Ranking the 2022 Formula 1 Drivers

[@jackbloyce8296]

Only thing I’d disagree with is that Alonso should be in the best of the best. The guy has outperformed the car on many many occasions this season. Just been ridiculously unlucky over the year

[@jamespoole3531]

There’s no such thing as outperforming a car, some cars just take more skill to extract the maximum level of performance out of.

[@dave7573]

@@jamespoole3531 let's say he has mopped the floor with Ocon then..

[@luisbrandolb]

Alonso has been unlucky ever since he joined ferrari back in the day.

[@Christzo18]

@@dave7573 isn’t ocon ahead on the championship and he has also had bad luck alonso fans are ridiculous

[@invalid8774]

He seems to attract bad reliability, he struggled with it at Ferrari, Mclaren and now Alpine. At this point I wonder if there is a driver aspect to it. I think there is a reason why Alonso retires so often and why Lewis retires so rarely compared to their teammates. Something about their driving style might be down to it.

[@rickyricardo2006]

In my opinion, lecrerc fits into a special category called, “best of the best/something to prove” He had a couple of silly mistakes, and also, he needs to question ferrari strategy. He needs to embrace the champion in him. He needs to be confident about his instinct and experience as a driver. Even carlos questioned ferrari strategy in monaco and he finished second.

[@KiwiAlchemista]

did you not see last race when he told ferrari to continue on one stop. as for monaco what could he have done, the pit stop would have kept in first if it wasnt for a double stack, thats why it was stupid, they double stacked them, how would he know that sainz was pitting too. and also he has been calling shots recently.

[@rickyricardo2006]

@@KiwiAlchemista One race does not erase a whole season full of instances of insecurity and gullibility towards the team strategies. Did you not saw sainz firm posture on his convictions when it came to team strategies? By the way, I did saw that Leclerc had an input in abu dahbi, good for him. Still, he's gonna need to "eat, breath and eat" of that attitude. Because next season is not gonna be just redbull, its gonna be mercedes aswell.. And they are coming full force.

[@KiwiAlchemista]

@@rickyricardo2006 like I said I was giving one instance of you watch other races you would see that leclerc has an input in strategy, and what firm posture are you talking about sainz they asked him if he would like to box he said no they agreed, they didn’t order him to box. He didn’t go against anyone, even in silverstone, they agreed with him after he said he can’t be behind ten spaces, he didn’t go against anyone. And it is not their job to dictate strategies, and what gullibility, please explain with an example on that because I have no clue what you mean. Yes he should be more assertive but your making him like he’s some brainless idiot compared to sainz when they both are the same in making strategies.

[@rickyricardo2006]

@@KiwiAlchemista it’s obvious you see and hear what you want to hear. The “stop inventing guys” from sainz was epic. Thanks to that response from sainz, he was able to snatch a podium. Charles needs to let his “balls” loose and grab the bull by the horns!

[@KiwiAlchemista]

@@rickyricardo2006 your saying i see and hear what you want to hear, your delirious your next point just contradicted what you just said. its obvious you see and hear what you want by listening to "stop inventing guys" as any sort of argument. He had fresher tires my guy, thats why he won (not a podium a win btw) because ferrari favoured him not because of any strategy from him, they asked him to pit, not the other way around. And again he was asked not ordered to give space. if they truly wanted him to do that they would have countered him immediately and told him twice but they immediately agreed and let him attack. Just because he has catchy catchphrases does not mean hes any better at strategizing than leclerc, and thats not a negative thing to sainz, drivers job is literally to drive, the strategy team has to get better. Regardless they both have called shots and hopefully will have a better year next year

[@SupremePulse]

K-Mag gonna be going up a tier now

[@Driving_Forward]

K-Mag for president!

[@Aldas001]

Tbf this was recorded pre qualifying haha

[@atmoz_]

@@Aldas001 this qualification exactly shows why leclerc is as good as sainz and not best of the best. He makes mistakes where sainz isn't equal the speed of Leclerc he got the balls to get In against the team when they are wrong. Why did he not pit to get other tires when it was obvious the wrong tire. To only being told at the end of the straight that he should box 🤣. The guys really not looking what's happening on track to frustrate him even more. He just isn't there (yet). For the rest think Verstappen should have his own tear the way latifi got his own.... a 10 scale tear list would make more sense.... max a 10, Hamilton 9. Alonso, Leclerc, sainz, norris and Perez 8. Russell and Ocon 7

[@grm6486]

@@atmoz_ Putting Russell 1 tier lower than Sainz is interesting, Sainz made many mistakes at the start of the season and George was more consistent. Now it's the other way around for whatever reason. I think they should probably be in the same tier.

[@TheEmolano]

I would put him in something to prove. He is the modern Maldonado: fast but crash prone

[@greatdays3584]

I think something that most people forget about Mick is that his crashes don't just cost money - they cost time and also car quality. In some of his crashes, he completely obliterated the car and Haas only had 2 weeks to repair it before the next race, completely stalling whatever development progress they had going for them and also putting them behind on the time-table, which I think has been a pretty big factor on the decline of Haas throughout the season. They've lost so much time reconstructing Mick's car, which is time that they could've used to develop new things for it, it's a shame tbh, we could've seen a much better Haas car throughout the season if Mick didn't crash it so much

[@janesuprise8669]

Mick's consistency has been greatly hampered by the team and horrible strategy calls. In Bahrain and Spain they didn't change tires during a safety car. Both times he got passed by everyone who did. Zandvoort was unacceptably long pit stops (10 and 5 seconds). Japan was bad strategy hoping for a crash/safety car. He's had his share of mistakes but the team has screwed him just as much.

