F1 2023 head-to-heads: Which Formula 1 drivers are getting the better of their team-mate this season?
Who is coming out on top in the team-mate battles of F1 2023?
Five Grand Prix weekends completed, 18 races and five Sprints to go. The 2023 F1 season is now gearing up for its first triple-header of the season, but which drivers are getting the better of their team-mates so far?
There are six new team-mate pairings this season, and throughout the grid there have been intriguing on-track battles in the opening rounds.
But who has got an early advantage and which drivers have work to do? After all, the first aim for an F1 driver is beating your team-mate! Sky Sports F1 crunches the numbers on the 10 head-to-heads so far…
N.B. Grid penalties are not included in qualifying head-to-head scores. No Sprint or race day score is given if both cars fail to finish or at least one car fails to start.
And as qualifying is the ultimate display of pace, the average qualifying margin is calculated using a driver’s fastest lap within the hour-long session. Qualifying sessions where a driver failed to set a representative time are also discounted.
Red Bull: Max Verstappen vs Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen look set to battle it out for the 2023 title
QUALIFYING
Verstappen 3-2 Perez
Best result: Verstappen 1st, Perez 1st
Q3 appearances: Verstappen 4-4 Perez
Poles: Verstappen 2-2 Perez
Average qualifying margin: 0.057s in Perez’s favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Verstappen 0-1 Perez
SPRINTS
Verstappen 0-1 Perez
RACE DAY
Verstappen 3-2 Perez
Best result: Verstappen 1st, Perez 1st
Wins: Verstappen 3-2 Perez
Podiums: Verstappen 5-4 Perez
Fastest laps: Verstappen 2-1 Perez
Points: Verstappen 119-105 Perez
STORY SO FAR
Verstappen and Perez look set to battle it out with each other for this year’s world championship title after Red Bull’s dominant start to the season. Verstappen has got the slight advantage in the main head-to-heads so far, and perhaps landed the first real body blow of the title fight with his drive from ninth to victory at the Miami GP.
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Watch all of Max Verstappen’s overtakes at the Miami GP as he went from ninth to first place.
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso vs Lance Stroll
Fernando Alonso has a 5-0 lead over Lance Stroll in both qualifying and race results
QUALIFYING
Alonso 5-0 Stroll
Best result: Alonso 2nd, Stroll 6th
Q3 appearances: Alonso 5-4 Stroll
Average qualifying margin: 0.517s in Alonso’s favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Alonso 1-0 Stroll
SPRINTS
Alonso 1-0 Stroll
RACE DAY
Alonso 5-0 Stroll
Best result: Alonso 3rd, Stroll 4th
Podiums: Alonso 4-0 Stroll
Retirements: Alonso 0-1 Stroll
Points: Alonso 75-27 Stroll
STORY SO FAR
Aston Martin are the surprise team trying to take the fight to Red Bull and that is being led by star signing Alonso. The Spaniard is dominating new team-mate Stroll so far with a clean sweep in qualifying, Sprint sessions and on race day. In fact, Stroll has only bettered Alonso in one session of track action – Azerbaijan GP practice.
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Fernando Alonso reacts to Lance Stroll’s Alex Albon overtake.
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton vs George Russell
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have been evenly matched in the opening five rounds of F1 2023
QUALIFYING
Hamilton 1-4 Russell
Best result: Hamilton 3rd, Russell 2nd
Q3 appearances: Hamilton 4-4 Russell
Average qualifying margin: 0.034s in Russell’s favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Hamilton 0-1 Russell
SPRINTS
Hamilton 0-1 Russell
RACE DAY
Hamilton 3-2 Russell
Best result: Hamilton 2nd, Russell 4th
Podiums: Hamilton 1-0 Russell
Fastest laps: Hamilton 0-1 Russell
Retirements: Hamilton 0-1 Russell
Points: Hamilton 56-40 Russell
STORY SO FAR
Russell is continuing his reputation of being ‘Mr Saturday’ having out-qualified Hamilton four times already this season. But the margin between the two Mercedes drivers is the tightest on the grid, at just three hundredths of a second.
