'
With another thrilling and unpredictable race, 2022 is already shaping up to be another classic season of Formula 1 action. We rate how the drivers did in Saudi Arabia, after Red Bull's Max Verstappen went head to head with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for victory and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton laboured long and hard for a single point.
Mick Schumacher (Did Not Start): 6.5/10 *
Obviously it's impossible to give a comprehensive rating to Mick Schumacher, as he didn't take part in Sunday's race after that troubling heavy smash in qualifying. If we were giving ratings to the safety equipment, then that would be a slam dunk ten out of ten. It was so good that Mick was physically well enough to have been able to take part in the race, and it was Haas principal Guenther Steiner who decided to withdraw the entry when it was clear that they would have to try and build up a whole new car overnight. As for Schumacher, he had a slow start to the weekend in FP1 but improved over the ensuing practice sessions. He breezed through the first round of qualifying and was provisionally through to Q3 at the moment that he suffered his accident which seemed to be the result of hitting the kerbs and being thrown wide. All things considered, a solid weekend for Schumacher - for as long as it lasted.
Yuki Tsunoda (Did Not Start): 7/10 *
If it's hard to give a rating to a driver who was ruled out of the race 24 hours before it happened, it's even harder to fairly assess a driver who failed to make it to the grid because of terminal reliability issues, and which had already plagued Yuki Tsunoda's entire weekend. The AlphaTauri made a sprightly bow in FP1 where it was sixth quickest, and was still in the top ten (and quicker than team mate Pierre Gasly) when it came to a juddering halt at the end of FP2, forcing the team to make a slew of overnight engine components changes. He seemed to be up and running again by the time it came to final practice, but then didn't get to turn a lap in qualifying when the gremlins reared up again. And despite more work overnight, the reliability was still emphatically missing when it came to Sunday and he was unable to even make it to the grid.. A shame, as Gasly picked up eighth place in the race and Tsunoda might have been able to do even better ... given a functional car.
* Average over the whole weekend, race not included
