In 2021, Max Verstappen took over from Lewis Hamilton and won 4 consecutive world championships: he has rightfully entered among the greatest in the history of the sport. F1. In 2025 though, thanks to a Red Bull that was not up to the very fast McLaren, his dominance seems more in the balance than ever. However, his performances continue to amaze all fans and what is most striking is the internal comparison in the Austrian team. First Lawson and now Tsunoda remain light years away from the Dutchman's performances. Such a marked difference in performance within a team has been seen few times in the history of F1, in this article we will analyze them.
Verstappen at Red Bull: Absolute domestic dominance in 2025
The situation in the team based in Milton Keynes is surreal. On one side there is a driver who is fighting for the top positions, on the other they are struggling to qualify for Q3 and get into the points zone. The problem of the second Red Bull driver has been known for years, but this year, with the exclusion of Perez, it seems to have increased significantly. The answer now seems to be clear: Red Bull is a car built and configured specifically for Max Verstappen and his driving style, and this creates no small headaches for those who have to drive it: a detail that is common to other cases in the history of F1.
After 10 races, the 4-time world champion has scored 155 points against Lawson's 0 (in 2 races) and Tsunoda's 7 (in 8 races). In other words, the points scored by Max are over 95% of Red Bull's total points, which evidently cannot have ambitions for the constructors' title, despite the 2 victories and 3 second places of its leading driver.
A situation in which the first driver plays for victories and podiums while his teammate struggles to get points is rare in motorsport and even rarer in Formula 1, where talent is not lacking in anyone. So let's look at cases similar to Verstappen that have happened in the history of F1.
Fernando Alonso and the crazy start in 2012
In 2012 Alonso is about to start his third season with Ferrari. Despite a car that is very complicated to drive and not considered by many as a title contender, the Asturian will end the year in second place. With only 3 points behind Sebastian Vettel, thanks to an exceptional year peppered with 2 victories and 10 podiums. Alonso's domination over his teammate Massa is not comparable to that of Verstappen, given that The Spaniard finishes with 278 points while the Brazilian at 122. What is similar, however, is the first half of the season.
After 8 races Alonso has 111 points, against 11 for Massa, or 91% of all the points obtained by Ferrari up to that point. In the 3 following races the music does not change. The first gets another 53 points while the second only 14. The domination is also overwhelming in qualifying: 10-0 and his teammate outclassed. The start of the season is very similar to that of Verstappen this year, a story already repeated in the second half of the 1 F2024 championship.
The second part of the season, however, proved to be much more competitive, with Massa always in the points zone and twice on the podium. Thanks to a change of pace after a turbulent start, the Brazilian driver was able to extend his contract with Ferrari until 2013.
From Prost to Senna: other dominations destined to enter the history of F1
Going back until 1985 and 1986 we encounter two other cases where there was a real internal domination. In 1985 McLaren could count on a line-up that was nothing short of exceptional with Alain Prost and Niki Lauda. McLaren is the car to beat since the year before Lauda had won the third world title precisely at the expense of Prost (with a gap of 0,5 points!). However, the season will be one-way with regards to the internal comparison. Lauda, now at the end of his career, will collect only one victory and many retirements, later announcing his retirement from Formula 1.
Prost instead was the protagonist of a winning ride that saw him obtain his first world title thanks to 5 victories and 6 further podiums. The final comparison was tough: 73 points for the Frenchman against the 10 of the Austrian. Thanks to this season Prost, like Verstappen, returns to one of the most incredible cases of internal domination in the history of F1, outclassing a 3-time world champion.
In 1986 instead Senna Johnny Dumfries' newly launched career ended on Lotus. In his first year in Formula 1 and immediately with a competitive car, the young Scot failed to blossom. He only got 3 points against the 55 of the most quoted and experienced Brazilian, who reached the podium 8 times that year, triumphing twice. This crushing home defeat led Lotus to dismiss Dumfries, who would then fail to return to F2.
A Verstappen in F1 to close the circle
The last case is curiously the comparison in 1994 in Benetton between Schumacher and Jos Verstappen, father of the aforementioned 4-time world champion. That year the “Kaiser” won his first world title and in 12 races (he was disqualified in two and missed two others due to disqualification) he won 8 races, came second in two and retired twice. A real domination, which also moved within the team. Of the 103 points won by the team managed by Briatore, the German obtained 92: almost 90% of the total points. Verstappen took part in only 10 races, also obtaining two third places. Despite it being his debut season he had to leave Benetton at the end of the year.
From a Verstappen who suffered the law of a legend, to a cannibal Verstappen, who dominates and who thanks to his performances is increasingly entering the history of F1. And maybe at the next comparison, we will talk about it again…
