Max Verstappen was forced to abort his final flying lap in Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix by his Oracle Red Bull Racing engineers after they detected that he would run out of fuel should be complete it.
The Dutchman driver was ultimately forced to settle for eighth on the grid at the Marina Bay Street Circuit having already aborted a couple of laps prior to the final one, and he admitted he should have completed at least one of those laps that could have seen him higher up the grid.
Had Verstappen run out of fuel, he would not have had the mandatory one kilogram of fuel needed for a sample by the stewards, and he risked disqualification had he gone on.
“We couldn’t finish the push lap today because we wouldn’t have had enough fuel in the car, it was a mistake that we didn’t see coming throughout the session,” said Verstappen. “We were a little surprised by the additional lap at the end, we didn’t expect to have to do that.
“I was on for a good lap when I aborted before starting the last lap, it might have been pole. In hindsight we should have finished the penultimate lap, instead I had to abort two laps, but hindsight is a great thing.”
Verstappen does not believe it will be easy to make gains on Sunday, but he will be doing everything he can to fight for the podium places.
“We’ll see what we can do tomorrow but I think it will be a frustrating race, starting eighth around here is similar to Monaco, there aren’t many overtaking opportunities and it’s really hard to pass,” he added.
“I think we have done a solid job today” – Sergio Pérez
Team-mate Sergio Pérez felt his Red Bull team made great calls during Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday, and he rewarded them by putting his RB18 onto the front row of the grid.
The Mexican came into Saturday with limited knowledge after a difficult Friday, but he did a great job in Qualifying to qualify second, although he was disappointed to be as close to Charles Leclerc’s pole setting time.
“I think we have done a solid job today, the Team made great calls and we managed to get an excellent result in the end,” said Pérez. “I am a bit disappointed to be so close to Charles on such a long lap because it makes you think I could have done better in so many places but at the same time it was so tricky out there with the conditions.
“It was our worst Friday of the season yesterday; we didn’t have any mileage and we had issues with set-up too, so we didn’t have a read on things, but we went back over things and have come out strong.”
Pérez says he will be doing everything he can to fight for the victory on Sunday, and he knows the start will be all-important if he is to get ahead of Scuderia Ferrari’s Leclerc.
“I will try everything I possibly can to win tomorrow, I think the start will be very important so I will try everything but if that doesn’t work, I have 61 laps more, then it is a long race ahead, let’s see what happens,” the Mexican said.
