Who is your 2022 F1 Driver of the Year?

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Who is Your 2022 F1 Driver of the Year?

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    911
The 2022 Formula One season is behind us and want to hear your pick or picks for which driver impressed you the most this year.

The revised Formula 1 regulations entering the 2022 season were intended to allow cars to follow closer and encourage more competition between the cars and teams after an eight-year reign by Mercedes. And while the cars certainly had improved ability to follow closely, the leveling of the competition was harder to spot.

An early season push from Ferrari quickly fizzled out, and the Red Bull cars led by Max Verstappen cruised to one of the most dominant seasons in F1 history. Despite this, there were impressive performances throughout the season from Verstappen and many other drivers. We want to hear from you who impressed you the most. Here are some ideas:

Max Verstappen – The obvious choice; Verstappen became the first driver in F1 history to achieve 14 wins in a season. Verstappen’s presence on the podium in 2022 seemed a foregone conclusion entering nearly every race, regardless of track type or weather. Verstappen now has two drivers’ championships to his name and looked unstoppable all season long.

George Russell – Russell would have had countless valid excuses if he had performed far worse in his first season at Mercedes than he did. Few people expected #63 to match his teammate, who happens to be the winningest driver in F1 history, but at the time of this writing Russell is ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the standings. This season included Russell earning his first victory and proving he belongs at one of the premier teams in the sport.

Lando Norris – Like Russell, Norris outperformed a teammate with a greater career win total. The disparity in pace between Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo in 2022 makes it difficult to assess the potential pace of their McLaren. Was Norris driving the wheels off a car that had no business in the top eight? Or was Ricciardo underperforming in an upper-mid tier car? The answer is likely somewhere in between, but undoubtedly Norris looked great, and even split the top teams in the standings through much of the early season.

Kevin Magnussen - Before the 2022 season started, K-Mag didn't even have a seat in F1. Fate intervened, and Magnussen ended up as the full-time teammate of Mick Schumacher at Haas. His 25 points so far in 2022 exceeds the expectations of most F1 fans coming into the season, and is double the current total of Schumacher. Magnussen also earned a pole position for the sprint race in Brazil.

Who is your driver of the year? One of the above? Someone else? Leave a comment below and be sure to vote in the poll.

Photo Credit: Williams Racing​
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

Jan Larsen
Premium
Goatifi. Closely followed by Strolololol. For being the two most inept on the grid and both for being there solely because they have money.
 
Last edited:
Jim Layee
Verstappen has been on it all year and got the results. Many other drivers had stand out drives but nothing that can top Max this season .

I love spotting the people who think the question was " Who's your favourite driver"

ETA I have little interest in the wet ware.
 
Last edited:
P
Jim Layee said:
Verstappen has been on it all year and got the results. Many other drivers had stand out drives but nothing that can top Max this season .

I love spotting the people who think the question was " Who's your favourite driver"

ETA I have little interest in the wet ware.
Click to expand...

How often have we heard "In the right car, he could be champion" from commentators and pundits in the past? It's a statement that isn't discussed as much as it should be.

Whether it's Max or Seb in the Red Bull, Lewis in the Merc, Schumacher in the Ferrari, Mansell or Prost in the Williams, Senna or Hakkinen in the Mclaren, Jenson in the Brawn, Clark in the Lotus, Fangio, Stewart, Piquet, etc, they all had a a bit more ability over their team mate, but that wasn't what won them their titles. They had something most of the field didn't have, the "right car". (Not always the very best car, but more often than not, 1 of the best 2.) Pretty much half of the field in every single season has that extra bit of ability over their teammate, but only a very select few have the "right car".

Maybe those drivers that rarely get talked about anymore could have been just as good as champions present or past? Sadly we'll never know as most of them didn't get the "right car".

When it's a championship fight and those drivers are in the "right car", team orders may come into play. Sometimes the "right car" is made even more "right" as it will have been built to suit the number one driver, so unlike midfielders they sometimes they don't even have their team mate to worry about.

The midfield is where where opportunities to be in those one or two "right cars" are fought for. It's where many great drivers have been forgotten about. Their battle is one between recognition and obscurity, rather than easy podiums, pole positions and fastest lap trophies.

Yes, Alonso is my favourite driver, but he's my favourite for good reason. He's in those fights every weekend and he doesn't give up. His career is on a downwards trajectory, but he's still taking the fighting to "future champions" (in the right car of course). His fights have been just as hard as the ones Max has had, but because it's not for the win, people don't care or even notice.

Whatever happens in a race, he's still a driver that gives me the most entertainment. His speed, his on track battles, his consistency, his tenacity, even his radio messages still entertain me. That's why I chose him.

I often think to myself, in the "right car", maybe he could be champion again.
 
