Despite having his lead in the 2024 World Drivers’ Championship further cut to 51 points, Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen described his second-place finish at the Singapore Grand Prix as a “good achievement”, especially as he had expected to struggle around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, as he had in previous years.
Verstappen started Sunday’s Grand Prix race in second position, having been out-qualified by McLaren’s Lando Norris. However, despite a strong starting performance which saw him keep ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen could not compete with Norris who quickly built up a significant lead at the front of the field. While Verstappen would end the race more than 20 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Oscar Piastri, also of McLaren, he could not catch up to Norris himself, eventually crossing the line just under twenty-one seconds behind the Briton.
While speaking during his trackside interview, Verstappen admitted that his race had been somewhat lonely due to the distances between himself and the drivers ahead of and behind him. He stated that, despite the lack of action between himself and other drivers, he had spent the race trying to maximise his performance while managing his pace, especially in the later stages of the race.
“Yeah, I think that’s pretty much my race, just by myself. Trying to do the best I could, trying to manage my own pace to the end.”
He expressed that his race had been “a bit difficult”, particularly in the first stint due to the degradation of his medium types but stated that his second stint on the hard tyres has been more comfortable.
“I think the first stint was a bit difficult for us, quite a bit of tyre degradation. Second stint was a bit better. I was a bit more comfortable as well.”
The Red Bull driver, who returned to the podium for the first time since his home race in Zandvoort in late August 2024, described his second-place finish as “a good achievement”, especially as Red Bull had expected to struggle around the Marina Bay Circuit, as they had in previous years. Despite their achievement, however, Verstappen admitted that the team was not happy at having been unable to win, and stated that the Milton Keynes-based team would continue to try to improve to maximise their results in the season’s six remaining races.
“So, yeah, I think on a weekend where we knew that we were going to struggle to be P2 is a good achievement.”
“Of course, we’re not happy with second. Now we just have to try and improve more and more, and that’s what we’ll try to do.”
Verstappen also acknowledged that his lead in the Drivers’ Championship had been cut into for the third race weekend in a row but stated that he would have to “see how that goes” due to the potential for significant changes due to the unpredictable nature of races. He added that he was aiming to work towards overturning Norris’ gains but admitted uncertainty over his chances of doing so.
“Yeah, it is, but this also can change very quickly again, so we just need to keep on trying, of course, at one point try to overturn it a bit, you know, not always finishing behind, but we’ll see how that goes.”
Verstappen further discussed his race during the FIA post-race press conference. However, as in Saturday’s post-qualifying press conference, he opted to keep his answers short – a continuation of his protest against the penalty handed down to him on Friday by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) as punishment for language that he had used during Thursday’s Driver Press Conference.
When asked about the positives that he could take from his second-place finish, despite having had his lead in the Drivers’ Championship further reduced, Verstappen highlighted the improvements by the team throughout the weekend, especially given the team’s historical difficulties around the Singapore circuit and reiterated his contentment with his final result.
“Compared to the start of the weekend, we improved quite nicely. I think that’s been great for us as a team. On a track that we know we’re not performing normally the best. I’m happy with second today.”
When asked later on whether he believed that Red Bull’s struggles on Friday had been a result of challenges with the set-up of his RB20, given that set-ups used in previous years had resulted in the car struggling with the curbs and bumps of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the Red Bull driver, claimed that it was difficult to be certain but stated that the turnaround in their performance could potentially give the team some ideas for future races.
“It’s always difficult to say if it’s too much or not. It was a different direction. That maybe gives us some ideas for the future. It was a big turnaround, but biggest or I don’t know. It’s always difficult to say.”
He added that he felt that his RB20 had performed its best during the final laps of the race. However, he acknowledged that, overall, his race had been a “lonely” one.
“I would say the end of the last few laps. I think it was feeling a little bit better. But yeah, overall, quite a lonely race for me.”
Verstappen also addressed Visa Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo’s late pit stop which allowed him to set the fastest lap time of the race in the 60th lap, denying Norris the additional point that he would have been awarded had Ricciardo not been able to set this time.
While this move was seen by some as Ricciardo helping Verstappen’s title fight, given the shared ownership of their respective teams, the Red Bull driver only stated that the decision to set the fastest lap had been Ricciardo’s and his team’s and refused to comment on any potential benefit that he would have received as a result or on the relationship between Red Bull and VCARB.
“Yeah, I mean, everyone can decide when they want to do a fast lap or not. Yeah.”
The Red Bull driver praised Norris for his “great race” and stated that while he had joked about Norris lapping him in the cool-down room, he had not been surprised by his pace, especially after his strong performances during the weekend’s practice and qualifying sessions.
“Of course, that was a joke, but I’m not surprised.
“I mean, I think Lando drove a great race, and he had a great weekend, that’s for sure.”
He added: “Yeah, time will tell, right. All right,” when asked if he expected the championship fight to continue into the final race of the season and highlighted that based on recent trends in their performance, he expected to struggle more on the street circuit of Las Vegas than on non-street circuits.
“Probably street circuits we’ll struggle more, normal tracks a little bit less,” he said when asked where he expected Red Bull to be able to be more able to fight for podium finishes.
When asked about the planned upgrades for the RB20 and the impact that they needed to have to be able to increase the pressure on both Norris and McLaren, Verstappen stated that the team would continue to analyse their performance to the improvements needed for a stronger showing in Austin and in the season’s remaining races.
“We always want to do better, and we’ll analyse a lot and hopefully we’ll come out stronger in Austin and from there onwards more.”
Despite being unable to realistically compete for the win in Singapore, Verstappen reiterated that he was “pretty pleased” with the team’s recent improvements but again highlighted that the team still needed to do “a lot of work” ahead of the remaining six races. He stated that the team would focus on their performance as a quick car would increase their chances of winning both championships.
“Yeah, pretty pleased, but still a lot of work to do. We know that. Hopefully, now we can really kickstart things.
“We focus on performance. If the car is quick, then naturally both championships are easier to get.”
Despite having given only short, mostly vague answers during the press conference, Verstappen again agreed to speak to the media after its conclusion.
“It’s been a long day, yeah,” he replied when asked if he would prefer to comment more extensively in another setting.
