After securing pole during qualifying at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP, Max Verstappen identified the race start as Red Bull’s biggest concern ahead of Sunday’s race.
The Dutchman entered qualifying fresh from victory in Saturday’s chaotic Sprint Race. However, Verstappen had a slow start to the session, finishing P8 in Q1 before improving to P2 in Q2. He then delivered a rapid lap of 1:31.373 on his first Q3 run to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to pole by just 0.054s, with Lewis Hamilton completing the top three.
Verstappen on taking pole during qualifying at 2026 F1 Singapore GP
Reflecting on his result during the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen praised Red Bull’s performance at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
“I mean, it was nice. Yeah, like, it’s always good, I think, to be on pole position. I think the whole weekend already, yeah, we’ve had a strong car. So I knew it was going to be a tight battle, and I think you could see that throughout qualifying. But yeah, of course, nice to be first,” he said.
The pole marked Verstappen’s 50th Formula 1 pole, his second of the 2026 season and his first at the Singapore track. However, when asked about the milestone, the four-time World Champion jokingly shared:
“Better than 49, not as good as 51. So we just try and keep going.”
Managing the difficulties
Before setting the fastest qualifying time, Verstappen reported shifting issues that persisted throughout the session.
“Yeah, that stayed,” he explained. “So we just had to live with that. But I think the car has been in the right window the whole weekend. So it was more just fine-tuning and tweaking tiny little bits. And that’s what we did.”
Meanwhile, teammate Isack Hadjar suffered further misfortune, with a significant gearbox issue preventing the Frenchman from setting a lap in Q1 and leaving him to start Sunday’s race from P22.
Verstappen further noted that the track offered less grip following the earlier heavy rain. Notably, his pole lap of 1:31.373 was 0.217s slower than his Sprint Qualifying time of 1:31.156.
“Track seemed a little bit slower. If I’m not mistaken, I think we went faster yesterday. So yeah, it’s been just a bit slower, less grip, maybe from driving in the wet. And yeah, the rubber probably disappeared a little bit.”
Verstappen: “There is no excuse” for start issues
Looking ahead to Sunday’s Grand Prix, Verstappen highlighted the start as Red Bull’s main priority after losing the lead to George Russell at lights out in the Sprint.
“I think no one really knows about the long runs because we didn’t really get to do any. But for me, the most important part is tomorrow, the start. We know that that’s not really been our strong area. So we need to work on that for tomorrow.”
“Just trying to understand why it keeps going wrong, first of all, and then try to just do a better job tomorrow,” he added.
However, when asked whether Red Bull’s issues could be attributed to its hardware, Verstappen insisted that the team had no excuses.
“The engines are exactly the same [as the Racing Bulls one]. Everything is the same. So there is no excuse,” he said. “It’s all the same.”
