It was a week that Azerbaijan's Visa Cash App RB F1 Team would like to forget.
Yuki Tsunoda was forced to retire early in the race for the second consecutive race after colliding with Lance Stroll on the opening lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Daniel Ricciardo managed to complete the race but failed to score any points.
Young Oliver Bearman's 10th place finish in his Haas Grand Prix debut has reduced the gap to his VCARB rivals, who are chasing sixth place in the constructors' championship, to just six points.
The team is hoping for a better result at this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.
“We're hoping for a trouble-free weekend in Singapore and, as always, our first goal is to see if we can make it into Q3, which we were very close to in Baku,” Tsunoda said during the team's media preview. “Singapore is a long and physically very demanding race in terms of driving, not just with the heat and humidity – which doesn't really bother me that much – but also because the stop-start course means there's no time to rest and you have to change gears more frequently than any other event.
“There are almost always safety car periods so you have to be ready to make the most of any opportunities. We also have to deal with big track changes of around three seconds per lap from FP1 to qualifying. But it's a lot more fun to drive since they removed some of the slower corners from last year.”
As for Ricciardo, in addition to hoping for a better result in Singapore, he is also looking forward to taking on the Marina Bay Street Circuit again, having missed last season's Singapore Grand Prix while recovering from a hand injury sustained at the Dutch Grand Prix.
“The Marina Bay Street Circuit is a lot of fun, it's one of my favourite tracks. I didn't race here last year so I'm looking forward to coming back,” said Ricciardo. “It's very hot and humid so it's even more challenging and I hope we can perform better than we did in Baku. As a team we are working hard to understand this and improve, and we will be back on this track and try to get some points.”
As outlined in this week's storyline, VCARB can find solace in the fact that they earned two points for finishing ninth in last year's race.
Only Liam Lawson, who replaced Ricciardo, could achieve this result.
