Sebastian Vettel (P10, 1 pt): 8.5/10
So that's a wrap for Sebastian Vettel, one of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport with four world champions. It's easy to forget that spectacular early period, before the disappointment of his time at Ferrari and then two final seasons at Aston Martin in a car not deserving of his talents. As always he did the best he could with the AMR22 this week and was looking particularly feisty in Abu Dhabi - so much so that many felt he has been premature in deciding to retire from the sport as a sprightly 35-year-old; especially as he'll be replaced at the team by the rather older Fernando Alonso! Vettel signed off with a final appearance in Q3 and duly started the race from ninth, running the whole of the first stint in the top ten. His single stop for hard tyres on lap 25 dropped him almost to the back, but he dug in and recovered to 11th, at which point Lewis Hamilton's late DNF meant he bowed out with one final championship point (amounting to a total of 3098, fact fans!) in his 299th F1 outing. A sincere "Danke" for all the memories, Seb.
Daniel Ricciardo (P9, 2 pts): 7/10
It was also the end of the road this week for Daniel Ricciardo as he departs McLaren following a disappointing two year stay in Woking. But while Sebastian Vettel insists he won't be back, Ricciardo is very much hoping to plot a return in due course with his pending third driver deal at Red Bull. For now though he bows out with one of his better weekends of 2022. He was in the top ten in all three practice sessions, and made it all the way through to the final top ten pole shoot-out round in qualifying. Unfortunately a three place grid drop held over from Brazil for his collision with Kevin Magnussen meant he started from P13. He was on a one stop strategy which meant that he had to make the hard tyres last almost 40 laps, but he did it and ended his last race with the team in the points. A much better way for the Australian to sign off than Brazil would have been, that's for certain.
