Team figures | Red Bull impresses, Mercedes and Ferrari fall short

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5 September 2022 at 15:44
  • GPblog.com

It wasn't as straightforward as it was at Spa-Francorchamps, but Red Bull Racing still managed to secure victory at Zandvoort. The team did this by making the right calls, combined with the excellent driving skills of Max Verstappen. Mercedes was the underdog, but really seemed to be in it for the win. How are the teams judged on their performance?

Red Bull: 9

At one end of the Red Bull grid things were perfect, even after a false start to the weekend on Friday. On Sergio Perez 's side, however, the pace never really picked up on Sunday either. Nevertheless, Red Bull secured victory at a track that didn't seem a good match for the RB18 from the outset. Once again, chief strategist Hannah Schmitz had a crucial role to play, deciding very quickly to bring Verstappen in when the safety car came out.

Mercedes: 7

Mercedes were closer to a win than they have been so far in 2022, but failed to capitalise on the opportunities. Even if George Russell had stayed out or Lewis Hamilton had also changed to softs, it is doubtful W13 would have been able to match Verstappen's killer pace. What was clear, however, was that the German team can currently compete with Ferrari, so there is definitely room for improvement. A double podium was thrown away, so a bit of a deduction.

Ferrari: 4.5

Ferrari started the weekend strong, but proved unable to keep up with the competition in terms of race pace. Even Mercedes proved to have a faster car in the race. On top of that, the team blundered again, this time with Carlos Sainz as the victim. Moreover, F1-75 seems to have deteriorated rather than improved in the last few races.

McLaren: 6

Lando Norris saved important points for McLaren, but that doesn't change the fact that the team had to acknowledge its superiority to Alpine. Instead of making up ground, the team from Woking saw Alpine slip further behind in the championship. Daniel Ricciardo was once again in the mix.

Alpine: 8

Alpine solidified its position as 'best of the rest' by extending its lead over McLaren to 24 points. Fernando Alonso put in another cracking race, coming back to P6 from 13th on the grid to take important points away from McLaren. Esteban Ocon also picked up two important points.

AlphaTauri: 4

There were no points for Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda. The latter saw his race end prematurely through no fault of his own, but the offence he committed (driving without a seatbelt fastened) means the Japanese will probably have to start Monza with a ten place grid penalty.

Aston Martin: 7

It was a weekend to forget for Sebastian Vettel, but Lance Stroll put in a fine performance to grab the final point in the top-ten. Aston Martin is clearly improving, but scoring one point each time doesn't get you very far.

Alfa Romeo: 4

The Alfa Romeo drivers are not to blame, but as strong as the team started the season, the recent results have been disappointing. Valtteri Bottas crashed out due to an engine problem, while Guanyu Zhou did what he could but lacked the equipment to finish 16th.

Williams: 6.5

Alexander Albon continues to perform strongly in the Williams, but is in stark contrast to teammate Nicholas Latifi. However, like Aston Martin, Williams is showing that it has made successful improvements, although this did not result in any points at Zandvoort.

Haas: 5.5

Haas did not make much of an impression in Zandvoort. Mick Schumacher, on the other hand, showed his best side: after a fine performance in Q3 on Saturday, the young German again finished ahead of his teammate in the race. For Kevin Magnussen it was a colourless Sunday.