Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Autosport Plus

Why Raikkonen and Bottas will decide the title

With the start of the 2017 Formula 1 season being decided by fine margins, the expectation is the same will go for the world championship. That means the performance of the second drivers at Mercedes and Ferrari will be crucial

Not every Formula 1 season is like 1986, when Williams duo Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet took points off each other and, with a little help from a blowout on the streets of Adelaide, Alain Prost stole the world championship in the inferior McLaren. Yet conventional wisdom would have you believe it is.

That season is most often cited as supporting evidence for the strategy of a team having a set number one and number two driver. For while Piquet and Mansell did battle within Williams, Keke Rosberg played second fiddle to Prost at McLaren in the final year of his F1 career.

Previous article Red Bull's quit threats are empty and unfair
Next article FIA to clamp down on Formula 1 oil-as-fuel burn in 2018

More from Edd Straw

Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock

Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock

F1 Formula 1
Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock
Autosport 70: How Scheckter instigated Silverstone's most famous F1 incident

Autosport 70: How Scheckter instigated Silverstone's most famous F1 incident

F1 Formula 1
Autosport 70: How Scheckter instigated Silverstone's most famous F1 incident Autosport 70: How Scheckter instigated Silverstone's most famous F1 incident
Autosport 70: The lost F1 team that launched Newey

Autosport 70: The lost F1 team that launched Newey

F1 Formula 1
Autosport 70: The lost F1 team that launched Newey Autosport 70: The lost F1 team that launched Newey
Why Haas's shocking 2019 should have F1 worried

Why Haas's shocking 2019 should have F1 worried

Plus
Plus
F1 Formula 1
Why Haas's shocking 2019 should have F1 worried Why Haas's shocking 2019 should have F1 worried
How Kubica found the answer to his own incredible F1 challenge

How Kubica found the answer to his own incredible F1 challenge

Plus
Plus
F1 Formula 1
How Kubica found the answer to his own incredible F1 challenge How Kubica found the answer to his own incredible F1 challenge
The real step that ended McLaren's F1 nightmare

The real step that ended McLaren's F1 nightmare

Plus
Plus
F1 Formula 1
The real step that ended McLaren's F1 nightmare The real step that ended McLaren's F1 nightmare
2019's Albon, Norris and Russell are 2001's Montoya, Raikkonen and Alonso

2019's Albon, Norris and Russell are 2001's Montoya, Raikkonen and Alonso

Plus
Plus
F1 Formula 1
2019's Albon, Norris and Russell are 2001's Montoya, Raikkonen and Alonso 2019's Albon, Norris and Russell are 2001's Montoya, Raikkonen and Alonso
How Toro Rosso gave Renault a major scare

How Toro Rosso gave Renault a major scare

Plus
Plus
F1 Formula 1
How Toro Rosso gave Renault a major scare How Toro Rosso gave Renault a major scare

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe