After the long and intense 2025 Formula 1 season reached its summer break following 14 of the scheduled 24 Grand Prix, it is the perfect moment to take stock of the intra-team battles, particularly the ultimate showdown that challenges drivers the most: pure qualifying speed. Comparing teammates on equal machinery offers one of the clearest indicators of individual talent and performance under pressure.
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc excels on the single-lap
At Ferrari, Charles Leclerc continues to demonstrate exceptional single-lap speed. Lewis Hamilton, despite his qualifying expertise, is typically 0.21% slower on average, often translating to three grid positions. Considering Hamilton’s adaptation challenges with the Ferrari car, this figure is actually better than last year, when he faced a larger average gap of approximately 0.3% compared to George Russell at Mercedes.
Max Verstappen remains unbeatable
The most striking, yet somewhat expected, statistic is that Max Verstappen remains undefeated in all internal team qualifying sessions after 14 standard qualifying rounds and three sprint qualifications. The Dutch driver is also the only one consistently running more than 0.5% faster on average than his teammate. Yuki Tsunoda came close only at Spa-Francorchamps (0.38%) and Budapest (0.22%), benefiting from the latest evolution of the floor.
Mercedes: George Russell extends dominance
At Mercedes, George Russell continues to outperform Kimi Antonelli. The rookie managed to beat his teammate only once in Miami, while the rest of the season saw an average gap of 0.47%. Updates to the suspension made the car “nervous,” amplifying small mistakes and limiting consistent qualifying performances from Kimi Antonelli.
Aston Martin: Alonso leads despite challenges
At Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso remains the absolute benchmark despite his age. He holds a perfect 14-0 record in standard qualifying sessions and a 2-1 lead in sprint sessions. Lance Stroll struggled between the Monaco Grand Prix and the start of the summer, partly due to hand problems, but he finished the pre-break stretch on the rise, reducing the gap to Alonso to as little as 0.02–0.11%.
Alpine: Pierre Gasly’s consistency
Pierre Gasly has defeated Jack Doohan 6-2 with significant margins. Even with the arrival of Franco Colapinto, Gasly maintained his advantage, although the Argentine teammate has slightly closed the gap (0.32% vs. 0.43% previously). Gasly remains the only driver consistently pushing the challenging Alpine A524 into Q3.
Red Bull junior team: Hadjar shines
For Red Bull Racing, rookie Isack Hadjar has been a revelation. With an average starting position of 9.9, he is the only non-top-team driver regularly reaching the top 10: nine Q3 appearances and zero Q1 eliminations. Liam Lawson, recovering from the “Verstappen shock,” has steadily reduced the gap since the Austrian Grand Prix.
Williams: Albon surprises against Sainz
Williams has seen another noteworthy surprise in 2025. Alex Albon consistently beats Carlos Sainz, extracting strong performance from the car even on less favorable tracks. Sainz shines only occasionally: on good days he beats Albon, but on weaker days he falls back by more than 0.5%.
McLaren: the closest duel
The McLaren intra-team battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris is the closest of the season. Piastri has maintained a slight lead due to a strong start to the year. However, with a new front-end upgrade and intensive fine-tuning alongside his engineers, Norris has nearly closed the gap; in three of the last four Saturdays, the difference was below 0.1%.
Haas and Sauber: unpredictable and surprising
The Haas battle between Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon remains unpredictable, as both rarely peak on the same weekend. Meanwhile, Sauber has been the season’s biggest surprise: Gabriel Bortoleto overturned an initial 5-2 deficit to a current 10-7 advantage, remaining undefeated from Zeltweg onwards. Nico Hülkenberg, normally a qualifying specialist, has focused on different priorities this year, sacrificing Saturday performance and exiting Q1 four times consecutively, with an average gap of 0.46%, the worst starting average of the group.
Overall grid averages and season outlook
Looking at the average starting positions, Oscar Piastri leads with a 2.1 grid average, followed by Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (both 3.4), then George Russell and Charles Leclerc rounding out the top five. At the back, Colapinto, Lance Stroll, and Nico Hülkenberg struggle with averages above 16.
The mid-season snapshot confirms established benchmarks like Verstappen, Leclerc, and Alonso, while highlighting a rising generation of drivers making a strong impact: Piastri, Hadjar, and Bortoleto. As the championship resumes with technical updates and high tire-stress circuits, Saturday qualifying battles will play an increasingly strategic role in determining final race positions, which ultimately matter most, as points are earned on Sunday.
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