Oct 20, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Sergio Perez, left, and Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing wave to the crowd before the start of the Formula One US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-Imagn Images

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Formula 1 Analysis: How Red Bull Racing is Heavily Dependent on Max Verstappen?

How Red Bull Racing became dependent on Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen have been in the spotlight for the past few seasons. The Dutchman may end up leaving Red Bull Racing in 2025. However, before the 2025 season, he had a dominant stint with Red Bull Racing. Max Verstappen won all four of his championships while driving the Red Bull car. Verstappen and Red Bull Racing set many records during their past few years together.

However, the team is struggling with numerous issues. In the 2025 season, Red Bull Racing have become rather redundant in the championship. Verstappen has to use all of his talents to be remotely competitive in the car. It is one of the primary reasons that the Dutchman may end up leaving the team. To add fuel to the fire, the team has no viable replacement for Max Verstappen as of July 2025. Here’s an analysis of how Red Bull Racing became overly dependent on Max Verstappen for the past seasons.

Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen- How Verstappen Shouldered the Burden of Performance

After Daniel Ricciardo left the team, Red Bull Racing were left with no option to replace him. Max Verstappen was a dominant talent from his early days. But the Austrian outfit could not match him with a fast enough teammate. They had to switch drivers mid-season due to the overpowering performance from Max Verstappen.

Until the 2021 season, Red Bull were behaving like two different cars in one team. Verstappen was storming to wins and podiums. Meanwhile, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly could match his pace and brought meagre points to the team.

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Helmut Marko identifies Daniel Ricciardo leaving Red Bull as the turning point in the Australian's Formula 1 career. 😮

Check out the full article here 👇 pic.twitter.com/WlZ2wqJ8Xs
— Autosport (@autosport) September 27, 2024

In 2021, Red Bull Racing signed Checo Perez who was ousted by Racing Point (later renamed as Aston Martin Formula 1 team). The previous season saw Sergio Perez rise amongst the drivers in the midfield. Perez was hunting podiums in his car and taking the fight up to the front row drivers. The spotlight on his performance led him to Red Bull Racing on a multi-year deal from 2021.

Once more, there was hope in Red Bull Racing’s camp. Sergio Perez almost immediately adapted to the car and brought in multiple top-5 finishes. At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021, he won his first race in a Red Bull Racing car. The entire 2021 season saw him become the perfect wingman for Max Verstappen.

A special moment in Mexico 🥹

Sergio Perez finally took to the podium at home in 2021 – the first ever Mexican to do so 🇲🇽#F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/3sB5MYeQPU
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 24, 2024

Perez and Verstappen took Red Bull Racing to second in the constructor’s championship in a collaborative effort. It was Checo’s tenacity and racing manoeuvres in the 2021 season which gave him the title of- “Mexican Minister of Defence“.

2022-2024: Ground Effects Era Dominance and Fall From Grace

The 2022 season brought regulation changes to Formula 1. The cars were going to utilise ground-effects and become faster. Red Bull Racing a nightmarish start to the season. For the first few races, it felt like they would lose the championship to Ferrari. The Scuderia boys were claiming podiums left and right.

However, Perez and Verstappen locked in to bring the team back from a major point deficit. Once again, Verstappen was gunning for victories and Perez was being his wingman. Checo won two races and brought in 11 podiums in the 2022 season to wrap up a perfect championship for the team with Verstappen.

Verstappen was absolutely terrific in the 2022 season. But the 2023 Formula 1 championships brought out the beast in him. Max Verstappen won races in a dominant fashion. Almost every other weekend, it was him standing atop the podium and counting days until his hat trick of Formula 1 titles.

"This is us! Come on!" 💙

An emotional Sergio Perez brings home victory on the streets of Monaco for Red Bull in 2022 🥹#F1 pic.twitter.com/VJQ7tjqgxi
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 4, 2024

On the other hand, Sergio Perez had an impressive start to the season. He also won two races in the first four rounds of the 2023 championship. But there were a slight drop in his performance in the upcoming weekends. At this point, Perez was still claiming a podium here and there.

By the end of the season, Perez’s results had dwindled significantly. There were rumors about Red Bull Racing dropping him unless he claimed second in the driver’s title. Contrary to popular beliefs, Perez and Red Bull signed a two-year contract extension after 2023.

The start of the 2024 season saw Sergio Perez back to his usual form. He was claiming podiums from the very first race. Fans hoped that the Mexican had finally broke the curse of the Red Bull second seat.

However, he ended up in one of his worst seasons in Formula 1. He could only bring 8th in the driver’s championship with 152 points to his name in 24 races.

Perez’s fallout led to his exit from the team. Liam Lawson was brought in as his replacement. Although, he could only race twice in the 2025 season in a Red Bull Racing car before his demotion. Since the Japanese Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda has been trying to cope up with the Red Bull Racing second car.

BREAKING: Sergio Perez and Red Bull agree to part ways#F1 pic.twitter.com/nDRpF3jKjC
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 18, 2024

Tsunoda and Lawson performed even worse compared to Perez. The Japanese driver is consistently at the back of the grid in qualifying. He is also unable to claim good points in majority of the races.

At this point, people believe that Yuki Tsunoda’s days in Red Bull are numbered. However, if Max Verstappen ended up leaving the team, it would break Red Bull from the inside. When Vettel left the team, they had Ricciardo to handle the reigns.

But now, they have been operating solely on Max Verstappen’s brilliance. Unfortunately, Bulls even lost their trump cards- Adrian Newey and Christian Horner. A dark future awaits the team, if Verstappen decides to leave them.

Formula 1

Liam Lawson

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

Sergio Perez

Rohan Singh

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I work as a Writer at The Playoffs specialising in NHL, Formula 1 and Motorsports. I got into online journalism a couple of years ago. I used to be an intern for a website managing their Formula 1 content and then I served an entire year as a contractual writer.