The argument that a change in FIA rules has harmed Red Bull receives a revealing response from Christian Horner.

The FIA intervened with a new technical directive that all F1 teams must follow before the Singapore GP weekend, targeting flexible aerodynamic components on cars.

The idea that a recent FIA rule change has slowed down Red Bull’s performance was refuted by Christian Horner.

On Saturday, his team had a terrible workday.
Both of his drivers failed to make it past Q3 in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying, with Sergio Perez finishing two spots behind Max Verstappen in 11th place on the grid.

Even after Horner warned that Red Bull would likely find things more difficult this weekend, the outcome was still unexpected. After all, Verstappen is riding a 10-race winning streak, and the team has won every race thus far this season. It caused people to wonder whether the FIA’s technical directive 18 had affected the situation. The governing body’s intervention was to forbid aerodynamic parts that were deemed too flexible for safety reasons.

But when Horner was asked about the idea that TD18 might have had an effect on his team’s cars, he answered in a way that was very clear.
The vehicle used for qualifying, according to him, “is essentially the same vehicle that we had two weeks ago in Monza and a week prior at Zandvoort.”.

“The car has not been modified in any way.
It’s a tried-and-true setup because on Friday we tried a new aero part and had to change that part.
On this asphalt, however, it has simply not responded.

“It’s been very, very difficult for both drivers to try to get the tires into the window.
We’ll see tomorrow; we won’t give up on anything, but starting outside the top 10 at a track where passing is extremely challenging, we have a lot to do.

“Having slowed down to the degree that we have is very, very confusing.
It seems as though we weren’t able to get the tyre into the proper working window because the car is simply not responding to changes.
You can hear understeer, oversteer, and braking issues.

When a gap that size is present, the tyre typically isn’t functioning properly on a fundamental level.
The setup and preparations have all been tried in various ways, but nothing has worked.
There is a lot we need to comprehend tonight in order to try and change.
We will undoubtedly work extremely hard despite how difficult it will be for us to advance from those grid positions tomorrow.
“.

Verstappen concurred, insisting that he “for sure” had no chance of winning the race on Sunday.
“Over here, having a good race car is much less important,” he said.
It’s similar to Monaco in that you focus entirely on qualifying, and even if you experience degradation, it won’t matter because few drivers will actually pass you because of the low rate of tyre wear.
It’ll be a long, challenging afternoon.
There won’t be too many safety cars, and the race should be fairly brief.
“.