Norris and Other Lead Drivers Upstaged By Their Teammates

Instead, his teammate has now taken over as the man to beat, with his recent victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix leaving Norris some ten points adrift in the race to become world champion.

Many expected the Brit to be in charge of the World Championship battle this season, especially considering that he took the fight to Max Verstappen last season. However, his erratic nature when starting from pole as well as the mistaken laden back end of last season fuelled the fire of the doubters.

Now, the doubters have grown louder than ever. But not only that, it seems that Norris hasn't just lost his status as the championship leader; he may not even be the lead driver in his own garage anymore.

Following his poor displays in both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the bookies no longer consider Norris the world championship favourite. Online sports betting sites now make the driver a 17/10 second favourite, with his teammate the even money frontrunner and reigning four-time champion Max Verstappen out at 7/2.

The Paddy Power blog had at one point tipped Norris for victory in Bahrain, but the Brit couldn't live up to the billing. Instead, he finished down in third, with his teammate winning and George Russell in second. That has been compounded with a fourth-place finish in Saudi Arabia, and Norris needs to get his act together quickly if he is to remain in championship contention.

But lead drivers have lost civil wars within their respective teams in years gone by. Here are two such occasions.

Back in 2007, reigning back-to-back world champion Fernando Alonso made a blockbuster move from Renault to McLaren, and he was expected to lead the British team to glory.

He was joined by a rookie Lewis Hamilton, and he was expected to act as the Spaniard's rear gunner as he charged toward a third straight world title. That ultimately wouldn't turn out to be the case, and the rookie proved to be more than a match for the undisputed king of the grid.

Hamilton took the fight to Alonso on the very first corner of the very first race of the season, sweeping round from fifth on the grid up to second. And that was the story of the season. The pair traded victories and gradually entered a bitter feud that came to a head in Hungary when Alonso hindered his younger teammate's qualifying effort.

The duelling duo led the championship all year long, but they let their distance from each other distract them from the title, allowing Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen to sneak through and steal the title from under their noses.

When Charles Leclerc made the step up from Sauber to Ferrari in 2019, he was expected to play second fiddle to four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel.

The German had just endured back-to-back championship fights with Lewis Hamilton, coming out on the losing side on each occasion. Still, he was hoping that the third time would be the charm,

Not only did Vettel not reel in Hamilton, though, he couldn't even hold his teammate down. Leclerc won two races to Vettel's one, finishing above him in the championship and triggering an internal war that no one foresaw.

The two battled it out in both Russia and Singapore, before colliding in Brazil, resulting in a double retirement. Ferrari would double down on Leclerc, tying him down to a new contract and announcing that Carlos Sainz would be joining in 2021, forcing Vettel out of the team for good.