Red Bull will need "something different" to get another win

Daniel Ricciardo came close to victory at the Singapore Grand Prix after a late surge against Nico Rosberg, finishing less than half a second behind.

The Marina Bay circuit was widely tipped as being Red Bull's best chance of adding to the victory that Max Verstappen took at the Spanish GP in May.

But, despite finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Ricciardo could do nothing about Rosberg, who delivered one of the best performances of his career.

Although tracks coming up like Sepang and Suzuka do demand good downforce, which Red Bull has, they also feature straights where Mercedes still holds the edge.

And that is why team boss Christian Horner thinks that it will take something unexpected to allow his outfit to topple Mercedes.

“We got pretty close [in Singapore],” explained Horner. “Just half a second more and we would have beaten one of the Mercedes fair and square.

“Hopefully opportunities will present themselves over the remaining six races, but Mercedes have been so strong at every venue.

“It’s going to rely on something different happening – like weather conditions or tyre degradation or something like that.”

Verstappen response

Horner also said he had no doubts that Verstappen would recover from a run of three poor starts, which have hampered his chances of good results in recent races.

When asked if the start issue will start to play on Verstappen's mind, Horner said: “It won’t. He will just drop the lever. We’ll give him a better clutch for the next race.”