Red Bull set a new record for consecutive Formula 1 race wins as Max Verstappen cruised to his latest easy victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion got himself in front during plenty of drama at the first corner and dominated the rest of the field in trademark fashion at the Hungaroring on Sunday, leading the whole way thereafter to secure his seventh successive triumph and ninth in 11 races in 2023. It was his 44th success overall in F1 so far.
The only two grands prix not won by Verstappen so far this season were claimed by team-mate Sergio Perez instead, with Red Bull now moving clear of McLaren’s legendary 1988 vintage - featuring iconic duo Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna - with an all-time leading mark of 12 race wins in a row.
“It’s just incredible, what we’ve been going through the last few years is just unbelievable and hopefully we can keep this momentum going for a long time and also just to work with the whole team is always very enjoyable,” Verstappen said of Red Bull’s incredible achievement, having again hailed his car as an “unbelievable rocket ship”.
“Of course you know it’s always good to look into it, yesterday for example to keep pushing, wanting to do better, but today is just perfect.”
On the new record, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “As a young kid, I remember watching McLaren achieving that feat and to think we’ve now bettered that.
“It’s something the whole team here in Budapest and behind the scenes in MK [Milton Keynes] have all worked so hard for and it will mean so much.”
It was a tough day at the office for Lewis Hamilton, who could not even convert his long-awaited first pole position since 2021 into a podium place after pipping Verstappen by 0.003 seconds with a blistering final lap on Saturday, dropping to fourth during a disastrous start and ending the race in that same position despite a late push.
Lando Norris claimed second spot - ensuring back-to-back podiums - for resurgent McLaren, ahead of Perez, who was arguably the driver of the day after an aggressive showing full of bold overtakes at a track where it is traditionally a struggle to get through.
Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri was fifth, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who gave up sixth spot to a battling George Russell - who had started the race down in 18th - after being given a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Carlos Sainz came eighth for Ferrari, with the top 10 rounded off by the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
Daniel Ricciardo’s first race back on the grid saw him finish a respectable 13th for AlphaTauri, having been bounced down the order after an early second pit stop and first-corner clash that saw Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou punished for causing a heavy collision between Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly that wiped out both Alpines for a second successive double DNF.
