Ranking Max Verstappen’s 7 F1 team-mates from best to worst

Max Verstappen has built his reputation as the Formula 1 team-mate killer. But, it has not been a case of destruction for all.

After 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve labelled Yuki Tsunoda “the worst” Max Verstappen team-mate, we got our thinking cap on. We have ranked all of Verstappen’s Formula 1 team-mates – from best to worst – to determine who measured up the best, and find the biggest victim.

Max Verstappen F1 team-mates: The best and worst

1. Daniel Ricciardo

Taking top spot on our list, as the most competitive team-mate versus Verstappen, is his former Red Bull counterpart Daniel Ricciardo.

Team-mates between 2016-18, this was a closely-matched pairing. Ricciardo would earn the distinction of being Verstappen’s only F1 team-mate to finish a Championship ahead of him.

While 2016 was not a complete case study, as Verstappen only joined the senior Red Bull team from Round 5 in Spain – a debut race which he went and won – Ricciardo followed-up by outscoring the young Dutchman across the 2017 campaign, 200 points to 168.

In those days, Red Bull was one of the few teams capable of nicking a win from the dominant Mercedes team, and by 2018, momentum had begun to swing the way of Verstappen.

Taking two wins to Ricciardo’s one in 2018 – and scoring 249 points to Ricciardo’s 170 – tensions began to brew and Ricciardo bid farewell to Red Bull as a seven-time race winner at the end of the season.

Ricciardo’s career never really recovered from that decision, but he remains the strongest inter-team challenger which Verstappen has faced, claiming P1 on our list even if he ran from a fight in the end. So the story goes anyway.

2. Sergio Perez

Coming in at runner-up is Sergio Perez, who like Ricciardo, can call himself a multi-time grand prix winner despite Verstappen being on the other side of the garage.

Perez played a critical supporting role in Verstappen’s maiden World Championship in 2021, and as Red Bull grew into the dominant F1 force, Perez also had title glory on his mind.

In the three seasons which followed, Perez’s challenges started in promising fashion, but would fizzle out. Still, he won five grands prix with Red Bull, and finished runner-up to Verstappen in the 2023 Drivers’ Championship.

As Red Bull’s dominance faded, Perez’s form collapsed despite a bright start to 2024. This culminated in his Red Bull exit when the season concluded.

3. Carlos Sainz

Completing this particular podium is Verstappen’s very first Formula 1 team-mate, Carlos Sainz.

He and Verstappen arrived on the grid at the same time in 2015, the pair fielded in Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso. It was a duo which produced fireworks, Sainz having spoke in the past about how he felt the team manufactured a rivalry between them in pursuit of a Red Bull promotion.

As for performance, Sainz certainly held his own against Verstappen, which became harder and harder for team-mates to do as the Dutchman filled out his F1 icon build of today. But, with 49 points on the board by season’s end to Sainz’s 18, Verstappen was establishing himself as Red Bull’s next diamond in the rough.

Sainz, however, won the 2015 qualifying head-to-head, a 10-9 victory over Verstappen demonstrating his raw speed. But, when Red Bull decided that Daniil Kvyat was to be replaced in early 2016, Verstappen was the driver who they turned to, an inspired decision as time has proven.

With Sainz going on to win four races in his impressive F1 career thus far, a Verstappen reunion is one which has been teased, but never realised.

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4. Alex Albon

At this point, we delve into the realm of promising F1 talents still wet behind the ear, who suffered a rude awakening up against Verstappen.

Best of this particular rest was Alex Albon. He twice made the podium as a Red Bull driver, spending a season-and-a-half as Verstappen’s team-mate.

But with Verstappen hoovering up podiums for fun – very much snapping away at the heels of Mercedes by this point – Albon did not do enough to extend his Red Bull race seat tenure. He was demoted to reserve for 2021, ahead of a return to the grid with Williams.

5. Pierre Gasly

When Ricciardo bolted for the Red Bull exit door, Pierre Gasly was the first driver who Red Bull turned to, and so began the second seat curse.

Gasly underwhelmed in the first half of 2019, scoring a best result of fourth at Silverstone. By the summer break, Red Bull had seen enough, demoting Gasly back to Toro Rosso and calling Albon up as his replacement.

6. Liam Lawson

But, if half a season sounds a bit harsh, try two races. That is all Liam Lawson got in the second Red Bull seat.

In fairness to the team, it was a harrowing experience for Lawson. Unable to escape Q1 in three attempts – which included qualifying last for the China Sprint and Grand Prix – Red Bull felt a duty to protect Lawson. That manifested in demotion after just two rounds of the F1 2025 campaign.

Next to step up to the plate, Yuki Tsunoda.

7. Yuki Tsunoda

And yes, we have to go with Jacques Villeneuve on this one. Yuki Tsunoda has been the poorest Verstappen F1 team-mate thus far.

The Red Bull RB21 has proven a handful at the best of times, but it is still a car which Verstappen has driven to victory twice. Tsunoda, meanwhile, has scored just seven points, with zero collected in his last seven grands prix.

Lawson only had two race weekends to try to tame the RB21, while Tsunoda has had 12, and is not looking like an upgrade after getting the call, despite possessing a great deal more experience as a Formula 1 driver than Lawson.

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