Red Bull Racing, after dominating for the first half of the 2023 season, faced their first defeat at the recently concluded Singapore Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz, with his brilliant IQ and resilience, secured his first win of the season, thus putting an end to the drink-based team’s undefeated streak. It was certainly a weekend to forget for the reigning F1 champions.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both got out qualified in Q2 of the qualifying session. The Dutch driver was outperformed by AlphaTauri’s one-race-old rookie, Liam Lawson. No one could really figure out what went wrong in Singapore. Many fans believe it was FIA’s fresh technical directive. Amid speculations, chief Christian Horner opened up the conspiracy theories.
Red Bull Chief Refutes Conspiracy Theories Regarding Team’s Slump In Singapore
Red Bull Racing were left shell-shocked at the recently concluded Singapore GP as they failed to secure a pole as well as a win. Max Verstappen’s 10-game record winning streak comes to an abrupt end. He struggled the whole weekend with the pace as well as with the grip of the car. So, what went wrong with the drink-based outfit? Fans believe it was the fresh technical directives issued by FIA just prior to the race weekend. Changes were made in flexible-wing, which apparently stripped the team of its advantage. Amid speculations, team principal Christian Horner came forward to refute the conspiracy theories. Horner states that the issues were related to engineering.
“I know all of you would love to blame the TD, but unfortunately, we can’t even blame that because it’s not changed a single component on our car,” reckoned Christian Horner. As per the chief, Red Bull was expected to face challenges in Singapore owing to the circuit structure of the race track. It apparently does not suit RB19’s low-height construction. For the most part of the season, the low floor height of the car earned the drink-based outfit a massive advantage over its rivals. But his time, their biggest boon, turned out to be a curse. Having said that, a lot of other issues probably contributed to the pace deficit. Only the engineering team knows what went wrong behind the scenes.
Lewis Hamilton’s Theory On Red Bull’s Pace Deficit At Singapore GP
Apart from the fans, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes also has a theory of his own to break down Red Bull’s struggles at the Singapore Grand Prix. He says that a lot of teams like McLaren and Ferrari have brought in upgrades this season. However, that does not seem to be the case with Red Bull. They have less wind tunnel development time compared to others.
Thus, they are using it wisely to work on the 2024 car. This could be a reason why Red Bull lacked pace at the Singapore Grand Prix. They’re so clear ahead that maybe they’re developing their car less, and we are still pushing to develop our current one,” added Hamilton. Well, it could be one of the many reasons. But as mentioned earlier, only the engineering team and the drivers can figure out the actual problem.
