I very much like and appreciate what goes on in cycling, due to physical differences one even does deals if just riding with mates, for instance, some people have the stamina to tow everyone home at the end of a long ride, some have the hill climbing skills, some can better cope with attrition, some can sprint, some can fearlessly descend. So much of it is actually due to energy conservation, and, in the sport these inherent things are part of the recipe that makes it so fascinating. No sport has the depth of tactics and intrigue that the Tour de France has, and yes that is a different event to the rest of cycling.

One common thing is to have the bulk of the team reign in a breakaway group so their sprinter can take the stage on the line. Or if the team have their man in the breakaway then they can slow down the peleton so the breakaway succeeds, there are so many goals to be gone for.

In F1 there are none of these advanced team tactics going on. Every driver wants to win, none of them are there to just win the 'high speed flat circuits' or just the 'street circuits', or to be a support rider, towing their team lead to the finish line to give way to them and let them get the points.

The fascinating bit of F1 is that every driver first and foremost has to beat their team mate on the other side of the garage. This is where the rivalries are. Teams can mitigate this by not having two Senna grade drivers (as if there is such a thing). Common patterns include having a junior rookie driver to partner with the gifted established star driver. Or, further down the grid, to have a pay driver who 'pays' for the team to have a premium commanding established talented driver. Sometimes the pay driver has something to do with the sponsor, so there was that Nakajima chap that Lotus partnered up with championship winning Piquet, keeping engine supplying Honda happy.

Moving on to today, Honda supply both Red Bull teams - Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Now you would think that there could be deals done to make the B team - Toro Rosso be a mobile chicane, maybe creating incidents to get the red flag and safety car out, or just tying up those Mercedes drivers during pit stops (where they don't have to be blue flagged to let the Mercedes guys pass). But there is none of this.

Or when Renault were supplying Red Bull they could have had deals with other Renault powered teams to achieve similar goals, keeping McLaren at bay (they were winning then).

Anyway, when you hear the excellent Lewis Hamilton talking about the team, he really means it. But the team is his side of the garage, not the Bottas side. Fortunately for Lewis, Bottas is a nice chap and he has respect for the guy that he never had when it was Rosberg (who has developed into a really nice guy now he has quit F1 and got into Formula E ownership).

One other difference in the team-ness of it all is that the cars are different. You ain't going to win in a 2018 Williams even if you are a born again Ayrton Senna. But in cycling it doesn't matter what bike you ride. Clearly my sit up and beg 3 speed won't cut it, but it makes no difference if you are riding Shimano, SRAM or Campagnolo parts. Even having a carbon fibre bike isn't a guarantee of performance over a hydroformed aluminium frame. What will make a difference is performance enhancing drugs, and, for most of the sport's history riders have been chasing prize money just so they can pay for the drugs. Sad but true.

There is irony in that cycling is so much dirtier in this regard compared to F1. F1 should be filthy with big oil and tobacco sponsors, million dollar salaries for starters and so many vested interests. But it is squeaky clean compared to cycling. It is also quite boring in comparison to the show that cycling puts on, I write this as a lifelong fan of F1. Cycling just takes so much to extremes in ways that no other sport can match.