The driver problems facing Mercedes in 2021
Ahead of the new Formula 1 season, reigning world champions Mercedes will take on challenges both old and new. This also can be said for its driver conundrum which could become key to sustaining its ongoing success
Mercedes has created one of the most harmonious and successful driver line-ups on the Formula 1 grid.
In percentage terms among the top seven squads in the 2020 constructors' championship (the regular points scorers), the balance between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas was 35.73% from the world champion's final total of 347. This of course doesn't show the potential points Bottas lost to poor fortune last year, and Hamilton missed the chance to add to his haul with his Sakhir Grand Prix absence after contracting COVID-19. But it still adds up to the smallest gap between team-mates last year (McLaren's Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris were closest on 7.62%, while Ferrari had the biggest gap - 66.33 between Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel).
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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.
A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.
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