Mercedes will be the firm favourites for the weekend’s Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix – according to Red Bull representative Christian Horner.

According to Horner, this is despite Red Bull having scored 12 podiums in Singapore – double that of any other team, and have performed well during the Final Practise 1 too.

Explained Horner, “Mercedes have finished ahead of us quite a few times in the last four or five years, so I think they are very much going to be the favourites here. Lewis (Hamilton) is always strong at this circuit.”

Red Bull have a competitive car

He added, “But we’ve got a competitive car and we hope to be able to take the fight to them. We pushed them hard last year, and hopefully we can go one-better this year.”

In the 2018 edition of the F1 Singapore GP, Hamilton had won the race, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finishing second.

Also continued Horner, “Max has been in fantastic form during the summer months and had a positive first practice. But that’s only one practice at the start of a long weekend of racing.”

Verstappen isn’t the only driver in good form for Red Bull – Horner also added that Alex Albion has been performing well too, and he expects him to continue his fine form in Singapore.

Said Horner, “His drives in both Spa – particularly Spa in his first race, the recovery he made to P5 was really impressive. He also had a strong weekend in Monza as well. And so everything that he’s done so far, I have to say, the whole team has been very impressed with.”

Red Bull in no rush to confirm their drivers

So it is no surprise then, that with the 2019 F1 season heading into the final six races after Singapore, Red Bull will not be in any rush to confirm their drivers for 2020.

Said Horner, “We don’t need to be in any rush. All the drivers that are under consideration are under contract, so we are in a unique position where we don’t need to rush anything. So we will take the fullness of time to look and evaluate the progress for Alex and measure it against Danny (Kvyat) and Pierre (Gasly).”

F1 Future of Nico Hülkenberg is in doubt

Horner also took the opportunity to confirm that Nico Hülkenberg would not be on the cards for Red Bull.

He said, “He’s a great driver, and it would be a great shame not to see him continue in F1 next year. He’s a professional driver that arguably hasn’t achieved his potential in F1 and I very much hope for him that he does find a seat, because he’s better than some other drivers that are on the grid and he should be in F1. But he isn’t on our list.”

Alfa Romeo’s Frederic Vasseur also confirmed that Hülkenberg will not be joining them in 2020, either.

He said, “We are focused with working on Antonio (Giovinazzi). Antonio had a very tough weekend in Spa but a strong recovery the week after in Monza. We want to help him develop and continue to improve. It will be time to discuss about the future but I am really focused on Antonio, that I think he is doing, step-by-step, a good job.”

Continued Vasseur, “Antonio has the speed, for sure, he is matching Kimi (Räikkönen) in quality since the first one and we have absolutely nothing to complain about the speed. I want him to score more points – but as does everybody.”

Hülkenberg’s future in F1 remains uncertain beyond this season, with Haas’ Guenther Steiner also having just confirmed a new deal with Romain Grosjean for 2020.

Explained Steiner, “We talked with Nico and in the end, decided to go with Romain. Romain has been with us for a long time and we looked at ourselves and in the moment, the drivers are not our issue. It’s the car. So we decided to focus on the car and keep the other things stable and therefore we re-signed Romain for another year.”

Also continued Steiner, “We know his weaknesses – a lot of people know that he has very big highs and very big lows as well. So hopefully it is time to change. I am waiting for that and maybe next year will be a good year.”

Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul admits that it is a pity that a driver of Hülkenberg’s quality might be forced out of F1.

This has been the case since Renault’s decision to pair Daniel Ricciardo with Esteban Ocon for the 2020 F1 season, the latter replacing the more experienced Hülkenberg’s place in the team.

Abiteboul explained, “I think I have said it on a number of occasions. We feel that Nico has been a pillar in the team’s construction. He’s obviously also a great driver. He is a huge professional outside the track, has got huge experience and for me, whether it’s between Renault and Nico, or F1 and Nico, it will be unfinished business. So I can’t really do anything, but really hoping he will find a way forward but it’s a bit out of our hands now.”

Photos are courtesy of Singapore GP Pte Ltd.