Verstappen: ‘This is not what I enjoy’

SINGAPORE — Max Verstappen said he took “zero” enjoyment from Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix after he found himself struggling to carve through the field.

Verstappen’s weekend went awry in qualifying when he was forced to abort a lap that was comfortably fast enough for pole position due to a lack of fuel in his car for an FIA sample after the session.

The championship leader lined up in eighth on the grid but dropped to 12th at the start when his car’s anti-stall system hampered his getaway.

He managed to recover to fifth place, but ran wide at Turn 7 attempting to pass McLaren’s Lando Norris for fourth. He damaged his tyres in the process as they locked under braking and was then forced to pit for a new set, dropping him further down the order.

Verstappen battled back to seventh, including late-race overtakes on Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, but said the moves did nothing to improve his mood when he crossed the line.

“Zero,” he said when asked if he took any enjoyment from Sunday’s race. “This is not what I enjoy.”

Verstappen said he made the mistake after bottoming out under braking as he attempted to pass Norris.

“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.”

Despite the mistake, Verstappen still has shot at winning the title next weekend in Japan providing he beats Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by eight points and teammate Sergio Perez by six points. But, again, Verstappen took little comfort from the championship situation.

“That is normally not the problem, I think we are still 104 in the lead, but it is just a very frustrating weekend,” he said.

“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 revealed he was so frustrated after qualifying that he left the circuit early and skipped part of his debrief with the team.

“I wasn’t in the mood to talk,” he explained. “It’s not about making a statement, it is just how I feel. It wouldn’t have been much use to talk.”