Verstappen 'never believed' 10 consecutive F1 wins was possible

Max Verstappen has admitted that he never thought it would be possible to break Sebastian Vettel’s record of the most Formula 1 race wins in a row.

After emerging victorious at the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen took his 10th consecutive Grand Prix win to continue his dominant campaign, eclipsing the previous record, also set by Red Bull through Vettel in 2013.

Reflecting on his latest F1 achievement, and 47th career win after the race from Monza, Verstappen said: "I never would have believed that it was possible.

"We had to work for it today and that definitely made it a lot more fun."

Forcing Sainz's mistake

Verstappen started the race from second on the grid, with polesitter Carlos Sainz retaining his lead off the line.

The Dutchman followed the Ferrari driver for several laps before Sainz locked up into Turn 1, allowing Verstappen to pull alongside and overtake into the next breaking zone.

“We had good pace, we were good on the tyres but they had a lot of top speed,” Verstappen said.

“It was so hard to get close and get a move into Turn 1.

“So I had to force him into a mistake. Luckily it came at some point where he locked up and then I had better traction out of Turn 2.

“From there onwards we could do our own race.

“I was just trying to stay patient, it was a long race. I could see they were struggling a lot with the rear tyres so I just had to pick my moment.”

Verstappen also revealed that he was battling an issue at the end of the race.

“Everything felt good. We had to nurse a little issue at the end put we had the gap behind so I could easily back out.”