When Formula 1 resumes in the Netherlands this weekend, some drivers will be hoping three weekends without racing will have been enough to change their fortunes.
The stop-start first half of the season under these new regulations was illuminating, with some clear patterns forming not only of the overall competitive order but of the internal dynamics of each team.
The most important indicator of performance in motorsport is whether or not you can beat your teammate. Beat them regularly, and beat them comprehensively, and inevitably you can keep your future in your own hands.
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Be beaten, however, and your place in Formula 1 can look very risky very quickly.
Internally teams have a good idea of how their drivers are performing relative to each other. From the outside we can analyse some key metrics to build the picture of teammate dominance.
We’ll look at five key performance metrics. In qualifying we’ll look at the head-to-head count as well as the qualifying differential — how many places there are on the grid between the teammates — and the time differential, which is about one-lap speed.
Then we’ll look at the race head-to-head count and the race differential, which tells us how many places are between the teammates at the chequered flag.
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We’ll also look at the points gap between drivers. To keep things fair between the frontrunners and the backmarkers, we’ll calculate the gap as a percentage of the team’s total score rather than using the raw numbers printed below.
The number in brackets beside each statistic reveals how dominant the driver is in that particular metric. A rank of 1st means they’re the most dominant, a rank of 22nd means they’ve been dominated. A rank of 11th or 12th means they’ve very closely matched.
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MOST DOMINANT TEAMMATES
These are the drivers crushing their teammates by almost every metric — and the teammates who desperately need to find some form in the second half of the season to prevent annihilation.
1. PIERRE GASLY IS ANNIHILATING FRANCO COLAPINTO (ALPINE)
Qualifying head to head: Gasly leads 8-3 (4th)
Qualifying differential: Gasly ahead 2.5 places (1st)
Time differential: Gasly faster by 0.317s (2nd)
Race head to head: Gasly leads 7-3 (5th)
Race differential: Gasly ahead 3.2 places (1st)
Points: Gasly ahead 42-19 (4th)
Pierre Gasly rocketed to fifth in our mid-season driver rankings, and for good reason: not only is he spearheading Alpine’s rejuvenation, but he’s also obliterating teammate Franco Colapinto, even as the Argentine rediscovers some of the form that made him such hot property in late 2024.
Gasly’s place at the top of this list is built on him dominating two telling metrics.
The first is that he’s qualifying further up the grid than his teammate compared to any other driver: 2.5 places, meaning the Alpine duo is often split by more than just one row on the grid.
The other is how much further ahead Gasly is finishing in the races: 3.2 places. With the top four teams usually locking out eight of the 10 points-paying positions, 3.2 places is the difference between scoring and not scoring — as the growing points margin between them demonstrates.
Colapinto isn’t locked in for next year yet. Though he’s more likely than not to be retained, these numbers leave him vulnerable if the driver market suddenly comes to life and a higher ranked driver becomes available.
2. MAX VERSTAPPEN IS UNDIMMED BY ISACK HADJAR (RED BULL RACING)
Qualifying head to head: Verstappen leads 8-2 (2nd)
Qualifying differential: Verstappen ahead 2.1 places (2nd)
Time differential: Verstappen faster by 0.159s (5th)
Race head to head: Verstappen ahead 6-0 (1st)
Race differential: Verstappen ahead 3.2 places (2nd)
Points: Verstappen ahead 109-68 (6th)
This is perhaps the least surprising entry on this list. Max Verstappen has been the unquestioned top dog at Red Bull Racing for almost a decade, dating back to Daniel Ricciardo quitting the team. Though Isack Hadjar is markedly closer to Verstappen than any teammates since the Australian, he’s still not really anywhere near the Dutchman.
Verstappen is yet to be beaten by Hadjar in a race both have finished, and though the Frenchman became the first teammate to outqualify him since 2024 Azerbaijan, his rare blips this season have had far more to do with the car than his vice-like grip on the team.
That said, with Hadjar in only his second season and improving, there’s no real risk to his seat. Instead all the talk is about whether the team can keep hold of Verstappen — one case of a dominant driver on this list seeing their results as being above the team.
