How will F1's break shake-up intra-team rivalries?

Combat between team-mates is one of the fascinations of Formula 1. The balance of cooperation and single-mindedness shifts constantly and there's no simple equation for delivering the best results. Sometimes a team surges ahead thanks to intense rivalry between two top campaigners, on other occasions the same outfit may benefit from a more holistic approach.

Ferrari has won five times in Austria, the venue of the first two races of this delayed season; team cooperation helped Jacky Ickx take the first win at what is now the Red Bull Ring in 1970 thanks to his rookie team-mate Clay Regazzoni waving him through and providing a resilient doorstop to the opposition. In 2002 Rubens Barrichello waited until the end of the last lap before handing victory to Ferrari's superstar Michael Schumacher, a team orders fiasco that had ramifications down the line.

The Italian squad often soars when there's a clear number one driver backed up by a solid points scorer. At the start of 2019 the strategy felt similar; the management adopted a relatively inexperienced but talented driver in Charles Leclerc and made it clear that Sebastian Vettel would get preference at key moments.

But Leclerc had other plans and outqualified Vettel more often than not, outscored him by 24 points and beat him 2-1 in terms of race wins.

PLUS: How Leclerc beat Vettel to be Ferrari's favourite

The news of Vettel's departure from Ferrari at the end of this season has shifted the balance between the two even further. Leclerc integrated closely with the team from the outset and has created hope for the future. Vettel never quite achieved that bonding process, something identified by former team-mate Mark Webber.

"Seb's motivation has been tested in a very culturally challenging environment and that's a movie we've seen many times with Ferrari drivers," he commented when we caught up in preparation for our Channel 4 work this year.

"The small nuances of how the Italians go about their motorsport is quite draining for him with his robotic approach; unquestionably he could get the spark back in a different environment."

PLUS: Ferrari's long history of wrecked driver relationships

While Vettel may not have melded with Ferrari as he did with Red Bull, he goes into this shortened campaign with a mindset effectively freed from the duties of being team leader while Leclerc will unofficially carry that label. The hunter and the hunted from early 2019 have exchanged roles and that could set the path for some fiery confrontations this year.

If Ocon succeeds, it will remove pressure from team boss Cyril Abiteboul to sign up a big name like Vettel or Fernando Alonso, but if Ricciardo retains the upper hand in these early races it becomes more complicated

Those contract announcements in May could affect other relationships. Renault's situation is particularly intriguing; Esteban Ocon goes into his first season with the team after a year's sabbatical that has extended to 19 months. His target will surely be to match and beat Daniel Ricciardo before the Australian moves to McLaren.

If Ocon succeeds, it will remove pressure from team boss Cyril Abiteboul to sign up a big name like Vettel or Fernando Alonso, but if Ricciardo retains the upper hand in these early races it becomes more complicated. A cooperative environment seems unlikely.

McLaren has had its own dramas in Austria between team-mates; in 1999 David Coulthard piled into Mika Hakkinen at the first corner, which led to an embarrassing debrief and the gift of one of those five Austria victories to Ferrari. Thankfully his relationship with Mika survived and they're happy to bump into each other these days.

By contrast, the current McLaren line-up is a genuinely friendly combination and least likely to be affected by the driver shake-up.

Lando Norris has a year under his belt and a contract that extends for a couple of seasons while Carlos Sainz Jr has extra confidence generated by his new deal with Ferrari. If the two of them can focus on getting the best for the team - as they did last year - then McLaren has a healthy chance of retaining fourth place in what promises to be an even more fraught contest for 'Best of the Rest' in the constructors' championship.

Mercedes has experienced a smooth working environment over the past few years but it was a different story when Nico Rosberg was fighting for success. Lewis Hamilton and Rosberg clashed on the final lap at the Red Bull Ring in 2016, although the team still emerged with victory. Since Valtteri Bottas was signed, the atmosphere has been competitive yet productive, important when the team's margin of superiority has been chipped away at. That knowledge no doubt lingers in Toto Wolff's mind as he considers changes for the future.

As for the 'home' team at the initial races, Red Bull has a driver reaching peak form in Max Verstappen, sharing the garage with the inexperienced yet talented Alexander Albon. This is a pairing that could gel effectively and, off the back of two wins in two years in Austria, the imminent back-to-back races could well lead to four in a row if the cards fall into place.

Each team develops an internal psyche which shifts subtly in a season, affected by results, reliability, ongoing prospects and individual performances. Sometimes a team boss can have an influence but ultimately it emerges through the character combinations involved.

Rarely is there a clear answer as to which balance works best. Intense, calm cooperation or spiky inner conflict? It looks like we'll be watching examples across the board in the coming months.