Max Verstappen Warns Red Bull Over Starting Problems

Max Verstappen has sent a clear message to Red Bull after another poor start threatened to undermine his performance at the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.

Although the Dutchman won the sprint race and secured pole position for the Grand Prix at Marina Bay, he remains concerned about the team’s repeated difficulties at the start. The issue has affected Red Bull throughout much of the season.

Verstappen finished the sprint more than two seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but the victory did little to hide the weakness that continues to trouble the Milton Keynes-based team.

The four-time world champion then delivered another impressive performance in qualifying, taking pole position by just 0.054 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Speaking after securing the top spot on the grid, Verstappen praised the car’s overall performance but admitted that the team still had important questions to answer.

“It was nice, yes. It’s always nice to start from pole position. I think we’ve had a strong car throughout the weekend, so I knew the battle would be very close, which was also clear during qualifying. But it’s great to be at the top.”

However, Verstappen was less confident about the team’s race pace over longer runs, explaining that there had been little opportunity to assess it properly.

“I think nobody knows what our real pace is over a long run because, in practice, we never really managed to complete one. But for me, the most important thing is the start. We know that this isn’t our strong point, so we definitely need to work on it.”

The Dutchman made it clear that Red Bull must first identify the cause of the repeated mistakes before finding a solution.

“First, we need to try to understand why we keep getting it wrong, and then simply do a better job.”

Despite these concerns, Verstappen headed into the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position, aiming to turn his strong qualifying performance into another important victory.