Max Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull Racing had a disrupted Friday on Formula 1’s return to Singapore for the first time in two years.
It was an indifferent day for the Milton Keynes-based team. Free Practice One saw some good running for the team, with Verstappen finishing behind Lewis Hamilton in second and Sergio Pérez a few places back in fourth. Free Practice Two running was delayed for the Red Bull pair after multiple different issues on the RB18, and they struggling to find pace in the limited running available leading to Verstappen finishing fourth and Pérez down in ninth.
Verstappen will be hoping his one lap pace is strong for the Saturday qualifying session, with that being particularly important for the Singapore Grand Prix, since overtaking opportunities are a rarity to come by at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Verstappen shared his thoughts on the day’s running and is still optimistic that he can put in a good performance over the weekend and potentially secure the World Championship.
“I think we started out quite well in FP1 and then in FP2 we wanted to try a few things out but they just took a bit longer to change, and then we wanted to try something else and that also took quite a long time to change.
“We couldn’t run a lot so it wasn’t very representative of what we can do. Of course, there is still a lot of room for improvement and we still need to analyse whether the changes we made worked or not. I think where it matters most is tomorrow and how quick we can be over one lap.“
Sergio Pérez Says He Felt “more comfortable in FP1.”
Pérez had a difficult Friday session, as he failed to get in the top three in both sessions. In Free Practice One, the Mexican driver drove well and finished in fourth ahead of George Russell. However, limited running due to engine reliability issues and set-up changes saw him finish in ninth and well below where he should have been.
Despite the issues, Pérez is hoping that he can turn around his form that he showed today and be ready for an extremely important qualifying session.
“We lost a bit of track time in FP2 and had some issues with the engine reliability and then we made some set-up changes. So, we have a lot of information to get through tonight and we’ll pick out the best bits for tomorrow to try and do the best we can.
“I felt more comfortable in FP1and I was quicker in that session, so I think there is some good data for us to look to there. We knew Mercedes and Ferrari were both going to be strong and we will see what we are able to do tomorrow come qualifying, it should be interesting.“
