Formula 1’s first visit to the Japanese Grand Prix in three years produce a thrilling (albeit shortened and delayed) race and crowned the 2022 F1 champion.
But was Max Verstappen the best performer this weekend?
Edd Straw gives his verdict and rates the field based on their performance across the weekend.
After each grand prix, The Race will rate each driver’s weekend with a mark out of 10.
An average mark is 5 out of 10, so that score is indicative of a decent drive given the high standard of drivers in F1.
For a more in-depth explanation, read our outline of the system.
Started: 1st Finished: 1st
Qualifying
Was always the clear favourite in qualifying, although a wide moment at Turn 2 led to him shedding some bodywork at the start of a poor final lap that jeopardised his pole position. Fortunately, his first run was good enough to take pole – but only by a hundredth of a second.
Race
Wheelspin at the start meant he briefly fell behind Leclerc before reasserting himself by making the most of the grip on the outside line at Turn 1. From there on, he was never threatened and took an imperious victory.
Verdict: The small error on his second Q3 run almost cost him pole, but he was outstanding on Sunday.
Started: 4th Finished: 2nd
Qualifying
Struggled a little with understeer in Q3, but closed from almost seven tenths off Verstappen to four tenths on the second runs. Much of the time difference between him and his team-mate was through the first sector.
Race
Made a decent start and was able to move ahead of Sainz into Turn 1. Once the main part of the race got underway, he initially fell back from Leclerc but then closed as the Ferrari driver struggled with his tyres. He pressured him to the end, which contributed to Leclerc making a mistake and cutting the chicane on the final lap – earning a five-second penalty that gave Perez second place.
Verdict: Didn’t have Verstappen’s pace, but produced a handy weekend’s work.
Started: 6h Finished: 4th
Qualifying
Was consistently the faster Mercedes driver, although giving away time in the middle sector and the chicane meant he was one place lower on the grid than he should have been.
Race
Spent the whole race menacing Ocon, but without ever being able to launch a convincing attack thanks to the straightline speed of the Alpine.
Verdict: Was the stronger Mercedes driver, but had the machinery to have beaten Ocon.
Started: 8th Finished: 8th
Qualifying
Was consistently just off Hamilton’s pace, with the difference largely the snake section in the first sector. He ended up 0.128s off his team-mate.
Race
The choice to double-stack him when switching to intermediates meant Russell lost ground during the first pitstop phase. But he passed Norris, Tsunoda and Latifi to recover to eighth, finishing right behind Vettel and Alonso.
Verdict: Not quite at Hamilton’s level, but recovered well from the enforced loss of track position in the race.
Started: 2nd Finished: 3rd
Qualifying
Couldn’t quite capitalise on Verstappen’s disappointing final run, feeling that he took a little too much out of the tyres and struggled a little for rear grip in the crucial final sector. Given he missed out on pole by 0.010s, this has to go down as a missed opportunity.
Race
Briefly took the lead at the start before Verstappen reasserted his lead. He was unable to stay with Verstappen once the race got going, particularly as the tyres aged, meaning he fell into Perez’s clutches. A mistake at the chicane while under pressure led to an off that earned him an inevitable penalty that dropped him behind Perez and allowed Verstappen to seal the title with four races to spare.
Verdict: Quick, but one place away from what was possible in both qualifying and the race.
Started: 3rd Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Admitted to being fed up at missing out on pole by half-a-tenth after lapping 0.057s off Verstappen.
Sainz was fractionally quicker than Leclerc over the first half of the lap, but started to leak the hundredths as the lap went on, including to a little wheelspin off the final chicane. He put that down to taking a little too much out of his tyres in the first part of the lap.
Race
Had a little wheelspin on the run to Turn 1, which allowed Perez to pass him. He was fourth when he aquaplaned entering the kink after the hairpin, sending him into the wall and out of the race.
Verdict:
First-lap crash was forgivable given the conditions, but ruinous.
Started: 11th Finished: 11th
Qualifying
Now running the McLaren upgrade package Norris had in Singapore. Outpaced Norris in Q1 and on the first runs in Q2. But his qualifying hopes turned to dust when he failed to improve on the final Q2 run, which left him 11th by 0.003s. Struggled to make gains as the track evolved, which has been a common pattern for him of late.
