Team ratings | Red Bull superior after summer, Ferrari and Mercedes shocked
- GPblog.com
The Belgian Grand Prix is over and Red Bull Racing in particular impressed. How did all the other teams do? GPblog gives figures for the performance of the F1 teams at Spa-Francorchamps.
Red Bull Racing: 10
Red Bull Racing has come out of the summer break like a rocket with an RB18 that has improved even further on the competition. That Max Verstappen was able to win the race from P14 is testament to the car, as is Sergio Perez's P2. Strategically, Red Bull were again very strong and the choice to take a penalty for a new engine with Verstappen this weekend also worked out well.
Ferrari: 4.5
Ferrari failed on several fronts in their first test after the summer break. In terms of speed, especially in race pace, F1-75 is suddenly way behind Red Bull and Mercedes are getting a lot closer too. Ferrari also does not exactly help its drivers with strategically incomprehensible choices time and again. Now Charles Leclerc has been brought in again, but for what and at what cost?
Mercedes: 6.5
Mercedes were amazed when the German team saw Verstappen's times. Mercedes clearly gained some ground on Ferrari in the race, but the gap of almost two seconds in qualifying to Verstappen must be hurting the team.
Alpine: 8.5
For Alpine, it was a strong weekend in Belgium. Both drivers managed to qualify ahead of Mercedes' cars on Saturday, and on Sunday they scored a handsome fifth and seventh place. Alpine seems to be looking upwards more and more and is taking distance from McLaren.
McLaren: 5.5
McLaren has taken a big hit in the F1 Championship. With zero points, it sees competitor Alpine run away in the battle for P4 among the constructors. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo simply did not get on with the MCL36 at Spa-Francorchamps.
Alfa Romeo: 5
Alfa Romeo are enjoying a strong 2022, but in Belgium, they were in slightly lesser form. Leader Valtteri Bottas started from the back of the grid after an engine change and was denied a chance to catch up at the start by Nicholas Latifi's spin. Guanyu Zhou was also unable to save Alfa's honour with a 14th place finish.
Haas: 4.5
For Haas, the Belgian GP was a weekend to forget. Despite Kevin Magnussen's eighteenth qualifying time becoming twelfth on the grid, he dropped to P16 in the race. Mick Schumacher finished right behind his teammate after a grid penalty forced him to start from P19.
AlphaTauri: 7
AlphaTauri saw from Pierre Gasly 's overtaking race that there is some pace in the AT03. Gasly drove from the pits to ninth place and thus points for the Italian team. Yuki Tsunoda did not drive to the points, but from the pits, he also showed enough pace with a thirteenth-place finish.
Aston Martin: 6.5
Aston Martin took advantage of all the grid penalties in Belgium and started from the top ten with Sebastian Vettel (P10) and Lance Stroll (P9). The British team desperately needs the points and Vettel made sure of that with an eighth place. Stroll disappointed, falling just outside the top ten with his AMR22.
Williams: 6.5
Alexander Albon shows that Williams is moving in the right direction with the development of the car. The Thai qualified ninth and was sixth on the grid. In the race, the pace of the FW44 was a little less, but a tenth place is already the third time Albon has scored points in 2022. Latifi ruined his own chances with a bizarre spin on the first lap that put an end to Bottas' race. Latifi finished P18.