By Joe Murphy
What would the results be if all twenty drivers lining up for the 2022 season, were in the same, identical, car? Wheel2Wheel Reports, predicts…
It is a popular criticism of F1; the same people always win. Fans and casual observers alike have their thoughts on the cars not being the same. It has meant that, arguably, more talented drivers have finished lower than others, due only to the machines they are in. For this fantasy writing, we are scrapping that idea and pretending that F1 had only one constructor. Now, just for context, this article will refer to the achievements of all of the drivers, whilst acknowledging that these were achieved in a multitude of different cars that have been driven over time. That is why, results and statistics are used, but will ultimately not be the sole factor in ranking the stars of the upcoming season.
Hamilton 1st – What a CV! With 182 podiums, 103 wins and the same number of poles, 59 fastest laps, 7 world titles, it is hard to look beyond car number 44 for the win, even if it is a popular claim that the car has helped him throughout his career.
Verstappen 2nd – These two were in a different class last season, who is to say that wouldn’t be the case in the same car. Perez and Bottas couldn’t match these two last year. With his first drivers’ title after 141 race starts, as well as 20 race wins (14,2%) 13 Pole Positions (9,2%) 16 Fastest Laps (11,3%) and 60 Podiums (42,6%), you’d imagine there will be many more to come.
Ricciardo 3rd – Difficult one this one but the Australian edges it to complete the podium. His stats speak for themselves across spells with three different teams. Race Wins – 8 (3,8%) Pole Positions – 3 (1,4%) Fastest Laps – 16 (7,6%) Podiums – 32 (15,2%) and 124 Points Finishes (59,0%).
Norris 4th – The 22 year old is surely a future World Champion, as we have discussed on this page previously. In 60 race starts, he is still yet to win, but has a Pole Position and 3 Fastest Laps (5,0%) to his name. He has also achieved 5 Podiums so far (8,3%). Whilst others below have achieved more in their careers overall, in the case of right now, its hard to see Lando below the top 4. His 44 points finishes mean he has been consistently in scoring positions (73,3%).
Alonso 5th – with his two drivers’ titles, the Spaniard has amassed 336 Race Entries and 333 Race Starts. He also boasts an impressive 32 Race Wins (9,5%). His other stats are equally impressive, meaning his fifth place on this list, is well and truly deserved.
Pole Positions – 22 (6,5%) Fastest Laps – 23 (6,8%) Podiums – 98 (29,2%) Points Finishes – 217 (64,6%) and 5 hat tricks. However, he also has been so unfortunate as to register a staggering 71 Retirements (21,1%).
Sainz 6th – In 140 Race Starts, the Spaniard, like his former teammate Lando, is also without a race win. However, he did get one fastest lap award (0,7%). The reason Sainz is as high as 6th with only 6
podiums (4,3%), is primarily because he came 5th in 2021 with 164.5 points. He beat his teammates tally of 159, despite it being his first year in the car. Speaking of the man from Monaco…
Leclerc 7th – The 24 year old has already built up some impressive numbers. Race Entries – 81, Race Starts – 80 and 2 Race Wins (2,5%). He also has 9 Pole Positions (11,1%) 4 Fastest Laps (4,9%) and 13 Podiums (16,0%). He came up narrowly short to his teammate last year, but is still a top quality driver and a possible future World Champion.
Perez 8th – I feel that eighth is about right for the Mexican. Checo has scored a ridiculous total of 896 points in 213 Race Starts. With only a couple of wins and no poles achieved, he can’t be much higher on this list. 6 Fastest Laps (2,8%), 15 Podiums (7,0%) and 132 Points Finishes (61,4%) make for impressive reading.
Russell 9th – He only turns 24 next week, but George has much more to give than he has shown so far, mainly due to driving a poor Williams car, for the majority of his F1 career so far. He has that 1 podium in Spa and a total of 19 career points. Regardless of his talent, he hasn’t earnt a higher spot on this grid. Perhaps ninth may seem a bit cruel on the Brit, as he has shown his quality, even if he was unlucky in races such as Bahrain. His qualifying record in particular, speaks for itself.
Gasly 10th – Closing out the top 10 is the Frenchman. With his sole win in Monza, 3 podiums and 44 points finishes, he is a young driver yet has considerable experience. Last season, he outscored his opponent 110-32, and almost single handedly got Alpha Tauri that sixth place in the constructor’s standings. He also finished 9th overall, above experienced drivers such as the next man on this list.
Vettel 11th – Why, you might be asking, is the 4-time world champion so low? And it’s a fair question. Well, despite his impressive stats; Race Starts – 279, Race Wins – 53 (18,9%), Pole Positions – 57 (20,4%) Fastest Laps – 38 (13,6%), Podiums – 122 (43,6%), he hasn’t been the same driver over the last couple of years. He only scored 43 points last season. Going on current form, 11th is about as high as he can realistically go. Not to say there isn’t a hugely impressive driver here. His achievements are second only to Hamilton.
Bottas 12th – A double digit 10 wins, the Finn never really challenged Lewis like Rosberg or Alonso did, although I do acknowledge that the car changed considerably. Simply put, Valtteri was 161.5 points behind his teammate last year. 10 wins in 5 seasons is only enough for 12th here, at best.
Ocon 13th – The sports most recent new winner, in Hungary last season, sits in 13th. However, the Frenchman is probably the most likely to move up the ladder in the future. However, has he done enough to be higher on this list? I don’t think so. With this talented young driver, you do get reliability, but you also rarely get stunning results (except for the obvious). 74 points in 2021 is good, but when you consider that 25 of these came in one race, this isn’t amazing.
Stroll 14th – Lance is underrated, but cannot realistically get much higher on this list at this time, as he only scored 34 points in 2021. Admittedly in a car that struggled last campaign. In fairness, he has competed with Perez and Vettel in his short career, and has done things others on this list haven’t done. He has his 1 pole, 3 podiums and 34 points finishes in his 100 races to date.
Albon 15th – In 38 races, he has 2 Podiums (5,3%), 25 Points Finishes (65,8%) and only 3 Retirements (7,9%). His total points tally of 197 is below the likes of Gasly and Perez, but he is still likely to be the one to replace the latter in the following year or two.
Tsunoda 16th – He cannot be much higher with his limited experience and, as alluded to earlier, 32-110 against teammate Gasly is a huge 78 points difference in the same car. However, Yuki did have some solid performances in his debut campaign. Perhaps the car was a good starting point for the young Japanese driver. The only reason he’s higher than MSC and Latifi at this time is perhaps a bit of luck.
Schumacher 17th – It is still early doors for the German. And it is difficult to judge anyone for their performances in that Haas car, so we can only really compare him to his teammate, and that isn’t a particularly helpful indicator either. All F2 stuff aside, (as F1 a different level entirely), it will have to be a case of ‘jury’s out’ on his true talent for now, but be assured, his surname gives him no free passes.
Latifi 18th – his record against George is pretty woeful, especially in qualifying. The Williams driver is at risk of being remembered like Glock was in 2008, for ‘that’ incident in the 2021 season finale.
He retains his seat or now, but is also surely most at risk if Alex shows him up in 2022.
Zhou 19th – He has to be higher than Nikita (and we’ll get to that) but as of yet, the young driver is still very much unproven at this level, aside from a couple of practice sessions. It will be very interesting to see how he compares to Bottas, when the season’s end rolls around.
Mazepin 20th – Arguably, a driver has never looked so out of depth in Formula 1. In the Russians defence, he was admittedly in a bad car. Nevertheless, he looked a level lower than his fellow, rookie, teammate. A points finish would be a minor miracle, in 2022.
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