Team-mate wars 2023: Who is carrying their F1 colleague this season?

drivers, grid, 2023 — Photo: © LAT Images

Team-mate wars

Team-mate wars 2023: Who is carrying their F1 colleague this season?

We've collected the data and counted the points...here's who needs to up their game

Lauren Sneath

Saturday 22 July 2023 22:42

The 2023 season is well underway, and as we approach the summer break, Red Bull are decisively in the lead, looking set to take home another world championship.

But there is plenty of action lower down the grid, and there is always one key battle to watch: that between team-mates.

It is becoming clear which drivers are beating their colleagues to the points, which could impact the positions held by drivers next year.

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Better yet, silly season looks likely to be another whirlwind of signings and sackings; Nyck de Vries has already been a casualty, after his shock sacking from AlphaTauri in favour of Daniel Ricciardo.

So, who is winning when it comes to team-mate wars? We've gathered the data, logging the points collected by drivers so far and the proportion of points they've contributed to their team this year.

Check out our findings below...

The 2023 Grid

Red Bull are decisively leading the championship with 411 combined points, with their closest rivals, Mercedes and Aston Martin, battling for second place. Further down the grid, Alpha Tauri's poor performance so far appears to have been attributed to Nyck de Vries, as the driver was recently dropped from the Red Bull-owned team. Scroll down for analysis of each team in team-mate wars...

Red Bull

Max Verstappen is leading the championship, and his consistency seems a key reason why. The Dutchman has won the past six races, and looks set to continue his streak at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Overall, he has contributed 64% of the team's points this season so far. Sergio Perez, meanwhile, has offered 38% of the team's points in races. With rumours that Daniel Ricciardo will be vying for his Red Bull seat when his contract ends, the Mexican driver needs to tip the scales in the other direction.

Mercedes

After a difficult 2022 season, Mercedes were determined to close the gap to Red Bull this year. Despite challenges from Aston Martin, better consistency overall from Lewis Hamilton and George Russell as a pair has led to the team holding a narrow lead over Aston Martin. Hamilton has contributed 59.6% of the team's points, including podiums at four races. Russell, meanwhile, has secured one podium and been unable to finish two races.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin appeared shockingly high up the grid at the beginning of this season, though their performance surge has slowed somewhat as we get further on. The success of the team has been credited to the much-improved car, which emulates elements of the dominant Red Bull and has proven impressively fast. However, these statistics show that the machine isn't everything; if that were the case, there would be a lot more purple on this graph. Fernando Alonso has carried the team when it comes to points, earning six podiums so far this season. He contributes 75.7% of the team's points, compared with 24.3% from Lance Stroll.

Ferrari

Ferrari's performance has been a mixed bag this season so far, but the team is very evenly matched when it comes to driver performance. Interestingly, Carlos Sainz leads with 53% of points contributed, against 47% from Charles Leclerc; despite the latter offering serious competition to Max Verstappen in the early stages of last season. Both drivers will want to improve on their performance and take the fight to the Red Bulls as the season progresses, but they can take comfort in the fact that they remain on relatively even footing against one another.

McLaren

After a painful start to the 2023 season, McLaren have finally shown some serious performance in the past two races. Lando Norris, now a part of the furniture at the British team, has scored the bulk of the points and recently bagged a podium spot at Silverstone. Oscar Piastri, an F1 rookie, brings home 28.8% of the team's points; not exactly making an impression against Norris, but a stronger performance than fellow rookies Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant, both yet to bring home a point.

Alpine

Alpine have not seen the wave of progress shown by the likes of Aston Martin and McLaren this season, but scored a shock podium in Monaco from Esteban Ocon. Ocon leads in the team-mate wars against Pierre Gasly, with 66% of the points so far this season, but the Frenchmen will be hoping for stronger overall pace as races progress.

Williams

If you had told Williams last year that at this point in the season they would be holding strong ahead of Alfa Romeo, Haas and AlphaTauri, they probably wouldn't have believed you. The team that came dead last in 2022 have shown progress this year, helped along by strong performances from Alex Albon, especially in the past few races. Albon brings home 100% of the team's points; an impressive but perhaps unsurprising feat, given that his team-mate Logan Sargeant is a rookie in the sport. Sargeant will surely be hoping for better as the season continues, but if Albon continues to perform on his own better than three other teams, Williams may have a difficult time holding on to Albon thanks to interest from teams higher up the grid.

Haas

The bulk of Haas's points this year have come from the returning Nico Hulkenberg, who has brought in 81.8% of the points, with nine scored so far. Kevin Magnussen, by contrast, has brought home two points. Will this affect his partnership with the team?

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo are another relatively evenly matched team this season. Valtteri Bottas is holding a narrow lead over team-mate Zhou Guanyu, with 55% of the points to Zhou's 45%. However, neither will feel satisfied with the team's place in the standings so far this season, given that last year they finished in P6. But while Bottas is narrowly in front at the moment, Zhou should be pleased with the way he has closed that gap: by the end of last season, the Chinese driver had brought home just 11% of the team's points. Time will tell if he can stay on par with his team-mate...

AlphaTauri

In last place in the constructors' standings are AlphaTauri, a team recently rocked by the shock sacking of Nyck de Vries. The F1 rookie, who has previously won Formula E, was yet to score a point for the team (in the same way that Logan Sargeant is yet to take home a point for Williams). This was deemed by the team's management to not be up to scratch, and De Vries has been replaced with Daniel Ricciardo. Yuki Tsunoda is tied in P17 in the drivers' championship alongside Kevin Magnussen, having scored two points this year. Perhaps Ricciardo will be able to revitalise the team; though given their recent performance, he may end up green with envy over the surprising leaps and bounds made by his former team, McLaren.