For the last few years, F1 and Codemasters have rated every driver on the grid in terms of their experience, racecraft, awareness, and pace. This year is no different, but I thing some of them were a bit wide of the mark...
Image credit: EA Sports F1
What the game is rating
The F1 game rates each driver in 4 categories (Experience, Racecraft, Awareness, and Pace) as well as an overall rating out of 100. New for this year is a so-called "panel of experts" which consists of (at least) F1 commentators David Croft, Alex Jacques, and Anthony Davidson. But as good as they are, I think they could have done better. So for each driver I have included the "official" rating, as well as my own.
Before everyone goes crazy (I don't think my ratings are that controversial), I want to explain a couple of things about how I came up with the ratings. For the "Experience" rating, I did it completely objectively, using a formula of 40 + 3x + 2y + z, where:
x = # of F1 seasons, including 2022
y = # of seasons in F2 or similar top-rated non-F1 series
z = # of seasons in F3 or similarly-rated series
OK, the other three categories (Racecraft, Awareness, Pace) had to be arbitrarily assigned, but at the end of the day it's always someone's opinion. And then for the overall rating, I used a weighted average. Here's what we got...
Verstappen is similarly rated, only losing one point from 94 to 93, which can be attributed to the big hit in experience more than anything. Also I think that his awareness is much higher than the game gives him credit for, even if it's not the best on the grid. He knows what he's doing, as long as he's not desperate.
The ratings I probably agree with most; I don't think there's anything major or worth talking about when it comes to Checo's numbers.
Leclerc takes a little hit compared to his game ratings, mostly due to his experience and his awareness. It might seem harsh, but experience is out of my hands, but I'll stand by my statement that his awareness isn't that great; he's prone to some little foibles now and then and tends to let things snowball when they're out of his hands.
Sainz is not affected too badly, only losing a single point, as I also dinged his awareness. He's made far too many errors in the last two years to warrant a higher rating than Leclerc, whom I only gave 83.
Lewis keeps the same rating, and is now the standalone highest on the grid at 94, by virtue of Verstappen's experience nerf. Codemasters actually nailed this one!
George takes a little hit compared to his original rating, mostly down to the hit he takes in experience. He's only in his fourth year in F1 and only had one season of F2, let's remember.
Lando suffers the same fate as George, taking a hit due to his lack of experience. I also balanced his racecraft and awareness a bit better compared to the game's take.
Oh, Danny Ric. He got one of the biggest boosts in my ratings compared to Codemasters' efforts, because I rated his pace much higher (and that was the most heavily weighted category in my weighted average). I also gave him a slight racecraft buff.
Fernando got a slight improvement over the game's numbers, because I think he got robbed in terms of racecraft. Did the ratings "experts" even watch the 2021 Hungarian GP? It doesn't seem like it...
Reading Ocon's original ratings, I thought he got a little bit shafted, but then I ran the numbers and they came out very similar! I gave him much more awareness and a little less racecraft, because I think the game ratings are a bit out of whack. This is also a good case which shows that Codemasters and I clearly do not use the same weighted average when determining the overall score.
Like his eventual Red Bull replacement Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly's rating is pretty spot on. I think he's a tad bit faster than he was given credit for, though.
Like Ocon, I thought Yuki got the short end of the stick (pun intended) when it comes to ratings, but like Ocon I found myself more or less agreeing with the developers on this one. He's really hurt by his lack of experience, which is actually the lowest on the grid.
Along with Ricciardo, Vettel got a big buff from me over the official ratings. Come on guys, 83 on pace? This guy won four championships and has still got it. Well, most of it. The original ratings gave him the same pace stat as Tsunoda. Now it's the same as Alonso.
Stroll takes arguably the biggest hit, as I marked him lower in all categories compared to Codemasters' ratings. There's nothing outrageously different, just a little lower across the board.
Bottas does not see too big a swing compared to some others, but he does lose some points on his racecraft. I'm a big Valtteri fan, but even I can't pretend his racecraft is anything but anemic at times, as he gets stuck behind someone for far too long and costs himself time and/or positions as a result.
Zhou gets the biggest improvement compared to his ratings from Codemasters. I think he's a pleasant surprise on the grid and as we saw in Canada and Baku, he does not look remotely out of place compared to others on the grid. And I'd say his racecraft is probably better than Bottas', even if that isn't saying much.
He's back from his F1 sabbatical, and Alex Albon looks like he's picked up right where he left off. I gave him some more pace, but he loses a little bit in terms of experience. The game is fairly spot on, though.
Yes, you're reading that right. GOATifi got a buff! That's not saying much considering he was already the lowest rated on the grid. He's still the lowest, just not as low as before.
Magnussen was critically underrated when it comes to pace. Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but I genuinely think that he can be in the top 8 on the grid when the chips are down and all the cars are equal. Which, of course, they aren't.
Nothing drastic for Mick, he takes a ding in terms of awareness (he's not exactly crash-proof) and experience, but pace and racecraft are relatively unchanged.
Think you could do better? Drop your ratings below