Max Verstappen further cemented his status as the dominant driver of his generation with a historic victory at the Italian Grand Prix, his 10th consecutive race win.
No Formula One driver has ever won as many races in a row in a season. The Red Bull driver had matched the previous all-time record of nine, set by Sebastian Vettel 10 years ago, at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Victory at Monza was Verstappen’s 12th of the year and increases the likelihood of Red Bull becoming the first F1 team to win every race in a season.
McLaren came close to doing so in 1988, winning all but one of the 16 races on the calendar, but such is Red Bull’s supremacy no team looks close to being able to topple them over the course of the 23-race season.
“I never would’ve believed that that was possible,” the Dutchman said after the race on the ESPN broadcast when asked about the record. “We had to work for it today and that made it definitely a lot more fun.”
Verstappen started the race in second place having narrowly lost out to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. in a dramatic qualifying session on Saturday, but overtook the Spaniard on Lap 15.
As has been the case so many times this year, Verstappen’s dominance was obvious as soon as he took the lead. He gradually extended his advantage over the chasing pack to finish six seconds ahead of Sergio Perez in second.
The podium was rounded out by Sainz Jr. ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth.
Verstappen leads the drivers’ championship by 145 points. His teammate Perez, who has won the season’s other races, is second.
The 25-year-old star, who has now won 47 races in all, which puts him fifth on the all-time list, has the chance to extend his record at the Singapore Grand Prix on September 17.