2022 F1 Season
22 races · Red Bull RB18
The 2022 season ushered in a technical revolution: the return of ground effect, with cars designed to follow each other more closely and encourage overtaking. The new rules reshuffled the grid and gave Ferrari its best car in years, the F1-75.
Charles Leclerc started flying, winning two of the first three races and leading the championship with authority. But the season unravelled completely for Ferrari: a string of failures (he retired while leading at Barcelona and Baku, and crashed out of the lead in France) and a chain of strategy errors squandered a lead that had looked solid.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull capitalised on every slip with relentless consistency. The Dutchman fought back, strung together wins to reach fifteen in the year (a matched record) and sealed his second world title with four races to spare.
Drivers’ Champion
Max Verstappen
Red Bull RB18
Constructors’ Champion
Red Bull Racing
22 races
Ver en españolKey moment
«Leclerc retires at Barcelona while comfortably leading, the symbol of Ferrari's cursed season.»
The 2022 grid, car by car
The 10 teams that raced in 2022, ordered by how good we rate the car. It is our own judgement, not an official figure: what it is worth is that the same yardstick is applied to every season since 1988, so you can compare eras.
| # | Team | Our rating | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Bull | 98 | Max Verstappen · Sergio Perez |
| 2 | Ferrari | 94 | Charles Leclerc · Carlos Sainz |
| 3 | Mercedes | 90 | Lewis Hamilton · George Russell |
| 4 | Alpine | 81 | Fernando Alonso · Esteban Ocon |
| 5 | McLaren | 79 | Lando Norris · Daniel Ricciardo |
| 6 | Alfa Romeo | 78 | Valtteri Bottas · Zhou Guanyu |
| 7 | Haas | 73 | Kevin Magnussen · Mick Schumacher |
| 8 | AlphaTauri | 72 | Pierre Gasly · Yuki Tsunoda |
| 9 | Aston Martin | 69 | Sebastian Vettel · Lance Stroll |
| 10 | Williams | 64 | Alexander Albon · Nicholas Latifi |
How 2022 actually ended
The official final standings, from the Bahrain Grand Prix to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This is the real result; the simulation is further down.
| Driver | Points | Wins | Podiums | Poles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Max VerstappenRed Bull | 454 | 15 | 17 | 7 |
| 2Charles LeclercFerrari | 308 | 3 | 11 | 9 |
| 3Sergio PérezRed Bull | 305 | 2 | 11 | 1 |
| 4George RussellMercedes | 275 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| 5Carlos SainzFerrari | 246 | 1 | 9 | 3 |
| 6Lewis HamiltonMercedes | 240 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 7Lando NorrisMcLaren | 122 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 8Esteban OconAlpine F1 Team | 92 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Verstappen took it by 146 points, which at that distance stops being a fight and becomes a formality. 5 different drivers won across 22 races, and the champion could still afford to retire 2 times.
And was it the most dominant car of all? We measured it by putting the same driver in the best car of every season since 1988: what is the most dominant car in F1 history.
Official FIA standings via Jolpica (formerly Ergast).
2022, race by race
All 22 races: who started first, who won and from where, and how many cars reached the flag.
5different drivers won: Verstappen 15 · Leclerc 3 · Pérez 2 · Russell 1 · Sainz 1.
3different teams won: Red Bull 17 · Ferrari 4 · Mercedes 1.
6different drivers took pole: Leclerc 9 · Verstappen 7 · Sainz 3 · Magnussen 1 · Pérez 1 · Russell 1.
7different drivers stood on the podium.
7one-twos for a single team: Red Bull 5 · Ferrari 1 · Mercedes 1.
9 of 22races were won from pole position.
2first-ever wins: Carlos Sainz (British Grand Prix), George Russell (São Paulo Grand Prix).
From 14ththe win from furthest back: Max Verstappen, Belgian Grand Prix.
24 years, 155 daysthe youngest winner of the year: Charles Leclerc, Bahrain Grand Prix.
83%of starts reached the flag (366 of 439).
13 of 19cars finished the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the race with fewest survivors.
4hat tricks (pole, win and fastest lap). Most fastest laps: Verstappen 5 · Russell 4 · Leclerc 3.
| # | Grand Prix | Winner | Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Charles LeclercFerrari | 1st |
| 2 | Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 4th |
| 3 | Australian Grand Prix | Charles LeclercFerrari | 1st |
| 4 | Emilia Romagna Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 1st |
| 5 | Miami Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 3rd |
| 6 | Spanish Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 2nd |
| 7 | Monaco Grand Prix | Sergio PérezRed Bull | 3rd |
| 8 | Azerbaijan Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 3rd |
| 9 | Canadian Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 1st |
| 10 | British Grand Prix | Carlos SainzFerrari | 1st |
| 11 | Austrian Grand Prix | Charles LeclercFerrari | 2nd |
| 12 | French Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 2nd |
| 13 | Hungarian Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 10th |
| 14 | Belgian Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 14th |
| 15 | Dutch Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 1st |
| 16 | Italian Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 7th |
| 17 | Singapore Grand Prix | Sergio PérezRed Bull | 2nd |
| 18 | Japanese Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 1st |
| 19 | United States Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 2nd |
| 20 | Mexico City Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 1st |
| 21 | São Paulo Grand Prix | George RussellMercedes | 1st |
| 22 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Max VerstappenRed Bull | 1st |
Pole goes to whoever started first, after penalties. «Finished» counts classified cars that took the flag. Fastest lap is the race fastest lap.
What if 2022 had been raced 100 times?
We took the real 2022 grid (every car with its performance and reliability, every driver with his rating) and re-ran the full 22-race championship 100 times.
| Driver | Avg. finish | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappenreal championRed Bull | P1 | 100% |
| Charles LeclercFerrari | P2.3 | 0% |
| Sergio PerezRed Bull | P2.7 | 0% |
| Carlos SainzFerrari | P4.5 | 0% |
| Lewis HamiltonMercedes | P4.6 | 0% |
| George RussellMercedes | P5.9 | 0% |
Max Verstappen wins 100% of the simulated championships. Runner-up Charles Leclerc manages 0%: with that machinery, the real result was very nearly the only one available.
What if Senna, Hamilton or Alonso had driven the 2022 championship-winning car?
Build your own hypothesisHypotheses from 2022
Drivers of 2022
Keep reading
What we have measured about 2022 and about what decided it, with our own numbers.
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