From Daniel Ricciardo to Sergio Perez – Which Red Bull Teammate Challenged Max Verstappen the Most?

During his time in Formula 1, Max Verstappen has faced many foes in the form of his teammates and drivers representing other teams. Speaking about his teammates alone, Verstappen has had five different ones during his time in the circus, starting from his rookie season in 2015. However, the then-17-year-old Toro Rosso driver not only beat his teammate in his rookie season but also did so valiantly enough to earn himself a promotion to the Red Bull seat the following year. Since then, Verstappen has faced four more challengers in the form of his teammates.

Coming out on top of his teammates on most occasions, in this piece, we will try to look at the teammates who pushed the Dutchman the hardest in the past nine seasons. The Red Bull world champion has been largely superior to all his teammates, but some were not as easy to beat as the rest. In this piece, we will express our opinion on the matter, separate from any general perception.

The rookie season prowess against Carlos Sainz and the Red Bull challenge against Daniel Ricciardo

In his first-ever full race in F1 in Australia, Verstappen not only became the youngest diver at 17 years and 166 days to race in the premier class, but he was also running in points until he had to retire his car due to an engine failure. However, in the next race in Malaysia, the Dutchman qualified in P6, finishing in P7 and becoming the youngest-ever championship points scorer in F1 history. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the season as rookie Verstappen beat his teammate Carlos Sainz, outscoring him in the overall standings by 31 points. However, then came a real challenge and what we believe is his most formidable opponent to date: Daniel Ricciardo.

Despite Lewis Hamilton’s claim of Verstappen always having it easy with his teammates, we believe the Australian disproves the Brit’s statement. Ricciardo started his F1 journey in 2011 and secured a full-time drive in 2012. Rising through the same ranks, Ricciardo drove for Toro Rosso before moving to Red Bull and welcoming Verstappen in 2016 to the team.

By then, Ricciardo was already a three-time race winner, all in the 2014 season. Verstappen also made a good account of himself, with his maiden race win in his first one for Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish GP. Ricciardo also added one to his tally in the 2016 season and finished the season ahead of Verstappen in the overall standings with a 52-point lead.

The Australian kept up the pressure in the following season as well by finishing ahead of Verstappen in the overall standings. However, Verstappen secured two wins in 2017 compared to Ricciardo’s one. Even in the overall standings, the gap between the two was down to just 32 points.

In the 2018 season, the Dutchman flipped the tables and beat his more experienced teammate for the first time. Both Ricciardo and Verstappen secured two race wins each in the season. But cracks were starting to appear, especially with the infamous crash in Baku. On the points table, Verstappen completed the turnaround with a massive 79-point lead on Ricciardo.

In their two years as teammates, both had three wins each, but Ricciardo secured 18 podiums compared to Verstappen’s 11. In the overall points tally, Ricciardo amassed 457 points compared to Verstappen’s 377, and Verstappen never secured a pole position, whereas Ricciardo did once. However, Verstappen did outqualify Ricciardo with 21-20 in his favor.

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These stats are a testament to Ricciardo’s prowess, as the Australian remains the only driver who pushed the Dutchman the hardest as a teammate. What about his other teammates?

After Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen’s fight against his teammates has been a cakewalk

The Dutchman did not look back after overcoming the Ricciardo challenge. After the Honey Badger decided to leave Red Bull, the Austrian team promoted Pierre Gasly from the sister team in 2019, just like his predecessor. Despite being older, Gasly was less experienced, and the then-23-year-old Frenchman failed to impress the bosses. He was quickly demoted to Toro Rosso mid-season and replaced by Alex Albon.

Albon held onto the seat for a year and a half till 2020 but did not convince the bosses either. His average performance in an above-average race car was not what Red Bull was looking for to take the fight to Mercedes, which made way for Sergio Perez in 2021.

Perez came in as the most experienced teammate Verstappen had ever faced. However, by 2021, Verstappen was in top form and shape and was ready to fight for a championship. As we all remember, Perez played the perfect teammate to Verstappen and played a crucial role in helping him secure his first-ever title. The Mexican performed his duties excellently in 2022 as Red Bull secured the Constructor’s Championship as well.

However, after his falling out with Verstappen toward the end of the 2022 season – in Brazil, to be precise – the Mexican publicly admitted his desire to fight the Dutchman for the championship. Perez held his own and won two of the first four races of 2023. However, he soon succumbed to the pressure and, in fact, went into a slump bad enough to put his Red Bull seat under threat.

The P2 in the championship helped Perez keep a hold of his seat for another year. Although, after his contract runs out, the general understanding is he won’t be getting a renewal.

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With history as proof and our understanding of it, we don’t believe the Dutchman has faced a greater challenge in the form of a teammate than he did against Daniel Ricciardo. Do you agree? If not, who, according to you, is the toughest teammate Verstappen has faced in his career?