F1 team bosses list their Top 10 drivers for 2022

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Formula 1 conducted its annual end-of-year poll among the sport’s team bosses to elect Grand Prix racing’s Top 10 Drivers of 2022, and the results are in.

Points were awarded according to the same schedule followed by F1 in the world championship standings, meaning 25 points going to each team principal’s top driver and, following down the order, 1 point going to number ten.

All the points were then aggregated by Formula 1 to form the final Top 10 ranking.

The team principals who took part in the vote were: Mattia Binotto, Jost Capito, Christian Horner, Mike Krack, Andreas Seidl, Guenther Steiner, Otmar Szafnauer, Franz Tost, Fred Vasseur and Toto Wolff.

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Max Verstappen unsurprisingly led the field with 207 points thanks to Red Bull’s dominant season and to the Dutchman’s second consecutive world title.

Interestingly, Verstappen’s total - 207 out of 250 - indicates that the Red Bull charger’s no 1 status wasn’t unanimous. Unfortunately, the ballot was secret, so we’ll never know who voted Max down.

Like in the Drivers’ standings, Charles Leclerc was runner-up with 144 points. But results thereafter differ from the official championships’ rankings, with Mercedes’ aces George Russell and Lewis Hamilton securing third and fourth, while Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz were voted respectively fifth and seventh.

McLaren Lando Norris was sixth while Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian vettel rounded off the top-ten vote.

Conspicuously absent from the top-ten is Pierre Gasly, which is a reflection of AlphaTauri’s poor season rather than of the Frenchman’s efforts.

Team bosses also opted to award more points to Alonso than to his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon who doesn’t figure in the classification despite outscoring the Spaniard in the championship.

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.