F1 News: Red Bull Emergency As Max Verstappen Angry Over Car Performance At Singapore GP
Tensions rose at the Red Bull camp as Max Verstappen voiced his exasperation with his car's performance during the Singapore Grand Prix practices. The reigning champion's growing frustration links directly to the gearbox of the RB19 - a part of the car he's often been unhappy with.
Key Takeaways:
- Turbulent Practice: Verstappen faced a challenging practice session, ranking fourth-fastest in FP3 and being over three-tenths behind the leading pace. These struggles compounded after a lackluster Friday session where he ranked eighth-fastest.
- Radio Exchanges: Throughout the final practice on Saturday morning, Verstappen's dissatisfaction became evident through a series of radio communications with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, expressing his inability to drive with the upshift problems.
- Performance Issues: Beyond the upshift challenges, the Dutch driver lamented other areas of concern, notably rear grip, even sarcastically suggesting his car seemed better equipped for a drifting competition.
During the F1 Singapore Grand Prix final practice, reigning world champion Max Verstappen found himself battling more than just the other drivers. The Red Bull driver was left angered by the problematic upshifts in his RB19, describing them as "unacceptable" after being noticeably off the pace in FP3.
This setback followed an already challenging Friday where he had placed eighth-fastest on the timesheets, admitting that the issues with Red Bull's performance were "worse than expected."
The evident frustrations were voiced over a series of animated radio exchanges with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, or GP as fans know him.
Verstappen openly declared:
"I'm sorry but I cannot drive with these upshifts. What the **** is this? Unnacceptable!"
Further into the practice, Lambiase suggested Verstappen pit to "test something with the upshifts.”
An evidently frustrated Verstappen responded after he'd tested such changes:
“Yeah a little bit smoother, but yeah, miles off still… It’s just giving me wheelspin. It’s not only upshifts, also downshifts.”
Rear grip, or the lack thereof, was another point of contention for Verstappen, who jested about the car's suitability for a drifting competition rather than an F1 race.
"I'm just struggling for rear grip,” he radio'd through. “You see that last sector? I'm just drifting. "I think if I'm going to compete in drifting if I might win the race."
Red Bull will be working on prepping the RB19 for qualifying, but until we see evidence of real performance, this could be the first race this season that the Milton Keynes squad could struggle at.