The Max Verstappen Red Bull statistic that is simply mind-blowing

The level of dominance Max Verstappen has enjoyed over his Red Bull team-mates over the past few years is simply staggering.

It is fair to suggest that being Verstappen's team-mate is one of the hardest jobs in sport. For next season, Isack Hadjar will have the privilege of trying to match the four-time F1 champion.

So far, since Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull ahead of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, he has had the measure of all those on the opposite side of the garage.

First, it was Daniel Ricciardo, who, in fairness to the Australian, initially outperformed Verstappen, before the Dutch driver finally established his authority within the team.

Since then, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, who at least stayed the course for four seasons, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have all struggled alongside Verstappen.

There is a remarkably high statistic that firmly underlines just how dominant Verstappen has been in comparison to his teammates.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, following Verstappen's promotion to Red Bull in 2016, he was out-qualified 11-6 by Ricciardo.

The start of 2017 also went Ricciardo's way as he finished ahead in qualifying in three of the first four grands prix. Beyond that, however, it all started to fall into place for Verstappen.

In their remaining 37 grands prix together as team-mates, Verstappen started ahead on the grid on 27 occasions.

Once Ricciardo left at the end of 2018, that is when the qualifying head-to-head between Verstappen and his team-mates becomes mind-blowing.

Since 2019, the 28-year-old has participated in 152 qualifying sessions [excluding sprints]. Of those, Verstappen has out-qualified his team-mate on 140 occasions, beaten only in 12. 

This year, Verstappen enjoyed a 24-0 whitewash in qualifying of Lawson and Tsunoda; in 2024, it was 23-1 against Perez, with the only 'loss' in the Azerbaijan GP.

It means Verstappen goes into 2026 on a run of 31 grands prix qualifying sessions without defeat. Good luck Isack!