Five drivers’ titles and four constructors’ titles add up to a record that includes 75 grand prix victories, enough to rank sixth on the all-time list behind Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Williams and Lotus .
It also has an important program of drivers in lower categories, which has launched the careers of many drivers, such as Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
For this list of the top 10 Formula 1 drivers, we have taken into account the number of successes they had with Red Bull and its sister team Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri, the impact they made, the circumstances of the time within the drinks program energy, and their achievements in other sets are not taken into account.
10. Alexander Albon
Years in teams: 2019 (Toro Rosso), 2019-20 (Red Bull)
Races with the teams: 38 (12 Toro Rosso, 26 Red Bull)
Team wins: 0
Team titles: 0
Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguersuari could have taken this place. Both had their moments at Toro Rosso and were part of the program for longer than Albon, with the Swiss even scoring major wins in the World Endurance Championship and Formula E.
But Albon, with a last-minute change, made it to the Red Bull main team, and scored podium finishes.
The Anglo-Thai was about to embark on Formula E, but Daniel Ricciardo announced his departure from Red Bull and triggered a flurry of changes that brought Pierre Gasly alongside Max Verstappen, and Albon to Toro Rosso, teaming up with Daniil Kvyat.
Albon proved capable of recovering from crashes and showed flashes of brilliance, including a sixth-place finish at the German GP, his first F1 race in the wet.
With Gasly struggling, Albon was promoted to Red Bull for the Belgian GP, with just 13 grands prix under his belt. Although he couldn’t get close to Verstappen either, the Thai wasn’t as close to the midfield as Gasly, and he did enough to retain his seat for 2020.
Unfortunately, he was unable to complete a good second season. He climbed to two podium finishes, but Albon was once again too far behind Verstappen, rarely close enough to help Red Bull with strategic options. He was scrapped at the end of 2020, although Red Bull placed him in the DTM before he returned to F1 with Williams for 2022.
9. Daniil Kvyat
Years in teams: 2014 (Toro Rosso), 2015-16 (Red Bull), 2016-17 (Toro Rosso), 2019-20 (Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri)
Races with the teams: 110 (89 Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri, 21 Red Bull)
Wins: 0
Championships: 0
Has anyone had as many opportunities at Red Bull as Daniil Kvyat? Thanks to his 89 participations with Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri, the Russian is the third driver with the most points achieved in the B team, behind Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz.
After becoming GP3 champion, Kvyat moved up to F1 in 2014. He did well enough alongside the experienced Jean-Eric Vergne (who beat Kvyat 22-8) to take the Red Bull seat vacated by Vettel, who left for Ferrari in 2015.
Kvyat was second in the chaotic Hungarian GP and scored three points more than his unlucky teammate Daniel Ricciardo, although the Australian remained the Red Bull leader.
The Russian claimed another podium finish at the 2016 Chinese GP, the third round of the season, but was already in trouble with Verstappen’s rapid rise. The Dutchman came on for Kvyat in race five, something he had a hard time processing while back at Toro Rosso, and it was also not helped by the fact that Verstappen won on his first time in a Red Bull at the Spanish GP.
Kvyat’s problems continued in 2017 and he lacked consistency. He was ruled out after crashing at the Singapore GP, although he did score a point on his only ‘comeback’ at the United States GP.
During his year away, he worked as a test driver in the Ferrari simulator, before signing another deal with Toro Rosso for 2019, where he performed solidly, although he struggled to match Gasly, who was replaced by Albon at Red Bull.
The Frenchman was far ahead in the renamed AlphaTauri in 2020, scoring more than double the points of Kvyat. The Russian, despite some strong performances, failed to secure a seat for 2021 as the next potential star in the ranks of Red Bull’s development programme, Yuki Tsunoda, made his Grand Circus debut.
8. Sergio Perez
Years in the team: 2021-present (Red Bull)
Races with the team: 22
Wins: 1
Championships: 0
After testing both Gasly and Albon in the slot vacated by Ricciardo, Red Bull looked outside its driver academy for 2021. They fished out Racing Point, and Sergio Perez ended up with the energy drink team in an attempt to give Verstappen some support in his fight against Mercedes.
Pérez helped the Dutchman in some events, such as in the GPs of Azerbaijan (where he won), France, Turkey and, above all, Abu Dhabi, but he was far from the pace of the leaders.
With just eight points separating Verstappen and Hamilton in the drivers’ table, Valtteri Bottas’ 36-point margin over Perez secured Mercedes its eighth successive constructors’ crown.
Pérez kept his seat for 2022. How he handles the new F1 regulations will determine the length of his career at Red Bull, and how high he can go on this list.
