Last Sunday, Max Verstappen brought Red Bull its 12th straight win, allowing the Bulls to set a record for the most runs won consecutively. Red Bull’s winning streak may continue to grow, but sooner or later it will be interrupted. It’s time to remember how and under what circumstances the longest team winning streak in Formula 1 history ended.
Red Bull (2022) – 9 wins in a row. The series was interrupted by George Russell (Mercedes)
Red Bull was moving quickly to McLaren’s record in 1988 last season. After a vigorous start in the championship, Ferrari fell out quickly, mired in all sorts of problems, so by the halfway point of the season, the “bulls” simply had no competitors left. From the French Grand Prix to the stage in Mexico, Red Bull won uninterruptedly, taking the winning streak to nine races. And then Formula 1 came to Brazil.
The bulls faced the first problems at Interlagos during the sprint. First, Verstappen made a mistake with the choice of a stiffer rubber composition, and then damaged the front wing, fighting Sainz’s attacks. As a result, fourth place.
Red Bull (2022): nine consecutive wins
Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Showdown Verstappen vs. Hamilton
The main race for the Dutchman also started with problems: at the start of the race, he did not share the track with Hamilton, breaking the front wing for the second time on the second day. A forced pit stop scoured Verstappen’s chances of winning, finishing in sixth position. The Brazilian Grand Prix was won by George Russell, for whom this victory was the first of his career. As for Red Bull, for the Austrians, that stage was marked by a slight scandal that broke out between Max and Sergio: at the end of the race, Verstappen refused to lose his teammate, who was fighting for the runner-up.
Read more about Red Bull’s potential and real records:
7 records that can be obeyed by Verstappen and Red Bull this year
Red Bull (2013) – 9 wins in a row. The series was interrupted by Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
To some extent, the 2013 season was divided into two parts: before and after the summer holidays. In the first half of the championship, Vettel, although he gave the impression of being the fastest rider in the peloton, was still not a total dominator: he won only 4 races out of 10, and was overall in the field of vision of his closest pursuers in the individual classification. But from the Belgian Grand Prix, Vettel began to crush everything and everyone. After the summer break, the main rivals of the “bulls” shifted all attention to the upcoming season, which was supposed to be the first in the hybrid era. As a result, Vettel won the remaining nine races until the end of the season.
The following year, a new era broke out in Formula 1, which was marked by the dominance of Mercedes, so Red Bull’s winning streak ended in the first Grand Prix of the season. The race at Albert Park was won by Nico Rosberg, who led from start to finish. As for the Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel retired from the race on lap three (and started 12th), and Dan Ricciardo, although he finished second, was later disqualified for malfunctioning the fuel system.
Vettel’s winning streak went down in F1 history:
7 main dominators in the history of Formula 1. Verstappen is still a long way from them
Mercedes (2015-2016) – 10 wins in a row. The series was interrupted by Max Verstappen
Get ready, there will be a lot of Mercedes ahead. The Silver Arrows began to dominate in 2014, but the team reached the impressive first winning streak just two years later.
The tandem of Hamilton and Rosberg won the last six races of the 2015 season. At the start of the next championship, Nico brought Mercedes four more victories, taking the team’s winning streak to ten Grands Prix. The Silver Arrows tuvThey had every opportunity to continue their winning streak in Barcelona. From the beginning of the race, Hamilton and Rosberg rushed forward, but neither of them managed to complete even the first lap: the fight of two companions led to the legendary collision, which became a symbol of the battle within the Silver Arrows team.
Lewis Hamilton’s wrecked car
Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images
After the self-liquidation of two Mercedes, it turned out that tactics with fewer pit stops were more profitable, tThe fight for victory developed between Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen, who celebrated the first race for Red Bull. In the end, youth prevailed over experience: the 18-year-old Dutchman celebrated his first victory in Formula 1.
Other clashes in the title match:
To Hamilton and Verstappen. 6 famous clashes in the fight for the Formula 1 title
Mercedes (2016) – 10 wins in a row. The series was interrupted by Daniel Ricciardo.
Having interrupted a winning streak, Mercedes immediately started second. After the failure in Barcelona, the duo of Hamilton and Rosberg won the next ten races. Before stage 16 in Malaysia, the situation in the individual standings was tense to the limit: Lewis was only eight points behind Nico.
The start of the race at Sepang went in Hamilton’s favour: he managed to hold the lead, while Rosberg fell back to the end of the peloton after a U-turn (Nico’s Mercedes faked Vettel). Therefore, the championship leader was cut off from the fight for victory. All of Toto Wolff’s hopes for ultimate success were pinned on Hamilton. The Briton confidently went to victory, but 17 laps before the finish line, the engine of his Mercedes could not support it, abandoning the race.
