Red Bull ready to equal McLaren's 11 wins in a row

SILVERSTONE, England : Formula One champions Red Bull can equal McLaren's 35-year-old record of 11 wins in a row at Silverstone on Sunday and once again Max Verstappen is set to be the man of the moment.

The runaway championship leader is chasing his sixth successive win, and eighth in 10 races, at the British Grand Prix.

With a lead of 81 points over team mate Sergio Perez, the equivalent of more than three races, a third title for the Dutch 25-year-old looks inevitable.

In Austria last weekend he had enough of a lead to pit at the end for fresh tyres to seize fastest lap, telling reporters he had enjoyed reading about how Red Bull's rivals were closing the gap.

McLaren won 11 successive races in 1988 with Brazilian Ayrton Senna and Frenchman Alain Prost. Red Bull have won all nine so far this year after the 2022 Abu Dhabi season-ender - the first time they have won 10 in a row.

Although Ferrari effectively won 14 in succession in 1952-53, the Indianapolis 500 which they did not enter was counted as a round of the championship.

"Silverstone next weekend is going to be epic ... but who knows what obstacles there could be," Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports television.

"We saw what happened there last year (when Ferrari's Carlos Sainz won), it's a race we haven't won since I think Mark (Webber) back in 2012, so that's a big race for us on this calendar."

Rivals will be ready to pounce if anything goes wrong, even if Verstappen has won 16 of the last 20 races.

Ferrari mark the one-year anniversary on Monday of their last success - Charles Leclerc in Austria a week after Sainz at Silverstone.

"I'm already looking forward to Silverstone. It's a very different track and the team has done an incredible job," said Leclerc