Perez threatens Verstappen – the F1 team-mate rivalries simmering in 2023

Verstappen hit back, saying he had his reasons and that the team were well aware of them – it turned out to relate to Perez’s crash in qualifying for that year’s Monaco Grand Prix, which prevented Verstappen from setting a quicker lap than fourth. The Dutchman suspected it was a deliberate shunt to bring out the red flags and secure pole — from which Perez won the race.

The tension has surfaced once more: on the eve of the 2023 Bahrain GP, Perez told Fox Mexico he wouldn’t be so helpful if the same was not reciprocated in future.

“It’s always important to work as a team and obviously if I see that I don’t receive support when I need it, I won’t give it either,” he said.

Ferrari – Leclerc vs Sainz

Though the pairing of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz has been mostly harmonious up to now, they have had their flashpoints.

Sainz radioed in to complain when Leclerc made his life difficult at Saudi ’21 – “Cmon, Charles, don’t do this” – before the Spaniard refused to commit to a restart strategy that would have favoured his team-mate at Silverstone last year.

Sainz was ordered to back the pack up behind Leclerc as the race was about to get underway again in the late stages to let his team-mate build a lead, but the Spaniard, who was on newer and softer tyres, refused.

“But guys, I’m under pressure from Hamilton, please don’t ask these things,” he said. “Please, stop inventing.”

Sainz eventually overtook and won, with Leclerc clearly furious. Though it ended up being just one error in a catalogue of strategic mistakes for Ferrari that season, similar outcomes this year could lead to more disquiet from the Monégasque.

Mercedes – Hamilton vs Russell

Though the relationship between Mercedes’ two charges has been sound so far, Hamilton has had run-ins with team-mates in the past.

His famously none-more-toxic relationship with Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007 ultimately ended in tears with both drivers missing out on the title by a point.

He also tweeted Jenson Button’s telemetry during the 2011 Belgian GP weekend when he was unhappy with fortunes on his side of the garage, causing uproar in Woking, and famously developed a collaborative habit with friend-turned-enemy Nico Rosberg of smashing up Mercedes F1 cars at the worst possible moments.

Summarily vanquishing Valtteri Bottas in recent years has meant all is well on Planet Lewis, but if the Mercedes momentum starts to move George Russell‘s way in 2023, things soon might start to hot up.

Alpine – Gasly vs Ocon

Similar to Hamilton and Rosberg, new Alpine team-mates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon started out as best friends before things went south, however in this pair’s case they got started early and fell out in their karting years.

“The relationship unfortunately got a lot worse when we started to fight for the World Cup,” Gasly said to Tom Clarkson in 2018. “I really remember one weekend in 2010 in Portugal, he literally cut the corner and hit me in the last heat before the pre-final, because I was going to start second or third and he didn’t really like it. We finished 20th and 21st.

“At that time we used to not go training anymore. We then had many battles in Formula Renault, contact bouncing wheels. There are many things which happened which I did not really like.”

The pair now claim to have made up, but will the rift re-emerge at Alpine?

McLaren

Lando Norris has been telling his McLaren team for several seasons now that his car has an inherent flaw which makes it difficult to extract maximum speed.

The tricky designs effectively finished off Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 career, and now the 2023 version appears off the pace in pre-season testing.

With these frustrations at the forefront of his mind, will Norris be able to stomach it if new hotshot team-mate Oscar Piastri starts to challenge him as well?

Cue the famous Macca meltdown as the two fought bitterly, Alonso claiming the team favoured Hamilton before initiating spygate by threatening to reveal evidence, resulting in a $100m fine for the Woking squad.

Alonso also came to blows on track with Alpine colleague Esteban Ocon last year, sarcastically referring to him as “our friend” over team radio.

At Aston, you’d expect Alonso to toe his paymaster’s line with Lawrence Stroll’s son Lance driving for the team – but the Spaniard has never done things in a conventional manner.

Alonso will believe he knows what’s best in getting the team to the front – if Lance obstructs this in any way, there are bound to be fireworks.

Haas

F1-returnee Nico Hülkenberg and new Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen claim to have buried the hatchet, but have they really?

K-Mag is known for being uncompromising on track, with the German – back in Renault days – saying the Dane was the “most unsporting guy on the grid”.

After Magnussen told him to “suck my *****, honey” a new classic F1 phrase was coined, but the shade hadn’t been without fire. Many other drivers have complained about Magnussen, who often collided with fellow Haas racer Romain Grosjean also – though he’s hardly a shrinking violet either.

Haas will hope there’s no more intra-team warfare, but with two quick team-mates out for themselves, you can never be too sure.

AlphaTauri

Though Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries have no previous history, things could hot up in 2023. Tsunoda was the darling of Red Bull for a short period, but inconsistent performances have put him under pressure since, with the Japanese man needing to deliver for 2023 to have an F1 future.

Joining him this year is 2021 Formula E champion De Vries. The Dutchman impressed on his Italian GP cameo for Williams last year, coming in ninth, and was thus snapped up by Red Bull.

Though coming across as cheeky and affable off track, in the cockpit Tsunoda is a fiery customer. With both drivers looking to replace Perez when his Red Bull contract eventually runs out at the end of 2024, will AlphaTauri‘s kids keep a lid on it?

Oasis of calm?

Further down the grid, things aren’t quite so feisty, but in the pressure cooker world of F1 you never know what might spring up.

Alfa Romeo’s iceman Valtteri Bottas has been a mentor figure to young Zhou Guanyu, whilst Williams’ Alex Albon is unlikely to rock the boat should things get competitive with Logan Sargeant.

In a series where every driver is fighting for their future though, tension is never far away from rising.