Except according to Lewis
It should not come as a surprise after such a convincingly won season, but Max Verstappen is the best Formula 1 driver of 2022 according to his opponents and his team bosses. This is evident from the annual voting rounds among them. All team bosses and all drivers voted for this, except Lewis Hamilton.
Keeping a point count from the first to the last race of a Formula 1 season is of course a great objective way to determine who is the fastest driver. But, to be fair: as a driver you don’t have to thank yourself for finishing at the top. That is why Formula 1 also organizes elections, in which the organization asks the subjective question ‘Who was the best driver of the season?’ to the team bosses and the drivers.
Max is also the undisputed winner of those elections, because he is in first place according to both groups. The team bosses were asked to award points to each driver, with Max taking 207 points for 1st place. Charles Leclerc took 144 points for 2nd place. According to the drivers, Leclerc was also number two, but they did not have to divide points.
According to the drivers, the number three position is for both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. The team bosses thought Russell was better on average and awarded fourth place to Hamilton, who was the only driver not to vote. Last year, when Max Verstappen won his first world championship, he also came out on top in the voting rounds among drivers and team bosses. We are curious who will put the heat on him next year.
The top 10 according to drivers and team bosses is further as follows:
| Position | According to the drivers | According to the team bosses (number of points) |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Max Verstappen (207) |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Charles Leclerc (144) |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton and George Russell | George Russell (127) |
| 4 | – | Lewis Hamilton (100) |
| 5 | Lando Norris | Sergio Pérez (91) |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Lando Norris (81) |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Carlos Sainz (68) |
| 8 | Alex Albon | Fernando Alonso (67) |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Valtteri Bottas (29) |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Sebastian Vettel (24) |
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl