Max Verstappen believes there’s no need for Red Bull to overreact to the problems it faced in last weekend’s Singapore GP because he expects the team’s struggles to be specific to the characteristics of that circuit.
Red Bull entered the Singapore weekend unbeaten in 2023, but struggled with its car setup throughout Friday and Saturday and ended up with both cars dropping out in Q2. Although Verstappen was far more competitive in race trim he was still limited to fifth, leaving Carlos Sainz to claim the first non-Red Bull victory of the year.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“We have a few ideas but I cannot go into details,” Verstappen said of the problems the team faced. “There are many people involved and we’ll analyze it, but it is not something that needs to be decided today.”
Starting from 11th, Verstappen was on the hard compound tire but a safety car in the first half of the race negated any advantage, so he was limited to a charging final stint on softs. However, his ultimate pace was strong as he closed a 20-second gap to Charles Leclerc in the final five laps.
“It is not what we wanted but I think (Sunday) was a little bit better. We were still unlucky during the race with all the safety cars going against us,” he said. “Clearly we learned quite a bit from (the race) and maybe what we did wrong (in qualifying) — I can’t go into details, but the problem is we can only show it next year, if we come back, if it is better or not.
“This track is so different to Suzuka that you cannot really relate (them). The car is completely different to set up. (Suzuka) should be good for our car.”
Red Bull’s defeat in Singapore came against growing speculation about whether the team could manage to piece together an unbeaten season, but Verstappen said he’s taking the result in his stride.
“I knew that this day would come, so for me it is absolutely fine,” he said. “Everything needs to be perfect. Everyone is always saying, ‘Ah, look how dominant they are and look how easy it is,’ but you know it is never easy and (there are) a lot of details that we need to get right. (In Singapore) clearly we didn’t get a few things right, and then you are on the back foot.”