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Horner saw Verstappen and Red Bull Racing overcompensate in Singapore GP
- Jeroen Immink
Christian Horner has explained why Red Bull Racing missed the mark on Friday but was able to bounce back for the meaningful sessions on Saturday and Sunday at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Max Verstappen finished 15th fastest in the second free practice session, but managed to get a place on the front row in qualifying. The Dutchman finished the Singapore Grand Prix in second place, limiting the damage in the World Championship as much as possible.
In 2023, Red Bull Racing won 21 out 22 Grands Prix. The only place they failed to win at was the Singapore Grand Prix. By their high 2023 standards, it was a woeful performance. In that race, Verstappen didn't even finish on the podium. Going into the 2024 weekend, Red Bull were also a little bit concerned.
Horner wanted to avoid a repeat of Singapore 2023
"I actually think Max drove a very strong race today, and that was what we had, which when you consider where we were a couple of weeks ago, I think we have made some real progress. And obviously, we've got a lot of work to do before Austin," Horner said afterwards in Singapore.
Last season, Verstappen experienced a dramatic weekend in Singapore. Verstappen's RB19 didn't even reach Q3 in the 2023 season and Horner says this played on th team's mind when coming up with the setup.
"I think we wanted to avoid a repeat of last year, and I think perhaps we overcompensated. But I think the way the team reacted, the effort that went into that reaction, we were able to give Max a much better car yesterday. And obviously in the race we couldn't compete with Lando today, but we had the rest of the field covered," Horner added.
In the end, Verstappen limited the damage by finishing one place behind Lando Norris. As a result, the McLaren driver has a 52-point gap to bridge with just six races remaining in the season.
This article has been created in collaboration with Jeroen Immink