Verstappen blasts 'UNACCEPTABLE' Red Bull car
Verstappen blasts 'UNACCEPTABLE' Red Bull car
Max Verstappen continues to be unhappy about his car's performance at the Singapore Grand Prix, releasing an expletive-laden radio message to his team about his "unacceptable" Red Bull car during FP3.
Both he and his team-mate Sergio Perez were a long way off the pace during Friday practice, with them both complaining about their car, and there wasn't too much improvement in FP3 for the pair.
Verstappen managed to place fourth, 0.313 seconds off the pace, whilst Perez was down in eighth.
READ MORE: Verstappen FUMES as Ferrari keep Red Bull off top spot in Singapore Grand Prix FP3
The Dutchman, who is hoping to win his 11th consecutive Formula 1 race and claim victory in Singapore for the first time in his career, was audibly frustrated throughout the session.
“I’m sorry but I cannot drive through these upshifts," he told engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
"What the f**k is this? Unacceptable," he continued before, at the end of the session conceding, “Maybe a little bit smoother, but yeah. Miles off still. It’s just giving me wheelspin. It’s not only upshifts, also downshifts."
It all comes ahead of a qualifying session at the Marina Bay circuit that is expected to be crucial, with overtaking at the Singapore GP notoriously difficult.
Impressive Ferrari pace
Ferrari had been expecting to be slower in Singapore, after arguably their strongest performance of the season last time out at the Italian GP.
READ MORE: "Leclerc expects INCONSISTENT Ferrari at Singapore
There, Carlos Sainz managed to beat Verstappen to pole position on the Saturday, before converting a strong qualifying into a third and fourth place finish for he and team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Sainz even managed to keep Verstappen behind him for the first 14 laps of the race, the most amount of laps any non-Red Bull driver has managed to lead in the whole of 2023, such has been the dominance of Verstappen and Perez.
If they were to have another strong qualifying, it would be much easier for Sainz or Leclerc to defend from the Red Bulls at Singapore due to the tight nature of the street circuit making it difficult to overtake.
Judging off practice, this is now a real possibility. A Ferrari has led all three practice sessions, and they will go into qualifying full of confidence.
Red Bull have a lot of work to do if they are to challenge Sainz and Leclerc for pole postion. Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok summarised some of the problems Verstappen may be facing.
“They get so much information," he said.
"Nowadays, the way they run their gear shifts is so seamless. You don’t feel a shift in the torque, you don’t feel that instability that you used to get under braking or on an upshift.
"It’s all gone in modern Formula 1, it’s all managed by the electronics and the engine management systems. Clearly, there’s still some sort of sync issue there, which is creating some sort of destabilizing factor for Max."
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Verstappen setup quirk which allows Red Bull to make car even fasters
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Ricciardo makes five-race admission in bid to survive F1 axe
- 44 minutes ago
Red Bull is 'burning' after Horner and Marko display
- 1 hour ago
Red Bull announce strong statement over Newey departure claims
- 2 hours ago
Verstappen 'to meet Mercedes over SHOCK 2025 move as Red Bull exit clause revealed'
- 3 hours ago
F1 champion reveals £100 MILLION contract to keep racing
- Today 17:57
F1 News Today: Newey 'property hunt' reveals Red Bull exit clues as Hamilton hints at Ferrari swoop
- Today 17:35
Related news
Red Bull already sending parts to F1 race MONTHS away
Former Ferrari driver insists Sainz win doesn't 'taste special'
Palmer identifies the culprit behind Red Bull's Singapore letdown
AlphaTauri CEO reveals how Tsunoda struggles HELPED Lawson
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860