Daniel Ricciardo
Just 12 months ago Daniel Ricciardo was widely considered the third or fourth best driver on the grid after a good last season at Renault. Many expected his move to McLaren to be successful as Ricciardo was tipped to lead the Woking-based team’s continued resurgence in 2021.
It quickly became apparent that the McLaren MCL35M’s unique driving style was going to make it a tricky first half of the season. Conversely, teammate Lando Norris was in his third year with the team and dialed into the McLaren, knowing his strengths and weaknesses.
Ricciardo’s poor form early in the season was exacerbated when compared directly to Norris. Outside of Max Verstappen, Norris was the star of the first half of the season with three podium finishes to finish third in the Drivers’ Championship ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, who went into the summer break.
Ricciardo improved in the second half of the season as he opportunistically returned to the top step at Monza to give McLaren their first win since 2012. However, Ricciardo was comprehensively beaten in the overall standings by his teammate, which was a big factor in McLaren losing third place in the championship to Ferrari.
He has a lot of money and he needs to show why he justifies it in 2022.
Yuki Tsunoda
Things were looking up for Yuki Tsunoda after his star debut ride under the lights in Bahrain. Including an impressive pass from childhood hero Fernando Alonso, Tsunoda scored points on his first F1 outing, leading to F1 boss Ross Brawn hailing Tsunoda as “the best F1 rookie in years”.
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Tsunoda then crashed in qualifying at Imola and his Q1 failure at Barcelona prompted a notable allegation that he didn’t have the same car as AlphaTauri teammate Pierre Gasly. The Japanese rookie’s shunts continued in Baku and Paul Ricard but at least he returned to the points in Azerbaijan.
During this time, Red Bull’s management moved with AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost Tsunoda close to the team’s base in Faenza. While the progress wasn’t immediate, Tsunoda’s season-ending form was encouraging with six Q3 appearances in the last seven races, although he only converted those good grid positions into a points finish.
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As in Bahrain, Tsunoda showed his true potential when he bested Gasly in Abu Dhabi to eventually finish fourth. His improvement was evident towards the end of the season but there is still a long way to go if he is to stay with the team beyond 2022.
Guanyuzhou
After a strong third season in Formula 2, Guanyu Zhou makes the move to Formula 1 with Alfa Romeo -Missed the trip at Zhou’s expense.
Zhou will have good benchmarks in the form of Valtteri Bottas, who averaged within a tenth or two of Lewis Hamilton in his five years at Mercedes. The good news for Zhou is that in some ways the pressure isn’t necessarily on him as Bottas is the team leader and is expected to dominate.
However, Zhou will want to be a mainstay on the F1 grid and with Sauber Academy driver Theo Pourchaire waiting in the wings there will be pressure from the start to be within reach of his more experienced teammate.
Alexander Alban
Albon returns to Formula 1 as a replacement for George Russell at Williams. The Thai driver was dropped by Red Bull in late 2020 and was forced to sit on the sidelines the following year.
It wasn’t a completely wasted year for Albon as he competed in the DTM alongside his duties as reserve and test driver for Red Bull. Red Bull praised Albon for his work in the simulator while Perez thanked him for his pre-season openness by explaining the potential issues the Mexican would face in his first year with the team.
Alongside Nicholas Latifi in 2022, Albon has the perfect opportunity to rebuild his F1 career. Most of the field wouldn’t do too well alongside Verstappen so we’re not writing him off too soon, but Albon needs to show why he deserves a spot on the F1 grid and continue to lead Williams up the pecking order.
While Williams often didn’t have the eighth fastest car in 2021, the brilliance of Russell – and also Latifi in Hungary – ensured it beat Alfa Romeo in recent constructors’ championships. Williams will be counting on Albon to do the same and deliver those Russell-like performances.
Albon has been given a rare second chance to shine. It’s one he must grab if he aspires to a long career in Formula 1.
Sergio Perez
While Red Bull missed out on the 2021 Constructors’ Championship, Perez was instrumental in Verstappen beating Hamilton for the drivers’ crown. Perez’s defensive masterclasses in Turkey and particularly Abu Dhabi made up for the lack of absolute performance in qualifying and helped Verstappen clinch the title.
Aside from his impressive defensive performance, Perez’s form has generally been underwhelming, with just five podiums from 22 races. His Sundays were often complicated by his qualifying performances – an average qualifying position of 6.41 – compare that to Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes (3.77) or Verstappen (2.82).
Perez has been qualified eight times by Pierre Gasly at the AlphaTauri – whether Red Bull would take Gasly back for 2023 is another story entirely, but his impressive form last season is too good to ignore. With 2022 regulations likely to level the playing field, or at least Red Bull and Mercedes unlikely to have a significant advantage over the rest of the field, Perez’s poor qualifying performances could result in an even lower average grid position.
With another year at Red Bull and 2022 regulations set to make Sunday racing easier, Perez’s poor one-lap performance could prove inconsequential given his superior racing technique.
George Russell
After three years at Williams, Russell was well-deservedly promoted to Mercedes alongside childhood hero and seven-time champion Hamilton. There is no doubt that Russell has proven he is worthy of being fielded in a top-flight team, but whether he really is a future world champion – like Verstappen – remains to be seen.
Russell will face – at least statistically – the greatest driver in F1 at Hamilton, heading into 2022 after a controversial title loss to Verstappen. Bruised and wounded, he will be hungry to secure the eighth title in a bid to break away from Michael Schumacher.
Russell’s raw speed shouldn’t be questioned given his consistently strong qualifying form at Williams, while his one-off showing at the Sakhir Grand Prix showed he can fight for Grand Prix wins with the right car. The 23-year-old’s mentality and other skills such as race pace, tire management and consistency will be put to the test against Hamilton.
Will Russell be able to take the team lead from Hamilton like Charles Leclerc did with Sebastian Vettel in 2019? Hamilton, with his exemplary form, is unlikely to remain at the peak of his powers in the second half of 2021.
Russell will likely prove to be an upgrade from his predecessor, but questions as to whether he is the man to lead Mercedes to Hamilton will be answered this year.
