Max Verstappen receives 'second-class drivers' claim after demolishing Red Bull team-mates

Max Verstappen has made his 2025 Red Bull team-mates look like "second-class" drivers given his domination, according to one former F1 driver.

At the summer break, Verstappen has 187 of Red Bull's 194 points and has won two grands prix and the Belgian GP Sprint. However, in contrast, between them, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have seven points, all of which have been scored by the latter.

Lawson was dispatched after just two races in favour of Tsunoda, who has not scored a point since Imola, eight races ago. 

Verstappen is renowned as a 'team-mate killer', having also destroyed Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Sergio Perez since 2019. 

Davidson believes Tsunoda is now caught in the "cycle" that trapped Lawson, as he explained both drivers are being made to look like "second-class drivers."

"Yuki is now in the cycle that Liam was in at Red Bull, and it will be interesting to see if Laurent Mekies can put an arm around Yuki to let him be the driver he can be," Davidson told Formule1 Magazine. 

"Clearly, the Red Bull is a very difficult car to drive, and Max can drive around problems, not all of them, but most.

"He finds performances others can't and drives at the limit, but not over it. Other drivers can't do that; they go just over or stay under the limit, and the car doesn't like that.

"It would be interesting to see what happens if Max were Yuki's team-mate at Racing Bulls, maybe the difference would then be a lot smaller.

"But with this car, which is so sensitive, it seems Liam and Yuki are second-class drivers compared to Max, but they are not, in an honest comparison, that is the reality they are in."