2022 F1 Australian GP teammate rivalry: Who came out on top?

The Australian GP is in the rearview mirror now as the F1 circus moves on from the race Down Under. We have the championship standings settled and for now, it favors a certain scarlet team and its driver. There is, however, another battle that should never be overlooked in F1. And that is the battle of the teammates. In F1, it is said that the first driver that you have to beat is your teammate.

On the F1 grid, some interesting battles are developing between the teammates. Let's find out who gained had the upper hand and who fell short against their teammates.

---

2022 F1 Australian GP: Teammate rivalry

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton vs George Russell (1-2)

Winner: George Russell

It's fair to say that Lewis Hamilton had the measure of George Russell during the weekend. He out-qualified his younger teammate and was ahead on the track early in the race. Yet, when fortune turned things around and swapped places between the two drivers, it was evident that Russell was able to hold his own against Hamilton and grab his first podium for the team. That's one in the column for Russell over his teammate.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen vs Sergio Perez (3-0)

Winner: Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen would have finished second in the race if it wasn't for his retirement. Sergio Perez has been able to up his game in qualifying and his second place in the race is a testament to his form this season. Having said that, the Mexican is still missing a few tenths against his teammate

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc vs Carlos Sainz (3-0)

Winner: Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc is driving like a driver of his caliber should. The Australian GP was just another weekend where Leclerc put his teammate in the shade. So much so that Sainz ended up in the gravel early in the race trying to overcompensate for his poor track position.

McLaren

Lando Norris vs Daniel Ricciardo (3-0)

Winner: Lando Norris

Daniel Ricciardo appeared to be marginally the quicker driver for McLaren throughout the Australian GP. When it came to making a definitive pass over his teammate, however, neither could he mount a challenge nor did he ever attempt a pass.

Norris, on the other hand, was sublime in qualifying and used that advantage to hold track position against his teammate.

Alpine

Fernando Alonso vs Esteban Ocon (1-2)

Winner: Esteban Ocon

This might be a slightly controversial pick. It is without a doubt clear that Fernando Alonso's lap in Q3 was destined to be special. The Spaniard was phenomenal on Saturday only for fortune to ruin it.

In the race, however, it did appear that both Alonso and Esteban Ocon had similar pace in the car. Both the cars suffered from graining on the medium tires which forced them to drop back from the competition. To add to this, Ocon started the race in 8th and finished in 7th. Alonso started 10th and finished effectively last in the race. Looking at these numbers, it doesn't seem fair to give this one to Alonso.

Aston Martin

Sebastian Vettel/Nico Hulkenberg vs Lance Stroll (2-1)

Winner: Lance Stroll

Sebastian Vettel was not in a position to race in the Australian GP. The German driver crashed his car in FP3 and effectively missed Qualifying. To add to this, he had next to no running in FP1 and FP2. He ended his Australian GP weekend by crashing and retiring his car.

For Lance Stroll, the most memorable part of the Australian GP was him getting a penalty for weaving on the straights as well as his strange driving standards. In a battle of who was less bad, Stroll gets the vote.

AlphaTauri

Pierre Gasly vs Yuki Tsunoda (3-0)

Winner: Pierre Gasly

It was all pretty straightforward for Pierre Gasly over the weekend. AlphaTauri is not as fast as Alpine or McLaren at the moment and therefore whatever points he can get, it's a win. At the Australian GP, it was once again the same story and Gasly screeched through for a couple of points.

Yuki Tsunoda was there or thereabouts, but always a couple of tenths off Gasly and bringing the car home in points.

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas vs Guanyu Zhou (3-0)

Winner: Valtteri Bottas

There's not much to say here as Valtteri Bottas seems to have firmly established himself at Alfa Romeo. The Finnish driver enjoys a clear performance advantage over his rookie teammate and it showed in the Australian GP as well.

Williams

Alex Albon vs Nicholas Latifi (3-0)

Winner: Alex Albon

Alex Albon just laid down a claim for a seat on the Red Bull senior team. Scoring points for a Williams, especially in the way that he did at the Australian GP, does show that Albon is no slouch.

What this also shows is that Nicholas Latifi can't help but break carbon fiber on his car every weekend.

Haas

Mick Schumacher vs Kevin Magnussen (1-2)

Winner: Mick Schumacher

This was a little hard to judge as Haas suffered a mysterious drop in form at the Australian GP. The car was just not good enough to score points here and that left the two Haas drivers fighting it out down the order.

Mick Schumacher out-qualified Kevin Magnussen for the Australian GP and beat him in the race as well to take the honors.