The year is finally over, and while it may not have been an all-time classic, here's (in my humble, honest opinion) the standout moments, drivers, teams, and more for 2022. Some good, some... not so much.
What is this?
Think of this as basically an end-of-season 'awards' ceremony, but without the grand festivities and clout to go with it. We'll get there one day. But as someone who's watched nearly every session of the 2022 F1 season, I think I've been able to gather enough data to put forward some respectable winners (and losers). The categories are pretty wide-ranging, and it's just a bit of fun. Some are your typical "best driver" or "best team" kind of things, while others are more... out there. Each "award" will have a winner, followed by an honorable mention or two. So, without further adieu...
Driver Awards
These go to individual drivers, for either outstanding moments, outstanding blunders, or anything in between.
Best Driver of the Year
Plain and simple, which driver put together the best season possible between Bahrain and Abu Dhabi?
Winner: Max Verstappen
It couldn't really have been anyone else now, could it? Max was nearly flawless from start to finish, with the total number of mistakes he made throughout the year being countable on one hand. Unlike 2021's down-to-the-wire title charge, this year Max walked it and took home the record for most wins in a season to boot. Hard to see how he could do better, but who knows what Adrian Newey and Red Bull are cooking up for 2023?
Honorable Mention: George Russell
I'm not Russell's biggest fan, but you absolutely cannot deny the job he did in 2022, especially compared to his teammate in Lewis Hamilton. He finished in the top 5 at nearly every race (Singapore notwithstanding), beat Lewis in the standings (joining Jenson Button and 2016 World Champion™ Nico Rosberg as the only people to do so in equal machinery), and took the team's sole win of the season in Brazil.
Honorable Mention: Lando Norris
The McLaren MCL36 failed to live up to its predecessor, but Norris still managed to pull a podium out of it in Imola and secured "best of the rest" in the driver's standings. Plus, he obliterated his teammate. Let's see if he can do the same to the next Australian he goes up against.
Worst Driver of the Year
Likewise, which driver put in the worst season possible between Bahrain and Abu Dhabi?
Winner: Nicholas Latifi
Like Verstappen above, probably not a shock to see this, but after a decently promising 2021, Latifi completely dropped the ball in 2022. He was consistently off his teammate in most qualifying sessions and races, and failed to figure out how to drive the FW44 over 20+ races. He did steal some points in Japan, but it didn't matter, his fate was already sealed.
Honorable Mention: Daniel Ricciardo
Sorry Danny Ric fans, but this was simply not good enough. Coming off the back of last year, many were hoping that the gap to Lando would be erased by the new era of cars. Instead, it went the opposite direction, and Ricciardo got absolutely thwacked. Even in his arguably best race of the season, in Mexico, he still nerfed Tsunoda out of the way with a feeble move more akin to a Valtteri Bottas overtake than that of a man previously renowned for his ability in this area.
Most Surprising Season
This can be for good reasons or bad reasons, but goes to the driver whose season least met expectations.
Winner: Pierre Gasly
Can you tell me anything about Pierre Gasly's season? Thought so. Coming off the back of two excellent years in 2020 and 2021, Gasly was well and truly expected to play a large role in the midfield battle. Although the AT03 was clearly not as good as its predecessors, Gasly himself was particularly anonymous. He was ahead of Tsunoda, but not nearly to the extent of 2021, and often found himself lost on race weekends when it came to car setup and especially braking. Not the kind of career momentum he would have hoped for as he heads to Alpine for 2023.
Honorable Mention: George Russell
For the same reasons described above, Russell's season was excellent. There was a reasonable chance he'd be an improvement on the outgoing Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes, but not nearly to this extent. George himself was probably not surprised, but he's not writing this, is he?
Best Individual Performance
The driver who had one specific race that just stood out head and shoulders above the rest of their year, or their peers.
Winner: Max Verstappen - Belgium
Life in F1 can always be made easier when you have the fastest car on the grid, but Verstappen put on a clinic in Belgium seldom seen in the modern era. He started 14th, but got to the lead by lap 12 (despite a safety car!) and then checked out to win over his teammate, who started on the front row, by over 20s. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.
Honorable Mention: Valtteri Bottas - Imola
For the first 5 or 6 races of the year, the move to Alfa Romeo was looking more like a sideways step than a backwards one for Bottas, and Imola was a performance that stood out. He ended up fifth, which is not crazy, but he had an 11 second pitstop which surely cost him fourth and maybe third, as he was faster than both Russell and Norris by a considerable margin, and only marginally off the pace of the leaders. At least this fifth place ended up sealing the team sixth in the WCC.
