The misstep in Singapore
For the first time after fifteen consecutive matches won, i.e. all those played during this season, the Red Bull he failed to achieve another success in Singapore, thus ending a streak of record-breaking successes. To put an end to this golden period, which has no worrying impact on either the constructors’ or drivers’ standings (with Max Verstappen close to winning his third world title), the Ferrari by Carlos Sainzauthor of a capital performance after last Saturday’s pole position.
The question marks on the new technical directive
What few expected occurred at Marina Bay: a very competitive Ferrari on a highly loaded track, on which it had suffered during this championship, and an unrecognizable Red Bull, as also demonstrated by theelimination of both RB19s in Q2 of Verstappen and Perez. A fact that hasn’t occurred for a long time, as well as the total absence of the Anglo-Austrian company’s drivers from the podium. A subpar performance that can occur even during a perfect year, even if the reason behind this performance could have been attributable to a technical directive introduced by the FIA on the eve of the Asian weekend.
The post-weekend doubts
The International Federation, in fact, has issued a new regulation relating to flexible parts of the car, especially as regards the wings and the bottom, limiting the bending of the latter to a certain limit. So is it possible that this new rule has hindered Red Bull in some way? A doubt also arose among fans regarding Aston Martin’s performance, with Alonso also the author of a negative performance with a 15th place finish. Until Singapore, the Spaniard had never finished outside the top-10 this season, but the two-time world champion had denied the hypothesis that the directive had in any way influenced the AMR23.
The litmus test at Suzuka
No changes to the car either in Aston Martin or, above all, in Red Bull. This was confirmed by the Team Principal Christian Horner in a meeting with the media after the race: “It’s all engineering stuff – he has declared – I know you all want to blame the directive, but unfortunately we can’t even blame this, because not a single component of our car was changed. The characteristics of the circuit are different and I think we haven’t optimized the car by bringing it into the right operating window to get the most out of the lap.”. This weekend’s event will highlight the problems encountered individually in Singapore even more Japanwhere Horner expects to return more competitive: “We will see if our difficulties are specific to the Singapore circuit on a track, that of Suzuka, which on paper is suitable for us – he added – I mean, if Ferrari are first and second in Japan next weekend, then there will have actually been a significant ‘leap’. This year we have witnessed many changes in the balance of power on the track, the only constant constant team has been ours. In the last weekend it was our turn to find ourselves slightly out of shape.”
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