Max Verstappen never gets tired of winning.
Max Verstappen has won seven F1 races in a row. PDO
For Max Verstappen didn’t even really break a sweat when he cruised to victory at the Hungarian GP.
The Dutchman had to take the first 300 meters of the race seriously. After that, he had already taken a better driving line into the first corner and overtook the pole-starter Lewis Hamilton.
After that, the best glimpse of Verstappen’s dominance was seen when he set the fastest lap of the race. The difference to the next best race lap was more than two seconds.
In the end, Red Bull’s winning margin was recorded as 33.7 seconds.
The numbers are stunning: it was Verstappen’s seventh consecutive victory and ninth in 11 races this season. The total balance now shows 44 first places, where the Red Bull star is firmly in Ayrton Senna (41 wins) ahead and already closing in Alain Prost (51).
Verstappen is 25 years old.
In Budapest, Red Buil celebrated the 250th podium in its history and a record 12th consecutive GP victory. No other team has been able to achieve similar dominance – ever.
It was McLaren, starred by Senna and Prost, who took 11 wins in a row in the 1988 season.
– I remember watching them on TV as a child. To think we’ve broken it now, Team Manager Christian Horner wondered.
More coming
The bad news for everyone else is that neither Verstappen nor Red Bull are going to stop there.
– Everything we have experienced in the last few years has been simply incredible. Hopefully this will continue for a long time, Verstappen declared at the press conference after the Hungarian GP.
– Just the fact that I get to work with this team is enjoyable. We want to develop and succeed even better. Of course, this day was already perfect.
It says something about Verstappen’s superiority that he would also be the leader in the Manufacturers’ World Series with 281 points. The second-placed Mercedes team now has 223 points.
The gap only grew on Sunday. Verstappen collected a full 26 points (victory + bonus point for the fastest lap of the race), while Mersu only got 20 points (Hamilton fourth and George Russell sixth).
There is no need to talk about the World Championship fight. The team mate who made a great climb to third in Hungary Sergio Perez has already fallen short of 110 points.
– Maybe the pace of one lap was a bit problematic this weekend, but that can also be a good thing. The car felt good with all the tires, and we could also take care of their wear. That together explains why the gap was so big today.
Next, the F1 circus moves to Belgium, where it will be driven on the legendary Spa track. For Verstappen, it is a home race because he also has Belgian citizenship.