The final race weekend of the 2022 season saw Max Verstappen extend his own record of wins in a season by chalking up victory number 15 of the season, from another pole position.
But while Verstappen produced a peerless performance, there were some other impressive drives over the weekend from other drivers throughout the field. Although not all of them were quite as handsomely rewarded.
For the final time in 2022, here are the RaceFans’ grand prix driver ratings.
Lewis Hamilton – 4
Qualified: 5th (+1 place ahead of team mate)
-0.003s quicker than team mate in Q3
Classified: 18th (-13 places behind team mate)
- Quickest in first practice
- Investigated but cleared of driving too fast under red flag
- Only just beat team mate to fifth on the grid but likely would have been higher without mistake on final Q3 lap
- Earned a fine for pit lane speeding on reconnaissance lap
- Passed Sainz at the start but illegally held his position at turn six, cutting the chicane and damaging his floor on the kerbing
- Returned fourth to Sainz under orders, then took it back a lap later before losing two places to Sainz and Russell
- Pitted for hard tyres on lap 18 and ran in sixth behind team mate, catching him before Russell pitted
- Committed to one-stop strategy and was caught and passed by Perez, dropping to fourth
- Received a black-and-white warning flag for three track limits infringements
- Reported gear shift problem with just under five laps remaining, told to retire car due to hydraulic problem
- Classified as a finisher in 18th place
George Russell – 5
Qualified: 6th (-1 place behind team mate)
+0.003s slower than team mate in Q3
Finished: 5th (+13 places ahead of team mate)
- Had to settle for sixth on the grid after being out-qualified by team mate by just three-thousandths of a second
- Lost one place at the start to Norris, passing him to retake sixth on lap five
- Overtook team mate to move into fifth before following Perez into the pits on lap 15
- Switched to hard tyres but wheel delay led to him being released in front of Norris, earning a five second time penalty
- Overtook Ricciardo and Vettel to move back to fifth, then kept pace with Sainz ahead
- Committed to two stops by following Sainz into pits to switch to mediums on lap 39, dropping to sixth
- Gained a place when Hamilton retired late, eventually finishing fifth
Max Verstappen – 8
Qualified: Pole (+1 place ahead of team mate)
-0.228s quicker than team mate in…
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