[@itswais77]

Mick shouldn’t be in Haas next year

[@greatdays3584]

@@janesuprise8669 Agreed - Mick has his share of fault, but Haas, as always, has been absolutely dysfunctional strategy-wise and doing some unexplicable things that really make you question if the drivers have that much fault for the team's poor performance.

[@simla5]

@@janesuprise8669 That's true, but people tend to forget how small team Haas is. When you look at it from their perspective, I'd rather have 2 slightly slower but more consistent and less crash prone drivers like K-Mag than Mick that is often faster, but crashes way too often. I think Mick showed a lot of times this season that he has what it takes to race in F1 and I think he deserves one more season to show what he can do, but I completely understand that Haas is not willing to put in the possible time and money that his crashes cost.

[@DavidGarcia-oi5nt]

Preach!

[@iplayeddsharpminor]

Fernando has definitely been the best young driver over the last couple of years since he did his test in Abu Dhabi

[@gemcockrell]

The best and the youngest 😎

[@greatdays3584]

20:33 It's pretty surprising to see how many reliability issues Alfa has been having. They didn't have so many last year, Kimi and especially Antonio weren't DNFing all that much. It used to be a slow and reliable car, now it's fast but DNF-prone, and that's a script that was flipped in only one season.

[@awesomefacematt]

Yeah this Ferrari engine is way more unreliable than last year and this year Alfa did their own gear box

[@greatdays3584]

@@awesomefacematt Absolutely. It has really gone downhill in terms of reliability for them, and it's a shame cuz this is a good enough car for them to fight with Alpine and McLaren. Certainly have the drivers to do so as well, with Bottas and Guanyu both performing at above average pace and consistency

[@sergivilla9a]

Alonso is definetely a top tier. Dont care the car, he always delivers top level

[@davidfranom4359]

Man, Alonso should definitely be in best of the best and Austin is a proof of that.

[@Driving_Forward]

Shame Nyck De Vries isn't on this list. Hard to judge a driver based on 1 race but of the 4 outings he has had I'd put him top end of something to prove.

[@swampthing94]

If we could have a driver with Valtteri's qualifying speed and Sergio's racecraft we would have a possible WC in our hands

[@jamal1493]

I get what u mean but his racepace is lacking just a little little but i rate him

[@davidfranom4359]

That is exactly what i was thinking.

[@bjs7442]

Valtteris qualifying speed , yes, Sergio's race craft is very debatable , many would disagree, but as they are not one driver you end up with two good midfield drivers and thats the reality. Neither are or have been potential WC.

[@heavygamer9511]

Hahahah Sergio‘s racecraft? Can’t believe how overrated he is, his racecraft is literally average at best

[@bjs7442]

@@heavygamer9511 He is good at blocking reigning world champions in 2021. I am sure his skills in that area will not desert him in 2023.

[@colin.six60]

Alonso best of the best for me

[@pauldevlas1512]

I agree with your choices! Leclerc is a difficult one. He is potentially top-tier but still has to win a few more races. I know, the Ferrari team has been holding him back.

[@eeshanumrani]

4:32 that aged well didn't it

[@san-joshuabarrett]

He wasn't racing them all he did was hold them up for a few corners. A bit like someone walking slow in-front of you on a sidewalk

[@lukewood2662]

About Stroll, I think that if everyone in the grid had the same car, Lance could be at the middle or even at the higher middle on his day. He has big potential, something Latifi never showed for example, and I think his ceiling is bigger than Bottas'. He lacks consistency but on his day he's kinda special.

[@bjs7442]

Yes . On his day , On his day . Go ask Sebastian what he thinks of him after yesterday with his 10 sec penalty for dangerous driving.

[@Yetabronz]

@@bjs7442 Vettel had his fair share of questionable actions, specially against his teammates

[@bjs7442]

@@Yetabronz That wasnt questionable, that was dangerous and the stewards agreed.

[@7BD273]

problem is he has about 5 of those days in a year...

[@Maxxedro]

Latifi is a guy who can only perform when the car is completely his type. The Williams is the stark opposite of this style. His inability to adapt to the past 3 super unstable cars lost him his seat. In F2 he was a beast, coming only second in the championship and with equal machinery he can really be someone who can fight for wins.

[@michaeldesgagne4615]

I honestly think at the end of the season is better because you’ve got to watch them over the season then you can rent them for next season

[@Aldas001]

In 2023 I might do it before the season to see how it ages

[@michaeldesgagne4615]

@@Aldas001 it will be a nice comparison to what the season finished off like

[@joaoferreira6621]

​@@Aldas001 i think you should do an pre season and a post season

[@undertaker_ripper]

@@Aldas001 you will not forget, right:)

[@charamia9402]

@@Aldas001 Do both! Pre seasons expectations vs post seasons reality, that could be a fun watch!

[@aarondiez8434]

I would change Alo on best of the best and Zhou on Quality midfield

[@JxstSkye]

I think Charles is borderline champion. He lacks Max’s consistency and ability to whip the strategy team into shape as lead driver. He is just extremely fast and in full fighting contention. I obviously know Ferrari shouldn’t leave him in that position every race and they haven’t been equipping his car with an engine but instead a bomb but I feel Max has shown an absolute masterclass dominance this season and he has many other attributes as a driver that Charles has lacked in certain areas.

[@kolour7611]

True

[@NewscasterNews4]

Consistency yes, but Max doesn’t have to whip the strategy team into shape at Red Bull - part of why he’s been so dominant is because Hannah Schmitz handles that so well which allows Max to just focus on driving. Don’t see why it should be held against Leclerc to do that when his direct rival doesn’t have that responsibility

[@EpicChickens1916]

I can't imagine the mental toll of all the Ferrari incompetence week in and week out hasn't contributed to his occasional mistakes. Listening to the radio after qualifying is just a driver who is dejected. Everyone says that he needs to take matters into his own hands for strategy, but that shouldn't be his job, and all it accomplishes is him second guessing everything the team does.

