Ralf Schumacher’s ‘almost Kevin Magnussen’ response to Red Bull tactics

After VCARB driver Daniel Ricciardo denied Lando Norris the fastest lap point, Ralf Schumacher says Red Bull’s tactics in Singapore were almost “Kevin Magnussen”.

Red Bull are up against McLaren in this year’s championship with the Woking team getting the better of the Milton Keynes squad in the recent races.

Ralf Schumacher: It would have almost been Kevin Magnussen

Not only has the two-car-scoring McLaren taken the lead off Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship where they are 41 points ahead, Norris has nibbled 27 points off Max Verstappen’s lead in the last four races.

It would’ve been 28 were it not for Daniel Ricciardo’s late-race efforts at the Singapore Grand Prix.

On a dominant Sunday night for Norris, the McLaren went into the final stint at the Marina Bay circuit with the Grand Chelem within his reach as he’d started on pole, was on course for the victory, and also had the fastest lap.

VCARB, Red Bull’s junior team, pitted Ricciardo with three laps remaining for a new set of soft tyres with the Aussie pipping Norris to the fastest lap. He didn’t earn a point for it as he was outside of the top ten but he denied Norris in what could yet be his final say in the F1 championship.

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella stopped short of calling out Red Bull’s sportsmanship but he did stress that teams are supposed to be autonomous as it is the F1 Constructors’ Championship, not the F1 “coalition championship”.

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Schumacher, however, says what happened on Sunday was no different to Kevin Magnussen’s early season bollard tactics that helped Haas score points.

“What do you mean unfair? It’s just like that,” he told Sky Deutschland. “It would have almost been Kevin Magnussen. That’s all fine, you can work with such means.”

Red Bull have refuted speculation there was collusion between the championship contenders and VCARB, Christian Horner saying: “Daniel obviously wanted to finish the race on a high. You’d have to ask VCARB about that.”

Sunday’s result means Verstappen goes into the final six races of the season with a 52-point lead over Norris and 186 points still in play.

Timo Glock believes McLaren may be behind in the numbers but they hold the advantage on the track as they can use Oscar Piastri to thwart Verstappen.

“The bonus point for McLaren is that they have two very good drivers,” said the former F1 driver. “That gives them the opportunity to take points away from Verstappen.

“Baku was an outlier for Perez, and here it didn’t work out again. That’s the big problem with Red Bull, that they only have Max Verstappen and that McLaren have two good drivers who are driving up front.”

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