Verstappen wins Singapore sprint but expects tough qualifying battle

Max Verstappen won Saturday’s Singapore Grand Prix Sprint at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, but the victory did little to ease his concerns. The four-time world champion warned that a major battle awaits in qualifying, after a race shaped by his difficult start and a decisive incident on the opening lap.

Delayed by 30 minutes because of the weather, the race began on intermediate tyres. Starting from pole, Verstappen made a poor getaway and Mercedes driver George Russell took the lead into Turn 1. Russell then spun and hit the pit wall at the end of the opening lap, allowing Verstappen to inherit the win. The Red Bull Racing driver remains worried about his team’s starting problems.

Speaking after the race to Sky Sports F1 presenter Craig Slater, Verstappen gave a blunt assessment of his starts this season: “Yeah, I mean, the whole year my starts have been terrible.” He said a change of approach was needed to identify the problem: “So we need to really do something different and try to understand what our issues are.”

He also pointed to Red Bull’s sister team, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, noting that its drivers sometimes make good starts. “Because Racing Bulls, sometimes they do have good starts,” he said, adding that his team was clearly doing something wrong and needed to improve by the following day.

The concern extends beyond the sprint. Verstappen described his getaway as “horrendous” and knows another poor launch in Sunday’s Grand Prix could damage his chances of stringing together wins, particularly on a street circuit where overtaking is difficult. He had taken pole in Friday’s Sprint Shootout, but expects a tighter contest in Grand Prix qualifying. “It’s a target, but for sure it will be a tough battle,” he said.

He put the difference down to the format: sprint qualifying offers limited opportunities on soft tyres, while the traditional session allows drivers to make multiple runs on the fastest compound. Verstappen believes that will bring his rivals closer to his pace. “So normally they get to fine-tune, and they get into a rhythm. And that naturally makes it more difficult,” he concluded.