[@ijustfelldown]

@@NewscasterNews4 I mean, Max and even Checo have had very open criticism of strategies on the radio. There are always things to improve and Redbull, despite all its faults, is a team that is extremely cut throat. They will accept angry driver feedbacks and let it go for the sake of performance. If Charles rightfully did that to Ferrari, he'd be subject to massive backlash from Ferrari management and politics. Schumacher and Hamilton as well have gotten heated with their strategic calls even though they weren't bad calls. You need to be able to dish out venom when the team is letting you down this way in championship battles.

[@adityairawan1843]

Giving Latifi his own tier is like ranking Big Rigs among a bunch of racing games.

[@gaberodriguez7938]

Both are clearly the best of their class

[@hamzazilani6398]

Replace Russel with ham and it’s perfect

[@subarnosinha8042]

Usually I'm not in complete agreement with the opinions of KZbinrs, but I've to make an exception here. This list is spot on.

[@sebastianschneider7306]

i think zhou needs to be in quality midfield drivers, he made almost 0 mistakes and performed on bottas level at times

[@flyingphoenix113]

I would have put Zhou and Mick at the bottom of "quality midfield drivers" (with Zhou controversially above Mick). Both have risen to challenge and beat significantly more experienced teammates (Zhou moreso in quali, Mick moreso in the races). And, while I think Mick has had a harder benchmark (Kmag knows Haas like the back of his hand even if he didn't drive in 2021, and he has pulled off some heroic feats in that car this year), Zhou has done so without all of the costly crashes, which is why I'd personally put him above Mick even if he is further away from Bottas in the points.

[@budjettivaje8338]

I mean, Bottas has brought in almost 90% of Alfa Romeo's points this year. I don't think there's any way around that with Zhou, even though he has clearly improved.

[@deakksyy]

@@budjettivaje8338 Zhou has been unlucky with dnfs

[@nielsvanheteren]

I think Zhou is on the border between the two. Yes 0 mistakes and all but did he show anything that like really wowed you? Even Stroll has moments that wow me, but Zhou is just there. No mistakes but no highlights as well. It says enough that his Silverstone crash is probably his most memorable moment from this season. Ofc no shame in being a bit invisible in your rookie season, it was surely a much better season than Yuki's first season for example, but he needs to step up for next season, Pourchaire is breathing down his neck so he needs the convince Alfa he is the better choice instead of Bottas. If he doesn't outperform Bottas next season I think he is done. Mick actually outperformed Kevin after the summer break but still lost his seat, so you really need to show your potential in your second season.

[@chsinger96]

If only there was a mandatory annual event where all F1 drivers are put in equal machinery to show how good they really are compare to each other

[@gtapatrik96]

there was a race in 1984 everyone in merc road cars, senna won lauda close second

[@TheEmolano]

My tier list (first is better whitin the tier): Max, Lewis, Alonso Charles, Lando, Russel Seb, Albono, Checo, Gasly, Carlos, Bottas, Ocon Kmag, Zhou, Yuki Danny, Lance, Mick, Latifi

[@INTJ91]

There should’ve been a category between Best of the Best and Midfield. A ‘really good but not quite there’ category for the likes of Sainz, Perez, Russell and Norris.

[@gemcockrell]

Agreed. Best of the best can only really be max. No one else was a champion, so people like leclerc are borderline champions. But then there are drivers like alonso, sainz, russell who weren’t borderline champions, but were still brilliant and better than quality midfield.

[@INTJ91]

@@gemcockrell Exactly! No one really came as close as Max this year - he should've been at the top alone and the others slightly below.

[@gemcockrell]

@@INTJ91 yeah max should be in his own tier haha

[@Tristialawirtz]

15:29, honestly I feel like Lando is clear of Russell. Dominant in the midfield, ridiculously fast and consistent and avoids incidents. Let’s not forget how Lando came out on top of almost every time he and LeClerc went head to head last year

[@Vislow]

Last season Lando was doing in a McLaren what this season George is doing in a Mercedes

[@TNTmatteos]

It’s much easier to perform in a midfield team like McLaren than it is to face the pressure of Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes so let’s see what happens when he is given a shot at winning races and a title. Also Lando is very very fast, but I do think his racecraft, although good, isn’t at the level of the one of Charles, Max, Checo, Lewis and George.

[@AABradyKK]

I dunno.. Russell having a great season as well. I'm not putting Lando ahead of him.

[@bjs7442]

@@TNTmatteos The problem is you dont see his race craft because the cameras are not on him as much. However it is their. He is a very intelligent driver. Very fast and consistent. He was the youngest world champion in Karting. Lewis and Max are at the top and Lando is closer to them than any of the others. George gets angry in the car and makes mistakes. Charles doesnt get angry , does make mistakes and never challenges the team. Checo is simply not in the conversation . Sainz is better than Checo. He is a no 2 driver, way behind Max in the same car. Marko says only Lando has the talent together with Lewis to take the fight to Max.

[@TNTmatteos]

@@bjs7442 In my opinion Max, Charles and Lewis are the best three drivers. George is very close behind. Lando and Carlos are a step behind George. Lando better than Charles? Don't underrate Charles: he has arguably got the best racecraft of the grid, both while attacking and defending. Just think back at the beginning of the season when he fought Max in comparable cars wheel to wheel and had always the measure of him, or think at some of his insane drives like Silverstone and how he faired in wheel to wheel against Lewis and Checo while on worse tyres. Also his raw speed is up there with Max as the best one. Lando is very fast, but hasn't really proven much in F1 yet. He got beaten by Carlos twice, scored the odd podium here and there and was the best midfield driver in the last year. Charles faced and convincingly beat a 4 time world champ, raced head on with Max and held his own, fought (for some time) for a world championship with Ferrari and won 5 out of 7 races that Ferrari won in the last 4 years. Regarding Lando's racecraft yes it is not bad for sure, but for now nothing special. The reason is that we just didn't see him step up his game and face the big guns in F1, mostly because he hasn't had the chance yet, but I'm sure he will be great when he gets the chance.

