Max Verstappen explains his F1 Singapore GP start issue and the subsequent troubles he faced to end up only seventh in the end.
On a weekend where he had his first chance to clinch the 2022 F1 title, Red Bull’s Verstappen did not have the best of times which already started from Saturday onward. He had two pole laps taken away from him, one for a mistake and other due to lack of fuel.
He was forced to start from eighth as a result and it was a disaster already as he went into an anti-stall. He dropped to 12th as a result on a damp track which needed extra margin while passing his rivals. He was well into the points at one time but got stuck there.
The subsequent safety car and virtual safety car periods also didn’t help Verstappen as much. The last one saw him brake hard while trying to pass Lando Norris which damaged his tyres. He needed an extra stop which dropped to the bottom of the pile.
He climbed back up the order and got stuck behind the fighting duo of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. A mistake from the Brit allowed Verstappen to take the position and he eventually passed the German on the final lap to end up seventh.
It wasn’t the easiest of the grands prix for him and Verstappen admitted that he paid the price for his qualifying result. “I dropped the clutch and had anti-stall, so I need to analyse why that happened,” said the Dutchman. “Then, of course, you lose a lot of spots.
“From there onwards I tried to pass a few people, and some worked, but then you get stuck in a little bit of a train. Everyone has their tyres quite up to temperature, so it’s really hard to follow. We were a bit lucky the times when people had a few mistakes.
“We were in fifth, tried to go for fourth to pass Lando, and as soon as I got alongside him I braked, not even late, but I bottomed out, because I was struggling already a lot there with bottoming. I had to box again because of the massive vibrations, put new tyres on and came from last back into the points.
“It’s not where we want to be, but that already starts from qualifying. You put yourself in a spot like that, it can either work brilliantly and you can drive back to the front, or it’s just very frustrating like we had. Of course, it’s better than eighth, but it’s not what I’m here for, not with a car like that and not with what we showed in practice. [It was] incredibly messy,” summed up Verstappen, whose teammate Sergio Perez took the win.
Here’s how F1 Singapore GP panned out