top of page
Reese Mautone

Teammate Vs. Teammate: How Each Driver Is Faring Against Their Counterpart...

Updated: Oct 4, 2023

Although they share a team, the battle between teammates is often the hardest fought, revealing the most about a driver when they are directly, and equally, compared with one another.


So, which drivers have outclassed their teammates in the first half of 2022?


Red Bull: Verstappen Vs. Perez


Reigning World Champion, Max Verstappen has continued with his previous year’s form, holding the top spot in the Drivers’ Championship on 258 points. The Dutchman has earned himself 8 wins out of his 10 podium appearances and sits 80 points ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.


Sergio Perez trails behind his teammate in P3 of the Drivers’ Championship on 173 points, just 5 points behind Leclerc. With 6 podium appearances, Perez claimed his only victory of the season so far at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Head-to-head, Verstappen has out-qualified his teammate 10 times, with 3 of those being on pole position. The Mexican has out-qualified Verstappen 3 times and earned the first pole position of his career at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.


The duo’s race-finishing form follows a similar trend, with Verstappen having crossed the line ahead 9 times over Perez's 3 times.


Seemingly, the tales of 2021 are continuing to run for the Red Bull drivers.


Ferrari: Leclerc Vs. Sainz

Despite Ferrari’s self-hampered first half of the season, the team has remained to keep Charles Leclerc in P2 of the Drivers’ Championship, however, not clear of threats from the drivers behind. Currently, the Monegasque sits on 178 points, while in the neighbouring garage, Carlos Sainz’s 156 points tally up to give him P5 in the Drivers’ Championship.


Sainz has earned himself 6 podiums, one of which was his maiden win in F1 at the British Grand Prix, a weekend which saw him also claim his maiden pole in F1. Leclerc has manufactured 3 wins out of his 5 podiums, with the last being his dominant performance at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The duo’s qualifying efforts have been strong, with a combined 8 pole positions between the two of them. Leclerc has out-qualified Sainz in 10 of their qualifying outings compared to the Spaniard’s 3. As for races, the Ferrari drivers have performed equally against one another, with 6 finishes each ahead of the other.


When Ferrari has a faultless weekend, Leclerc’s performances prove to be dominant not only over his teammate but his championship rival, Verstappen, as well, earning him the unofficial title of Ferrari’s #1 driver thus far.


Mercedes: Russell Vs. Hamilton

In a season that relies on the teamwork of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to help Mercedes regain their championship-winning form, the British pairing has done just that, with their results reflecting so.


With just 12 points separating the Mercedes’ drivers, Russell currently holds P4 in the Drivers’ Championship on 158 points, edging out Hamilton in P6 with 146 points.


Neither has scored a win thus far, however, they have a combined total of 11 podiums. Russell scored his first of 5 podiums at the Australian Grand Prix earlier this season. His 7-time World Championship-winning teammate has appeared on the podium on 6 occasions, with the last time being at the Hungarian Grand Prix.


As far as qualifying and race results go, the teammates have been relatively even. Their qualifying results sit at 7-6 in Russell’s favour, like with their race results, tallying up to the same, 7-6, in the favour of the young gun.


An additional stat to add to Mr Consistency’s career, Russell has the highest career qualifying head-to-head win rate against his teammate at 87.7%.


To pick a definite leader within Mercedes at this stage of the season is a tough task, however, the consistency of the driver new to the team is an exciting and promising sign for what lies ahead.


Alpine: Ocon Vs. Alonso


The pairing of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso has delivered relatively even results compared to each other.


Currently, Ocon sits ahead of Alonso in the Drivers’ Championship standings in P8 on 58 points, while his 2-time Championship winning teammate on 41 points sits in P10.


Neither driver has earned themselves a podium finish in 2022, however, Fernando Alonso made a strong effort to do so at the Canadian Grand Prix when he qualified with a time good enough to see him line up on the front row alongside Max Verstappen to start the race. Meanwhile, the Frenchman's best qualifying result this season has been fifth in Saudi Arabia.


Alonso has out-qualified Ocon 7 times versus Ocon’s 5, while Ocon has beaten out his teammate in 7 of the 13 races so far.


Given the announcement of Alonso moving to Aston Martin for 2023 and beyond, it will be interesting to see how the battle between these two drivers will level out in Abu Dhabi.


Mclaren: Norris Vs. Ricciardo


Mclaren’s 2022 season thus far has delivered an underwhelming haul of results for the team and has made evident the difference in the performance of their drivers, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.


Norris, the younger of the two drivers, has scored 76 points across the first 13 rounds, positioning him in P7 of the WDC, however, 70 points behind Lewis Hamilton in P6. His Australian teammate has failed to score points on many occasions, only amassing a total of 19 points, putting Ricciardo 5 places behind, in P12.

The duo has only scored one podium this season, being Norris’ P3 in Imola. The Briton capitalised on Charles Leclerc’s overly ambitious mistake and held off George Russell for the majority of the Grand Prix to earn his first podium finish in 2022.


Ricciardo’s best finish was P6 at the Australian Grand Prix, where he scored 8 points. Aside from this outing, the Australian has finished in the points on four previous occasions.


Norris has both outperformed and out-qualified his teammate this season. In qualifying, the head-to-head battle favours Norris 10-3, while races have seen the Englishman cross the line ahead of Ricciardo on 11 of the 13 events.


In addition to the on-track performance differences between the Mclaren drivers, the internal treatment of Ricciardo amid contract negotiations has made it abundantly clear who the team sees leading them into the future.


Alfa Romeo: Bottas Vs. Zhou


Alfa Romeo’s line of drivers are both new to the team this year, with Valtteri Bottas, having moved from Mercedes, and rookie Zhou Guanyu driving from them in 2022.


Although the points comparison may not reflect it, Zhou has put in an impressive rookie season performance. The Chinese driver has suffered four technical issue-related retirements, and one due to his heavy crash at the British GP. Currently, he has 5 points to his name, putting him in P17 of the Drivers’ Championship.


His veteran teammate, Bottas has accumulated 46 points in the first 13 rounds, leading the Fin to occupy P9 of the WDC.


Of the two, Bottas has dominated qualifying sessions and races, outperforming his teammate in 10 of the 13 Saturday sessions and 10 races.


In total, the team has suffered 8 DNFs.


Alfa Romeo with potential reliability improvements after the summer break will prove to be an exciting additional factor in the midfield battle, and see their inter-team comparison take a different shape by the closing rounds.


Haas: Magnussen Vs. Schumacher


Haas has proved to be a reimagined version of themselves so far this season, scoring points on many occasions, and even making Q3 appearances on multiple occasions.


Returning to the grid this season, Kevin Magnussen has resumed an impressive form. The Norwegian has amassed 22 points, putting him in P11 of the WDC. His teammate trails behind in P15 with 12 points, earning the first haul of his career at the British GP.


Schumacher has had the upper hand in races, finishing ahead of his teammate in 8 races, the highest being P6 in Austria. At the same time, Magnussen’s qualifying form has been a step above Schumacher’s, out-qualifying the German on 11 of the 13 occasions.


Magnussen’s steady performance across the first half of the season had made him a reliable resource at Haas, with his young counterpart putting in impressive performances alongside some rookie errors.


Alpha Tauri: Gasly Vs. Tsunoda


Alpha Tauri has suffered an undesirable first half to their season in which they’ve found themselves sitting in P8 of the Constructors’ Championship.


Pierre Gasly has accumulated 16 points across his 3 points finishes so far, despite a correlating 3 DNFs. He sits in P13 of the Drivers’ Championship while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda sits in P16 with 11 points.


Unable to get the edge up on his closest opponent, Tsunoda has only out-qualified his teammate on 5 occasions to Gasly’s 8, adding to the former Red Bull driver’s career qualifying head-to-head win rate against a teammate of 66%.


A similar story in races, the tally runs 7-5 in the Frenchman's favour.


Pierre Gasly’s raw skill has seen him outperform his Japanese teammate, whose future is not yet secured, across the board in the AT03 this season.


Aston Martin: Vettel Vs. Stroll


Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll have failed to get their 2022 challenger into a competitive position so far this season.


Vettel has managed to earn his team 16 points, scoring points on 5 different occasions with two DNFs in the early part of the season. He sits in P15 of the WDC. His teammate has only managed to score 4 points so far, seeing Stroll in P18 of the Drivers’ Championship.


The German has dominated both qualifying and race head-to-heads against Stroll. Vettel leads 8-3 in qualifying performances, and 6-5 in race finishes.


Both have similar highest grid positions, with Stroll’s best being P10 and Vettel’s P9, however, their highest finishes differ with Vettel having finished in P6 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix compared to Stroll’s finishing in P10 on four occasions.


The four-time World Champion, who is set to retire at the end of the 2022 season, has admitted to not having the adequate machinery to perform at an enjoyable, nor competitive level, which we know Vettel was once capable of.


Williams: Albon Vs. Latifi


Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi have given Williams the occasional confidence boost with their sporadic impressive performances, namely Albon.


The Thai driver, who heats one position above his teammate in P19 in the WDC, has managed to score 3 points this season. Albon’s first point with his new team came when he drove the Australian Grand Prix solely on hard tyres, before a last-lap pitstop. He scored the last of his points so far at the inaugural Miami GP when he finished P9.


Latifi is the only driver on the grid to have 0 points to his name at this stage. The Canadian’s highest finish was P12 at the British GP.


Albon has outclassed his Canadian counterpart in 11 of the qualifying sessions, and 9 of their race outings, proving why he earned a contract for next season, and why his teammate's future is still in the air.

2 comments

2 commentaires


Davin Walker
Davin Walker
25 janv. 2023

Smoooooooth operatoorrrrr

J'aime

Davin Walker
Davin Walker
25 janv. 2023

Siiiiiuuuu

J'aime
bottom of page