Formula 1 | F1 2022 season review
As every year, Nextgen-Auto reports on the past season for each driver and each F1 team. To kick things up a notch this year, we’ve decided to reveal our rankings for each of the 20 starters for the 2022 season.
The results are published in random order and each day the ranking will change with a summary of each driver’s average. At the end of the publication of 20 reports, the classification of the Nextgen-Auto editorial staff will be complete and final.
Entering his second season with Aston Martin F1, Sebastian Vettel hoped to continue to improve after a successful first year with the team. But the Baku 2021 podium and the fight for victory in Hungary that year quickly became distant memories.
Since the beginning of the year, the AMR22 concept has failed, especially at the level of its wide rear end. The team opted for wide pontoons that didn’t work at all, and Vettel paid the price.
Sebastian Vettel’s season in detail
The four-time world champion also started the year with a Covid-19 infection, which forced him to miss the first two races of the season. His first Grand Prix of the year was in Australia and it was the worst for the team.
Vettel retired in Q1 in his second crash of the weekend. But the first bright spot came at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, where he reached Q3 and scored his first points of the year.
As in 2021, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was one of the best races of the season for the German, finishing in 6th place. But despite having five entries in the points before the summer break, this start to the season has been very complicated for Vettel.
Although not always glamorous, he was happy to share the points with Mick Schumacher in Great Britain as he finished ninth behind his young protégé.
Although he was ahead of Lance Stroll in the overall, the lack of a reference organized by the Canadian prevented Vettel from showing up and the difficulties of the AMR22 left him in trouble, despite the progress made with the development of the single-seater evolution.
A teammate is too weak to show off
Along with the first update in Spain and a clever idea for high-pressure circuits in the rear wing, the AMR22 really showed progress in the second half of the year.
But the trigger was not just about the car’s development, as just before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Vettel announced that 2022 would be his last season and that he would retire at the end of the year.
Visibly relieved by his decision, he put in impressive performances in the race, despite difficult qualifying in the first races since the summer break. Eighth in Singapore, he put in a very good performance in Japan, finishing sixth alongside Fernando Alonso.
Eighth again in the United States, he ended his career with an entry in the points in Abu Dhabi, not without some disappointment after his team’s strategy had completely failed.
His final season would ultimately be anecdotal in terms of awards, a not-so-clear advantage against the non-reference Stroll. But seeing Vettel give it his all until the final race, including reporting from Abu Dhabi on Sunday evening, showed just how committed the German remains.
Statistics
He is 12th in the championship with 37 points
Comparison with Lance Stroll
Race: 9/8 in favor of Sebastian Vettel (if both finish the race)
Pick: 13/7 in favor of Sebastian Vettel
Notes given to Sebastian Vettel
— Alexander C.: 15/20
— Frank Drui: 11/20
— Paul Gombeaud: 12/20
— Emmanuel Touzot: 11/20
— Average grade: 12.25/20
Provisional summary rating of 2022 drivers
1. George Russell: 17/20
2. Carlos Sainz: 12.75/20
3. Sebastian Vettel: 12.25
4. Mick Schumacher: 10.75/20
Unclassified : Nyck de Vries
