Verstappen: Car wasn't where we wanted, a mystery what went wrong

Verstappen and Red Bull Racing showed their intent of going on the attack at the start of the race in Singapore by starting the race on the Soft compounds.

But the four-time Formula 1 Champion did not have a decent start on the dirty side of the grid, and the Soft tyres ended up being a tool for defense from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri rather than for attacking George Russell, who started from pole.

Later on, Verstappen had to deal with car issues, which meant the best he could do was defend from Norris, protecting his second place, a decent result given the circumstances.

"We had a difficult start to the race, having little grip on our side of the grid," Verstappen reflected. "We opted for the Soft compound for a better launch and to try and get to P1, but it didn't happen for us unfortunately.

"The car wasn't where we wanted in terms of the setup, and it isn't a mystery what went wrong but just need to analyze this later.

"The biggest problems were the downshifts and upshifts: this was giving me a lot of pushing in the braking, which is not what you want on a street circuit, and it was not easy to drive around the track.

"However, it didn't matter as, even if the balance was perfect, it is hard to pass round here, so I think second is the best result we could have achieved. I think my tyres were older for the final stint, so it was difficult to manage, but we were able to keep Lando behind, which is what mattered," the Dutchman explained.

While Verstappen did not grab pole or win in Singapore, the performance of his RB21 on a high downforce track with low-speed corners proved that Red Bull have now turned a corner with their once-troublesome car.

"Overall, we can still be very satisfied with the weekend. Singapore is not our favorite layout, and we maximized our result today," the Dutchman said. "We do understand the car a lot better; we have definitely improved in the last few races.

"We just need to analyze, and hopefully next weekend we can do a little better," he concluded.

Red Bull Racing boss Lauren Mekies hailed another great drive by Verstappen and said: "Max had a very strong race and was quick enough today to stay in contact with George and hold off the McLarens.

"We tried everything we could to win the race; we started on the Soft tyre to try our best chance at the start when the conditions were tricky," he added, referring to the team's tyre strategy. "It was an aggressive decision and a risk we chose to take.

"After that there was very little possibility to do anything else with the race. It was very tough out there, and, after pitting early, Max did an amazing job defending from McLaren to keep the car in second place.

"It is good to be fighting at the front today; that's a huge testament to all the hard work that has and is being done back at Milton Keynes and at track.

"Having increased performance on a track like this gives us confidence that we will be able to fight better at other circuits, and it is a good indication of the progress we have made," the Frenchman concluded.

Verstappen remains third in the 2025 F1 Drivers' Championship, 63 points behind leader Oscar Piastri. He is 41 points behind second-placed Norris.