2022 F1 Canadian GP: Driver Ratings

The 2022 F1 Canadian GP featured some scintillating drives in the wet weather on Saturday and some impressive recovery drives on Sunday as well. Max Verstappen scored 25 points in the Montréal race but how did he score in our driver ratings? Let's find out!

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2022 F1 Canadian GP: Rating the drivers!

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton (Started: 4th, Finished: 3rd)

Rating: 8.5

This was a confidence booster that Lewis Hamilton desperately needed. Trailing his teammate throughout the weekend, one could say that Hamilton benefitted from Russell's move to the slicks late in qualifying.

Despite that, Hamilton looked far more secure in the race. He had the speed and, more importantly, he had a clear idea of what was going on around him. A strong return to form for the seven-time world champion and hopefully, he builds on it from here.

George Russell (Started: 8th, Finished: 4th)

Rating: 8

A youthful exuberance and a bit of rashness made George Russell switch to slicks late in the 2022 F1 Canadian GP qualifying session. Once all the adrenaline rush subsides, Russell will be a bit disappointed looking back at this weekend. He had the edge on Lewis Hamilton all week and could have started the race in front of him, perhaps going on to score a podium.

Russell has everything he needs to become a World Champion, but there are still a few finishing touches left before he becomes a complete package.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen (Started: 1st, Finished: 1st)

Rating: 10

There's this feeling that Max Verstappen has matured overnight into a more lethal driver. He doesn't make mistakes, he doesn't push the envelope too much, he just finds that high-performance median, and keeps hitting it all weekend.

That was exactly what he did in qualifying and the race as well. Verstappen did not go on full-attack mode until Q3 and everyone thought there was maybe the possibility of a freak Fernando Alonso podium. As it turns out, however, when Verstappen needed to unleash the true pace of the Red Bull, no one could catch him (as Alonso said post-qualifying). If Charles Leclerc keeps getting tripped over by Ferrari, the championship could turn out to be a walk in the part for Verstappen.

Sergio Perez (Started: 13th, Finished: DNF)

Rating: 5

This was going to happen sooner rather than later to Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver finds himself in an unlikely championship contending position. Unlike drivers like Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, or Lewis Hamilton, however, Perez cannot hit those peaks consistently.

The 2022 F1 Canadian GP was such a weekend where Verstappen hit the ground running from the very first session and Perez just did not have an answer. The crash during qualifying was a result of the Mexican trying to push too hard on the intermediate tires. The DNF was not his fault, but during the main race, the reality of Perez's situation was right in front of him.

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc (Started: 19th, Finished: 5th)

Rating: 9

Certain similarities can be drawn between Kimi Raikkonen's failed 2005 championship campaign and this. Raikkonen could have been the champion if the team had been more able and the car more reliable.

For Charles Leclerc, that seems to be the case as well. Watching Carlos Sainz challenge Max Verstappen in the 2022 F1 Canadian GP almost made you wonder what Leclerc could have done in the same situation. Regardless, looking at Mercedes' speed in the race, Leclerc did the best that he could.

Carlos Sainz (Started: 3rd, Finished: 2nd)

Rating: 9

This was a much-needed confidence boost for Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard has been a somewhat neglected child at Ferrari as Charles Leclerc has performed at a very high level. With his teammate out of the picture, however, Sainz did the best he could. He is still not the complete package that Leclerc is, but this is a good starting point for the Spaniard to build on.

McLaren

Lando Norris (Started: 14th, Finished: 15th)

Rating: 6

A rather anonymous race for the McLaren driver, but that's what happens when the car at your disposal is just not good enough. The lack of top speed and a poor pitstop hurt Lando Norris, but not by much as he was never in contention for anything significant anyway. Norris will be hoping for better prospects at Silverstone as he writes off this weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo (Started: 9th, Finished: 11th)

Rating: 7

Unlucky with the pitstops and suffering massively in traffic, Daniel Ricciardo almost did the best that he could with the tools that he had. The lack of top speed has hurt McLaren big time in the last few races and Ricciardo, despite tires that were 20 laps fresher, could make no impression on the cars in front.

Alpine

Fernando Alonso (Started: 2nd, Finished: 9th)

Rating: 9

It's not an exaggeration when F1 pundits say that Fernando Alonso will be a championship contender in the right car. The 2022 F1 Canadian GP was another example of the Spaniard's talents. A front row start was a big boost for Alpine but more than that, it was a tip of the hat to Alonso as he wrung the neck of his car and made it happen.

