SINGAPORE — Max Verstappen warned Red Bull that another horrendous start will end his chances in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, even after topping a qualifying session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the first time and winning Saturday's sprint after George Russell crashed out on the opening lap.
The four-time world champion dismissed the significance of the sprint victory, making clear his focus is only on the grand prix. “I want to win tomorrow,” he said. “I don't see this as a win in terms of actually winning a grand prix.” He added, “My emotion is the same. It doesn't matter to me if I have won on the track before or not." Verstappen has long said he feels no emotion winning sprints, and said the result only shows Red Bull is heading in the right direction with the RB22.
Verstappen pointed directly to Red Bull's launch issues as the major threat for Sunday. “The start was horrendous again, so that's definitely something that we need to improve on,” he said. “If you have something like that tomorrow, that's your race over, if nothing crazy happens.” Asked what went wrong, he said, “As always, it just doesn't go off the line. The car just doesn't go, we don't accelerate off the line.” He noted both Mercedes cars surged past him at the start in Malaysia and Russell did the same in Singapore, adding, “We have a few limitations that we have to work on, and that is probably from our side as well. We have to do a better job because Racing Bulls sometimes does better starts than us, so yeah, we just need to be better."
On Saturday the poor start did not prove costly because Russell crashed out in front of him at the end of lap one. “He was already sideways a few times in that first lap, so I think he was just pushing quite hard on the first lap,” Verstappen said. “And then in the last corner, he clipped the white line and, of course, it did send him into the wall. It’s an easy mistake to make, I guess, and unlucky at the same time.” With overtaking virtually impossible in Singapore and only one racing line available on the partially wet track, Verstappen stayed patient. “It was calm in a way, but at the same time, you need to be focused," he said. "Stay calm, but pay attention on the road ahead with your tyres degrading and the road becoming dry in some places and greasy in others. You just have to be patient."
Qualifying will be crucial on a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult, but Verstappen said fixing the start is equally decisive for a genuine victory. The sprint win follows Verstappen's victory after Russell crashed out and leaves him needing to execute both the second qualifying session and the launch to convert Red Bull's competitive pace into a grand prix win that matters to him.