Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan revealed after qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix that the Austrians have “some inherent problems”, which can’t be fixed during a weekend.
The Milton Keynes-based team endured their worst weekend of the season at the Marina Bay Circuit, where their 15-race winning streak came to an end.
Sergio Perez admitted even before the race that the side’s winning streak was “definitely” over, something which was proven correct.
Both Max Verstappen and Perez started the race from outside the top-10, following an abysmal qualifying for the team.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
Verstappen started from 11th with Perez in 13th, marking Red Bull’s first qualifying without a Q3 appearance since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix.
Even ahead of qualifying, nothing was going right for the usually dominant Austrians, with both drivers having complained throughout free practice.
It resulted in Red Bull reportedly reverting to an old floor, having trialled an upgrade during free practice.
Monaghan refused to admit that the upgrade had been removed but hinted that it had.
“I invite you to look at the floor and the rear wing this afternoon and ask me [later] what you think is still on the car!” Monaghan told The Race.
“These cars are prototypes. And what turns up here on Friday doesn’t actually have to race on Sunday.
“So, the [revised rear] wing is still on. The floor, I’ll let you judge when it goes out and see how well you paid attention to Friday!”
Worryingly for Red Bull, Monaghan admitted that the team’s “inherent problems” were the cause of their double Q2 elimination, with “some mistakes” having been made.
“We’ve got some inherent problems that we can’t necessarily fix in a race weekend,” said Monaghan.
“We’ve made some mistakes. And it’s all culminated in us going out in Q2.”
READ: Aston Martin address Lance Stroll’s horror crash
Verstappen did extremely well during the race to recover to fifth but was unfortunate not to get past Charles Leclerc for fourth.
Perez on the other hand had to settle for eighth after making up five places, with him having finished 11 seconds ahead of AlphaTauri driver Liam Lawson.
Red Bull will be keen to bounce back in Suzuka in just a handful of days, whilst Ferrari and Mercedes will be hoping that their struggles continue.