The first rule of being a Formula 1 driver? Always beat your team-mate – and the F1 2023 season is no exception to that.
For every driver on the F1 2023 grid, their team-mate is the only person who shares identical machinery, so naturally will be the best barometer for overall performance as the season progresses.
With that in mind, here is how all the driver duos stacked up head to head over the course of the F1 2023 season.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: Red Bull
Race: Max Verstappen 20-2 Sergio Perez
Qualifying: Max Verstappen 20-2 Sergio Perez
After a record-breaking season for Red Bull in 2022, Sergio Perez was determined to take the fight to Max Verstappen within the team and launch a title fight of his own.
With the Red Bull RB19 being the dominant car in the field and Perez taking two wins in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan early on, he looked set to potentially mount a challenge, but Verstappen’s subsequent rise in form from Miami – the first of 10 straight victories, a new F1 record – saw him catapult into an insurmountable lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
Verstappen wrapped up his third consecutive title in the Qatar sprint race, while Perez eventually secured second place in the Championship at the penultimate round in Las Vegas – ensuring Red Bull had both drivers finish in the top two for the first time in their history.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: Ferrari
Race: Carlos Sainz *9-11 Charles Leclerc
Qualifying: Carlos Sainz 7-15 Charles Leclerc
*Qatar GP excluded after Sainz did not start, US GP excluded after Leclerc disqualified.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were relatively evenly matched in their first two seasons as Ferrari team-mates, Sainz scoring more points in 2021 before Leclerc hit back hard in 2022.
They were very close once again in 2023, Leclerc scoring just six points more than Sainz over the course of 22 rounds but Sainz having the distinction of being the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race in Singapore.
Leclerc ended the year with five pole positions – including one he inherited following a Verstappen grid penalty at Spa – with Sainz taking two consecutively at Monza and Singapore after the summer break.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: Mercedes
Race: Lewis Hamilton *15-6 George Russell
Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton 11-11 George Russell
Russell beat Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship in his first season with Mercedes, as the seven-time World Champion often looked for solutions to the problems he had with his car in the first half of 2022, before the battle became more even again as Russell racked up the points for Mercedes, taking his first F1 win in Sao Paulo.
The British drivers continued to be evenly matched over one lap throughout 2023 – the only pairing to end up level in qualifying – but Hamilton established a clear advantage on race days to outscore Russell by 59 points in the end.
Hamilton also picked up a record-extending 104th pole position of his career in Hungary.
*Lewis Hamilton disqualified from United States Grand Prix.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: Alpine
Race: Esteban Ocon 10-9 Pierre Gasly*
Qualifying: Esteban Ocon 8-14 Pierre Gasly
Many expected this duel to be one of the fieriest on the grid when Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were paired together at Alpine.
Having grown up less than an hour apart and risen through the ranks together all the way from karting up to Formula 1, the two Frenchmen have formed a rivalry they hope will propel Alpine forward, with the backing of their home nation behind them.
Ocon had the experience of the team in his favour, having claimed his first F1 victory with Alpine in 2021, with Gasly joining at the beginning of 2023 as a fellow one-time grand prix winner.
The pair ended up with one podium apiece, Ocon finishing third in Monaco before Gasly equalled the result at Zandvoort.
*Both drivers retired at the Australian Grand Prix, British Grand Prix and Hungarian Grand Prix.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: McLaren
Race: Lando Norris 17-5 Oscar Piastri
Qualifying: Lando Norris 15-7 Oscar Piastri
Despite still being in his early 20s, Lando Norris became the ‘senior’ driver at McLaren in 2023 following the departure of Daniel Ricciardo.
In Ricciardo’s place came Oscar Piastri, one of the most highly-rated rookies to come into Formula 1 in recent years, after a year on the sidelines following back-to-back Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles – an achievement only matched by Russell and Leclerc.
The two McLaren drivers settled into a solid partnership, with Piastri more than holding his own against one of F1’s most gifted drivers in Norris – notably outqualifying him at classic driver circuits Spa and Suzuka and winning the Qatar sprint race.
