Max Verstappen has dominated team-mate Sergio Perez in all three seasons they have worked together at Red Bull and will be expected to do so again over the coming campaign
No teammate will ever be anything more than Max Verstappen’s sidekick, according to a long-serving Red Bull executive.
In his experience, Verstappen performs exceptionally well when competing against other drivers from the same team. Daniel Ricciardo outscored him twice in a season, though the Australian driver was the far more experienced one in both of those instances. That is the only other times he has been defeated.
The Dutchman has improved recently and, ever since he discovered his peak performance, he has shown his teammates no mercy. During their brief tenures at Red Bull, both Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon failed to perform well in the seat.
As Verstappen’s partner for the upcoming fourth season, Sergio Perez has endured longer. However, he has only ever finished 200 points ahead of his teammate once—being soundly defeated three times in a row.
Franz Tost is among those who has watched Verstappen the most closely. The Dutchman’s first Formula One boss was the long-serving team principal at Red Bull’s sister team, and the two remained close for many years.
The Austrian is confident triple champion Verstappen will continue to add a ton of hardware to his collection as long as Red Bull stays at the forefront of the grid. Asked by F1 Insider if anyone can hold a candle to the 26-year-old, Tost simply replied: “No.”
He went on: “Max will win a lot more races and titles if he keeps driving a nice car. He will continue to improve and is still not at his peak. No driver on his current or future team will ever be higher up than number two.
Maybe Perez should heed the warning in that last sentence. After all, he had plans to defeat Verstappen in the world championship around this time last year. He also had a strong start to the 2023 campaign.
But he never experienced victory again after taking the lead in two of the first four races. Even though his teammate started in pole position, Verstappen easily won the Miami Grand Prix from ninth on the grid. That was the turning point in the Mexican’s career, as his brief title challenge came to an end and he began an abject run of qualifying form.
Perez is fighting for his future at Red Bull as he approaches the last 12 months of his contract. The 33-year-old’sfutureis in his own hands, according to team principal Christian Horner, but he has also stated that he will weigh all of the driver options before deciding who will partner Verstappen starting in 2025.
