Red Bull driver Sergio Perez says his team have a good idea what they got wrong with their set-up last weekend in Singapore.
The world champions were defeated last weekend for the first time all season at the Marina Bay circuit as Max Verstappen took fifth place and Perez finished three places further behind.After Lewis Hamilton said he expects Red Bull to be fully back to their race-winning ways in this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Perez said that was “definitely the target” for his team.
“We still don’t understand fully what went so wrong in Singapore,” said Perez. “We have some ideas, but certainly this track is very different. So, there should not be a reason why not to be strong in Suzuka. Actually, they should be one of the best circuits for us.
“We obviously have some good ideas on how we prepared the weekend and the misinformation we have, and where things went wrong. Obviously, it’s something that we will keep internally, but there’s some good indications that we probably approach the weekend with the wrong set-up.”
Both Perez and team mate Verstappen failed to reach Q3 in qualifying – the first time no Red Bull driver has appeared in Q3 since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix. But Perez says his RB19 felt stronger in the race than the earlier two days of running.
“I think we were more competitive in the race than we were in qualifying certainly – but still, we were not that competitive,” he said.
Perez said the car “felt good” in the Red Bull simulator prior to the weekend and that he is hopeful that Suzuka “can be a good track for us.”
With Red Bull almost certain to clinch the constructors’ championship this weekend, the team will likely be confirmed as champions at the home circuit of Honda, who designed an manufactured the power units the team maintains through its Red Bull Powertrains division.
“It would be very special to do it here in front of all the Honda supporters,” said Perez. “They’ve been working extremely hard on the engine side as well. So, it will be nice to get it done this weekend.”
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baasbas
22nd September 2023, 10:42
I don’t understand. This reads like “misinformation” .. if I understand it correctly.