F1 Preview: Can Red Bull bounce back in Singapore?

The flyaway rounds begin, meaning there are seven rounds left in the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship. Singapore is the destination in prospect, the second night race of the year and the most physical Grand Prix of the year.

Qualifying is always exciting in Singapore as the drivers take more and more risks through the practice sessions and through the three phases of qualifying.

They flirt with the walls, jump over the apexes whilst carrying as much speed as possible through the blind corners, hoping the car won’t step out on them and put them into the wall.

It is a complete contrast to Monza last time out and offers a completely different set of challenges for the engineers and the drivers.

Something always seems to happen in Singapore, even in recent years with Mercedes have been utterly dominant. Whether it’s a reliability issue for one of the top drivers, intriguing strategy plays during the race or a crash which often leads to a safety car and turns the race on its head, the F1 Gods never sleep in Singapore.

Red Bull should be a force to be reckoned with once again after two disappointing race weekends following the summer break.

Max Verstappen has had his two worst races of the year and will be looking to fight at the front of the field this weekend. Both of his accidents at Spa and Monza could have been avoided by the Dutchman had he been more conservative and more aware of what was going on into turn one.

The initial launch of the Red Bull has been poor all year, whether it is something to do with the power unit or the software, there is a clear inconsistency that has forced Verstappen to be aggressive into turn one when he has lost positions off the start line.

Most of the time, he has got away with it but he has not on the last two occasions. Last year, Verstappen was Lewis Hamilton’s closest challenger as he got onto the front row and nearly capitalised on Hamilton getting caught up in lapped traffic.

For Verstappen’s teammate, Alexander Albon, it will be the first big challenge for the rookie. Verstappen has not been able to compete with Albon in level terms so far so should Singapore be a normal weekend for Red Bull, it will be fascinating to see how close Albon is to Verstappen.

Unfortunately for Albon, the 3.146 miles Marina Bay Street Circuit is arguably the toughest track of the year and Albon has never raced there. At least with some of the trickier tracks on the F1 calendar such as Monaco and Baku, Albon has raced there before but the Thai driver has no experience of Singapore.

A crash or a mistake at a crucial point of the weekend would severely hurt his confidence so simply staying out of the walls would be a very good start and if he is within a few tenths of Verstappen in qualifying and has a solid race then that will be mightily impressive.

Red Bull were able to snatch pole position in Hungary and force Mercedes and Hamilton to go all the way to the limit, so expect a similar performance from both this time weekend.

Track position is king at Singapore and to win the race you almost certainly have to be on the front row. There has been lots of development since Budapest (even with some focus switching to the 2020 cars) so it will be interesting to see if Red Bull have been able to stay with Mercedes in the development race or if the Silver Arrows have upped their game even further.

What about Ferrari? Charles Leclerc is riding the wave after two emotional, sensational hard-fought victories in the space of seven days. Only eight other drivers in F1 history have won the very next race on the calendar after their maiden win.

But, expect a reality check for Ferrari as their lack of downforce compared to Mercedes and Red Bull will likely see them outside of the podium places. Although they will have made steps and progress since Hungary (when they finished over a minute behind race winner Hamilton) their car philosophy will not suit Singapore.

Qualifying and Ferrari’s ultimate pace should not be a disaster but it’s their race pace which will hinder them severely. Even at Spa and Monza, tracks that were made for the SF90, Mercedes had the upper hand in terms of race pace.

The team will be bringing a new floor, new front wing and a new diffuser so unless they have found over half a second worth of upgrades, it will be a damage limitation weekend for Ferrari. They may even struggle to win another race in 2019 which Sebastian Vettel needs more than anybody else.

Vettel has not hooked everything together when chances have arose for Ferrari, either making unforced errors or not finding a car balance that suits his driving style. The tide is turning at Ferrari and although I think Vettel will stay with the team for at least one more season, he badly needs a confidence boost or something to get him going again.

Away from the front and onto the midfield. Renault have made big strides and finally look to be getting somewhere after a horrible mid-season slump before the summer break.

The French manufacturer look like they have finally understood the car and I expect more good things from them this weekend since Singapore has lots of short radius corners and plenty of traction zones which plays into Renault’s hands.

McLaren are still the best of the rest though but Daniel Ricciardo is on good form and typically goes well around the Marina Bay Circuit and should be close to Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.

Norris along with Albon and George Russell have never driven around the streets of Singapore so it will be interesting to see if they still show good speed compared to their respective teammates since Singapore is very tough to get to grips with.

Formula One has had six consecutive good to outstanding races and Singapore will hopefully see that trend continue. Qualifying is guaranteed to be exciting and the race requires the drivers to keep their head with strategy very important due to the relatively high tyre degradation coupled with the importance of track position.

Luck always plays its part in motorsport and since the safety car has appeared at every Singapore Grand Prix since its inception in 2008, pitting under a virtual safety car or full safety car will be a huge advantage and will (not could) be the difference between winning the race or jumping your rivals through the pitstop phase.

With the Grand Prix normally edging towards the maximum two hour time limit, it might not be full on from the get go and it could be a slow burner but something always happens in Singapore so the drivers and teams will have to play the waiting game.