Mercedes has expressed confidence in their team’s high-downforce package’s suitability for the circuit.
Both seven-time world champions, Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff shared the same sentiments after what turned out to be a subpar weekend at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows were nowhere in contention for a podium after Ferrari made a strong outing at their home race.
Hamilton after the Italian GP, expressed optimism of achieving better results at the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s optimism stems from the characteristics of the Marina Bay circuit suiting the Mercedes W14.
“I feel like this [Monza] might be the worst one for us,” said Hamilton. “Singapore is all high downforce and, when we put our high downforce wing on, we generally are a little bit better. Not as bad as here. So I hope I’m right.”
Team principal Toto Wolff concurs with Hamilton’s perspective, emphasizing the importance of optimizing their performance during the Singapore weekend.
On the other hand, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have hinted at potential challenges during the street event compared to their recent dominant performances at other circuits.
Verstappen, who hasn’t secured a win in Singapore to date, indicated that the RB19 might not be as well-suited to this particular track.
“A little bit more difficult, I think for us,” he said when asked about the team’s prospects.
“But we’ll see. We’ll do our best, and of course we’ll try to go in there and try to win it again. But it’s not, let’s say, going to be the strongest weekend for us.”
Sergio Perez took the coveted first prize award at the Singaporean Grand Prix in the previous F1 campaign. Despite the Mexican driver’s dominance on street circuits, he remains pessimistic about the performance of the RB19 this time.
“I agree with Max, I think it’s going to be a weekend where basically anything can happen,” said the Mexican.
“And hopefully we are able to have a very strong Saturday, because if you don’t start on the front row, it’s very unlikely that you will have a shot at the victory. So hopefully we can repeat what we did last year there.”
