Lewis Hamilton says Red Bull's RB19 should be "phenomenal" at Suzuka this weekend, but if the usually dominant machine stumbles once again, then "something's up" insists the Mercedes driver.
Red Bull steamrolled to fourteen consecutive wins – twelve of which were delivered by championship leader Max Verstappen – but in Singapore last weekend, the Milton Keynes-based outfit was shockingly out of contention.
Neither Verstappen nor teammate Sergio Perez succeeded in making qualifying's Q3 shootout on Saturday while the pair raced to P5 and P8 on race day.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner reckoned that the unexpected underperformance was rooted in set-up issues.
He also dismissed suggestions that its RB19 was impacted by the FIA's latest technical directives regarding flexi-wings and deflective floors, insisting Red Bull had not changed a single element on its car to comply with the TDs.
Hamilton believes it will be business as usual for Red Bull once again at Suzuka.
"I would think that if they’re not 30 seconds ahead like they have done in the past then something’s up," said the Mercedes driver on Thursday.
"It was obviously a difficult weekend, the last one, but that car should be phenomenal here.
"They’ve been phenomenal all year long. They’ve aced pretty much every circuit and it’s going to be great to watch that car in general.
"Normally you would come here and it’s beautiful to watch the laps that they do because the whole team as a whole and the drivers are doing an amazing job with the package they have.
"So it’ll be interesting to see how the weekend goes.
"I hope that we’re closer and I hope they’re not as fast as that 30-second gap they’ve had in the past."
Hamilton enjoyed last weekend's three-way battle with Ferrari Carlos Sainz and McLaren's Lando Norris but the seven-time world champion doesn't expect Mercedes to be as strong at Suzuka.
"Carlos was managing at the front and I think we were all relatively close, I would say, at the front. But what a great race it was, just to have us all that close up front," he said.
"This weekend I don’t anticipate having the performance we had in the last race, but we’ve worked very hard, we’re continuing to try and push in the envelope that we have, so I’m hoping that we’re not terribly far off this weekend."
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