Honorable Mention: Kevin Magnussen - Bahrain
What can you say? Two weeks beforehand, Magnussen was on vacation with his family, and by the time the checkered flag fell he finished P5. P5! For a team that hadn't scored more than 10 points across the last two and a half years, this was an insane turnaround. Sure, it turned out to be a little bit of a false dawn, but on the day this was not some kind of fluke result, as he was genuinely best of the rest behind Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes.
Worst Individual Performance
Similar to the last one, this award goes to the driver who had absolutely the worst race weekend possible on a given weekend.
Winner: Daniel Ricciardo - USA
Usually the mystical powers of Texas give Daniel Ricciardo a boost, like in 2021, where he actually outperformed Lando all weekend. But this time there was no such turnaround. In qualifying, he was knocked out in Q1 in 17th, while his teammate went on to qualify 8th. In the race, he could only finish 16th, and even that wasn't representative since Bottas, Sainz, and Stroll all retired from positions in front of him. The only car he beat was Latifi. Norris, meanwhile finished a respectable P6.
Honorable Mention: Alex Albon - Monaco
Nobody really remembers this, and that's probably good for Albon and Williams. Not only was the car woefully off the pace, but Albon and the team both made mistakes. Albon was particularly all over the place, including ignoring blue flags, getting warnings from race control, causing an accident, and eventually retiring from the race. Nothing went right.
Overtake of the Year
As it suggests, this is the most impressive overtake completed on-track throughout the year. Obviously this will be limited to what is shown on TV, but that's all we can do for now.
Winner: Sebastian Vettel on Magnussen (USA)
I was lucky enough to see this in person, and I can tell you, it was absolutely worth it. No only is the move itself—around the outside of a flat-out corner—insanely impressive, it's made all the more important by the fact that it was on the last lap, right at the end of the lap, after an incredible side-by-side battle. Factor in the fact that Vettel is on the verge of retirement, and the fact that K-Mag is not exactly the easiest to overtake in the world, and you have a move that will be remembered for years to come. Probably.
Honorable Mention: Lewis Hamilton on Leclerc and Perez (Great Britain)
OK, for me, this is carried a lot by the now-iconic commentary from everyone's favorite commentator, David Croft. Locked in a tight battle, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc began to trip each other up, when coming out of the final corner, "THROUGH GOES HAMILTON!" A double-overtake is always impressive, and anytime Lewis Hamilton does, this, at home, you can't help but appreciate the moment.
Bonehead Move of the Year
Think of this as the opposite of the overtake of the year, this award goes to the diver who made the worst driving move of the year. This is for driving errors only, so it doesn't include strategic errors or the like.
Winner: Yuki Tsunoda - Great Britain
It's one thing to botch an overtake and end up spinning out. It's another thing to do that when the person you're trying to overtake is your own teammate. But that's exactly what happened when Tsunoda completely bungled his overtake on Pierre Gasly in Silverstone. And to make things even worse, this collision directly resulted in Max Verstappen sustaining serious damage after running over debris. Definitely not a good look, and it's hard to see how this can be topped.
Honorable Mention: Lance Stroll - Multiple times
What is it with Lance Stroll and mirrors? This year there were many different instances of the Canadian making questionable moves against drivers behind. This includes Saudi Arabia; where even though Albon got a penalty for locking up while overtaking him, Stroll still turned in on him. Then, in Australia, he collided with Latifi in qualifying after swerving questionably at the last minute. In America, he jinked so late that he caused Alonso's near-airplane crash. And of course, in Brazil he forced his own teammate onto the grass for no reason. Sheesh.
Honorable Mention: Nicholas Latifi - Japan
Although on paper, Japan was Latifi's best race of the year, there was an incredibly facepalm-worthy moment he had while in practice. Coming up to the final chicane, he braked way too early, and then started to go down the wrong part of the circuit. The best part, however, was his attempt to blame the car. How? Was the car steered by a ghost? Nice try, Nicky.
Team Awards
These are given to teams who achieved the most, the least, and everything in between...
Best Team of the Year
Exactly what you think it is...
Winner: Red Bull Racing
Could it really be anyone else? The team created one of the (statistically) best cars of all time, allowing their champion driver in Verstappen to walk to another, far less complicated, title. The team had a technical advantage which was made even more potent by good strategies and execution throughout the year.
Honorable Mention: None
Really, there can't be anyone else who can take this award.
Most Disappointing Team of the Year
The team whose expectations outweighed their results by the largest margin.
Winner: AlphaTauri
In stark contrast to their sister/parent team, the second Red Bull-owned outfit took a shocking step backwards from 2021. Last year, they regularly qualified in the top 6 and with a better second driver (sorry Yuki) they could have finished at least fifth or maybe even fourth in the championship. This year they only beat Williams, and made constant strategic errors with a car that was notably worse than its predecessor.
