When seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, in his Mercedes car, finished at a combined time deficit of 82 seconds behind the dominating Red Bull ‘RB19’ cars at the Bahrain and Jeddah circuits in the early stages of the 2023 season, one could not help but mesmerise at the lightning speed posed by the ‘four-wheel ingenuity’ created by engineer Andry Newey.
It’s hard to fault Hamilton or any driver on the grid for feeling outclassed by Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the Red Bull cars when examining the significant time gaps between them.
Looking at the different time gaps with which each Red Bull driver had won their respective races, including the 33-second gap Verstappen had against an upgraded McLaren at the Hungarian Grand Prix, one could hardly make a case against the RB19 not being the best F1 car ever created since the inception of the sport.
If one were to make a case that Mercedes’ Silver Arrow has lost some of its lustres since the car changes in 2022, consider Aston Martin’s early-season contender, Fernando Alonso, who finished as the closest challenger in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, trailing the Red Bull cars by 38.637 seconds and 20.728 seconds, respectively. This totals to 59.365 seconds, ranking as the eighth-largest margin in the 26 instances where the same team has won the first two races of a world championship season in the past half-century.
“I’ve never seen a car so fast,” Hamilton said, bemused by the RB19 and as quoted by Racingnews365.
“When we were fast, we weren’t that fast. That’s the fastest car I’ve seen compared to the rest.”
“I don’t know why or how, but he [Verstappen] came past me with serious speed. I didn’t even bother to block because there was a massive speed difference.”
At the main speed trap at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 200 metres before the final corner, Verstappen was clocked at 342.7km/h, 6km/h quicker than the second-quickest Logan Sargeant in his Williams.
Verstappen’s dominance in the RB19 is so pronounced that he could skip the next six rounds and still lead his teammate, Sergio Perez, in the standings. The only potential hiccup revolved around whether Red Bull could accomplish something unprecedented and secure victory in every race; sadly, fans would have to wait another season given the occurrence at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Beyond doubt, the Red Bull’s RB19 car is a rocket ship on the straight, reaching an additional 34 km/h at its peak with the rear wing open, activating the drag reduction system (DRS) and sweeping the board in terms of pole positions and victories, taking a record consecutive 14 wins out of the 15 races so far. But how does this car compare to the most dominant cars of other teams in recent history?
The iconic McLaren Honda MP4/4 of 1988 with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, won 15 of 16 rounds of races.
Both Senna and Prost also lapped the field on two occasions, with the winner finishing more than 50 seconds ahead of the next-best car six other times. It has long been the benchmark in the list of dominant cars. It is looked upon with misty eyes by many F1 fans and rightly so.
Another dominant car in recent years is the Mercedes W05 of 2014. The car was the first of new regulations and kick-started an unbeaten run of dominance. It won 16 of 19 rounds, took pole in all but one of the races and had an average winning margin over the lead non-Mercedes of 23 seconds.
Ferrari’s F2002 car, driven by both Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, earned 15 wins, 13 further podiums, 11 pole positions and 15 fastest laps, gaining 239 points over the course of its nineteen-race lifespan during the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
The Mercedes WO7, which won 19 of the available 21 races, including 20 pole positions, 33 podium finishes and a total of 765 constructors championship points in a single season, also joins our list as we rank some Formula 1’s most dominant cars in recent history.
2015 Mercedes W06 — 5th
Race wins: 16 of 19 entered (84.21%)
Drivers: Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg
Drivers’ championship: 1st Lewis Hamilton (381 pts), 2nd Nico Rosberg (322 pts), 3rd Sebastian Vettel (278 pts)
Constructors’ championship: 1st Mercedes (703 pts), 2nd Ferrari (428 pts), 3rd Williams (257 pts)
The W06 car was a simple evolution of the W04 and it carried on where that car left off, as Hamilton took a second title for Mercedes and his third overall. Again, it took every pole but one.
