Max Verstappen believes he and Red Bull suffered a “worst case scenario” with the timing of the Safety Car period during Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen started from only 11th position amid weekend-long struggles with the performance of the RB19 but swiftly climbed into the top 10.
Verstappen ran Hard tyres during the first stint of the grand prix while the front-runners – bar Soft-clad Charles Leclerc – all used the Medium compound to run a conventional one-stop approach.
The timing of the Safety Car period, caused by Logan Sargeant hitting the wall at Turn 8, allowed the front-runners to make their pit stop and discard their starting tyres for a fresh set of Hards.
Verstappen stayed out and while he inherited second spot he was swiftly overhauled by those on fresher tyres and made his pit stop at full racing speed, dropping to 14th spot.
Verstappen recovered across the rest of the race to move into fifth spot and finished just three-tenths of a second behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
“Everything went against us as well in the race with the Safety Cars, so it was possibly also the worst case scenario,” said Verstappen.
“I really think if the Safety Cars worked out a little bit more in our favour, I would’ve been fighting with the guys at the front. Especially with the last stint that was quite easy.
“It [the Safety Car] was exactly the wrong time and the wrong point.”
The result snapped Verstappen’s win streak after 10 victories on the bounce and fifth marked his worst finish of the campaign.
“Everything needs to be perfect,” he said. “Everyone is always saying, ‘ah look how dominant they are and look how easy it is’, but you know it is never easy and a lot of details that we need to get right.
“This weekend clearly we didn’t get a few things right and then you are on the backfoot.”
