Haas F1 drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin are currently feuding. But what other Formula 1 teammates have been unable to get along?
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Formula 1 is something of a unique sport, in the sense it is an individual sport that features teams. The sport of F1 also has a history of teams prioritising one driver over the other. As such, teammate driver rivalries are commonplace in the history of the sport’s 70+ years of running races. The latest bit of intra-team feuding is featuring Haas teammates Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. The two rookies have been embroiled in a war of words as well as on track in recent races. However, given they race for a team which is a clear backmarker as of now, it hasn’t dominated headlines too much.
However, there are some which have dominated headlines on an alarmingly regular basis. Here we look at five notable feuds between teammates over the course of the years.
Of course we’re going to start with this fued, even though it isn’t one defined by a battle for the title or even points. Both Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin are F1 rookies, learning the ropes in a team that produced easily the slowest car of 2021. As such, it should come as little surprise that the two have only each other to race against. And that has led to tensions between the two simmering over.
It began innocently enough but things took a turn for the worse at Azerbaijan, when Mazepin blocked Schumacher’s overtake a little too aggresively. Schumacher wondered over radio if Mazepin wanted to kill him, but the Russian continued to block like this, most notably in Zandervoot for the Dutch GP.
The war of words carried on at both Italy and Russia, with even talks between them and Gunther Steiner not diffusing the situation. Given the two are set to race for the team in 2022, it will make for entertaining watching to see them try and get along.
This feud lasted only a season but it was so toxic that it arguably cost McLaren the world driver’s championship in 2007. The team had a killer driver line-up for 2007: two-time and defending world champion Fernando Alonso and a young rookie in Lewis Hamilton. However, Hamilton’s easy acclimitisation to F1 led to Alonso feeling threatened, and a deterioration of the relationship the two shared.
Tensions were evident early enough but really came to a head at the Hungarian GP. Alonso, aggrieved that Hamilton did not follow orders, blocked Hamilton in the pit lane and prevented him from setting a lap in qualifying. More drama would follow, as did the 100 million dollar fine from the ‘Spygate Scandal’. By the end of the season, Alonso and then-team principal Ron Dennis were not even on speaking terms due to the driver feud. And Kimi Raikkonen, now at Ferrari, nicked the title by 1 point from under the nose of both McLaren drivers.
The Hamilton-Alonso drama was the worst teammate fued in the 2000s. That is, of course, until Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber butted heads for four years straight at Red Bull. The team, which entered the sport in 2005, were genuine title contenders in 2010. Indeed, both Webber and Vettel were in the mix for the championship. And that is exactly what led to things becoming complicated.
There were two incidents that year – the crash at the Turkish GP which saw Vettel retire and Webber’s win at the British GP, where he sarcastically referenced himself as a Number 2 driver. The tension simmered right until 2013, Vettel’s final year at the team. The flashpoint of that year was when Vettel ignored team orders at the Malaysian GP and overtook Webber. Afterwards, cameras caught Webber muttering the team order to the German as they waited to go to the podium.
It was arguably the defining teammate rivalry of this generation. Until…
Whoo boy. This teammate rivalry became so intense that Rosberg and Hamilton are still not on speaking terms. When you consider that Rosberg has been retired for five years now, that says a lot. It is also shocking because the two raced in go-karts in the same age category as children. Yet three years in the same team, fighting for the title, damaged their bond beyond repair.
There were numerous flashpoints through 2014 and 2015. The pair were amicable at first but soon grew distant as the battles piled on. Indeed, one of the reasons Rosberg won the 2016 title was due to his burning desire to beat Hamilton. And that would arguably also be why he retired straight after winning the title.
Hamilton has spoken many times since on the unhealthy atmosphere that existed in Mercedes during that time. So fractuous was their relationship that factions formed within the team itself. And it would be the defining teammate rivalry of all time if not for…
Prost and Senna, like Hamilton and Rosberg, battled it out for the title during their time together at McLaren. Yet the two took their rivalry to the next level. They only spent two years together but managed to run each other off the road in title deciders in 1989 and 1990. And while it is worth noting that by 1990 Prost was at Ferrari, the incident was a remnant of their days together as teammates.
It says a lot that Prost chose to walk away from a race-winning car after two years. That was because he could not stand the sight of Senna any longer, never mind work with him. The two would go on to mend their relationship over the course of time. But there is little doubting the fact that they did not gel as teammates.
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