To add to his 2022 accolades, Max Verstappen has been voted as the Drivers’ ‘Driver of the Year’, following his remarkable 2022 campaign.
The award should come as no shock, with Verstappen having destroyed multiple records on his way to a comfortable second consecutive Drivers’ Championship.
This year, Verstappen broke Michael Schumacher’s and Sebastian Vettel’s joint-record for most wins in a single campaign, with the 25-year-old having claimed 15 wins in 2022.
Verstappen eclipsed the previous record of 13 wins with relative ease, with the Red Bull star having won 68-percent of the races this year.
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If that wasn’t enough for the Dutchman, he accumulated 454 points on his way to claiming the title, breaking the record for most points scored in a season.
That record was another which was previously held by Vettel, who was actually voted as the joint-eighth best driver of 2022, alongside Alex Albon and Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez.
Claiming second spot on the list was Charles Leclerc, with the Monegasque having ended 2022 as Vice-Champion, following a mixed season.
Leclerc was leading the championship comfortably after the first three rounds of the year, after tasting glory twice.
Strategic errors, driver blunders, and reliability gremlins ultimately ended the Monegasque’s title hopes, though, with his attention having quickly turned to securing P2 in the Drivers’ Championship.
Third position was shared by both Mercedes drivers, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell having been inseparable for the vast majority of 2022.
Russell did end up finishing the season higher in the standings than the seven-time World Champion, making him just the third team-mate of Hamilton’s to end a campaign above him.
The former Williams driver joins Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg in the highly exclusive club, one that no other driver will likely join given the 37-year-old’s age.
Behind the Mercedes duo was McLaren star Lando Norris, who made it three British drivers in the top five, with the 23-year-old having enjoyed a considerably consistent season.
Norris was unable to replicate his 2021 performances, with the Woking-based team having designed a car that was unable to match the frontrunners.
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To his credit, though, Norris was the only midfield driver to claim a podium in 2022, something he did at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix towards the start of the season.
Behind Norris in sixth was Fernando Alonso, whilst Carlos Sainz claimed seventh.
All the drivers apart from Hamilton took part in the vote, which was determined using the current points system.