The 2016 season was only four races old when one team decided to give its line-up a shake up.

As always in Formula One the first driver you need to beat is your team mate – and some are doing a more convincing job of it than others.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso: Trading team mates

Red Bull rocked F1 in May when they announced Max Verstappen would be promoted from Toro Rosso to take the place of Daniil Kvyat. Coming just four races into the new season, on the face of it this seemed a harsh verdict on Kvyat who out-scored team mate Daniel Ricciardo in his first season at Red Bull last year and had given the team their first podium of the new season just a few weeks earlier in China.

Three months on, there must be few people left who question the wisdom of Red Bull’s move. Verstappen’s debut victory at Spain may have been slightly fortuitous but he has continued to impress, especially at Silverstone where his pursuit of Nico Rosberg was utterly dogged.

Daniel Ricciardo reckons both he and Verstappen have had to raise their game since being paired together. While Ricciardo may still be more than a match for his young team mate in terms of one-lap pace, Verstappen has clearly been getting the job done on race day, though we should bear in mind Red Bull have squandered big points-scoring opportunities for Ricciardo on at least two occasions.

Being demoted to Toro Rosso has done Kvyat no favours. It’s easy to grow deaf to the volume of armchair psychology about racing drivers, but don’t underestimate the blow he has suffered in being turfed out of the top team just days after a ham-fisted performance in his home race. He’s taken one in the teeth and the devastating scoreline against Carlos Sainz Jnr makes plain the effect it has had.

Red Bull

Toro Rosso

The other teams

Mercedes: Close between the championship leaders

Lewis Hamilton recovering a 43-point deficit against Nico Rosberg was less astonishing and more inevitable than he would have us believe. Nonetheless Hamilton acquired the deficit mostly through misfortune and overcame it largely by out-driving his team mate, so he deserves a large measure of credit.

Mercedes are clearly satisfied with job Rosberg has done, which included racking up a total of seven consecutive wins since the end of last season, and handed him a deal which will continue this partnership for another two seasons. Surely Hamilton will be pleased about that?

Ferrari: Raikkonen gets another year

Kimi Raikkonen has also earned a contract extension at Ferrari. And a glance at the championship table gives little reason to doubt he really has earned it: he leads his team mate in the points standings, and what more might Ferrari expect him to do than that?

However other metrics show a few poorly-timed setbacks for Sebastian Vettel have tipped the balance. All three of his retirements this year were beyond his control, and on top of that he’s had three gearbox change penalties too. Nonetheless, Ferrari clearly feel they have more to gain from sorting their car out than swapping drivers.

Renault

Having brought the highly-rated Esteban Ocon into the fold, many expect it is only a matter of time before the French team succumbs to the temptation of promoting a driver who is both French and quick. Jolyon Palmer is the driver tipped for demotion, which is a somewhat harsh verdict on Palmer, who has impressed at times during his first season of racing in F1. Though it’s clear the more experienced Kevin Magnussen is the pick of the team’s drivers at the moment.

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Force India: Perez grabs podiums

The Force India drivers have seven points finishes apiece but Sergio Perez’s brace of podiums means he is not only ahead of Nico Hulkenbreg in the standings but Felipe Massa’s Williams too. This has always looked like a driver pairing with a good match of contrasting strengths, but while Hulkenberg was clearly the superior of the two when they first teamed up it seems the balance has shifted.

Sauber: Nasr struggles at the start

Sauber’s season so far has been all about its struggle for survival. It now appears to be in a stronger position but points are urgently needed in the second half of the year.

In the meantime Felipe Nasr has been unable to replicate the clear margin of superiority he enjoyed over Marcus Ericsson last year. He began the season convinced there was a fundamental problem with his chassis, and has been doing better since it was changed.

Williams: Bottas ahead again

Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa are in their third year together as team mates and we know what to expect of them by now. Bottas clearly has an edge over single-lap pace but the highly experienced Massa is very dependable in the races.

However this year Bottas is enjoying an increased margin of superiority, which perhaps explains the chatter about Williams looking elsewhere for at least one of its drivers in 2017.

McLaren: Finally something to fight for

Last year the talents of F1’s other all-champion line-up were wasted on the first product of McLaren and Honda’s reunion, which proved both slow and unreliable. Things are looking better this year however, and both drivers have capitalised on chances to score points again.

Stoffel Vandoorne made a one-off start in Alonso’s car in Bahrain. His results have not been included above, though he impressed by scoring the team’s first point of the year on his debut. He is a strong candidate for promotion next year, but as was the case with Kevin Magnussen at the end of 2014, it’s not clear whether McLaren will be able to find a space for him.

Haas: Gutierrez can’t get a break

For a great example of how misleading a points tally can be, look no further than Haas. Romain Grosjean may have driven better than his team mate thus far in 2016, but a 28 – 0 margin is brutally tough on Esteban Gutierrez. The latter has finished 11th on four occasions, and wasn’t able to made the most of the competitive start to 2016 Haas enjoyed. Grosjean may be leading the team, but Gutierrez deserves a change in luck.

Manor: Haryanto on borrowed time

Rio Haryanto has made good use of his track knowledge to out-qualify Pascal Wehrlein four times. But in every other respect the season is going as expected in a contest between a pay driver and Mercedes’ reserve. If it turns out Haryanto doesn’t have the funds to continue his F1 adventure after the summer break, there’s little to suggest the sport is at risk of losing a major talent.

Notes on the data

Qualifying scores are based on whichever driver was quickest in the last phase of qualifying where both drivers set a time. Where a driver failed to set a time, e.g. due to a technical failure, this is not considered a ‘defeat’. Similarly, only races where both drivers were classified are used to determine which driver finished ahead.

Find the data for previous seasons here:

Over to you

Which drivers do you think are doing the best job against their team mates this year? Have your say in the comments.

2016 F1 season