Two-time world champion Max Verstappen signs off this 2022 season with his 15th victory, a new record in Formula 1, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver dominated the season finale up front after making a solid start, while behind Charles Leclerc held off Sergio Perez to seal second place in the drivers’ championship.
With Verstappen in command up front and the two Mercedes cars lacking race pace, the main interest focused on a strategy off-set between the one-stopping Leclerc and the two-stopping Perez in a tense final stint.
At the start, Perez launched well off the line to have a look down the inside of polesitter Verstappen at Turn 1 but was never a serious threat, while Leclerc held his third place starting spot and Lewis Hamilton beat Carlos Sainz into fourth.
Leclerc had a small look at attacking Perez into the Turn 5 hairpin further around the opening lap, but the initial action then became Sainz reattacking Hamilton into Turn 6 at the end of the Yas Marina track’s main back straight.
The Ferrari got alongside under braking at the left-hander and he edged Hamilton off over the kerbs, where, like against Verstappen in 2021, the Mercedes scampered over the runoff after briefly getting airborne and held fourth.
As the Red Bull duo eased away from Leclerc, who was then being hounded by Hamilton, the stewards cleared Sainz of forcing Hamilton off and instead looked at whether the Mercedes driver had gained by cutting the Turn 7 runoff.
Mercedes therefore ordered him to give Sainz the place back, which gave Leclerc breathing room.
He nevertheless dropped back from the leading pair across the first phase of the race, before Verstappen began to drop Perez and Leclerc homed back in.
Perez became the first driver to stop on lap 15 of 58 to go from mediums to hards, while Verstappen and Leclerc stayed out for five and six further laps respectively to do likewise, which gave them a tyre life advantage over the Mexican for the second stint, Perez also having lost time battling with the one-stopping Sebastian Vettel with a Turn 6 lock-up and off on his outlap.
Leclerc had emerged from his stop just ahead of Sainz – another early stopper – and he then began to reel in Perez with a series of strong laps.
The Ferrari’s pace was so strong that he got to just 1.5 seconds behind Perez and was ordered to “box opposite” the Red Bull on lap 33 – the undercut being very powerful and leading Perez’s team to pit him on that tour.
Ferrari then asked Leclerc if he could sustain his pace and tyre life to the finish on a “Plan C” one-stopper, which he reckoned he could just about manage.
Leclerc’s charge to reach Perez had brought him to around five seconds back from Verstappen by the time Perez stopped, but the leader, by now set on the same one-stopper, eased away over the rest of the race to win by 8.7 seconds – offering Perez advice on how his hards were holding up on a much longer stint and indicating he could push flatout to the end.
Perez’s task was to close a 20 seconds gap to Leclerc in 25 laps, with Sainz and George Russell, who had passed Hamilton in the first stint when the seven-time world champion struggled for pace and suggesting his floor had been damaged in his lap one off, pitting out of his way as they took the two-stopper.
Perez therefore just had to clear Hamilton and various backmarkers, with the Red Bull catching the back of the Mercedes on lap 45.
As the raced down the straight into Turn 6, Perez attacked Hamilton by locked up here again and went deep, which helped the Mercedes pass back by into the Turn 9 hairpin – in scenes reminiscent by reversed from their battle in this race a year ago that so helped seal Verstappen’s first title.
Perez did not attack at Turn 6 on the next time by but instead waited for a second helping of DRS before diving down the inside of the Mercedes – which retired late on after Hamilton’s gears stopped working in a suspected hydraulics failure aboard his W13 – at Turn 9
By this stage, Perez had 9.6 seconds gap to close to Leclerc in 12 laps and both Red Bull and Ferrari initially believed he would make the catch.
But Leclerc was able to eeke out impressive life from his aging hards and Perez’s pace also back to drop from lap to lap – his passage also not helped being held up by Pierre Gasly at Turn 6 on lap 56 as the AlphaTauri chased Alex Albon’s Williams, which earned Gasly an angry gesture for his soon-to-be former stablemate.
It was close, by Leclerc held on to keep second by 1.3 seconds over Perez, with Sainz fourth and Russell fifth – a potential battle between this pair headed off by the Mercedes needing to serve a five-second penalty at its second stop after being released into Lando Norris’s path at its first after a slow left-rear tyre change.
Norris, who had passed Russell on lap one before being overcome again in the early stages, held off a late-charging Esteban Ocon to seal sixth by 1.0 seconds.
