems hadn’t knocked out both Red Bulls in the closing laps then there could have been a different type of thrilling finish compared to the ‘can you believe this is happening’ of Verstappen and Perez retiring at the end of a tense race. The midfield battles were thoroughly overshadowed by the fight up front on this occasion.
4. Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Average rating: 7.93/10
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit showed it could provide close racing on its first appearance in 2021, and more followed the second time around.
Early on the two Alpines almost crashed while they fought each other. Sainz and pole winner Perez also got too close when the former left the pits, with the narrow track layout leading to several similar moments across the grid.
But the reason the second race of the year stood out was Leclerc and Verstappen’s victory battle going almost to the end once again. Each overtake then led to a follow-up battle between the pair, and Verstappen triumphed by just over half a second. Ocon and Lando Norris also had a fight to the flag for sixth.
3. United States Grand Prix
Average rating: 8.04/10
The first corner at the Circuit of the Americas is almost guaranteed to create action, and it did just that in 2022 as Russell sent Sainz into a spin on lap one.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll ran in an early third place and he later crashed with Alonso in spectacular fashion. A pit stop behind the resulting Safety Car helped Leclerc moved towards the front after a penalty left him starting outside the top ten, and he made a great pass on Perez for third.Verstappen meanwhile had a slow pit stop that kept Mercedes in play for the win, and in the final stint he chased down and passed Hamilton to win. The on-track fight between them may have only lasted three corners, but throughout the race you could hear the crowd’s cheers on the television broadcast.
Vettel also provided a lot of on-track entertainment, and briefly led the race, with a final lap move on Magnussen earning him eighth place. F1 and the USA’s passion for each other was the strongest it had ever been at this race.
2. Brazilian Grand Prix
Average rating: 8.2/10
Sprint race: 7.4/10
Mercedes took their only win of the year while Friday hero Magnussen saw his weekend go from hero to zero and several of F1’s biggest names put on charging back-to-front drives.
The Brazilian Grand Prix began with a crash between Ricciardo and Magnussen that caused an early Safety Car intervention, and at the restart there was even more drama as Verstappen tried passing Hamilton and they drove into each other, then Leclerc and Norris also collided.
Verstappen and Leclerc dropped to 17th and 18th, then put in star performances to recover to sixth and fourth respectively. The end of Verstappen’s race had additional drama as he ignored team orders to let Perez through, and the whole world got to hear the argument over team radio that followed.
Russell had a near-faultless drive to win, and Hamilton finished second to the delight of the Brazilian fans.
1. British Grand Prix
Average rating: 8.97/10
This race received over three times as many 10-out-of-10 votes as any other, but started on a low as Zhou suffered a terrifying crash on the opening lap that required the race to be stopped. Thankfully he emerged uninjured, and what followed in the restarted encounter was a thrilling race.
Verstappen and Leclerc had a dicey battle on the first lap, Perez broke his front wing, then pole winner Sainz managed to pass Verstappen. A Safety Car period that ended with 10 laps to go set up a wheel-to-wheel victory fight between the two Ferraris, Hamilton and Perez.
Sainz emerged triumphant, Perez finished second and Hamilton thrilled the local crowd by making it on the podium in third. Further back, Verstappen had to fight hard to beat Schumacher to seventh.
Your favourite Formula 1 races
See how this year’s races stack up against your pick of the best and worst grands prix over the last 15 seasons:
2022 F1 season
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- Hamilton sees diversity gains in F1 years on from his ‘traumatising’ experience of racism
F1 frog (@f1frog)
18th December 2022, 11:22
Some very damning verdicts on many of the races from racefans here! I do think this website is most entertaining to read when you take this tone, and give your own opinions about F1 rather than simply reporting news, like in this article. Thanks, Ida Wood.
I personally think the United States Grand Prix just pips the British Grand Prix as the most entertaining this year. We had a really entertaining battle for the lead between Hamilton and Verstappen, with both keeping it absolutely fair, and the race not decided until just a few laps from the end. Verstappen also had a good battle with Leclerc, who made that outstanding pass on Perez as well. Sebastian Vettel’s fightback following the terrible pitstop which cost him sixth was also fantastic, the moves on Albon and Magnussen particularly impressive, while Fernando Alonso scoring points despite that huge crash was remarkable.
