With the 2022 Formula 1 season now under its annual summer break, it’s time to look back on the year thus far.
Max Verstappen holds an 80-point lead in the driver’s championship and is currently storming towards a second world title.
Big wins in France, Spain and Saudi Arabia has helped him along the way but Verstappen’s nearest challenger Charles Leclerc, has also put in some impressive performances.
However, that’s the case throughout the grid and so it only seems right to pick out the 10 best performances of the year so far.
Verstappen triumphs while Leclerc falters
The day Red Bull got their season back on track
Despite only being the fourth race of the season, Verstappen’s win at Imola was a big one.
Heading into the weekend, the talk surrounded the two retirements which had plagued his season while everything seemed rosy at Ferrari.
Leclerc, who led the championship at that point, had a 46-point lead over Verstappen and the Dutchman already thought it wasn’t going to be his year.
“After retiring two times, and I was 46 points down, I was like, ‘this [championship] is gone, this is not happening,’ or at least it will take a very long time to catch up,” said Verstappen.
But then at Imola, Verstappen followed his first pole of the season with a win in the sprint race which set him in good stead for the Sunday.
It was one of those days where everything went right for the 24-year-old with Leclerc unable to find any answers to the pace of his rival.
While Verstappen was leading by 12-seconds in a Red Bull one-two with ten laps to go, Leclerc spun into the wall and out of a podium position to end up finishing sixth.
That made it an even better day for the flying Dutchman in what was a totally dominant weekend by Verstappen.
Verstappen wins from the fifth-row in Budapest
It took a special performance to win from so far back
That win in Imola turned the momentum of the title fight in Verstappen’s favour, as he went on to win four of the next five races.
Another victory came at round 12 in France, but a week later Ferrari saw Budapest as its chance to get one back at him when taking the twisty nature of the 14-turn Hungaroring into consideration.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, from tenth on the grid, had this race won with 25 laps still to go. Coming into the weekend Red Bull was pretty sure the Hungaroring’s…
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With Ferrari’s pace in the corners, only a win in Budapest would be good enough.
That need was then significantly increased in qualifying, when Ferrari had both cars inside the top three while an engine problem struck for Verstappen leaving him tenth on the grid.
According to Christian Horner, pre-race analysis from Red Bull said they could achieve fifth at the very best, so Budapest was not the Dutchman’s race to win.
Yet, as champions do, they always find a way and Verstappen did exactly that.
He progressed through the field pretty swiftly and by lap 12 was up to fifth, and then gained one more on Lewis Hamilton after the initial set of pit-stops.
As the race entered the second pit-stop window, a Ferrari blunder helped Verstappen after it fitted Leclerc with the hard tyre, despite clear evidence that compound was not working well in Hungary.
Five laps later, even after a full spin in the penultimate corner fitted in there, Verstappen overtook a slow Leclerc with only Carlos Sainz and Hamilton ahead, who still needed to pit again.
Once those two came in, there was nobody to challenge Verstappen for victory, who took the win by 7.8 seconds despite starting on the fifth row.
Fernando Alonso sticks it on the front row
Alonso is the only driver outside the top three teams to qualify on the front-row this season
Another big win for Verstappen this season has been Canada but the real star of the show that weekend was the man who joined the championship leader on the front-row.
In treacherous conditions where Alex Albon and Sergio Perez ended up in the wall, Alonso’s supreme ability shone against the rest.
After being the fastest man in final practice, it was clear qualifying could be a good one for then 40-year-old, who proved age is just a number that day.
Despite much inferior machinery, he was ahead of the likes of Sainz, Hamilton and George Russell on pure pace, while Alonso was less than a tenth off Verstappen in the first two sessions.
Then on the intermediate tyres, he was able to follow that up with a P2 in the final session while his team-mate was down in seventh.
That is where the true performance of the Alpine lay, yet that day Alonso was quite simply in another league, doing things others couldn’t.
Unfortunately for him however, the next day in drier conditions he was much limited with his car and ended up in ninth.
Nicholas Latifi gets the first Q3 of his career
A rare positive for Latifi
Grand Prix Photo
Another qualifying performance on this list and a name one probably thought would be no where near the category of ‘best drives’.