[@alastairman1223]

If ppl knew Latifi started karting at 13, ppls opinions would change

[@SGR_Blackout]

"When you're in a Haas, or when you're in the midfield, you're not racing a RedBull, or a Mercedes." *Brazilian GP Quali 2022:* Jokes on you lol

[@siphillis]

Since the Summer Break, we've seen Lewis return to form and join Max at the top (whereas LeClerc has clearly fallen off as the car has declined.)

[@stevenmcdonald]

Leclerc was on the podium 6 of the last 8 races. It was the middle of the season where he fell off.

[@stijndesaedeleer8395]

@@stevenmcdonald i feel leclerc started doing better when he accepted max was untouchable this season... france was the show that he was overdoing it because he had to to catch up and it was slipping through his fingers, forcing the mistakes under huge pressure cuz of reliability issues and strategy blunders...

[@flazone4486]

I'm agree with everything except in the best of the best you have to put fernando and george and to remove charles and lewis into the borderline champions, because they are not consistent during the season and they make some big mistakes even if their teams not helping them in strategies and reliability in the case of charles but i think they are not perfect this season, but george and fernando they are one of the best drivers this year, george for his consistency he had the 2nd best consistency this year behind max, and fernando made one of his best seasons in his career with 41 years old, he's only 5 points behind esteban with all his reliability problems, strategies mistakes by the team, the fia penaltys and esteban over agressive and dirty defenses, he lost 70 points with all this and he would be clearly ahead of his teammate and ahead of lando.

[@rosco3]

You want to move the most successful driver to borderline champion... wow

[@flazone4486]

@@rosco3 In this tierlist we don't talk about who is the most succesful driver, here we talk about drivers performance in only this season, it's clear if we do a tierlist about the career and the statistics of the drivers on the grid lewis, seb, fernando and max they would be on the top 4, but here we talk about the performances this year and the best drivers this year and the most consistents were max, charles, george and lando, but fernando and lewis they show incredible pace this year especially fernando who was so fast in pratically all the grands prix this year and was the most unlucky driver this season even more than the 2 ferrari drivers, and lewis was unlucky sometimes this season but it was not like fernando's bad luck, and he made more mistakes this year than george and was less consistent than him, so in general george was better than lewis and even fernando was a little bit better than lewis this season considering that he's a 41 years old and coming back in f1 after 2 years out to f1, and he's able to be so so fast and to not make pratically any mistake and was so consistent if the reliability don't private him to finish the races.

[@dylanburston7453]

@@flazone4486 Charles has to stay.Dominated Sainz, lost over 100 points because of Ferrari, nearly 50% pole rate. Lewis was 35 points behind russel, on pretty down to his pure lack of race pace. He failed to make the most of the car alot, and made far too many mistakes. Chales and Max made less mistakes all season than Lewis did in singapore alone.Hes caused several accidents, and just generally been underwhelming Max and Charles have shown they are head and shoulders above everyone else. Chalres has 4 less seasons in F1, and still has to iron out a couple of things, but it wont be long before he is as good if not better than Max. Lando could also be considered among those 2 IMO, but its hard to judge with the car hes had Russel is nearly there, but is making far to many silly mistakes. Silverstone, austria ad brazil quali, singapore etc

[@Melon623]

@@dylanburston7453 You're everywhere with these shit arguments that have no grounding in reality. But respect for your hustle man 🤣🤣🤣

[@dylanburston7453]

@@Melon623 Ok lets go through it. Charles points lost to Ferrari 25 in Spain 25 in Baku 12 in Monaco 12 in Silverstone 17 in hungary Which is 91 points. Factor in every position lost to RB due to strategy, its easily over 100 points. Lets go through all of Hamiltons mistakes this year. Im probably even missing some from the early part of the season Austria- binned in q3 Spa- started a space programme Singapore- Made several mistakes, including going into a wall and messing up the Vettel overtake. Brazil- Partially responsible for an accident Abu Dahbi- Cut a corner causing damage, and went off track half a dozen times. George has just as many mistakes as Lewis Charles has spinning in imola and France Max has hitting debris in Silverstone, Spinning a couple of times in singapore and partially at fault for the brazil incedent Lando has Miami and Punting charles at brazil What im saying isnt a shit take. Its the cold hard truth

[@harua3692]

It so kind of Latifi to give up his seat for a young and upcoming driver. Such a great guy.

[@Lucas-qy1eb]

I think Gasly has something to prove, he was sooooo disappointing this season

[@e2rqey]

To be fair, the Alpha Tauri car this year seemed to be significantly less competitive when compared to last seasons car

[@johnsummitsecurity]

@lmaomoofeq I think it’s both. Gasly has made some shocking errors that he should not be making

[@Phantom-mg5cg]

My F1 driver ranking (2022 season,best first) Verstappen Hamilton Leclerc Norris Russell Alonso Pérez Sainz Vettel Bottas Ocon Gasly Albon Magnussen Zhou Stroll Ricciardo Tsunoda Schumacher Latifi So I agree with Aldas‘ tier list.

[@brtomega1038]

bump vettel down 3 places and its perfect

[@4Leka]

How has Lewis been more consistent than George this season? Lewis has been a quality midfield driver at best.