Lance Stroll gained late on with the extra grip afforded by the two-stopper, while Vettel just ran out of laps to reel in fellow one-stopper Daniel Ricciardo – the German finishing 0.6 seconds and having been frustrated by his strategy meaning running longest of all in the first stint and so being passed by a string of rivals.
The only other incident of note was Mick Schumacher clipping Nicholas Latifi at Turn 5 on lap 40 and spinning the Haas into the outside barriers, from which both were able to drive away.
Williams ordered Latifi to retire on the final lap with an unspecified problem, joining Fernando Alonso as the other DNF runner – the Alpine stopping on lap 28 due to a suspected water leak.
So congratulations to Max Verstappen in setting a new achievement in Formula 1 with the most wins. What a remarkable winning performance by Red Bull and yet this Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be remember as the final goodbye to Sebastian Vettel, the previous Red Bull champion who is retiring from the sport. Danke Seb and thanks for the memories.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27:45.914
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +8.771s
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull +10.093s
4 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari +24.892s
5 George Russell Mercedes +35.888s
6 Lando Norris McLaren +56.234s
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine +57.240s
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +76.931s
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +83.268s
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +83.898s
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +89.371s
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
13 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
14 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
16 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
18 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes DNF
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams DNF
– Fernando Alonso Alpine DNF
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race review as reported by Formula1.com.
Max Verstappen won the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in comfortable fashion – but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took P2 to finish ahead of Sergio Perez for second in the championship.
Verstappen fended off Perez into Turn 1 and swapped his mediums for hards on Lap 20, with the Dutchman using hard tyres until the end to take his record-extending 15th win of the season.
As for Perez and Leclerc, who were tied on points for P2 in the championship heading into this race, they produced a nailbiting battle. Perez pitted early for both of his stops, while Leclerc reacted by extending his second stint and ensuring a one-stop strategy. The Red Bull driver closed in on the Ferrari with four laps remaining but couldn’t make his way past for P2, and therefore finished third and fell to third in the championship behind Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz finished fourth for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton – who sparred with the Spaniard earlier on but was forced to return P4 to the Ferrari having gone wide at Turn 6 on Lap 1 – attempted a one-stop strategy but retired in the pits three laps from the end. That left Russell a lonely fifth for Mercedes.
Hamilton’s retirement promoted Lando Norris to sixth for McLaren, while Esteban Ocon was P7 for Alpine, who finished fourth in the constructors’ standings despite Fernando Alonso’s DNF in his last race for Alpine. Lance Stroll’s two-stop strategy saw him finish eighth.
Daniel Ricciardo’s one-stop strategy saw him finish ninth and just six-tenths ahead of retiree Sebastian Vettel, who couldn’t make it past the McLaren and took a single point to leave Aston Martin level on points with Alfa Romeo but behind the Sauber-run team in the standings.
Yuki Tsunoda missed out on points with a final stint on softs failing to pay off, while Alex Albon enjoyed a solid start and took P12 ahead of Zhou Guanyu and one-stopper Pierre Gasly – who began the race on softs.
Valtteri Bottas finished 15th ahead of Mick Schumacher, who finished 16th in his last appearance for Haas after taking a five-second penalty for clattering into Nicholas Latifi (who later retired). Kevin Magnussen was 17th as his one-stop strategy failed to pay off.
Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez and Vettel capped off Sunday’s race with some celebratory donuts as the 2022 Formula 1 season came to a close in Abu Dhabi – and the four-time champion bowed out of F1 with style.
Yas Marina always hosts an emotional season-finale – but Sebastian Vettel’s retirement brought an extra layer of poignancy to the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The four-time champion was given a guard of honour after the national anthem was played in the United Arab Emirates. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Haas’s Mick Schumacher, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi also said their farewells on the grid.
Then there were the legends that motorsport lost along the way in 2022, among those Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, Ferrari’s legendary engineer Mauro Forghieri, six-time Grand Prix winner Tony Brooks – and many other colleagues and friends that will be greatly missed by those in the paddock and beyond.
Of the loose ends that needed tying on track, Charles Leclerc’s battle with Sergio Perez for P2 in the championship took centre stage, with the pair level on points ahead of Sunday’s race. Mercedes and McLaren needed a huge swing in points to overhaul their respective rivals, Ferrari and Alpine, while Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin were facing off for sixth, and Haas and AlphaTauri for eighth.
