Max Verstappen calls for Red Bull investigation into ongoing weakness after Singapore pole
Max Verstappen took pole position, but remains wary of getting off the line.
Max Verstappen has called on Red Bull to work out why race starts continue to be a weak point for the team after taking pole for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen pipped Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to top spot in qualifying in Marina Bay, with the Red Bull driver becoming only the fifth person in history to take 50 pole positions.
Max Verstappen calls on Red Bull to understand ‘terrible start’ issue
Earlier in the day, starting from Sprint pole in Singapore, Verstappen was quickly overhauled by George Russell heading into the first corner.
While the Mercedes driver crashed at the end of the first lap, clearing the path for Verstappen to continue in the lead, the Dutchman was quick to point to race starts as an ongoing issue this season.
“Like always, it just doesn’t go off the line,” Verstappen said of his car in the post-Sprint press conference. “It just doesn’t. We don’t accelerate off the line.
“I hope we can be in that fight [for Grand Prix pole], but still, we need to still do a start afterwards.
“Up until now, we always have terrible starts, so we need to really understand what we’re doing wrong there.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Isack Hadjar, fell to his first Q1 exit of the season after a repeat of power unit issues left him unable to set a qualifying time in Singapore.
With a long night and day ahead before the Singapore Grand Prix, and only one practice session before the Sprint, Red Bull heads into the race with several unknowns.
And with track position so vital around Marina Bay Despite, a circuit on which overtaking is notoriously difficult, Verstappen emphasised the need to get to the bottom of his issues at race starts.
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“No-one really knows about the long runs because we didn’t really get to do any, but for me the most important part is more at the start,” he said after qualifying.
“We know that that’s not really been our strong area, so we need to work on that for tomorrow. Just trying to understand why it keeps going wrong first of all, and then try to just do a better job tomorrow.”
Leclerc will join Verstappen on the front row in Singapore, with Hamilton lining up alongside Kimi Antonelli on the second row ahead of an all-McLaren third row.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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