Formula 1: How far have the top 3 teams distanced themselves from the rest?

The top three teams in Formula 1 have a clear advantage over the other seven. But just how far have they distanced themselves from the field?

It is no secret that Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Scuderia Ferrari and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing are the runaway top three teams in Formula 1. They have all finished in the top three in the constructor standings in each of the last three season, and they have combined to win each of the last 118 races going all the way back to the 2013 season.

But just how far have they distanced themselves from the other seven teams that are pretty much competing for seventh place on a weekly basis and fourth in the constructor standings?

Look no further than this past season to illustrated that this gap is as huge as it has ever been. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo had what was, by his standards and by the standards of the sport’s top three teams, a disastrous season, as he failed to finish eight of the season’s 21 races and he finished on the podium in only two of them one season after recording a career-high nine podium finishes.

The 29-year-old Australian finished in sixth place in the driver standings as the lowest driver among the drivers who drive for the sport’s top three teams with 170 points, and he didn’t finish anywhere near the fifth place driver, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who finished the season with two retirements, eight podium finishes and 247 points.

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However, even with all of his misfortune, including six retirements stemming from mechanical failures, Ricciardo still finished nowhere near within striking distance of the seventh place driver in the driver standings, otherwise known as the “best of the rest”. This driver, Renault Sport’s Nico Hulkenberg, collected 69 points over the course of the season.

From an overall perspective not limited to Ricciardo’s season, the six drivers who drive for the sport’s top three teams collected all 21 of the season’s victories, 62 of its 63 podium finishes, as Sahara Force India’s Sergio Perez finished in third place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and perhaps most importantly in the context of this article, 102 of its 126 top six finishes.

In other words, an average of 1.14 non-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing drivers finished in the top six in each race, which is actually surprisingly high. This is the case because of the fact that the six drivers who drive for these teams only swept the top six in five races.

However, this really isn’t all that impressive with all things considered. The six Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing drivers were forced to retire a total of 20 times throughout the season, meaning that only four of their 24 non-top six finishes were lost as a result of the fact that they were beaten by another non-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing driver.

These four non-top six finishes were Bottas’s eighth place finish in the Australian Grand Prix, as McLaren’s Fernando Alonso finished the race in fifth, the eighth place finish of Sebastian Vettel in the Chinese Grand Prix, as Hulkenberg finished the race in sixth, the ninth place finish of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in the Monaco Grand Prix, as Force India’s Esteban Ocon finished the race in sixth, and Bottas’s seventh place finish in the French Grand Prix, as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen finished the race in sixth.

All four of these instances occurred in the season’s first eight races, meaning that none of them occurred in the season’s final 13 races, and all of them took place as a result of incidents involving the Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing drivers.

Bottas crashed in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, so he was forced to start the race all the way back in 15th place and was unable to rally. Vettel was spun out late in the Chinese Grand Prix, so he did not have enough time to recover, which is something that he was forced to do and successfully did on several occasions later in the season.

Verstappen crashed in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix and was thus unable to qualify for it, so he was forced to start the race all the way back in 20th place at arguably the hardest track on the schedule on which to pass. Finally, Bottas was involved in a first-lap crash in the French Grand Prix and was unable to rally.

With all things considered, the seven non-top-tier teams have been nowhere close to the level of the sport’s top three teams. This is actually quite obvious, but what might not have been obvious is the fact that the top three teams are still overwhelmingly dominant in every category even with all of their struggles, of which there were many this past season, factored into the equation.

Even with so many things going the way of the sport’s other seven teams, their top driver barely scored 40% of the amount of points scored by the worst of the six drivers of the three top-tier teams, a driver who dealt with misfortune throughout the entire season and barely managed to finish half of the season’s races while failing to finish even 10% of the season’s races on the podium for the first time in his five-year stint as a Red Bull Racing driver.

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Which of the seven teams that are not among the three top-tier Formula 1 teams do you believe have the best chance to be the next non-top-tier team to win a race? When do you believe a team other than Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing will win a race?

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