Daylight gave way to floodlights and medium tyres were chosen by all but Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas – who opted for hards – and soft-shod Pierre Gasly.
As the five red lights lit up for the last time in 2022, Max Verstappen launched from pole position, and while his team mate Perez had a better getaway, the Dutchman retained the lead into Turn 1. Leclerc attempted a pass on Perez into Turn 5 but had the door shut on him after Lewis Hamilton passed the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz around the outside of Turn 1.
Hamilton was then squeezed off the road and briefly went airborne over the sausage kerb at Turns 6-7 but retained the place, with Sainz then complaining: “He did exactly the same last year with Verstappen.” Hamilton would later return P4 to Sainz on Lap 4, as the stewards took no further action.
Hamilton went again and entered Turns 6-7 right on Sainz’s tail on Lap 5 – the Mercedes driver making the pass out of Turn 8 soon after. Meanwhile, George Russell had lost a place to Lando Norris at the start but returned to P6 at the expense of the McLaren.
Other movers at the start included Schumacher, who had dropped from 12th to 16th by Lap 5, while Albon had jumped from 19th to 15th. Gasly’s soft-tyred gambit seemed to be failing as he remained in 17th ahead of the hard-shod Haas of Magnussen, then Williams’ Latifi and hard-shod Bottas at the back.
On Lap 9, Sainz re-took P4 off Hamilton and Russell then powered his way past his team mate for P5 at Turn 9 after being told that he was “free to race”, while Hamilton complained that he was “losing power” as he soon fell out of DRS range. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Aston Martin’s Vettel had also scrapped at the same corner but the Frenchman retained P8.
Vettel tried again but couldn’t make the move on Ocon stick outside Turn 9, and at the end of Lap 10 the top 10 was back to square one, with Verstappen 3.5s ahead of Perez.
The battle for P8 continued to rage with Vettel attempting another pass at Turn 9 but Ocon stayed firm into the final sector on Lap 12, which allowed Fernando Alonso to close in on the Aston Martin. That battle was allowing Norris to stretch his legs in P7, the Briton enjoying a 3.5s buffer.
A few seconds ahead, Hamilton began to struggle, relaying that there was “something up with the car” as he dropped three-tenths per lap to Russell ahead.
From 13th, Stroll opened the pit window at the end of his 13th lap – an early pit stop for hard tyres to challenge for the top 10. Ocon was the next taker as he dived into the pits on Lap 15 along with Yuki Tsnuoda, Schumacher, and Gasly, all of whom swapped to hards.
Verstappen continued in front, now enjoying a seven second lead over Perez – who had Leclerc on his tail on Lap 16. The Mexican therefore stopped for hard tyres, with Russell and Norris following suit, all three swapping for hards – and Russell’s stop lasting 5.2 seconds thanks to a slow rear tyre change that then saw him released in Norris’s path.
Perez emerged from the pits in the thick of the Alonso-Vettel battle, and while the Red Bull driver managed to get ahead of Vettel into Turn 6, Vettel briefly got back ahead and slowed Perez’s progress.
Sainz pitted on Lap 18 but emerged 2.3s ahead of Russell, whose undercut hadn’t quite worked, while Hamilton then pitted on Lap 19 and emerged five seconds behind his team mate, and suspecting that his floor had been broken in his Lap 1 scrap with Sainz.
Vettel then had Sainz on his tail on Lap 20, when Alonso took that as his cue to stop, with Ricciardo following suit. Verstappen pitted at the end of that lap, Leclerc following suit on the following tour to cover off the race leader to emerge third, having gone longer than Perez.
Vettel, still on his starting set, continued to lap on mediums and dropped back down to P8 having been passed by Norris. The four-time champion said he was a “sitting duck” but was urged by his team to continue and turn this race into a one-stopper. He would eventually pit for hards on Lap 26 in a swap that took 4.1s and released him in P19, behind Magnussen and Gasly.
Russell meanwhile had a five-second penalty to serve after an unsafe release on his Lap 16 swap for hards.
On Lap 28, Alonso’s final race for Alpine ended up in the pits as he became the first retiree of the race from P10 with a suspected water leak from his A522.
At the halfway point, Verstappen led Perez by two seconds and Leclerc was another 2.5s off his rival – with Perez complaining that he was being “held up” by his team mate.
