Red Bull suffered their worst weekend of the season in Singapore as their winning streak came to an end with a whimper.
Max Verstappen’s winning streak ended in Singapore (Image: Getty)
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has warned Lewis Hamilton and the other 2024 title hopefuls that the team’s struggles in Singapore will serve as a valuable lesson for next season as the reigning constructor champions look to extend their dominance.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit had won 14 races out of a possible 14 heading into the Singapore Grand Prix with Verstappen registering a record-breaking ten consecutive wins on his own, but that staggering run came to an end on the Marina Bay street circuit.
Verstappen was knocked out of qualifying in Q2 on Saturday following a messy session, starting 11th on the grid ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, marking the first time this season that neither Red Bull driver made the top ten.
The Dutchman produced an impressive comeback, capitalising on a late George Russell mistake to climb to P5 at the chequered flag, although this will be of little consolation to the reigning world champion after ten straight victories.
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Speaking to Sky Sports about the lessons learned from Red Bull’s struggles, Horner said: “I think maybe our simulation before the weekend didn’t lead us to the right conclusion and then you have to sort of unravel your way out of that.
“We just ended up in the wrong window and it exposed some of our weaknesses that the car has. It has actually been a very useful lesson for next year because it gives us a very useful insight on certain things that hopefully we can address in RB20.”
Hamilton is one of the many drivers hoping to challenge Red Bull consistently in 2024 with the seven-time world champion winless since the penultimate round of the 2021 season. The legendary Briton has five podiums to his name this year but is yet to come close to toppling Red Bull.
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Lewis Hamilton’s wait for a race win goes on (Image: Getty)
Unfortunately for the Brit, he is unlikely to get another shot in Japan. “Look at the last 18 months, this has probably been one of our trickiest race weekends,” Horner continued. “Or certainly Friday and Saturday, in the race the car was pretty strong.
“A completely different layout, completely different type of circuit, so hopefully we can be competitive in Japan. Let’s see if it’s circuit-specific. If Ferrari are suddenly first and second in Japan next weekend, then we’ll see if there’s a significant jump.”
