Wolff won't complain about Red Bull’s ‘meritocratic’ F1 dominance

Red Bull continued their impressive unbeaten record this season at the Hungarian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen cruised to a seventh straight victory and his ninth from 11 races.

Verstappen’s commanding win at the Hungaroring marked Red Bull’s 12th consecutive victory, an achievement which broke the record of 11 successive wins set by McLaren in 1988. 

Red Bull have won 22 of the last 23 grands prix and have largely dominated since new regulations were introduced at the start of 2022, with the team on course to successfully defend both world championships. 

Although Red Bull team principal Christian Horner regularly complained that Mercedes’ dominance of the V6 hybrid era made F1 boring, Wolff is not prepared to do the same now that Red Bull are on top. 

“I love this sport because it is meritocratic,” Wolff said. “Entertainment follows sport and not the other way round. 

“We can’t create a balance of performance or anything that would level out the field, it is what it is. 

“We had these years with Mercedes where we finished one and two every single race and that was certainly not great for entertainment purposes, and that’s why we just need to work better and get ourselves back into contention. 

“Because many fans would have left frustrated after yesterday thinking that we were really close together, keen to watch what happens today, and then they see one car just disappear into the sunset.”

Lewis Hamilton claimed his first pole since 2021 in Hungary but the seven-time world champion lost out to Verstappen as he suffered a nightmare start, before battling back to finish fourth. 

Verstappen went on to win at a canter, finishing 33.7 seconds clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris, while Sergio Perez recovered from ninth to complete the podium in third in the other Red Bull. 

Asked if he is concerned by the performance of the upgraded Red Bull, Wolff replied: “We can talk each other up and say we could have been second. 

“But in a way that is irrelevant because you have a car in front that is 34 seconds clear and probably he was cruising for a long time. That’s the bitter reality. 

“But as I said before, it is a meritocracy and as long as you are moving within the regulations then you have overall just done a better job and we need to acknowledge that.”