Max Verstappen believes that his chance to win the Singapore Grand Prix has disappeared with his start and that even a better car would have made no difference.
The defending champion started on soft tires compared to the media used by the rest of the top seven, but did not succeed in getting a position of the line and had to settle in second place. While the race unfolded, Verstappen regularly complained about the balance of his car and how difficult it was to drive, although he did not believe that it cost him the victory.
After Race winner George Russell stated that he thought Verstappen would be overcome if he took the lead at the beginningVerstappen added: “Yes, I think so too.
“It is just super difficult to go around here, but I did not take the lead at turn 1. We knew that the inside was just a lot worse for starting performance. For whatever reason, it took a step back, even compared to last year, so it is a bit of a shame.
“I already knew yesterday that it would be very difficult to even maintain the position on the same tires. Of course with the [chance of] Also rain, we chose to go for the soft, just hoping that we could first keep our position and perhaps have a chance to fight for P1 in turn 1. But as soon as I had not achieved that, it was a right management race, who kept those soft ties alive long enough to take it to an acceptable round to stop.
“Then I knew that even on a hard tire it was still a long way to go. I think my tires were six or seven laps older than those of George and Lando [Norris] more or less. So yes, it wasn’t easy outside of it. Plus the entire racing I struggled a lot with shifting – switching back and ascending – so that didn’t help. And the balance was probably not where I wanted it.
“So I think the second was just the maximum that we could do today. But at the same time, even if the balance would have been better for miles, the second was still the best we could have done if we would have stayed in P2 in turn 1. That’s just how things are going here. If nothing crazy happens with a security car or a chance, that is just your position.”
Despite the fact that he had hoped that his car would be more compliant during the race in Singapore, given recent winnings, Verstappen says that he is not too worried that he was confronted with treatment problems.
“I think we have certainly improved a lot in the last few races. A few things we have done all weekend, that is what we probably have to look at for the coming races. But it is nothing shocking or that we have lost why there might have disappeared a pace compared to what we want.
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