The Singapore weekend is one of milestones for Verstappen. The Dutchman is contesting his 250th Formula 1 Grand Prix this weekend and has claimed his 50th pole position in the process.
Verstappen now belongs to an exclusive group of just five drivers – alongside Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Sebastian Vettel – who have secured 50 or more pole positions, but the Dutchman insists he does not pay much attention to such achievements.
“That’s not why I do this. I take it one weekend at a time and always try to get the maximum out of it. Whether that’s number 50, 55 or 45… The more, the better, of course, but it’s not something I’m going to dwell on and pat myself on the back for, thinking, ‘This is really good.’ No, not at all.”
Nevertheless, the first two days in Singapore have been special. Verstappen has topped every significant session so far – sprint qualifying, the sprint race and regular qualifying – despite the street circuit often proving to be Red Bull’s Achilles’ heel in recent years.
You might think that would be cause for satisfaction, but Verstappen is still not entirely happy when speaking to the Dutch media in the paddock.
“No, because of course it isn’t perfect,” Verstappen replied when asked by Motorsport.com why he did not look 100% satisfied. “There’s always more to be found and I always want to get more out of it. That’s what we’ll keep working on.”
Extra focus on the start in Singapore
Two aspects were not optimal for Verstappen on Saturday in Singapore: the downshifts and – far more importantly – his start in the sprint race.
Immediately after the shortest race of the weekend, Verstappen described his start as “horrendous” and warned that a repeat on Sunday could cost Red Bull the race.
A closer look at the starting problems reveals two separate issues. Yes, Verstappen has generally struggled with poor and inconsistent starts on numerous occasions this year, but in the wet conditions at Sepang and Singapore, the problem was also partly related to the team’s recommendation on which gear to use.
Verstappen got beaten off the line by George Russell during Saturday’s sprint
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Verstappen started in second gear on both occasions – something fairly common in F1 in wet conditions – but several rivals, including Russell, opted for first gear on both occasions, which helped them to spool the turbo and get off the line more effectively with the 2026 power units.
“In Malaysia, it was a different problem. That problem was added on top of everything else, which meant starting in second gear didn’t work properly there.
“Then the team thought: if that problem doesn’t happen here again, starting in second gear should work fine this time. But it still wasn’t good enough. My start was actually quite okay compared to most of the others, just not compared to George and Lewis.”
The start will therefore be under particular scrutiny again on Sunday, especially with two Ferraris lining up immediately behind Verstappen – on average, the best-starting cars this season.
“Yes, you just know they will have good starts. They’ve been like that all season. It’s always an important factor in Singapore, and if you’ve had a few poor starts, then naturally there’s even more focus on it.”
When Motorsport.com asked Verstappen whether he would approach a potentially wet start differently tomorrow, he first made it clear that he was not necessarily hoping for such conditions.
“Hopefully it’ll be dry tomorrow, first of all. Otherwise, we’ll just have to see whether it’s good enough.”
Should it be wet, however, Verstappen hinted that he would change his gear selection this time. “I think it’s pretty clear that second gear isn’t the right gear for us at the moment!” the four-time world champion laughed.
Verstappen knows a good start will be crucial to potentially winning the Singapore GP for the first time
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
How can Racing Bulls have better starts than Red Bull?
Remarkably, sister team Racing Bulls has often enjoyed better starts than the senior team this year, even though Verstappen stressed that the hardware and software are completely identical.
“Everything is the same, but of course you have engineers who can use different settings for the clutch, the engine and different procedures for warming up the tyres and so on. So there is a difference there, between different people and how they operate.”
According to Verstappen, that is precisely where Red Bull needs to improve, although he stressed that the situation is no longer as disastrous as it was at the beginning of the year.
“No, at the beginning I really had a lot of problems. A lot of random issues that kept coming up, and they also kept happening on my side of the garage.”
Now it is more about the details, but Verstappen knows better than anyone that those details could make the difference between victory and defeat as he chases his first win at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
“You know there’s a good chance you’ll win this race if you get a good start. But yeah, if you lose it because of that, then of course it’s painful, but you also have to accept it. That’s just how it is. But, of course, we’ll do everything we can on Sunday.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
