Max Verstappen revealed he experienced “zero” pleasure in the Singapore GP after finding himself having difficulty passing other cars.
Verstappen’s weekend took a turn for the worse in qualifying when he was forced to abandon a lap, which prevented him from setting a lap time that was fast enough for pole position owing to a shortage of fuel in his vehicle for an FIA sample after the session.
In the beginning, the Dutchman got off to a bad start, dropping from eighth to 12th on the grid, because his car’s anti-stall system hindered his getaway.
He was able to move up to fifth place but to overtake Lando Norris for fourth, he went wide at Turn 7 causing damage to his tires in the process as they locked under braking, and was then compelled to pit for another set, dropping him further down the standings.
Verstappen fought back to seventh place, passing Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton late in the race, but said the maneuvers had little effect on how he felt as he crossed the finish line.
When asked if he had any pleasure from the race, he replied: “Zero. This is not what I enjoy.”
However, Verstappen admitted to making a mistake after bottoming out under braking while trying to pass Norris.
He said: “I tried to go for a move on Lando but somehow I completely bottomed out as soon as I hit the brakes so the front wheels went in the air and I must have really locked up because I had massive flatspots. So I had to pit again and put new tyres on.
“I got back in the points, but it is of course not what we wanted and after yesterday [in qualifying] we cannot ask for miracles.”
Verstappen still has a chance to win the championship next weekend in Japan despite the blunder, so long as he defeats teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by eight and six points, respectively.
Verstappen did not, however, find any solace in the title situation. He said: “That is normally not the problem, I think we are still 104 in the lead, but it is just a very frustrating weekend,
“I can of course say it doesn’t matter, we have five races left and we have a big lead, but I want to have a good weekend every single time and we had a really terrible weekend. It started, of course, yesterday with the big f— up in qualifying.”
Verstappen disclosed that he left the circuit early and skipped a portion of his team’s debrief because he was so upset after qualifying.
