Ted Kravitz shares Red Bull problem with Sergio Perez ‘really struggling’ during the Singapore Grand Prix

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Red Bull Racing knew going into the Singapore Grand Prix that it was going to be a case of damage limitation.

The Marina Bay Street Circuit was the only race their incredibly dominant RB19 didn’t win in 2023 and the grid has converged impressively over the past 12 months.

However, Max Verstappen did what he always does for Red Bull and pulled a result out of the bag that very few people expected.

He took advantage of every mistake his rivals made to finish second and only a nearly faultless weekend from Lando Norris denied him victory.

However, Red Bull still lost ground in the Constructors’ Championship thanks to Verstappen being joined on the podium by both McLaren drivers.

Oscar Piastri recovered from fifth to leapfrog both Mercedes drivers with Lewis Hamilton in particular unhappy with his strategy.

Unfortunately for Red Bull, Sergio Perez couldn’t pull off a similar recovery drive.

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The Mexican driver was eliminated in Q2 and despite a decent first lap, only came away from the Singapore Grand Prix with a single point.

Ted Kravitz was covering the race for Sky Sports F1 and explained the problem Red Bull now face with Perez.

The team appear to be acting on one driver line-up between the next race in Austin, but it won’t be long until speculation begins to mount again about whether both outfits need to make a change.

Ted Kravitz explains the problem Red Bull face with Sergio Perez during the Singapore Grand Prix

Perez has been complaining for a long time that there were issues with his car, but that was put down to him considering how well Verstappen was still performing.

The Dutchman has now gone eight Grand Prix without a victory and Norris is slowly closing the gap in the Constructors’ Championship as a result.

However, Verstappen is still extracting every bit of pace out of his RB20 while Perez struggles and highlighting the difference between the two drivers in Singapore, Kravitz said: “Verstappen did a 36.4 last time around, now a 36.6. You contrast that with Perez his teammate in the same car, a 37.7, so over a second per lap slower is Perez.

“And Checo’s trying as much as he can, but he can’t get past Nico Hulkenberg.

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“He’s in P10 and it’s these kind of performances from Checo where he’s stuck behind cars or just doesn’t have the pace that’s meaning that McLaren will again today extend their Constructors’ Championship lead, especially if Piastri can get up close, I mean he’s 18 seconds behind Verstappen now and maybe even challenging him in the next 15, 18 laps we’ve got left.

“But Checo is really struggling. Look at it the other way, Hulkenberg doing a great job holding up Perez in the Red Bull.”

Red Bull apologised to Sergio Perez before the Singapore Grand Prix weekend

Perez will be very frustrated that despite being the quicker Red Bull driver in Baku, his teammate has scored 27 more points than him over the past two races.

A collision with Carlos Sainz denied him a potential podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but he simply couldn’t make any progress on the streets of Singapore.

Some Red Bull engineers apologised to Perez ahead of the race in Singapore after discovering the issues that he had been complaining about for more than a year.

Verstappen is a one-of-a-kind driver and was finding a way to drive around the issues that Perez had been raising.

However, both drivers now need to be perfect to defeat the likes of McLaren and Ferrari and their current car isn’t capable of doing that currently.