2022 F1 Imola GP: Driver Ratings

The Imola GP featured some of the better drives from some of the elite drivers on the grid. At the same time, it featured some pretty average outings from others. So, how did every driver fare in the Imola GP? Let's find out!

---

2022 F1 Imola GP: Driver ratings

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton (Started: 14th, Finished: 13th)

Rating: 4

Lewis Hamilton had an atrocious weekend at Imola. The weekend featured the Mercedes driver getting outclassed by his teammate, losing out to drivers on significantly slower machinery (Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll), getting overtaken by Alex Albon in a Williams, and finally making multiple unsuccessful attempts at trying to overtake Pierre Gasly. This was a rather poor display by the seven-time world champion and leaves him more than 20 points short of his own teammate.

George Russell (Started: 11th, Finished: 4th)

Rating: 8

George Russell is slowly but steadily becoming the flagbearer at Mercedes. While Lewis Hamilton has been complaining and messing up big time, Russell has gone ahead and tried to extract the maximum that is possible out of the car. As a result, Russell finds himself 21 points clear of Hamilton in a team he's still getting used to.

Red Bull

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

Rating: 10

Max Verstappen produced a flawless display on a weekend where he had to win. If it was not for Red Bull's reliability issues, the Dutchman would be leading the championship by 7 points after the Imola GP. As it stands, after arguably the best weekend put together by any driver this season, Verstappen has cut down the championship deficit to 29 points. A timely reminder by the reigning world champion of his abilities.

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

Rating: 9

Sergio Perez is getting really good at his job of being the rear-gunner for Max Verstappen. The Mexican started the race in 3rd, quickly disposed off Charles Leclerc, and then when the Ferrari driver got the jump on him after the pitstop, Perez made the decisive move over Leclerc to get the position back. All in all, Perez ticked all the boxes this weekend.

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc (Started: 2nd, Finished: 6th)

Rating: 6.5

The Imola GP will be the ultimate learning experience for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver did not need to push as hard as he did today. It would have been a smart ploy to attack Sergio Perez keeping caution in mind. In the upcoming races, Leclerc should learn from this and make the necessary changes.

Carlos Sainz (Started: 4th, Finished: DNF)

Rating: 5

The Imola GP weekend for Carlos Sainz was a weekend in hell. The Ferrari driver beached the car in qualifying. Then, while he was admirably able to make his way back into contention to P4 in the sprint, Daniel Ricciardo put paid to his race as Sainz was knocked out of the race after contact with the Australian. A weekend to forget for the Spaniard if there ever was any.

McLaren

Lando Norris (Started: 5th, Finished: 3rd)

Rating: 8.5

Lando Norris' growth is visible every time he returns for a new season. This year as well, Norris has been extracting the best possible results out of the car in every race. The Imola GP was no different for him as he notched up his first podium of the season.

Daniel Ricciardo (Started: 6th, Finished: 18th)

Rating: 3

Daniel Ricciardo's season has gone from bad to worse. The Australian has shown this season that he has the speed. Due to one thing or the other, however, it's not sticking for him. It was a reliability issue in Saudi Arabia that put paid to a points finish. In Imola, it was the errant first lap that destroyed his race.

Ricciardo is not the lead driver at McLaren anymore and he only has himself to blame for that.

Alpine

Fernando Alonso (Started: 9th, Finished: DNF)

Rating: 4.5

Fernando Alonso's tryst with bad luck continued in the Imola GP as well. This time around, it was the spinning Haas of Mick Schumacher that damaged Alonso's sidepod and forced him to retire. Nothing's been working for the Spaniard this season and it will be interesting to see when this streak of bad luck ends for him.

Esteban Ocon (Started: 16th, Finished: 14th)

Rating: 6

Esteban Ocon's weekend was turned into a salvaging job after a gearbox failure in qualifying. The Frenchman had reached the fringes of points only to have an unsafe release that took him further out of contention. The Imola GP truly was a weekend to forget for Alpine.

Alpha Tauri

Pierre Gasly (Started: 17th, Finished: 12th)

Rating: 6

Pierre Gasly did not have his characteristic strong weekend at Imola. The AlphaTauri driver was looking forward to the upgrades brought by the team. As it turned out, it didn't provide much improvement as the French driver survived a race-long attack from Lewis Hamilton to finish 12th.

Yuki Tsunoda (Started: 12th, Finished: 7th)

Rating: 8

Yuki Tsunoda has slowly but steadily established himself in the team. This was another race where he was the better AlphaTauri driver and another points finish will give him valuable confidence.

Aston Martin

Sebastian Vettel (Started: 13th, Finished: 8th)

Rating: 8.5

It was a classy performance by Sebastian Vettel at the Imola GP. The driver dragged the Aston Martin to Q3. Then in the race, he dragged that car into points comfortably. Another reminder of the class of the German for the doubters.

Lance Stroll (Started: 15th, Finished: 10th)

Rating: 6.5

It was another weekend where Lance Stroll was overshadowed by his teammate. The points finish in the Imola GP is impressive, but when your teammate does a much better job than you, all your accolades are diminished. Stroll is a good driver, but the question of having a more capable driver should do the rounds within the team.

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas (Started: 7th, Finished: 5th)

Rating: 8

That was a beautiful ride by Valtteri Bottas. The Finn showed great ability when it came to taking care of the tires and throughout the race, he was more or less the fastest midfield car. Bottas is in a happy place right now and it shows.

Guanyu Zhou (Started: 20th, Finished: 15th)

Rating: 5

A listless Imola GP for Guanyu Zhou. The Chinese driver is not performing even in the same ballpark as his teammate and the crashes don't really help. Alfa Romeo is Bottas' team right now and Zhou needs to perform better to have a say within the team in the future.

Haas F1

Kevin Magnussen (Started: 8th, Finished: 9th)

Rating: 7

This was more or less what we have come to expect of Kevin Magnussen. The Dane placed the car where it was supposed to be in qualifying and then extracted whatever performance he could out of the car to score valuable points for the team.

Mick Schumacher (Started: 10th, Finished: 17th)

Rating: 4

This was one of the worst weekends for Mick Schumacher in F1. The German driver has been unable to match his experienced teammate this season and to add to that, the racecraft and error-prone nature are slowly but steadily starting to catch the eye.

Williams

Alex Albon (Started: 18th, Finished: 11th)

Rating: 6

Alex Albon did whatever best he could with the Williams. The driver dragged the car to finish 11th in a race that featured him overtaking Lewis Hamilton in his Williams. Albon more or less maintained his dominance over Nicholas Latifi with the Williams dynamics staying as they are for now.

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

Rating: 4

It was a typical Latifi weekend during the Imola GP. Fortunately for everyone, including the driver and the team, this time around Latifi did not get involved in any crash. He was just his characteristic slow, far away from the benchmark that was set. Williams might need to rethink its driver strategy, considering the presence of a certain Oscar Piastri in the market.