Infamous Formula 1 Team Fights
In theory, Formula 1 teammates should be working for the greater good of their team. In the best circumstances, they are able to work together to ensure that they have the best equipment, information and the best chance for each team driver to be successful. Team owners would like to see their drivers finish first and second in every race if possible.
Of course, drivers really just care about finishing first, and while the success of a teammate is OK, it’s not nearly as enjoyable as their own success. The politics of Formula 1 racing can add to the pressure placed on the team dynamic; if a driver believes that his teammate is getting preferential treatment in the form of better equipment or more attention, hurt feelings and big egos can lead to big clashes.
Formula 1 team feuds are a continual worry for team principals and also a fact of life in the sport. When they happen, they are exactly the type of juicy, suspenseful off-track stories that fans and reporters can’t get enough of. Here is a look at some of the most memorable rivalries within teams in Formula 1 history.
Alain Prost vs. Ayrton Senna: Prost and Senna were only teammates for two seasons with McLaren, but they might have been the two most contentious seasons that any teammates have had. There’s no arguing with the results: each won a driving title with Senna claiming the crown in 1988 before Prost returned the favour in 1989. But the bitterness and bad blood between Prost and Senna was legendary, culminating in Prost’s famous intentional wreck of Senna at the season-ending race in 1989 which gave the Frenchman the world title by a single point.
Prost’s distaste for the passionate and headstrong Senna was so severe that he had a provision written into his contract when he joined Williams in 1993 barring them from bringing Senna on as a teammate. However, the provision only extended for one season, and Prost decided to retire rather than have Senna as a teammate again when Williams signed Senna to drive for them in 1994.
Alain Prost vs. Nigel Mansell: Prost was a notoriously prickly character and he feuded with many – if not most – of his teammates. His rivalry with Senna was perhaps the most bitter in Formula 1 history but his feud with Mansell when they were teammates at Ferrari in 1990 came a close second. Prost came to Ferrari as the reigning world champion, which gnawed at Mansell. The British driving legend's fears that Prost was receiving preferential treatment were confirmed when the team switched cars between the two drivers ahead of 1990 British Grand Prix when Prost was struggling – and they did it without telling Mansell.
Mansell would leave Ferrari after 1990 and eventually win a world championship in 1992 – a year that Prost would sit out. When Prost signed with Williams in 1993, Mansell did what Prost would later do after the signing of Senna – he left Formula 1 racing, in this case to try his luck with CART racing in America.
Fernando Alonso vs. Lewis Hamilton: Although Alonso and Hamilton were only together for one year at McLaren in 2007, their time together was so acrid that they make any list of great team feuds. Tension began when Hamilton suggested that team orders kept him from passing Alonso at Monaco.
Things went from bad to worse at the Hungarian Grand Prix that year during qualifying. Hamilton refused a team order to let Alonso pass him during qualifying and Alonso responded by blocking Hamilton from leaving the pit lane to make a final qualifying pass. The end result was that Alonso’s started from the sixth instead of the pole (which went to Hamilton) and McLaren were docked Constructors’ Championship points.
The situation continued to deteriorate, with Alonso leaving the team at the end of the season for Ferrari. It’s hardly surprising that Alonso and Ferrari engaged in a verbal war of words earlier this season after the European Grand Prix, proving that time doesn’t always heal old wounds.
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