[@SUPERMAX1]

Yep nothing special this season about Lewis. Of course if u would look at his whole career, he would ne definitely at the top of the top, but this season never ever im sorry. Yes he had some good races, but he also made couple mistakes and wasn’t good at all at the Start of the season.

[@elisabeththomsen1994]

@@SUPERMAX1 the reason he wasn't he wasn't good in the beginning of the season, is because he was basically a lab rat for Mercedes to figure out the car, while Russell got the ideal setup. Even Mercedes said so and when the testing was over he literally was faster than Russell at every race. Russell has still be impressive indeed, but people seem to skip over this fact.

[@drfeelgood94]

Love your work Aldas!

[@blakedavies9703]

Alas is growing right in front of our eyes

[@FS84727]

Imagine if seb finishes p10 this year considering how bad Aston was for a lot of the season

[@-xeppl-]

Could have happened if he had put on softs for the last stint. Now hes 13 points behind, so he needs a podium.

[@MrAlexxF1]

Latifi tier 💀

[@selder_7]

For me it’s Verstappen > Hamilton >> Leclerc >> and then Russell Norris and Alonso but I don’t know where to rank those 3 against each other. Russell was ahead until recently but now it’s less clear, he just can’t hold form for a full year

[@ashley2429]

Best take I've seen.

[@conormulcahy829]

How can u justify having Hamilton second when he got outscored by his teammate in his first year in the car who u have 4th-7th?

[@lorenzogreco5440]

To be honest I think that George was since the beginning used to have a non-winning car, so just always fighting with more and more cars and maximizing his results, but more importantly LEWIS HAD A MUCH HEAVIER CAR UNTIL MID SEASON. As long as the car was bad, he, as the experienced driver, accepted to have the "test car" with more extreme configurations to understand the strange W13 and much more sensors (whose weight is considerable) than George. He was also very unlucky during the first races.

[@vrajpatel2763]

@@conormulcahy829 becoz george was lucky at the strt nd also lewis was more experimenting becoz of his experience nd after canada see the graph he is outqualifying george nd somethime outpacing too nd made less mistake then him

[@thetragedyofdarthplagueist6860]

Alonso > hamilton imo

[@ForzaPolska06]

I would switch Leclerc with Alonso Alonso doesn't make these mistales and is ready to handle his strategists unlike Charles

[@krunalgode3391]

Change my mind : There is no one as consistent as GOATifi

[@niels7844]

putting max and lewis in the same catogory is a absolute joke, Max was clearly the best driver this season

[@bruhitsfishyy238]

W ranking

[@javiercastro8885]

Not putting Alonso at the top just doesn't feel right to me. The guy outperformed the machinery he was given everytime. Saying he might be able to beat Sainz, Russel or Norris is not a question to me. I don't think there is a driver in the grid capable of a performance such as the one he produced in Austin, that desire and ambition to go forward is unbeliabeable. I'm pretty sure that if he could have had a season not marked by realiability and the alpine team he would be best of the rest and if that if he was given the car to, he would be challenging Max for the tittle. Nice video anyway, just my thoughts on the legend himself🐐

[@L1gHt-LK]

Not a huge Russell fan, but the silly crashes you mentioned, well, you can copy paste that on Leclerc. I think they are equal and just both missing a little bit to the absolute top - probably just experience. But your list, so it's fine of course :)

[@eideralejandro]

Can’t believe where this guy put Alonso. 😂

[@Pilifo006]

Aldas, what's the exact reason why you put Russell behind Hamilton in a direct comparison? To me it doesn't make any sense. Russell is ahead of Hamilton in the Driver's Championship, each one of them had just 1 DNF during the season so you can't blame that on reliability issues. And they drive the same car. If Russell has 25 more points than Hamilton, then they should either be in the same group or Russell should be above Hamilton.

[@GirlOnBus]

I appreciate the detail you put into sharing your thought processes. You justify your placements very well. A little bit of fanboy shows through for Charles and George. You describe their potential for their placement a lot more than others. And while I know you are a big Alonso fan, your words were similar to Lando about flashes of brilliance and given a better car etc. not on “potential”. The only change I would make is that I would put Charles in borderline champion still. Too many mistakes. Some are his, some are strategy/team. But he doesn’t speak up like Carlos does. Potential is there but he’s not best of the best quite yet. No doubt soon!

[@josiahpetz5770]

If I could add tiers I'd do like you said and make a Leclerc tier and also make a tier between solid midfield and borderline champions and have Checo and Seb in there

[@monier1831]

God list, i would only move stroll to latifi list, gasly to borderline champs and perez to quality midfield, bottas beat him last year and this year hes really uncompetitive

[@mightymeatball8535]

I agree that latifi is in a league of his own🤭 even though there have definitely been alot worse drivers in f1 down the years, I think vettel is placed to high and i also dont think bottas has performed that well for a big part of the season,The car has droped off but he was getting out qualified to often by his rookie teammate who I'm not convinced by and went missing in to many races for me,but generally I would agree with that chart

[@nicolo2408]

I think that stroll is too dangerous, he is fast sometimes but every time he causes incidents doing the same mistakes race after race and season after season

[@WolfPackAlpha-sn2sw]

I see Carlos Sainz as a better Valtteri Bottas. He’s not champion material (at least not yet) but he’s very dependable and has an amazing eye for the state of a race and the circuit around him

[@brycejonathan384]

I think for me Carlos is in the quality midfield driver and although I think of lando as being in that potential world champions tier I dont think he is there yet. Too many of landos races he is just no where, I never see him in this exciting battles, maybe its because he is qualifying higher that the car can race but I just dont see his attacking and defending skills being where they need to be. I think if everyone had equal cars it would be max, charles, george, lewis and fernando fighting for the title. Lando probably being just off that group.