7. Pierre Gasly
Years in teams: 2017-18 (Toro Rosso), 2019 (Red Bull), 2019-present (Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri)
Races with the teams: 86 (74 Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri, 12 Red Bull)
Wins: 1
Championships: 0
Taking into account his time with the senior team, Pierre Gasly would not be so high on this list, but his performances with Toro Rosso and the renowned AlphaTauri have shown that the Frenchman is one of the main talents in the middle zone.
Gasly, who grew up in the Austrian house’s development program, was in five grands prix with Toro Rosso at the end of 2017 before his first full campaign alongside Brendon Hartley. The Frenchman won the infighting in 2018 and earned a seat at Red Bull when Ricciardo left.
His 12 races in the A team were marked by difficulties in getting close to Verstappen, running slower cars in the middle of the pack, and some problems working with the team and finding solutions. He was replaced by Albon and returned to Toro Rosso, but quickly recovered from the setback.
Since then, Gasly has been one of the most impressive drivers in the midfield. He got a podium finish at the 2019 Brazilian GP and has led AlphaTauri. If F1 rookie Tsunoda had come close to Gasly’s points in 2021, the team would have overtaken Alpine in the constructors’ championship and achieved fifth place.
And of course the 2020 Italian Grand Prix was a special day for him. Gasly took advantage of a safety car and an error from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to resist the attack of Carlos Sainz’s McLaren and win at Monza. The question now is whether he will ever get another chance with one of the top teams in the Big Circus.
6. Carlos Sainz
Years in teams: 2015-17 (Toro Rosso)
Team careers: 56
Wins: 0
Championships: 0
Is Carlos Sainz the talent Red Bull let slip away? Having seen his performances at McLaren and Ferrari since 2019, it’s easy to think so.
The Spaniard came to F1 with Toro Rosso in 2015 as a teammate of fellow rookie Verstappen. The Dutchman scored more points, but much of the difference was due to the lack of reliability of the Madrid driver’s car. Sainz led Verstappen 10-9 in qualifying and the fact that there was tension indicated that they saw each other as rivals.
When Verstappen moved up to Red Bull after just four races in 2016 , Sainz comfortably edged out new teammate Kvyat to lead Toro Rosso. He was also brilliant in 2017 , with a seventh-place finish at the Chinese GP as one of his best drives of the season, scoring almost all but five of the team’s points.
He went through the front door. Sainz contested the last four grands prix of 2017 at Renault, his home for 2018 , before the successful move to McLaren. More than four years after Sainz’s departure, only Gasly has racked up more points for Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri.
5. David Coulthard
Years with the team: 2005-08 (Red Bull)
Careers with the team: 71
Wins: 0
Championships: 0
Coulthard’s record at Red Bull – two podium finishes in four seasons – doesn’t look impressive when compared to some on this list. But the 13-time F1 race winner was an important part of the team’s early days after Red Bull’s purchase from Jaguar.
Coulthard was one of the key early signings for owner Dietrich Mateschitz and team boss Christian Horner, bringing nine years of experience from McLaren, with whom he won the constructors’ championship alongside Finn Mika Hakkinen .
The Scotsman took a stunning fourth place at the 2005 Australian GP, took the team’s first podium finish in Monaco the following year and bested several of his 2005-2007 teammates, including Mark Webber. Only in his last season, in 2008, when he lost to Webber, but he even scored another podium finish at the Canadian GP.
Coulthard continued to work as a consultant to Red Bull after hanging up his helmet, saying in his 2018 book, The Winning Formula , “One of my most rewarding experiences was using the final years of my racing career to help develop Red Bull until they became a dominant team”.
4. Mark Webber
Years with the team: 2007-13 (Red Bull)
Team runs: 129
Wins: 9
Championships: 0
Webber was a loyal member of Red Bull during the seven years he was with the team, which he helped to become a leader. When Red Bull set the pace in F1, Webber often yielded the best to Vettel, having to settle for nine wins and a trio of third-place finishes in the championship as his teammate racked up four titles.
Webber’s best opportunity came in 2010. Four wins and three second places put him 14 points clear of Vettel and Fernando Alonso, who was at Ferrari at the time, with three rounds to go before the end of the year. But he crashed at the Korean GP in tricky conditions, and Red Bull allowed Vettel to take the lead in Brazil.
That meant Alonso led Webber by eight points going into the final race at Abu Dhabi, with Vettel seven points behind. Ferrari protected Webber, but Red Bull kept the German with the best strategy and it was he who became world champion.
In addition, Vettel was better suited to the blown diffuser concept and was team leader from 2010. Webber said goodbye to Red Bull and F1 after a 2013 season in which Seb took the title with 13 wins, while he didn’t manage to win even once.
