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The 2024 F1 Chinese GP saw Lewis Hamilton's performances in the spotlight, as the driver was once again outperformed by his teammate. The start of the season has been a surprise for so many teams where the intra-team battles were supposed to be close.
Unlike the driver combination that we see at Red Bull or Aston Martin, where there is a clear hierarchy, there are other teams in F1 where the two teammates are very competitive or are supposed to be very close to each other in terms of performance.
Five races into the F1 season, a pattern in the intra-team battle starts to emerge. If there is a driver who takes the initiative, he tends to continue to hold the advantage until the end of the season. This season, there are three intra-team driver partnerships that have been surprisingly one-sided.
#1 Lewis Hamilton - George Russell
Qualifying: (1-4) and (0-1) (Sprint)
Races: (0-5) and (0-1)
Lewis Hamilton had the upper hand against George Russell last season, as the F1 legend outscored his teammate quite comfortably. The year prior, in 2022, it was George who had the edge over Lewis.
The way the 2024 F1 season is panning out at the moment is a surprise for many because both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are brilliant drivers. More often than not, the two are very close to each other in terms of performance. Having said that, the 2024 F1 season has been anything but that.
Lewis Hamilton has found it hard to hook things up and, hence, finds himself struggling compared to his teammate. There have been conversations about experimental setups far too often, but at the end of the day, if one driver is getting a better result out of the car, then that shows there is a gulf between the two drivers.
Lewis Hamilton getting dominated by his teammate in the first five races of the season is certainly something rare for the F1 legend.
#2 Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri
Qualifying: (4-1) and (1-0) (Sprint)
Races: (4-1) and (1-0)
Oscar Piastri is in his second season, and after the kind of rookie year he had, much was expected of him. The Australian driver showed an impressive growth curve in his very first year and to supplement it, some very impressive qualifying pace as well.
By the end of the season in 2023, Oscar Piastri was quite competitive against Lando Norris in qualifying and beat him on numerous occasions as well. Even though the long-run pace was something that was a bit of a question mark for the Australian, he was expected to improve on that in his second season.
Surprisingly, though, it has been one-sided at McLaren, with Oscar only performing better than his teammate once in Saudi Arabia. The young Australian is still on a learning trajectory, but the kind of growth that was expected from him is not there yet.
#3 Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly
Qualifying: (5-0) and (0-1) (Sprint)
Races: (4-1) and (1-0)
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were as close as it gets between teammates in 2023. The two were well-matched in different parameters over the year, and in 2024, the same thing was expected to happen for the two drivers. Surprisingly, though, the loss of form for Alpine has affected Gasly a bit more, as Ocon has taken the initiative away from his teammate.
Other than the race in Melbourne where Ocon was forced to do an extra pitstop due to damage to his car, Gasly has found it hard to keep up with his teammate and beat him. With a clean sweep of (5-0) in qualifying, Gasly will be looking to find a better balance and get back to the level he showed in 2024.
