5 F1 races where Max Verstappen was outclassed by his teammate

F1 Grand Prix of Italy - Qualifying - Source: Getty
F1 Grand Prix of Italy - Qualifying - Source: Getty

The 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP was an interesting race as it saw Max Verstappen getting outperformed by teammate Sergio Perez in the race. For a driver of Verstappen's calibre, if there's one thing he has prided himself on, it is the ability of the driver to stay tenacious.

Every race weekend, he's right on it and getting the best possible result from the car. It was thus very interesting when Max was completely outclassed by his teammate in Baku.

So much so that it raised an interesting question. Have there been other occasions where this has happened? Throughout his career, Max has been teamed up with some great talents. He's been teamed up with Carlos Sainz during his stint at Torro Rosso.

Then he had Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull for a while, followed by Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Sergio Perez. During this time, have there been incidents where he has been outperformed by his teammates. Let's take a look at a few of them.

When Max Verstappen was outclassed by his teammate

#5 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP

The most recent case was the race we had in Baku, where Sergio Perez appeared to have the edge on Max Verstappen. Now Verstappen is not the kind of driver who would often struggle with car setups much. The driver has shown an ability to be adaptable to the challenges.

This weekend, however, Sergio Perez was just the faster and better driver, so much so that Max was stuck in the midfield while Perez was in contention to win the race.

However, disaster struck Perez in the penultimate lap when he collided with Carlos Sainz that ultimately destroyed his podium hopes while Verstappen finished fifth.

Sergio Perez at F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Source: Getty
Sergio Perez at F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Source: Getty

#4 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP

This was one of the rare cases in the partnership between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez that the Mexican just had the better feel overall. He was more comfortable and had the car under his control on his way to victory while Max was struggling.

Even though the safety car played a role and helped Perez jump Max, the driver had shown enough by the time that it didn't really matter. Even after the restart, Max couldn't do much and would end up losing the race to his teammate.

#3 2018 F1 Monaco GP

Daniel Ricciardo celebrating his victory at F1 Grand Prix of Monaco. - Source: Getty
Daniel Ricciardo celebrating his victory at F1 Grand Prix of Monaco. - Source: Getty

The 2018 F1 Monaco GP is often remembered as the race where Max Verstappen was almost forced to look in the mirror and be critical of himself.

As soon as the circus reached Monaco in 2018, it became clear that Red Bull was going to be a potential challenge on this track. From FP1 onwards, both Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were pushing the boundaries of the track. The two were dominating the field but it was clear that the more experienced driver had a tiny edge.

It was this tiny edge that induced a crash for Max Verstappen in FP3. That crash meant that Max was going to be forced to miss qualifying as there was not enough time left for the team to get the car fixed. With his primary rival out of the race, Daniel Ricciardo streaked through for pole and a win.

#2 2016 F1 Malaysian GP

The 2016 F1 Malaysian GP is often remembered as a race where Lewis Hamilton lost his title due to a power unit issue.

There were, however, a few other stories here that the fans don't remember. This is the story of what happened after that. What happened afterward was a very interesting wheel-to-wheel battle for the win between Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. The reason why it happened was because while the Australian was ahead, his Dutch teammate had a fresher tire with softer rubber.

With that being said, the Red Bull duo went after each other in an intense wheel-to-wheel battle in which Daniel was the one who came out on top.

#1 2016 F1 Monaco GP

The race is remembered for Lewis Hamilton nailing the strategy and Red Bull having a monumental pitstop debacle but there was more context to it. This was just the second race in Max Verstappen's Red Bull journey.

The very first race with the team was in Barcelona, and Max won it. He'd done so by stepping in mid-season and, in a sense, taking the shine off Daniel Ricciardo, his teammate. The very next race was in Monaco, and this was a race where Red Bull had the pace to be at the front.

While Max Verstappen just couldn't do that, Daniel Ricciardo certainly did and got the jump on everyone to secure pole position. From there, it should have been a cakewalk to the chequered flag for the Australian, but a bad pitstop ruined it for Daniel. He would still finish P2, while Max could not score after a poor qualifying.

Quick Links

Edited by Sudeshna Banerjee
Sportskeeda logo
Close menu
WWE
WWE
NBA
NBA
NFL
NFL
MMA
MMA
Tennis
Tennis
NHL
NHL
Golf
Golf
MLB
MLB
Soccer
Soccer
F1
F1
WNBA
WNBA
More
More
bell-icon Manage notifications