F1 team duels | Verstappen king at Red Bull, Albon and Piastri impress

After eight Grands Prix, the relationships within the various F1 teams are becoming increasingly clear. In some teams, there is one clear leader, whereas in others there is an equal line-up. A deeper dive into the statistics of this F1 season.

F1 team duels 2023

Red Bull Racing

At Red Bull Racing, it had long been clear who was number one. Max Verstappen doesn't get paid the most in F1 for nothing and shows that again in 2023. Despite all Sergio Perez 's ambitions, the Mexican barely managed to qualify or finish ahead of his teammate. To clarify, the Mexican managed one more time than listed in the statistics, but given Verstappen's technical problems, these have not been included.

Mercedes

Mercedes brought in George Russell to replace Valtteri Bottas and got what could be expected with that. Russell and Lewis Hamilton are particularly close, even more so in 2023 than they were in 2022. The young Briton is even just slightly faster on average than the seven-time world champion, but scored fewer points in the first eight races.

Aston Martin

After Lance Stroll was able to stay somewhat close to Sebastian Vettel, the arrival of Fernando Alonso makes it clear that the Canadian is not one of the top drivers in F1. Alonso conceded almost nothing and, at 41, also has a fairly large margin over one lap.

Ferrari

Over one lap, Charles Leclerc is still the best man at Ferrari, albeit narrowly, but mistakes by Ferrari and Leclerc himself have meant that Carlos Sainz has done better in the races. For Ferrari, the two are perhaps a little too close, especially given that Ferrari likes to work with a distinct front-runner. Leclerc's results just don't suggest that at the moment.

Alpine

Esteban Ocon has the upper hand for now in the duel with Pierre Gasly, but Gasly has weathered the switch from AlphaTauri to Alpine just fine. In his first few races, he is not far off his teammate, who you have to remember has been driving for this team for years. It will be interesting to see how things go between these two if Gasly manages to close that small gap just a little further.

McLaren

Oscar Piastri shows himself to be a future world champion in everything. Lando Norris is regarded as a great talent and, meanwhile, already has four years of F1 experience at McLaren behind him. That the Australian is so close after just one year of not being able to race says enough about his talent. The question now is how quickly Piastri gets closer and how McLaren and Norris will deal with it next.

Alfa Romeo

Whereas Valtteri Bottas was overwhelmingly the team's front-runner in 2022, Guanyu Zhou has closed the gap on the Finn in 2023. Bottas still has a small lead in all areas, but with ten F1 wins behind his name, you wouldn't expect anything else. Zhou surprised and with an expiring contract, it is a good time.

Haas

After three years on the sidelines, Nico Hulkenberg surprised friend and foe with his return to Haas. Many had reservations about whether the German would be an upgrade over Mick Schumacher, but he overwhelmingly is. In fact, Hulkenberg has proved much faster over one lap than Magnussen and is equivalent in race pace. Magnussen might have been a bit dormant after a year alongside Schumacher, but with his contract expiring, he needs to get back into serious racing.

Williams

Alexander Albon is emerging as Williams' team leader and is closing the biggest gap to his teammate. Logan Sargeant is obviously just a rookie, but even for Williams, this gap against Albon will be too big. The American has shown his speed at times, but a completely flawless weekend has not been one yet.

AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda already made a big step in his development in 2022 and continues that in 2023. The Japanese is particularly consistent and a lot calmer. He therefore scores the only points for AlphaTauri so far, where Nyck de Vries is still visibly struggling with the AT04. De Vries is getting closer on Saturday, though, and will do everything he can to beat Tsunoda more often on Sunday as well.