Verstappen urges Red Bull to tackle recurring start problems

In comments ahead of Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, Max Verstappen said Red Bull first needed to understand why its starts kept going wrong, then try to do a better job. He said the start mattered more to him than long-run pace.

Verstappen said Red Bull had too little long-run data for anyone to judge its race pace. The team's poor starts have dogged it for much of the 2026 campaign.

Another sluggish getaway in the sprint did not prevent Verstappen from winning by more than two seconds over Lewis Hamilton, with Charles Leclerc completing the podium. Verstappen then took pole for Sunday's Grand Prix by 0.054 seconds from Leclerc, with Hamilton third and Kimi Antonelli fourth.