Here’s How Long All Of Max Verstappen’s Teammates Have Lasted

The Red Bull Formula 1 team is a ruthless squad. Just this morning, the team confirmed that it was sacking New Zealand racer Liam Lawson and replacing him with Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda at the world championship-winning team. The move means that reigning champ Max Verstappen is now racing with his third teammate in the span of four months.

Tsunoda’s promotion from junior team Visa Cash App Racing Bulls — say that six times faster — to the race-winning outfit comes during a tumultuous time for Red Bull’s driver lineup. The Austrian team fired Sergio Perez last year, buying him out of his contract after a disappointing few seasons for the Mexican.

Lawson was then brought in to turn things around, but a tricky car left the Kiwi struggling in the opening rounds of the 2025 F1 season. Tsunoda will now step into the second Red Bull seat from his home race in Japan, where he will become Verstappen’s seventh teammate in his 10-year career in F1. Tsunoda will be hoping to better Lawson’ record at the team, but just how long will he need to last if he hopes of outlasting some of Verstappen’s old teammates?

Number of races: 2

New Zealand racer Lawson burst into F1 full of promise. The Kiwi deputized for Daniel Ricciardo when he missed five races for AlphaTauri in 2023 due to a fractured wrist then, a year later, replaced the Aussie for the final six races of the 2024 season with the renamed Visa Cash App RB outfit.

The call then came for Lawson to make the move up to the big leagues and he joined Red Bull Racing for the 2025 season. The year didn’t get off to a good start, though, and the Kiwi qualified 18th and 20th for the first two rounds of the year. His races didn’t fare much better, and Lawson crashed out in Australia and finished 12th in China, just out of the points.

Almost as soon as the checkered flag fell in China, rumors began swirling that Lawson was getting the boot, and the news was confirmed by Red Bull today. Lawson will now partner Isack Hadjar at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls for as long as Red Bull fancies.

Number of races: 12

Another Red Bull driver to face demotion mid-season was French racer Pierre Gasly. After just a year in F1, Gasly was promoted to the second Red Bull seat to partner Verstappen for the 2019 season.

The Frenchman had his moments in the second Red Bull seat, setting two fastest laps for the side and just missing out on a podium with a best finish of fourth during his stint. In that time, however, Verstappen managed two race wins and three podium finishes, highlighting the gap between the two drivers.

Red Bull made the call to demote Gasly back to its sister team, which was called Torro Rosso at the time, and he stayed there for the next three seasons. Over the course of his career with the junior squad, Gasly picked up his first three podiums in F1 and even won the Italian Grand Prix.

Number of races: 23

Verstappen’s first team mate in F1 was Spanish racer Carlos Sainz, back when the pair raced at Scuderia Toro Rosso. Verstappen and Sainz spent the entire 2015 season as teammates, and their racing performances weren’t a million miles apart. Over the pair’s first full season, Verstappen managed a best result of fourth while Sainz managed sixth, but the Spaniards high rate of retirements meant he finished the year with 18 points versus Max’s 49.

The gulf between the pair didn’t result in Sainz’s firing, though, and instead the pair stopped racing together when Verstappen was called up to join Red Bull Racing mid-way through the 2016 season. Verstappen replaced Russian driver Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull and Sainz, on the other hand, continued at Torro Rosso until the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix when he switched to Renault. Stints at McLaren and Ferrari followed, and he now races for Williams Racing.

Number of races: 26

Thai racer Alex Albon managed three more races with Verstappen than Sainz could muster, after Albon was brought in to replace Gasly mid-way through the 2019 season. When paired up, Verstappen and Albon brought Red Bull to second in the 2020 Constructors’ Championship, and Albon even managed to pick up his first two podiums for the outfit at Tuscan Grand Prix and the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Podiums are one thing, but Red Bull is a team that wants wins, and the points gap between Albon and Verstappen proved too great for the team to look past. The Dutch racer ended the year in third with 214 points, while the Thai racer was seventh with less than half as many. As such, Red Bull didn’t renew Albon’s contract for the following season and he sat out the 2021 campaign before joining Williams Racing from 2022.

Number of races: 58

Verstappen’s second-longest serving teammate was loveable Aussie, Daniel Ricciardo. From 2016 to 2018 the pair partnered at Red Bull, helping the team claim third place in 2017 and 2018, and second position in the 2016 constructor’s standing. The pair were close in terms of race results, with Ricciardo picking up 15 podiums and four race wins compared with Verstappen’s 17 podiums and five wins.

It wasn’t a lack of performance compared to Verstappen that led to Ricciardo’s departure from the team, however, as he chose to move to Renault where he hoped to rebuild the French squad and fight for world titles. That didn’t happen, and a subsequent switch to McLaren pretty much nuked the Aussie’s career. A brief return to the Red Bull fold in 2023 and 2024 led to an unceremonious retirement from the sport for Ricciardo before the last season reached its conclusion.

Number of races: 90

Verstappen’s longest serving teammate was the driver who helped Red Bull claim back-to-back Constructor’s Championships in 2022 and 2023, and the Dutch racer’s first four world drivers’ titles. It was, of course, Sergio Perez who raced for Red Bull from 2021 until the end of the 2024 season.

The Mexican’s career at Red Bull started strong, with some formidable defense from Perez over the course of 2021 helping the racer firmly put his stamp on the second seat. He also picked up five race wins for the team and 24 podiums, but his form fell off over the last year. Perez didn’t set foot on the podium again after the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix and ended the season 285 points adrift of Verstappen. His retirement from the sport seemed inevitable, and Red Bull confirmed this when it appointed Lawson to the team in December 2024.