Vettel provided the action to wake up the mid-race lull by passing Magnussen – who then pitted from hards to mediums – and Gasly for P16 on the run to Turn 9. At Turn 6 on Lap 31, Vettel made easy work of Bottas, who then pitted from his starting set of hards to mediums.
Perez attempted another undercut, pitting on Lap 34 for another set of hards – a few laps before the second pit window was expected to be opened. He emerged in P6, with clear air between him and the Mercedes pair.
Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz had to choose whether to stop again or commit to a one-stop strategy; Perez had to pass Hamilton, Russell, Sainz and Leclerc to take second in the championship.
Vettel continued to make gains and was in P12 by Lap 40, when Schumacher tagged Latifi into a spin at Turn 5 at the very back of the field. The outgoing Haas driver was then given a five-second time penalty; four laps later his compatriot Vettel returned to the top 10 with a pass on Zhou.
At the very front, Verstappen was over seven seconds ahead of Leclerc, while Mercedes were also scrapping, with Hamilton bearing down on Russell, who pitted for mediums on Lap 40 and emerged eighth but gained two places back when Ocon and Norris took their second stops.
Perez was on the warpath and on Lap 45 he locked up briefly in passing Hamilton through Turns 6-7 to return into the podium places. But only briefly, as Hamilton then used DRS to get the place back into Turn 9. Perez made a similar move to pry the final podium place off Hamilton at Turn 9 on Lap 46.
With 10 laps remaining, Verstappen was still over seven seconds ahead of Leclerc, whose eight-second lead over Perez looked fragile – as did Hamilton’s 10-second buffer over Sainz. The seven-time champion seemed to be lamenting his one-stop strategy, unlike Verstappen. As for Leclerc, it remained to be seen whether he could hang on for P2.
Vettel, who fell out of the top 10 having been passed by his team mate on Lap 50, also rued the one-stop gambit.
The distance between Leclerc and Perez was closing dramatically but was it enough? The Mexican was told that the battle for second in the standings would come down to the final lap, with backmarkers including Gasly and Albon giving him DRS – but slowing him down – two laps to the end.
As the ticker reached Lap 56 of 58, Mercedes had their first mechanical failure of the season and Hamilton’s first winless season in F1 ended with him crawling to the pits stuck in seventh gear.
The fireworks flew, duly so, as Verstappen cruised to victory by 8.7s over Leclerc – setting a new benchmark in a season. Leclerc eventually hung on and took runner-up spot in the championship with Perez third and unable to catch and pass the Ferrari driver.
Sainz sealed fourth with neither third-placed Perez nor fifth-placed Russell within sight of the Ferrari, while Norris ended up sixth on the road ahead of Ocon – cementing Alpine’s fourth-place championship finish.
Aston Marin’s Seb Vettel admitted he was feeling “empty” after emotional Formula 1 farewell. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Sebastian Vettel says he is feeling “empty” after an emotionally charged Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend in which the paddock celebrated his retirement from Formula 1.
The four-time world champion bowed out after a stellar 15-year career by scoring a point for Aston Martin, though he and teammate Lance Stroll couldn’t prevent Alfa Romeo from beating the team to sixth in the constructors’ championship on countback.
After joining the podium finishers of the race in performing donuts on the grid and receiving a rapturous applause from fans in the main grandstand, Vettel said he was feeling “empty” after an emotionally exhausting weekend.
“I feel a bit empty, to be honest, it’s been a big weekend,” Vettel told interviewer Jenson Button.
“It was a bit of a different warm-up today to get into the race, but once the lights go off it’s full-on race mode.
“Obviously, we didn’t go for maybe the best strategy, so it was a shame because I think we could have turned the constructors’ championship around for us.
“But overall, obviously a big day and a big thank you to all the support so many flags, so many smiling faces which has been very, very special. And yeah, I’m sure I’m going to miss more than I understand right now.”
Vettel said the past two years fighting in the midfield with Aston Martin had given him a different perspective, using his platform to raise awareness for various social and environmental issues, a legacy which he hopes his colleagues will continue.
“I think the last two years have been maybe disappointing from a sporting point of view, but very, very useful and important to me in my life,” he explained.
“A lot of things happened, a lot of things that I realised. I think it’s a huge privilege being in the position that we are in and with that comes some responsibility, so I hope to pass on a little bit to the other drivers to carry on some of the good work.
“It’s great to see that we have the power to inspire you with what we do and what we say. I think there are far bigger, and far more important things than racing in circles.
