Celebrating Valentine's day: The biggest bromances in Formula 1

It’s Monday February 14th and that means it’s Valentines Day also known as the Feast of Saint Valentines Day. But I’m not here to give you a lecture on the history of the day of love I’m here to talk Formula 1, with a Valentine's twist of course. We’ve picked out some of our favourite bromances from the current Formula 1 grid and a couple from recent years. So without further ado here’s GP Blog’s Valentines Day special.

First up we are starting with a slightly controversial one we’re going with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Not necessarily always the best of friends and were rivals for races and World titles, but as the pair have got older there seems to be a mutual respect between them and it’s quite heartwarming to see. They’ve had their moments on track, most notably the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix where Vettel seemed to drive into Hamilton and then in Canada in 2019 when Vettel was controversially punished for running off the track. However, with them both being two of the older statesman of the grid, and Vettel being not as competitive at Aston Martin, the pair have a surprising bond. 

We’ll stick with Hamilton and the man he described as the best teammate ever. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas’ bromance really came to the fore in 2021, with the pressure seriously on in the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship, every point was celebrated and you could see how grateful Hamilton was for the work of his teammate. Bottas was clearly driven to do all he could to secure his teammate the title in 2021 and although it didn’t work out, it was a sign of their bond. 

Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz

This one is obvious, how could we miss it. Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris were truly a dynamic duo during their time together at McLaren. Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani, Shaggy and scooby doo, Holmes and Watson none of these duos have anything on Sainz and Norris. Electric on the track and mayhem off it, they helped McLaren to back to back best of the rest finishes and a couple of podiums along the way. They’ve since been split up but they seem to have carried over their bromance and it may be the best in F1 history. 

Now another controversial one, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen! I know what you’re probably saying but Joe what about that crash in Baku. And I know that tarnished their friendship a bit but there’s a bromance there and that was just a minor blip. Arguably Red Bull’s strongest lineup of drivers since the era of Webber and Vettel, Ricciardo and Verstappen were a fresh dynamic pair who were both so good on the track that it maybe got in the way of their bromance. However, since Ricciardo’s departure they’ve not been going at it on the track and that’s helped them blossom. The pair have travelled to races in private jets together and it’s clear from their interactions that they have a pretty close bond.

Well those are some of my favourite bromances from Formula 1 and you’re probably thinking but there are loads better examples, but instead of moaning let us know some of yours in the comments and we might do another video on it, or we’ll mix it up and do teammates turned rivals.