There are ten driver lineups in F1. Some have propelled their teams to the highest of highs, while others have struggled to co-exist harmoniously. What is it exactly that makes an F1 driver lineup good? And how many teams have achieved that feat for the 2022 season? If you wish to find out, keep on reading.
- Consistency Is Key
When saying consistency, I use it in two ways. The first way is the fact that teams need drivers that they can rely on to bring back good results – week in, week out. Teams can work around most things in F1, but an inconsistent driver is not one of them. Consistency is the foundation that a championship-contending team is built upon, and if your team cannot rely on you to be consistent, then your stint as an F1 driver will not be a long one.
The second way I use consistency refers to the longevity of a lineup. Teams want their lineups to work the first time around. It saves time and effort, and most importantly, it means they can hit the ground running once the season begins. Championship-winning teams need stable foundations to work from, which is what having an unchanged lineup offers them. After all, it isn’t a mere coincidence that Mercedes have dominated the turbo-hybrid era, changing their lineup only once, while Red Bull, with far more personnel changes, found themselves constantly coming up second best.
Paddock Example: Mercedes
- Experience Is Essential
The lack of opportunities for junior drivers climbing the ranks in F1 is a very controversial topic, and while I wholeheartedly believe more needs to be done to make sure talented junior drivers get given chances in F1, if you are a team principal trying to decide on a driver lineup for next season, you can understand why an experienced driver would be picked before a rookie.
Experienced drivers are less likely to make silly, but costly mistakes, saving the team millions, which as we move into the cost cap era, is something teams will be wanting to do a lot of. Heavy crashes come with big repair bills – Ferrari has reportedly spent $3 million on repairs so far this season, while Red Bull was hit with a $1.8 million bill after Max Verstappen ended up in the wall at Silverstone. These high costs have already got the teams feeling the pinch of next year’s cost cap, making experience even more important as F1 moves into its newest era. Experienced drivers will be less likely to eat into team budget’s with avoidable crashes, allowing more money to be spent on development instead. Experienced drivers can also bring a lot to the team, in terms of helping shape and guide the car’s development, something that is personified best by Kimi Raikonnen, whose on-track results on multiple occasions weren’t necessarily anything to write home about, but who played an essential role in the development of the car, according to team boss Frederic Vasseur.
Additionally, experienced drivers really come into their own alongside their rookie counterparts. As the rookie finds their feet in F1, the team can rely more heavily on the more experienced driver to bring back good, consistent results while also offering guidance and advice to their rookie teammate. Pierre Gasly has fallen into this role at Alpha Tauri with his strong performances this season – he has only finished outside of the points four times this season, an incredible feat considering how many races are on the calendar. This allowed his rookie teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, to make mistakes as he adapts to the fast-paced world of F1. Not only has Gasly delivered the bulk of the team’s points, but the relationship he has developed with Tsunoda on and off the track has helped the Japanese driver’s development, according to team boss Franz Tost.
Experienced drivers offer the best of both worlds – the team takes on a low-risk asset, with the potential of very high rewards.
Paddock Example: Pierre Gasly
- Defined Team Roles
The two frontrunners in F1 employ a very clear cut driver system – one driver is number one, the other takes up the role as second fiddle. That is not a coincidence. While some dislike the system and argue that teammates should just be allowed to race each other, there are many reasons why team principles choose to implement a clear cut order and why it helps cement a good driver lineup.
A clear driver order allows for team orders to be carried out smoothly, opening up opportunities for a wider range of strategies to be enacted which in turn allows the team’s success to come before the driver’s egos. When this isn’t done, there can be serious damage done to the team’s competitiveness and internal workings.
Charles Leclerc’s strong showings for Ferrari in his first season with the Italian outfit in 2019 left the team without a clear driver order. Tensions began to rise within the team with neither driver wanting to assume the second driver role. Vettel ignored team orders in Russia, and later both drivers collided with each other at Interlagos, causing the team to lose out on valuable points – all things that may have been avoided if Ferrari had been explicit in their driver order, rather than saying one thing and doing another.
