Red Bull had a near-perfect season in 2023 as they won all 22 races barring one. The only race that they failed to win was the Singapore Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won that race and the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez only managed to finish fifth and eighth respectively. Following this defeat, Red Bull’s Head of Performance Engineering, Ben Waterhouse, has now explained the learnings his side gathered.
“The fact that the car was not within the correct window further exacerbated the problems. Then we did not react correctly and we were not well prepared to quickly bring the car back within the correct working window,” explained Waterhouse in an interview with Racecar Engineering (as quoted by f1.maximaal.nl).
Since Red Bull failed to get their RB19 in the “correct working window,” their drivers struggled throughout the race weekend. After a disappointing qualifying performance for both Verstappen (P11) and Perez (P13), they had limited overtaking opportunities during the main race to make up for the lost ground.
Following the defeat in Singapore, the Milton Keynes outfit understood some of the areas in which the RB19 lacks. Some of their weaknesses include understeer during low speeds and poor traction while navigating corners.
Although the loss in Singapore resulted in the end of Red Bull’s outstanding 14-race winning streak in 2023, it did not take long for them to return to winning ways. The very next race in Japan, Max Verstappen stormed to victory.
Red Bull had their strongest race weekend in Japan
Since Red Bull emerged victorious in Japan, it is fair to say that the Singapore GP was only a bump in the road for them. At the Japanese GP at Suzuka, Max Verstappen won the race by a staggering margin of over 19 seconds from second-placed Lando Norris.
Following the Dutchman’s dominant win, Ben Woodhouse too believed that the race in Japan was Red Bull’s strongest in 2023. During the interview, Woodhouse explained how his side spent the whole week after the Singapore GP to understand what went wrong during the race at the Marina Bay.
He then added that as soon as Verstappen got out of the pit box in Japan, they knew that their performance in the Singapore GP was probably just a one-off. The 26-year-old hit the ground running from the very first time he got out on the track at Suzuka and made it clear that Red Bull were still the team to beat.
Verstappen not only showcased his dominance in Japan but also in the remaining races of the 2023 season from that point on. By the time the campaign ended, he registered a record 19 wins and also scored a record 575 points.
Since he and Red Bull were so dominant in 2023, the expectation is that their dominance will also continue into 2024 with the regulations being relatively stable.
