It was a start contrast in fortunes when it came to Red Bull's Singapore qualifying, with Max Verstappen back on form on the front row while Sergio Perez missed the final cut meaning he starts tomorrow outside the top ten.
Verstappen had looked off form on Friday, finishing the day down in P15 while Perez appeared happier in eighth, a similar relative state of affairs as we saw last week in Baku.
But the situation was flipped on Saturday with Verstappen now faster than Perez in final practice before going on to qualify on the front row in P2 alongside Lando Norris, while Perez didn't make the cut at the end of Q2.
“It’s a nightmare really,” admitted Perez, who won the Singapore Grand Prix back in 2022. "We've come from quite a strong weekend in Baku and then we seem to struggle quite a lot here.
“We had good progression through Q1, but then in Q2 there was something going funny with the tyres. I just couldn’t get them in the window, the rear axle. It was just so peaky. Just a little tickle on the car, on the balance, makes a huge difference.
"All of a sudden it became quite difficult to nail the lap, I only found a tenth and we were struggling, mainly with the tyres. Something was going on with the brakes for me. If anything, we went slower.
"We were lacking a lot of grip through the lap and not getting it in the right window. How we are using the tyres has been quite a difficult thing this weekend up to now, so we have plenty of understanding to do."
"I think trying to score some points, minimise the damage, will be the target for tomorrow," he suggested as his thoughts turned to the Grand Prix. “It’s very difficult to overtake out there, so it’s going to be a tricky race."
But the outlook is much better for Verstappen from the front row. In the past in similar situations he's been able to pick off Norris into the first corner, and will be hoping to do so again on Sunday to give him the best chance of victory.
“Here we are, second," he reported. "Tomorrow, of course, a bit difficult to say. A lot of things can happen. But at least we have a shot at it like this.
"On paper, this is not a good track on the calendar for us, and we do have our limitations on the pace. But this gives us a lot of hope that we can do well in the upcoming races."
Verstappen didn't give much away about how the team had turned things around overnight. "I’m happy to be on the front row if you look at where we came from yesterday. I’ll take second, I’m happy with that.
"I had a better feeling with the car," he said. "The car was a lot nicer to drive, we could attack the corners a bit more and we really maximised our performance today.
“I think the whole of qualifying actually went quite well. We managed to improve the car run after run," he added. “Tyres can give you a lot of lap time or lose you a lot of lap time. I think today for us in qualifying it worked quite well.
"I was happy with that," he said. But it was clear that he wasn't happy with his initial Q3 lap time being deleted because it was set under yellow flags for Carlos Sainz' accident that he had no way of seeing or reacting to in time.
“Q3 was tough. Your lap gets cancelled with a double yellow, then everyone only has one run and you don’t want to overdo it so you want to stay within the limit," he explained.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner was happy to see Verstappen back on form. "To be on the front row is a great recovery after where we were yesterday. Max has done a great job today, along with the whole team of mechanics and engineers.
"I think it shows that we’re going in the right direction. It wasn’t perfect, but Max really dug deep. Even the lap with the red flag would’ve been good enough for the front row, so it’s positive to know that the pace is real.
"The most important thing is that we’re next to our closest rival on the front row when it counts, Horner stated. "Lando's been very strong this weekend but anything can happen tomorrow and hopefully we have a good race on our hands."
"It was tough for Checo," Horner added. "Q1 was looking okay, and in Q2 he had a moment in the last chicane and with how close the margins are here it just wasn’t enough unfortunately for Q3."
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