The constructors’ championship was sewn up with four rounds remaining, and the team also matched a record for both cars being on the podium for nine rounds in a row. Ferrari finished closer to them than Red Bull in 2014, but only marginally.
2002 Ferrari F2002 — 4th
Race wins: 15 of 17 entered (88.24%)
Drivers: Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello
Drivers’ championship: 1st Michael Schumacher (380 pts), 2nd Rubens Barrichello (223 pts), 3rd Juan Pablo Montoya (175 pts)
Constructors’ championship: 1st Ferrari (603 pts), 2nd Williams (332 pts), 3rd McLaren (245 pts)
Ferrari won six consecutive constructor titles between 1999 and 2004 with F1 legend Michael Schumacher at the helm. The Italian racing team were utterly dominant in two of those seasons in 2002 and 2004.
2016 Mercedes W07 — 3rd
Race wins: 19 of the 21 entered (90.48%)
Drivers: Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg
Drivers’ championship: 1st Nico Rosberg (385 pts), 2nd Lewis Hamilton (380 pts), 3rd Daniel Ricciardo (256 pts)
Constructors’ championship: 1st Mercedes (765 pts), 2nd Red Bull (468 pts), 3rd Ferrari (398 pts)
Another car that defined the Mercedes stronghold of the turbo-hybrid era. The 90.48% of the races they won that year is second to only the MP4/4 in completed seasons.
1988 McLaren MP4/4 — 2nd
Race wins: 15 of 16 entered (93.75%)
Drivers: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost
Drivers’ championship: 1st Ayrton Senna (275 pts), 2nd Alain Prost (301 pts), 3rd Gerhard Berger (147 pts)
Constructors’ championship: 1st McLaren (576 pts), 2nd Ferrari (239 pts), 3rd Benetton (193 pts)
*Prost scored more points than Senna, but Senna won the title as only the best 11 results counted towards the championship.
The McLaren MP4/4 has been the benchmark for Formula One cars for 35 years. The dominance of McLaren is more impressive given that there were fewer races in the 80s and 90s, which means the penalty for not winning one race significantly affected the percentage of races won.
2023 Red Bull RB19 — 1st
Race wins: 14/15 (93.7%)
Drivers: Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez
Drivers’ championship: 1st Max Verstappen (374 pts), 2nd Sergio Perez (223 pts), 3rd Lewis Hamilton (180 pts)
Constructors’ championship: 1st Red Bull (597 pts), 2nd Mercedes (289 pts), 3rd Ferrari (265 pts)
Considering the fact, the 2023 calendar still has seven races to go this season, Red Bull’s dominance in 2023 is currently ahead (by some margin) of the McLaren MP4/4, albeit Sergio Perez’s performances tailing off after Miami.
If the Milton Keynes team wins 21 of the available 22 on the 2023 racing calendar, the RB19 will become the undisputed racing machinery ever to grace the Formula 1 circuit.
| Most dominant Formula 1 Cars 1980-2022 | ||||||
| Ranking | Year | Team | Car Name | Races | Wins | % Wins |
| 1* | 2023 | Red Bull | RB19 | 15* | 14* | 93.75* |
| 2 | 1988 | McLaren | MP4/4 | 16 | 15 | 93.75 |
| 3 | 2016 | Mercedes | W07 | 21 | 19 | 90.48 |
| 4 | 2002 | Ferrari | F2002 | 17 | 15 | 88.24 |
| 5 | 2015 | Mercedes | W06 | 19 | 16 | 84.21 |
| 6 | 2014 | Mercedes | W05 | 19 | 16 | 84.21 |
| 7 | 2004 | Ferrari | F2004 | 18 | 15 | 83.33 |
| 8 | 2020 | Mercedes | W11 | 17 | 13 | 71.43 |
| 9 | 2022 | Red Bull | RB18 | 22 | 17 | 77.27 |
| 10 | 2019 | Mercedes | W09 | 21 | 15 | 71.43 |