Having a clear number one and number two driver system is a system that works well for the team and the number one driver, and is often a system that springs up naturally over the course of a driver pairing – inevitably, one driver outperforms their teammate on a more consistent basis and just assumes the role of number one driver – so this does not always have to be seen as negative, especially if it is managed in the right way. This is where some teams have floundered in the past.
Mercedes teammates and title rivals, Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg, collided with each other on the opening lap of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
Even though having a clearly defined driver order can sometimes go wrong, especially once the second driver decides they have had enough. Not interfering with teammates can have disastrous results. Especially if you have two drivers in the same team with big egos – does Spain 2016 ring a bell?
Paddock Example: Mercedes (2017 -2021)
- Marketability
I do not believe that it is a particularly controversial statement to say that in Formula One, cash is king. F1 is a very expensive sport, so lineup decisions cannot always be made solely on on-track attributes.
While financial backing and potential marketability plays an important role in the decision making of some teams more than others, drivers with personal sponsors who can bring more revenue streams to the team are always a bonus. Healthy finances contribute heavily to on-track success, by supporting development and enabling the team to upgrade throughout the season, so it’s a no brainer as to why teams would want to capitalise on that as much as possible.
Ferrari is the team that perhaps has done this the best, although there is not much separating them from the rest of the grid. Their lineup of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc is very marketable, are both young and attractive, and both also have a healthy amount of personal sponsorship to help boost finances.
On the opposite end of the scale, we have Nikita Mazepin, who, for good reason, is the least marketable driver currently on the grid, despite the extra shifts Haas PR team have put in since the season has begun.
An interesting case for me is that of Antonio Giovinazzi. He is the only Italian driver on the grid and currently drives for one of three Italian teams in F1, something that should be a PR goldmine, but Alfa Romeo has never really seemed that keen to capitalise on his Italian roots – almost to the extent that Monza seems more like Charles Leclerc’s home Grand Prix than his. Perhaps if his career had been managed better, or his nationality capitalised on more, Giovinazzi could have generated from Italian fans the same fervour that Verstappen gets from the Dutch fans.
Paddock Example – All Ten Teams
Bonus: Who Has Achieved This for 2022?
So, which teams have secured themselves good driver lineups for the 2022 season? In all honesty, all ten teams have decent driver lineups that meet the criteria in some shape or form. However, there are four teams whose lineups deserve a closer look.
- McLaren – McLaren’s lineup of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris brings a good mix of consistency and experience into the 2022 season, the rewards of which have started coming to fruition this season, with their 1-2 Monza podium finish and Lando’s pole position in Russia highlighting the strength of their lineup. Their strong team culture means that issues with driver ego may not arise as Ricciardo begins to re-emerge and threaten what has been Norris’ de-facto number one driver spot this season.
- Red Bull – Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are Red Bull’s best lineup since Daniel Ricciardo left to join then-Renault in 2019. With both drivers having a wealth of experience, Perez brings the consistency as a second driver that Red Bull has lacked in previous seasons, allowing them to fully compete with Mercedes.
- Ferrari – Arguably one of the best driver lineups on the grid, Ferrari have managed to combine youth, experience and consistency into their driver lineup of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. However, similarly to McLaren, they lack a definitive team driver order, with both drivers evenly matched in my eyes. While that isn’t a real problem now- as they are not actively competing for championships, as Ferrari becomes more competitive once again, this may become a cause of concern in their garage. They will have to pick their battles and manage this partnership well in future years.
- Haas – The Haas F1 team provides an interesting case study. While it is blatantly obvious that financial backing heavily influenced one of their driver choices, their decision in signing Mick Schumacher really boosts the credibility of their lineup. As the son of Micheal Schumacher, Mick brings marketability to the team that his counterpart is sorely lacking, and Mick has also been very consistent for the American outfit – especially when you take into account his status as a rookie and the quality of the car he is driving.
There are a lot of factors and decisions that go into creating the best driver lineup possible for each team. The choices are calculated and measured, with expectations of great success for the teams. Sometimes, those expectations are met, sometimes they are not. Which teams have made the right driver choices for 2022? Only time will tell.