Red Bull's Max Verstappen has been utterly dominant on the grid — so dominant that Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he appears to be racing in a league of his own.
Verstappen finished more than half a minute ahead of his rivals in Sunday's Hungarian GP to snag his ninth win of the season and extend Red Bull's winning streak to 11. The championship lead he's produced is just mind-blowing — a whopping 110 points ahead of the pack.
"It was like a bunch of Formula Two cars against a Formula One car," Wolff said after the race, according to The Independent's Philip Duncan. "In the F2 gang, our car was quick. The F1 car won by 33 seconds."
Broken trophy, broken record ??#HungarianGP #F1 @Max33Verstappen @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/nBhEPolfE4
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 23, 2023
"We had the second quickest car today," Wolff continued, "and obviously we can talk it up and say we could have been second, but that's irrelevant because you have a car that finished 39 seconds ahead [of Lewis Hamilton], and was probably cruising a lot of the time. We are going to fight back and win races and championships, but we saw the pace Max had, and that's the bitter reality. But it's a meritocracy, and as long as you're moving within the regulations, then we need to acknowledge Red Bull has just done a better job."
A Dominant Streak For Red Bull and Max Verstappen
Peter Fox / Getty Images
Verstappen's runaway season comes on the heels of regulation changes — and Wolff's analogy hints there's something Red Bull understands about the new specs that the rest of the teams don't. Mercedes' Hamilton came in fourth despite starting from pole position while his teammate, George Russell, came in sixth.
That's now 34 appearances without a win for Hamilton — the longest dry streak in his career. Meanwhile, Verstappen moves up to 44 career wins.
Red Bull has 12 consecutive wins and is on pace to topple Mercedes' record of 19 wins in a single season. For Red Bull, the possibility of a perfect season is still on the table — something that has never happened in the history of the sport.
YES BOYS! ?
Another amazing achievement for the team @redbullracing ? Thank you to everyone for your continuous hard work ? Today was a perfect day ?
Thank you Hungary for your support all weekend ??#HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/oTLVK3b4Ev
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 23, 2023
McLaren's Lando Norris took the runner-up spot at the Hungarian circuit, finishing with back-to-back podiums for the first time in his career.
While his team is performing head and shoulders above the competition a week before summer break, Red Bull boss Christian Horner is avoiding too much celebration as they gear up for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
"How long can we keep this winning run going? Who knows?" Horner said. "We've got another challenge next weekend, a sprint race, with the variable conditions of Spa. Anything can happen, so we're really just taking it pretty much one event at a time."
