Max Verstappen took advantage of the safety car to make up the ground he lost by stalling at the start to claim eighth place and four world championship points in Singapore.
The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver thought he had blown his opportunity for points by stalling, but once the safety car had enabled him to catch up with the field, he made some more good overtakes to amazingly finish inside the points.
“It was an amazing race, I enjoyed it a lot!” revealed Verstappen. “After stalling at the start I thought it was over, as I was pushed to the pit-lane and then re-joined the race one lap behind.
“But I just kept on pushing and to finish P8 is just fantastic! My pace was great and once again I really enjoyed all the overtaking!”
Verstappen rejected the call from the pit wall to allow team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr through on the final lap to see if he could pass Sergio Perez, feeling he had earned the eighth place finish.
“I don’t think there was any reason for me to give up my position after going from being one lap behind to being back in the points,” said Verstappen. “I think I deserved that P8.”
