Red Bull Breaks F1 Consecutive Wins Record With Hungarian GP Victory

Red Bull Racing is on a streak of domination the likes of which Formula 1 has never seen.

With Max Verstappen being the first to cross the stripe (for the seventh consecutive time this year, and ninth overall) at this Hungaroring on Sunday, the team has won 12 consecutive races. That breaks the record of 11-straight they shared with Mclaren (for two weeks), who had held the record since 1988.

That of course was the Prost/Senna era of McLaren arguably the most dominant pairing in sports history (I think it still is based on how both drivers were in championship contention every year). They were also driving one of the greatest cars to ever hit the track, the McLaren MP4/4.

Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen crosses the finish line to win the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring. (Photo by MARTON MONUS / POOL / AFP) / ALTERNATE CROP (Photo by MARTON MONUS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Verstappen, Red Bull Dominated From Lights To Flag

Tire strategy was the big focus on Sunday because it was blazing hot in Hungary. That meant a fair amount of pit stops.

Despite being a middle school geography bee champion who won his crown answering a question about the country, I didn’t know it got hot there. Then again I know nothing about Hungarian weather. If someone told me it was 70 degrees year-round I’d buy it and if they told me that on rare occasions it rains Pepsi, I’d be like “Oh, seriously?” (Not really… okay maybe for a moment).

Verstappen took the lead from polesitter Lewis Hamilton in the first turn, and speaking of McLaren, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri picked up the scraps and got past Hamilton as well.

While the Dutchman breezed to yet another dominant win (but you knew that was coming), there were some stellar drives up and down the grid.

His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez made Q3 for the first time since Monaco and start the race in P9. He grabbed a few places thanks to some chaos entering the first corner and an abysmal start from Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu.

He ended up on the podium along with Verstappen and Norris, but think what could have been if he had qualified where we all know that RB-19 is capable of being.

McLaren continued their strong form with Lando Norris snagging his second straight podium finish. (Photo by ANP via Getty Images)

McLaren Continues To Impress

McLaren's fortunes turned on a dime this season. They started the year at the back of the field and are now suddenly capable of starting in the first two rows and fighting for podiums.

Even wilder is what they did at Silverstone and the Hungaroring. Those are too wildly different circuits so to argue that their success is circuit contingent doesn't hold water.

Norris more or less breezed to his second-straight podium (for the first time in his career), but unfortunately for Australian rookie Piastri, he was eventually swallowed up by the charging Perez as well as Lewis Hamilton. His time will come, but considering he's only 11 races into his F1 career, two straight top 5 finishes should feel good.

Spa is next up on the calendar and I don't see any reason to think McLaren can't continue this run of success. They've shown they're capable of running well on straights, in fast corners, as well as in medium and slower-speed corners. Spa has all of those. However, the challenge will be finding that balance which is always one of the fun things about the Belgian Grand Prix.

While McLaren surely enjoyed their trip to Hungary, at least one other team did not...

For the second-consecutive weekend, both Alpine cars failed to make it to the finish. (Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images)

Alpine Double DNFd For Second Straight Grand Prix

Oh, Alpine...

The French-owned, Esndstone-based continues to be far and away the streakiest team on the grid. It's always feast or famine for them. Unfortunately, Hungary was firmly in the "famine" category.

Alpine's race was over before it began when drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly biffed into each other in the Hungaroring's often treacherous first corner. Both cars trundled back to the pits but were immediately retired.

Worse yet, Esteban Ocon had to get his back checked out by medical personnel after the incident.

Very unfortunate, and one of those "Why the hell did we even come here?" moments. Their rough streak at Silverstone comes as McLaren is soaring and building their gap to them in the constructors' standings.

Rough times for Alpine. hopefully their fortunes change in Spa.

Most of the frustrations for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc came in the pits. (Photo by Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Other Non-Red Bull, McLaren, And Alpine Thoughts I Typed Into My Phone

• Charles Leclerc is going to probably smash a wheel gun in the Ferrari garage. During one of his pitstops the gun for the left-rear tire malfunctioned. This left him stationary for nearly 10 seconds. Worse yet, he came into the pits about too hot on his next stop and was dealt a penalty.

• I really felt bad for Alfa Romeo. They looked great all weekend and Zhou Gunayu had his highest start ever. That said, he had one of the worst starts ever and nearly got plowed into by his teammate. He was so slow off the line that there must have been a mechanical issue. He also received a penalty for causing some of the Turn 1 chaos. Just a shame. Could have been a great weekend, but wound up being a forgettable Sunday for the Alfas.

...

Formula 1 is going to haul it across the European continent from Hungary to Belgium this week to one of my favorite tracks on the calendar: the Circuit de Spa-Francorchams.

Seriously. Inject Eau Rouge/Radillon into my veins. Hell, throw Pouhon in there too while you're at it.

Can Red Bull build on their streak? Can McLaren keep it up? Will a new winner (finally) take the top step on the podium?

We'll find out next Sunday.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle