2022 F1 Australian GP: Driver Ratings

The Australian GP featured some great performances from drivers up and down the grid. Be it the Grand Chelem for Charles Leclerc or the first points for Alex Albon, the grid featured some remarkable outings.

So, how did every driver perform at the Australian GP? Let's find out!

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2022 F1 Australian GP: Driver ratings

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton (Started: 5th, Finished: 4th)

Rating: 8

Lewis Hamilton more or less did what he always does. He extracted the best that was possible from the Mercedes and qualified 5th. In the race, he quickly dispatched Lando Norris at the start of the race and was destined to finish 4th behind Sergio Perez.

The safety car cost him a position and a possible podium against his teammate. It was, however, slightly surprising to see Hamilton not being able to catch up and pass George Russell.

George Russell (Started: 6th, Finished: 3rd)

Rating: 8.5

George Russell is slowly and steadily proving himself to be one of the more consistent drivers on the grid. The young Mercedes driver qualified just a tenth behind Lewis Hamilton and kept up with him in the race as well.

The safety car dropped Russell into podium contention but at no point did he appear out of place as he successfully fended off Hamilton at the end of the race. Russell is currently 8 points ahead of Hamilton and that's not going to go down well with the seven-time champion.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen (Started: 2nd, Finished: DNF)

Rating: 9

There's not much performance left in that Red Bull that Max Verstappen can't extract. The Dutch driver was forced to find extra gears in the car in his battle against Charles Leclerc. As a result, it appeared as if he was fighting a lost battle in the Australian GP.

Regardless, Verstappen was destined for a second place on the podium, albeit a distant one before his car stopped working. Another top-level performance was shaded by the lack of results and car deficiency.

Sergio Perez (Started: 3rd, Finished: 2nd)

Rating: 7.5

There is a school of thought that feels Sergio Perez has made significant improvements this season and is starting to reduce the deficit to Max Verstappen in qualifying. There is another school of thought that feels that Perez needs to do more to become a factor in the race.

For now, the Mexican is grabbing points when Verstappen falls out of contention. The team, however, will be looking closely at the Mexican's early-season performance.

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc (Started: 1st, Finished: 1st)

Rating: 9.5

There's not much to say about Charles Leclerc's performance at the Australian GP. The Ferrari driver pulled off the pole lap when it was needed the most and in the race, he was driving on an entirely different level from anyone on the grid.

The only minor scare was at the safety car restart where Max Verstappen was able to get the run on him but other than that, Leclerc hardly broke a sweat at the Australian GP.

Carlos Sainz (Started: 9th, Finished: DNF)

Rating: 6

Carlos Sainz did not have the best weekend at the Australian GP. He was unlucky with the timing of the red flag and then car issues forced him to start in P9. A botched start to the race and an over-exuberant approach left him in the gravel and now leaves him in a precarious situation at Ferrari.

McLaren

Lando Norris (Started: 4th, Finished: 5th)

Rating: 8

That qualifying lap was vintage Lando Norris but that start to the Australian GP was not. The young McLaren driver lost out to not only Lewis Hamilton but George Russell as well.

It was more or less a calculated drive after that as Norris could not challenge the Mercedes' in front of him and he had his teammate behind him.

Daniel Ricciardo (Started: 7th, Finished: 6th)

Rating: 7.5

It was a decent outcome for Daniel Ricciardo as for once he did not suffer any bad luck at the Australian GP. His qualifying position was in a way a deterrent for the Aussie as he found himself staring at the rear wing of Lando Norris after the start.

While there were pockets of the race where it did appear that Ricciardo had the legs on Norris, he could never make the move and ended up finishing 6th in the race.

Alpine

Fernando Alonso (Started: 10th, Finished: 17th)

Rating: 7

It was a weekend of what could have been for Fernando Alonso. The Spanish driver was driving the wheels off his Alpine throughout the weekend and was in a league of his own.

Yet, on his Q3 lap, it all went pear-shaped when the car broke. Even in the race, the strategy was not optimal as the Australian GP track layout was not at all conducive for overtakes. In the end, a frustrated Alonso ended up overcooking his tires and had to make a second pitstop.

Esteban Ocon (Started: 8th, Finished: 7th)

Rating: 8

It was one of those races where it appeared from the outside that the French driver just could not keep up with his teammate during qualifying. In the race, although Esteban Ocon suffered from graining on his tires in the first stint, he made sure he kept his head down in the second stint when he got stuck in traffic after pitting.

It wasn't Ocon's best weekend by a mile, but when you compare where he was in terms of pace to his teammate, a 6-point haul is what the team will take gleefully.

Alpha Tauri

Pierre Gasly (Started: 11th, Finished: 9th)

Rating: 7

Pierre Gasly extracted the maximum he possibly could from his Alpha Tauri. Starting in P11, Gasly got the jump on Fernando Alonso and kept him at bay for a long time in the race. He loses a point in the ratings because of the mistake he made near the end of the race that cost him P8 and allowed Valtteri Bottas through.

Yuki Tsunoda (Started: 13th, Finished: 15th)

Rating: 6.5

It was a weekend that was neither here nor there for Yuki Tsunoda. He has a clear gap of around two-tenths of a second to Pierre Gasly. With the kind of performance the Alpha Tauri is showing, Gasly is just scraping through into points while Tsunoda misses out.

Aston Martin

Sebastian Vettel (Started: 17th, Finished: DNF)

Rating: 4

Sebastian Vettel had next to nothing in terms of preparations for the Australian GP. His FP1 session was interrupted, he could not take part in FP2, and then in FP3, the first time he pushed the car, he was in the wall.

Vettel went into the race unprepared and it showed as he went off track, crashing into the wall and retiring from the race

Lance Stroll (Started: 20th, Finished: 12th)

Rating: 5

Lance Stroll had another weekend to forget at the Australian GP. The Aston Martin is not capable of challenging for much this season. Keeping that aside, Stroll inexplicably caused a massive crash in qualifying with Nicholas Latifi for which he was penalized.

It didn't end there for the Canadian as he was penalized again for weaving too much down the straights. It was a horror weekend for Aston Martin, one that the team will be hoping to move on from as soon as possible.

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas (Started: 12th, Finished: 8th)

Rating: 7

It was another vintage performance from Valtteri Bottas as he continues to redeem himself with his driving this season. After qualifying in 12th, the Finnish driver climbed his way up the order to finish 8th and score points for his team.

Guanyu Zhou (Started: 14th, Finished: 11th)

Rating: 6

More of the same of what we have seen from the Chinese driver this season. He's a few tenths down on his teammate and in the tight midfield. While this helps Bottas finish on points, Guanyu Zhou finds himself missing out.

Haas F1

Kevin Magnussen (Started: 16th, Finished: 14th)

Rating: 6.5

It was a bit of an anonymous weekend for Kevin Magnussen as Haas somehow did not have the pace of the midfield teams this time around. He was out-qualified by his teammate for the first time this season and was also beaten to the line in a rather below-the-radar performance for the team.

Mick Schumacher (Started: 15th, Finished: 13th)

Rating: 7

It was an error-strewn Australian GP for Mick Schumacher as he is slowly starting to show a lack of maturity in his driving in F1. Despite that, however, the young Haas driver was able to get the better of his teammate in both qualifying and the race, which should be a confidence booster for him.

Williams

Alex Albon (Started: 19th, Finished: 10th)

Rating: 9.5

That was the drive of the weekend by the Thai driver. Alex Albon scored points in a Williams making use of a rather quirky strategy for the race. The Red Bull academy driver has shown at the Australian GP why he is regarded so highly by the Austrian team. This lone point is going to go a long way in raising his stock on the grid.

Nicholas Latifi (Started 18th, Finished: 16th)

Rating: 5

Nicholas Latifi is getting exposed this season and the Australian GP was no different. The Canadian driver was trundling around at the back of the grid while his teammate was battling the McLarens and the Alpine on older tires. With Nikita Mazepin out of the picture, slowly but steadily, attention is turning towards Latifi as the undeserving pay driver on the grid.