The 2022 Formula 1 season is over half way completed, but as the second leg of the season draws nearer, it’s time to look back at how the 20 drivers on this season’s grid have fared over the first 13 rounds.
These rankings are largely based on RaceFans’ race weekend driver ratings for each round of the season so far. However, there are other factors that will be considered when ranking each driver.
This first part will cover the drivers that have been ranked the lowest out of their peers. The remaining 15 drivers will be ranked in future articles over the coming days.
N/A – Nico Hulkenberg – Aston Martin
Nico Hulkenberg |
|
|---|---|
| Beat team mate in qualifying | 1/1 |
| Beat team mate in race | 1/1 |
| Races finished | 2/2 |
| Laps spent ahead of team mate | 36/106 |
| Points | 0 |
It’s easy to forget that Nico Hulkenberg played a role in the first two race weekends of Formula 1’s new ground-effect era at the start of the 2022 season. Stepping in for Sebastian Vettel who tested positive for covid in the week leading up to the curtain-raising Bahrain Grand Prix the veteran of 181 grand prix starts showed once again why he is the most reliable short-notice substitute driver available today.
Hulkenberg’s exploits in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were unspectacular compared to his efforts for Racing Point back in 2020, but he also did a respectable job in a car that was immediately among the slowest of its peers on the grid. He outqualified Lance Stroll in Bahrain but, understandably, struggled with his race pace and finished last of cars on track. His Saturday performance on an unfamiliar Jeddah circuit was not as strong, but his Sunday was compromised by the early Safety Car.
All in all, Hulkenberg’s efforts in his two race appearances proved that he is still capable of being one of the 20 privileged drivers to hold a place on the Formula 1 grid, but with only two race weekends to his name, it is not fair to factor him into rankings based on such a small sample.
20 – Nicholas Latifi – Williams
Nicholas Latifi |
|
|---|---|
| Beat team mate in qualifying | 1/12 |
| Beat team mate in race | 1/8 |
| Races finished | 10/13 |
| Laps spent ahead of team mate | 145/636 |
| Points | 0 |
Even if he has become a rather mean-spirited meme in F1 fan culture three seasons into his career, Nicholas Latifi does indeed have the unfortunate distinction of being the least impressive of the 20 drivers on the grid this far into the 2022 season.
But analysing the Williams driver’s season to date, his ranking as the lowest among his peers perhaps speaks more to the…
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