Max Verstappen on his next challenge: “I’m going to need a new spine”

The Verstappen Express is back on track. Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing are unbeaten in this Formula 1 October. The four-time world champion was in a class of his own at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and picked up in Singapore exactly where he left off in Sepang – at the top.

Verstappen has now secured three consecutive Formula 1 victories – two Grands Prix and one Sprint – and has stormed away from pole position three times in a row.

This superb form comes too late for the 2026 World Championship title, but Max has already moved up to fourth in the standings, overtaking Norris and Leclerc; and with 221 points, Verstappen is now not far behind Russell (238) and Hamilton (229).

So second place in the World Championship, just like in 2025, is well within Max’s reach – who would have thought that after such a disappointing start to the season?

Max Verstappen after his 73rd Grand Prix victory (his first in Singapore): “The start was critical, and it was just good enough. But once again, something wasn’t quite right as I pulled away, so I need to work out what went wrong there. Before I let the clutch out, it didn’t feel right. Fortunately, it was enough to hold off Charles in the first corner.”

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“Then I had difficulties with the power delivery from the electric motor; Charles almost caught me in Turn 7. Once we’d sorted out those issues, it was fine.”

“The car was really gentle on the tyres. I was able to manage the tyres well. I’ve rarely driven at the front in Singapore – so not in the slipstream of my rivals – which was nice.”

“A fantastic weekend for us. We were quick on the soft tyres, and we were fine on the medium tyres.”

“Under the virtual safety car, Charles did the right thing by pitting and switching back to soft tyres. But yes, we had it under control anyway. I’m very happy that I’ve finally managed to win here for the first time.”

It was noticeable: the Red Bull Racing team had major problems with the radio. Some of what came back from Max was incomprehensible. Verstappen grins: “Maybe the guys in the pits were actually quite glad it wasn’t working! That way, I really couldn’t say anything. At some point we tried communicating differently, and I think they understood what I meant. But that sort of thing is never nice. I’ve had difficulties with my radio all season, and this weekend was particularly bad.”

The RBR solution: to answer ‘yes’ to a question from race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen was to press the radio button – even if all that could be heard was gibberish – whilst to answer ‘no’, he was to do nothing at all. That worked quite well.

So what does the future hold for Verstappen and Red Bull Racing in the upcoming races? The Dutchman says: “We’ve taken a really nice step forward with our car. It’s become more user-friendly, and the handling is more predictable. That’s what I want from the car and what I need to compete at the front. And I hope we can carry this momentum into the next few races.”

“I’m no longer in the running for the World Championship title; Kimi is miles ahead in that regard. For me personally, it doesn’t matter whether I finish second, third or fourth at the end of the season. I just want to have fun and make the most of each day.”

Do the good results in October mean things will continue in the same vein in Texas? Max says: “It’s very difficult to say, and I don’t want to go and announce now that I’ll be right up there in Austin. But the last few weekends have been brilliant. I’m just taking it one race at a time, and when we’re in Texas, we’ll see how it goes there.”

“That’s another completely different track. From what I’ve seen of the World Endurance Championship, the track is incredibly bumpy. I’ll probably need a new spine.”

“And then off to Mexico, at an unusual altitude; it’ll all heat up, and we’ll have to see how our engine performs in those conditions, how the car behaves, because everything’s completely different there.”