Formula 1 in the half-time balance: Only dad saves Vettel’s teammates

Formula 1 in the half-time balance
Only dad saves Vettel’s teammates

By Christian Schenzel
07/16/2022, 9:17 p.m

Halftime in Formula 1! After 11 of 22 races, it’s time for an interim conclusion. Which driver deserved which grade? How do Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel perform after a half-year with ups and downs? Today with part one.

Nicholas Latifi (Williams/0 points) – Grade 6.0: What do you get when you pair the worst car with the worst driver in the field? Correct: zero points. The FW44/Latifi combination has a subscription to the Red Lantern. The Canadian is not competitive in almost any race. Even when things go haywire and a window opens for him, he bangs his head against the frame. Small consolation: eleven more races, then his F1 career is over.

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin/3 points) – Grade 5.5: Even after five and a half years, Stroll is unable to get more out of an F1 car than is in it. Exactly that would be necessary to achieve more than just a tenth place with the Aston Martin. The Canadian crept into the points three times. In contrast, there are eight races without a point. If papa and team boss Lawrence didn’t protect him, he would probably have lost his cockpit a long time ago.

Alex Albon (Williams/3 points) – Grade 2.0: After a fantastic start and two surprising top 10 results in the first five races, Albon seems to have calmed down a bit lately. But appearances are deceptive. In Baku (12th), Montreal (13th) and Spielberg (12th) he scratched the points despite the inferior car. The 26-year-old is there in every race and a true expert when it comes to implementing a strategy perfectly.

Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo/5 points) – Grade 4.0: Zhou’s results stand in stark contrast to those of teammate Valtteri Bottas. However, the Chinese is also a bit unlucky. Four retirements in the last seven races have cost him a few kilometers – which is particularly bitter for a rookie. At the hectic Canadian GP, ​​he showed what he’s capable of with eighth place. There needs to be more of that in the second half of the season.

Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri/11 points) – Grade 5.0: Tsunoda has developed into a small problem child in the Red Bull camp – and not just because he regularly curses like a sparrow on the radio. The AT03 lacks speed compared to its predecessor, so the Japanese has a correspondingly difficult time in traffic and at the end of the dreaded “DRS trains”. The 22-year-old seems increasingly frustrated and urgently needs a rescue.

Mick Schumacher (Haas/12 points) – Grade 4.0: Crazy what two races can change! After Canada, Mick’s future in Formula 1 was still in doubt. Then he was suddenly so strong at Silverstone (P8) and Spielberg (P6) that calls for a change to a top team were heard. But he has to hide them. For him, it’s now about finally bringing consistency to his performances. Only then should he think about the next step.

Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin/15 points) – Grade 4.0: The recent upgrade has made the Aston Martin better, but the AMR22 is far from good enough. Vettel feels that when he never knows whether he is going for 14th or 8th place until the race. It stinks for Seb. He wants to fight for points and wins. He can. But time is running out on him. The man from Heppenheim has lost the killer instinct from his World Championship years, but he could still do a lot in a competitive car.

Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri/16 points) – Grade 4.5: Gasly’s magic from last year is gone. The Frenchman suffers from the fact that he can rarely attack and at the same time has difficulty defending himself. Like his teammate, the 26-year-old fights with blunt weapons. The AT03 doesn’t have the desired speed either in qualifying or in the race. For the ambitious Gasly, it’s hard to accept that he didn’t make it into the points in eight of eleven races.

Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren/17 points) – Grade 6.0: The consolation places eight and nine in Baku and Spielberg are only good for Ricciardo on paper. The Australian just doesn’t warm up to the McLaren. You have to be able to expect a driver in his class to adapt his style and drive at least on an equal footing with his own teammate. But Ricciardo hasn’t managed to do that to this day – and that’s a huge disappointment!

Kevin Magnussen (Haas/22 points) – Grade 3.5: It crackles at Haas! Since Mick Schumacher flipped the switch, the team has not only had to deal with the competition, but also with an internal competition. Magnussen has lost his lead over Mick. That was already indicated in Barcelona. While Schumacher is getting along better and better, the Dane is stagnating.