Verstappen vs teammates: The Dutchman outclasses them all
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- Jeroen Immink
Max Verstappen will race in his 200th career Grand Prix this coming weekend at his home race in the Netherlands. The triple world champion joins a very illustrious list of drivers to reach this milestone. During his previous 199 races, Verstappen has had several teammates. GPblog lists them and comes to the conclusion that Verstappen is often the strongest.
Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso 2015-2016)
In 2015, both Verstappen and Sainz made their Formula 1 debuts with Red Bull Racing's sister team Toro Rosso. The Spaniard is one of the few who managed to make things somewhat difficult for Verstappen, but not over a full season. In 2015, Verstappen scored 49 points against Sainz with 18. In qualifying over 23 races in total as teammates, it was 13-10 in the Dutchman's favour.
After Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull Racing after five races in 2016 as Daniil Kvyat's replacement, he left Sainz behind. Then, the Spaniard left for Renault in the middle of the 2017 season before moving to McLaren.
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull 2016-2018)
Once promoted to Red Bull, Verstappen raced alongside the popular Daniel Ricciardo, who was arguably his toughest challenge yet. The Australian was then the man who, with three Grand Prix wins, had beaten four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel in a battle between them at Red Bull in 2014. That did not stop Verstappen. At just 18, he managed to win the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix in his debut.
In total, Verstappen and Ricciardo were teammates for 58 races. During that time, the Dutchman developed from a rookie to a much more mature racer. Ricciardo initially seemed to have the upper hand in 2016 and 2017 - especially in qualifying - but eventually was overtaken by the now three-time world champion. The qualifying battle ended 33-25 with Verstappen winning. After Verstappen scored the most points in 2018, Ricciardo surprised the Formula 1 world with a switch to Renault after a disappointing year.
Despite both drivers having a good relationship, they also had friction. In Hungary in 2017, Verstappen blocked Ricciardo under braking and drilled into the side of Ricciardo leading to a DNF for the Australian. "If he does not apologise for this, we will have big problems," said an angry Ricciardo. The Australian sounded furious afterwards. Both drivers also collided during the 2018 Azerbaijan GP on the Baku street circuit.
Pierre Gasly (Red Bull 2019)
After Ricciardo left Red Bull, Frenchman Pierre Gasly was promoted from Toro Rosso, following the same path as Verstappen. As Verstappen managed to win the 2019 Austrian, German and Brazilian Grand Prix, Gasly struggled to score good points. In 12 races as teammates at Red Bull, Verstappen was merciless to Gasly. Both qualifying and race battles ended 11-1 for Verstappen.
Gasly was assigned the same fate as Kvyat and was demoted mid-season, making way for another driver change.
Alexander Albon (Red Bull 2019-2020)
Alexander Albon needed only 12 races to be promoted to a top team in Formula 1. Red Bull gave the Thai driver the chance to do better than Gasly, but in doing so he was given a tough task: being a teammate of Verstappen. In the first races, Albon managed to amass some points through spectacular overtaking. But, being Verstappen's team-mate is a mental challenge, and Albon also discovered that.
In total, Albon was Verstappen's teammate for 26 races, but Albon never came close to him. At the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, he had a chance to secure a 1-2 finish for Red Bull but was hit by Lewis Hamilton late on. This was a huge blow for Albon, who grabbed just one podium after that. Verstappen crushed Albon with a result of 25-1 in qualifying. After 2020, Albon was also ejected from the Red Bull seat.
Sergio Perez (Red Bull 2021-present)
With Sergio Perez, Dr Helmut Marko and Christian Horner hoped to bring in a driver who could get closer to Verstappen. In his first season at Red Bull, he succeeded sporadically, but by holding up Lewis Hamilton in the final race of 2021, he made himself immortal at the Milton Keynes-based team for a long time. In 2023, Perez finished neatly second behind Verstappen in the standings, but the numbers show that Perez too cannot even put a dent into the Dutchman's success.
Perez, however, has lasted the longest against Verstappen. The Mexican has already driven 80 races alongside the Dutchman, and there will be a few more, as he is confirmed at Red Bull for now until the end of 2026. Will he even see out his contract? The numbers are deadly: 69-11 in qualifying and exactly the same numbers in the race. Verstappen, then, has managed to outclass all of his teammates throughout his career, demonstrating his talent.
This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon
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