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3. OLIVER BEARMAN COULD SEND ESTEBAN OCON TO RETIREMENT (HAAS)
Qualifying head to head: Bearman leads 8-3 (4th)
Qualifying differential: Bearman ahead 0.5 places (8th)
Time differential: Bearman 0.223s faster (4th)
Race head to head: Bearman leads 7-1 (2nd)
Race differential: Bearman ahead 2.8 places (3rd)
Points: Bearman ahead 18-3 (2nd)
Oliver Bearman’s domination of Esteban Ocon has disaster written all over it for the Frenchman.
It’s a trend that began in the second half of last season, when Bearman began erasing all his rookie weaknesses and piecing together some strong and occasionally giant-killing performances in his lowly Haas car. This year Ocon has barely got a look-in from the opening race.
It’s what Ferrari expected of him as the heir to Lewis Hamilton’s seat, but it puts Ocon in a world of pain as Haas weighs up potential replacements for next season.
If he can’t find form against his teammate — Bearman is in just his second season, while Ocon is in his ninth full-time campaign — he’ll almost certainly find himself out of work in 2027.
4. FERNANDO ALONSO IS QUIETLY OBLITERATING LANCE STROLL (ASTON MARTIN)
Qualifying head to head: Alonso leads 8-2 (2nd)
Qualifying differential: Alonso ahead 1.1 places (7th)
Time differential: Alonso faster by 0.375s (1st)
Race head to head: Alonso leads 2-1 (6th)
Race differential: Alonso ahead 0.7 places (7th)
Points: Alonso ahead 1-0 (1st)
Fernando Alonso observers will know instinctively that he really should be higher on this list.
Alonso has done nothing but belt teammate Lance Stroll for as long as he’s been at Aston Martin, but the woeful state of the car so far this year means he’s had little chance to continue that run. The AMR26 has been by far the slowest car almost all season, which means the best Alonso has been able to qualify is 21st and the furthest forward he’s been able to finish is second last — hence his differential rankings aren’t particularly eye-popping.
But the telling statistic is his one-lap time differential: 0.375s, the largest between any two teammates, which is also borne out by his 8-2 qualifying head-to-head stat.
They’re the only metrics where Alonso can make the difference, even in a substandard car — and it’s where he’s proving he’s still clearly got what it takes to go around again next year if he chooses.
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5. ANDREA KIMI ANTONELLI IS BOSSING GEORGE RUSSELL (MERCEDES)
Qualifying head to head: Antonelli leads 7-4 (6th)
Qualifying differential: Antonelli ahead 1.2 places (5th)
Time differential: Antonelli faster by 0.136s (6th)
Race head to head: Antonelli leads 5-3 (7th)
Race differential: Antonelli ahead 0.8 places (6th)
Points: Antonelli ahead 219-160 (8th)
Andrea Kimi Antonelli isn’t smashing teammate George Russell, but the domination of his more experienced teammate is comprehensive.
The young Italian leads the older Briton comfortably on every key metric, which in the fastest car on the grid has translated into a handsome 50-point title lead at the mid-season break.
It underlines the scale of the work Russell must undertake in the second half of the season. There’s no one particular weakness or single fault in his flailing campaign; he’s been roundly beaten as Antonelli makes better use of the car and gets a better grip on the new regulations.
6. CARLOS SAINZ CONTINUES TO RISE OVER ALEX ALBON (WILLIAMS)
Qualifying head to head: Sainz leads 9-1 (1st)
Qualifying differential: Sainz ahead 1.3 places (3rd)
Time differential: Sainz faster by 0.230s (3rd)
Race head to head: Albon leads 3-2 (15th)
Race differential: Sainz ahead 0.2 places (10th)
Points: Sainz leads 6-5 (10th)
The Williams teammates are right in the middle of the rankings, but Carlos Sainz gets a gong among the most dominant teammates as one of the few to lead a key metric.
His 9-1 domination of Alex Albon in qualifying is unsurpassed by any other driver and demonstrates the perpetuation of a trend that began last year as he continues to gradually bend the team towards him with his performances.