[@nielsvanheteren]

My only problem with Lando is that I'd love to see him defend his position hard more often, like Fernando. He often just lets faster cars go past without putting up much of a fight to avoid compromising his own race, but doing might in the long-term mean that when he gets to the top his wheel-to-wheel racing experience will be insufficient to take on the likes of Max and Charles.

[@brycejonathan384]

@@nielsvanheteren I 100% agree with you, too often he is just off in his own space in the race and not having intense wheel to wheel races.

[@thomas-wm4rz]

@@nielsvanheteren Well especially last season and in particular at his podiums he held off people for ages. Perez and ham in Austria, ham in Imola, Perez in Austria,... And even this year in Singapore he forced verstappen into 2 mistakes while being in front of him

[@nielsvanheteren]

@@thomas-wm4rz True but those are rare moments, I'm not saying he defends like a F1 game AI driver but if you look at Fernando he is always defending his position even if cars are way faster. It's just that killer mentality which you need to beat the likes of Max, Lewis and Charles. If Max had taken it easy on Lewis last year I doubt he would have been World Champion. Hope McLaren get their car up there though than we can really see if Norris is the stuff.

[@thomas-wm4rz]

@@nielsvanheteren That Max Lewis comparison is obviously nonsense or have you seen Lando giving space to the alpines. And it's just pragmatic as Lando is probably the car driving the most against way superior machinery regularly. What has Alonsos killer defending in Monaco brought him? Finishing 30 seconds down to Lando and giving him the fastest lap. Alonsos "legendary" holding Hamilton behind in Hungary were 10 laps on a track very hard to overtake. Lando in comparison held Hamilton behind the whole monza sprint of 18 laps or over 20 laps in Austria but that's already forgotten. More examples possible.

[@rachelkoiks]

Leclerc needs an ability of race awareness strategy-wise of other drivers and teams that I’ve seen others do like Carlos (obv), George, Max, and sometimes Lewis. Even if Leclerc had a strategy team that’s competent, I think a champion needs to have that ability unless your car just supersedes the rest then it won’t matter. I think Lewis is dependent on his team for that in the same way Leclerc is but he’s got experience under his belt that gives him an advantage. Had to learn the hard way to trust the team because a few times like last year when he didn’t come in when asked and waited a few laps, it cost him a win. This year he came in when told to when he didn’t want to like Brazil whereas last year a few times he defied the order because he thought he knew what he was doing. It’s almost opposite: Leclerc has too much faith in his team while Lewis didn’t and made decisions on his own. But I’ve seen Lewis be clever sometimes. I see what he’s doing right now for example and fair game.

[@andrewfayi9448]

Goatifi is so humble

[@protivogaz6023]

Actually a spot on tier list.

[@yoda-11-11]

I think Fernando should be in the best of the best tier. The no.of magic performances he had in that car disregarding the DNFs and other mechanical reliability issues is unbelievable. He was in that level from the beginning of the season. May be in qualifying he isn't up there with others ,especially Q3 run... But he makes up for that in races .. Brazil , Austin stands out for me (not considering DNF performances)

[@MarcaoPT]

I am trying not to have any recency bias here, but George Russell is 100% world championship material and is only behind the royal trio at F1: Lewis, Max and Fernando. What he did with the W13 throughout the 2022 season is nothing short of brilliant. Still, I believe he will need to prove something more to be alongside Lewis, Max and Fernando.

[@Daniel-dg4jk]

I would argue that Seb has been the 3rd best driver this season

[@rodrigoperalta2599]

You are surely kidding

[@brtomega1038]

what has he done thats so special he has been extremly mid for the last 3 years only on the level of bottas or k mag at best

[@gunterleba]

@@brtomega1038 he's not near the Top 4 Drivers, but he's definitely clear of Bottas and K Mag

[@inspiredglue2056]

I think it's great to do it at the end of the season, once we have an idea of how the current drivers handled the year.

[@Phantom-mg5cg]

In my opinion Magnussen and Stroll are quick drivers, but both do way to many mistakes and through away so many points. If they would always drive like on their good days, they would be almost "Borderline Champions".

[@guybunchofnumbers123]

Verstappen and Hamilton are a tier above the rest imo

[@hirankalindu322]

Two new videos within 24 hours? You okay, bro? Also, love your videos :)

[@Raghy07]

19/20 the same. Only one is Alonso one tier higher. Leclerc definitely toughest to rank.

[@jackishy1261]

I’d agree with this tier list can’t lie

[@danielmorris113]

Everybody sleeps on Ocon

[@1984kylea]

Seb has definitely had a better year this year, too bad he's retiring.

[@robbymaria]

Charles cannot still be put on Max level for 2 reasons: first he has done those 2 mistakes in Imola and France that in a thighter championship would have costed him the title. Second he never goes against the team strategies and in fact he has lost wins in Monaco, GB and Hungary because of poor strategy calls

[@thomas-wm4rz]

Well to be fair it doesn't go completely without mistakes even though these two from lec were only the most costing ones and many more in quali or practice. Because max made mistakes too just think of him throwing his car away twice behind Lando in Singapore.

[@samsonlovesyou]

I'd agree with most of these, but Sainz would be down a tier because the first half of his season made him a meme about gravel and he's consistently been well of Lecler's pace (see Singapore for even an example later in the season). His only win required a good dollop of luck at Silverstone, and he was even holding up his teammate for much of that race. So...midfield driver in a front row car. Second half of the season showed more potential. The other one I'd change is Alonso to the top tier. His points tally is such an injustice for the reasons you gave, and although he's had a couple of contacts, he's in the midfield where that's inevitable and his mistakes haven't been enough to negate his consistently brilliant starts and outstanding race pace. He nearly stuck it on pole in Australia, but for more reliability issues, and almost beat Max to pole in Canada in the wet. Put him in a competitive car and he definitely still has a title in him.

[@TheGamesWin]

Find it a bit odd to put Sergio there but Bottas below him. Sergio's doing the exact same job for RB now that Bottas did for Merc last year, and I doubt Bottas has fallen off.

[@ttv_nintendpro559]

The audacity to put Lewis in the same group as Leclerc who crashes so often by his own and makes so many mistakes under pressure like in Singapore is unbelievable.

[@MimMdance]

Ranked from left to right. *Best of the best:* Verstappen, Hamilton. *Borderline Champions:* Leclerc, Russel, Alonso, Vettel, and maybe Norris. Then there should be a tier between 2 and 3 for drivers like Sainz and Perez. I feel they haven't proved they can be champions yet.

[@kolour7611]

Don't forget that Carlos was going to win in monaco but Latifi just didn't let him pass with the blues and made him lost a lot of time who ended with perez winning

[@classongrass8484]

Best of the Best - Lewis and Max Borderline Champions - Leclerc, Russell and Norris Best of the Rest - Alonso, Checo, Sainz and Seb Quality Midfield - Ocon, Bottas, Albon and KMag Decent - Zhou and Stroll Something To Prove - Tsunoda, Ricciardo and Schumacher Latifi - Latifi Next Year Prediction - Think Max, Charles, Lewis, Russell or Norris could win a championship if they’re given a good car. As long as Carlos is more consistent and crashes less than the start of the year he is a borderline champion. Checo needs to get closer to Max to be a borderline champion. Alonso taking a big risk going to Aston but there will still be the magic performances even if he doesn’t get a good car. Seb should’ve been in a better car, still quality. Wet Stroll is the best driver ever. Tsunoda will only improve more. De Vries will beat Yuki and have a cracker. Piastri gets smashed by Lando but does better than Danny Ric was, Lando is a great driver and very settled in the team and Piastri has potential but is less settled and has minimal F1 experience. KMag smashes Hulk since he’s been out for a while. Sargeant has a similar rookie season to Yuki. Zhou could push on and prove to be a quality midfield driver.

[@zachg9065]

I would agree with this list, good points

[@wolf-xf6hf]

I think Nando is best of the best. I truly think he is if not the best the second best driver currently on the grid. You mentioned “moments of magic” but I think that it’s been nothing but magic when his car hasn’t burnt to a crisp or he’s gotten run into or things like that. Truly he’s the second unluckiest driver on the grid behind of course Sainz

[@giorgospapadopoulos7709]

No way can rate Hamilton's '22 higher than Russell's. Also with Russell added, now he has 4 teammates that beat him in a season or an other. Capable midfielder with natural talent in ...skin colour I would say.

[@bensdad8343]

you are mental. Hes only had 3 teammates that have beaten and dominated the rest. And consistently been faster than George this year

[@tjitsekoster9379]

I would drop Leclerc one category down. He made some big mistakes in race winning position and is just not leading the team. He needs to step up and own his role as #1, than he'll be a championship contender for sure. I would also swap Hamilton and Russel. Russel has been top 5 for most of the season getting performance which the car didn't really have, while Hamilton had a poor start overall. Maybe his terrible championship loss was still on his mind, but he definitely needed about half a season to get going. Unsure about Perez. He's capable of more than he showed this year, but going up against Verstappen is not easy as we've seen many times. Other than that, solid list.

[@russtaylor385]

I had been thinking of just such a list recently and I agree with the placing you have done. Well and sympathetically thought through. Why I was thinking about it was because I feel there are way too many guys in seats who are up for replacement as soon as an exciting talent is identified. I think the bottom 2 tiers could go and there wouldn’t be much of a miss. Why are they still there? That’s 6 potential exciting spots and it would help the show a lot. Bringing back Hulkenberg is not going to be an excitement. Piastri coming in will be.

[@swampthing94]

I'm pretty sure that Hamilton's "poor" early season performances were in part due to Merc testing all weird setups on his car to get as much data as possible. If Merc has a winning car next year he will smack the sh*t out of Russell

[@ithinkimlucas1366]

Easily. Hamilton and Verstappen are on another level to the rest of the grid. Hamilton just didn’t have the car to show it this year

[@swampthing94]

@@ithinkimlucas1366 i think if Shaarl gets his head together and Ferr🅰️ri doesn't kill his championship challenge he's on that level. Maybe not on racecraft but his qualifying is out of this world

[@Duval-In-The-Wall]

Tsunoda has a championship average of 15.5 as it stands Just horrific

[@andreasdejong1846]

I think there were 7 absolute world class drivers on the 2022 grid: Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel representing the older generation. Verstappen, Norris, Russell and Leclerc representing the younger generation. I don't believe the latter 4 have reached their prime already so I wouldn't be surprised if these guys set the standard for the next 5-10 years or so. It's totally possible these 7 drivers will end with a combined total of 25+ titles. Hamilton, Alonso and Verstappen and to a lesser extent Vettel will end up in many lists of best drivers of all time based on what they have shown and achieved up until now. It's even totally possible that all 7 drivers will make several top 10 lists in say 20 years from now. Bottas, Ricciardo and Perez have the experience of driving for a race winning team or even a championship winning team. They all won multiple races, but it's no coincidence they have been dominated by Hamilton, Norris and Verstappen respectively in recent years and are also unlikely to improve any further. Out of the other 10 drivers of the 2022 grid I only think Ocon, Gasly, Albon and Sainz have the potential to ever challenge for a world title (given the right car obviously). They still have room to grow, but for now aren't part of that select group of elite drivers. Ocon managed to beat Alonso over a season, Sainz managed to beat Leclerc and Norris over a season. Even though that was mostly due to bad luck of Alonso and Leclerc (and the inexperience of Norris) it's still impressive. Gasly and Albon obviously have been demolished by Verstappen in the past when they were driving for Red Bull, but one could argue they were just too inexperienced at that moment. The other 6 drivers rarely have impressed me or are just too inconsistent or inexperienced to seriously consider as a serious threat to the current front runners.