Honorable Mention: Mercedes
Last year the Silver Arrows had the best car, won a bunch of races, and sealed their eighth consecutive constructors' title. This year, they had one pole and one win, and the W13 proved to be a complete flop. Mercedes went a completely different direction to the rest of the grid in terms of design, and while this has paid off in the past, this year it absolutely did not.
Biggest Turnaround
This goes to the team who made the most progress throughout the season.
Winner: Aston Martin
I think recency bias has made many people forget just how bad they were at the start of the year. They were not really better than Williams for the first few races, but by the end of the year the team had figured out how to make Q3 on a semi-regular basis and almost finished P6 in the championship. What could have been a truly disastrous season ended up being just a bad one. Every cloud and all that.
Honorable Mention: McLaren
McLaren was so bad that I essentially wrote the team off after one race. Whoops. Somehow, they managed a podium and P5 in the championship, which could have been P4 if their second driver was a little more effective. A far cry from the shambolic performance of the first race or two.
Honorable Mention: Mercedes
OK, the data shows that they ultimately didn't end up that much closer to Red Bull than they started, but the data doesn't tell the whole story. Any time a car gets genuinely eliminated in Q1 and fails to make Q3 multiple times but can end up still winning a race shows the team definitely raised their ceiling, even if they didn't really raise their floor by much.
Most Complete Weekend of the Year
This goes to the the team who pulled off the most flawless weekend of the season; good strategy, good pit stops, good driving, everything.
Winner: Red Bull - Imola
First and third in the Sprint™ and then first and second in the race, with perfect pitstops and the fastest lap to boot. The only way the team could have scored more points was if Perez could have finished second in the Sprint™, which would have been impressive considering he started seventh.
Honorable Mention: Ferrari - Bahrain
Maybe this is a surprise, but after failing to win a race for over two years, the Scuderia came out swinging to start the year, winning the season opener in style, with Leclerc taking pole and then the team finishing 1-2 in the race. Sure, Verstappen's DNF might have helped Sainz get that spot, but he would have had a good shot at Verstappen's Red Bull regardless due to the late safety car.
Most Shambolic Weekend of the Year
The team that had the weekend where everything went wrong. Poor pace, poor strategy, iffy driving, and anything else that contributes to a generally miserable experience.
Winner: Aston Martin - Australia
I don't think it could have been worse. On his first race back from COVID, Sebastian Vettel managed to break down once and crash twice across the weekend. First in practice, then in the race. Not to mention the fact he got a hefty slap-on-the-wrist from the FIA after taking a marshal's scooter for a spin. On the other side of the garage, Stroll also found the wall in practice, but good work from the team saw him able to just make it out for Q1. Their reward? He managed to crash into Nicholas Latifi despite not even being on a flying lap. Oh, and the car was woefully off the pace anyways.
Honorable Mention: Williams - Monaco
Since they were at the back, this went a bit unnoticed, but it was really not a weekend to remember in the Prinicpality. The car was clearly the worst in the field, not helped by a series of driving and strategic errors. After qualifying last, Latifi crashed on the warmup laps under safety car, while Albon also crashed later in the race. Oh, and both Williams managed to coincidentally block both Ferraris in the race by ignoring blue flags, which may have stopped either one of the red cars from winning.
Biggest Egg-on-Your-Face Moment
This award goes to the team who had to eat humble pie at some point, be it publicly or privately, after being well and truly caught out.
Winner: Alpine
While now the dust is settled, and while they are surely looking to sweep the whole episode under the rug, we absolutely cannot forget the absolute mess Alpine found itself in this summer. In the space of 48 hours over the Hungarian GP weekend, the team went from having 3 drivers to only one, as first Alonso was announced at Aston Martin as Vettel's replacement. But then when they announced Piastri would take his place, they were not only rejected, but emphatically and publicly shunned by him. They made a futile attempt to get the matter sorted by lawyers, only for these lawyers to issue a damning opinion against them.
Honorable Mention: Ferrari
While there could be a semi-infinite number of situations I could bring up here, what really sticks out to me is team boss Mattia Binotto's declaration after the Hungarian GP. He said, "there's absolutely no reason why [Ferrari] can't win the last 10 races." Of course, this statement raised some eyebrows. Team bosses are usually not so bullish. But rather than simply failing to win all ten races after the break, they won none. Impressive.
Honorable Mention: Mercedes
Before the start of the year, Mercedes was full of bravado about the new rules and their confidence in their own team. James Allison, team Chief Technical Officer, said before the year "some teams will have gotten the new rules 'badly wrong'" and would struggle all year. Lewis Hamilton said, "my team doesn't make mistakes." I'd love to be in the Mercedes press office when they realized the W13 was a dud, because Mercedes in fact had the biggest fall-off in performance year on year.
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