Ex-F1 Champion Exposes Red Bull’s Second Seat Curse Against Max Verstappen

Jacques Villeneuve weighed in on the 'second seat curse' at Red Bull for every driver that teamed up with Max Verstappen.

Ex-F1 Champion Exposes Red Bull’s Second Seat Curse Against Max Verstappen

Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

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Max Verstappen has managed to outscore all of his recent teammates at Red Bull and emerge as the major point scorer. Even in the 2025 season, Verstappen has led the standings by an exorbitant lead of 218 points over Yuki Tsunoda. As such, ex-F1 champion, Jacques Villeneuve, has weighed in on the second driver curse at Milton Keynes, stating that no driver can end it or falsify.

Red Bull’s challengers have been extremely difficult to deal with and perform well, something only Max Verstappen seems to be capable of. Verstappen’s resilience and racing prowess help him work around the difficulties and extract more than maximum performance out of the car. The Dutchman is aware of what works best for him and helps him perform best. Meanwhile, the second driver to the reigning world champion is unable or unaware of how to do so, as is the case with Yuki Tsunoda.

Tsunoda, despite being competitive at Racing Bulls this year, is unable to perform well at Red Bull and has lost significance in the driver’s standings because of the ‘career killer’ Max Verstappen. Jacques Villeneuve insisted that a driver could make their car next to Verstappen, but they needed to be good enough to convince Red Bull to make the changes. However, many drivers in the team were unaware of how to set up a car perfectly and bring about changes, which caused their failure.

Of course you can. A driver that will be good enough will manage to be that close that [the team] feel ‘okay, maybe his comments are worthwhile’. But some drivers, and there’s a lot of them, they just come in and they don’t know how to work on a setup.

Jacques Villeneuve told Sky Sports F1

Instead of having their own feedback and setup preferences, the second drivers at Red Bull just copied Max Verstappen’s setup and hoped to replicate the four-time champion’s performance. However, this did not help their case at all, and they got further and further away in the standings, losing all chances at contending for the championship.

They just say, ‘okay, if Max does this, I’ll do the same.’ That doesn’t help. During the season, they get further and further away.

Jacques Villeneuve added

Jacques Villeneuve claims ‘not many drivers’ like Max Verstappen anymore

Max Verstappen has emerged as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, drivers in the history of Formula 1. Verstappen is currently a four-time reigning world champion and is looking promising for many more in his career. The Dutchman hasn’t shied away in terms of performance and gives it his all every race weekend. As such, the 1997 F1 champion stated that there weren’t many drivers like the 27-year-old anymore.

Max Verstappen winning the 2025 Italian GP (via Red Bull)
Max Verstappen winning the 2025 Italian GP (via Red Bull)

Jacques Villeneuve recalled Sergio Perez and his failed stint with Red Bull in the final few years against Max Verstappen. Villeneuve insisted that Perez was never a world champion material and thus failed against the Dutchman. Moreover, the one-time champion highlighted that the 27-year-old was an old-fashioned driver as compared to many others. Hence, there weren’t many drivers like Verstappen anymore at the pinnacle of motorsport.

[Sergio] Perez at his peak or already at plateau, wasn’t going to get any better, but he was never a World Champion to start with. Max is an old fashioned driver, and there’s not many like him anymore.

Jacques Villeneuve noted

The 2025 season has been challenging for Max Verstappen, but he has still achieved three coveted race wins. The most recent Italian GP win was also a record-breaking one, as Verstappen leaves no stone unturned to showcase his racing talent. Now, the Dutchman will hope for a better outing in the remaining eight races of the year and move up the pecking order in the title standings.

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