These Are the Hottest F1 Teammate Dramas in 2024 So Far

The 2024 Formula 1 season has just barely gotten underway, but if there's one thing we can look forward to at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, it's the hot teammate battles that have already started simmering. In the first two races of the season, we've seen explosive blowouts and attempts at political maneuvering that have injected a little extra interest into weekends dominated by Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

Today, we're going to run through three of the spiciest intra-team battles—and give my predictions on how the drama will play out throughout the season.

Carlos Sainz Jr. missed the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with a nasty case of appendicitis, so our perspective on the intra-Ferrari battle between Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc isn't quite as clear as it could be. However, we got quite the show at the season opener in Bahrain. Sainz ran a fantastic race to finish on the podium, but when he climbed out of his car to celebrate his third place with Ferrari, the team was nowhere to be found in parc fermé. 

See, Ferrari has already decided on its 2025 lineup, and Sainz isn't part of it; instead, Leclerc will be joined by seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton. It might not seem like that would predicate a battle between Leclerc and Sainz, but the Spanish driver is guaranteed to fight tooth and nail to prove his worth to any teams that might want to sign him in the future. The best way to do that? By dominating his teammate. Expect another spicy Sainz performance in Australia.

Alpine is in dire straits. Despite several rounds of investment from celebrities like actor Ryan Reynolds and NFL player Travis Kelce, the French team can't seem to get its head on straight, and it has filtered through key personnel with surprising rapidity. But part of the team's struggles almost certainly has to do with the fact that teammates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon simply do not like each other.

The drama stems back several years. During the 2009 Bridgestone Cup kart race, Gasly attempted to overtake Ocon on the last corner of the final lap in their battle for third place. They made contact, and Gasly nabbed the position. That simple wound has festered over