Red Bull like an F1 car in an F2 race, says Mercedes’ Toto Wolff

BUDAPEST – Red Bull celebrated a record 12th successive Formula One win, and 11th of the season, on Sunday and left other teams feeling more than ever that they were racing rivals from another level.

As Max Verstappen reeled off his seventh win in a row this season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, his team also chalked up their 21st victory in 22 races.

Verstappen has won 18 of them and the gap between him and McLaren’s second-placed Lando Norris at the chequered flag on Sunday was 33.731 seconds, the largest winning margin since 2021.

If the Dutch driver was a constructor, his solo haul of 281 points for the current season would put him well clear of second-placed Mercedes on 223.

“Today you’ve seen the pace that Max had and we saw it in the long runs already on Friday. That’s where they are. It’s like a field of Formula Two cars against a Formula One,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

That said, Wolff felt Mercedes had the second-quickest car and were making progress with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton on pole for the first time in 33 races, since Saudi Arabia in 2021.

Hamilton finished fourth on Sunday with teammate George Russell sixth after starting 18th.

“If you look at the lap-time profile, also where George came from, we just didn’t monetise on it,” said Wolff.

Hamilton was fourth into the first corner, beaten by Verstappen and both McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The 38-year-old Briton said he just lacked the pace to keep up on the first stint, but the car started to become more driveable as the race went on.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Hamilton said.

“We are a long way off beating the Red Bulls in a race and obviously now we are behind the McLarens.”

Russell reckoned Mercedes were maybe equal-second with McLaren, who are fifth in the championship after a slow start to the campaign.

Mercedes are the only team to have beaten Red Bull in more than a year, with Russell winning in Brazil last November.

Meanwhile, Red Bull boss Christian Horner heaped praise on Sergio Perez on Sunday after the Mexican raced from ninth to third.

The podium was only Perez’s sixth from 11 races, a tally that compares poorly to teammate Verstappen’s nine victories and two second places.

The Mexican remains second overall but now a mighty 110 points behind Verstappen and with Australian Daniel Ricciardo, making his return at AlphaTauri, as a possible future replacement.

Perez needed to produce a confidence-restoring performance at the Hungaroring and, after costly recent mistakes, he delivered.

“I think he drove a great race today,” said Horner. “His recovery, his overtaking was brave, his pace was fast.

“The way he made the places – passing Carlos (Sainz), passing Fernando (Alonso), passing Piastri, the strategy that he had. He was on fire today.

“A race like that only gives you a huge amount of confidence, with his overtaking, the bravery that he showed. For me, that was really a statement drive today to say ‘Look, don’t write me off’.

“And I think this will give him a lot of confidence.” REUTERS