How does Red Bull's dominance stack up against other F1 greats?

Records are meant to be broken eventually. It was probably inconceivable for many that a team could beat the 11-win streak that McLaren managed in 1988 with its all-conquering MP4/4, especially after Mercedes' dominance in the mid-to-late 2010s could not match it, but Red Bull has achieved the unthinkable. Verstappen's win at Abu Dhabi last year began the streak, which has persisted in the entire first half of the 2023 season to bring the Red Bull squad up to 12 victories on the trot. And it managed to do so among one of the most competitive fields for years, where Red Bull's RB19 has been frequently tested - and sometimes beaten - in qualifying.

But how does the RB19's dominance stack up against that of some of F1's greatest cars? For that, the supertimes metric can explain how far ahead the leading team was relative to the next-fastest competitor in raw pace terms, based on the fastest single lap by each car at each race weekend. This is expressed as a percentage of the fastest single lap overall (100.000%) and averaged over the season, although this tends to skew results towards qualifying.

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Regardless, Red Bull holds a 0.238% advantage over the next fastest team in Ferrari, as the resurgence in McLaren's form has yet to swing the averages given its problematic start to 2023. Out of context, this is not a particularly impressive margin, but that shows the closeness of the field over a single lap this season. However, the RB19's race pace is nothing short of relentless and this has turned the tide in battle on any occasions where a different team has managed to take pole. Take the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, for example: Lewis Hamilton took his 104th F1 pole, albeit by only 0.003s, but Verstappen's final margin over the Briton came at 39.134s. So how does that 0.238% advantage stack up against the other icons of F1's most dominant eras?

The Ferrari 500 only failed to taste victory at the Indianapolis 500 in 1952

Ferrari 500

The biggest supertime advantage ever between the two fastest cars was 3.682%, recorded in 1952 between Ferrari and Gordini. At the time F1 was run to Formula 2 regulations, and the Ferrari 500 was by far the best product of those rules as Aurelio Lampredi's design picked up wins in every race except the Indianapolis 500 - which then counted towards the F1 world championship. The introduction of F2 rules was prompted when Alfa Romeo left the championship, in a bid to boost the number of entrants.

Alberto Ascari won every 'regular' F1 race he entered that year, having missed the Bremgarten season opener to prepare for his US racing exploits two weeks later. With the 500 excluded, both Ferrari in 1952 and Alfa Romeo in 1950 would have claimed 100% win records in those seasons, albeit much shorter than the 22-race behemoth we have today.

Piero Taruffi won that Swiss Grand Prix opener, having picked up the lead from Ferrari team-mate Giuseppe Farina when the ignition magneto failed, to kick off the clean sweep of Ferrari wins. Ascari's hopes at the Indy 500, where he drove a modified version of the V12-powered 375, were dashed by a car uncompetitive against the fleet of Offenhauser-powered Kuzmas and Kurtis Krafts. Having qualified 25th of 33 runners, the Italian's race came to an end with a wheel hub failure.

The Lotus 49 was the fastest car in the field in 1967 but won neither the drivers' or constructors' world titles

Photo by: LAT Photographic

Lotus 49

In 1967, counting only races where the Lotus 49 raced - the Dutch Grand Prix onwards - Lotus held a pace advantage of 1.217% over Brabham. For the overall season, where both the Lotus 43 and 33 raced in the respective opening rounds at Kyalami and Monaco, it falls to a 0.915% advantage. Nonetheless, both percentages are impressive until you note that Lotus won neither drivers' nor constructors' crowns!

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The 49 is generally considered to be the first F1 car to use the engine as a stressed member within a monocoque chassis, which was possible with the then-exclusive deal it had with Ford to use the famed Cosworth DFV engine. The problem was that the Brabhams were far more reliable; although the 49 was considerably faster over a single lap, the early years with the DFV often resulted in unwanted technical gremlins rearing their heads. Brabham's Repco V8 was a far more proven quantity, and Denny Hulme built his 1967 championship win on consistency.