Race
Had a good opening lap to run eighth, but his relatively late switch to intermediates having gambled on staying on wets. This meant he was ultimately shuffled down to 13th, picking up places when Stroll and Tsunoda pitted again and finishing just behind Norris.
Verdict: One of his better weekends, but his Q2 second run lets him down.
Started: 10th Finished: 10th
Qualifying
Didn’t find it easy to extract the laptime from the McLaren, but did make progress and tidy things up in time to outpace Ricciardo in Q2 and advance to Q3.
The Verstappen incident compromised his prep for his fresh-tyre run at the start of Q3, leaving him only used softs for the second run – meaning he wasn’t able to set a serious laptime.
Race
Was shuffled back to 13th on the opening lap, losing two places after Stroll hit him at the hairpin, which also allowed Magnussen past. Jumped back ahead of Magnussen and Stroll thanks to pitting at the end of lap 6 after the restart for inters, soon passing wet-shod Schumacher to take 10th. And there he stayed.
Verdict: Solid but not up to Norris’s usual standards.
Started: 5th Finished: 4th
Qualifying
Felt that he could have extracted even more time from the car, but fifth place was as good as it was going to get in Alpine machinery. He also turned round what looked set to be a deficit to his team-mate into an advantage of a tenth-and-a-half.
Race
Drove an outstanding race to fourth under continuous pressure from Hamilton after the restart. Any mistakes he made were minor and recoverable, making the most of the Alpine’s prodigious straightline speed to stay ahead.
Verdict: Delivered the best possible result in both qualifying and the race, weathering Hamilton’s pressure brilliantly.
Started: 7th Finished: 7th
Qualifying
Looked to have the edge in the Alpine battle, but didn’t make the most of his final Q3 run. Time lost in the esses, a small moment exiting Spoon Curve and a slightly untidy launch off the chicane meant he was 0.157s off Ocon and a place or two lower on the grid than he could have been.
Race
Briefly led after the restart thanks to staying out before pitting for intermediates. The trouble was, that late stop cost him a place to Vettel. He spent the rest of the race chasing the Aston, missing out on beating him by just 0.011s at the flag.
Verdict: Had strong pace but didn’t fully deliver on it.
Started: 20th (pits) Finished: 18th
Qualifying
Gasly was furious that his fresh front-left brake disc glazed in Q1, meaning he struggled badly and was eliminated in Q1.
Race
A change in parts spec meant he had to start from the pits, a problem compounded by collecting an advertising board spat onto the track by Sainz’s crash.
Pitted for a new nose and wets at the end of that lap, dropping to the back. From there, he made little progress, opting to add a stop for a second set of intermediates after the restart and finishing ahead of only Schumacher – who he fell behind when he was penalised for speeding under the red flag.
Verdict: Didn’t deal well with qualifying problems and was contained in the race.
Started: 13th Finished: 13th
Qualifying
While his claim to have done “10,000 laps” at Suzuka might have been somewhat hyperbolic, Tsunoda looked very at home on his first visit to the track as a grand prix driver.
Despite brake problems, he made it to Q2 and felt that without the brake troubles he would have made it into the top 10.
Race
Came closer to scoring points than the result suggests given he spent his second stint behind Norris, but was unable to challenge. Opted to pit for inters, but was only able to recover to 13th having been undercut by Stroll and not having enough time to pass Ricciardo.
Verdict: A better weekend than the on-paper results suggest.
Started: 9th Finished: 6th
Qualifying
The Aston Martin had no business being in Q3, so Vettel did a great job to make it to the final stage of qualifying after pipping Ricciardo by 0.003s in Q2. Opted to do his sole Q3 lap out of synch with the rest to ensure a clear track and put in a relatively strong lap to take ninth.
Race
Vettel spun at Turn 1 after banging wheels with Alonso after taking a high-risk line in the circumstances, dropping him to the back. But that meant he had nothing to lose at the restart, with an immediate stop for intermediates allowing him to climb to sixth. And there he stayed.
Verdict: A great weekend, but his rating takes a hit due to the Alonso clash.
Started: 18th Finished: 12th
Qualifying
Stroll was quicker than team-mate Vettel on the first runs in Q1 and was fast enough to have denied his team-mate a place in Q2. However, he locked up the inside front at the hairpin on his final Q1 lap and ran wide, which meant he failed to advance to the second stage of qualifying.
