Hungaroring, Hungary: Max Verstappen once again made history for Oracle Red Bull Racing as he handed the team its twelfth win in a row – which is the longest winning run in Formula One’s fabled history.
Sergio Pérez had a magnificent drive on Sunday, taking the team past 250 podium finishes and earned F1’s Driver of the Day accolade for an aggressive march to third place from ninth on the grid.
The Dutchman described the RB19 this weekend as “an unbelievable rocket ship.” Max stormed past pole sitter Lewis Hamilton at the start to take a lead he held to the flag. “That was so enjoyable to drive. Twelve wins in a row, unbelievable. I think everyone can be really proud of that achievement.”
As the lights went out, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton reacted quickest in pole position, however despite being on the dusty side of the grid, Max immediately caught up. Max forced Hamilton into taking a wider line by moving into the middle of the track heading into turn where the champion took the lead.
Hamilton’s wide line meant that, behind him, third-place starter Lando Norris was held up and that allowed the McLaren driver’s team-mate Oscar Piastri to sneak through on the inside to steal P2. Norris then passed Hamilton to demote the pole man to fourth.
Further back, Checo, on Hard tyres, got a good start from P9 and when Zhou Guanyu bogged down on the grid, the Mexican swept past to move up a place. Checo went to work chasing down the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and at the start of lap eight the Mexican powered past to take P7 just over 1.5s behind Sainz
The Spaniard had made good ground from P11 on the grid thanks to starting on soft tyres, however on lap 16, Sainz headed into the pit lane to switch his fading softs for a set of hard tyres, which promoted Checo to sixth place.
Sainz’s stop sparked the first round of pit stops with the leading medium tyre starters switching to hards for a longer second stint. Checo, going deeper into the race on his hard compound Pirellis, moved up to second place 22.3s behind Max, with both Bulls yet to pit.
Max finally headed into the pits on lap 24 and took on hard tyres after a 2.3 second stop. The champion emerged from the pit lane with a lead of 2.6 seconds ahead of his teammate.
Checo’s opening stint on hard tyres came to an end at the end of lap 24 and the Mexican moved onto medium compound rejoining in P7, again behind Sainz.
On lap 27 he powered past the Spanish driver through Turn 1. And then, on the following lap, he made an aggressive move down the inside of the Mercedes of George Russell, who was still on opening hard tyres. The pair went into Turn 2 and Checo powered past to take 5th position.
Hamilton ahead had a lead of five seconds, but he was struggling for straight line speed. The Mercedes driver defended well, so the team made the decision for Checo to come in for his second pit stop directly behind Piastri. The Australian had a slow stop and the Bulls took full advantage, switching Checo onto medium tyres in a stunning 1.9 seconds.
Checo emerged from the pit lane only a second behind the McLaren. With DRS on his side, Checo closed up to Piastri and on lap 47 he went round the outside of the McLaren through Turn 1 to take P4. And that became a podium place when Hamilton pitted for a second time on lap 50, with the Mercedes driver rejoining in fifth.
At the end of lap 51, Max made his final stop and fitted a set of used Medium tyres, the championship leader once more emerged in the lead, just under 12 seconds clear of Norris, who was 8.6 seconds ahead of Checo.
On lap 54, Max once again showcased his and his RB19’s capabilities by setting fastest lap of the race with an emphatic time of 1:20.504. Almost two seconds clear of the previous marker set by George Russell five laps earlier!
Over the final 15 laps, Max stretched the gap to Norris to a whopping 33 seconds as he powered to his seventh win in a row, his ninth of the season and a historic, record-breaking 12th consecutive victory for the team. It breaks a record stretching all the way back to 1988.
Behind the championship leader, Norris held on to second place and Checo completed a superb recovery from ninth on the grid to take the 32nd podium of his career, helping the team to its 251st podium place.
After claiming yet another historic victory, Max Verstappen said, “The start was very important to me. I wanted to get a good first stint and it meant I was able to look after my tyres well and extend it compared to the others. The car felt really good today and the balance was right with the increase in temperature. We had the struggle over one lap all weekend in qualifying, but I think that means it was the right call for the race.
“If I had a choice between the two, I would pick my race performance every time but we will always make changes and keep trying to improve the car. I think people forget a little bit that to win 12 races in a row is extremely hard but I hope it doesn’t stop there. We have to keep going and I will always try to challenge myself.
“I had a lot of fun out there today and I was just smiling in the car, it was one of those days where everything just goes perfect. Well, almost perfect, I think I will ask McLaren to pay for a new trophy for me! We need to review the footage, like VAR, to see who really broke it because I heard Lando is blaming me.”
Claiming the Driver of the Day accolade, Sergio Pérez said,“Today was a good one and it was great to get to the podium. We raced initially on the hard compound, which was quite tricky, especially on lap one, but it ended up going well for a long time and we got some good pace before going on the Mediums. The race today was not only very demanding physically, but also mentally, I had to focus on looking after the tyres. It was really hot and I ended up actually losing 3kg in weight.
“It was a good result and now I just need to find consistency. When the pressure is on you and you are able to deliver, it makes you feel proud of what you are doing so we just need to keep going forward and keep pushing. I am focusing on myself and making sure I deliver to the maximum. It is great to be given driver of the day but sadly that doesn’t get you any points!
Finally, the record of 12 wins in a row is quite incredible. I am really proud of The Team: they have made history and it is quite something to have been a part of that.”
Cementing what the record means to the team and the sport, Christian Horner said, “I remember as a boy, watching Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost race with McLaren-Honda and they achieved 11 consecutive victories. I knew then what an incredible achievement that was. To think that we have bettered that is testament to the exceptional talent and dedication of the team, from the race track here in Budapest and back at the factory in Milton Keynes. It’s an historic moment and one that means so much, we certainly don’t take this for granted.
“Checo drove a great race today. It was a statement drive, showing everyone exactly what he’s capable of and a race like this will give him a huge amount of confidence going into the next race. Max was typically phenomenal once again. He’s at one with himself and the car. He has total confidence and trust in the team. What we’re witnessing with him at the moment is a sportsman at the very top of his game. It truly is exceptional.”