[@Steve-oj3zc]

Lance stroll has had his time in the something to prove category for years, he deserves to be in the Latifi category

[@tsjawesome6289]

Right now I would almost agree fully on your list. However I would probably move Leclerc and Vettel down a tier. Right now I wouldn’t put them in the same bracket as the other drivers in those tiers.

[@davidbancsi5398]

4:30 when did kmag and max had a moment on track? I can’t remember

[@miggygetright6344]

I can’t see Sainz & Perez as borderline champs, just because they drive the best cars doesn’t mean they’ll beat Max, GR, Lewis, Leclerc, Fernando or Seb in the same car or just a similar one

[@aashishrao9141]

How is Perez in borderline champion category being almost 140points behind Verstappen at the same time Bottas being in midfield tier with performances matching Perez or even better during his time at Merc?

[@christianorsa]

Latifi's so good he gets his own tier (tbh Ricciardo could be in the same tier as well lol)🐐tbf he hasn't crashed for quite some time now I think so that's a + but he's absolutely nowhere when he isn't crashing (and when he is).

[@samuelwade2029]

Spot on pal, except I think Seb is probs quality midfield. He doesn’t beat stroll convincingly

[@AABradyKK]

I'd put Russell alot closer to Leclerc than Leclerc is to Verstappen... Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Perez-Sainz-Vettel, in that order for tier 2. Max, Hamilton, Alonso. Max being the best for tier 1. 100% Alonso smoking kids if he had a car. Love Vettel but he doesn't belong top-tier anymore.

[@Reinonen]

I think you should have had ”Best of the rest” category between borderline champions and quality midfield

[@INTJ91]

YES. And I would put Sainz, Perez, Russell and Norris in there. No way were they borderline champs

[@alejandromunoz6482]

Agree with everything except Charles, I would say he is in the borderline champion level

[@rmat4953]

I think all the drivers you placed in "Quality Midfield Drivers" can do a better job than checo in the 2022 Reb Bull car. I'm not hating on him but he is not a Borderline champion. He is literally a Bottas 2.0

[@jzk04]

Hamilton --> Borderline Champion IMO. Russel has objectively a better season. Obviously if we take the overall driving capabilities HAM is the GOAT. All the other positions I agree. Very nice video! Thank you!

[@ithinkimlucas1366]

This season: 1. Verstappen (improved by not doing idiotic dive bombs and crashing into everyone this year) 2. Hamilton (has a bad car this year but has been incredible after Spa) 3. Alonso (insane driver, terrible in team choosing) 4. Russel (consistent but no real standout performances) 5. Perez (either winning or somewhere down in P5) 6. Leclerc (lacks the balls to talk back to Ferrari) 7. Sainz (pretty good season apart from some bad luck) 8. Vettel (something ignited in him since his retirement announcement) 9. Ocon (consistent but gets spanked by Alonso) 10. Magnussen (either standout performance or gets beaten by MSC) 11. Norris (downgrade from last year) 12. Albon (pretty good nothing special) 13. Gastly (downgrade from last year) 14. Bottas (insanely good in the beginning of the year but car blows up a lot) 15. Zhou (same as bottas but meh) 16. Tsunoda (still as bad as last year) 17. Ricciardo (atrocious) 18.Stroll (only here because of daddy) 19. Schumacher (crashes more than Maldonado) 20. Latifi (no further elaboration necessary)

[@hallamhal]

I feel this is a little bit generous to Russell, but the rest I agree with 100%

[@ithinkimlucas1366]

@@hallamhal even after sprint race of today?

[@brtomega1038]

man rlly but norris in 11th💀below mag u can watch any race this year and see norris is clearly a future world champ

[@flom1951]

Top drivers 2022: 1. Verstappen 2.Norris 3.Hamilton 4.Leclerc 5.Russell 6.Perez 7.Alonso 8.Vettel 9.Sainz 10.Ocon 11.Bottas 12.Gasly 13.Magnussen 14.Albon 15.Zhou 16.Stroll 17.Tsunoda 19.Ricciardo 19.Schumacher 20.Latifi

[@saiyerugara9038]

Top notch!!

[@lekudos]

You left out the Nico Rosberg category: somewhere between best of the best and borderline champions. Same box as Leclerc.

[@Pablo-g6z]

Yeah 100% agree, Rosberg was a very underrated driver and one of the best of his generation

[@Ratatosk80]

I have no doubt Alonso could beat Leclerc or Hamilton if he was in a Ferrari or Merc. Sure he might be a very slight underdog but I think it's super close. I would place him in the absolute top tier of drivers. Nothing would make me happier than seeing Alonso in a championship capable winning car. Not going to happen obviously though sadly. I do think it's a mistake by the top teams. I guess its his age and not being a "wing man" they are worried about. Say Red Bull replaced Perez with Alonso. Do people really think he would be a downgrade? He would smoke Perez no doubt about it. He is not going to beat Max but he would be a lot closer.

[@eoghannmcalpine8188]

I actually think he would be immune to rb#2 driver status he’d be seen as and because of 2008 season I reckon he would leave absolutely nothing in the tank every songal race in terms of beating Max. Would be close but fernando would be 💯 +extra in taking the chance to prove that he can beat Max or at least be pretty close points wise10 to -15 at least

[@kushagraN]

Carlos with his maturity has the balls to question ferrari pitwall and Charles will need to reach that point else he wont be beating max/ham/rus anytime soon. Charles is too good & trusting to his own fault.