Max Verstappen believes Red Bull can set a new F1 record by winning every grand prix this season – although ultimately feel it is “unlikely”.
No team in the sport’s history has managed to achieve such a feat, with McLaren coming closest in 1988 when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost managed to win 15 of the 16 grands prix.
For Red Bull, it is six out of six so far this season, with Verstappen’s victory in Monaco on Sunday his fourth of the year alongside the two achieved by team-mate Sergio Perez.
The question is whether Red Bull can claim all 22 wins this year.
“Well, how it looks like at the moment, I think we can, but that’s very unlikely to happen,” said Verstappen.
“There are always things that go wrong, a retirement or whatever, and you will always get the tracks where it doesn’t work out exactly, or bad luck in qualifying, you make your own mistakes.”
Mercedes driver George Russell agreed, adding: “As Max said, on pure pace, for sure they’ve got the potential, but certain things can happen.
“And I’d like to think we’ll be able to fight at some point and take advantage of some misfortune down the order.”
The suggestion now is F1 is becoming too predictable given Red Bull’s dominance of the current aerodynamic era, with the team winning 22 of 27 races since the start of last season, and 16 of the last 17 overall.
“We’ve always seen this in Formula 1, it’s nothing new,” remarked Verstappen.
“I think the longer you leave the regulations the same, the closer people will get, so maybe this is something we need to look at.
“You have the odd year, or maybe two years, where there are two teams fighting, maybe potentially a third team.
“But overall, when you look back at the ’80s, the ’90s, the 2000s, 2010 all the way until 2020, it’s been pure dominance of certain teams.”
Monaco not relieved by Perez Monaco horror show
Verstappen is also now firmly in the driving seat for a third successive driver’s title after opening up a 39-point cushion over team-mate Sergio Perez. Just two races ago, following the Mexican driver’s win in Azerbaijan, it was only six.
Perez endured a horror weekend in Monaco where a crash in qualifying resulted in him starting at the back of the grid, followed by an incident-strewn race at the end of which he finished 16th, and was twice lapped by Verstappen.
Suggested to Verstappen he probably felt delighted in stretching his advantage over Perez, he replied: “It’s mainly just the team.
“Of course, they want to score more points, but that’s Monaco. It can bite you. I’ve been in that position myself.
“As for my point of view, it doesn’t really change anything. I know that it’s a very long championship.
“You need to be very consistent, you can barely afford mistakes, especially when it’s only one team, one opponent.
“At the moment, it looks like the best case you win, worst case you’re second, so you can’t really lose too many points.
“I just keep grinding every single weekend. It (Perez’s Monaco) doesn’t really change anything for me. It’s not like I came out of Monaco relieved or whatever. I’m planning to gain seven points every single weekend.”
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