Max Verstappen finds mirror-image hope after strong Singapore GP start

Max Verstappen has praised Red Bull's strong start to the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, suggesting it mirrored the opening days at the last two races in Italy and Azerbaijan.

Verstappen enters the Singapore event in a hot run of form after his victories at Monza and Baku.

They have led to the four-time F1 champion being placed in the conversation as a late title contender, albeit as an outside bet behind the McLaren duo of championship leader Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

The Dutchman ended the second practice session in Singapore third on the timesheet, just over one-tenth down on pace-setter Piastri.

“FP1 started quite nicely, just getting up to speed with things,” Verstappen reflected. “But the car was not too bad.

“It was a bit like the last two weekends, where there were no major problems.

“In FP2, there were a few things that we tried, some good [things], so we just need to try and optimise that a bit more.

“Overall, quite satisfying. Definitely need a bit more pace to fight up at the front tomorrow.”

While Verstappen is one of the most successful drivers in F1 history, the 28-year-old's record in Singapore is not the best.

In eight attempts, Verstappen has yet to score a win. It is the only track currently on the F1 calendar at which he has yet to take the chequered flag.

As he looks to add the venue to his list of successes, Verstappen asserted it is too early to know if he is in contention for the victory on Sunday.

“Still, a few things that we want to do better, but it's not like we need to turn around the setup completely,” he said. 

“So that is a good thing. We'll see [on Saturday]. Is it going to be good enough to fight up front? I don't know.

“I always find FP2 is a bit difficult to [judge] with people running [different] engine modes, top speed-wise. We’ll see in qualifying.”