After his final attempt for pole put him too close to the wall, Max Verstappen had to settle for P2 after the F1 Singapore GP Qualifying session. Nevertheless, the Dutchman showed great potential during the last Free Practice (FP3).
Coming in this weekend after two back-to-back wins, at Monza and Baku, Verstappen is putting some pressure on Norris. With only 44 points separating the two, Red Bull Racing will do everything in its power to help close that gap.
Seemingly recovering some lost ground, Max Verstappen has a chance for victory in Singapore. This result would mark the final track he needs in order to have won at every circuit on the current calendar.
Missing out on pole position
During the final minutes of Q3, the Dutchman tried his hand at taking P1 away from George Russell and Mercedes. Yet, Verstappen ended up having to abandon his final Qualifying lap, settling for P2 for the F1 Singapore GP. Explaining the incident that involved Lando Norris, the Red Bull driver had to accept that he lost the pole:
“Yeah. It was close. I mean, the lap itself was coming nicely. But, again, around here, to nail all the corners is very tough.”
“Unfortunately, I had a car, like, two seconds in front of me in the final chicane. So in qualifying, you cannot have that. You cannot have any kind of disturbance when you want to push in Q3. And that’s what happened. I had to abort the lap because of that. So that was a bit unfortunate,” said Verstappen in the post-qualifying press conference, shedding some light on the frustrating incident.
Highlighting the lack of trouble so far this race weekend, the Dutchman took on a positive attitude. His overview of Sunday’s race was rather optimistic.
“Otherwise, I think it would have been a very close battle for first, but it is what it is. Nothing you can do about that. So you just move forward. I think for us so far this weekend has again been a very solid one. No major trouble. We were always kind of there, and I guess that’s good. So that is, of course, for us very promising.”
Leaving gaps during Qualifying
After Red Bull’s clear potential for pole at the F1 Singapore GP, it was unfortunate to see Verstappen have to back out of a promising qualifying lap. Following his earlier statements in Parc Fermé, where he pointed out that the car that blocked him was “Not Oscar [Piastri]”, the Dutchman was asked to clarify.
Not only did he state that it was in fact the McLaren of Lando Norris that put a damper on his flying lap, but he spoke of the need for space during Q3. The reigning world champion was upset due to losing downforce as he unexpectedly found himself in Norris’ dirty air.
“I mean, you said it already. No? Lando [Norris]. To clarify, well… In qualifying, you always try to leave gaps of six, seven seconds at least, because you want no disturbance. Normally, in Q3 you don’t see a car — unless you’re on a different programme. But I think around here, it’s quite clear what you want to do. So you leave quite big gaps, everyone.
“But then, of course, sometimes it happens on a street circuit that people are bored, make mistakes. So, yeah, when you get a car two, three seconds in front of you… I mean, you need every kind of clean air that you can have on a lap. Especially because you’re fully on the limit with braking and everything. And I lost a bit of downforce with that, so I went straight on. Yeah, that’s it.”
Having a car that can push to the limit
The F1 Singapore GP is one of the only tracks where Verstappen has not won, despite his Qualifying results. However, with the newly improved RB21, luck looks to have shifted a bit for the Dutch driver. Despite all the talks surrounding this weekend for him, Max Verstappen remains unaffected by them all:
“Yeah. I mean, what can I say? You never had pole here — you can ask that to many drivers why they never had pole here, right? That’s just what happens. The last few years, it’s not been easy,” Verstappen started off, making his point clear.
“I mean, 2022 — that was a good opportunity. But you need to, of course, put enough fuel in the car for qualifying. And then, of course, it would have changed the perception a bit. Because I hear this now the whole week: ‘Never had a pole. Never won here.’ Well, fantastic.”
Nevertheless, the Dutchman is feeling quite hopeful. While he highlighted the RB21’s competitiveness around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Verstappen tried to avoid any promises for tomorrow’s race.
“But yeah, now finally, the car is a bit more all-round, it seems. We’ve always been, I would say, a little bit weaker on super high downforce for whatever reason. But for us to be this competitive, for sure, is very promising. Whatever happens tomorrow happens. But even for upcoming races, where you’re not always running the super high downforce, I think it will be nice if we can just keep this momentum going.”
