Verstappen makes a gloomy prediction for the Singapore GP and addresses his record of zero wins

Max Verstappen has admitted that he does not expect Red Bull to “suddenly” emerge as a contender to win the Singapore Grand Prix given their historic struggles at the Marina Bay circuit.

Verstappen and Red Bull had the most dominant season in F1 history in 2023: the team won all but one race and the Dutchman easily took his third consecutive world championship title.

Max Verstappen does not expect a Red Bull miracle at the Singapore GP

Singapore was the race that slipped away from Red Bull a year ago: Ferrari's Carlos Sainz took victory on a day when Verstappen could only recover to fifth place after a crash in Q2.

Red Bull's problems in Singapore are not an exception, but the rule in F1 2024. At the beginning of the season, the RB20 struggled with bumps and curbs in Monaco and Verstappen ended up in a distant sixth place – by far his worst result of the season.

Verstappen has not won since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23 and has failed to win any of the last seven races this season, his longest win drought since the 2020 season.

Red Bull lost the lead in the Constructors' Championship for the first time since May 2022 at last weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Oscar Piastri took victory for McLaren, which holds a 20-point lead with seven rounds to go.

Verstappen's lead over Lando Norris in the drivers' championship before this race is 59 points.

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With Singapore being the only race on the current calendar where Verstappen has never won, he does not expect the tide to turn for Red Bull in Marina Bay, given the similarities to Monaco.

At the press conference in Singapore on Thursday, he said: “I know it won’t be our easiest weekend, quite honestly.

“But of course you analyse last year's race and find a few things you could have done better. That's all we're going to try this weekend.”

“But of course I don’t expect it to suddenly become one of our strongest weekends.

“I just hope that what we have already done in Baku has stabilised the car a bit. That was positive. Hopefully we can build on that and see how it goes here.”

“Of course, it is usually a bit bumpier here than in Baku, but hopefully the car can handle it.

“[Baku] was good enough to see a few things on the car and hopefully you can just work from there.

“Our car generally doesn't cope well with bumps and curbs, and of course there are some here. So we have to try to stabilize it a bit.”

When asked if he was confident of making it to Q3 in Singapore this season, he replied: “I hope so, yes.

“I don’t even know where to start to express it in numbers, but I am confident that we can do better than last year.

“At the same time, of course, the competition has also improved significantly. But I'm definitely aiming for Q3 and let's see where we end up.”

Verstappen has already been on the podium in Singapore twice in the past: he finished second in 2018 and third in the following season.

When asked why he had never won at night races, Verstappen admitted that the Red Bull had “not been the best” in the past.

And he described 2022 as a missed opportunity to win in Singapore, as he finished eighth on the grid in a rain-affected qualifying session due to a misjudgment while refueling.

Verstappen could only improve to seventh place the following day, while his teammate Sergio Perez took a fine win in the wet and the Dutchman secured his second championship title a week later in Japan.

He explained: “Most of the time we just didn't manage it. I was on the podium.

“I think the car hasn't been the best in recent years, unfortunately. We just had problems with the bumps and curbs.

“2022 would have been a good chance, but I didn't have enough fuel in the car in qualifying, so I'm starting further back.

“Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, while at other races you have a bit more luck on your side or the car is naturally in a better position on those tracks and it benefits you a bit more.

“Here, however, I don't think that has been the case so far. I'm going to try it a few more times, so we'll see if anything changes.”

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