Max Verstappen escapes a penalty; team principal Laurent Mekies calls for respect

Max Verstappen picked up in Singapore where he left off in Malaysia – at the top. The 29-year-old Dutchman has secured his eleventh Sprint pole in the premier class (see the full list below), much to the delight of his team principal Laurent Mekies. It is Max’s first sprint pole in around a year (Austin 2025).

The 49-year-old Frenchman had this to say about his star driver’s performance: “We’re delighted, because in the only free practice session it didn’t look at all like we’d set the fastest time. To be honest, we struggled a lot with both cars. The cars didn’t handle the bumps well, and the car balance left a lot to be desired.”

“Between the free practice session and the Sprint qualifying, Max and his engineers were then able to draw the right conclusions to be more competitive in the final practice session for the short race. I wouldn’t say his car is perfect now, but it was quick enough for the fastest time.”

“We’ve still got a very long weekend ahead of us, but it’s good for everyone in the team to see one of their cars right up there.”

In the meantime, there was some commotion in the RBR pit regarding Max Verstappen’s car, specifically before SQ3, when lead engineer Paul Monaghan became rather nervous. Mekies confirmed: “Yes, there were problems with the car; something wasn’t quite right with the overtake mode, which affected a few cars going up and down the pit lane. And Isack had a different problem, so he didn’t have a good final run.”

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“Max Verstappen deserves enormous respect for this pole, because we can see what the car is capable of. When I say the car isn’t quite set up perfectly yet, that also means, by extension, that we have even more potential.”