From title showdowns to spectacular somersaults – 12 of the most dramatic team mate clashes on track

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri sparked huge drama in the final laps of the Canadian Grand Prix by colliding as they battled for P4, an incident labelled as “not acceptable” by McLaren boss Andrea Stella. The duo join a long list of team mates who have clashed on the track, so it seems only fitting to take a look through the archive at 12 of the most dramatic intra-team collisions in F1 history…

Hamilton and Button, Canada 2011

If it is of any consolation to Norris and Piastri, their incident was near to being a mirror image of one that occurred at the same area of the track between two previous McLaren team mates 14 years earlier.

The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix has gone down in F1 lore for numerous reasons, ranging from the fact that it was the longest race ever (at four hours, four minutes and 39 seconds) to its changing weather conditions, numerous incidents and Jenson Button’s incredible recovery drive to victory.

That action-packed afternoon for Button began with a dramatic moment involving the other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. As he attempted to find a way past his team mate down the start/finish straight on Lap 7, Hamilton put a nose to the left-hand side of Button’s car.

However, given the tricky conditions, Button could not see Hamilton through the spray and the pair made contact, putting Hamilton out of the race while Button somehow continued on to what would be an incredibly memorable 10th win in Formula 1.

Hakkinen and Coulthard, Austria 1999

Another example of McLaren drivers colliding comes courtesy of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. The 1999 Austrian Grand Prix came just two weeks after Michael Schumacher suffered a broken leg during Round 8 at Silverstone – and, with this putting the German out of action, Ferrari switched focus to supporting Eddie Irvine’s championship bid.

Reigning World Champion Hakkinen, meanwhile, was seeking a second title and led the Drivers’ standings arriving into Austria. The Finn bolstered his prospects of maintaining this by grabbing pole position in Qualifying ahead of team mate Coulthard.

However, that hard work looked to have been undone on Lap 1 of Sunday’s race when Coulthard tapped the back of Hakkinen’s MP4/14, sending the latter into a spin and dropping him to the back of the field.

Hakkinen managed to recover to a final result of third while title rival Irvine claimed victory, eating into the Finnish driver’s championship lead. Like Norris, Coulthard took responsibility for the incident, labelling it a “mistake on my part”.

Rosberg and Hamilton, Spain 2016

While that incident between Hakkinen and Coulthard ended amicably, the same could not be said when Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton took each other out at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix in perhaps one of the most infamous intra-team collisions of recent times.

Tensions had long been building between the karting rivals turned F1 team mates, who had previously gone head-to-head for the championship in 2014 and 2015. Hamilton had proven triumphant in both years, but it was Rosberg who had enjoyed the stronger start to 2016, winning all four of the campaign’s opening races.

While Hamilton had secured pole position ahead of Rosberg at Round 5 in Barcelona, the German snatched the lead on Lap 1. Hamilton then tried to overtake down the inside on the approach to Turn 4 but Rosberg defended and contact occurred, sending Hamilton into a spin before collecting his team mate.

As both cars ended up beached in the gravel, Mercedes’ race was over before it had started – opening the door for a certain Max Verstappen to claim his maiden F1 victory on his debut for Red Bull.

This incident was arguably a key flashpoint in the rivalry between Rosberg and Hamilton, but it was of course not their first or last clash; the team mates previously made contact at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps in 2014, while a last-lap collision later in 2016 at the Austrian Grand Prix only increased tensions within the Mercedes camp.

Gasly and Ocon, Australia 2023/Monaco 2024

Like Rosberg and Hamilton, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon had some history when they were paired up as team mates at Alpine in 2023. The two French drivers were childhood friends who were karting together from the age of six, but their relationship became strained as the years went by.

Both insisted that there would be no issues in working together at Alpine – and that was put to the test when they suffered a collision just three races in at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, a chaotic event that saw a second race restart take place with two laps remaining.

As Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso made contact ahead, Gasly tried to take avoiding action but collided with Ocon as he rejoined the track, putting both out of the race with heavy damage. Ocon later revealed that Gasly had apologised for the incident.

The situation was reversed somewhat when they made contact again one year later in Monaco after Ocon made a bold move down the inside of the Portier corner, sending his car airborne over Gasly’s.

While a furious Gasly was able to continue despite the damage to his car, Ocon subsequently retired from the race and received a five-place grid penalty for the next event, as well as taking to social media to apologise.

Ocon and Perez, Singapore 2018

Ocon makes a second appearance in this list courtesy of a run-in with Force India team mate Sergio Perez at the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix, marking the most dramatic of a series of collisions that took place between the pair.

After numerous incidents occurred in 2017, the squad imposed an order that Ocon and Perez could no longer race each other without team orders. This was lifted for 2018, meaning that the duo were free to battle when F1 headed to the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

After both started within the top 10, Ocon tried to make a move on Perez around the outside at Turn 3 – but their Force India cars subsequently banged wheels, sending Ocon into the wall. Perez later stated that he had not seen his team mate there.

The clash was deemed “unacceptable” by team boss Otmar Szafnauer and resulted in him reintroducing the previous rule of no racing between his drivers.

Vettel and Webber, Turkey 2010

Like Ocon and Perez, another pairing that experienced their fair share of dramas whilst racing together was the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, who were team mates at the squad between 2009 and 2013.

While some of their tense moments did not necessarily boil over into contact – see Multi 21 – the rivalry did result in a collision at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. Webber was leading both the championship and the race when Vettel tried to challenge into Turn 11 on Lap 40, resulting in them tangling at high-speed.

