Round Two: Who Should Hit the Formula One Panic Button?
Welcome back to AutoRacingDigest.com's second edition of the Formula One Panic Button Scale. After the annual summer hiatus ended and racing resumed this past Sunday at Spa, let’s look at what drivers have lived up to their expectations and who haven’t:
Now with just eight races left in the season, every driver has different expectations. Some are driving for their Formula One careers. Others are driving with championship, winning or podium aspirations.
For this column, the panic score will be assessed on a scale of one to 10. A score of one means the driver is having a superb season and is exceeding expectations in the championship and has total job security. A score of 10 means the driver’s pants are likely soiled as they are in constant fear for their ride next year, or they are not close to meeting their expectations in the championship. Now, let’s begin!
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Alexander Albon - Willams
Albon had a great weekend at Spa. He qualified sixth and finished 10th to score his first point since Miami. What makes this incredible is Albon is clearly in the worst car in the field. He has beaten his teammate a majority of the races and has scored all of Willams’ three points. With eight races to go, Albon has a new contract with Williams and is meeting expectations, not exceeding or not meeting them. Expect a few more points out of Albon in a car he shouldn’t get them in.
Panic Score: 3
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Fernando Alonso - Alpine
The oldest driver on the grid stunned the Formula One community when it was announced he would move on from Alpine to Aston Martin at the end of this season. It’s another Alonso-like risky team change. Alpine is fourth in the constructors’ championship and Aston Martin is in ninth.
Alonso has played a part in that result for Alpine. The Spaniard has scored points in the last nine races, including a fifth-place finish at Spa. He is ninth in the championship. Only Max Verstappen has scored points in all of the past nine races other than Alonso.
The 41-year-old is trailing his teammate in the championship. But at his age, Alonso has met expectations, as he finished 10th in the championship last year also. With a multi-year contract at Aston Martin starting next season, expect Alonso to break away from the rest of Formula One history in the longevity records.
Panic Score: 3
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Valtteri Bottas - Alfa Romeo
Bottas and Alonso have been going in opposite directions. After a phenomenal start to the season, Bottas’ production slowed to a halt. He hasn’t scored points in the past five races. Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi are the only other drivers to be scoreless in that span.
Yikes.
The flying Finn is still beating his rookie teammate Guyanu Zhou by 41 points. But if he wants to keep his reputation up as a top-level driver, as well as keep Alfa Romeo’s spot in the constructors, Bottas better start scoring points on a regular basis again.
Panic Score: 7
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Pierre Gasly - AlphaTauri
It's been a bad season for Gasly. The Frenchman scored his first points since Baku when he finished eighth at Spa. Those are his only points in one race since early June!
He’s not getting beat by his teammate Tsunoda. However, that’s not too impressive considering Tsunoda only has 11 points. The car is down this year but the seasoned pro should be doing better. Gasly’s 16 points have him 14th in the championship compared to a ninth place finish last year.
At this time last year, Gasly had 66 points and was in ninth place in the championship.
Thank God his teammate sucks and he’s got a contract or it’d be a score of 10.
Panic Score: 8
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Lewis Hamilton - Merecedes
The seven-time world champion had a panic scale score of nine in the previous edition. Since then, it’s clear Mercedes doesn’t have the pace for a driver’s or constructor’s championship.
But Hamilton and the team have been doing everything they can to bolster Hamilton’s early season shortcomings. They’ve stopped experimenting with floor setups and Hamilton had five podiums in a row before his tangle with Alonso at Spa, which saw him retire.
Unfortunately for the Brit, he’s still behind teammate George Russell in the standings. His experience and pace will get him to the front of the field again this year, just not the top of the championship like he’s used to. If Hamilton can beat Russell it’ll be a resilient effort from the legend.
Panic Score: 6
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Nicholas Latifi - Williams
Latifi’s performances can be described as rinse and repeat. He doesn’t have the pace or skill to get points in Formula One as you can’t buy points for your son in the sport.
