Formula 1 enthusiasts and the media alike thrive on evaluating F1 drivers, dissecting who’s excelling, who’s underperforming, and how teammates fare against each other when armed with the same machinery. With Formula 1 currently in its summer break, it’s the perfect moment to assess the 2024 season so far.
Driver comparisons can be approached from various angles, but raw speed remains a fundamental metric. Without it, success is elusive, and qualifying is arguably the purest measure of pace.
Below, we present how the 2024 F1 teammates compare after 14 rounds, based on their qualifying performances in grands prix (excluding sprints). We’ve excluded sessions where one driver was unable to set a representative time due to circumstances beyond their control, which explains why the totals don’t always add up to 14.
Qualifying head-to-head
1. Leclerc 8-5 Sainz
2. Ocon 8-4 Gasly
3. Alonso 9-5 Stroll
4. Tsunoda 9-4 Ricciardo
5. Russell 10-4 Hamilton
6. Hulkenberg 10-2 Magnussen
7. Norris 11-3 Piastri
8. Bottas 13-1 Zhou
9. Albon 13-0 Sargeant
10. Verstappen 14-0 Perez
While this is a useful way to gauge intra-team battles, it’s not without its limitations. A driver consistently just a few thousandths of a second behind their teammate is still performing well and getting close to maximizing their car’s potential, while another could be half a second off yet have a similar head-to-head score.
To get a more nuanced understanding of a driver’s speed, we’ve looked at supertimes. Supertimes are calculated by taking the fastest single lap from each driver during a race weekend, converting it to a percentage of the overall fastest lap (with 100.000% being the standard), and averaging these percentages over the season.
This method usually relies on qualifying laps but offers the advantage of largely mitigating the impact of any single session where a driver might have encountered issues, as it considers the entire weekend’s performance. Although not perfect—it doesn’t assess race consistency, for example—it provides valuable insights into raw speed.
Supertime Gaps Among 2024 Teammates
1. Gasly-Ocon 0.015%
2. Russell-Hamilton 0.101%
3. Leclerc-Sainz 0.134%
4. Norris-Piastri 0.185%
5. Tsunoda-Ricciardo 0.196%
6. Alonso-Stroll 0.211%
7. Hulkenberg-Magnussen 0.426%
8. Bottas-Zhou 0.643%
9. Albon-Sargeant 0.675%
10. Verstappen-Perez 0.953%
The first striking observation is how closely matched Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are at Alpine. Their gap is equivalent to just 0.015 seconds over a 1m40s lap, reminiscent of the tight competition between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007 (0.019s in Hamilton’s favor) and the 2015 Toro Rosso rookies, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz (0.067s). Across several metrics, including points and driver ratings, the two Frenchmen are neck and neck. Although their partnership has been fraught, it’s clear that driver performance isn’t Alpine’s biggest issue in 2024.
The margin between George Russell and Hamilton at Mercedes is also slim. Although Hamilton trails 10-4 in qualifying, some speculate that this reflects a waning interest before his move to Ferrari. However, being just 0.101% behind a younger, hungry teammate hardly suggests that Hamilton has lost his edge. His race pace has remained strong, particularly in recent events, and he still leads Russell in the championship standings—he would even be ahead if Russell’s Belgian GP victory were reinstated.
At Scuderia Ferrari, the gap between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz can be seen in two ways: either it’s a commendable performance by the Spaniard to stay so close to an established one-lap specialist like the Monegasque, or it’s impressive that Charles Leclerc maintains his lead despite a turbulent season.
Oscar Piastri, in his second season, has slightly closed the gap to Lando Norris, reducing it from 0.227% in 2023 to 0.185% this year. However, there’s a sense that both McLaren drivers could improve further by eliminating small errors, especially as they get accustomed to fighting at the sharp end of the grid. How this gap evolves over the remainder of the season—and beyond—will be an intriguing subplot.
Yuki Tsunoda’s slight edge over Daniel Ricciardo supports his argument that he deserved consideration for a promotion to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull, though the gap between them has narrowed in recent races.
Fernando Alonso’s recent dip in form is reflected by his modest 0.211% lead over Lance Stroll. In 2023, the gap between the Aston Martin pair was a more substantial 0.753%, so it’s likely Alonso will widen the margin again in the final races.
The bottom four pairings feature significant gaps, which is telling, as each of these teams has a driver whose future in F1 is either uncertain or under threat.
Nico Hulkenberg has been a standout in 2024, securing a contract with Sauber/Audi. His 0.426% advantage over Kevin Magnussen is even larger than his 0.330% lead in 2023, and with 22 points compared to Magnussen’s five, his dominance is clear. Zhou Guanyu’s deficit to Valtteri Bottas at Sauber has more than doubled from last year, growing from 0.299% to 0.643%. Bottas, known for his strong one-lap pace, was only 0.116% behind Hamilton during their time together at Mercedes, making Zhou’s gap particularly concerning.
Logan Sargeant has chipped away at his deficit to Alex Albon at Williams, but he remains 0.675% behind—a gap that suggests 2024 could be his final season in F1. And then there’s the biggest gap of all…
Much has been made of Sergio Perez’s struggles alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull, but it’s striking to see the current 0.953% gap between them. This is the widest margin since they became teammates in 2021, with the closest being 0.545% in 2022. Whatever the root of Perez’s issues, they’re not improving.
To put this into perspective, the closest a Red Bull teammate has come to Verstappen across a full season was Daniel Ricciardo’s 0.138% and 0.186% in 2018 and 2017, respectively. Perez is currently trailing even more than Alex Albon did in 2020 (0.784%).
Historical comparisons underscore the unusual nature of this disparity. During his challenging second stint at Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen was, on average, 0.284% behind Sebastian Vettel over four seasons. Similarly, the gap between future Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at McLaren was 0.306% from 2010-2012, yet Jenson Button scored more points overall. However, in the case of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, this points advantage does not exist, with Perez currently sitting seventh in the championship, 146 points behind his teammate.
When comparing clear number one/number two line-ups, we find a 0.390% gap between Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello at Ferrari (2000-2005) and a 0.277% difference between Seb Vettel and Mark Webber at Red Bull (2009-2013). Notably, various qualifying format changes from 2003-2009 skew this data slightly, and the Brazilian tended to be closer to Michael Schumacher when the Maranello team was particularly dominant.
To find a comparable gap between two front-runners, one must look at Schumacher and Eddie Irvine at Ferrari. During their three full seasons together, the average gap was 0.908%, although Irvine did close the margin each year after starting a substantial 1.286% behind in 1996.
Riccardo Patrese was 0.999% slower than Nigel Mansell in 1992, but Williams’ dominance with the FW14B still allowed Patrese to finish second in the championship. This gap was more a reflection of one driver adapting better to the advanced technology of the car, as their gap was just 0.111% with the more conventional FW14 in 1991.
The Max Verstappen- Sergio Perez gap is exceptionally wide for the modern era, which explains the ongoing speculation about Perez’s future with the Austrian side.
In summary, the Gasly-Ocon pairing is the most evenly matched, the gaps at Mercedes, Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren, and RB are generally close, Alonso’s recent form is underwhelming given his earlier dominance over Stroll, and the bottom four teams face significant disparities that could impact their constructors’ points and the F1 futures of certain drivers.
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