For the first time this year, Verstappen was simply too slow — and Red Bull's poor qualifying leaves it with little hope for Sunday.
Verstappen repeatedly downplayed Red Bull’s chances going into Singapore. Even after his record-breaking 10th consecutive victory at Monza two weeks ago, he warned the next race would not be one of the team’s strongest. Still, with such a dominant car, surely he’d still be in contention for victory. It would likely just be by a smaller margin.
“I couldn’t brake late and hard, because I would bottom out and it would unload the front tires,” Verstappen explained. “On a street circuit, that is something that is very crucial, to be confident on the brakes and attack the corners. I couldn’t do that.” The bigger impeding incident came in Q2, when Verstappen got in the way of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, sparking an angry response on the radio from the Japanese driver. Verstappen was midway through giving car feedback when he got the message from Lambiase that Tsunoda was approaching, by which point, it was too late. That produced the second reprimand, along with a €5,000 fine for Red Bull.
Singapore plays differently. Not only is Verstappen struggling so much with the car, but even if he had greater confidence, overtaking around the Marina Bay Street Circuit is incredibly difficult due to the tight confines of the layout. Unless you are significantly quicker than the car ahead, passing is difficult. Proof of the overtaking challenge comes from last year’s Singapore Grand Prix. Verstappen started that race eighth on the grid and could only finish seventh.
“It’s a much better opportunity than Monza. Tomorrow, I think the race is going to be between the top five cars.”Seeing Red Bull’s perfect season and Verstappen’s win streak snapped will undoubtedly come as a disappointment to both parties. But Verstappen said he “knew that there was a day where you’re not winning any more” and that Red Bull “had a really good run anyway up until now.”
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