This qualification was a cold shower in the heat of Singapore for Red Bull. The changes requested by Verstappen after the balance problems detected on Friday did not work. The RB19 was too nervous and both the Dutchman and Perez struggled to keep it on the track, ending up going out in the Q2, knocked out by rookie Liam Lawson in his second F1 GP. We haven't seen a Red Bull in such difficulty for some time, accustomed to overwhelming dominance. For the first time this season we saw the more human side of the team led by Christian Horner. A Newey with his gaze fixed on the car that he knows better than himself but which here, has betrayed them. And this betrayal weighs on Singapore because recovering here is more than a feat. The tension never abated in the Red Bull garage, as demonstrated by Verstappen himself, who was furious both in the radio and hot teams as soon as he left the single-seater without even having had the opportunity to compete for Pole.
Victory now seems impossible, so much so that any decision by the commissioners on the impeding issue is irrelevant for Max. There are two cases that will be investigated in the next few hours and which will most likely force the Dutchman to drop at least 3 positions on the starting grid.
Verstappen disappointed: changes have made the situation worse
He knew he couldn't attack Pole. She knew it since yesterday. This morning – afternoon in Singapore – he finished the FP3 saying this car would be fine for a race drifting certainly not for racing in normal conditions. She wasn't entirely wrong. The team chose to take a step back on the new fund, but the situation did not improve. The problems remained. On the issue of the first case under investigation, i.e. the fact of having stopped in the pit lane for around 10-15 seconds, waiting for the last moment to exit and therefore slowing down the drivers behind Max, he justifies himself as follows: “Most pilots do it. When it's green the first one to go on the track usually wants a certain gap, especially on a street circuit, so the others wait before going. I wanted to wait to have a normal lap out, without having to slow down later on the track. That's why I waited."
This is the comment on penalties:“On the penalties, I will talk to the stewards, but honestly after the performances we had today I don't even care. We tried to change several things on the car thinking of improving it but I believe that the changes made have made the situation even worse. The car was undriveable, I couldn't feel it at all.”
Now the question though is, who will break Red Bull's dominance?
