Carlos Sainz Jr. (2015 - 2016)

• Team: Toro Rosso
• Races together: 23
• Best finish: Verstappen 4th, Sainz 7th

Carlos and Max joined F1 at the same time in 2015 as part of Red Bull’s junior team, Toro Rosso. They were two very young drivers, both keen to prove themselves. On track, they were quite evenly matched, but Max often drew more attention for his fearless overtaking and aggressive style. Things got a bit tense between them behind the scenes, especially as it became clear that Red Bull rated Max very highly.

Just a few races into the 2016 season, Max was promoted to Red Bull Racing, while Carlos stayed at Toro Rosso until 2017, then moved to Renault, McLaren, and eventually Ferrari, where he became a race winner.

Daniel Ricciardo (2016 - 2018)

• Team: Red Bull Racing
• Races together: 58
• Best finish: Both 1st

When Max moved up to Red Bull in 2016, he was paired with Daniel Ricciardo, who was already an established winner and a fan favourite. Their partnership started well, and they were quite evenly matched, especially in 2016 and 2017. But as Max gained experience, he started to outpace Daniel more often.

They had a few crashes, including a major one in Baku 2018, which caused a lot of tension inside the team. In the same year, Ricciardo made the surprise decision to leave Red Bull and join Renault for 2019. Many believe he saw that the team was building around Max and didn’t want to play second driver. 

Pierre Gasly (2019)

• Team: Red Bull Racing
• Races together: 12
• Best finish: Verstappen 1st, Gasly 6th

Gasly was promoted to Red Bull after Ricciardo left, but he struggled from the very start. He found the car difficult to handle and couldn’t get close to Max in qualifying or race pace. At times, he was over half a second slower per lap, which is a huge gap in F1. Red Bull gave him twelve races, but it became clear he wasn’t delivering the results the team needed. In the summer break, he was demoted back to Toro Rosso.

To his credit, he bounced back strongly and even won a race in 2020 with AlphaTauri. After 2 more years there, he decided to leave the Red Bull family and moved to Alpine for 2023, where he races until now.

Alexander Albon (2019 - 2020)

• Team: Red Bull Racing
• Races together: 26
• Best finish: Verstappen 1st, Albon 3rd

Albon took over from Gasly midway through 2019 and made a strong impression at first. He raced confidently and avoided mistakes, which helped him keep the seat for 2020. But when the next season came, he had similar struggles to Gasly. He often qualified well behind Max and found it hard to race at the same level.

Despite getting two podiums, he wasn’t consistent enough, especially as Red Bull was fighting for wins. At the end of 2020, the team replaced him with Sergio Perez. Albon stayed with Red Bull as a test and reserve driver in 2021 before returning to full-time racing with Williams the year after.

Sergio Perez (2021 - 2024)

• Team: Red Bull Racing
• Races together: 90
• Best finish: Both 1st

After going through two young drivers, Red Bull signed the experienced Sergio Perez in 2021. He had already spent a decade in F1 and brought calm to the team as he seemed to handle the role of a second driver good enough. He played a big part in helping Max win his first title, especially with his defensive driving in the final race in Abu Dhabi.

Since then, Perez has had his own wins and podiums, including a victory in Monaco 2022. While he hasn’t been able to consistently challenge Max, he has helped Red Bull win the Constructors’ Championship and gave them their first ever 1–2 finish in the driver standings in 2023.

However, his performance dropped noticably compared to Max in 2024, particularly in qualifying and after season full of struggles Red Bull decided to let him go and take Liam Lawson onboard for 2025. 

Liam Lawson (2025)

• Team: Red Bull Racing
• Races together: 2
• Best finish: Verstappen 2nd, Lawson 12th

Red Bull had high hopes for Liam Lawson, replacing Sergio Perez after spending time as a reserve driver and impressing during his 2023 and 2024 stand-in appearances for AlphaTauri (later rebranded to Racing Bulls). However, in his first two races alongside Max Verstappen, Lawson struggled badly. He was off the pace in both qualifying and the races, finishing outside the points and clearly not being able to tame the RB21.

His performances quickly raised concerns inside the team, and just after two rounds into the season, Red Bull made a swift decision. Lawson was dropped, and Yuki Tsunoda was promoted from VCARB to take his place. The Japanese driver now gets a huge opportunity to prove himself alongside Verstappen in a top car after spending 4 years at the sister team.