Singapore 2022 - Driver Rankings
So that was a bit mental. After an hour of waiting for the race to start Singapore delivered one of the most chaotic races of the season which saw 6 drivers fail to make it to the chequered flag. In this post I will give all the drivers a ranking out of 10. You may be thinking why start a blog ranking drivers on the 17th race of a 22 race season? That is a good question! Anyway lets begin!
Lewis Hamilton
Qualifying Position - 3rd
Race Position - 9th
The weekend started well for Hamilton who achieved his highest qualifying position of the season with 3rd place. Not the greatest start for Lewis saw him lose 3rd to Carlos Sainz. Hamilton appeared to have a lot of issues heating up his tires for the a lot of the race. The majority of the race Lewis spent behind the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz but as the track started to dry we saw Hamilton make a mistake locking up and crashing into the barrier. The crash saw Lewis get minor damage on one side of his front wing meaning he had to pit. Luckily this was also at the same time as the cross over to dry tires which meant he would have pitted anyway. This followed by a safety car meant Lewis did not lose as much time as previously expected and spent the last few laps in a battle for 7th place with fellow world champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
Whilst looking very strong at many points at times across the weekend. Hamilton struggles with his tires and one big mistake cost him.
Overall Score - 4/10
George Russell
Qualifying Position - 11th (Pit Lane Start after an engine penalty)
Race Position - 14th
While his teammate was riding high on their best qualifying result of the year Russell was the opposite. The worst qualifying position of the year for Russell saw him 11th which was changed to a pit lane start after Mercedes decided to swap out his engine for a new one. Russell expected a difficult race but didn't truly know how bad it was going to get. A slow start saw him only gain a few positions within the first few laps where he would get stuck behind Valtterri Bottas for a large point of the race. Russell decided to take the risk to go onto slick tires around 13 laps too early which saw him massively struggle and at one point made him 3 seconds a sector slower than the leaders. When the rest of the cars swapped to slicks Russel was around 50 seconds behind everyone but thanks to a safety car Russell was able to pit for new tires and catch up to the back of the pack where he would crash into Mick Schumacher giving them both a puncture. After pitting for the punctures Russell and Schumacher would battle again where Russell would question why a driver who doesn't have a drive next year and has been told that every result for the next few races will be looked at to decide if he competes next year would defend so hard. Russell would then pit for the forth time to get the fastest lap for some reason.
A weekend to forget for Russell who was lucky not to receive a penalty for the incident with Schumacher
Overall Score - 1/10
Max Verstappen
Qualifying Position - 8th
Race Position - 7th
Max came into this weekend with the possibility of becoming a 2 time world champion. Despite driving 2 laps that could of been good enough for pole in Q3 he abandoned them both. The second of which was due to a fuel issue for Verstappen and saw him line up 8th for the race. Max definitely looked quick in qualifying and whilst he was annoyed he definitely had the pace to be able to succeed in the race.
The race started with an awful start for max which saw him drop out of the points. He quickly made his way up the field taking a few laps to get past Sebastian Vettel before getting stuck behind the Alpine of Fernando Alonso. Getting past the Alpine became a lot easier when its engine failed. Then Verstappen quickly gained on Norris but really struggled to pass him. As he was getting close their battle was joined by Lewis Hamilton who had made a brief visit to the wall. Lewis slowed Max down and allowed Lando to gain an advantage which meant Max could not get past with a fast pit stop but thanks to a safety car they were back together again. Max made a very brave move that went all wrong and saw him go down a slip road. After locking up his tires Max had to pit and was back out of the points again. The last few laps saw Max put in some great laps which put him back in the top 10. he was able to pass Hamilton and get past a very feisty Sebastian Vettel on the last lap for 7th place.
Singapore could have been Verstappen's crowning moment but it turned into a weekend to forget for the championship leader. With the pace to win and all the safety cars in the world at multiple points it looked like this was a race Max could win but this was put to an end by that huge lock up.
Overall Score - 4/10
Sergio Perez
Qualifying Position - 2nd
Race Result - 1st
Sergio's 2nd place in qualifying seemed to go unnoticed by many with much of the post qualifying discussion being aimed at Max Verstappen's fuel issue but Sergio was determined to be noticed by the end of the race. A fantastic start saw Perez take the lead and he didn't look back. Leading every lap under the most pressure and having to do multiple safety car restarts but it never seemed to phase him. Even when Red Bull asked him to pick up the pace to make sure he had a 5 second lead over Leclerc he did it with ease eventually picking up a 7 second lead. In a race where everyone seemed to be loosing their heads Checo kept his and drove a fantastic race leading to a fantastic win.
Even with the 5 second penalty although what he did to get that penalty was so minor I don't think it even deserves the discussion
Overall Score - 10/10
Qualifying Position - 1st
Race Position - 2nd
Another pole position for Charles and yet again we are not talking about him winning the race and this time we cannot blame a Ferrari mess up. Although it is not as if Charles made a huge error either. Perez was able to get past Charles at the start of the race but then Charles was able to keep at his pace for the majority of the race. The only error we could discuss for Leclerc was slightly overshooting his pit box which led to a slow pit stop apart from that he had a very good race just not as good as Perez. Similarly to Perez in a race where a lot of drivers made huge errors Charles didn't and was able to come home 2nd.
