Verstappen dominates again for record-breaking Red Bull

Another record tumbled to the march of Max Verstappen and Red Bull at the Hungarian Grand Prix, one of Formula One's oldest landmarks falling to one of the sport's most inexorable machines

- Giles Richards

For the team a celebratory affair but one which at the Hungaroring was, while far from a toil for Red Bull, something of an endurance event for the neutral.

Verstappen's win in Budapest was as dominant a display as he has delivered all season. Under the blazing sunshine he emerged after 70 laps with barely a hair out of place, no sweat of a shire horse, rather the faint glow of a lunchtime constitutional. The victory was Red Bull's 12th successive win since they took the flag at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of 2022, surpassing the 35-year-old record held by McLaren of 11 in a row from 1988.

On setting the record, the team are not fundamentally better now than they were at the first round of the season and would not be considered any worse had that run been interrupted by being beaten but it is indicative of how well they are delivering operationally and the sheer scale of the advantage they now hold.

In Hungary Red Bull were a juggernaut, to the extent that the race was a tepid affair at best and ominous for the rest of the season. Verstappen took the flag from McLaren's Lando Norris with a 33.7-second lead. The Dutchman's teammate, Sergio Pérez, was third, having come back from ninth on the grid.