Burning the engine in Hamilton’s car
Photo: Charles Coates/Getty Images
The race at Sepang ended with Red Bull winning: Ricciardo and Verstappen brought the team a winning double. As for Rosberg, the German driver still managed to reach the podium. The third-place finish in the teammate’s downhill largely predetermined the outcome of the championship race.
How titles are lost in Formula 1:
6 mistakes that cost him the championship in Formula 1: from terrible tactics to the loss of a wheel
Mercedes (2018-2019) – 10 wins in a row. The series was interrupted by Max Verstappen
The Silver Arrows have won eight races since the start of the 2019 season (two more at the end of the last championship), but upon arriving in Austria, they were magically cut off from the fight for victory. From the start of the race, the Mercedes drivers who started from the second row began to lag behind leader Charles Leclerc.
In an attempt to catch the Monegasque, Hamilton was switched to an alternative strategy with a subsequent pit stop, but this tactic lost all meaning when the Briton damaged the front wing on one of the kerbs: the pit stop lasted 11 seconds. As a result, Lewis returned to the track only fifth, thus missing even the theoretical opportunity to compete for victory.
Ahead of Hamilton (in second position) was teammate Bottas, but the Finn’s pace that day was clearly not enough. Not only could Valtteri fail to drive to Leclerc, but he also let Max Verstappen go ahead. In the end, it was the Dutchman who challenged the leading Ferrari driver, ahead of him three laps before the finish. It was one of the most colorful victories in Max’s career.
Even on the virtual track, Verstappen is uncompromising:
Video
Verstappen was offended and deliberately eliminated the opponent. Since the race is virtual, is everything possible?
Ferrari (2002) – 10 wins in a row. The series was interrupted by David Coulthard (McLaren)
In the 2002 season, Ferrari lost only two races. The second defeat of the Scuderia fell in the seventh stage of the championship: in the remaining tenis before the end of the Grand Prix season, only the “reds” excelled.
The following year, Ferrari’s former dominance came to nothing: Williams and McLaren moved closer to the reigning champion: Montoya and Raikkonen entered the title fight. However, the start of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in no way hinted at the upcoming triple championship battle. Two Ferraris traditionally occupied the front row of the starting field, but with the start of the race, luck abruptly moved away from the Scuderia.
2003 Australian Grand Prix
Photo: Martin Rose/Getty Images
Schumacher and Barrichello were among the few drivers who dared to start on intermediate tyres (the race started on a wet track). As it turns out a little later, this decision was wrong: the asphalt began to dry quickly. Already on the seventh lap, Michael went to the pits (where a hitch awaited him), and his teammate did not reach the pit stop, having crashed the car two laps earlier.
Eventually, Schumacher managed to catch up and catch up with race leader Kimi Raikkonen. However, the Finn was not going to give upTaking a stand demonstrating the wonders of defence. In the future, Michael could probably take the lead in the race (given Raikkonen’s penalty), but a nasty surprise awaited him ahead. On one of the curbs, it damaged the side deflector, which soon began to hang. The race management hung a black and orange flag for the German, a mandatory entry into the pits. In this, the fight for Schumacher’s victory finally ended. Michael finished the race in fourth position, and David Coulthard won the race, for whom this victory was his last in F1.
At that Grand Prix, a new qualifying format was tested:
Nonsense and absurdity. The most disastrous rules in the history of Formula 1
McLaren (1988) – 11 wins in a row. The series was interrupted by Gerhard Berger (Ferrari)
In 1988, McLaren had a legendary season, scoring 15 wins out of a possible 16. The only defeat for Ron Dennis’ team came on stage 12 of the championship, held at Monza.
At first, nothing portended trouble for McLaren: Prost and Senna rushed early on to sort things out among themselves (Ayrton was in the lead, the Frenchman) in the role of catching up. On lap 34, the balance turned in Senna’s direction: in the McLaren, Prost couldn’t support the engine. Ayrton could have no other rivals, so he rushed to another victory in splendid isolation.
However, Senna was not destined to win that day. Three laps before the finish, overtaking Jean-Louis Schlösser, the Brazilian darted too arrogantly into the corner just in front of the Williams driver’s nose. The Frenchman did not have time to react to the leader’s maneuver, a collision could not be avoided. In this curious way, Senna lost a guaranteed victory.
To the cheers of the home stands, Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger was the first to cross the finish line, and teammate Michele Alboreto took second place. In the context of the recent death of Enzo Ferrari, this victory was of particular importance for Maranello.
Senna isn’t the only champion making a ridiculous mistake:
7 curious mistakes of the great F1 drivers: from the scandal with Schumacher to the heat of Senna
