Max Verstappen has repeatedly left fellow drivers in the dust in 2025, consigning Liam Lawson to just two races beside him and permanently relegating Yuki Tsunoda to a reserve role.
On average in qualifying, Verstappen was seven-tenths faster than Tsunoda. Across the full season, he beat his teammate in 53 of 55 classified sessions.
A year earlier, Sergio Perez disappeared from the grid after a similarly emphatic defeat, and before him, Alex Albon faced the same fate.
Rank Verstappen’s five teammates since Daniel Ricciardo:
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Verstappen’s dominance has left a trail so extensive that Perez has claimed no driver could survive alongside him at Red Bull. Isack Hadjar is next in line to take a shot after an outstanding rookie season.
Charles Leclerc has been touted by some as a challenger to Verstappen in equal machinery. In an interview with Quotidiano Nazionale, former F1 driver Riccardo Patrese asserted there is one driver who could push Verstappen in the same team: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
While Lando Norris won the championship with a dominant McLaren, Leclerc drove a fundamentally flawed SF-25 yet still secured seven podiums and nearly 250 points.
Leclerc outqualified seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton 19-5, and head-to-head wins favored Leclerc 18-3.
Patrese, when asked about the claim, remarked that the surprise would be minimal. He suggested that even if a new champion were Norris, the only driver who could genuinely compete with Verstappen in the same car would be Leclerc, noting Charles’ relentless drive and occasional frustration born from high ambition.
Speculation persists about a potential Leclerc-Verstappen pairing at Ferrari in 2027. While Ferrari has shown interest in Verstappen, they are also contending with Leclerc’s patience waning as he enters his eighth season with the team, waiting for a truly competitive car.
Hadjar notes that Verstappen is more cautious in wheel-to-wheel battles with Leclerc, given their long duel experience and Leclerc’s deep understanding of Verstappen’s racing style.
A Verstappen-Leclerc partnership could be among the most electrifying in Formula 1 history.
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