Formula 1: Which 10 drivers will win their teammate battles in 2019?
By Asher Fair
Williams
Robert Kubica vs. George Russell
It would be easy to pick Robert Kubica to outperform his rookie teammate George Russell given the fact that Kubica has past experience in Formula 1 and even has a race victory to his name. However, he hasn’t competed in the sport since the 2010 season while Russell won the 2017 GP3 Series championship and the 2018 Formula 2 championship. The last driver who entered Formula 1 the following season after winning those championships in consecutive years was Charles Leclerc, who dominated Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson in the 2018 season and ended up being promoted to Ferrari for the 2019 season.
The pick: George Russell
Toro Rosso
Alexander Albon vs. Daniil Kvyat
Alexander Albon is set to replace Brendon Hartley at Toro Rosso after finishing in second place in the 2016 GP3 Series driver standings and then competing in Formula 2 for two seasons and finishing in 10th and third place in the standings in the 2017 season and the 2018 season, respectively. Meanwhile, Daniil Kvyat is set to replace the Red Bull Racing-bound Pierre Gasly after he was released by the team to make room for Gasly before the 2017 season ended. Toro Rosso’s whole claim of giving Kvyat a “second chance” still seems to be based more around the idea that they couldn’t sign any of the other drivers who they had their eyes on potentially signing, including Lando Norris and Dan Ticktum, for one reason or another.