The race did not turn out the way he would have wanted, with ill-timed stops, power unit issues, and a penalty for a late-race defense. What Alonso achieved in the Alpine on Saturday, however, was good enough to give him this score.

Esteban Ocon (Started: 7th, Finished: 6th)

Rating: 8

A strong weekend for Esteban Ocon and another positive strong haul of points for the team. His race pace on the hard tires was very impressive as he kept Charles Leclerc off him. Concurrently, however, the Frenchman will be mindful of what his teammate Fernando Alonso is doing in the same car.

Ocon has shown that he can be a strong and consistent performer this season. Can he be a contender in a front-running car? "Maybe not" is what every pundit will be leaning on after this weekend.

Alpha Tauri

Pierre Gasly (Started: 16th, Finished: 14th)

Rating: 5

Pierre Gasly's season has been a bit up and down. After the ups of Baku, he was brought back to the ground by the 2022 F1 Canadian GP. The French driver is probably banking on playing the long game with AlphaTauri. He does, however, need to keep an eye on the kid in the other cockpit.

Yuki Tsunoda (Started: 20th, Finished: DNF)

Rating: 5

It was a weekend to forget for the AlphaTauri boys. Yuki Tsunoda started the race at the back of the grid but was slowly making progress through the field. In reality, Tsunoda was having a better race than his teammate until he could not control the car and crashed out!

Aston Martin

Sebastian Vettel (Started: 17th, Finished: 12th)

Rating: 7

Major disappointment for Sebastian Vettel at the 2022 F1 Canadian GP. The German had pace, but tire pressures ruined everything for Aston Martin during the qualifying session. As a result, Vettel started the race in 17th, and following some inexplicable decision-making, had two stops and ran through a medium and a hard tire set in a handful of laps.

The last safety car dropped the German out of contention in a race where everything seemed out of place within the team.

Lance Stroll (Started: 18th, Finished: 10th)

Rating: 7.5

A just reward for Lance Stroll as he kept his nose clean and unlike his teammate, was not put on some strange strategy early in the 2022 F1 Canadian GP. His defense was very impressive early in the race and then, in the end, he used the late safety car to overtake Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo to score a point for the team. A sweet little result for Stroll at his home race.

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas (Started: 11th, Finished: 7th)

Rating: 7

Alfa Romeo and its drivers had a strong result at the 2022 F1 Canadian GP after a tough couple of races. Valtteri Bottas could benefit from the late safety car that brought him to the back of the Alpines as well. A decent result for the Finnish driver as he continues to enjoy life with this new team.

Guanyu Zhou (Started: 11th, Finished: 8th)

Rating: 7.5

This was just the result that Guanyu Zhou needed. He has struggled to match up with Valtteri Bottas in the other Alfa Romeo this season but the 2022 F1 Canadian GP was a bit different. He was there or thereabouts with Bottas during qualifying and showed strong pace early on in the race that helped him attack Mick Schumacher.

This was an impressive showing by the Chinese driver and he will be looking to do that more often.

Haas F1

Kevin Magnussen (Started: 5th, Finished: 17th)

Rating: 5

The Haas came alive in wet weather conditions as Kevin Magnussen was able to qualify in 5th for the 2022 F1 Canadian GP. Another first-lap tangle with Lewis Hamilton, however, left the Haas driver with a damaged wing once again.

The early pitstop for repairs all but ruined Magnussen's race as he could not make any progress after that.

Mick Schumacher (Started: 6th, Finished: DNF)

Rating: 7

It was heartbreak personified by the Haas driver at the 2022 F1 Canadian GP. A well-deserved P6 start meant Mick Schumacher was well within the points-scoring positions when all of a sudden a hydraulics issue forced him to retire. A positive weekend for the German, one where he ticked all the boxes for the team.

Williams

Alex Albon (Started: 12th, Finished: 13th)

Rating: 7.5

Don't look now but Alex Albon outqualified Pierre Gasly on Saturday and then outraced him on Sunday at the 2022 F1 Canadian GP. He did that while driving a Williams while Gasly was in an AlphaTauri.

Gasly might not be the only driver Red Bull is keeping an eye on if it wants to replace Perez in the future as Albon seems to have turned a corner on his return to F1.

Nicholas Latifi (Started 19th, Finished: 16th)

Rating: 4

It's more or less the same story for Nicholas Latifi at the 2022 F1 Canadian GP as well. As his home race, this was supposed to be where an upturn in his form could have been expected.

Sadly though, Latifi seems to have hit his ceiling in F1 and this Canadian GP showed that the Williams driver is probably occupying a seat he does not truly deserve.