The lone scoreless full-time driver, the Canadian needs to score points for any shot of sticking with Williams. But, that’s very unlikely given Latifi’s track record. He seems like a good guy but the sport should move on from Latifi at the end of the season.
Panic Score: 10
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Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
“Leclerc looks to have himself and Ferrari in the title fight for the entire season.”
That was the final sentence of Charles Leclerc’s first writeup in this series.
Welp.
The trap door has fallen out on Leclerc and Ferrari’s season. An early season lead is now a 98-point deficit to Verstappen as Leclerc is now third in the championship behind Perez. Failures with the car and with strategy have doomed Leclerc because this championship should be closer.
Leclerc should have won at Barcelona. He had a big lead when his car lost power and he was forced to retire.
Ferrari failed him in Monaco, where he was leading and ended up fourth due to a horrible pit strategy.
The 24-year-old also crashed out of the lead at France.
Leclerc’s title aspirations are over, which is an abomination because Ferrari hasn’t been too far off the pace this season. An example of this is Verstappen has only led 49 more laps than Leclerc, yet the championship gap is 98 points between them.
Now Leclerc can only hope to win some more races and finish second in the driver’s and constructor’s championships.
Panic Score: 10
Kevin Magnussen - Haas
The Danish driver got off to a fantastic start to the season, finishing fifth in Bahrain. However, like Bottas, Magnussen’s production has slowed.
The Haas driver has scored points twice in the last 10 races, compared to three times in the first four rounds.
He is beating his teammate Schumacher and is in 11th place in the championship, which would be the highest a Haas driver has finished in the championship since Magnussen finished ninth in 2018.
Magnussen needs to pick up some more points. Although he has a new contract with Haas, 14th place Gasly is only four points behind Magnussen. Haas is also on the verge of being passed by AlphaTauri and Aston Martin. Those two places could cost Haas millions.
Panic Score: 5
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Lando Norris - McLaren
Norris’ season is a tough one to judge. On one hand, he is dominating his teammate by 57 points. But on the other hand, he hasn’t been as competitive as he was last year, as he only has one podium this year, compared to four at this time last year. The argument could be made that it’s the car’s fault.
Norris and McLaren need to step up their production as they have already lost fourth in the constructors to Alpine. The good thing for McLaren is it has a 44-point gap to sixth place Alfa Romeo.
The young Brit is definitely not being helped out by his car and is dominating his teammate, so there shouldn’t be much panic there. But, Norris must be thinking in the back of his mind how long it will take for him to get a win with McLaren.
Panic Score: 5
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Esteban Ocon - Alpine
Ocon has been one of the most consistent points scorers, tallying in 11 out of 14 races. The only drivers who are better are Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton. Ocon sits eighth in the championship, 13 points ahead of his teammate Alonso.
The Frenchman is a huge reason Alpine is in fourth place in the constructors. There’s a lot of uncertainty with who’s going to be Ocon’s teammate next year. Whoever it is, Alpine should sleep soundly at night knowing it has one of the most consistent drivers in the field.
Panic Score: 2
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Sergio Perez - Red Bull
The lone Mexican driver is having the ideal season as Verstappen’s teammate. He usually doesn’t have the pace to challenge Verstappen, but he’s usually up there with his teammate on the podium.
Perez already has more points than he did in all of last year. He has a great win at Monaco and is now second in the standings after a solid drive at Spa where he finished second. Perez had retired too many times in the first half of the season.
The Red Bull combination is looking more and more like their most successful driver combination: Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
Verstappen is the young phenom like Vettel was. Webber is the experienced and consistent number two driver like Perez is.
If Perez can stay in second place, Red Bull will do something it never did with Vettel and Webber: have a 1-2 finish in the drivers' championship.
Panic Score: 2
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Daniel Ricciardo
The news has been confirmed by Ricciardo himself: The Australian is leaving McLaren at the end of this season.
He should be panicked about his prospects, given that he's had had an awful season, his worst since 2013 when he was with Torro Rosso. Ricciardo’s 19 points have him 13th in the championship.
Ricciardo is in a tough spot because he commands a big salary, but he may not be good enough for the teams who could pay it.
