Max Verstappen took the win in the final race of the 2022 season, coming home in front of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, who also finished in the same order in the driver standings.
Max Verstappen – 10
It was another single-man showdown for Verstappen, who made it look easy and claimed his 15th win of the season after taking pole position and leading the entire race.
The Dutchman looked under threat on Saturday and in the early stages from Perez but did his best to beat the Mexican and set a lead he was not going to lose.
He even managed to last the distance on two sets of tyres, being one of few drivers to successfully convert a one-stop strategy.
Embed from Getty ImagesCharles Leclerc – 9
The Monegasque finished the season on a high, achieving the only target left, which was to finish runner-up in the standings.
All he had to do was beat Perez, but it wasn’t easy as Ferrari were second-best on Saturday and Leclerc qualified third, in front of Carlos Sainz.
In the race, it was a long chase, until his rival stopped twice and Leclerc managed to convert a one-stop strategy to beat the Mexican by about a second.
Embed from Getty ImagesSergio Perez – 7.5
After starting on the front row, Perez went into the race holding the advantage to finish second in the championship.
However, he couldn’t keep Leclerc behind, as he seemed to suffer from excessive tyre wear, which forced him to convert to a two-stop strategy.
Perez came back furiously, but some time lost with overtakes and lapped cars denied him a shot to overtake the one-stopping Leclerc at the end.
Carlos Sainz – 7
The Spaniard was coming from a few weekends in which he did better than Leclerc, but on the final race of the season, it was his teammate who finished on the podium, with Sainz settling for fourth.
He did manage to retake fifth in the championship, which matched his best-ever result. However, he was off the line slowly and spent the first stint battling with the Mercedes cars, which compromised his race.
Once on a two-stop strategy, he could recover to be in front of both German cars on his way to fourth.
George Russell – 6.5
George Russell finished fifth, after Mercedes looked to be competitive, but were the protagonists of a poorly executed weekend.
The Brit was penalised due to an unsafe release and was forced into a two-stop race which put him out of contention for the podium.
After the Brazil heroics, he may have expected more, but it was his 19th top-five finish of the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesLando Norris – 9
With such a pace delta to the top three cars, Lando Norris was best of the rest in sixth place and got away with an extra point for a surprise fastest lap.
His position was never in danger, beginning from the usual consistent performance in qualifying, followed by a strong race start.
Once leading Esteban Ocon, he settled into his pace, just managing to nurse his medium tyres at the end and finish one second in front of the Alpine driver.
Embed from Getty ImagesEsteban Ocon – 8
Ocon had one of the finest weekends of the season, outperforming Fernando Alonso and ensuring Alpine’s fourth place in the standings was never in danger.
He wasn’t quite a match for Norris but was his closest challenger in both qualifying and the race, coming just a lap short from overtaking after catching him fast at the end.
Lance Stroll – 7
The Canadian driver benefitted from a well-executed two-stop strategy to finish in eighth place, in front of Daniel Ricciardo and teammate Sebastian Vettel.
He was second-best to his teammate on Saturday but recovered well with an early first stop and a series of overtakes which meant he could get past the one-stoppers.
Embed from Getty ImagesDaniel Ricciardo – 7
Ricciardo finished his McLaren adventure in the points, and this was a positive note considering the trend of the season.
He was keen from the start of the weekend and qualified 10th, lapping close to Norris, despite having to drop three places due to a penalty.
The McLaren driver ended up playing the long game, overtaking cars before committing to a one-stop and holding off Vettel to finish ninth.
Embed from Getty ImagesSebastian Vettel – 7.5
A poorly executed one-stop strategy denied Vettel of a higher finish and it was only Lewis Hamilton’s late retirement that ensured he would score a point on his farewell.
He was the star of qualifying, securing a grid slot of ninth, matching his best of the season.
After a strong beginning, in which he was challenging Ocon, Aston Martin committed to a one-stop strategy, which dropped him behind Ricciardo and teammate Lance Stroll.
Embed from Getty ImagesYuki Tsunoda – 7
As of recent, this was one of Yuki Tsunoda’s finest performances, only that he couldn’t convert it into points.
He qualified 12th and was in the mix for points throughout, narrowly missing out for a few seconds on his late comeback on soft tyres.
Considering Alpha Tauri’s lack of pace and Pierre Gasly’s result, the Japanese driver had little demerits for not scoring.
Zhou Guanyu – 6.5
Zhou Guanyu ended his season with another anonymous result, finishing 12th for the third time in the last four races and again missing out on points.
The Alfa Romeo appeared competitive on Friday, but both cars struggled in qualifying, and the Chinese driver was 15th on the grid.
He made a fair comeback and was better than teammate Valtteri Bottas, but it wasn’t enough to score points.
Embed from Getty ImagesAlex Albon – 7
With a good strategy that saw Alex Albon pit early and stop twice, Williams were able to elevate their driver from 19th on the grid to 13th at the flag.
It was a good way to end the year, with a car still not fit to fight for points, but which he was able to take further up than Nicholas Latifi.
Pierre Gasly – 4.5
In the last five races, Gasly had a terrible time and can salvage some consolation in joining Alpine, after Alpha Tauri ended the season in ninth place.
The Frenchman qualified in 17th and couldn’t make work the first stint on soft tyres, which meant he ended up racing longer than he would have liked on hard tyres, finishing a distant 14th.
Valtteri Bottas – 5
Alfa Romeo will be very happy to have finished sixth in the standings but had to hope on Aston Martin not scoring enough, as their lead driver Bottas was unable to position himself near the points.
He was inexplicably off the pace on Saturday, qualifying 18th after lamenting traffic on his out lap and couldn’t recover after starting on hard tyres and committing to a one-stop strategy.
Mick Schumacher – 5.5
What would have been a strong farewell drive was conditioned by an incident, in which his lack of judgement led him into the back of Latifi and sent both drivers into a spin.
Pace-wise, it was a strong weekend for Mick Schumacher, qualifying 13th and dropping back in the race, with the car looking to struggle.
Whilst he outperformed Kevin Magnussen, his crash perhaps highlighted the reason why Hass wished to part ways with him.
Embed from Getty ImagesKevin Magnussen – 4.5
With Haas deciding to replace Schumacher, Magnussen will have to back himself up with better performances than this one considering the team will rely on him to score points next season.
The Dane was 16th in qualifying and started on hard tyres, with an inefficient strategy that saw him finish 17th. He was still behind his teammate, despite the latter spinning and receiving a time penalty.
Lewis Hamilton – 7
It was a miserable weekend in his first season without race wins, as Hamilton retired due to a hydraulic problem when occupying fourth place.
A mistake in qualifying cost him a place in the second row and he damaged the car after running wide in an attempt to battle Sainz.
His pace was still competitive, but retirement aside, there may have been potential to achieve more, had the performance been error-free.
Embed from Getty ImagesNicholas Latifi – 4.5
Whilst the whole field was scrapping for positions, Latifi was the only driver not to be involved in the mix, due to dropping too far back.
He qualified last and was running distant from Albon, before being crashed into by Schumacher and ending his race shortly after.
Fernando Alonso – 6
Alonso wasn’t having his finest weekend but would have likely made it back into the points, was it not for his fourth retirement in seven races.
He exited qualifying in Q2 and was 11th, but was following Ocon and Vettel closely in the race, appearing more confident, before seemingly going for a one-stop strategy.
However, a mechanical failure ended his race too early for the sixth time this season.
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