Welcome at RacingNews365

Become part of the largest racing community in the United Kingdom. Create your free account now!

  • Share your thoughts and opinions about F1
  • Win fantastic prizes
  • Get access to our premium content
  • Take advantage of more exclusive benefits
Sign in
Max Verstappen

Verstappen cautious over Red Bull win sweep: Even Mercedes couldn't do it!

McLaren was the last team to win over 90% of the races in a season.

Max Verstappen believes it will be tough for Red Bull to win every race in the 2023 season, despite taking victory at all 12 races so far.

The Dutchman enters the Formula 1 summer break having won eight races in a row, his latest at the Belgian Grand Prix where he finished 32 seconds ahead of the next non-Red Bull car.

The record for most wins in a season is currently held by McLaren, who took 15 victories out of 16 races 1988 season which is a 94% win average.

When asked whether the win record would mean to a lot, Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365: "It means more to the team, but from my side I just focus on every single race and I try to win.

"We just try to keep it going and we'll see, just enjoying the moment. But I think it's just an incredible achievement from the whole team.

"Yes, we have the dominant car, but it's also very easy to make mistakes and then not win one race. Then of course, the streak has gone right?"

Verstappen rates Red Bull's chances

Mercedes was the last team in modern F1 to reach a 90% win average over the course of a season, having won 19 out of 21 races in the 2016 season.

The two they lost was the Spanish GP where both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collided on the opening lap, and the Malaysia GP when Hamilton suffered an engine failure.

Rosberg only finished third in that race after being hit by Sebastian Vettel at the start, but went on to win the title that year owing to Hamilton's non-points score.

Verstappen believes unexpected moments could crop up for Red Bull: "Even in the dominant years of Mercedes, they couldn't make it happen.

"I think they were probably even more dominant [compared to] what we have at the moment or what McLaren had to do. Because there was a lot more retirements going on just with reliability.

"But I'm really proud to be part of the team and to achieve something like this."

Join the conversation!

x
LATEST Verstappen reveals surprise challenger in recent F1 domination