Race
Made a great start and had a strong first lap – making contact with Norris at the hairpin along the way to run 11th thanks to spotting some less wet asphalt on the right side of the grid, but was passed by Magnussen after the restart. He held 12th place when he pitted for a second set of intermediates and had recovered to 12th by passing Schumacher, Bottas and Magnussen come the finish.
Verdict: A decent race after underachieving in qualifying.
Started: 19th Finished: 9th
Qualifying
Ended up two-tenths off Albon, which was a respectable enough effort given this was his first time on track at Suzuka and the lack of dry running on Friday. Time loss through the Degners was responsible for much of the gap, although this would likely have been extended were Albons tyres in the right window for the final run.
Race
Switched to intermediates at the earliest opportunity on lap five, which worked well despite losing a place to Vettel in the process. That got him up to eighth, but aside from losing a place to the quicker Mercedes of Russell and the charging Alonso, who had pitted form ahead of him, Latifi held his position for his first points of the year.
Verdict: While still not at Albon’s level, he was relatively close and executed the race superbly.
Started: 16th Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Had the pace to make it into Q2, but missed out. This was primarily down to traffic on his prep lap meaning he had to back up more than he wanted to, meaning he didn’t have the tyres in the right window. The result was a car that slid around too much, although Albon did a decent job to extract a time just half-a-tenth off the top 15.
Race
Made a great start to scythe between Zhou and Magnussen and briefly ran as high as 13th But he chopped left into Magnussen approaching Degner 1 in visibility that made it impossible to see the Haas, with the impact causing radiator damage that put him out of the race.
Verdict: Pace was masked by tyre prep problem in Q1 and race exit was unlucky but self-inflicted.
Started: 14th Finished: 16th
Qualifying
Gave away a little time to his theoretical best thanks to a little time lost in the middle sector, meaning he failed to improve on his Q1 time in Q2. That left him around a quarter-of-a-second behind Bottas,
Race
A spin exiting the hairpin on the opening lap dropped him to the back. He then decided to stay out longer on wets after the restart in the hope of a safety car, briefly elevating him into the points and then dropping him back to the rear of the pack. A second stop for fresh inters allowed him to take his first F1 fastest lap.
Verdict: An otherwise good first Suzuka outing was ruined by first-lap spin.
Started: 12th Finished: 15th
Qualifying
Bottas’s summary of his lap was that there wasn’t “anything substantial missing”, which was fair given he seemed to extract most of the potential of the car. However, he didn’t get the optimum launch off the chicane at the start of the lap, which cost him a little. So it’s possible with a perfect lap he might have nicked a Q3 place.
Race
Lost a couple of places on the original start to run 14th, then switched to intermediates at the end of the first racing lap after the restart. He spent much of the race stuck behind Magnussen, but only after losing a place to him on lap nine after losing momentum trying to find a way past Ricciardo on the run out of the hairpin.
Verdict: Qualified well but unable to make up ground in the race.
Started: 17th Finished: 14th
Qualifying
Lapped two-tenths slower than Schumacher in Q1, leading to his elimination. He lost time by running wide at the hairpin, but looked fractionally slower across the rest of the lap and was outpaced on the first Q2 runs.
Race
Ran 12th, ahead of Norris, but any hope of points evaporated after the restart by running to lap seven before pitting for inters. A slow stop meant he lost at least two places – to Stroll and Bottas. He pulled off an opportunistic pass on the latter, but could climb no higher than 14th.
Verdict: Some moments of quality, but overall a missed opportunity.
Started: 15th Finished: 17th
Qualifying
Had a needless crash after aquaplaning while returning to the pits following a practice start in FP1, which meant he also missed FP2 thanks to a chassis change.
But he recovered superbly on his first outing at Suzuka, outpacing Magnussen on both Q1 runs before lapping slowest in Q2 after carrying too much speed into the chicane and running partially off track, shipping time and meaning he had to rely on his mediocre first run time.
Race
Climbed into the points at the first start, but while the gamble on leaving him out in the hope of an incident did momentarily allow him to lead (albeit not ‘officially’ across the line), it doomed him to last on the road as he was the last to stop on lap 11. He gained a place after the chequered flag thanks to Gasly’s penalty.
Verdict: Nothing to show from it but, FP1 crash aside, a well-executed weekend.