“But obviously, it’s what we love and through that if we can transfer some of the really important values, that’s big. And I think for that the last two years have been great for me.
“So, thank you for the support. Thank you for the messages, the letters and all the love in general.
“I will miss that, but it’s been an absolute joy throughout my career, so thank you.”
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez vents frustration at Pierre Gasly blue flag Formula 1 incident in Charles Leclerc chase. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Sergio Perez felt Pierre Gasly should have been penalised for ignoring blue flags and holding him up, as he lost second in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings to Charles Leclerc.
Perez and Leclerc started the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix level on points in the fight for the runner-up spot in the F1 drivers’ world championship, knowing whoever finished ahead would take second place behind title-winner Max Verstappen.
As the race unfolded, Perez was hunting down Leclerc having committed to a two-stop strategy with his rival holding track position ahead of him in second place on a one-stop plan.
While Perez’s race engineer Hugh Bird told the Mexican he’d catch Leclerc in second place on the final lap, based on his pace advantage, the Red Bull driver never got to within striking distance and finished behind the Ferrari driver by 1.322s.
Perez lamented both his two-stop strategy and losing time lapping backmarkers, picking out an incident when trying to lap Pierre Gasly, who was fighting for position with Alex Albon and Zhou Guanyu in the closing stages.
“I certainly lost a bit, probably a second or so or more, it was clear it was blue flags but he [Gasly] was in a fight and it is really hard to give up the position,” Perez said.
“I think he was thinking to go for the move but I ended up being there and I thought he left the door open so I went for it, luckily I could brake at the last minute otherwise there would have been contact.
“I think in normal conditions that it certainly would be a penalty for Pierre, but it is the last race and I am just happy to go home, don’t discuss anything, and that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Perez also gave credit to Leclerc, who denied Red Bull a first 1-2 in the drivers’ world championship in its history, as he conceded his pace “died” earlier in the race which dropped him behind the Monegasque driver.
“I think it is how this sport works, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, today I think Ferrari and Charles did a fantastic race, they had great tyre management and they were stronger than us,” he said.
“Especially in that first stint, I died towards the end, and that made it tricky on our strategy.
“It was that second stint, when I was behind Max, Max was on a one-stop and I was on a two-stop, and then I ended up not being able to maximise the stint and I couldn’t push as much as we should’ve pushed on that second stint.
“We were discussing it at some points [going for a one-stop strategy] but I think we thought the deg was going to be higher than it was.
“We just didn’t push as much as we should’ve pushed in that second stint. Probably we left two seconds on the table.”
Race winner Max Verstappen commented that holding up Charles Leclerc was not a nice way to end Formula 1 season. Motorsport.com provides the details.
Max Verstappen was glad he didn’t receive a call to hold up Charles Leclerc for Sergio Perez as “it wouldn’t be the nicest way” to end the Formula 1 season.
The F1 world champion comfortably charged to his record-extending 15th victory of the season in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as Leclerc beat Perez to second place and with it the runner-up spot in the final drivers’ standings.
With Perez hunting down Leclerc in the closing laps, Verstappen said he didn’t get an order from Red Bull to help his teammate, which could have been an option, as the Dutch driver might have been able to ease his pace to back Leclerc into Perez’s reach.
Fresh from the team orders row that clouded Red Bull’s Brazilian GP, when Verstappen ignored a call to let Perez overtake him on the final lap to gain a position, the two-time F1 world champion felt another team orders call would’ve put a dampener on the end of their season.
“No, there was not, but also that is quite a tricky call to make,” Verstappen said about a call to help Perez in the final stint.
“You also don’t want to end up… you can possibly block, but is that fair racing? I think it wouldn’t be the nicest way to go out of the championship and out of the season like that.
“It looked like Checo was catching him enough to try and actually get a move but then he lost quite a bit of time in a fuss between Pierre and Alex, he lost quite a bit of time with that, because I was watching that on the screen.”
Verstappen did concede both he and Perez could’ve pushed harder during the middle phase of the race to extend the gap over Leclerc, but Red Bull had been worried about tyre life over the course of the stint.
“That second stint, because the deg was quite high on the medium, in hindsight we, as a team, could’ve pushed a bit more on that middle stint for Checo, but that is always easy to say afterwards,” he added.
“At the time we thought that we had to be careful on the tyres. We’ve had a lot of great weekends but even on great weekends there are always things that you can learn.”
Christian Horner says Sergio Perez would have been a “dying fly” if Red Bull had opted for a one-stop strategy in the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Perez lost out to Charles Leclerc in the fight for second place in the championship after his two-stop strategy cost him track position to the Ferrari at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Perez was the first of the leaders to come into the pits, making the switch from his starting mediums to hards on lap 15 after seeing Leclerc close up.
It gave Leclerc a six-lap tyre delta for the second stint, allowing him to quickly reduce the gap at around half a second per lap thanks to his fresher rubber. Ferrari then gave Leclerc the call to box opposite to Perez and kept the Monegasque driver out when Red Bull opted to pit for a second time on lap 33.
But Perez could not recover the time with his fresher tyres to pass Leclerc over the final stint, falling 1.3 seconds short at the chequered flag. It means Leclerc secures second in the championship, finishing three points clear of Perez after they entered the Abu Dhabi finale tied on points.
Asked by Motorsport.com about the decision to pit twice, Horner explained that Perez “took a bit more out of the front-right tyre” which “started to open up”, meaning it would have been difficult to get to the end without coming in again.
“You could hear him on the radio saying that the front was dead, and we could see that Ferrari were gearing up for an undercut,” said Horner.
“The problem with where Checo was strategically at that point, it would have been a very, very long one-stop. There was like a six or seven lap overlap that Leclerc was then able to take.
“We were faced with a prospect of either being a dying fly at the end of the stint, or to try and attack.
“We chose to try and attack. I think within another lap, he would have been there.”
The early timing of the first pit stop drew Red Bull towards the two-stop strategy, which Horner said was “all about the front-right tyre” causing trouble, meaning Perez was “exposed massively” towards the end of the stint.
“So we felt, as I say, rather than die at the end of it and be a sitting duck, we take an attacking strategy.
“Maybe if he’d have managed to make it past Hamilton [it would have worked], the ifs, buts and maybes, there was a couple of backmarkers that didn’t help. But it was so, so close.”
Despite missing out on the drivers’ championship 1-2, Red Bull ended the season with 17 race wins from 22 races and a record of 759 points in the constructors’ championship.
Horner hailed the campaign as being “unbelievable.”
“We’ve broken all of our own records as well as Formula 1 records,” said Horner.
“Obviously there’s been some ups and downs in the season, but when you look at it as a whole, it’s been an outstanding year for the team.”
Source: Motorsport.com
Lewis Hamilton’s DNF left a sour Abu Dhabi Formula 1 race “sums up the whole year” in terms of disappointment. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton admits his Abu Dhabi Grand Prix retirement “sums up the whole year” having ended 2022 without a win for the first time in Formula 1.
The seven-time world champion endured a difficult campaign as Mercedes struggled to get on top of the 2022 car regulations with its troubled W13.
While team-mate George Russell did manage one victory, Hamilton ended the year without one for the first time in his F1 tenure. Hamilton amassed nine podiums in total with a best of second on five occasions.
Hamilton wrestled with what he suspected was car damage in the early part of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi GP. Battling Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the opening lap, Hamilton was launched over a kerb when ran off track.
On lap 55 of 58, he was forced to retire with an undiagnosed issue while running fourth, which contributed to him registering his worst championship position ever of sixth.
Reflecting after the race, Hamilton says he always believed he could win a race in 2022 despite his car problems and is “very pleased that it’s over” now.
“I always believed right to the last race that there was potentially a chance,” he said when asked if there came a point this year when he was resigned to not winning a race.
“I think it’s important to hold onto hope and just keep working.
“I gave it everything and I think ultimately the last race was like the whole season, it sums up the whole year. So, I’m glad it’s done.
“Of course it would have been nice to have a win. One win is not really enough, is it?
“I think this year when we got our first fifth it felt like a win.
“When we got our first fourth it felt like a win, when we got our first podium it felt like a win.
“Those seconds really feel like we achieved something, so I will just hold onto those.”
Despite ending 2022 without a win, Hamilton still feels his hardest season in F1 was in 2011. With McLaren he finished fifth in the standings, though he still won three races.
“No, I think 2011 was probably the hardest year that I’ve had,” he added.
“Just in terms of life, this year is probably not the greatest.
“It’s up there with the top three of worst seasons, but I think it’s been a much stronger year in terms of myself, in terms of how I worked with the team, how we all stayed united.
“So, there’s been lots of plusses from this year.”