Some things will be the same across 1v1 against 4v4
Others are not
For example 4v4 sees more map control, more caches and more stuff to be salvaged, as such late game where Axis do better comes sooner and represents a bigger part of the game - especially as games tend to be longer. It also allows OKW to off-set their resource penalty by having access to caches
It also can mean that more bases are covered through Commander Abilities and tech choices - so 2 Soviets can have all 4 tiers between them.
And "random v arranged team" is another matter entirely
None of that means that balance shouldn't start in 1v1 and if 1v1 gets resolved then many of the issues that affect 4v4 will also be resolved, but 4v4 will still have things unique to it.
All that said, looking at where we have been:
http://www.coh2.org/topic/27284/remember-when
The game was in a very good state prior to WFA coming out and considering how long that took relative to where we are now and considering that relic lost their lead balance and that doing 4 factions is more than twice as hard as doing 2 I am content with the situation right now
A lot of balance "discussion" is L2P and QQ anyway and I don't take it very seriously