What were the worst drivers of 2023? We figured it out!
The 2023 Formula 1 season is over. Naturally, we are eagerly looking forward to 2024. That should be the season where Lewis Hamilton finally has to tackle Max Verstappen really hard. The season in which McLaren Racing can come very close to Red Bull and the season in which Carlos Sainz becomes faster than Leclerc. Or not.
But before we start musing about what is to come, today we look back at the past year. In principle, the order of the drivers is quite simple: you just look at the final result. But it mainly says something about the combination of the driver and the car. That is why we prepare our Formula 1 Autoblog report every year. During the season we keep track of how the drivers have performed compared to their teammate and car. In this way we can get a slightly better idea of the actual performance of the driver in question. Of course it will always remain debatable (and that’s what makes it so much fun!).
We’ll start with the worst drivers of 2022 and move on to something less bad. Then it fits perfectly on the list next week!
22. Nyck de Vries
Number of points: 0
Ranking position: 22
Rating: 4
Unfortunately, unfortunately. Nyck de Vries finishes last. There is little to argue against that. He is the only driver of 2022 who did not score any points. His premature dismissal was mainly due to the fact that he was constantly chasing after Tsunoda. Every now and then Nyck stood in front of Yuki, but that was mainly due to Yuki’s stupidity. Nyck never managed to surprise a single moment. In the qualifyings it was often just not enough and in the race it was not good either.
Now we would like to point out that his car was really an impossible pear box. Perhaps with a few extra races (and a better AT04) he would have also collected some points. Unfortunately he didn’t get that chance and that’s a shame. However, it is also understandable: he was 28 years old and should have been fast right away. He was close in Azerbaijan (but crashed there) and Monaco (P12). But even without those moments, the performance was simply disappointing.
21. Logan Sargeant
Number of points: 1
Ranking position: 21
Rating: 4
So while people were particularly critical of Nyck, everyone was quite mild about Logan Sargeant. Everyone sees that this American driver is not a future world champion. This can at most (by F1 standards) become a mediocre or average driver. He crashed many cars and made a number of errors in judgment. This is not entirely Logan’s fault, because in F1 you can hardly do test laps anymore. You have to practice during the races.
Still, he really needs to step up his game. He was slower than Albon in every qualification and most of the Williams points were won by the Thai. Yes, he got a point, but after two cars were disqualified. At the end of this season, Logan seemed to be doing a little better, so perhaps he will perform better next year.
20. Lance Stroll
Number of points: 74
Ranking position: 10
Grade: 4+
It wasn’t a great season for Lance Stroll either. Objectively speaking, it seems quite a nice achievement: P10 in the fifth fastest car in the field. The only problem is: the car was the second fastest car in the field for a long time. While Fernando Alonso took the podium in consecutive races, Stroll was cruising in the middle of the pack. Don’t get us wrong, Lance is an extremely skilled driver in rainy conditions and he can really do something. But getting the most out of the car every race, every moment, is just not something he does. We have to admit that his form was better at the end of the season. He did particularly well in Brazil and Las Vegas.
19. Guanyu Zhou
Number of points: 6
Ranking position: 18
Grade: 4+
It’s not nice to say, but Zhou is such a dull driver. Now we haven’t expected spectacular and juicy one-liners for years (only Eddie Irvine and Jacques Villeneuve did that). The same on the track: solid, boring and predictable. His races in Spain and Qatar were excellent and occasionally the Alfa seemed to be fast enough to do something fun with it. Think of the spectacular qualifying in Hungary (P5!), but yes, he also ruined that race. In short, things really have to be better for someone who has been driving F1 for 2 years now.
18. Kevin Magnussen
Number of points: 3
Ranking position: 19
Grade: 5-
Last year K-Mag was a revelation. He replaced the discredited Nikita Mazepin and suddenly turned Mick Schumacher into a mediocre driver. Magnussen got the most out of that Haas from day 1 and gosh we were impressed. This season, Nico Hülkenberg is doing almost the same to Kevin. According to Gunther Steiner, it is mainly due to the confidence in the car. Nico has it, Magnussen doesn’t. Now we must note that the differences are especially large in the qualifying session. In the race it is closer, although both drivers suffered a lot from a car that ate tires. Magnussen managed to perform best on street circuits. That is not strange, almost no one can keep as wide as Magnussen and then it is more difficult to overtake on a street circuit.
