F1 2022 - the 10 teams ranked

Pérez, Red Bull, Abu Dhabi, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 2022

F1 2022 - the 10 teams ranked

Which teams performed above expectations?

Sam Hall

Saturday 31 December 2022 14:00

Red Bull clinched its first F1 constructors' championship since 2013 but which other teams were standout performers?

The end-of-season standings naturally paint a realistic picture of the season and the true performance of a team.

But in F1, car performance, driver performance and, indeed, team performance all make a huge difference.

Article continues under video

With this in mind, which teams do the GPFans panel believe shone the brightest this past year and which has work to do going into the new season?

10 - Williams

Unfortunately, Williams was never in contention to be anywhere other than last on this ranking. The former championship-winning team is now a shadow of itself, which is genuinely sad to see.

Even with Alex Albon performing strongly, the team scored just eight points across the season.

With the introduction of all-new technical regulations, this was a chance for Williams to leap up the order, but it was an opportunity that went begging.

Unless there is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes, fans of this once-great outfit appear set for yet more pain in the coming years.

9 - AlphaTauri

AlphaTauri pushed Alpine all the way in 2021 in the battle for fifth in the constructors' standings but this term, with its car plagued by weight issues, the team floundered.

Any progress made by Yuki Tsunoda is impossible to gauge given the poor machinery he was forced to work with, while Pierre Gasly underlined the woes as he registered his lowest full-season points total.

Armed with the same all-conquering power unit as champions Red Bull, AlphaTauri had all the tools to make a success of 2022 but failed catastrophically, especially given the team is able to operate at the budget cap.

8 - Aston Martin

The first sign of debate in the GPFans office was sparked here, with the deciding factor being that Aston Martin was operating at the budget cap level and so should have done better.

Following a slow start to the year, the Silverstone-based team introduced a major upgrade at the Spanish Grand Prix which, for the most part, helped solve the issues that had plagued the AMR22.

In the second half of the year, Aston Martin was certainly one of the standout performers, but given the inexcusably dreadful start, unfortunately, the team slips in our rankings to eighth.

7 - Haas

The team started strongly before reaching its own budget limit - lower than the actual budget cap limit - which led to it slipping back and with points harder to come by.

It must be noted such were the problems with Haas in the second half of the season, the team scored fewer points than any other team with just three from 11 races.

But the strong start combined with the financial limitations earned favour with the GPFans staff. And who can forget Kevin Magnussen's incredible pole position in Brazil?

With the team set to operate at the official budget cap next year, however, such favour will be more difficult to come by in 2023.

6 - Alfa Romeo

By far the biggest debate in the GPFans office was on this and the next ranking, with opinions split on whether Alfa Romeo's near-faultless operation this season deserved a top-five position.

As with Haas, Alfa Romeo stopped development because of limited financial resources and the outfit began the season as one of the leading front-runner teams.

An appalling reliability record is also largely down to the Ferrari power unit rather than errors from the team but ultimately, it was impossible to look beyond the seismic points gap between Alfa Romeo and our next entry, with over 100 points separating the two teams.

With the worst points yield of any team from the British Grand Prix onward [four from 13 races] even if this was caused by a lack of financial clout with which to develop, Alfa Romeo just misses out.

5 - McLaren

Make no bones about it, by its high standards, 2022 was a dreadful year for McLaren. The brake debacle at the start of the season was quickly resolved but with a further slide down the order to fifth and the loss of team principal Andreas Seidl, there is a real concern for the outfit.

The team consistently talks about new infrastructure projects that will be completed in the near future to allow it to compete with the 'top teams' but after being on a level with Ferrari in recent years, there is no excuse for the chasm that separated the two this term.

Yes, Daniel Ricciardo's struggles made life more difficult but the team dropped comfortably behind Alpine on pace and can have no complaints about its final position.

The one saving grace for McLaren was its pit stops. Previously a weakness of the team, McLaren registered the only sub-two-second stop of the year.

4 - Alpine

Alpine has been open about the fact it has a 100-race pathway to becoming a regular podium contender. After two years, it certainly appears to be heading in the correct direction.

Even the team's dreadful reliability record in 2022 can perversely be seen as a step in the right direction, with Renault prioritising power over reliability before a freeze on development came into force.

The catch here is that while development for reliability purposes can continue, adding power is now prohibited. Time will tell if this is a shrewd move.

But the decision cost Fernando Alonso significantly, leading to the two-time champion estimating his points loss through retirements to be in the region - a total that would comfortably have pushed him ahead of Lando Norris.

Given the current trajectory of the team, the future looks bright.

3 - Ferrari

Ferrari had the quickest car for the first half of the year, had all the financial ability it could wish for, and somehow, messed it up.

While this is a simplistic view, it is impossible to deny the Ferrari pit wall was the worst in F1 this term given its plethora of bizarre strategy calls questioned by fans, pundits and drivers.

And this is before we consider the reliability problems that hampered Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Had Ferrari not created such a quick car at the start of the year, there is every chance the team would have been lower in this ranking.

But despite the problems, the margin to the teams fourth and lower in the constructors' standings provided enough protection for the Scuderia...this time.

2 - Mercedes

Mercedes had proven its ability to dominate with the best car in recent years, but faced with the unexpected porpoising phenomenon, the team proved it could develop faster than any of its rivals this term.

The Silver Arrows sat comfortably behind the leading two teams in the opening exchanges and were even relegated further at certain races, but after getting to grips with its problems, it surged forward.

The highlight was a deserved and utterly dominant win for George Russell at the São Paulo Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton second.

With a significant advantage in terms of wind tunnel time and CFD testing over Red Bull and Ferrari for 2023, expect big things.

1 - Red Bull

Hardly a surprise, obviously, but without question, Red Bull was the strongest team on the grid in 2022.

After stumbling with reliability woes in Bahrain and Australia, Red Bull dominated the rest of the year, winning all but three of the remaining 19 races.

The one question mark that hangs over Red Bull going forward is the relationship between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez given their contretemps in Brazil.

But if you want an example of a complete team performance, this was it.