Red Bull introduced some upgrades to the RB20 in Baku hoping to get rid of the balance issues the drivers have been facing for a long time now. However, it was another disappointing race for the Milton Keynes outfit as Max Verstappen was unhappy with the car throughout the weekend. former F1 mechanic Marc Priestley suggests Red Bull’s fate may not improve in Singapore as well.
In his round-up of the Azerbaijan GP on YouTube, Priestley highlighted Verstappen’s complaints and frustrations about the car’s balance issues popping up again. With the next upgrade to the RB20 planned for the US Grand Prix, Priestley believes that Red Bull will have another bad race in Singapore next weekend.
“They have to go through Singapore, a race track that hasn’t really suited their car, where they’ve really struggled at times in recent years with the car that they’ve right now.”, he said.
Despite the upgrades in Baku, Verstappen complained about not having enough bite in the braking zones which didn’t give him the confidence to lean on the front end of the car as much as he usually likes to do.
Interestingly, he also complained about a new issue during the race when he said that the rear end of his car was bouncing and losing contact with the track, something that has never been the issue with the RB20. However, that could be an effect of the changes to the car’s setup they made right before qualifying.
❌ Max Verstappen is not happy in his Red Bull at the #AzerbaijanGP
⬇️ He’s lost a position to Russell and is now running 7th.
15 laps to go – Piastri still leads!
https://t.co/NI1sjtGRxI#BBCF1 pic.twitter.com/QlhU8p7VQP
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) September 15, 2024
Throughout the ground effect era, Red Bull have struggled on tracks with bumpy surfaces. And despite the performance advantage the RB19 had over the rest of the field, Singapore was the only race they lost all season in 2023 due to the bumpy nature of the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
It was Carlos Sainz who finally halted Verstappen’s 10-race winning streak in Singapore last season. Heading into next weekend’s race as well, the Dutchman and his team won’t be confident while also worrying about the title battle.
Could Ferrari make matters worse for Red Bull in the championship?
Red Bull finally lost the lead in the constructors’ championship in Baku with McLaren now leading them by 20 points. However, it’s also interesting to note that Ferrari is not much further behind Red Bull either.
Ferrari currently sits at 425 points in the standings, 31 points behind Red Bull. A good performance from the Italian team in Singapore coupled with the poor anticipated form of Red Bull could see them reduce that 31-point deficit quite significantly.
With seven races still to go in the season, one could say that Red Bull might now have to settle for P3 in the team’s standings based on their downward trajectory. Unless they recover their car’s performance with the Austin upgrades, Ferrari’s recent uptick in form besides McLaren’s consistently fastest car won’t let the Austrian team win their third constructors title in a row.
