Max Verstappen tipped to have new F1 world champion team-mate at Red Bull

Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso stand next to Lewis Hamilton — Photo: © IMAGO

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Max Verstappen tipped to have new world champion team-mate at Red Bull

Red Bull's second drivers have struggled in the past year

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 17 August 2025 16:55 Updated: 17:07

Max Verstappen has raced alongside a poor run of team-mates at Red Bull in the past year, but an F1 champion has been named as a solution to the team’s woes.

Red Bull once boasted an enviable roster of drivers, from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo; but in recent years they have cycled through drivers at an alarming rate.

In the past year, the team have had to contend with Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda all failing to match Verstappen’s standard. However, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes the team needs another driver of championship-contending quality to bolster their efforts.

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Villeneuve believes that two-time world champion Fernando Alonso would be a good fit, with the 44-year-old Spaniard having recently turned his form around at Aston Martin, scoring 26 points in the last six race weekends.

"It would be good to see a Leclerc next to Max to see how good he really is. Or it'd be good to put Alonso now next to Max, because that's a known quantity," Villeneuve said to Vision4Sport.

"It'd be good to put Norris next to Max, so we would really see if Norris is exceptional or is he just very good?"

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen fought hard for the 2024 championship

Should Red Bull aim higher with their driver lineup?

Red Bull have typically hired drivers within their own junior ranks, with Verstappen, Lawson, Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar all emerging into F1 via their driver academy.

However, a Red Bull driver that isn't Verstappen has not stepped on the podium since Perez at the Chinese Grand Prix in April 2024.

Villeneuve added that Red Bull need to confront that Tsunoda's current performances are not good enough, claiming his frustrations are only worsening his results.

"That would help to quantify things," Villeneuve continued. "We know that Max is exceptional but then the drivers next to him have just not been good enough and there's no point saying: 'Oh poor them.' No, they're just not good enough. That's it. They're barely good.

"And that's what has happened with Tsunoda. He's had four or five years of experience already. He's had his best and clearly, it's not good enough. That's it. So, he's been given this chance and too bad. And he was wanting that chance, he was screaming for it.

"He was put in and he didn't cut it. It's that simple and you can't feel bad for him. He has been given the chance to be in the top team, and he didn’t cut it.

"He was promoted to the big league and you can see the frustration. And it's making him drive even worse because he knows he's not quick enough right now."