3. Daniel Ricciardo
Years in teams: 2012-13 (Toro Rosso), 2014-18 (Red Bull)
Races with the teams: 139 (39 Toro Rosso, 100 Red Bull)
Wins: 7
Championships: 0
The problems Red Bull has had with its second car since Ricciardo left highlights just how good the Australian was alongside Verstappen.
After showing flashes of brilliance at Toro Rosso in 2012-13, Ricciardo joined the premier squad for the start of the new turbo-hybrid era, immediately overtaking four-time champion Vettel.
Ricciardo took three wins as the dominant Mercedes team dominated, and was third in the 2014 drivers’ standings. The following season was more difficult, combined with some bad luck, but Ricciardo bounced back in 2016, again finishing third in the table. , with a win in Malaysia included. For the second time, he topped the Autosport Top 50 Drivers table at the end of the year.
In that course he already had the valued Verstappen as a partner, but the Dutchman was still prone to making serious mistakes. Ricciardo outscored the #33 in points in 2017, then went on to win the Chinese and Monaco GPs early the following season, as Verstappen failed when he had serious chances of reaching the top of the podium.
But the dynamic was changing. It was clear that the team was behind Verstappen and, as the youngster picked up the pace, Ricciardo had it harder. He finished well behind the Dutchman in the 2018 standings, and surprised Red Bull by leaving for Renault at the end of that year.
2. Max Verstappen
Years in teams: 2015-16 (Toro Rosso), 2016-present (Red Bull)
Races with the teams: 141 (23 Toro Rosso, 118 Red Bull)
Wins: 20
Championships: 1 (2021)
While Mercedes was also studying a possible deal with the Dutch star, Red Bull made Verstappen debut in 2015, aged just 17. He quickly impressed with Toro Rosso and earned promotion to the main team for the fifth race of the 2016 season, replacing the disappointing Kvyat.
Thanks to the clash between Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who collided at the start of the Spanish GP, Verstappen was able to hold off Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari to claim his first victory.
His early years were characterized by impressive speed, daring overtaking, but also mistakes and dubious wheel-to-wheel behaviour, with braking movements that drew criticism from his rivals.
After being overtaken by teammate Daniel Ricciardo in 2017, Verstappen watched the Australian win the Chinese and Monaco GPs early the following season because he squandered his own opportunities. Although he never publicly admitted it, this led him to a different thought.
Since then, Verstappen’s mistakes have not been repeated on such a regular basis. He rose to prominence at Red Bull in 2018, winning two races and, when Ricciardo left for Renault, he became team leader.
Verstappen excelled in the pursuit of wins and podium finishes against the dominant Mercedes cars in 2019 and 2020, twice coming third in the drivers’ standings.
Rule changes for 2021 gave Red Bull a slim chance against Mercedes, creating a titanic duel between Verstappen and Hamilton for the title. Both made mistakes and had great performances, but it was the Dutchman who took the championship on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi GP.
The new champion looks like he will be a Red Bull driver for many years. He will likely surpass Vettel’s points total during 2022 and, if the team remains competitive for the rest of the decade, could move to the top spot on this list.
1. Sebastian Vettel
Years in teams: 2007-08 (Toro Rosso), 2009-14 (Red Bull)
Races with the teams: 138 (25 Toro Rosso, 113 Red Bull)
Wins: 39 (1 for Toro Rosso, 38 for Red Bull)
Championships: 4 (2010-13)
Vettel, the original Red Bull prodigy, is the only driver on this list to have won for both Toro Rosso and his older brother. His win at the 2008 Italian GP in the rain remains one of his most notable races.
Vettel’s promotion to Red Bull coincided with new F1 rules and a change in the grid order. Adrian Newey ‘s RB5 ended up being the fastest car of the season, but the combination of the diffusers and Jenson Button’s strong performance with the Brawn team put the crown out of his reach.
But not for long, as Vettel prevailed in a dramatic four-way title fight in 2010, and dominated the following year, winning 11 of 19 races. The 2012 fight was tighter, as Alonso was well above the Ferrari’s performance, but Vettel was able to do enough in the season finale, recovering from a spin at the start of the Brazilian GP to be sixth and take the title by three points.
Vettel swept 13 wins from 19 races in 2013 and claimed his fourth consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ championship.
The advent of turbo-hybrid engine rules brought down Red Bull’s dominance, and Vettel also failed to adapt to driving the new single-seaters. After losing to his new teammate Ricciardo, he left for Ferrari in search of a new challenge.
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 2013 Indian GP
