Max Verstappen Failed to Extend His Winning Record and Red Bull Remained Constructors' Champion, Here's the Reason

Max Verstappen and Red Bull failed to extend their winning record (photo: Twitter @Max33Verstappen)

JAKARTA - Max Verstappen and  Red Bull failed to extend their winning streak which reached 11 consecutive races and 16 races. At the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen had to start from P11 to finish fifth, while Sergio Perez finished eighth after starting from 13th position.

A surprise came in qualifying when both Red Bulls had to crash out in Q2 after struggling on the notoriously difficult street circuit.

With Perez and Verstappen opting to start the race on hard tires before switching to mediums, they managed to climb up the standings, but ultimately failed to challenge for the podium.

Verstappen ultimately finished just 0.264 seconds behind Charles Leclerc in fifth - ending the longest winning streak in F1 history for both team and driver.

"I had quite a lot of fun there, but twice the Safety Car didn't help us," said Verstappen regarding the Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car interventions resulting from separate incidents involving Logan Sargeant and Esteban Ocon.

"The first one came at the wrong time [to pit] and then the second one came again at the wrong time for us, so it was a bit of a shame. But I had fun in the second stint - I thought we were quite fast on the medium tyre." he added.

"We chose a different strategy and then you have to hope that everything goes according to your plan. Today I thought it didn't work out, but that happens sometimes. Overall, the car was a little better in the race again, which I think is the most important thing, " said the F1 world champion.

Meanwhile, when asked if he felt Red Bull's performance at the Singapore Grand Prix was a mistake, Verstappen replied, "I think we will be fast at Suzuka... We have to really understand this weekend, but Suzuka of course has a track layout which is completely different."

Meanwhile, Perez had to comply with a court summons after the race to answer for two incidents involving Alex Albon - one for overtaking under VSC, the other for a collision on the track.

Perez gave his version before being handed a five-second time penalty which did not change his finishing position of P8, along with one penalty point. "Not a good day for us. It's a bit difficult, quite difficult," Perez said.

"With the incident with Alex [the collision], I thought there was nothing wrong, it was a racing incident. Also, with the Safety Car, I was in front of him and Alex passed me under the Safety Car, but the system... couldn't tell us on "At that time that I was ahead. But anyway, that's how it is, and now let's hope for Japan," he added.

He also added, "I think [our performance in Singapore] really depends on the circuit, and we should be much stronger when we are in Japan, hopefully."

The result in Singapore – where Carlos Sainz managed to defend victory as the first non-Red Bull driver in 2023 – means that Red Bull missed out on the constructors' title for this season, which will now be decided  at next week's Japanese Grand Prix.