Red Bull’s Streak
Max Verstappen’s win in the British Grand Prix was not only his sixth straight on the season, but it was also Red Bull Racing’s 11th in-a-row too. A win on Sunday would mark their 12th straight which would break the record for most consecutive wins.
Verstappen has scored 11 straight top two finishes and 20 in his last 22 tries. He’s also the defending race winner after leading 20 of 70 laps a year ago from his 10th place start. He has three top two results in his last four tries on this track.
For Sergio Perez he’s never had a podium in 12 career starts here and was fifth from 11th a year ago.
Perez Under Pressure
Speaking of Perez, it’s time to deliver. I don’t think this move to bring in Daniel Ricciardo was done so without an eye to the future. It’s no secret that Perez isn’t delivering anymore and his stats have shown that with the pressure of a championship, he can’t handle it. Now, how about the pressure of keeping his ride?
He’s not under pressure this season in a sense that Red Bull has run away with the constructors title. But, if teams start closing the gap to them, what about next year or even in 2025?
They just need Perez to deliver results to beat the second-best drivers from every other team. He’s doing good enough now at that but he’s not taking points for the main drivers either in a car capable of dominance.
I mean think about it. In an era to where Red Bull has reached unprecedented depths, Perez is struggling for podiums.
Verstappen has won every race since May 7 (6 straight). Perez has looked pedestrian in that span in finishing 2nd, 16th, 4th, 6th, 3rd and 6th respectively. The points gap between them now is up to 99. With 12 races left, Verstappen doesn’t have to win another race and he can still take home the title.
That’s because Perez has been terrible on Saturday’s.
He didn’t make Q3 here last year. He hasn’t done so in any of the last five races on the season either. In that same five race span, his teammate won the pole in each.
You’ve got to think the top brass at Red Bull is growing tired of Perez’ antics by missing out on the final round…again.
2 podiums in 6 races.
Prior to that, he had 4 top 2 finishes in 5 races and held Verstappen in check for this year’s championship.
Now, he’s in a fight for second in leading Fernando Alonso by just 19 points. Can he fight off Ricciardo for his seat too?
McLaren
McLaren brought an upgrade to Austria for Lando Norris. It paid dividends for the Brit to score a fourth place finish that day. In the last race in England, further upgrades were enabled, including Oscar Piastri joining Norris with new parts.
They turned heads.
McLaren qualified 2-3. However, some wondered how long they could stay there. Saturday was a perfect storm between overcast skies and cooler temperatures. Those conditions suit the McLaren cars.
The McLaren duo never flinched with both cars finishing in the top four including a runner-up by Norris.
Now, with more upgrades and Piastri getting enough to catch back up to Norris in what’s on his car, many are wondering what they can do this weekend.
Hungary is the exact opposite as to what has made them successful this season. The McLaren cars like faster corners and cooler temps. Hungary is slower turns and hotter conditions.
Which is why this is something to watch out for.
If they can keep the pace, then this team could be something to watch out for down the road. If they lose the pace, then it’s also not unexpected either.
Daniel Ricciardo
This one is obvious. How can he do in his debut with AlphaTauri? Like McLaren above, he likes something different than the team can bring. Ricciardo likes the attack the corners. The car at AlphaTauri is at its worst in this aspect.
What gives?
Runner-Up Parity
For the 6th straight race, we saw a different car finish runner-up. In Miami, it was Red Bull going 1-2 with Verstappen-Perez. For Monaco it was Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso. Spain was Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton’s turn. Canado was back to Aston Martin and Alonso. Austria was Ferrari and Charles LeClerc. Two weeks ago in England was Lando Norris and McLaren.
“It’s very confusing to me because every single race weekend, it’s someone else,” Verstappen said. “I think is because it’s so close behind that if you get your car in a little bit of a better window, it works on one particular track.
“So for me, I don’t know what’s going to happen in Hungary to be honest, who is going to be quick or the second quickest. The stable factor so far is that every single weekend, it seems like we are on top, which of course is the most important from our side. But again, Hungary completely different track, we will put some upgrades on the car there and hopefully they will work well.”
Who’s up this week for the challenge?
McLaren makes sense but this track is the complete opposite of what they like. They like faster corners in cooler temperatures where Hungary features slower corners and hot conditions.
Aston Martin struggles for pace on natural road courses like this one.
On street circuits, Fernando Alonso was 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 2nd. That made up 5 of the 1st 6 races.
The last four races, there’s been just one race that ran like a street race (Montreal) for which Alonso was P2. On more natural free flowing tracks, he’s finished 6th, 5th, 7th. Lance Stroll was 7th, 9th, 9th and 14th in the same races.
Ferrari qualifies well but fades due to tire fall off.
Charles LeClerc has one top five finish in the last six races on the season. To show how far he’s fallen, LeClerc had finished 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd and 4th respectively in his last five Silverstone tries prior to the last race weekend. So, to come down to ninth was telling. He’s also not had a podium finish in five Hungary starts with finishes instead of 20th, 4th, 11th, 18th and 6th respectively. Carlos Sainz Jr. once again finished 5th or worse (10th in England) just as he’s done for the ninth straight race. Sainz does have 3 top 5 finishes in his last 4 starts there though too.
Maybe it’s Mercedes then. They are the opposite of Ferrari as they struggle in practice and single lap pace but a great in race trim. Lewis Hamilton has 8 wins in 16 Hungary starts including having six top two finishes in his last seven tries. He’s finished 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd in his last five at that.
George Russell started on the pole and finished third last year.
Top Stat
Max Verstappen has run away with the points lead, but the race for 2nd behind him has tightened. Sergio Perez leads Fernando Alonso by just 19 points. Lewis Hamilton is 35 points back himself. Carlos Sainz Jr. (-73) and George Russell (-74) are capable to catching him as well.
This five driver battle is better than the one between Verstappen and Perez.
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