But to give credit where credit is due, in a season full of lows there has been one performance by Latifi which has stood out.
In what is the slowest car on the grid, the Williams driver was able to take full advantage of the wet conditions at Silverstone to quite impressively get into the top 10.
It looked like the Canadian might fall at the first hurdle, before his team-mate Alexander Albon then failed to warm up his tyres on the final run of Q1, meaning he lost out to Latifi by 0.08sec.
It is also worth mentioning that on that weekend Albon was fitted with upgrades while Latifi was running an older-spec car, yet the Canadian was still able to qualify above his team-mate.
Into Q2 he went and after setting a solid time early on, good enough for P10, conditions then got wetter as the session continued, meaning drivers were unable to improve.
The result was Latifi in Q3. While there was still some luck involved, getting his Williams car into the final qualifying session – something which his team-mate was been unable to do – was great work.
Latifi wasn’t really able to push in Q3 but P10 was the absolute maximum that he could have hoped for anyway.
Albon’s tyre heroics in Australia
Doing 57 laps on the hard tyre even caught those at Pirelli by surprise
As highlighted above, Williams might have the slowest car but its drivers have still put in the occasional impressive performance along the way.
Another example was Albon’s heroics in Australia ,where after starting at the back of the grid, the Thai driver ended up finishing in the points with some incredible tyre management along the way.
Starting on the hard compound, within 20 laps he was in P13 and then another 20 later, he was up into seventh.
Albon could have pitted, but he didn’t – he simply ran and ran. It wasn’t until lap 57, the penultimate lap, that he finally boxed.
This put him down into tenth, his finishing position, for a hard-earned point. he deservedly received the applauds later that day for tyre management skills one would usually see from past world champions like Hamilton or Jenson Button.
Leclerc outclasses Verstappen to take victory in Austria
It was a crucial victory for Leclerc who picked up his first podium in two months
Despite all the pain and heartbreak for Ferrari this year, Leclerc has still put in a number of impressive performances. So much so it’s difficult to narrow them down.
But one which stood out, purely down to what the Monegasque had to go through to get the win, is his victory at the Austrian GP.
Historically, the Red Bull Ring has been a bit of a hunting ground for Verstappen, who has already won there four times.
And after taking pole on the Friday, added by a comfortable win in the sprint race the next day, people weren’t so confident of a Ferrari victory.
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Yet, the tables turned on the Sunday and after starting on the front-row together, Leclerc took the lead from Verstappen for the first of three times on lap 12.
Then the first set of pit stops came and Ferrari’s man ended up behind Verstappen once again before overtaking him again on lap 33.
The second window for pit stops then arrived and like before, Leclerc ended up behind Verstappen before retaking the lead on lap 53.
But then disaster struck for his team-mate as Sainz’s engine caught fire which caused worry in Leclerc.
He was right to be concerned – a throttle problem then hit, with it getting stuck on by 20 to 30 per cent in corners during the closing stages.
Nonetheless, Leclerc was able to overcome this and hold on for victory by less than two-seconds in what was a very hard-earned result that day.
Sainz ploughs through the field in France
In a day where his team-mate faltered, Sainz remained calm to score valuable points for Ferrari
The French GP was a pretty poor weekend for Ferrari with Leclerc spinning out of the lead and gifting Verstappen victory, but Sainz can still take pride from his own performance.
Everything was against him on the day with a grid drop, a five-second penalty and Leclerc’s error, yet he was still able to fight with his rivals for a spot on the podium.
Starting in P19, he was inside the top-10 by lap 13 and then four tours of the circuit later, a safety car was called for Leclerc’s crash, so many drivers decided to pit.
However, under the pressure Ferrari crumbled and unsafely released Sainz from his pit box, resulting in the Spaniard recieving a five-second penalty, making things even more difficult for him.
Sainz fought back though, ploughing through the field and getting up to fifth by lap 22, when he was rapidly closing on Russell and Perez.
After great wheel-to-wheel battling with his rivals, Sainz managed to come out on top and had got himself into a podium spot by lap 41.
