“Something’s up” if Red Bull don’t win by half a minute at Suzuka – Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton expects Red Bull to return to its best form at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix after their winning streak ended in the previous round.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finished fifth and eighth respectively at the Singapore Grand Prix, with no Red Bull driver finishing in the top 10. The team had won every race up to that point.

Red Bull’s poor performance last weekend has led to speculation that the team’s performance may have been affected by recent interpretations of the technical rules for flexible bodywork. But Hamilton, who finished third for Mercedes in Singapore, expects the champions to dominate at Suzuka in the same way they did at similar circuits earlier this year. “I think if they don’t have a 30-second lead like before then something is going on,” the Mercedes driver said.

“Obviously it was a tough weekend, the last day,” he continued, “but this car is going to be phenomenal here.”

Red Bull expected the streets of Marina Bay to be no match for their dominant car as well as other locations. But the high-speed Suzuka racetrack would be the ideal track for the RB19.

“They have been phenomenal all year,” Hamilton said. “They have attacked almost every track and it will be great to see this car in general. “Normally you’ll come here and it’s great to see the laps they’re doing because the whole team and the riders are doing an incredible job with the package they have. So it’ll be interesting to Let’s see how this week goes -weekend.”

“I hope we’re getting closer and I hope they’re not as quick as the 30-second gap they’ve had in the past.”

Mercedes were narrowly beaten to pole position in Singapore by Ferrari and could not prevent Carlos Sainz Jnr from winning the race. Hamilton does not expect them to be as strong this weekend.

“Carlos is managing up front and I think we’re all relatively close, I would say, up front. But it was a great race with us all so close at the front.

“This weekend I don’t expect to have the same performance as in the last race, but we worked very hard, we kept trying to push the limits we had, so I’m hopeful that we will get there. not too far this weekend.