Verstappen sets Red Bull ‘important’ Singapore GP target after Baku failure

Max Verstappen believes Red Bull must focus on controlling its car in slow-speed corners as a set-up breakthrough is sought for the RB20. 

In Azerbaijan, Verstappen finished fifth but was set for a seventh-place finish before the late crash for team-mate Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz on a weekend he was the second-best RB20 driver.

Verstappen reported that set-up changes made going into qualifying had backfired, but that he was otherwise content with the progress being made as the team seeks to arrest its alarming slump in performance.

McLaren now heads the constructors’, the first time since the 2022 Miami Grand Prix Red Bull has not, as it returns to Singapore this weekend – the only blot on its otherwise faultless 2023 copybook. 

Looking ahead, Verstappen feels lessons have been learnt from Baku – which the team now needs to put into practice.

“We have learnt from what we did wrong last week in Baku and can try a few things differently this week in Singapore,” he explained. 

“The changes that we initially made in Baku were positive and we were heading in the right direction.

“We think we know what we can do better and of course, need to make sure that we are optimising the set-up.

“It will be important to keep the car under control a bit more in the slow speed corners so it doesn’t jump around and this should hopefully help us a lot.”

Marina Bay history

In 2023, Red Bull came unstuck in Singapore as riding the kerbs and bumps proved a major problem as Carlos Sainz took the only non-RB19 victory of the year. 

Heading to Marina Bay, Verstappen put up a defiant message about Red Bull’s championship – with the Dutchman still 59 points ahead in the drivers’. 

“Marina Bay is a cool circuit but we do expect this to be a bit more of a challenge, as it has been historically,” he said.

“The race is usually quite close here and obviously very hot and humid. 

“We are continuing to fight for the Championship: we win and lose as a team and are going to keep pushing and try and come back stronger.”