Lewis Hamilton expects Red Bull to bounce back

Lewis Hamilton will be convinced “something’s up” if Red Bull are not back at their normal level at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

“It was a difficult weekend, the last one, but their car should be phenomenal here. They have been phenomenal all year.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished fifth in Singapore, believes his team will face a challenge from McLaren at the demanding, high-speed Suzuka circuit, a favourite with all the drivers.

“It should be a good track for us,” Verstappen said, “but McLaren have been making great gains and they are normally quite good in the high-speed as well. So they can be quite strong here, I think.”

Asked whether he thought McLaren could challenge Red Bull in Japan, championship leader Verstappen said: “Yeah, I think so.”

He added: “I definitely see them very competitive.”

Verstappen praised the progress McLaren have made since starting the season with one of the slowest cars on the grid.

“It is quite impressive to see where they started and where they are now,” he said.

Mercedes driver George Russell said he also expected McLaren to be strong, because of the abundance of high-speed corners at Suzuka, similar to those where the team proved competitive at the British Grand Prix.

Russell said McLaren’s Lando Norris was “favourite” to win “a close fight” between McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari for best of the rest.

“If you look at Silverstone, in the 230km/h region corners they were exceptionally quick,” Russell said. “They were 0.2-0.25secs quicker than the majority of the field in each of those corners, 0.1secs quicker than Red Bull.”

Russell also echoed and amplified Hamilton’s comments about Red Bull’s competitiveness.

“I expect Lando to be next best and then it depends on Red Bull,” Russell said. “I think [Singapore] was purely a one-off. I expect them to be back to their winning ways or at least to the top of the field, but if they’re not that will be a lot of question marks being raised if they have another weekend like last week, but I don’t expect it.”

Russell – and apparently Hamilton – were alluding to a rule clarification that was issued before the Singapore Grand Prix restricting the use of flexible bodywork and floors.

There was speculation in Singapore among the teams that Red Bull’s drop in performance could have been caused by this change, which targets the use of aero-elasticity of parts to enhance performance.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has insisted the team changed “nothing” on their car as a result of the clarification. (BBC)