Best Driver Pairing for 2020

[Double gauche]

Seem to me that most teams have one elite drivers and one with question marks / limitations.
Red Bull happiest with Max and an excellent newbie ?
Renault and Macca both look pretty tasty

Merc and Ferrari wouldn't feature for me due to Vettel and Bottas

Interesting to hear peoples thoughts

[HustleRussell]

I think best 2020 driver pairing is a dead heat between;

Renault - Ricciardo / Ocon

and

McLaren - Sainz / Norris

Which will be interesting because of their competitive position.

[ChocolateFrog]

Difficult to look past Hamilton and Bottas. Bottas isn't good enough to threaten Hamilton week in, week out while being good enough to wrap the Constructors Championship in good time, Ham does the rest.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

What do you class as best though? The two best drivers or the two best suited to winning both championships? I'd struggle with RIC and OCO being named the two best drivers to be honest!

You could argue VET and LEC and I think that would be my pick for team with the best drivers, for best chances of winning both championships I'd still say HAM and BOT as I don't think you can compare ALB with BOT no matter how good VER is.

[HustleRussell]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

What do you class as best though? The two best drivers or the two best suited to winning both championships?

Double gauche said:

Best Driver Pairing for 2020

[HustleRussell]

Ferrari 2020 looking pretty good - Leclerc and Alonso / Hulkenberg

[TheDeuce]

ChocolateFrog said:

Difficult to look past Hamilton and Bottas. Bottas isn't good enough to threaten Hamilton week in, week out while being good enough to wrap the Constructors Championship in good time, Ham does the rest.

I agree with this. Objectively speaking, taking all the reasons driver pairing work and get the job done, It has to be these two.

Both pleasant, focused and consistent. It's particularly useful that at his best Bottas is a small but safe distance off Lewis at his best, so they can both largely be left alone to do their race, knowing they will normally bring home the maximum points in whatever situation and not step one each others toes too often. And when they do battle, it's pretty gentlemanly stuff for the most part.

[vaud]

Max and Alex looks pretty good at the moment. Not taking each other out and Alex is getting closer.

[Kraken]

Another of these threads where the OP fails to define what "best" means. It's meaningless without that information.

Best pair could mean the pair that get on the best or develop a car the best together or will roll over if the other gets ahead in the championship etc etc.

[The Surveyor]

HustleRussell said:

I think best 2020 driver pairing is a dead heat between;

Renault - Ricciardo / Ocon

and

McLaren - Sainz / Norris

Which will be interesting because of their competitive position.

For me, Lando needs to stop joking about in the pits and start focussing on his driving. He's fast, but I'm really disappointed in his race-craft which sees him going backwards through the pack when he should be going forward, especially when compared to Carlos who does look to have the skill to make the most of the improving McLaren.

Best pairing for me is Max and Alexander. They both look to be doing things very differently but both look to be getting the best out of the Red Bull.

[NewUsername]

The Surveyor said:

HustleRussell said:

I think best 2020 driver pairing is a dead heat between;

Renault - Ricciardo / Ocon

and

McLaren - Sainz / Norris

Which will be interesting because of their competitive position.

For me, Lando needs to stop joking about in the pits and start focussing on his driving. He's fast, but I'm really disappointed in his race-craft which sees him going backwards through the pack when he should be going forward, especially when compared to Carlos who does look to have the skill to make the most of the improving McLaren.

They're usually on contra strategies, and Norris has had a big slice of bad luck this year. He's decent

[StevieBee]

NewUsername said:

The Surveyor said:

HustleRussell said:

I think best 2020 driver pairing is a dead heat between;

Renault - Ricciardo / Ocon

and

McLaren - Sainz / Norris

Which will be interesting because of their competitive position.

For me, Lando needs to stop joking about in the pits and start focussing on his driving. He's fast, but I'm really disappointed in his race-craft which sees him going backwards through the pack when he should be going forward, especially when compared to Carlos who does look to have the skill to make the most of the improving McLaren.

They're usually on contra strategies, and Norris has had a big slice of bad luck this year. He's decent

Agree. And it's nice to see the 'human' in a driver and not the bland corporate malarky.

As an aside, what I find odd is that with Albon, he has just as much right to race as a British driver as he does Thai but chooses the later. Something that the media reminds us of with great regularity.

Norris has just as much right to race as a Belgian racer (was born there, mother's Belgian and has a Belgian passport) but chooses British. Something I don't think I've ever heard mention.

[thegreenhell]

StevieBee said:

Norris has just as much right to race as a Belgian racer (was born there, mother's Belgian and has a Belgian passport) but chooses British. Something I don't think I've ever heard mention.

The same with Verstappen, who is Belgian but chooses to race as Dutch.

[Mark-C]

Double gauche said:

Seem to me that most teams have one elite drivers and one with question marks / limitations.
Red Bull happiest with Max and an excellent newbie ?
Renault and Macca both look pretty tasty

Merc and Ferrari wouldn't feature for me due to Vettel and Bottas

Interesting to hear peoples thoughts

No idea why you would discount Merc because of Bottas - I'd suggest he has absolutely delivered everything Merc have wanted of him. Which is why he is still there.

[Lynchie999]

StevieBee said:

NewUsername said:

The Surveyor said:

HustleRussell said:

I think best 2020 driver pairing is a dead heat between;

Renault - Ricciardo / Ocon

and

McLaren - Sainz / Norris

Which will be interesting because of their competitive position.

For me, Lando needs to stop joking about in the pits and start focussing on his driving. He's fast, but I'm really disappointed in his race-craft which sees him going backwards through the pack when he should be going forward, especially when compared to Carlos who does look to have the skill to make the most of the improving McLaren.

They're usually on contra strategies, and Norris has had a big slice of bad luck this year. He's decent

Agree. And it's nice to see the 'human' in a driver and not the bland corporate malarky.

As an aside, what I find odd is that with Albon, he has just as much right to race as a British driver as he does Thai but chooses the later. Something that the media reminds us of with great regularity.

Norris has just as much right to race as a Belgian racer (was born there, mother's Belgian and has a Belgian passport) but chooses British. Something I don't think I've ever heard mention.

I think Alex is very close to his mother and I suppose "identifies" (sorry to use that word!) more with Thailand than the UK ...

[768]

CLC and VET.

After they've told Seb he's number 2.

[Frimley111R]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

You could argue VET and LEC and I think that would be my pick for team with the best drivers,

I think I'd agree, both are very fast and competitive.

[Blink982]

Lewis and Valteri.

[Muzzer79]

For me the best driver pairing combines experience with race craft and speed.

That rules out McLaren on the experience front, along with Renault.

For me, it's between Mercedes and Red Bull. The Ferrari partnership is destined to explode Hamilton/Rosberg-style.

On the basis that Albon's only had a couple of races, I'll go with Mercedes - both proven race winners, fast, experienced, know how to win as a team.

[Double gauche]

Best must be which pairing would you put in your team if you had one money no object etc etc

Really as an armchair enthusiast it has to be about who’s the two quickest.
We don’t know the intricacies of marketing strategies and contract requirements drivers have etc. Who’s car set ups are most similar? Is that a consideration for teams?

Just thought it wasn’t a slam dunk and actually most pairings have merits to them.
I like the way McLaren pairing has worked out
Sainz is quick ( his record vs max at TR) and Norris seems to have his match. Surely his race craft and luck will improve next year

For me Bottas should be closer to Ham more regularly to be the ideal partner.
Vettel is being exposed and making poor decisions

Ver and Albon are right up there for next year

Red bull or Macca for me.

Thread was just an interesting debate idea Please don’t take it too seriously btw !