Max Verstappen complained after a miscalculation by Red Bull – Dutchman deprived of first place

Verstappen didn’t want to believe it. Red Bull was finally running as it should, the world champions hit the corners in Singapore, and the path to number one looked clear – but an embarrassing mistake in the driving seat ruined everything.

“what the hell ?!” Verstappen shouted on the radio, “Why?! You incredible guys!” Red Bull later clarified that there simply wasn’t enough fuel in the tank – and so from eighth place on the grid, Verstappen’s road to an early title win in Sunday night race (from 2:00pm live on Eurosport.de) is further than previously.

Verstappen said: “It’s incredibly frustrating and it shouldn’t happen. It’s unacceptable. You fill the car for five laps and you want to drive six laps, the logic isn’t right.” Verstappen said he now had to “go to the hotel and close it” and quickly left the track.

Leclerc takes advantage of Red Bull’s slips

So Ferrari’s Leclerc snatched his ninth place of the season, on a drying track relegating Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez and world record champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes to second and third.

In order to be world champion for the second time with five races before the finish, Verstappen must win first. At the same time, Perez should not overtake fourth, and Leclerc should not overtake eighth.

It is already difficult to achieve victory alone. Verstappen has won several times in recent months after starting from behind. However, on a street circuit in Southeast Asia, such a catch-up race is much more complex than it is at regular racetracks.

Mick Schumacher will start from 13th place on his Singapore debut, as the Haas driver improved from session to session on a track that was still unknown to him, but was ultimately behind his teammate: Kevin Magnussen was ninth.

Red Bull stumbles in Singapore

However, Schumacher ended up ahead of Sebastian Vettel. The record winner from Singapore finished just 14th at Aston Martin in his last appearance in the city-state, he has won here five times and will end his F1 career at the end of the year.

Red Bull’s problems didn’t just start on Saturday during this potentially crucial weekend. The team spent a lot of time fiddling with the setup on Friday, so Verstappen’s training time was well short of the competition.

On Saturday, continued rain in Singapore led to very different conditions than before, and Verstappen gained momentum in qualifying and would have finished first.

However, the team cut the penultimate fast lap short as Verstappen threatened to crash into other cars. Another attempt was made, but Red Bull did not have enough fuel in the tank for this tactic: After qualifying, law enforcement must be able to take a large enough fuel sample, or else there will be a penalty. So the team thwarted this latest attempt, too.

(SID)