Red Bull have “improved a lot over the last few races,” claims Verstappen

Having finished the Singapore Grand Prix in second place, reigning champion Max Verstappen has been left to praise Red Bull for having “improved a lot over the last few races.”

Starting from second place on the starting grid, Max Verstappen opted for a soft tyre start. Despite the grip advantage, he was unable to pass George Russell, and he was forced to manage his red-walled tyres in the opening stages of the race.

The Dutchman was constantly dropping back from Russell on the opening laps, and had to defend from McLaren driver Lando Norris behind, especially in the second stint on the hard tyre after pitting seven laps earlier than the McLaren man.

On top of that, the reigning champion also encountered some downshifting issues, but he defended superbly to hold onto second to the flag.

Asked to assess the step forward that Red Bull has taken this weekend with the car, Verstappen confirmed the general sentiment that the Milton Keynes-based outfit look much more competitive than in the summer races.

“I think over the last few races we’ve definitely improved a lot. A few things that we have done throughout the weekend, that’s what we have to probably look at again for the coming races.

“But it’s nothing shocking or that we are lost about why maybe some pace has disappeared compared to what we would have liked.“It’s just some stuff that we need to analyse, and hopefully next weekend we can do a little bit better,” said Verstappen.

Verstappen opted to start the 62-lap Singapore race on Pirelli’s soft tyres in the hope that he could overtake George Russell at the start. However, the inside line on the main straight looked to offer less grip than the racing line, and Verstappen was unable to benefit from the grip advantage of the red-walled tyres.

“The track only just got dry [before the start], and starting on the dirty side of the grid… Yeah, well, we just opted to try something different because normally, if you just cross or pass Turn 1, you just stay there without anything crazy.

“So we tried. It didn’t really work out. So, then the first stint was always about just surviving on the tyres, trying to make it long enough to then pit for the Hard tyre.

“I think that worked out, but unfortunately, I think the whole race was quite difficult — more difficult than I hoped — for a lot of different reasons, let’s say it like that. So a few things we need to understand, why these things went wrong today.

“But even then, around here, even if you have more pace, you can’t pass without anything crazy happening. So I think, for us, second was the maximum result,” Verstappen said.

F1GP Singaporeprevious