Max Verstappen is crushing everyone in F1 this season. No teammate can touch him – not even close.
After cycling through Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, and Sergio Perez in previous years, Verstappen is now dominating Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda in 2025. He hasn’t lost a single qualifying battle or race against his teammates this year. The gap in points? Massive.
No other driver dominates their teammate like Verstappen does. He’s ahead of Tsunoda 13-0 in qualifying with an average gap of 0.551 seconds – the biggest difference between any driver pairing on the grid.
Verstappen has won all 12 head-to-head races against Tsunoda when both finished. In points, it’s even more staggering: 194 for Verstappen versus just 9 for Tsunoda in their 14 races together. That means Verstappen has scored more than 95% of Red Bull’s points!
Tsunoda is actually performing worse against Verstappen than Perez did. In Perez’s final and worst season alongside Max, the gap was “only” 0.498 seconds on average in qualifying.
## Which drivers come close to Verstappen?
Looking at other team battles shows just how special Verstappen’s dominance is. Only George Russell and Fernando Alonso come anywhere close, but they still fall short in their own ways.
Russell has lost just one qualifying session to rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli (in Miami), with an average gap of 0.369 seconds. In races, Russell has been untouchable for the young Italian.
Alonso dominates Stroll in qualifying but has actually scored fewer points than his Canadian teammate. Stroll finished ahead of Alonso four times and has a higher point total than the two-time world champion.
At McLaren, things are much more balanced. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are closely matched both in qualifying (7-8) and races (10-4), with only a tiny 0.030s average gap on Saturdays. Their even performance is keeping the championship fight exciting, with McLaren entering most races as favorites.
Ferrari was expected to have a similar dynamic with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, but Leclerc has firmly outperformed the seven-time champion in 2025.
Hamilton has been disappointing at Ferrari, clearly behind Leclerc in both qualifying and races.
## Rising stars making their mark
At Racing Bulls, rookie Isack Hadjar is showing why he’s being linked to the seat next to Verstappen. He’s consistently outperforming Liam Lawson and even scored a podium in Zandvoort. The data shows this wasn’t just luck – Hadjar is almost always the better driver at Racing Bulls.
Franco Colapinto is on an upward trend at Alpine. The qualifying gap to Gasly is smaller than what Gasly had over Jack Doohan, and Colapinto has beaten Gasly multiple times in races. Unfortunately, Alpine’s poor car performance means the Argentine hasn’t scored points yet.
At Haas, Esteban Ocon has the upper hand but rookie Oliver Bearman is giving him a tough time. The Brit has beaten the veteran several times in qualifying and races, keeping the margins very small.
Nico Hulkenberg is struggling against his rookie teammate at Sauber. Gabriel Bortoleto actually leads their qualifying battle 9-6 – pretty impressive considering Hulkenberg dominated his previous teammates over a single lap. In races, Hulkenberg edges ahead slightly, but the difference is minimal.
At Williams, Carlos Sainz shows his qualifying strength, but Alex Albon consistently beats him in races. This has led to a painful points difference for Sainz, who was fighting for wins at Ferrari just two seasons ago.
## How team battles are tracked
In F1, where equipment matters so much, beating your teammate is crucial – it shows you’re maximizing your car’s potential.
For fair comparison, only sessions where both drivers competed are counted. If one driver has a technical failure, it doesn’t count against them. But if they crash or cause their own retirement, their teammate gets the point.
For qualifying gaps, the fastest times from the last session both drivers participated in are used. This provides the most representative comparison under similar conditions.
Points are only counted from races where both drivers competed for the same team.
## F1 TODAY by GPblog
For deeper insights into weekend developments, including Red Bull’s floor upgrade and Verstappen’s dominant performances, check out GPblog’s podcast.
Thierry Bakker, Gandor Bronkhorst and Tim Kraaij discuss the latest F1 stories twice weekly, while Tim and Jim Kimberley cover paddock news during race weekends. Find them on YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