D
My vote also goes to Fernando Alonso, with Sebastian Vettel trailing behind.

It's been a great season watching and learning Alonso's racecraft. I was not a fan, but I sure am now.
 
markg88
Premium
pitkin said:
How often have we heard "In the right car, he could be champion" from commentators and pundits in the past? It's a statement that isn't discussed as much as it should be.

Whether it's Max or Seb in the Red Bull, Lewis in the Merc, Schumacher in the Ferrari, Mansell or Prost in the Williams, Senna or Hakkinen in the Mclaren, Jenson in the Brawn, Clark in the Lotus, Fangio, Stewart, Piquet, etc, they all had a a bit more ability over their team mate, but that wasn't what won them their titles. They had something most of the field didn't have, the "right car". (Not always the very best car, but more often than not, 1 of the best 2.) Pretty much half of the field in every single season has that extra bit of ability over their teammate, but only a very select few have the "right car".

Maybe those drivers that rarely get talked about anymore could have been just as good as champions present or past? Sadly we'll never know as most of them didn't get the "right car".

When it's a championship fight and those drivers are in the "right car", team orders may come into play. Sometimes the "right car" is made even more "right" as it will have been built to suit the number one driver, so unlike midfielders they sometimes they don't even have their team mate to worry about.

The midfield is where where opportunities to be in those one or two "right cars" are fought for. It's where many great drivers have been forgotten about. Their battle is one between recognition and obscurity, rather than easy podiums, pole positions and fastest lap trophies.

Yes, Alonso is my favourite driver, but he's my favourite for good reason. He's in those fights every weekend and he doesn't give up. His career is on a downwards trajectory, but he's still taking the fighting to "future champions" (in the right car of course). His fights have been just as hard as the ones Max has had, but because it's not for the win, people don't care or even notice.

Whatever happens in a race, he's still a driver that gives me the most entertainment. His speed, his on track battles, his consistency, his tenacity, even his radio messages still entertain me. That's why I chose him.

I often think to myself, in the "right car", maybe he could be champion again.
Click to expand...
Good points, I agree. The 'best car' comments seem more prolific this last year than over the last 8 years of Merc domination!
Being an Alonso fan also, I hate to think of how the already vitriolic social media would be if he had a win-capable car every single year like Hamilton has had.
 
Mr2it3881
To me Seb had an underrated year, His car sucked, his team constantly made terrible strategies and choices to suit the great hope Stroll, he missed 2 races, he almost got killed multiple times from his teammate and he pulled the AMR22 into Q3 s couple times. All I got to say is Alonso fan's IF you don't have health insurance please do so now because Aston Martin will give you a stroke. I am sad Seb is leaving but yet happy he's getting away from Papa Stroll.
 
cangrejin
cangrejin said:
LEGLERG
without a doubt!!!

View attachment 617355

he was the only one who had to fight 7 opponents at once!!!

-versttapen (for the championship)
-perez (for the sub-championship)
-redbull strategies (always superior)
-redbull leaders (true team leaders)
-sainz (as partner)
-Ferrari's strategies (tough rival, to this day he fights with them)
-the reliability of his car (especially in the first races)
-his own mind of him (especially after the crash in France)

and even so he is fighting for the sub-championship (verstappen went "on skates" to the prize) (leclerc has everything more difficult)
Click to expand...
YEAH!!!!!!
He WON the sub-championship!!!!!

DY4uzw6X0AA1vSS.jpg


-he beat perez
-he defeated redbull's strategies (and his excellent team leaders)
-sainz too (quite easy)
-Ferrari's strategies today were allies (unexpected script twist)
-good reliability
-His mind of her, kept her calm and cold in the last few laps.
 
Terry Rock
The poll doesn't ask who was the most successful driver of the year.
That answer would have been undesputable....by miles. Max.
It ask 'Who was your 2022 driver of the year'
I have to give props to George.
I knew he'd be fast out of the gate if he got a good car. Sadly that did not happen.
Mercedes spent well over 2/3 of the year with a dog of a car they could not understand.
Those guys were trying everything they could weekly with split strategies, with height-measuring...with rear strakes, the list goes on and on.
I was not disappointed in his performance once they got a few things sorted.
It was still way off the pace relative but he did as well as could be expected under the conditions.
It'd be good to see him, Max and Lando in fairly equal cars.
 
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jongen
Fernando Alonso was never so thoroughly beaten by a teammate in his career as he was by Ocon. How he's 2nd in this poll is beyond me. Then again, Vettel has some votes, so...

There's some bad luck in there, but of the seasons where he's been behind, it was only by a total of 5 points. Ocon beat him by 11 points.

Was he better than Ocon this year? I'd argue against it, but there's an argument to be made.

Was he better than Verstappen, Leclerc or Russell? Not a chance.
 

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