Components 1 driver Max Verstappen made historical past on Sunday with a tenth consecutive race win, persevering with a season of extraordinary dominance with a victory within the Italian Grand Prix.
Verstappen, driving for Pink Bull Racing, broke a report of 9 wins in a row that was first set 10 years in the past by Sebastian Vettel, who gained 4 world championships whereas additionally driving for the Pink Bull group.
“One other win! And a pleasant one too as effectively,” Verstappen stated on his group radio after taking the checkered flag. “That’s a pleasant stat.”
“I by no means would have believed that was attainable,” he added in a post-race interview. “However we needed to work for it in the present day in order that made it positively much more enjoyable.”
The 25-year-old Verstappen, who matched Vettel’s report final week by profitable his residence race within the Netherlands, is on the right track to win his third world championship this yr.
After Verstappen and Vettel, the subsequent names in that report guide are three Components 1 drivers who’ve gained seven races in a row: Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.
It wasn’t a simple win for Verstappen on Sunday. He began the race in second behind Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, who scored pole place at his group’s residence race and delighted the Tifosi by heading off early makes an attempt by Verstappen to assault his lead on observe. Verstappen finally overtook him on lap 15.
Verstappen has gained 12 out of the 14 races to this point this season, whereas his Pink Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez has gained the opposite two. No single group has ever gained each race in a Components 1 season.
Perez completed in second place on Sunday, whereas Sainz held off Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc to take third place.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time champion whose consecutive win streak is 5 races in a row, sought to downplay Verstappen’s achievement forward of the race.
Hamilton instructed Sky F1 he’s “no extra impressed” by Verstappen’s feat than the achievements of different champions like Schumacher, Vettel and Fernando Alonso. Hamilton added that he believes “all my teammates have been stronger than the teammates Max has had.”
Verstappen, who defeated Hamilton in an exhilarating championship battle on the final lap of the 2021 season, stated earlier than the Monza race he wasn’t bothered by his rival’s jab.
“Perhaps he’s somewhat jealous of my present success,” Verstappen quipped to Dutch reporters, based on RacingNews365.
“This sort of assertion … he presumably thinks he’s profitable one thing with that, but it surely makes no distinction to me,” he stated. “I feel Mercedes have a really laborious time coping with shedding, in any case these years of profitable a lot.”
