Max Verstappen basked in the glory of his perfect day at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, as his victory marked a record-breaking 12th successive race win for Red Bull in Formula 1.
Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton into turn one after the Mercedes driver had a slow start, and was unchallenged from there as he led every lap of the race to win with the fastest lap.
It means Red Bull move one ahead of McLaren‘s 11 consecutive race wins in the 1988 season, and Verstappen‘s team doesn’t look anything like slowing down.
“I think it was a pretty perfect day, that started with the actual start, we had a good launch for once. And yeah, we then could look after our tyres quite well,” Verstappen told the media.
“They’re very rare days like this, I think it’s that good. Last year at Spa was probably pretty similar. But then I’d started from the back. So yeah, very rare. Normally, it’s not that not that easy or straightforward.
“Every stint just got a bit more of a gap and the car was honestly really enjoyable to drive today, so the balancing act yesterday actually worked very well for today.”
Verstappen won the 2022 Belgian GP in a dominant race that confirmed he was on course to win the world championship, having started at the back. He scorched his way up the field and passed Carlos Sainz definitively for the lead just 18 laps in, but things were much simpler for the Dutchman at the Hungaroring.
He won by 33 seconds from Lando Norris in second, and Red Bull admitted they’d forsaken some one-lap pace in qualifying ensure they had the fastest possible car for the race.
Verstappen: 12 wins isn’t enough
Red Bull have won every single race of the 2023 season and their record-breaking streak extends back into 2022 – they’ve actually won 21 of the last 22 grand prix in Formula 1.
They could conceivably complete a clean-sweep across the season especially if Sergio Perez‘s third place in Hungary signifies a wider return to confidence for Red Bull’s second driver.
Verstappen certainly sounds like he doesn’t intend to stop winning anytime soon.
“I hope that we can just keep that momentum going,” Verstappen added. “Keep on trying to learn from the car, from the upgrades we’re bringing to the car towards the end of the season, and also going into next year.
“It’s really enjoyable to work with the whole team and I think people probably forget how tough it is to win 12 in a row even when you have the fastest car, it’s easy to make mistakes or have an off-weekend.
“Of course, we had weekends where probably the gap was a bit smaller than we would have liked. But then also we had a few weekends where we surprised ourselves and had a really good race, for example.”
