JUST IN: Max Verstappen addresses his zero-win record in the Singapore Grand Prix prediction.
Given Red Bull’s past difficulties at the Marina Bay track, Max Verstappen has acknowledged that he is not expecting the team to “suddenly” emerge as a contender for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Red Bull and Verstappen combined to have the most dominant season in Formula One history in 2023, winning all but one race as the Dutchman cruised to his third straight World Championship.
Not anticipating a Red Bull miracle at the Singapore Grand Prix, Max Verstappen
A year earlier, Red Bull lost the race in Singapore, where Carlos Sainz of Ferrari won on a day when Max Verstappen could only finish fifth after collapsing in qualifying.
With the RB20 having difficulties with bumps and kerbs at Monaco earlier this season, where Verstappen ended a distant sixth, his joint-worst finish of the season, Red Bull’s problems in Singapore have become the standard in Formula One 2024 rather than the exception.
Verstappen has had his longest winless streak since the 2020 season, going without a victory since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23. He has also failed to win any of the previous seven races.
Last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw Red Bull lose the lead in the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since May 2022. Oscar Piastri’s win for McLaren gave them a 20-point lead with seven rounds to go.
As of this race, Verstappen has a 59-point lead over Lando Norris in the Drivers’ standings.
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Verstappen has never won a race on the current schedule, and because Singapore is so similar to Monaco, he doesn’t think Red Bull’s fortunes will change there.
He made an appearance at the Singapore press conference on Thursday and stated, “It’s not going to be our easiest weekend, just straight up.”
All we’ll try to do this weekend is analyze the race that you did last year, of course, and see what could have been done better.
Naturally, though, I don’t anticipate it to turn out to be one of our best weekends.
“I just hope that what we’ve already done in Baku—stabilizing the vehicle a little bit more—was a good start, and maybe we can build on that and see where this goes from here.
Naturally, the terrain around here is typically rougher than in Baku, but perhaps the vehicle can handle it.
“Hopefully, you can proceed from there. [Baku] was able to observe a few things on the car.”
“We need to try and stabilize that a little bit because our car is generally not very good on bumps and kerbs, and that’s what you have around here.”
In response to a question on his confidence in reaching Q3 in Singapore this season, he said, “I would hope so, yeah.”
I’m not even sure where to begin when it comes to putting a number on it, but I know we can do better than we did the previous year.
“But at the same time, naturally, the competition has also improved quite a bit, so let’s see where we end up. I’m definitely targeting Q3.”
Verstappen has been second in 2018 and third the following season in Singapore, where he has finished on the podium twice previously.
When asked why he has never won the night race, Verstappen acknowledged that Red Bull has “not been the best” in the past.
He also cited 2022 as a lost chance to win in Singapore, since he started the qualifying session seventh on the grid due to a fuel error during a rain-affected session.
The next day, teammate Sergio Perez won admirably in the rain, while Verstappen could only finish ninth. A week later, in Japan, the Dutchman won his second Championship championship.
“Most of the time we just came up short,” he clarified. I was seated at the podium.
Sadly, I believe that over the past few years, the car has not been the best; we have simply had trouble with the kerbs and bumps.
I didn’t have enough gasoline in the car during qualifying, so you start further back. 2022 would have been a decent chance at it.
Sometimes it just doesn’t work out where, in other races, things go a little more your way because of luck or because the car is in a better window naturally in these kinds of courses.
However, it hasn’t seemed to be like that here, at least not yet. We’ll see if it changes in the few more attempts I have left.