Alonso triumphant and Red Bull surprisingly one-sided - who won F1's qualifying battles?

Joas van Wingerden

Sunday 9 December 2018 10:45

There aren't many better ways to gauge the true talent of a Formula 1 driver than his qualifying performances. Driving at full tilt, with no distractions, can you deliver the perfect lap? The battles within teams on Saturdays in 2018 threw up a few surprises, and one truly miserable record.

Stoffel Vandoorne, look away now. The Belgian qualified behind McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso in all 21 grands prix this season and only once finished ahead of the Spaniard in races where both have seen the chequered flag - in Brazil.

Article continues under video

In terms of pure pace, Pierre Gasly was the most dominant qualifier, averaging over eight tenths quicker than Brendon Hartley in the Toro Rosso, aided by reaching Q3 six times, compared to just twice for the Kiwi.

Sebastian Vettel holding the wood over Ferrari colleague Kimi Raikkonen is also little surprise - as is Charles Leclerc's domination of Sauber stable-mate Marcus Ericsson.

However, Max Verstappen's fine record over Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull was a real shock.

Verstappen qualified ahead of the Australian 14 times out of 19 sessions where both have participated, but Ricciardo oddly took Red Bull's only pole positions of the year - in Monaco and Mexico.

Check out the full results below, with only qualifying sessions which both drivers in a team participated in counting.

WINNING TEAMMATE

AVERAGE GAP

LOSING TEAMMATE

LEWIS HAMILTON: 15

-0.172secs

VALTTERI BOTTAS: 6

SEBASTIAN VETTEL: 17

-0.256secs

KIMI RAIKKONEN: 4

MAX VERSTAPPEN: 14

-0.433secs