Dutch teenager Max Verstappen had a difficult weekend in Singapore, suffering once more from a poor start that put his race in jeopardy.
The young Red Bull Racing driver has recently had a poor run of form when it comes to starts, and has lost places in the last three Grand Prix’. Verstappen commented that:
“I had a bad start, it wasn’t as bad as Monza but it wasn’t good, which is disappointing. I had a lot of wheel spin and then with [Nico] Hulkenberg spinning in front of me, I had to brake even more which compromised my whole start.”
The bad luck did not stop there for the driver, who ended up getting stuck in traffic, which significantly hindered his race from that point on:
“I got stuck behind slower cars in front of me and after three or four laps you lose the advantage and it completely destroys the tyres.”
However, it wasn’t all bad news, as the young driver was able to race hard from that point on in the race, especially with the likes of Daniil Kvyat, who he replaced at Red Bull earlier this year.
“I had some pretty intense battles which I enjoy but it’s tricky to pass here, so you do get a bit stuck. Dani and I fought quite hard, but we didn’t touch so that’s always a positive. I like overtaking, but I wasn’t fighting for a position that I would have liked so it’s not as much fun.”
Looking forwards, Verstappen knows that to have a good race in Malaysia in two weeks time, he will have to sort his issues with starting out:
“We have to try and do better in Malaysia, but first we have to focus on getting the start where we’d like it to be.”
