Feature

Team mate battles: Who's on top so far in 2018?

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Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel
Championship points: 189 (2nd place)
Ahead in qualifying: 10 out of 12
Ahead in the race: 7 out of 12
Best finish: 1st (in four races)

Kimi Raikkonen
Championship points: 146 (3rd place)
Ahead in qualifying: 2 out of 12
Ahead in the race: 5 out of 12
Best finish: 2nd (in two races)

Analysis: Vettel on top
There's no question of who the top dog is at Maranello. In every respect, Sebastian Vettel has proven himself to be the scuderia's most valuable asset. But with the exception of qualifying where he's been comprehensively demolished by his team mate, Kimi Raikkonen hasn't been that far off. When Vettel has uncharacteristically dropped the ball, the Finn has been on hand to pick up and salvage things for Ferrari. He's been quick and competitive, and perhaps the only reason he's behind Vettel is that the team is ultimately laser-focussed on the German's championship campaign when it comes to deciding race streategy. The benefit of a stable, friction-free driver line-up is proving beneficial to Ferrari, which might explain why there is suddenly talk of Raikkonen still being part of the squad come 2019. And if he is, it'll be because he's thoroughly earned it.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.