17. Valtteri Bottas
Number of points: 10
Ranking position: 15
Grade: 5-
Just like Zhou, a colorless driver with a colorless team. Bottas is a great guy, but you can now clearly see why he was number 2 at Mercedes. Now it is in any case more difficult to analyze a driver at the back of the middle group than a driver who regularly stands on the podium with a pear box. Bottas collected points, mainly on non-technical tracks. Logically, that has always been his strength.
16.Daniel Ricciardo
Number of points: 6
Ranking position: 17
Rating: 5
Of course, a nice driver with funny statements immediately gets a better rating. Um, no. We love Danny Ric, but so far it’s not enough. He drove a great race at Mexico, a track where he is traditionally good. Even at McLaren he was ‘suddenly’ fast there. The fact is that Tsunoda was faster in most conditions, both in the races and qualifying.
Of course we are happy that the cheerful driver is present in the paddock, but we do hope that he can bring something more to the sport. Nyck de Vries joining a junior team was indeed strange, but Ricciardo is, so to speak, older than the team boss. What is clear is that Ricciardo is feeling much better and is performing much better than last season at McLaren.
15. Liam Lawson
Number of points: 2
Ranking position: 20
Rating: 5
They should have just kept Liam Lawson at AlphaTauri. Relatively speaking, but also in absolute terms. Let us explain a little. You can expect a rookie to make some mistakes. Or that not every opportunity is taken advantage of. Lawson has done extremely well as a rookie. He kept the car intact, didn’t make many mistakes and scored points at Suzuka. Not only that, he was very close to scoring points in Italy and Qatar. It wasn’t bad in the qualifications either. In short, if a rookie is already performing like this, you can just give him the junior seat, right?
14. Sergio Perez
Number of points: 285
Ranking position: 2
Grade: 5+
Ouch! Yes, this is actually not allowed. After all, he finished second in the final standings. However, the difference with his teammate is simply too big. The fact that Pérez is second in the standings does not change anything. It’s about the gap to number two. Even if you doubled Pérez’s achievements, he would still fall far short. In principle, Sergio should always come second everywhere, but that did not happen. The Mexican failed to reach Q3 5 times in a row, which is really scandalous. In addition, he made quite a lot of mistakes and rarely showed anything beautiful. The first few races were extremely good, but after Miami the best man seemed to be broken.
13. Esteban Ocon
Number of points: 58
Ranking position: 12
Grade: 6-
Jeantje laughs, Jeantje cries. Esteban is a strange case. No one doubts his qualities, speed and fighting spirit. He even took the podium at Monaco! This was mainly because he managed to qualify excellently (overtaking is difficult there). Now his position is not even that bad: somewhere in the middle bracket. The problem for Ocon is that he has actually had too much trouble with Pierre Gasly, his Nemesis. Ocon has been with the team for a while and should therefore have something of an advantage.
12. Nico Hulkenberg
Number of points: 9
Ranking position: 16
Grade: 6
Still the surprise of the season. Nico Hülkenberg did to Magnussen what Magnussen did to Mick Schumacher in 2022. Nico Hulkenberg managed to reach Q3 no fewer than 8 times, a very impressive achievement. The big problem is that things kept going wrong during the race. This is mainly because the Haas VF-23 is acceptable in qualifying, but burns through its tires too quickly in the race. In most races, Hülkenberg fell back quickly and ultimately never finished that far behind his teammate. It does indicate that he is still a very fast driver and that Cyril should never have let him go.
11. Yuki Tsunoda
Number of points: 18
Ranking position: 14
Grade: 6+
This really bothered us to judge the driver on absolute values. That’s because Yuki Tsunoda is lightning fast at times and is structurally faster than all teammates this season. But yes, with two rookies and a veteran with Yuki, you can also be faster. Yuki still made some small mistakes and there was definitely more to it. On the other hand, Yuki has accomplished some things. 1 fastest lap (US GP), he led (Abu Dhabi GP) and ultimately achieved 17 points with the AT04. He has a seat for next year and then it should actually happen. In any case, the speed is there.
So much for part I!
This article These are the worst drivers of 2023 first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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