The team-mate battles that will define F1 2021

The countdown to 2021 F1 season is nearing its end and answers about the competitive order will soon arrive. But just as crucial to the narrative of the season will be the intra-team battles for supremacy, as new players bed into unfamiliar environments and established pairings aim to settle scores

The eve of a new Formula 1 season is here. The story of the 2021 championship is already underway given the results of the recent test in Bahrain, but now comes what really matters.

Finally, the smoke and mirrors, PR spin and pointless predictions will be blown away by the stopwatch’s brutal reality. Come Q3 in Bahrain on Saturday night, we’ll know the true pecking order (mention the combo of inevitable windy conditions and track layout making this event a bit of an outlier if you dare!).

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

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.