Hamilton sees reason for Red Bull's bad weekend: 'They stopped developing'
F1 News
Red Bull Racing was not on the podium for the first time this year after a dramatic weekend in Singapore. Was it indeed an off-weekend, or is Max Verstappen 's dominance coming to an end? Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris were asked the question.
Christian Horner previously indicated he did not know why Red Bull fell behind in Singapore and even Toto Wolff believed the team simply had a bad weekend. Hamilton concurs with those words. "I wasn't really watching much of others this weekend so I don't really know why they're off pace-wise but I think it's great to see that others are," the Mercedes driver began.
Hamilton: 'Red Bull has stopped developing'
"I think probably if you think about it, they haven't been developing. They have less wind tunnel time so then they're probably using some of this year's time onto next year's. So no, I think it's just one of those things. They're so clear ahead that maybe they're developing their car less and we are still pushing to develop our current one but time will tell," Hamilton said.
Sainz also does not believe this is the beginning of the end for Red Bull. "I wouldn't be surprised if they're still winning the last few races of the season. I think Singapore gave us the chance and we used it well but I still think the Red Bull is going to be up there in the remaining races of the season and they're going to be very, very, very, very difficult to beat," the race winner concluded.
The Ferrari driver would like to see Red Bull challenged more often by other Formula 1 teams, but on the other hand he respects the Austrian formation's performance. "Red Bull have nailed the car this year and they're doing such an amazing job, they deserve to win everything that they're winning. I’m obviously dreaming a bit about what F1 could be if we would all catch up a bit on them in this second half of the season and next year," he added.
Norris: 'I've never seen a car that bad before!'
Norris has little to add to that story. "I have dreamed of it a little bit, but I'm sure like Carlos said, they're going to be back on track next weekend. I don't know what they struggled with this year, this weekend, but when I watched his onboard yesterday, I kind of laughed because I've never seen a car that bad before," the McLaren driver laughed. "Max also laughed about it. We'll see next weekend. I think they'll probably be back at the top."