This sent Vettel spinning off with a puncture and ended his race, leading to an inadvertent moment of radio gold as the German shouted: “What a stupid action! I’m going home.” Webber, on the other hand, was not heading home and managed to limp back to the pits, continuing on to a P3 result.

Webber also maintained his championship lead after the race but, in a closely fought season, it was Vettel who ultimately clinched his debut title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen and Ricciardo, Azerbaijan 2018

Red Bull perhaps initially experienced a slightly more harmonious relationship between their drivers when Max Verstappen joined forces with Daniel Ricciardo in 2016, the duo both racing hard whilst remaining friends off the track.

But their growing rivalry seemed to come to a head at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. After losing a position to his team mate at the start, Ricciardo spent much of the race chasing Verstappen and was getting increasingly close by Lap 40.

The Australian looked to make a move towards the first corner but – as Verstappen tried to defend – hit the back of the sister Red Bull, causing both to dramatically veer off the track and out of the race.

Both drivers were deemed at fault by the stewards and each was issued with a reprimand. Team boss Christian Horner also took that view and decided that Ricciardo and Verstappen would both formally apologise to the whole squad at their headquarters in Milton Keynes.

Fittipaldi and Martini, Italy 1993

The sight of both Red Bull cars skating off the track is certainly a memorable one – but, in terms of visually dramatic team mate clashes, it is hard to beat the incident that occurred between Minardi’s Christian Fittipaldi and Pierluigi Martini at Monza in 1993.

As the two cars approached the chequered flag in seventh and eighth, Fittipaldi was running close behind the other Minardi and tried to overtake. However, the Brazilian’s left front tyre made contact with Martini’s right rear wheel, resulting in Fittipaldi’s car launching into the air.

After completing a spectacular 360-degree somersault, he then landed back on the tarmac and incredibly still crossed the finish line in P8, despite losing a wheel along the way. Martini also held onto his original position of P7.

Speaking to the Beyond The Grid podcast last year, Fittipaldi recalled his relief at escaping the incident unharmed as he explained: “When the car went up, a little film of my life crossed my mind. And then I thought, ‘If the car doesn’t go all the way around, I’m probably done.’”

Russell and Hamilton, Qatar 2023

Thirty years on from that infamous Minardi clash, another team mate collision occurred – this time between the two Mercedes drivers at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.

George Russell had lined up in P2 on the grid for the event, with the other Silver Arrows machine of Lewis Hamilton just behind in third, and the former took the fight to polesitter Max Verstappen off the line.

Hamilton also enjoyed a strong launch and attempted to go around the outside of both Russell and Verstappen – only to make contact with Russell along the way, sending the seven-time World Champion into the gravel and out of the race at the first corner.

While Hamilton stated over the radio that he had been “taken out by my own team mate”, the Briton later took responsibility for what he deemed to be a “racing incident”. Russell went on to finish the race in fourth.

Alesi and Heidfeld, France 2000/Austria 2000

Colliding with a team mate once is not ideal – so imagine the headache for an F1 squad when their drivers come together at two races in a row.

The Prost outfit had been struggling during the 2000 season, despite a line-up combining experience and youth in Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld, and those troubles looked to be continuing at team boss Alain Prost’s home event, the French Grand Prix, when Heidfeld nudged Alesi into a spin.

Two weeks later, when the F1 paddock moved on to Austria, history repeated itself as another incident occurred between the two Prost cars. This time it was Alesi who ran into Heidfeld – and the consequences were worse than during their previous clash, with both cars immediately out of the Grand Prix.

This was somewhat symbolic of what was a challenging campaign for the team, marking the only season during their five-year stint in F1 in which they failed to score any points.

Leclerc and Vettel, Brazil 2019

Sebastian Vettel was faced with a new challenge in 2019 when the highly-rated Charles Leclerc joined Ferrari as his team mate, the Monegasque having impressed during his rookie season with Sauber in 2018.

Leclerc had outscored Vettel by the time of the penultimate race of the campaign in Brazil, sitting third in the championship while Vettel was back in fifth. And while Vettel had been running ahead of the other Ferrari for much of the Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, Leclerc was hot on his tail as they battled for fourth with just a few laps remaining.

The driver from Monaco overtook into Turn 1 before Vettel tried to take the position back into Turn 3, but the pair banged wheels and both picked up terminal damage to their cars, resulting in a double DNF for the Scuderia.

“I think at the end that both of them have got at least a small or part percentage of responsibility,” Team Principal Mattia Binotto commented after the race, while both drivers offered their apologies for the incident.

Senna and Prost, Japan 1989

And now we arrive at perhaps one of the most infamous team mate collisions – and rivalries – in the history of Formula 1. When Ayrton Senna partnered with Alain Prost at McLaren in 1988, an all-star driver line-up was formed, with the pair winning all but one race in a dominant campaign that saw Senna claim his debut World Championship.

The McLaren duo once again went head-to-head for the crown in 1989, and Prost was sitting atop the Drivers’ standings entering into the penultimate race of the campaign at Suzuka. Senna secured pole position, but Prost grabbed the lead after making a stronger start than his rival.

After chasing down his team mate throughout the race, Senna was fighting Prost for the lead on Lap 47 of 53 when they collided at the Casio Triangle chicane. This immediately put Prost out of the race, while Senna rejoined and went on to win.

However, the Brazilian was subsequently disqualified for cutting the chicane when he returned to the track post-collision, meaning that Prost had sealed his third World Championship.

The Frenchman departed McLaren for Ferrari in 1990, bringing an end to one of the most tense team mate relationships F1 has seen. But that did not put a stop to the rivalry, as the pair again duelled for the championship in 1990 – culminating in another controversial title showdown at Suzuka, with Senna becoming the champion on that occasion.