Verstappen and Red Bull dominance shows paucity of F1

The plaudits are flooding in for Max Verstappen and Red Bull following victory at Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

If you include the minimal input from Sergio Perez Red Bull have won a record 12 races in a row.

Some pundits sniffily insist it’s only 11 because the first win was the final race of last season. But who really cares? It’s 12 in row and the greatest winning streak in the history of Formula One.

It beats one of the oldest and toughest records, set in 1988 by McLaren and its legendary drivers Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

But those who reflect on that year do not go all misty-eyed over McLaren’s ability to win 11 in a row and all but one of the 16 rounds.

Their memories are of a spell binding rivalry that created one of the most enthralling championship stories of all time.

Senna and Prost were two equally driven but very different characters with different talents. But when it was all put together only tenths of a second separated them in the cockpit. 1988 was so close; Senna won eight races that year and Prost seven.

They proved (again) equal cars and drivers spell box office dynamite.

So how has the sport contrived through the decades to keep the best drivers apart?

First, it's important to note that Verstappen and Perez are no Senna and Prost.

It’s interesting to note that aside from Nico Rosberg beating Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in 2016 you have to go back to the days of Senna and Prost and the late 80s to find a time when the champion was beaten to a title in his own car.

Those who reflect on 1988 also point to 2007 when Fernando Alonso was paired with a rookie Hamilton and such a poisonous feud developed at McLaren it resulted in a $100 million fine, a lost world title and the Spaniard walking out