Hamilton is battling back on Sundays, however, and has picked up Mercedes’ only podium so far in 2023 in Australia, where Russell lost out to a red flag after leading before suffering an engine failure.
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc vs Carlos Sainz
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are separated by 10 points in the drivers’ standings
QUALIFYING
Leclerc 3-2 Sainz
Best result: Leclerc 1st, Sainz 3rd
Q3 appearances: Leclerc 5-5 Sainz
Poles: Leclerc 1-0 Sainz
Average qualifying margin: 0.317s in Leclerc’s favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Leclerc 1-0 Sainz
SPRINTS
Leclerc 1-0 Sainz
RACE DAY
Leclerc 1-4 Sainz
Best result: Leclerc 3rd, Sainz 4th
Podiums: Leclerc 1-0 Sainz
Retirements: Leclerc 2-0 Sainz
Points: Leclerc 34-44 Sainz
STORY SO FAR
It’s been a tricky start to the season at Ferrari. Leclerc is holding the advantage in qualifying over Sainz and is the only driver to break Red Bull’s stranglehold on pole positions so far.
The Monegasque’s DNFs in Bahrain and Australia have helped Sainz open up an advantage on race days, but Leclerc has picked up Ferrari’s only podium so far in Azerbaijan.
McLaren: Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri
Lando Norris is partnered by rookie Oscar Piastri at McLaren
QUALIFYING
Norris 4-1 Piastri
Best result: Norris 7th, Piastri 9th
Q3 appearances: Norris 1-2 Piastri
Average qualifying margin: 0.087s in Norris’ favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Norris 1-0 Piastri
SPRINTS
Norris 0-1 Piastri
RACE DAY
Norris 4-1 Piastri
Best result: Norris 6th, Piastri 8th
Retirements: Norris 0-1 Piastri
Points: Norris 10-4 Piastri
STORY SO FAR
In an under-performing MCL60, rookie Piastri is managing to stay closer to Norris than Daniel Ricciardo managed to. While Norris enjoys a 4-1 lead in both the qualifying and race day head-to-heads, the 0.087s average qualifying margin between the two is the third closest of all the teams. And since Piastri’s opening race retirement, the two McLaren cars have always been two positions apart in final race classifications.
Alpine: Esteban Ocon vs Pierre Gasly
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are in their first year as team-mates at Alpine
QUALIFYING
Ocon 3-2 Gasly
Best result: Ocon 7th, Gasly 5th
Q3 appearances: Ocon 3-3 Gasly
Average qualifying margin: 0.380s in Ocon’s favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Ocon 1-0 Gasly
SPRINTS
Ocon 0-1 Gasly
RACE DAY
Ocon 1-3 Gasly *Both drivers retired in Australia
Best result: Ocon 8th, Gasly 8th
Retirements: Ocon 2-1 Gasly
Points: Ocon 6-8 Gasly
STORY SO FAR
The intra-team battle at Alpine is incredibly tight with Ocon having a slight advantage in qualifying while Gasly has so far had the upper hand on race day. The French team-mates are the only pair to have taken each other out in a race so far too, having both ended up in the barriers at Turn Two in Australia.
While the qualifying margin is quite significantly in Ocon’s favour, that is weighted by Gasly’s poor qualifying in Bahrain (while his Baku lap is deemed unrepresentative). If only Saudi, Australia and Miami qualifying are analysed, the gap between Ocon and Gasly is just 0.084s.
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The two Alpine cars crashed out together at Turn Two after the final standing start restart at the Australian GP
Haas: Kevin Magnussen vs Nico Hulkenberg
Nico Hulkenberg is back in Formula 1 at Haas with Kevin Magnussen
QUALIFYING
Magnussen 1-4 Hulkenberg
Best result: Magnussen 4th, Hulkenberg 10th
Q3 appearances: Magnussen 1-2 Hulkenberg
Average qualifying margin: 0.483s in Hulkenberg’s favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Magnussen 0-1 Hulkenberg
SPRINTS
Magnussen 1-0 Hulkenberg
RACE DAY
Magnussen 4-1 Hulkenberg
Best result: Magnussen 10th, Hulkenberg 7th
Retirements: Magnussen 1-0 Hulkenberg
Points: Magnussen 2-6 Hulkenberg
STORY SO FAR
The battle at Haas is an intriguing one with Hulkenberg’s dominance of qualifying so far not translating to Sunday results as Magnussen has finished ahead of his new team-mate in all but one race – a trend that also occurred during Azerbaijan’s Sprint.
