Lewis Hamilton has predicted Red Bull will be a “phenomenal ” at Suzuka as F1’s leading constructor hopes to bounce back from a disappointing Singapore GP weekend.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit secured wins in all races of the campaign before the visit to Marina Bay, where the RB19 failed to find a performance window as both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez failed to reach Q3. Championship leader Verstappen was able to recover and finish fifth in the race as questions began to be raised about the impact of the FIA’s latest flexible wing technical directive on Red Bull’s performance.
Team principal Christian Horner denied this, although a repeat of the struggles experienced in Singapore at this weekend’s Japanese GP would raise eyebrows at the team’s dominance over rivals. But expecting a quick return to form: “I think if they are not 30 seconds ahead like before, they had a difficult weekend last time, but their car should be phenomenal here.
They did that has been blazing fast on almost every track all year and is an overall good car to watch. “Normally when you come here it’s so nice to watch their laps because the team as a whole and the drivers do a fantastic job with the package they offer.
“I hope we can be closer and I hope they’re not. as fast as 30 seconds.” Mercedes resigns? Hamilton finished third in Singapore after loading up on fresher tires late in the race, ahead of second-placed Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and Lando Norris of McLaren. Mercedes would have finished third and fourth had George Russell not crashed on the last lap and asked if last weekend’s fastest car on the track offered any optimism for Suzuka,
Hamilton replied: “I don’t know if it really was – Carlos dominated the front end and we were all relatively close to the leader.” But what a great race it was when we were all so close at the front. “This weekend I don’t expect the same performance as the last race, but we are working hard to try to push forward from where we are. “So I hope we are not too far from this weekend.”
