To say racing drivers have big egos would be a massive understatement, so for the majority of F1 history, team bosses have avoided having two fast drivers together, bar some notable exceptions  (think Senna and Prost in Mclaren or Hamilton and Alonso).

However has the playbook changed in recent years, and are teams more willing to risk an implosion in the pursuit of maximising performance?

Three of the four current top teams have no clear number one driver so let’s have a look at how they’ve been getting on with managing a dynamic that is usually avoided like the plague.

Ferrari

Of the three teams in question, I would say ferrari have had the most harmonious driver paring since Carlos Sainz partnered with Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in 2021. In fact it’s hard to recall any friction between the pair up until the start of the 2024 season, where it was announced Sainz’ Ferrari contract would not be renewed. Leclerc was not impressed by some “overly ambitious” moves from Sainz while going wheel to wheel during the Chinese GP and the same again during the Spanish GP

However, it’s well documented that in seasons where a driver already knows they’re not going to remain at a team the following year, they tend to get their elbows out with their teammate more often, and maybe are a little hard of hearing when it comes to team orders.

So in this case I think the Ferrari driver paring can be considered very successful over their four seasons together with neither significantly cramping the others style.

Image by Jen Ross, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

McLaren

McLaren are somewhat of a new addition to this list. Lando Norris had a fairly comfortable margin over his rookie teammate Oscar Piastri last year, Piastri showed plenty of speed notably in qualifying but tended to fall back in the races.

Unfortunately for Lando, Oscar 2.0 has been much more of a thorn in his side, after making big steps in improving his tyre management, Piastri is now a consistent challenger to Norris, and over the small sample of the last three races has arguably been the stronger Mclaren driver.

Given the pairs performance has only recently converged it’s surprising that they have already had a notable flashpoint at the Hungarian GP, where Norris took his sweet time to give back the lead to Piastri, raising the collective blood pressure of the McLaren pit wall for about 20 laps.

It will be interesting to see how the dynamic between these two drivers evolves, especially if Piastri continues to give Norris no room to breathe.

Image by Liauzh, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mercedes

In my opinion this is on balance the closest driver pairing and probably the strongest since the start of the ground effect era. As a result there has been plenty of drama between the two.

Lewis Hamilton is no stranger to tough teammates, and George Russell is no different. Since 2022 he has been keeping Hamilton honest, even beating him in the standings in their first year together.

Their first notable incident would be the Dutch GP in 2022 where poor communication by the Mercedes’ pit wall left Hamilton out to dry and gave Russell a clear path to the podium. Hamilton publicly expressed his displeasure at the strategy with expletives over the radio which is not something the seven-time world champion has made a habit of, so it’s clear losing out to his teammate really stung.

The next significant moment of conflict was during the 2023 Spanish GP qualifying and Belgian GP sprint qualifying where Russell blocked Hamilton, the two even making contact in Spain, with a piece of Hamilton’s front wing breaking off. 

Then Qatar, where the golden rule was broken “never hit your teammate”, or at least broken in a race since both Mercedes’ cars had already traded paint earlier in the season. Hamilton and Russell collided on the opening lap putting Hamilton out on the spot and Russell at the back of the field.

This was a big moment in the story of this pairing, after some very close dicing in the previous race at Suzuka, and with the context of the rest of the season, it was probably inevitable.

Image by Lukas Raich, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I think it’s no coincidence that the strongest of the “two number one” pairs has been the most acrimonious. Part of what makes the best drivers so great is their mental fortitude and unwillingness to yield or compromise. 

You put an unstoppable object on a collision course with an immovable one, and you’re likely to have problems.

Ferrari are about to inherit just such a problem as in 2025, Lewis Hamilton joins the Scuderia with a new teammate in Charles Leclerc.

This and a Hamilton Verstappen pairing are probably the only two stronger than the current mercedes lineup. 

So with Red bull also likely to recruit a stronger second driver to partner Max Verstappen, McLarens’ brewing driver rivalry, and a new hotshot Antonelli poised for the vacant Mercedes seat, prepare for fireworks at the front half of the grid next year.

Header Image by fuji.tim, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons