Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Monaco, 2018

Red Bull drivers not expecting repeat of Monaco performance in Singapore

2018 Singapore Grand Prix

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Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo doubt their cars will be as competitive in this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix as they were on a similarly tight circuit in Monaco.

Ricciardo dominated the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, heading all three practice and qualifying sessions and winning the race seven seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel. But he suspects Vettel will have the car to beat this weekend.

“I feel [Ferrari] have improved since Monaco,” said Ricciardo. “I think we’ve improved, but not as much as them.

“Obviously Monaco we had a little bit of room on them but Singapore’s probably not as strong as Monaco for us and then with that I would probably say Ferrari is the favourite going into Singapore but we’ll see. Hopefully it’s close enough.”

Ricciardo’s team mate Verstappen is also pessimistic about the team’s chances of being able to repeat its only pole position of 2018 so far.

“I think it will never be as good as Monaco was,” he said. “For sure we will be closer in Singapore a lot of results are possible in the race with Safety Cars, strategy.

“Maybe the pole position is going to be a bit more difficult because they’ve made quite big steps with the engines – I’m expecting [this] also in Singapore, there are still quite a few straights where they can make a difference.

“But if we can be within three or four tenths that will be good.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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28 comments on “Red Bull drivers not expecting repeat of Monaco performance in Singapore”

  1. Lol if they can qualify losing 3-4 tenths will be good, that is really scary how Ferrari improvement were.

  2. Ferrari has been strong on that track for several years. Its similar as monaco but not the same.

  3. Verstappen: “I think it will never be as good as Monaco was,”
    great when the youth picks up sarcasm.

    1. You focus to much on his crash in the free practie.. look at his performance during the race and yo will understand his remark. Look at Dannys win (with a crippled car) and you know for sure they had it in them.

  4. I think Red Bull will probably be the 2nd fastest team here.. and they have a fair shot at locking out the 2nd row of the grid. Within 3 to 4 tenths of the pole position time should be possible for them.

    This is the race track where Ferrari needs to capitalise. They have the quickest car once again, but this time they will probably have 2 red bulls between them and the Mercs. Looking forward to how Seb and Max handle the start of the race. I’m expecting them to start pretty close to each other on the grid.

    1. I don’t expect a repeat of the previous year to be honest. I expect See will be much more cautious on the start even if he loses a place to Kimi or the RB rather opting to overtake either on track or during the pit stops.

      1. I have a feeling that he’ll be a little cautious off the line, which might be exploited by an ambitious move by Verstappen.

        At least that’s what I’m hoping for ;)

        1. So pretty much a repeat of last year. Kimi and Max blast off, realise that neither of them are going to make it, try to avoid colliding unsuccessfully and take out Vettel who had nowhere to go either.
          I suspect even if he’d backed off and let those two go they still would have collided and he’d have been next car on the scene anyway.

          Probably the best outcome for Vettel would be for him to be pole, Bottas and Ricciardo next then Kimi then Max then Hamilton. That way he’d have some rear protection from what may still be first corner carnage.

          Not going to happen that way though so he’ll have a very nervous start and likely have Hamilton very close behind or in front of him by the end of the first lap.

          1. “So pretty much a repeat of last year. Kimi and Max blast off, realise that neither of them are going to make it, try to avoid colliding unsuccessfully and take out Vettel who had nowhere to go either”

            @dbradock – You really think VET was innocent last year? He was way too aggressive at the start, he thought KIM will yield when he TORPEDO’ED to the left like a kamakazi pilot.

  5. ”there are still quite a few straights where they can make a difference.”
    – Yes, but all of them are short even the longest one.

    1. Acceleration of the Ferrari power unit will still be an advantage though.. although you’re right, the top speed (peak power) will not be as important here.

      1. If Vettel wants to play catch up, he’d better hope Red Bull’s engine is reliable this weekend. They are his best chance in taking points away from Mercedes. Because he is usually good at technical circuits like this one (minus the mistakes)

        1. That indeed is a good point. Red Bull’s reliability has been pretty poor of late and it does Seb no good if Hamilton comes 2nd every race.

          Ferrari really do need a couple of wins with some decent buffers between them and Hamilton. Going to be very difficult to achieve though.

    2. But still

      Top speed 305km/h/190mph, on the approach to Turn One (fastest of season: Monza, 360km/h/224mph)

  6. I doubt anyone is expecting Red Bull to beat Ferrari in qualifying, but the question is how will they compare to Mercedes? Mercedes have been pretty bad here the last couple of years, but I expect them to be improved. They were not terrible at Monaco this year, and of course they won Hungary, although there was rain to aid them on Saturday.

  7. So, Verstappen’s chance of being the youngest ever pole sitter is gone ? I know there are still 6 other races to go but this is the last race of the year where RBR would have a realistic shot at pole position. I’m quite annoyed to be honest, we have to wait for another young talent like Max in a competitive car in order for this record to be broken.

  8. Let’s see how great Hamilton driving the 3rd/4th tier Mercedes in the wet if rainstorm coming…

    1. There’s no way you can call mercedes 4th tier, it’ll be much already if they’re 3rd, between the worst car of ferrari, red bull and mercedes in any given track this and last year and the following car there’s an abyss.

  9. Ferrari need strong Red Bulls this weekend. There is a good chance of a Vettel Kimi 1-2, Red Bulls 3-4 and Hamilton comes home 5th. Its a big chance to reduce some of the self inflicted damage Ferrari/Vettel has suffered the past number of races.

    Dream Ferrari for scenario of course is, Vettel wins, Hamiltion DNF :) Reversal of last year. Now that would spice things up!

    1. Dream Ferrari for scenario of course is, Vettel wins, Hamiltion DNF :) Reversal of last year. Now that would spice things up!

      I’m hoping for the opposite.

      I don’t like it when there’s a ‘mechanical’ luck factor in a closely fought championship. So far, Hamilton has had an engine blow up in Austria, some issue in qualifying in Bahrain and another issue in qualifying in Germany. Vettel on the other hand, has had flawless mechanical reliability.

      I’m actually hoping the mechanical luck score gets a little evened out with a Ferrari engine going bang in the back of Vettel’s Ferrari.

      1. @todfod
        Did you wish for this last year when Vettel was having mechanical issues and Hamilton didn’t have any?

        Or you just don’t like Vettel and you are hiding behind the facade of reliability issues to express that dislike.

        1. @rockie

          Did you wish for this last year when Vettel was having mechanical issues and Hamilton didn’t have any?

          Believe it or not.. it did dampen the championship drama for me when Vettel got a DNF in Japan. I would have much rather he finished that race. Just so that no one could say reliability cost Vettel the title.

          1. @todfod

            You have not answered my question as you have just side stepped it, as I didn’t ask about your feelings of the DNF I specifically asked about you wishing for Hamilton to DNF to even up things.

          2. @rockie

            I specifically asked about you wishing for Hamilton to DNF to even up things.

            You’re right. I didn’t wish for it.

            Bias does creep in.

      2. And in fact destroying his WDC chances and our joy in watching a fight till the end.

        1. Let’s say as a neutral f1 fan that they should probably remain like this, hamilton was better than vettel this year and managed to overcome technical problems to still be far ahead; a dnf for vettel would end the championship, one for hamilton would bring it more to the wire, but then should vettel win it’d be really undeserved, 4-0 mechanical problems.

    2. @wobs if ferrari keep wishing/dreaming hamilton/mercedes to dnf or drop too much, they will loose focus and championship fairly quickly… what ferrari/vettel needs is to improve his anger management, and learn to keep horses where necessary, because those two are the reason they (ferrari/vettel) keep throwing away the championship

      vettel being arrogant and keep blaming others for his own problems is what gets to him… he needs to man up, and focus on his own shortcomings and improve his gentlemanship driving… currently he is no different then Verstappen who is obviously too young and inexperienced compared to him… but they are acting quite a like…

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