Are Red Bull's Momentary Struggles Just a Blip in Dominant F1 Era
Sep.18 - Toto Wolff says Red Bull's rivals must not fall into the trap of thinking the team's dominant new era may already be coming to an end.
After a record-setting ten wins on the trot, Max Verstappen found himself at the wheel of a particularly difficult car to drive in Singapore.
McLaren's Lando Norris, after finishing second behind Ferrari's Carlos Sainz on Sunday, said of Red Bull's sudden decline: "When I watched Max's onboard yesterday, I kind of laughed because I've never seen a car that bad before.
"Max was also laughing about it," the Briton added. "But we'll see next weekend. I think they'll probably be back at the top."
Indeed, Verstappen - who must now wait until Qatar to get his first chance of wrapping up a particularly dominant third consecutive drivers' title on the trot - seemed happier after recovering to fifth on Sunday.
He qualified outside the top ten, and said he may have been able to do even better than fifth without the Singapore safety cars.
"After that it went quite well on the medium tyre," said the Dutchman. "Still, it wasn't our normal standard," he admitted to Viaplay.
"We need to understand why the car failed to perform well, especially in qualifying. But next week we are in Suzuka that should normally suit our car much better.
"I knew this day would come anyway so I'm totally fine. Everyone always says 'Look how easy everything is for them', but you see it's not easy.
"And when you find yourself in the catch-up role, you don't win," Verstappen added.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner thinks that without the inopportune timing of the safety car, "Max would have been fighting with the Ferraris, Lando and the Mercedes".
"We learned a few lessons in the race and have a good idea of what was going on for us here," he added. "Max and Checo (Perez) did a lot of overtaking on a track where it's not easy to overtake."
Horner thinks Red Bull simply made some mistakes whilst preparing for Singapore prior to the race weekend.
"The simulations before the weekend led to incorrect conclusions," he said. "The engineers then got lost trying to correct course.
"The car fell completely out of the window. So we've revealed some weaknesses. We understand the problems. If we were to come here again, everything would look completely different."
Dr Helmut Marko is also not particularly worried.
"We had the fastest car in the field in the last stint," the Austrian told Servus TV.
Others, however, think Red Bull's grip on Formula 1 may be starting to loosen in this second half of the season.
"If you think about it, I think they haven't really been developing," said Mercedes Lewis Hamilton - third in Singapore.
"McLaren brought an upgrade here. Others are bringing upgrades, but they (Red Bull) are working on next year's car. They have less wind tunnel time so they're probably using some of this year's time on next year's car.
"They are so clearly ahead that maybe they're developing their car less and we are still pushing to develop our current one. But time will tell," Hamilton added.
According to Ferrari's Sainz, Singapore was probably a one-off slip for Red Bull.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the still winning the last races of the season," he said.
As for Mercedes' team boss Toto Wolff, he thinks Red Bull will bounce back quickly.
"We shouldn't go from 'they're so good' to 'they're not so good' so wildly," he told Sky Deutschland.
"They've had such a dominant season. The car is by far the best and the driver has proven everything. Singapore has always been a strange track.
"They will come back again," Wolff explained.
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Yes unless they also struggle for pace in Suzuka.
Interesting how simulators are used to establish the initial set-up of the chassis. But then, Horner says something that surprised me: "The engineers then got lost trying to correct course. The car fell completely out of the window. So we've revealed some weaknesses. We understand the problems."
I expected that there was a known good base-line from which all set-up variables were well understood. Then, using a data-base, make selections on the configuration of the track. Something similar would be done with the engine, and of course, Pirelli has a similar process for tire selection.
For the "engineers" (show me your ring, please) to completely loose the plot suggests a number of things, but I suspect Horner and Co. will be all over that by the time Suzuka begins.
RB missed the initial setup. It happens. Probably had to do with a smoother track, floor change and 4 fewer corners. However, VER's power pick-op complaints are a different issue. Japan will be an interesting challenge for the bull boys. It's a bit early to throw them under the bus.
On Honds own track, Id almost guarantee the powertrain with be like a swiss watch, as to the gearbox, odd the other 3 Rb cars aren't complaining of upshift issues, must be a Dutch thing, too many windmills
More likely young Max looking for an excuse for poor performance. Front-runners hate being slow. That's part of being a front-runner. No biggie. My guess...watch out for RB in Japan.
Lets see, Too bad George didn't collect up hammy when he lost it and too bad the finish line wasn't another 300 feet down the track. If so after making up 18 sec on Leclerc in 6 laps Max has a podium finish instead of his incredible 5th place finish. I bet if hammy had the weekend that Max did all we would be hearing about is what an incredible drive hammy had but because it was Max its blown off as a poor performance weekend.
Lets see, Too bad George didn't collect up hammy when he lost it and too bad the finish line wasn't another 300 feet down the track. If so after making up 18 sec on Leclerc in 6 laps Max has a podium finish instead of his incredible 5th place finish. I bet if hammy had the weekend that Max did all we would be hearing about is what an incredible drive hammy had but because it was Max its blown off as a poor performance weekend.
I bet if hammy had the weekend that Max did all we would be hearing about is what an incredible drive hammy had but because it was Max its blown off as a poor performance weekend.
That is very very true, but i dont think Max was to bothered overall, he seemed to be having fun out there
Shropp, I laughed my socks off today and believe me that takes some doing, I read that sir Lulu is truly saddened by his teammates final lap incident that he now feels the need to show his true colours and take king George under his wing so he can look after his younger team mate "bollocks" bit late for that as he treated KGjust like any other rookie who's try to claim a place for himself,, hounded & harrased his teammate, radioed his team to tell GR to go faster, now if that was Max or Alonso in front of him I would say yupp good on you, but to push his rookie teammate as he did then & there did he show his true colours. Advice to KG, your doing good on your own, your not a rookie as your rattling sir Lulu's cage & he doesn't like it,. KEEP IT UP.
Still can't get LH out of yours and other KKK members tiny minds I see.
RB ran perfectly in the last 10 + races then all sorts of excuses for poor performance then oh miracle! the car mended itself half way through the race!
Wake up everybody we’re being conned, conned I tell you.
C'mon, Blo, I like a good conspiracy as much as the next guy, but RB giving up a 15 race run and VER rolling over for an end to his streak???? No friggin' way, my friend. They had a bad race weekend..
Business is business RoR, this is a spectacular not a sport. Tell me this, what would paying spectators rather see Max 40 sec ahead at the finish again or what we had on Sunday? In big business nothing is left to chance.
The Ferrari fans going wild, the Maclaren fans going wild the Mercedes fans going wild and the Red Bull fans going wild perfect marketing, just watch the viewing figures next weekend.
C’mon RoR open your eyes.
I agree with your analysis, Blo, but RB throwing a race and young Max rolling over is a bridge too far. That's way out there even for a conspiracy theory.
Headlines,, headlines sir Lulu scratches his nose when chasing Lando I'm surprised he didn't get on his phone & tell Norris to move over, I remember JB having to hold his helmet together for practically a whole race. 😜