Verstappen reveals what Red Bull needed to bounce back after tough summer races

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

On the back of his race victories in Monza and Baku and a second-place in yesterday's qualifying session at Singapore, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen revealed what the Milton Keynes-based outfit needed to bounce back after tough summer races.

Despite his crash on Friday, Mercedes driver George Russell managed to bounce back on Saturday to secure pole position for the 16th running of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Starting alongside him on the front row will be Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, who yet again just missed out on the number one slot that still eludes him at this track.

Asked about the progress Red Bull have achieved over the last race weekends, Verstappen revealed that his RB21 has been easier to set up at the last three races.

"Absolutely. The last three weekends now have been really, really nice. I mean, up until that point, we were always throwing the set-up left and right because it was just not working.

"Sometimes you had a weekend where it was okay, but now, the last three weekends, it's been solid. We've just been fine-tuning, and that's exactly what you want throughout the weekend.

"Of course, some layouts will be a bit better for us, some probably a bit more difficult, but the basis of the car is a lot more solid, and I think that is what you need.

Pressed on to comment on his last qualifying lap when McLaren driver Lando Norris appeared to slightly distract him through the last corners of the lap, Verstappen added:" It was close. I mean, the lap itself was coming nicely. But, again, around here to nail all the corners is very tough. Unfortunately, I had a car, like, two seconds in front of me in the final chicane.

"So in qualifying, you cannot have that. You cannot have any kind of disturbance when you want to push in Q3, and that's what happened. I had to abort the lap because of that. So that was a bit unfortunate. Otherwise, I think it would have been a very close battle for first, but it is what it is.

"Nothing you can do about that. So you just move forward. I think for us so far this weekend has again been a very solid one. No major trouble. We were always kind of there, and I guess that’s good. So that is, of course, for us very promising."