Verstappen claims RB19 is not the best F1 car: ‘More dominant cars in the past’

The Dutchman overcame torrential downpours at both the start and the end of his home race at Zandvoort to match Sebastian Vettel’s F1 record of nine victories in a row. 

Verstappen’s latest triumph means he has now won 11 of the 13 races this season, with teammate Sergio Perez the only other driver to taste victory in 2023. 

Red Bull’s RB19 - designed by legendary F1 guru Adrian Newey - will go down as being one of the most competitive cars in history, especially if it continues to remain unbeaten on Sundays this year. 

Despite Red Bull’s incredible invincible streak, Verstappen is not convinced the RB19 is the most dominant car F1 has ever seen. 

“Even if you have the best car," Verstappen said, "I think there have been more dominant cars in the past than we have at the moment and they haven't been able to win nine in a row and however many consecutive races we have as a team.

"It's hard. Especially like today, it is easy to make a wrong call and even drop it yourself. It is never that straightforward unfortunately.”

Verstappen insisted that equalling Vettel’s historic feat of successive wins, which the four-time world champion achieved with the same team in 2013, was a prospect he never considered possible. 

“It was probably one of the more difficult races to win again, but yeah, nine in a row is something I never even thought about,” he added.

“Very happy with that, but I’m in general very happy to win here in front of my home crowd.”

Verstappen has now extended his championship lead over Perez to 138 points as he continues his charge towards a third consecutive world title.