Hulkenberg has twice managed Q3 appearances, but Magnussen secured Haas’ best-ever Grand Prix starting position with his fourth place in qualifying in Miami. Hulkenberg leads the points standing courtesy of avoiding the chaos in Australia to finish seventh.
Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas vs Zhou Guanyu
There is little to split Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo
QUALIFYING
Bottas 3-2 Zhou
Best result: Bottas 10th, Zhou 12th
Q3 appearances: Bottas 1-0 Zhou
Average qualifying margin: 0.112s in Bottas’ favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Bottas 0-1 Zhou
SPRINTS
Bottas 0-1 Zhou
RACE DAY
Bottas 3-2 Zhou
Best result: Bottas 8th, Zhou 9th
Fastest laps: Bottas 0-1 Zhou
Retirements: Bottas 0-1 Zhou
Points: Bottas 4-2 Zhou
STORY SO FAR
It has been a back-and-forth battle down at Alfa Romeo between Bottas and Zhou. After an impressive eighth place in Bahrain for Bottas, Zhou outperformed his experienced team-mate in both Saudi Arabia and Australia. But Bottas has had the upper hand in Baku and Miami to lead his team-mate 3-2 in both qualifying and race day head-to-heads.
AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda vs Nyck de Vries
Yuki Tsunoda has a new team-mate in Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri
QUALIFYING
Tsunoda 4-1 De Vries
Best result: Tsunoda 8th, De Vries 15th
Q3 appearances: Tsunoda 1-0 De Vries
Average qualifying margin: 0.307s in Tsunoda’s favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Tsunoda 1-0 De Vries
SPRINTS
Tsunoda 0-1 De Vries
RACE DAY
Tsunoda 5-0 De Vries
Best result: Tsunoda 10th, De Vries 14th
Retirements: Tsunoda 0-2 De Vries
Points: Tsunoda 2-0 De Vries
STORY SO FAR
Contrasting fortunes down at AlphaTauri with Tsunoda comfortably outperforming De Vries, who has endured a baptism of fire to his F1 rookie season. Tsunoda has finished either 10th or 11th in each of the five Grands Prix, while De Vries has been involved in a number of collisions and is one of only two drivers yet to pick up a point.
The Dutchman has, though, ended Tsunoda’s qualifying stranglehold, managing to outpace his team-mate for the first time in Miami.
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Nyck de Vries’ latest collision saw him run into the back of Lando Norris at the start of the Miami GP
Williams: Alex Albon vs Logan Sargeant
Alex Albon has the better of rookie team-mate Logan Sargeant so far at Williams
QUALIFYING
Albon 5-0 Sargeant
Best result: Albon 8th, Sargeant 15th
Q3 appearances: Albon 1-0 Sargeant
Average qualifying margin: 0.586s in Albon’s favour
SPRINT SHOOTOUTS
Albon 1-0 Sargeant
SPRINTS
Sargeant failed to start Azerbaijan GP Sprint
RACE DAY
Albon 3-1 Sargeant *Both drivers retired in Australia
Best result: Albon 10th, Sargeant 12th
Retirements: Albon 2-1 Sargeant
Points: Albon 1-0 Sargeant
STORY SO FAR
Albon is dominating rookie team-mate Sargeant, the other driver yet to score a point in F1 2023. Albon is yet to be out-qualified and managed to get his Williams to a very impressive eighth on the grid in Australia.
Sargeant had a solid debut race in Bahrain as he came home 12th and will be seeking to get back to those heights in the races to come and close the gap to his more experienced team-mate.
Formula 1 returns to Imola for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix from May 19-21. Watch every session live on Sky Sports F1 including the race from 2pm on Sunday May 21.
