Red Bull are quickly establishing their own legacy in F1 as one of the most successful Constructors of all time. And at the forefront of their charge stand two goliaths of motorsport — Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. But the latter is now overtaking Vettel as the leading driver of this iconic outfit.
Both Vettel and Verstappen stand toe-to-toe as four-time world champions. But the Dutchman has now taken over the mantle of being the driver who has won more frequently with the Bulls.
According to Daniel Valente on X (formerly Twitter), the 27-year-old has a 33.87% win rate with the Milton Keynes based out. After this season, he just edged out the German driver who has a 33.63% win rate for the team.
Best Win Percentage As A Red Bull Driver:
1. Max Verstappen – 33.87%
2. Sebastian Vettel – 33.63%
3. Daniel Ricciardo – 7%
4. Mark Webber – 6.98%
5. Sergio Perez – 5.56% pic.twitter.com/wb7Hyukx0Y— Daniel Valente ️ (@F1GuyDan) December 29, 2024
Now, it must be appreciated that Vettel drove for the Bulls across six seasons, racking up 113 starts, 38 wins and four titles. On the other hand, Verstappen has taken 186 races to breach this threshold of win percentage.
That said, Vettel drove for the team during an era of its dominance. In 2014, as the team faltered in the turbo-hybrid era and Mercedes started to excel, the former #5 driver jumped ship to Ferrari from 2015 onwards. Verstappen, on the other hand, has been with Red Bull since the 2016 Spanish GP.
Is Verstappen a more complete champion than Vettel?
Many would argue that statistics only tell half the tale. This season, Verstappen has shown that he is capable of extracting the absolute maximum from any package that he has been given.
Up and down the paddock, his consistency and tendency to barely make mistakes have been lauded. In the 2024 season, with arguably the third-fastest car under his belt, the Dutchman went on to fight Lando Norris and clinch his fourth title.
But does that make him a superior champion for Red Bull than Vettel? Merely on paper, it would not. Even during his stint with the Bulls, Vettel had won titles sometimes by the smallest of margins — and in 2013, he won in a dominant fashion that could be compared to Verstappen’s own run in 2023.
In fact, the Dutchman’s 2024 championship triumph had started to develop eery similarities with Vettel’s 2010 and 2012 title campaigns. However, Verstappen’s competition floundered as the title battle reached the business end and he won by a comfortable points margin, with two races to spare.