However, with tyres about to drop off and a penalty still to serve, Ferrari pitted him again, leaving him down in eighth.
Yet carrying on his already impressive performance, Sainz fought back again to fifth in the closing stages, while claiming the fastest lap along the way.
The ‘comeback king’ was deservedly awarded ‘driver of the day’ for that amazing performance and. had everything not gone against him, it is likely he would have been fighting with Verstappen for victory.
Schumacher mixes it with the big boys in Austria
Schumacher was left searching for debut points in the first half of the season
Haas
Mick Schumacher was under intense scrutiny at the beginning of the season with the Haas driver still searching for points after nine races.
Things weren’t made easier for him with Kevin Magnussen delivering impressive performances, but points finally came for Schumacher in the form of P8 at Silverstone.
However, arguably his best performance this season was a week later, when Schumacher showed he has all the characteristics, both on and off-track, to forge a long and successful career in F1.
It started off with a Q3 appearance in qualifying followed by an impressive sprint race, when was engaged in a very tight, highly entertaining battle with not just his team-mate, but also a seven-time world champion.
Although Schumacher just missed out on points by a couple of seconds, his drive was still solid and his battle against Hamilton was no mismatch.
The German was still clearly annoyed though, with Schumacher having wanted Magnussen to help him in the fight against by backing up to give him DRS – but the favour was not forthcoming.
The german was left seething, but he managed to put things in the race after starting from ninth.
He gained an early place due to Perez getting clipped into the gravel and the 23-year-old then continued his battle from the sprint race with Hamilton.
The two drivers repeatedly exchanged positions but then the first set of pit-stops arrived and Schumacher dropped down to P13 with a lot of work to do.
He quickly displaced both McLaren drivers and made a clean overtake on Magnussen on his way to a P6 finish, with another pit-stop in between.
It earned Schumacher ‘driver of the day’ and silenced the doubters, showing that he has more than enough potential in F1.
Alonso’s excellent recovery drive in Austria
It was a champion-like performance from Alonso who showed, despite the age, he’s still at the top of his game
Alonso offered a lesson in perseverance at the Red Bull Ring, clearing obstacle after obstacle to climb from the back into the points.
Despite a solid P8 in qualifying, his car wouldn’t start on the sprint race formation lap, leaving him stranded in the garage.
Putting him straight to the back for Sunday’s race, this made things difficult, but Alonso delivered one of his trademark charges and by lap 18, he was inside the points.
On lap 33, he was wagging his finger at Yuki Tsunoda for squeezing him off track as he went past, but then luck seemed to finally go Alonso’s way.
Sainz’s retirement triggered a virtual safety car and, having only used hard tyres up to that point, it reduced the time loss for Alonso’s pitstop to fit the medium compound on.
That dropped him from seventh to ninth and within striking distance of those ahead, Alonso on the fresher tyres looked poised to make his way back up the order.
But the luck went against him again as he felt huge vibrations shortly after fitting the new tyres, so was forced into yet another pit tumbling down to P14.
However, in the closing stages he fought back once more, managing to get himself up into P10 for a hard-earned point. Despite everything that went against him, Alonso still showed his elite ability to produce a trademark performance.
Tonsillitis is no problem for Lando Norris
Simply racing with tonsillitis is remarkable enough, yet alone finishing inside the points and beating one’s team-mate
Calling it one of the hardest races he’s ever done, what Norris managed to pull off in Spain was an impressive feat to say the least.
Diagnosed with tonsillitis, he was suffering symptoms of cold sweats, fever and aching muscles, while breathing became a real difficulty.
“By Sunday my throat was so sore it was like swallowing daggers,” said Norris.
“I could barely drink because it hurt so much. Anything I did get down I would throw up again five minutes later anyway.”
He was clearly in a lot of bother and because of the illness, he had to skip engineering sessions – not great preparation for a GP weekend.
Norris also had to miss the pre-race national anthem while being attended to yet, despite all of that, he still climbed three spots on the Sunday for a solid P8 finish.
This was even ahead of his team-mate, showing just how impressive Norris is.
The Brit found it hard to shake off the illness, still struggling at the Monaco GP, but once again he put in an impressive performance there to finish sixth.
