The new FIA regulation promised equality between cars for the Formula 1 World Championship that has just ended. It was the beginning of a new era that attempted to end the overwhelming dominance that Mercedes exercised for five years. Nothing could be further from the truth, equality arrived but not for Red Bull, which stood out by light years to the point of having the best year ever seen. Max Verstappen won 19 of the 22 races that were held and the Mexican Checo Pérez won two others. Only Carlos Sainz managed to win a race and prevent a historic victory for the Austrian team.
The results are so eloquent that the grade for both Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team cannot be less than the highest. No one has ever dominated Formula 1 like Verstappen has done. Record of victories (19), record of points and with this he has managed to surpass Vettel in number of wins (now he has 54). Red Bull, for its part, has won the World Cup with an abysmal difference in points. Checo Pérez (5) has not been at the same level as his teammate, especially on Saturdays, but he has achieved the runner-up position with sufficiency, which speaks very well of the car's potential.
After the Red Bull, the absolute protagonist this year has been Fernando Alonso. His fourth place in the World Championship with the fifth car in the championship is another miracle for the Spaniard, who has scored 9 podiums (three second places) and has made Aston Martin's expectations skyrocket beyond logic. Victory number 33, which he achieved in Monaco, will have to wait. Or possibly it will never arrive, but Alonso's course at 40 years old is already part of the history of Formula 1. Just look at how Lance Stroll (3), tenth in the championship, has failed with the same car.
The other Spanish driver should also be in luck for being the only one capable of adding a victory beyond Red Bull, the second of his career. But not only for that, this year he has managed to be superior to Charles Leclerc, his teammate, during many races. Some team decisions have hurt her and only the results in the last races have hurt her to finish seventh in the World Championship. His performance has earned him more points and a much better position in the championship. The man from Madrid has vindicated himself after a couple of seasons of much criticism.
Its start was not good, but McLaren's performance soon improved until it became one of the surprises of the championship. Their comeback was spectacular and they ended up close to victory and scoring 9 podiums throughout the season. Norris has been the leader of the team and has climbed into the box more times than Hamilton or Leclerc. Piastri, younger, has shone in several races and has managed to compete at the level of his teammate.
The Frenchman has performed perfectly. He beat Sargeant 22-0 in Saturday qualifying and his 27 points helped his team finish behind Alpine. Albon has fought for points constantly, entered Q3 7 times and shone with a fourth place in the standings in Zandvoort. He portrayed Sargeant (2) constantly.
The championship was not easy for Hamilton. The Mercedes gave him a lot of problems at the beginning and little by little he brought out his talent to become the best driver after the Red Bulls. This helped him achieve runner-up in the constructors' championship, although he was far from happy with his results in general. His teammate George Russell (6.5) demonstrated his talent but his irregularity cost him to finish eighth in the championship. More was expected of him.
More was also expected from Charles Leclerc. Runner-up in the world last year, the Monegasque has had a year to forget. The Ferrari was very irregular at the beginning of the course, when his teammate managed to get more performance out of it. In the end he improved his results, but the aura of being an extraordinary driver has been somewhat faded.
The three Alpha Tauri pilots have performed remarkably throughout this course. The Australian has had several injuries but has shown that he can be Red Bull's man again. Tsunoda has scored good points for the team and Lawon successfully replaced Ricciardo to the point of scoring points in his third Formula 1 race in Singapore. De Vries (0), Alpha Tauri's fourth driver, was replaced due to his poor performance.
Fighting with such slow cars is not easy, but Hulkenberg and Bottas were the leaders of their respective teams (Alfa Romeo and Haas) and achieved good points. The German beat Magnussen (3) regularly. The Finn did the same with Zhou (3).
The Alpine drivers turned the team into the cabin of the Marx brothers. Their constant fights and disagreements affected a team that has had peaks of high performance, both achieved a podium, although Gasly won the match against Ocon in his first year. A message for one of the least liked drivers on the grid, who this year has once again been too aggressive and has not achieved his objectives.
