Red Bull Racing is poised to sweep an entire Formula 1 season for the first time in the sport’s history.
The reigning championship-winning team won all 12 races before the mid-season break, beating the record of 11 consecutive victories by a constructor set by McLaren in 1988.
There are 10 races remaining this season, starting with this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, putting the team beyond the halfway mark of what would be an unprecedented achievement.
The prospect of a season clean sweep has previously been dismissed as being out of reach given the record-equalling 22-race schedule.
Not only does the lengthy schedule create ample opportunity for things to go wrong, but it was assumed early in the season that other teams would catch up to Red Bull Racing to reduce its margin for error.
But the RB19 has proved to be almost perfectly reliable and has also maintained a beefy winning margin through to the mid-year adjournment, giving little hope to the prospect of any other team claiming a race on merit.
Fox Sports podcast Pit Talk co-host Ian Parkes said that it would take an external factor to derail the team from reaching Abu Dhabi undefeated.
“The bottom line here is that car is just bulletproof,” he said, “The only thing that you can see happening to prevent what would be an entire clean sweep of the season is an accident — we don’t want that to happen; that’s the worst-case scenario of course — or some form of unreliability to hit Max Verstappen.
“It has happened. We saw it happen in qualifying in Saudi Arabia — that bumped him further down the grid and he still managed to do a brilliant drive in that grand prix.
“So can anything stop them? On what we’ve seen so far, no, but as we all know, this is Formula 1. We’ve just got to hope that something might stop them, whatever that might be.
“If you’re a not a Red Bull fan or a Max Verstappen fan, any Formula 1 fan must surely be looking forward to seeing somebody else — anybody else — standing on top of that podium over the final 10 grands prix of this season.”
Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner has regularly dismissed talk of completing an undefeated season, acknowledging the length of the campaign, but he similarly played down the chances of surpassing McLaren’s 1988 record for consecutive wins.
RBR broke that benchmark at the Hungarian Grand Prix last month and enthusiastically celebrated the rewriting of history.
Evidently the pursuit of records is something acknowledged internally, even if expectations are kept in check.
Considering the team and Verstappen are as good as certain to claim another championship double sooner rather than later this season, an invincible run will surely become the logical next goal once both titles are sewn up. It would act as a useful motivator for maintaining a high level of performance in the twilight of the campaign, when the toll of eight races in a row outside of Europe will be weighing heavily on the team.
Given the precariousness of an unbeaten run, the extra jeopardy that could be injected into what has been a very straightforward fight at the front of the field could also create some extra and unusual interest in the otherwise dead-rubber races towards the end of the year.
THE NEAR MISSES
With more than half the season gone, Red Bull Racing doesn’t even have to repeat its run of form prior to the break to find itself writing new history for total domination. Just 10 more races separate it from the unthinkable.
But it isn’t the first team in Formula 1 history to field what appears to be an unbeatable car, and several constructors before it have come close without sealing the deal.
McLaren in 1988 — 15 wins from 16 races
The 1988 McLaren MP4/4 has long been considered the benchmark for dominance in a single season. Driven by the legendary line-up of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the car set the record for 11 consecutive victories — a run previously thought unbeatable before Red Bull Racing blitzed it earlier this year.
But even the seemingly unbeatable MP4/4 was bested once — albeit thanks to a confluence of unlikely external factors on a bizarre weekend at the 1988 Italian Grand Prix.
Senna led a McLaren front-row lockout ahead of Prost in what appeared to be a precursor to another easy win, but Prost soon developed a misfiring engine that put him out of contention, leaving just Senna to hold the lead.
The Brazilian looked on track for a controlled victory when with two laps to go he attempted to lap Jean-Louis Schlesser. Schlesser locked up at Rettifilo but recovered to keep his car on track, but by then Senna had assumed the racing line.
They collided, and the McLaren ended up beached on a kerb. Senna’s race was over, and Ferrari charged through for a one-two finish at the first race in Italy since the death of Enzo Ferrari.
Mercedes in 2016 — 19 wins from 21 races
The Mercedes W07 had the pace to go the distance over 21 rounds, but the nailbiting fight between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg ended the dream early.
The pair collided on the first lap of the Spanish Grand Prix in a squabble for the lead, putting both drivers out of the race at just the fourth turn.
They were racing wheel to wheel out of the third corner when Hamilton found himself on the grass on the run down to turn 4. He lost control of his car and spun into Rosberg in a crash that sent both into the gravel and out of the grand prix. Max Verstappen charged through to take his maiden victory.
The team’s only other defeat came at that year’s Malaysian Grand Prix, where Hamilton’s car suffered an engine failure from the lead of the race. Rosberg was unable to pick up the pieces, having been dropped to the back of the field after being struck by an errant Sebastian Vettel at the first turn. He finished third behind a Red Bull Racing one-two led by Daniel Ricciardo.
Ferrari in 2002 — 15 wins from 17 races
Ferrari’s 2002 domination was so severe that the sport brought about changes to try to rein in the Italian team in subsequent years, but Maranello never really got a change to sweep the season, with its first of only two defeats coming in Malaysia in just the second race.
Michael Schumacher started from pole but second-place starter Juan Pablo Montoya got the better launch to nose ahead into the first turn. They entered side by side, but the Ferrari understeered into the Williams, breaking its front wing and forcing the German into a long early pit stop for repairs. Teammate Rubens Barrichello took up the battle for the lead, but an engine failure with 17 laps to go ensured a one-two victory for Williams led by Ralf Schumacher.
The second of two defeats came shortly afterwards in Monaco, where Schumacher and Barrichello qualified third and fifth. Schumacher finished second after pole-getter Montoya retired with engine trouble, while Barrichello crashed with Kimi Räikkönen to end his podium chances.
THE BOGEY TRACKS
Looking at the run to the end of the season, there are no obvious standout races Red Bull Racing should fear — certainly given the strength of the RB19 — but there are some question marks it’ll need to answer to complete the sweep.
The biggest of those is the new-track factor.
The new Las Vegas street circuit will make its first appearance on the calendar, and the unique demands of the track could open up the field.
The biggest point of interest is the timing of the sessions, with qualifying to be run at midnight and the race at 10pm local time. In November the average overnight temperature in Las Vegas is around 8°C, way below usual conditions for Formula 1. Consider the sport’s other night races take place in either the Middle East or Singapore.
Potential problems with the cool temperatures are compounded by the Las Vegas Strip Circuit’s layout, which comprises mostly straights and is almost completely devoid of anything approaching a high-speed, high-energy corner. Tyres will cool down significantly between braking zones without fast corners to energise them. Keeping the rubber inside the operating window will be a major challenge.
Qatar also returns to the calendar this season, and while it’s hosted one race before, that was under the previous set of regulations. The weekend will also be run to the sprint format, meaning teams will have only one practice session to nail set-up, which could prove to be a tripping hazard.
Beyond those two races, Red Bull Racing might also look at the São Paulo Grand Prix with some caution given it was oddly way off the pace in Interlagos last season, with a lowly sixth and seventh on Sunday ending what had been a nine-race winning streak for the team.
RBR has won in Brazil only once since 2013, making it something of a bogey circuit, and this year’s round will again feature a sprint race.
