Max Verstappen, who had one of the most thrilling seasons of his career, missed out on winning his fifth consecutive title despite giving it his all. The Dutchman even won the finale at Abu Dhabi, but fell only a fraction short of Lando Norris, who held an edge over the former in points.
Though Verstappen missed out on the title, he was one of the most dominant drivers in the season. Verstappen’s former Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, who, despite being one of the finest talents in F1, was overshadowed by the Dutch driver. A recent statistical comparison between the two further clarifies the situation.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s Tenure as Red Bull Racing Teammates
Perez, who joined Red Bull in 2021, seemed like the right choice to match Verstappen’s brilliance, and with his performance, the Mexican showed all signs of being in the same league as his teammate. However, with time, the contrast between the two drivers at Red Bull only grew more stark.
During Perez’s tenure as Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull, the Mexican managed to win a handful of races and boasted fairly impressive statistics. However, Perez’s numbers still fell short compared to Verstappen’s four consecutive titles from 2021 to 2024.
An F1 analyst recently compared the stats of Perez and Verstappen side by side from Perez’s Red Bull days.
The Contrast in Red Bull Racing: Verstappen vs. Perez
In four years, when it came to head-to-head runs for qualifying, Verstappen’s tally stood at 81 while Perez’s number sat at 9. As for the pole positions, the Dutch driver collected 37 of them in four years, while Perez started from the front thrice in his Red Bull tenure.
Then, when it came to head-to-head contests, Verstappen once again led with 67 while Perez’s count stood at five. For the win count, too, while Perez won five races in four years, Verstappen’s number was more than ten times that, with his win count of 53.
As for podium finishes, while Perez was quite impressive with 29 podium finishes, Verstappen was once again better with 70 podium finishes. In the points department, the two were pretty close, with Perez’s number sitting at 70 while Verstappen had 84 under his belt.
🚨VERSTAPPEN VS PEREZ | 2021 – 2024
🟢Qualy H2H: 81 – 9
🟢Poles: 37 – 3
🟢Race H2H: 67 – 5
🟢Wins: 53 – 5
🟢Podiums: 70 – 29
🟢Points Finishes: 84 – 70
🟢DNFs: 6 – 13
🟢Points: 1861.5 – 932 pic.twitter.com/5LjPrXw3Vs— Holiness (@F1BigData) January 5, 2026
In terms of DNFs, Verstappen had six of them in four years, while Perez had 13. Finally, in overall points, Perez’s tally stood at 932.0 while Verstappen, on the other hand, accumulated a total of 1861.5 points.
The comparison chart between the former Red Bull teammates paints a clear picture of what Perez has spoken about on several occasions. Despite not lacking in skills or talent, Perez was still overshadowed by the brilliance of his Dutch teammate.
The Mexican driver recently even mentioned that in his time at Red Bull, being teammates with Verstappen, pretty much everything he did was a “problem.” Perez has signed on with the Cadillac F1 team in their debut year and is eyeing a start to a fresh chapter after the not-so-pleasant times in the latter half of his Red Bull tenure.
