F1 team-mates head-to-head: Who is winning each intra-team battle?
Formula 1 data experts F1 Bytes run the numbers to see who comes out on top at each team
After spending August relaxing on their private islands or whatever it is they've been doing, the Formula 1 drivers are now back on duty and have already been on track at Spa ahead of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.
But before they get racing, we thought it would be a good idea to have a look at how each of the F1 drivers compare to their team-mates, at this halfway(ish!) stage of the season.
Given that the cars vary so wildly between teams, judging the performances of the drivers against the only other man in the same machinery is often the best method we have of measuring a driver's performance. As any driver will tell you, his first job is to beat his team-mate.
In F1 your first job is to beat your team-mate (Pic: Sutton)
Rather than simply look at how many points each driver has scored, we've decided to go a bit deeper than that in order to try to get a more complete picture of performance.
To do that we have teamed up with the Formula 1 data analysis experts F1 Bytes, who have already produced some excellent pieces around using data to predict who will win the 2017 world championship and working out who is the best dollar-per-point driver.
They have also compiled extensive research on comparing the F1 drivers to their team-mate using six different metrics: points, race result (head to head), laps in the top 10, fastest laps, qualifying position, and best result.
You can read a full explanation of each metric here.
We then asked our design team to come up with a way to visually represent that data.
We think the following radar-charts work well - the basic point being that the bigger the area shaded the colour of the relevant driver, the better that driver is doing.
See what you think - and let us know in the comments if you think we have overlooked anything, or if the graphical visualisations could be improved.
MERCEDES
NOTE: Because Hamilton and Bottas have both won races, we have measured their 'BEST RESULT' by how many wins they each have
WINNER: Hamilton
As expected, Lewis Hamilton is doing better than Valtteri Bottas on paper: more wins, more points, more fastest laps, and better qualifying positions.
But other than the fastest laps, note how close Bottas is to his illustrious team-mate.
It shows that the Finn is doing a fantastic job in his first season in a truly top car, up against a triple world champion.
FERRARI
WINNER: Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is clearly dominating Kimi Raikkonen - although the veteran Finn is still quick enough to be beating his German team-mate 6-4 on fastest laps.
But in qualifying and the races, Kimi has very rarely got the better of the four-time world champ in the other car. Does he deserve that new contract for next year?
RED BULL RACING
WINNER: Ricciardo
This is an interesting one: yes Daniel Ricciardo has more points, more laps in the top ten and a better best result, but Max Verstappen has a better qualifying record, and the top ten laps and points differences can partly be explained by Verstappen's awful reliability record this season.
FORCE INDIA
WINNER: Perez
What's quite surprising about this one is that Sergio Perez beats Esteban Ocon outright in every metric (and trounces him in qualifying, fastest lap and race result), but when it comes to best result, points and laps in the top ten, the young Frenchman is right behind his more experienced team-mate.
WILLIAMS
WINNER: Massa
Were it not for that shock podium for Lance Stroll in Baku, veteran Felipe Massa would be well ahead here.
But it’s interesting to note that young Lance Stroll is doing better on the fastest lap metric - and it will be fascinating to compare this graphic with an equivalent at the end of the year to see if Stroll can get closer to Massa as he gains more experience.
TORO ROSSO
WINNER: Sainz
The fastest lap metric along with the close qualifying record shows Daniil Kvyat does not lack for speed - he is not not as good at converting it into results as Carlos Sainz is.
He needs to sort that out quickly, or this could be his last season in F1.
HAAS
WINNER: Grosjean
We always seem to hear Romain Grosjean on the radio complaining about his brakes, but that doesn’t seem to be hampering him too much in his intra-team fight with Kevin Magnussen.
RENAULT
WINNER: Hulkenberg
Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. No, this graph is not broken. This is by far and away the most comprehensive owning of any driver by his team-mate, and it’s almost painful to see it laid bare like this.
It has been clear for some time that Jolyon Palmer has been having a difficult season, while Nico Hulkenberg has been impressing in the other car. But when visualised like this, the true nature of the difference becomes starkly apparent.
McLAREN
WINNER: Alonso
Stoffel Vandoorne is rated as one of the best young drivers in the sport, but this graphic illustrates how comfortably Fernando Alonso is faring against him.
The veteran Spaniard is knocking it out of the park in every measurable metric, proving that he is far from past it - and showing just why McLaren are so desperate to keep him for next year.
SAUBER
WINNER: Wehrlein
Of the six metrics Pascal Wehrlein loses out to Marcus Ericsson only in terms of fastest laps - but many will say “so he should” considering how highly rated the Mercedes junior driver is.
Will it be enough to get him a seat in another team next year? Only time will tell.
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Comments (6)
Wow! Great post Rob and stunning graphics. Thanks so much to you and the design team for really bringing our H2H stats to life!
Thanks guys! Glad you like them
Probably the best, most comprehensive, team-mate comparison I've ever seen. Keep it going !
really nice way to compare , never seen it represented this way before. PS Perez must have some swagger ground the force India garage lol . PPS Jolyon Palmer 🤦
Susprisingly, Red Bull finished both their cars just as much as Mclaren did.
This is beautiful!