These drivers won the internal duel against their teammate in 2021

The Formula 1 season is over, so it's time to take stock. During the season, GPblog kept track of the internal duels, and the results of this season are in. We noted race duels, points, qualifying duels and the average difference in qualifying. 

Mercedes

At Mercedes, the proportions have been clear in recent years, and that didn't chang in 2021. Valtteri Bottas has been a fine second driver alongside Lewis Hamilton, but over a full year the Brit yet again had nothing to fear from the Finn. This has been ideal for the German team, however, as Bottas is often close enough to provide strategic support and also act as a buffer to Hamilton where possible. But, that wasn't the case this season, and Max Verstappen was able to steal the Drivers' Championship away from Hamilton. In 2022, with the arrival of George Russell, it remains to be seen how this new pairing of Russell and Hamilton will work out.

Red Bull Racing

Sergio Perez's experience in Formula 1 was supposed to ensure that Max Verstappen would finally not be left alone at Red Bull Racing. Looking at the numbers, however, and that wasn't really the case. Although Perez has left a good impression with his victory in Azerbaijan and great performance in Abu Dhabi, the underlying figures are still poor. Compared to Mercedes, Red Bull do not yet have the perfect second driver in that respect.

Ferrari

Carlos Sainz was brought to Ferrari as the ideal second man to Charles Leclerc, but at the end of the year the Spaniard was simply above his teammate. Sure, Leclerc was faster in qualifying and finished ahead of his teammate in more races, but if Ferrari has a good car in 2022, then Ferrari's management will be put to the test once again, as these two drivers are very close.

McLaren

Unlike Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo was expected to take McLaren by storm, but nothing proved to be further from the truth. The young Lando Norris really broke through in 2021 and was clearly the better driver over a whole season. It was therefore very disappointing for the Brit that it was Ricciardo who won in Italy.

Alpine

Fernando Alonso's return is what you could expect. The Spaniard may have lost some of his edge in qualifying, but on Sunday he showed Esteban Ocon that he has not lost his touch in racing. In the run up to a new regulation season, Alpine seems to be sorted with two drivers so closely matched.

AlphaTauri

Pierre Gasly no longer seems to have a chance of winning a seat at Red Bull Racing, but at AlphaTauri he is by far the leader of the team. While Yuki Tsunoda struggled with his car this year, Gasly almost single-handedly took AlphaTauri to sixth place in the Constructors' standings. It's a shame for his numbers that he lost out to Tsunoda in the final qualifying session of the year.

Aston Martin

While Sergio Perez was faster than Lance Stroll by a margin of three tenths in recent years, you would have expected a four-time world champion like Sebastian Vettel to win by an even greater margin over the Canadian. He picked up more points and qualified ahead of his teammate more often than the other way around, but overall the difference doesn't compare to the amount of money Aston Martin spent for him to replace Perez.

Williams

George Russell was the king on Saturday in 2020, but did lose two qualifying duels to Nicholas Latifi in 2021. Both moments fell after the announcement of his contract with Mercedes and the period when Williams' car became less and less competitive. So you could argue that the Brit might have let it slip a bit. He also started the season on fire, and managed to qualify in the top three on two occasions, despite the lack of speed in his car.

Alfa Romeo

We won't see Antonio Giovinazzi or Kimi Raikkonen back on the Formula 1 grid in 2022, as Raikkonen has retired, while Giovinazzi couldn't impress Frederic Vasseur enough in his last season to keep his seat. The Italian might have been faster in qualifying than his 42-year-old teammate, but on Sunday the old fox still outsmarted him. This will have been the reason why Vasseur opted to bring in two new drivers for next year.

Haas

Mick Schumacher gets the credit for the biggest qualifying difference compared to his teammate this year. Nikita Mazepin and Schumacher both made their Formula 1 debuts this season in a woeful Haas car, but Michael Schumacher's son coped far better than the son of the team's new sponsor.