Red Bull’s winning streak to end? ‘Someone will take Verstappen or Perez out’

F1 reporter Natalie Pinkham says that while part of her wants Red Bull to pull off the undefeated season, she knows most likely, reliability, or someone wiping out Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez, will deny it.

No team in the history of Formula 1 has ever gone through a full season winning every race, but with the F1 2023 campaign at the summer break, that record-breaking achievement is still on the cards for Red Bull.

No rival has had an answer for the mighty Red Bull RB19 across the opening 12 rounds, with two-time World Champion Max Verstappen claiming 10 of those as he marches towards his third title on the bounce.

Red Bull unlikely to pull off invincible season

Once the season resumes at Circuit Zandvoort for Verstappen’s home race, the Dutch Grand Prix, Red Bull will require 10 more victories to see their undefeated campaign across the line.

That means they are more than halfway there, but while Pinkham quietly hopes they succeed, so as to witness a “real moment in history”, she believes the odds remain against Red Bull despite no rival being present who can beat them in a straight fight.

”的一部分me that doesn’t want them to be beaten,” said Pinkham on theF1 Nation podcast. “Because they’ve come this far, and I want them to do something utterly remarkable and win every race of the season.

“I think we’ll look back and recognise this was a real moment in history and it was a privilege to witness it. So if you’re going to break a record, absolutely smash it.

“But, I don’t know whether it’s the law of averages, something will happen and there’ll be reliability or someone will take Max out or Perez, there’ll be something where he doesn’t finish on the top step.

“Because it looks all too easy, it’s not. I think that’s the key, it really isn’t as easy as they’re making it look. Yes, of course, they’ve got the fastest car, and arguably the best driver in the fastest car, but the truth is, your stars have to be aligned to win a grand prix. Things happen in races that are beyond their control.

“So they’ve done incredibly well to get this far and there’s part of me that just wants them to go all the way.”

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Damon Hill backs Max Verstappen to make history

Already this season Red Bull have ticked off a major milestone, with their current streak of 13 grand prix wins in succession eclipsing McLaren’s run of 11 which had stood since 1988.

Verstappen meanwhile has won eight races in a row, meaning he is now only one away from matching the record held by ex-Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel for the longest winning streak.

And 1996 World Champion Hill believes Verstappen will do more than just equal or narrowly surpass that benchmark.

“The consecutive victories, I think that Max is going to blow that into the weeds,” Hill predicted.

Verstappen holds a lead of 125 points over Red Bull team-mate Perez at the top of theDrivers’ Championship.

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