Max Verstappen demands Red Bull fix after latest 'horrendous' situation

Max Verstappen has called on Red Bull to correct the "horrendous" starts he continues to encounter following his sprint victory ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Starts have continually been an issue for Red Bull this season, underlined last weekend in wet conditions at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, and again on a wet track for the start of the sprint at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

In Malaysia, polesitter Verstappen was swallowed up by Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli; in Singapore, again from pole, the four-time F1 champion was passed on the short run-down to Turn 1 by Russell.

The Briton then crashed out of the sprint at the end of the opening lap, handing the lead, and eventually the win, to Verstappen.

Reflecting on his race, Verstappen said: "The start was horrendous again, so that's definitely something we need to improve on because if that happens tomorrow, that's the race over, if nothing crazy happens, so not ideal.

"We then got a bit lucky with what happened with George out of the last corner, and after that, you just want to keep it calm and under control because you know you can't pass around here, especially in conditions like this with the intermediates.

"So I just tried to bring it home. I'm quite happy to win here in the sprint, but I want to win tomorrow, not today."

Verstappen has now won on every grand prix circuit on which he has competed, but he naturally dismissed his sprint win.

"I want to win tomorrow," he said. "I don't see this as a win, in terms of winning a grand prix, so we need to have a good qualifying.

"It will be very close with a lot of cars, so we need to make sure we are the best one out of them, but hopefully a good battle."