Silverstone was my second favourite race, with a lot of great battling including Charles Leclerc going around the outside of Lewis Hamilton at Copse on old hard tyres, one of the finest overtakes I have seen. It just misses first place because of the late safety car being instrumental in a lot of the action, as it made it seem slightly artificial, but it was set up beautifully anyway for a great ending as Hamilton was hunting down Sainz and Leclerc for victory. Then Interlagos would come third, and I also really enjoyed Leclerc’s three passes on Verstappen to win in Austria, the battle between them in Bahrain, the three-team fight for victory in Hungary and Russell’s thrilling defence against Verstappen in Spain. Zandvoort would also have been a contender had it not been ruined by the VSC when Tsunoda needlessly stopped on track. The worst race of the season was Azerbaijan, which had no tension whatsoever after Leclerc retired.
There were quite a lot of entertaining races in 2022, although it still doesn’t come close to the level of 2021, which would have been the greatest season of all time had it not been for all the controversy due to every race being extremely exciting and there being a fantastic title battle, but instead is demoted to second behind 1976, while 1958, 1961, 1981, 1986, 2008 and 2012 aren’t far behind either. I would also class the Hungarian Grand Prix last year as one of the greatest ever Formula 1 races, the eleventh best ever and just missing out on the top ten of my favourite ever F1 races which is made up of: the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, 1965 British Grand Prix, 1957 German Grand Prix, 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, 1986 Australian Grand Prix, 1953 French Grand Prix, 1971 Italian Grand Prix, 1979 French Grand Prix, 1982 Monaco Grand Prix and 1981 Spanish Grand Prix.
MichaelN
18th December 2022, 11:48
Unsurprisingly the best ranked are those with proper battles or tension for the win. Unfortunately, and perhaps also somewhat damning for F1 in general, all these highly ranked races were also influenced by (sometimes multiple) safety car neutralizations.
And unfortunately even a great track like Spa-Francorchamps can’t do much about most F1 teams being bad at F1.
amian
18th December 2022, 12:06
“…most F1 teams being bad at F1.”
It’s not that F1 teams are bad at F1. They are very good at F1. The problem is that F1 is very bad at being a motorsport.
S
18th December 2022, 12:19
+1
MichaelN
18th December 2022, 14:30
There is of course something slightly silly about the idea that Williams is a ‘bad’ team when they’re building cars that are only about 2 seconds slower over about a 5,5 kilometer lap, and they’re doing for maybe not even half the amount of money that the big teams are spending.
Still, the game in F1 isn’t so much about absolute speed as it is about relative speed, or the finishing order. On that, the results are pretty clear. All but three teams were close to irrelevant when it came to deciding races, and even podiums. They knew the rules, gave it their best shot, and all but two – or charitably three – came up massively short.
S
18th December 2022, 12:21
Clearly shows what people actually want, rather than what they say they want.
MichaelN
18th December 2022, 14:36
True, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see F1 one day abandon the 305 kilometer Grand Prix and end up with multiple shorter races across the weekend.
pastaman
18th December 2022, 14:54
Yep, also notice all the wet races are in the bottom half of the ratings.
sam
18th December 2022, 18:26
Because there is no racing allowed in f1 when it’s wet.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th December 2022, 0:02
Indeed, wet races would be rated very highly if they let them race like in the past, check brazil’s 2016 rating, I have no doubt it’d be positive.
MichaelN
19th December 2022, 11:37
Agreed, real wet races are historically very popular. But modern F1 has only ‘drying Intermediate’ races, and those usually follow hours long delays that just end up frustrating viewers.
Wet races produce some unique challenges for the officials, true, but they missed a huge chance in Japan to ban Gasly for his misconduct under double yellow and red flags. Next time, drivers will still take their chances.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th December 2022, 21:06
Spa can’t do a lot about a disappointing (for anyone who isn’t a Red Bull fan) revelation that Red Bull was so ridiculously dominant that the last shred of hope for Ferrari even being consistently competitive with Red Bull for the rest of the season (let alone fighting for the win) had gone. The context of four weeks of build-up of this being Ferrari’s last stand being crushed so early in the weekend has to be considered when ratings are issued.
Yaboy
18th December 2022, 12:54
I think Japan this year was underrated like for me it’s top 10
Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
18th December 2022, 13:23
The racing itself was pretty good once it got going, but I think it probably got that rating mostly for the loooooong red flag, Gasly crane incident and points confusion
Yaboy
18th December 2022, 21:07
Ok but if so with Gasly what about Zhou at Silverstone
Craig
19th December 2022, 14:21
Generally people can’t see on the TV how bad conditions are when it comes to rain, where as with Silverstone it was rather obvious what was causing the Red Flag and to progress to resolve the situation.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th December 2022, 21:13
@justarandomdutchguy And the many breaches of regulations that meant none of the results from Japan were in any way credible.