All his qualifying statistics are impressive, with the Spaniard not outside the top three on any of the single-lap metrics. Similar to Fernando Alonso, in a car as flawed as the Williams, this is the only place Sainz is able to demonstrate his superiority behind the wheel.
It was never going to be surprising to hear that Sainz was angling for a move to a more competitive team given Williams’s struggles this season, but these statistics lay out why he could turn rumour into reality.
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CLOSEST TEAMMATES
There’s an argument to be made that the Formula 1 grids of this decade have been the most competitive, from top to bottom, in history.
It’s not just the quality at the back is so strong; it’s that several teams are fielding equally matched, high-quality line-ups, pushing the collective forward — and causing some headaches on the way.
1. CHARLES LECLERC IS NARROWLY HOLDING OFF LEWIS HAMILTON (FERRARI)
Qualifying head to head: Leclerc leads 6-5 (8th)
Qualifying differential: Hamilton ahead 0.3 places (13th)
Time differential: Hamilton faster by 0.012s (13th)
Race head to head: Leclerc leads 5-4 (9th)
Race differential: Leclerc ahead 0.1 places (11th)
Points: Hamilton ahead 169-138 (14th)
You wouldn’t have picked this last year, when Charles Leclerc destroyed an out-of-sorts Lewis Hamilton with such impunity that the seven-time champion several times openly questioned whether the team should replace him.
But Hamilton has risen this year to all but match Leclerc. They split our six key metrics three apiece, and neither driver has anything like a significant lead in any of them.
Though Hamilton is probably the only driver in title contention — though Ferrari still has to prove it can get him there — Leclerc has closed this gap too, with only 31 points between them.
With drivers this closely matched — and given their backgrounds — you can be sure the maximum performance is being squeezed from the Ferrari car this season. Now it’s up to the team to prove it can execute commensurately to win the big prizes.
2. NICO HÜLKENBERG IS KEEPING JUST AHEAD OF GABRIEL BORTOLETO (AUDI)
Qualifying head to head: Hülkenberg leads 6-5 (8th)
Qualifying differential: Hülkenberg ahead 1.3 places (4th)
Time differential: Hülkenberg faster by 0.037s (8th)
Race head to head: drivers tied 3-3 (10th)
Race differential: Bortoleto ahead 0.3 places (15th)
Points: Bortoleto ahead 10-2 (20th)
Nico Hülkenberg has steadied what looked like the beginning of a trend against him last season, when Gabriel Bortoleto at times threatened to steal the ascendancy.
Instead Hülkenberg has found another level to keep the young-gun Brazilian just about at arm’s length. The German has reasserted himself in qualifying — perhaps not surprising given a career built on single-lap pace — whereas there’s comparatively little to pick between them in race conditions.
It’s no wonder Audi is moving towards retaining its line-up for another season — a big tick for Hülkenberg’s unexpected 2023 comeback.
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3. SERGIO PÉREZ IS SHADING VALTTERI BOTTAS (CADILLAC)
Qualifying head to head: Pérez leads 6-5 (8th)
Qualifying differential: Pérez ahead 0.1 places (11th)
Time differential: Bottas faster by 0.016s (14th)
Race head to head: Pérez leads 3-1 (4th)
Race differential: Pérez ahead 0.1 places (4th)
Points: drivers tied 0-0 (11th)
Cadillac is the big asterisk beside these figures. Formula 1’s newest team has performed better than many expected, but the car has been understandably erratic, unpredictable and prone to failure, meaning the sample size is much smaller and harder to interpret.
Sergio Pérez certainly looked more comfortable early on, with some big gaps over Valtteri Bottas, but the Finn has closed those gaps in recent rounds, particularly in qualifying, where he had been expected to be stronger given his historically good one-lap pace.
Rumours have thus been bubbling for weeks now that Pérez’s management is sounding out other teams further up the grid about potential availability for next season, with Sainz’s Williams seat thought to be one possibility if the Spaniard moves elsewhere.
Right now any move would appear unlikely, and Cadillac management has played down the risk, but the fact that speculation continues is validation in itself of Pérez’s decision to return to F1 and clear his reputation.
