The Formula One season has come to a close as Max Verstappen took the checkered flag Sunday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
It was a record-extending 15th victory of the year for Red Bull Racing's superstar driver, who had already clinched his second consecutive world championship last month.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc held off Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez for second place — both in the race and in the final standings.
It was a fitting finish to the 2022 campaign and here's a rundown of what you need to know as we reflect on the season as a whole.
There was no debate who the best driver was in Abu Dhabi this year — nor over the course of the season — as Verstappen was victorious in typical fashion winning from pole position and with a comfortable 8.711-second lead over Leclerc.
Ferrari was strong to start the season, however, Red Bull proved to be a step ahead of the field and ran away with both drivers' and constructors' championships.
At least there wasn't as much drama compared to Verstappen's title victory a year ago which was clouded in controversy. In case you forgot (or had it wiped from your memory, Men in Black style), F1 race director Michael Masi allowed lapped cars to unlap themselves during the final caution period — but only the ones stuck between the title contenders Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen. Hamilton was in the lead for the re-start but was a sitting duck as Verstappen, who had pitted for fresher tires, sprinted away to the finish line and the title.
Sparks were flying last week in Brazil when Verstappen ignored orders to let Perez pass for P6 and allow his teammate to score another point. That meant Perez and Leclerc entered the finale tied for second in the standings. In the end, it was a moot point as Perez was unable to surpass Leclerc and finished three points back anyway.
Verstappen finished his record-breaking campaign with the most wins (15) and the most points (454) in a single F1 season. Obviously, there are more races held during the season now than in the past but those are still impressive accomplishments when they stack up against the likes of Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton.
Leclerc's runner-up result and teammate Carlos Sainz's P4 finish helped Ferrari finish second in the constructors' championship but there's little consolation for the Scuderia squad.
On one hand, it's hard to label second place a disappointment but on the other hand, it's Ferrari. The brand that's synonymous with the sport came flying out of the gate with a 1-2 finish to start the season in Bahrain. Even mid-season with Sainz scoring his first career victory at Silverstone followed by Leclerc's third win of the year in Austria, it looked like there was still hope for the team to make another push.
Leclerc beat Verstappen more often than not for P1 during qualifying — winning pole position nine times to seven — but it's one thing to lay down a single hot lap and another to do it some 58 times or so around the course. Three of Leclerc's poles turned into retirements with mechanical failures in Spain and Azerbaijan, plus a driver error in France. All three just so happened to lead to wins for Verstappen.
Things really started to go downhill beginning in Monaco as the team fumbled a double-stacked pit stop that held up Leclerc and cost the polesitter valuable time at the tricky track. A 1-2 start for Leclerc and Sainz only saw Sainz finish on the podium in his same starting grid position while Leclerc slipped to fourth.
Even while Sainz scored his first career victory at Silverstone, he continued to scold his team over the radio for questionable calls: "Please, please, stop inventing." There was also the incident in France where his team called him into the pits while he was battling Perez for a potential podium position, as Sainz yelled, "Not now! Not now! Not now!"
That's just a selection of highlights from the lowlights, and this feels like beating a dead horse, a dead Prancing Horse if you will. Mechanical issues are sometimes out of one's control but if they can clean up their communication breakdowns, well, there's always next year, right Ferrari fans?
Although Formula One's winningest driver had his first-ever winless season, Hamilton still finished sixth in the standings. The Mercedes driver, who has 103 victories, picked up nine podium results despite fighting with his bumpy ride at times. The bouncing issues almost forced Hamilton to miss the Canadian Grand Prix as he was still dealing with back pain from the previous race in Azerbaijan, where he struggled to get out of his car.
Mercedes newcomer George Russell proved worthy of his promotion from Williams Racing by scoring points in all but two races. Russell finished on the podium eight times, including his first trip to the top step at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix for his maiden victory.
It looked like Mercedes had everything sorted out during the back half of the calendar and came close to catching Ferrari for second in the constructors' standings, however, "porpoising" reared its ugly head again in Abu Dhabi.
To add insult to injury, Russell's tires wore out and Hamilton experienced gearbox failure that forced him to retire — the first and only DNF for Mercedes this season. Team principal Toto Wolff called it a summary of their season.
"We knew that Abu Dhabi was going to be a difficult one for us so at least that prediction was accurate but then unfortunately we made mistakes we could’ve avoided," Wolff said in a team statement. "For us, this was a character-building season and we will put this car on display in the factory as a reminder."
Hamilton bowing out from the race allowed Sebastian Vettel to finish within the points in P10 during his final Grand Prix in Formula One. Vettel announced his retirement back in July, but reality has now set in as the four-time world champion has officially hung up his racing shoes.
The past two seasons with Aston Martin have been a toil for Vettel, with not just podiums, but points quite elusive. In another shining example from Sunday, the German driver wondered on his radio, “How did we get the strategy so wrong?" Opting for only one pit stop resulted in worn-out tires towards the end of the race and almost cost them the one point they scored.
Vettel will be missed not just on the grid but also for using his platform to speak out on political and social issues that were near and dear to him including gender inequality, homophobia and climate change. Even before the Russian Grand Prix was formally cancelled, Vettel said he wouldn't compete in the race due to the country's invasion of Ukraine.
It's easy to label him a hypocrite as Vettel's team is sponsored by Saudi oil juggernaut Aramco and the sport holds races in countries accused of "sports-washing" their human rights violations. But that's a lazy argument ignoring the issues Vettel is raising, and he should be applauded for using his platform provided to bite the hand that feeds.
“I think there’s far bigger and far more important things than racing in circles, but obviously it’s what we love," Vettel said after the race while addressing the crowd. "And through that, if we can transfer some of the really important values, then that’s big."
In other words, it's like what Uncle Ben told Peter Parker: "With great power comes great responsibility." Hopefully, other drivers fill the void being left by Vettel and continue to champion for those causes.
• Valtteri Bottas' P5 finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix ended up having a crazy butterfly effect that helped his team earn millions in prize money. Following the Abu Dhabi GP, Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin finished tied for sixth place in the constructors' standings with 55 points apiece. The tiebreaker came down to whoever had the highest finish among their drivers with Bottas' season-best result all way the back in April being the difference-maker.
• Good riddance: Fernando Alonso's final race with Alpine was another one that encapsulated the driver's season. Alonso faced a laundry list of mechanical issues with his Renault-powered car and had his fifth retirement of the year in Abu Dhabi. Alonso still somehow finished ninth overall in the drivers' standings and helped Alpine take a "best of the rest" fourth place in the constructors' championship. Alonso now departs the Renault-backed team, for a third time in his career, as the two-time world champion moves over to Aston Martin to take Vettel's seat.
• This season saw some new regulations that, in an "explain like I'm five" way, were introduced in an attempt to increase competitiveness on the track. The result? McLaren driver Lando Norris' P3 in Imola was the only time a driver outside of Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes ended up on the podium. The midfield was competitive but a significant gap still exists between those teams and the ones at the top.
• No one in the paddock will probably miss Vettel more than Mick Schumacher. Vettel was like an older brother to the 23-year-old Schumacher and their bro-mance was the definition of wholesome content.
• Schumacher is out of a full-time ride for next season, although he could land a reserve driver role. The son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher simply made too many mistakes during his two years with Haas. In another perfect example Sunday of a season gone terribly wrong, Schumacher attempted to squeeze past Williams driver Nicholas Latifi through a gap that wasn't there and ended up causing a collision with the Canadian instead.
• Also, who else was bummed out when Schumacher joined the doughnut-spinning festivities at the end of the race and was told by his team to cut it out? Total vibe killer.
Is it March yet? Formula One kicks off its 2023 campaign in Bahrain in three-and-a-half months. We'll keep you covered during the off-season with a rundown of all the driver and team changes, as familiar faces land in new places, plus some bold predictions as we gaze into the crystal ball and share our wildest premonitions.