The 49 won the title in the hands of Graham Hill in the following season, as the 1962 champion took on the mantle of team leader when Jim Clark was killed at Hockenheim in an F2 race, but the variations of the Ferrari 312 held a 0.687% pace advantage despite only claiming one pole that year. The B-spec 49 was retained for 1969, although Matra was overall 0.106% faster.

McLaren came so close to the perfect F1 season in 1988

Photo by: Ercole Colombo

McLaren MP4/4

Owing to reliability issues and cars being less precise in handling, displays of dominance did not often replicate an apparent pace advantage until the McLaren MP4/4 came along. Had Nigel Mansell never become enfeebled by chickenpox, it's very realistic that McLaren's win-streak in 1988 would have covered all 16 races, thus giving Red Bull more work to do in the modern age.

The MP4/4's pace advantage over the Ferrari F1/87/88C stood tall at 1.511%, F1's biggest pace advantage at that point since 1956 when Ferrari had 1.964% over Maserati. Taking that McLaren advantage and applying it to Ayrton Senna's 1m53.718s pole time at the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari would be expected to qualify with a 1m55.436s.

That Gerhard Berger was almost a second quicker than the expected margin is testament to his performance. Of course, the MP4/4 never made it past 11 wins in a row, as Ayrton Senna's sure-fire win at Monza was famously derailed by Mansell stand-in Jean-Louis Schlesser...

Mansell mastered the Williams FW14B's active suspension to trounce the opposition in 1992

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

Williams FW14B and FW15C

In 1992 and 1993, Williams was at its zenith and enjoyed huge advantages over the rest of the field. The 1992 FW14B, despite the complexities of active suspension, was putty in Mansell's hands and the car had 1.492% of an advantage over that year's McLaren MP4/6B and MP4/7A.

But much of the advantage was down to the driver and car combination, as Mansell had a 0.999% advantage over team-mate Riccardo Patrese as the Italian's driving style didn't mesh particularly well with the active suspension. Mansell's near two-second advantage over Patrese in qualifying for the British Grand Prix demonstrated the gulf between them that year.

The following FW15C, festooned with all the bells and whistles of driver aids, yielded a 1.706% advantage over the McLaren MP4/8 as the latter team lost its Honda deal and had to settle for a Ford deal a couple of steps behind the 'works' Benetton outfit. Alain Prost, who had replaced the US-bound Mansell, did not particularly like the reliance on electronics on board Williams' 1993 car and felt it compromised his smoother style behind the wheel. Nonetheless, the Frenchman adapted to secure a fourth title, chalking up seven wins in the opening 10 races. Damon Hill racked up another three as he challenged Senna for the runner-up spot in the championship.

None of Ferrari's rivals could live with the F2004's race pace

Photo by: Lorenzo Bellanca / Motorsport Images

Ferrari F2004

Although many consider the Ferrari F2004 to be one of the best cars in F1 history (although that view may be revised after this year...), it was like the RB19 in that it was far more potent in the races rather than in qualifying. Its advantage over the BAR 006 stood at just 0.218% in outright one-lap pace, but it managed 15 of the 18 victories available that year as BAR scored none despite its best efforts.

The outright pace margins were small in 2004 despite the apparent lack of competition to Ferrari, and BAR, Williams, Renault, and McLaren all sat within 1% of the Ferrari's pace. Renault had started off the year as the notional second-fastest team, but the greater consistency of the BAR-Honda meant that Jenson Button was a more frequent visitor to the podium that season. Renault's performance tailed off, while Williams and McLaren overcame disappointing starts with once-promising aerodynamic concepts proving to be troubling. By the season's end, McLaren had turned around its form to collect a win at Spa, while Williams claimed victory in the Brazil climax.

Ferrari's dominance that year and Red Bull's dominance this year are testament to the fact that, although qualifying can be important, consistency in race trim is a far more potent quality.

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Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images