Todfod (@todfod)
19th December 2022, 13:22
Agree. The rain disrupted a lot.. but once the race got going it was really exciting. It was far better than Miami, Abu Dhabi, Monaco and Imola for me.
GoldenGaeTea (@retroka)
18th December 2022, 16:12
This season was really disappointing, Ferrari made lot of mistake and Mercedes developed too late, and Red Bull was the only one car, which made DRS-passes too easy while the rest of grid struggled with overtaking(except in Soa because the zone is too long).
Top 5 best race:
1. Britain – Non-stop action, five driver fought for lead.
2. USA – The first 20 laps were boring but the second half of the race was decent
3. Brazilian – Reminds me to 2009 race in many points, and Interlagos is rarerly disappoint us
4. Saudi – Same race like last years but there were no stupid decisions and playing with rules like a board game, just pure action
5. Hungarian – Easy win for Verstappen even with his penalty, but the race itself was still entertaining
Top 5 worst race:
1. Mexican – It was too obvious
2. Belgian – Interesting start, borefest race, nothing special
3. Emilia Romagna – Except Leclerc’s spin, I don’t remember what happened in the track, worst wet race ever
4. Monaco – Gasly and the last five drivers saved this yawnful thing for us. You can’t overtake in Monaco until you are faster than 6 sec to the leader.
5. Azerbaijan – It wasn’t awful, it was just disappointing
Most underrated race: Miami – The middle part of the race, the dangerous chicane, and the celebrity cringe fest made this actually interesting track to poor reputation. Maybe it was behind in Top 10, but the Haas-Aston fight showed why I like it. Many close fight to each other.
Most overrated race: In this year, there were none of them
Most diasspointing race: French – Another bad luck for this track and raised the bad reputation of Paul Ricard. Maybe it’s ugly but way better than Magny-Cours, which has tight corners, lack of overtaking points, and it had only two good race.
Worst moment of the year: Controversies in fans. Austrian GP, British GP, Hungarian GP, Dutch GP, Italian GP and USA GP, in these races showed what is the current problem with F1 fanbase currently. There is no respect and most of them think F1 is a WWE show, not racing between cars. Sexual assault, bullying, burning down rival’s mech, being disrespectful isn’t the part of F1. If you are one of them, just quit. We dont need toxic fans. :)
I like more this season more than last year, but was kinda inconsistent. I wish next season will be interesting.
Cameron
18th December 2022, 23:21
The season had so much promise in those first few races and then it all fizzled out. Without a real fight for the championship F1 gets pretty boring on the bad tracks and there are too many of those.
I also hope they figure out how to delay a race when there’s rain or design a tire (or cockpit) that can race in the rain. Too many races were ruined by bad weather.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th December 2022, 0:04
More like ruined by coward race directors, because bad weather has always been good for interesting races, until they stopped letting them race.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
19th December 2022, 12:29
To echo other comments here, wet races used to be really exciting and were often some of the best of the season. Especially races with variable conditions e.g. dry becoming wet or vice versa. But in recent years, the decisions of the stewards and the poor tyres have slowly, often made them non-events. F1 really needs to do something about this.
I do appreciate safety is paramount but the current approach just does not work. Especially disappointing for the attendees who will have paid lots to be there.
S
19th December 2022, 14:03
It’s not poor tyres. It’s poor cars.
The more downforce they create (and now, the more they work the underfloor airflow) the more spray they pull up from the track surface.
Visibility is their primary concern – not traction.
And it wasn’t just the aero changes that made this problem worse – there was also the larger wheels and wider cars they brought in a few years ago.
The faster they make the cars in the dry, the less they work in the wet.
Many of us know exactly what will happen every time they start talking about the ‘new best thing’ to happen to F1 in the future – and they know it too, they aren’t silly – but as always, they aim for the lowest hanging fruit.
“Faster is always better….”
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
19th December 2022, 15:20
They seem to keep making the cars more powerful and faster but there is no evidence that this actually improves the racing. Maybe they are too fast now. Maybe they need to limit the BHP?
I too don’t know why they changed to the larger tyres. I cannot see any real advantage to this for F1 racing itself.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th December 2022, 21:16
@phil-f1-21 Money :(