Lawrence EdmondsonF1 Editor4 minutes of reading
Max Verstappen reflects record-breaking F1 win
Max Verstappen speaks after taking his 10th consecutive F1 win and Sergio Perez reflects on his second place finish.
MONZA, Italy — Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has mentioned Max Verstappen by name. According to the Wikipedia statistics page, the number is an „irrelevant” streak of ten consecutive victories.
After equaling Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine wins in a row at the Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen moved into uncharted territory with his tenth win in a row at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen’s dominant run has seen Red Bull win every race and now has 24 wins from 25 Grands Prix since mid-2022.
„Our situation was maybe a bit different because we had two drivers fighting each other within the team,” Wolff told Sky Sports when asked about Verstappen’s record after the Italian Grand Prix.
„I don’t know if he cares about the record — it’s not something that matters to me, any of those numbers.
„It’s for Wikipedia, nobody reads it anyway.”
Mercedes enjoyed a similar level of dominance in F1 between 2014 and 2020, but back-to-back wins for one of its drivers ended in seventh place for Nico Rosberg at the end of the 2015 season and the start of 2016.
Lewis Hamilton, who holds the overall race record with 103 wins and is tied with Michael Schumacher for the most titles at seven, has twice managed five consecutive wins — once in 2014 when Rosberg ended his streak. His run ended when he missed one race with Covid-19 in 2020, while the Brazilian Grand Prix duo were fighting for the title.
Speaking in a separate media session later in the evening, Wolff said he didn’t know the recording existed before he was asked about it.
„We talked about it, and to me these kinds of posts are completely inappropriate,” he added. “They were irrelevant in our good days at Mercedes, I don’t know how many races we won in a row, I don’t even know how many races you win in a row.
„So it’s difficult to ask me to comment on certain achievements because it hasn’t played a role in my whole career. The result shows that a great driver competes at the highest level in a great car.”
However, Wolff said he would be impressed if Red Bull went an entire season unbeaten — a feat no team in F1 history has achieved.
McLaren moved closer with 15 wins from 16 in 1988, while Mercedes took 19 wins from 21 in 2016.
Asked if there were any races Red Bull could win this season, Wolff said: „No, I think they’ve got to screw it up.
„They’re on track to win every race this season and I think that’s a good record because it’s perfect.
„We didn’t do that [in 2016] Because both of our drivers pushed each other out in Barcelona and then the engine failed in Malaysia.”
„Całkowity introwertyk. Nieprzejednany specjalista od sieci. Przyjazny fanatyk bekonu. Student ekstremalnych. Miłośnik piwa. Organizator.”