Norris’s greater experience showed in the end, however, as he outscored Piastri by 108 points.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: Alfa Romeo
Race: Valtteri Bottas 12-9 Zhou Guanyu*
Qualifying: Valtteri Bottas 15-6 Zhou Guanyu**
After doing well enough in his rookie year to retain his seat at Alfa Romeo, Zhou Guanyu stacked up solidly against the vast experience of Valtteri Bottas in F1 2023.
Bottas was brought into Alfa Romeo to be team leader after his departure from Mercedes and has acted as a mentoring figure to Zhou since his arrival as China’s first ever full-time F1 driver in 2022.
Alfa Romeo’s competitiveness fluctuated in the 2023 season, with the drivers limited to just seven points finishes between them in total – Bottas taking four of them to outscore Zhou by four points.
*Neither driver finished the São Paulo Grand Prix.
** Valtteri Bottas disqualified from British GP qualifying over failing to provide a fuel sample.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: Aston Martin
Race: Fernando Alonso 17-4 Lance Stroll*
Qualifying: Fernando Alonso 19-3 Lance Stroll
Eyebrows were raised when Fernando Alonso joined Aston Martin to replace Sebastian Vettel for the 2023 season, not least because on the basis of 2022 performance, it seemed a step down compared to what he left behind at Alpine.
How wrong everybody has been proven to be.
Another fascinating aspect to the move was how Lance Stroll would fare against Alonso after showing up relatively well against a four-time World Champion in 2021/22.
In true Alonso fashion, however, he took the bull by the horns and led the way at Aston Martin, claiming six podium finishes in the first eight races and adding two more at Zandvoort and Interlagos in the second half of the season.
Stroll ultimately finished 132 points behind his new team-mate in arguably his most challenging season to date.
*Lance Stroll missed Singapore Grand Prix following a qualifying crash.
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F1 2023 head-to-head stats: Haas
Race: Kevin Magnussen 9-13 Nico Hulkenberg
Qualifying: Kevin Magnussen 7-15 Nico Hulkenberg
Youth was replaced with experience when ‘Hulkenback’ was made official on a permanent basis for 2023, with Nico Hulkenberg coming in to partner Kevin Magnussen.
There had been needle between these two in the past, with Magnussen once inviting Hulkenberg to ‘suck my b*lls’ in a testy TV pen exchange following an incident several years ago – but they have since let bygones be bygones for the good of Haas moving forward.
The jury was out as to who would come out on top in this experienced partnership but Hulkenberg convincingly outperformed Magnussen across the season, showing no signs of rust after three years away from a full-time F1 seat.
Qualifying second on the road in Canada was the highlight for Hulkenberg, with points opportunities limited by a temperamental car.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: AlphaTauri
Race: Nyck de Vries 2-8 Yuki Tsunoda
Qualifying: Nyck de Vries 2-8 Yuki Tsunoda
Race: Daniel Ricciardo 3-4 Yuki Tsunoda
Qualifying: Daniel Ricciardo 3-4 Yuki Tsunoda
Race: Liam Lawson 3-1 Yuki Tsunoda*
Qualifying: Liam Lawson 2-3 Yuki Tsunoda
*Yuki Tsunoda did not start Italian Grand Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda had already convincingly beat one team-mate during the F1 2023 season, so much so that it actually led to Red Bull terminating the contract of Nyck de Vries after just 10 races at AlphaTauri – not even lasting until the summer break at the end of July.
Tsunoda had a new challenge in the form of Daniel Ricciardo, but a broken hand after just two races back gave an opportunity to Liam Lawson.
Lawson marked himself out as a future star in a five-race cameo before Ricciardo returned to action in Austin, but Tsunoda was impressive throughout as AlphaTauri’s only constant, completing his strongest F1 season to date.
F1 2023 head-to-head stats: Williams
Race: Alex Albon 18-3 Logan Sargeant*
Qualifying: Alex Albon 22-0 Logan Sargeant
Alex Albon has firmly established himself as the team leader at Williams since his arrival in 2022, comfortably beating the team’s academy graduate Logan Sargeant this season.
In an improving car, Albon completed the only qualifying whitewash of 2023 by outpacing Sargeant over one lap at all 22 rounds, with a number of Q3 appearances along the way.
He registered seven points finishes across the season, scoring all but one of Williams’ 28 points as the team claimed their best result in the Constructors’ Championship since 2017 with seventh place.
*Neither driver finished the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.
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