Overall Score - 9/10
Carlos Sainz
Qualifying Position - 4th
Race Position - 3rd
Carlos was able to beat Hamilton off the line then was able to keep him behind all the way until Hamilton had his accident. It was a good race for Carlos the only downfall being that he just didn't have the pace of the leaders. At the start and multiple times on the restarts they seemed to leave him for dust and would have a lead on him of 4 or more seconds after a few laps. At Monza Carlos seemed to be the quicker of the two Ferrari's as he battled through the pack but in Singapore it was a completely different story. Although there were no major mistakes for Carlos he just wasn't quick enough
Overall Score - 6/10
Lando Norris
Qualifying Position - 6th
Race Position - 4th
In the practice sessions McLaren seemed nowhere but by keeping out of trouble they managed to get their best result of the year as a team. Lando did a fantastic job in Singapore whilst he didn't really have to be the attacker he was fantastic whilst defending against the much quicker Max Verstappen never pushing him too far and keeping it clean. He gained his positions in the race by not making mistakes whilst others did and having his car not give up on him. Lando finished just outside the podium places in a position he should be very happy with.
Overall Score - 8/10
Daniel Ricciardo
Qualifying Position - 17th
Race Position - 5th
Where the hell has this Ricciardo been the last 2 years! Ricciardo would of been disappointed with his quali result be he more than made up for it with an incredible race that saw the Australian gain 12 places all of this without ever being shown on the broadcast of the race!
Ricciardo will be very happy with this result as he should be. If he can perform like this then he very much deserves a seat next year.
Overall Score - 9/10
Fernando Alonso
Qualifying Result - 5th
Race Result - DNF
Fernando's 350th race will be one to forget. He had an impressive 5th in qualifying and was going well in the race with some great defensive driving against Verstappen until his engine gave up on him on lap 20. Not much to say here it was all looking so good until it wasn't.
Overall Score - 7/10
Esteban Ocon
Qualifying Result - 18th
Race Result - DNF
This was a bad race for Ocon whilst his team mate was celebrating a P5 in qualifying he was out in Q1 with an 18th place start. The race was pretty uneventful for Ocon who drove around out of the points until his engine failure on lap 26.
Overall Score 3/10
Pierre Gasly
Qualifying Result - 7th
Race Result - 10th
Gasly was another one like Ricciardo that spent much of the race unnoticed. Gasly got very unlucky pitting just before the safety car and losing some positions to those who waited an extra lap. Starting 7th Gasly avoided incident to score 1 point for the Alpha Tauri team.
Overall Rating - 5/10
Yuki Tsunoda
Qualifying Result - 10th
Race Result - DNF
This was Yuki's first time around Singapore and I feel he will quickly want to move onto his home race next weekend. Yuki went into anti stall near the start of the race loosing a lot of positions before crashing into the wall on cold medium tires. Overall a bad one.
Overall Score - 3/10
Sebastian Vettel
Qualifying Result - 14th
Race Result - 8th
Seb's last trip around Singapore was a successful one despite the Aston team putting dry tires on a little too early in qualifying Vettel was able to make the most of it in the race with an incredible start which saw him gain 4 places on the first lap. Vettel also showed some great defensive driving against Max Verstappen the two times he was in front of the red bull in the race.
Overall Score - 8/10
Lance Stroll
Qualifying Result - 12th
Race Result - 6th
Suffering from the same Aston mistake as Vettel in qualifying Lance made a great recovery drive. Lance was able to show off his under rated wet weather abilities and score his highest finish of the year. This was Lance's best race of the year and hopefully a sign of more to come for the rest of the year.
Overall Score - 9/10
Alex Albon
Qualifying Result - 19th
Race Result - DNF
Albon has had a hell of a few weeks. Not being able to compete at Monza due to appendicitis and a respiratory failure following the surgery it was extremely impressive that he was able to recover well enough to compete in Singapore. But this wasn't a good one for Alex. Only beating his teammate in qualifying Alex had multiple mistakes in the race. Spinning into the wall on the opening lap, crashing again on a slow corner a few laps later and then ending his race on lap 25. This was not a good one for Alex.
Overall Score - 2/10
Nicholas Latifi
Qualifying Result - 20th
Race Result - DNF
Overall Score - 1/10
Valtteri Bottas
Qualifying Result - 15th
Race Result - 11th
Valtteri was another driver who just seemed to have an average race avoiding everything in the chaos. Spending the whole race out of the points Valtteri benefited from others mistakes to gain 4 positions . Although there doesn't seem like there is much he can do with that Alfa at the moment
Overall Score - 5/10
Zhou Guanyu
Qualifying Result - 15th
Race Result - DNF
Zhou is one of the most unlucky drivers on the grid this year. He has 5 DNF's this year the most of anyone and I cant remember any of them being his fault. Mix that in with him getting a good understanding of the car just when nearly everyone is in a faster car than him and you get a talented rookie with only 6 points. Zhou's race ended when Latifi crashed into the side of him there wasn't much he could do hopefully he will be able to finish the race next time.
Overall Score - 5/10
Kevin Magnussen
Qualifying Result - 9th
Race Result - 12th
Singapore is a good track for Kev. He does still hold the lap record for this track and he set a good time for 9th in qualifying but it would be another lap 1 incident that would ruin Magnussen's race. After a slight contact with Verstappen it would leave Kevin's front wing end plate slightly damaged and for what I think is the third time this year the FIA would have to call him into the pits to get it fixed all but ending any chance at competition for him in this race.
Overall Score - 5/10
Mick Schumacher
Qualifying Result - 13th
Race Result - 13th
13th is unlucky for some and it would be unlucky for Mick Schumacher. He was challenging the points positions before George Russell would give him a puncture and send him to the back. Its such a shame for Haas that in such a chaotic race where their drivers did nothing wrong and both got to the end that they still walk away with nothing and I am still hoping that Mick will keep his seat for next year.
Overall Score - 6/10
Comments
Post a Comment