F1’s 2025 teammate battles are starting to take shape after the Bahrain Grand Prix, round four of the 2025 season. Only two drivers have defeated their teammates in every competitive session so far.
Max Verstappen has, as one would expect, whitewashed both Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson at Red Bull. Likewise, newcomer Kimi Antonelli is yet to beat George Russell at Mercedes.
At Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso has a perfect record over Lance Stroll in qualifying, and the same is true for Pierre Gasly at Alpine. Charles Leclerc has been dominant over Lewis Hamilton in the Ferraris.
| TEAM | BATTLE | Q | R |
| McLaren | NOR vs PIA | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| Ferrari | LEC vs HAM | 3-1 | 3-0 |
| Red Bull | VER vs TSU | 2-0 | 2-0 |
| Mercedes | RUS vs ANT | 4-0 | 4-0 |
| Aston Martin | ALO vs STR | 4-0 | 2-0 |
| Alpine | GAS vs DOO | 4-0 | 2-0 |
| Haas | OCO vs BEA | 2-1 | 3-1 |
| Racing Bulls | HAD vs LAW | 2-0 | 2-0 |
| Williams | ALB vs SAI | 3-1 | 2-0 |
| Sauber | HUL vs BOR | 3-1 | 1-1 |
At the other end of the scale, the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are locked at 2-2 on both Saturdays and Sundays. Rookies Oliver Bearman, Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto are all doing creditable jobs against more experienced teammates.
Christian Danner questions whether mental coach is working for Lando Norris
Norris remains above Piastri in the championship, but the margin has shrunk to three points after the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Australian utterly outclassed his teammate in a statement performance.
Qualifying was Piastri’s weakness last year as he lost the head-to-head 21-3. But he levelled things up for 2025 in Bahrain by qualifying a whopping four-tenths and five places ahead of Norris.
Piastri converted his pole position into the most comfortable race win of 2025 so far. Norris, third, was more than 16 seconds behind.
Norris was intensely self-critical after qualifying, and speaking to sport.de, former F1 driver Christian Danner suggested that his work with a sports psychologist wasn’t paying off. Piastri comes across the ‘cooler’ figure within the garage.
“He has a mental coach over the winter and has worked very hard,” Danner said. “But from what we’ve heard in interviews, he doesn’t look particularly stable in my opinion.
“He’s simply a bit more hardened, cooler, makes fewer mistakes. And he can truly exploit the car’s potential perfectly at the crucial moment.”
Why McLaren’s next upgrade may be just what Lando Norris needs
In Norris’ defence, McLaren’s car is more difficult to drive – by their own admission – after recent changes. It’s rapid, but it’s not necessarily tame.
The Englishman has ample time to find a fix for his early troubles. And he’s earned the luxury of doing that as the championship leader.
Still, there’s no hiding from the pressure that he’s under as the 2025 title race increasingly starts to look like a McLaren head-to-head. With massive regulation changes looming, he doesn’t know when he’ll next have a chance.
Norris will welcome McLaren’s upcoming upgrade, which should reduce mid-corner understeer. The five-time race-winner believes Verstappen would be shocked if he tried to drive the MCL-39, having claimed he could sail off into the distance.
