What will it take for Red Bull to lose this F1 season?

A glance at a complete list of available options for betting on F1 has, soon-to-be triple F1 World Champ, Verstappen the outright favourite for the 2023 F1 Driver's Title; ditto Red Bull for the Constructors' Championship race. The same applies for every race weekend, the odds of Verstappen winning this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix are 2/7!

With a 110-point lead over RBR teammate Sergio Perez, after Round 11, a triple F1 crown in as many years is already in Verstappen's grasp, and only force majeure can prevent him from doing the business again this year.

Notably, in the late nineties, F1 title contender at the time - Michael Schumacher - crashed his Ferrari during the British Grand Prix weekend. He broke a leg and was forced to miss out on six races, which put paid to his F1 Title ambitions for that year. One he was expected to win, after all his wingman Eddie Irvine only lost the title by two points to Mika Hakkinen.

The difference between the two scenarios is that Schumacher was not in a dominant car, and arrived at Silverstone trailing Hakkinen by a couple of points. On the other hand, Verstappen is as the Red Bull RB19 is one mighty piece of kit, unbeaten in ten races, eight times with the World Champ celebrating on the top step of the podium.

Victory at the British Grand Prix two Sundays ago meant Red Bull tied the remarkable F1 record of 11 consecutive wins held by McLaren for 35 years, their great Senna-Prost-Era. This weekend they broke that with a dozen straight victories now, adding the Hungarian Grand Prix to that list, with Verstappen doing the business for a ninth time this year.

What will it take for Red Bull to lose this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps? A coming together between Perez and Verstappen would be one way for their rivals to have a shot at victory; the weather pays havoc with the race, churning out one of those rare super-surprise results.

Most recently, Daniel Ricciardo's victory at the Italian Grand Prix a couple of years ago springs to mind. Not to detract from his splendid Sunday for McLaren, but the win did come after way up front, contenders for the title, Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen mounted one another in the heat of battle. Both contenders DNFed that day. Step up Ricciardo on the day!

Even if in the unlikely case that Verstappen trips up this weekend, his teammate Sergio Perez had better step up to the plate and win for Red Bull. That's his job with the best car on the grid. He can't beat Max, then he best finish second.

Why? Because a certain Daniel Ricciardo is back on the grid, replacing surplus to requirements Nyck de Vries. The Australian with a firm eye on Perez who has been warned by his team that Hungary is an important weekend for the Mexican veteran to deliver, amid a poor run of form. He did for now.

Especially in qualifying, his struggles to make it into Q3 in the past five races are well documented, and high time for him to raise his game to the level he displayed in Jeddah and Baku.

So, in a nutshell, Red Bull should finish one and two on Sunday. If not, either Max (most likely) or Checo should win. Barring that, we should see another colour other than blue on the top step of the podium.

Turning the focus to the Constructors' race. Can Red Bull lose it this season? And Verstappen? No! and No!

Hypothetically, if Red Bul withdraws their team from all future races after dominating the Hungarian GP this weekend, they will still be 2023 F1 Champions in all likelihood. With the midfield higher than the eye of a needle, Best of the Rest is a proper lottery.

What team or driver will go on to dominate the final half of the season in the manner RBR and Max have done? Winning eight of the final eleven races? No team and no driver.

After Verstappen equalled Ayrton Senna's record of 41 P1 starts in F1, with his pole-winning qualifying effort at the Canadian Grand Prix, RBR team principal Christian Horner summed up the phenomenon: “What we are witnessing with Max is the emergence of another mega talent.

"You can start talking about him in the same sentence as the greats now after he matched Ayrton Senna. Max just keeps delivering at such a high level. The race was fantastic but to take pole position in conditions that were continually changing, his ability to adapt to whatever grip level he had, was Max at his best," beamed Horner.

He knows, F1 knows, fans know, it's no longer a matter 'if' they will win both 2023 F1 titles, but rather when they will be clinched. Long before season's end that is for sure.

Therefore, if you are a responsible betting person, we highly recommend (insist in fact!) that you do not bet against Red Bull or Verstappen in their current state of magic and F1 history-making.