Max Verstappen delivers Red Bull clear weakness message: 'We need to work on that'

Max Verstappen has called on Red Bull to "work on" its recurring poor starts after another sluggish getaway undermined his Sprint win in Singapore, despite the Dutchman going on to claim pole for Sunday's grand prix at Marina Bay.

Verstappen converted a dominant sprint performance into victory, crossing the line more than two seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc completing the podium. 

But the win papered over another shaky launch from the Red Bull driver, continuing a pattern that has dogged the Milton Keynes-based team for much of the 2026 campaign.

The four-time champion remained strong in qualifying to take pole position by just 0.054 seconds from Leclerc, with Hamilton third and Kimi Antonelli fourth for Mercedes. 

Asked about his pole lap, Verstappen was pleased with the outcome.

"It was nice, yeah," said Verstappen. "It's always good to be on pole position.

"I think the whole weekend already we've had a strong car, so I knew it was going to be a tight battle, and I think you could see that throughout qualifying. But yeah, of course, nice to be first."

Max Verstappen eager for Red Bull launch improvement

Turning to Red Bull's long-standing launch issues, Verstappen admitted the team has little data to lean on heading into Sunday, with race pace taking a back seat to a more pressing concern.

Asked about Red Bull's long run pace, Verstappen replied: "I think no one really knows about the long runs because we didn't really get to do any.

"But for me, the most important part is more the start. We know that that's not really been our strong area, so we need to work on that."

Discussing what can be done to solve the start problem, the Red Bull driver added: "Just trying to understand why it keeps going wrong, first of all, and then try to just do a better job."