4. LANDO NORRIS IS KEEPING OSCAR PIASTRI AT BAY (McLAREN)
Qualifying head to head: Norris leads 7-4 (6th)
Qualifying differential: Norris ahead 1.2 places (5th)
Time differential: Norris faster by 0.052s (7th)
Race head to head: drivers tied 3-3 (10th)
Race differential: Norris ahead 0.3 places (9th)
Points: Norris ahead 128-92 (7th)
These numbers recontextualise some of the alarmism around Oscar Piastri’s season. While there’s no doubt reigning world champion Lando Norris has the upper hand, it’s not nearly by the sort of margin some might claim it is.
That said, it’s not just about the above numbers. Piastri was generally stronger earlier in the year, but momentum is swinging against him. Norris has outqualified him five rounds in a row, while unreliability has spared the Australian a likely narrow head-to-head deficit in race conditions.
But there’s also been the car factor at play. McLaren hasn’t been in the mix for most of the season. While Norris made the most of the improved car in Hungary before the break, a more consistent machine could see Piastri build his way back into the campaign — or could see the opposite trend take hold.
This is one of the partnerships to watch in the second half of the season. It’ll be fascinating to see where they end up at the conclusion of the season.
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5. LIAM LAWSON IS LEADING THE WAY FOR ARVID LINDBLAD (RACING BULLS)
Qualifying head to head: Lawson leads 6-5 (8th)
Qualifying differential: Lawson ahead 0.3 places (9th)
Time differential: Lindblad faster by 0.004s (12th)
Race head to head: Lawson leads 7-2 (3rd)
Race differential: Lawson ahead 0.9 places (5th)
Points: Lawson ahead 43-23 (5th)
Having teammates who deliver similar results usually suggests the most is being extracted from the car.
Given Racing Bulls is currently on track for an unprecedented fifth-place finish, it’s not surprising to see Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad so closely matched on this list.
These are the closest teammates on single-lap pace, with Lindblad fractionally faster than his more experienced teammates. Lawson, though, is the far more consistent Sunday performer, delivering the points that have formed the backbone of the team’s rise up the title table.
It’s been a good season for Lawson, but the close qualifying picture is a threat. Lindblad is highly rated, and though the experience gap between them isn’t massive, this sort of hot start has the hallmarks of momentum that could keep building until it becomes unstoppable.
If Lindblad can turn some of these metrics in his favour by the end of the season, it would cement him on the path towards Red Bull Racing — and could begin to put Lawson at risk, particularly with the prospect of Nikola Tsolov pushing up from Formula 2.
OVERALL TEAMMATE RANKING
We can use the statistics above to create a dominance ranking for Formula 1 at the 2026 mid-season break.
We’ll average the ranking — 1st to 22nd — for each of the six metrics to come up with the driver who’s doing best across them to come up with a full list of teammate performance.
Drivers ahead overall
1. Pierre Gasly: 2.8 average ranking
2. Max Verstappen: 3.0 average ranking
3. Oliver Bearman: 3.8 average ranking
4. Fernando Alonso: 4.0 average ranking
5. Andrea Kimi Antonelli: 6.3 average ranking
6. Carlos Sainz: 7.0 average ranking
7. Liam Lawson: 7.0 average ranking
8. Lando Norris: 7.3 average ranking
9. Sergio Pérez: 8.7 average ranking
10. Nico Hülkenberg: 10.8 average ranking
11. Lewis Hamilton: 11.0 average ranking
Drivers behind overall
12. Gabriel Bortoleto: 11.2 average ranking
13. Charles Leclerc: 11.3 average ranking
14, Valtteri Bottas: 13.7 average ranking
15. Oscar Piastri: 14.8 average ranking
16. Arvid Lindblad: 15.3 average ranking
17. Alex Albon: 16.0 average ranking
18. George Russell: 16.3 average ranking
19. Lance Stroll: 18.8 average ranking
20. Esteban Ocon: 19.0 average ranking
21. Isack Hadjar: 19.8 average ranking
22. Franco Colapinto: 20.0 average ranking