Fourteen races were driven in Formula 1 this season, always won by a Red Bull driver, mostly Max Verstappen. The racing team could achieve something historic. If only it weren’t for Singapore.
When Formula 1 visits Singapore this weekend, Max Verstappen’s memories might come flooding back. He would certainly be happy to do without it. Almost exactly a year ago, Verstappen had one in this place “really terrible weekend” experienced. Not enough fuel in the tank, a weak start, a brake – in the end we finished seventh.
In the world of driver Verstappen, 25, who is currently on his way to becoming world champion for the third time in a row, a seventh place is a rarity. For him, this is considered a moderate catastrophe. Just a terrible weekend.
On Sunday (2 p.m. CEST) Formula 1 returns to Southeast Asia, and Red Bull is facing another complicated appearance there – at least that’s what Max Verstappen claims.
“We are not as strong here as elsewhere”he said on Thursday (September 14th, 2023), street courses are fundamental “more difficult” for Red Bull, and at some point his record series of ten wins will end anyway: “Here in Singapore there is more and more risk, more chaos.”
Red Bull is hoping for the perfect season
As was the case last year, the height of the fall is not particularly great for the Dutchman, his lead in the World Cup is huge, and the third title win in a row will also be mathematically determined in the coming weeks. The Team World Cup could – purely theoretically – be decided in Singapore.
Verstappen, however, would like to achieve more than one more World Cup victory this season; something historic would even be possible.
Never in 73 years of Formula 1 has a team won every single race of the season. Red Bull is now close to this perfect year, all 14 Grand Prix victories went to the team, twelve to Verstappen and two to Sergio Perez. There are still seven races left, and the RB19 has been so versatile so far that there is actually little to suggest that the series is coming to an end.
Just the street circuit in Singapore? In any case, cautious tones were heard from Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko before the race. He said: “If we win there, then we can be really optimistic about the rest of the season.”
A course without fast corners – a disadvantage for Red Bull
There are definitely reasons for this reluctance. For one thing, the night race is truly one like no other on the calendar. There are no fast corners, Red Bull’s greatest strength, and there are always hard braking points at the end of the long full-throttle sections. In addition, the car has to be set very high because of the many bumps on Singapore’s roads, which also seems like an advantage for other teams.
Mercedes and Aston Martin in particular could move closer; the slow, right-angled corners should suit both cars.
In addition, Red Bull’s superiority in qualifying this year is nowhere near as great as it was on race Sundays – and the pole position is particularly valuable in Singapore because overtaking is difficult.
Memories of a seventh place finish
Verstappen already learned last year what could fundamentally go wrong in this race, which is the most intense of the year due to the humid heat and the numerous curves. On Saturday, the team initially failed and didn’t put enough fuel in its tank during qualifying. On Sunday, the world champion himself made a mistake: a weak start, a hard brake, and in the end he finished seventh.
So what does all this mean for this weekend? In any case, it’s worth taking a second look at last year: the other Red Bull, Perez, won the race.
And a week later at the latest, Verstappen’s anger was gone – he was crowned world champion early in Japan.