The 33-year-old should drive again in Formula One, but he may need to sit out a year if he looks to get back into the sport, like Alex Albon has recently done if he doesn’t take a pay cut.
But Ricciardo could surprise the F1 community: rumors continue to swirl that he may be looking to move to IndyCar in 2023 -- or even NASCAR!
Panic Score: 9
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George Russell - Mercedes
Mr. Consistency is on pace to be the third teammate to ever beat Lewis Hamilton in Formula One. Russell has only finished between third and fifth this season. He’s getting all he can out of his Mercedes.
If Russell could get a win on top of beating Hamilton, it would cap off a great first season with Mercedes. Russell can sleep soundly without any panic.
Panic Score: 1
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Carlos Sainz - Ferrari
Sainz has had a good, but not great season. His win at Silverstone was a great drive, but his crashes in Australia and Italy early in the season weren’t good looks on his part.
The Spaniard has also had some engine problems like Leclerc, only 15 points behind his Ferrari teammate.
Sainz would definitely turn some heads if he could beat Leclerc for the second year in a row. He shouldn't be panicked about his performance as he is a great match for Leclerc at Ferrari.
Panic Score: 3
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Mick Schumacher - Haas
After two consecutive points finishes in Britain and Austria, Schumacher looked to have righted the ship and was trending upward. Since then, he has failed to score any other points.
The Schumacher name still carries lots of weight in the Formula One world with fans and sponsors. However, only two points finishes in 36 races is not a good start to a career.
Schumacher should be panicked about his ride next year. He’s out of a contract and there should be some experienced drivers on the market, including Ricciardo.
He’s also being beaten by his teammate Magnussen. The German needs to score points again to have a good shot at having a ride next year.
Panic Score: 8
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Lance Stroll - Aston Martin
Stroll might have the best job security in the sport and it has nothing to do with performance. His father owns the team. As long as Lawrence Stroll owns Aston Martin, his son will drive there.
The young Canadian hasn’t had a great season. He’s being beaten by his teammate Vettel, he’s 19th in the championship and his best finish is 10th.
Stroll should be panicked only because he’s not living up to his own expectations, not because of job security.
Panic Score: 4
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Yuki Tsunoda - AlphaTauri
The second-year Japanese driver has had a bad season. He’s 16th in the championship and only has 11 points.
Tsunoda is also trailing his teammate Gasly. Through two years, Tsunoda has not shown enough to not be panicked about his future prospects in Formula One.
He’s out of a contract and may not get one next year. His nails will be gone for the rest of the season.
Panic Score: 8
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Max Verstappen - Red Bull
After two dominant races where he went through the grid for two victories, Verstappen is on another level. He has a 93-point lead over his teammate Perez.
The season couldn’t be going better for Verstappen. He’s got nine wins and he’s well on his way to becoming the 11th different driver to win back-to-back titles. Verstappen should be cool as a cucumber as of now.
Panic Score: 1
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Sebastian Vettel - Aston Martin
Vettel is another driver who isn’t worried about his job security. It’s also not due to his performance, but because the four-time world champion is retiring at the end of the year.
Vettel is a legend and is still putting in some great drives, one of which was this past weekend at Spa, where he finished eighth. He’s still beating his teammate Stroll and should ride into the sunset with a sense of tranquility knowing he’s finished his career as an all-time great.
Panic Score: 1
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Zhou Guanyu - Alfa Romeo
Zhou has had a quiet rookie year. Often found at the back of the midfield, the Chinese rookie is 17th with five points in the championship. He’s being thoroughly beaten by his teammate Bottas, but that’s to be expected as Bottas is a much better driver at this point.
Zhou’s contract is up at the end of the year, so he should be panicked. However, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of chatter about anyone else out there who could take his ride.
The rookie should get some points to be safe, but expect him to back with Alfa Romeo next year.
Panic Score: 6
Be on the lookout for the Panic Scale column to be back after Rounds 18 and 22. Thanks for reading and be sure to follow @AutoRaceDigest on Twitter for all your racing coverage needs.