2021 - New Drivers Adapting to their Cars

One of the big conversation you hear on the various F1 podcast during the summer break is reflection on how the new drivers have adapted to the cars. So I started thinking how can you analytically look at.

I propose that as a new driver settles in, he will have finishes that on average will be similiar to his teammate. Therefore you can compare their progress. With normalization the key would be:

= 1.0 --Driver is putting matching his teammate in perforance
<1.0 -- Driver is worse than his teammate
>1.0 -- Driver is better than his teammate

Initially I was just going to look at Perez, Danny Ric, Sainz and Vettel but decided to do it for all teams.

The AVERAGE teammate is 80%

The first up is comparison between Redbull and Mercedes. As you can see, Bottas has been BELOW AVERAGE for the season, while Perez was off to rough start but has moved into ABOVE AVERAGE area.


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Next is Mcclaren and Ferrari. Sainz has settle in nicely and is actually doing better the Leclerc. Danny R. hasn't been horrible, just AVERAGE and I think expectations were he would come in and adapt quickly like Sainz did.

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The next is Aston Martin and Alpine. Both Vettel and Alonso got off to slow starts against their teammates, but now have surpassed them. Vettel numbers are hurt because of the unfortunate DQ.

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This next plot, combines Mercedes, Red Bull, Mclaren, and Ferrari. From best to worst:

1. Sainz (Superior)
2. Perez (Above Average)
3. Danny R. (Average)
4. Bottas (Below Average)

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Last chart is the bottom 4 teams.

1. Kimi - is matching his teammate. Not what you would really expect for a world champion.

2. Yuki - Had a great start, then terrible middle and now has slowly climbed up to AVG. He will try and take that momentum into the 2nd half of season.

3. Latifi - Has slowly progressed to getting around to being Average.

4. Mazepin - has been Below Average all season

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Regarding Danny Ric , I've now read that it may be a quirk in braking that is the difficulty in the McLaren .
Being that he's oft been known for his braking skills , it may have been one reason they chose him , but also the main reason he is struggling .

Interesting to see the numbers and how they stack up.

Good point by Bagwan concerning drives styles vs cars though, and I would imagine at some point that it's hard to "unlearn" previous car characteristics.

But usually the top driver helps lead the development most, so the newer challenging drivers have to cope with it. And to some extent if driver preferences are too far apart, that challenging driver might struggle to do it.