Red Bull Racing boasts eight Formula 1 world championships and six drivers’ championships – all won within the last 15 years.
Yet, as four-time world champion Max Verstappen breaks records, the Milton Keynes-based outfit cannot nail down a consistent second driver. So, why is it that this tremendously successful group is unable to garner consistent performances from the second seat?
This deep dive by racing experts at FIRST.com evaluates the full breadth of the issue – from individual strife among Verstappen’s team-mates to the car itself.
Red Bull second drivers: who are they?
Since 2016, half of Max Verstappen’s team-mates have failed to maintain their seat beyond a second season. Here, we run through each driver’s struggles.
Daniel Ricciardo – Not number one anymore
Daniel Ricciardo served as Verstappen’s team-mate for 58 Grand Prix events. Despite earning a couple of pole positions, the Australian failed to outperform his European partner across virtually any other metric.
And, although Ricciardo was held in high regard by Red Bull higher-ups, the team’s failure to prioritise his needs over Verstappen’s led to a departure for pastures anew at the end of 2018’s Formula 1 campaign.
Pierre Gasly – five-month nightmare
A graduate of Red Bull’s junior programme, much was expected of Pierre Gasly when he followed in Verstappen’s footsteps by joining the main team from Toro Rosso.
However, after a nightmare 12-race stint that saw Verstappen outscore his French team-mate by 117 points, Red Bull decided to return Gasly to his former employers.
Alex Albon – too much too soon?
As Gasly exited Red Bull after just a dozen Grand Prix weekends, Alex Albon made his way to Milton Keynes only 12 races into his Formula 1 career.
In 26 races together, Verstappen outqualified Albon 25 times and, crucially, won on three occasions to Albon’s zero.
Red Bull ultimately deemed the Albon experiment a failure. Following the final race of 2020, he was told to vacate his post as Max Verstappen’s team-mate.
Sergio Perez – consistently inconsistent
Red Bull signed Perez as Albon’s replacement – an acquisition that signalled a departure from the team’s junior programme.
Nevertheless, in 90 races, Perez’s total points haul stood almost 1,000 behind that of Verstappen’s.
A disastrous 2024 culminated in the six-time Grand Prix winner being released by the previous year’s constructors’ champions.
Liam Lawson – immediate ousting
The start of 2025 heralded the first time that Verstappen would operate as the team’s eldest driver – but it was not long before Liam Lawson, who had been promoted ahead of the new campaign, suffered an instant demotion.
With two races under his belt and zero points on the board, the 23-year-old was replaced.
by Yuki Tsunoda.
Moving forward with Yuki Tsunoda
Current Red Bull number two Yuki Tsunoda is already under fire for Grand Prix blunders – and Red Bull’s notoriously high standards could see the Japanese driver forced out of the team’s second seat before long.
Tsunoda has expressed concerns over the car’s instability, saying “it’s incredible how he [Verstappen] is able to cope” with its demands.
Attesting to difficulties as Verstappen’s on-track ally in a recent interview, Alex Albon outlined that Red Bull’s development process places the car “on a knife edge”, whereas Racing Bulls tailor their car to inexperienced drivers.
Junior programme graduates familiar with the “stable” Racing Bulls product face a near-impossible task to immediately perform in what the Williams driver has dubbed the “trickiest” car.
When you account for the fact that young drivers are consistently asked to transition from a well-balanced Racing Bulls ride to the twitchy Red Bull, decoding this second-seat mystery becomes quite straightforward.
It is the team’s car philosophy, and not necessarily the drivers, that is predominantly at fault.
Replace the replacement or change the car?
It is no secret that every iteration of the Red Bull car is designed to fit Max Verstappen’s driving style.
Therefore, perhaps most telling are direct quotes from Verstappen, who has expressed that the RB21 is “nervous” and “unstable” – facets known to instill anxiety in rookie drivers.
Already, Isack Hadjar has been mooted as a likely replacement for Tsunoda…but the 20-year-old Racing Bulls driver wants no part in a swap deal just yet, stating that he is “not ready” for the big switch.
As of now, it is unclear who will end the campaign in the second car.
What is certain, however, is that the next in line must be prepared to battle not only Verstappen and Red Bull’s bias towards the Dutchman, but also a longstanding legacy of second-seat shortcomings.
