Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey has admitted that the team made a mess of the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix and thinks they should have achieved a lot more that day.
Max Verstappen was simply unstoppable last year and on the rare occasions he didn’t stand on the top step of the podium, Sergio Perez took the chequered flag.
However, on one occasion they let their opposition get the better of them, and speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast, Adrian Newey explained how the team got that weekend wrong.
Newey explains what went wrong during 2023 Singapore Grand Prix
Red Bull produced the greatest season in Formula 1 history last year, but one result spoiled their perfect campaign.
Carlos Sainz drove an incredible race to take the chequered flag in Marina Bay and won the second Formula 1 race of his career.
There was a fantastic battle happening behind him, with Lando Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton chasing him down.
Russell eventually crashed out in the final stages, but Max Verstappen was back in fifth place battling with Charles Leclerc, while Sergio Perez finished the race one minute behind the leaders.
They both missed out on Q3 that day with Liam Lawson knocking the three-time world champion out with a super lap in just his third race.
Adrian Newey has now shared how Red Bull got the 2023 Singapore GP wrong and believes that despite the circuit not suiting their car, they should have done a lot better.
If they’re going to complete the perfect season this year, they need to nail their set-up during the night race in September.
Singapore GP is the only race Red Bull have left to conquer
Speaking about that frustrating Grand Prix at Marina Bay, Newey said: “That’s what we’ve tried to achieve is a car that’s suited to all circuits.
“I think typically last year the circuits that we had less of an advantage on were the maximum downforce street tracks.
“Singapore, famously, we made a bit of a mess of, underperformed to what we could have achieved.
“I think we certainly could have achieved podiums there had we got our act together a bit better.
“But, it’s certainly true to say those circuits are the ones that we have less of an advantage on but as long as we’re not disastrous on them then maybe that’s good enough.”
Ferrari will hope Newey and Red Bull make the same mistakes in Singapore this year as they did in 2023.
Given the 25-second gap Max Verstappen had to Sainz in Bahrain, it might take Red Bull getting their set-up completely wrong for the Italian team to stand on the top step of the podium this year.
Newey doesn’t make mistakes often, but when Red Bull aren’t at their best, the rest of the grid have to capitalise.
The post ‘Made a bit of a mess’: Adrian Newey shares what Red Bull ‘famously’ got wrong during 2023 F1 season appeared first on F1 Oversteer.