After his chances of clinching the world title at the Marina Bay Street Circuit evaporated with a string of errors, Max Verstappen was left regretting a “very untidy” weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix.
On the weekend of his 25th birthday, Verstappen traveled to Singapore with a winning streak of five straight races under his belt and faint but not entirely irrational aspirations of clinching the championship.
A fuel shortage error by Red Bull in qualifying, however, caused him to drop from what would have been a likely pole position start to eighth on the grid. Mistakes of his own then destroyed any aspirations of a podium finish as he finished seventh in the race.
At the end of the opening lap, Verstappen had dropped four positions due to a near-stall on the starting grid.
Fernando Alonso’s withdrawal due to an engine issue caused the Dutchman to fall to sixth, but he immediately recovered and climbed to seventh before being held up.
During the subsequent set of pit stops, he would move up a position, but at the restart following the final of the race’s five safety car (three virtual) interventions, he would make an ill-advised attempt to pass Lando Norris.
He ran into the escape route and flat-spotted his tires as a result of a significant lock-up, and he then had to pit again.
With George Russell finishing last among the qualified finishers after starting from the pit lane and taking a risk by putting on slick tires before the circuit was fit for them, Hamilton’s problems were part of a very poor weekend for Mercedes.
Due to the disappointing outcome, Ferrari tightened their hold on second place in the constructors’ standings, establishing a 66-point advantage to offset Mercedes’ recent improvements.