Max Verstappen made no excuses as he accepted Red Bull was simply “too slow” in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.
On a circuit where his team was expected to shine, the Dutchman was only fourth fastest and seven-tenths off the pole time set unexpectedly by Charles Leclerc.
For Max, that gap was down to the usual qualifying criteria and also just a basic lack of grip.
“From my side, I think already the whole qualifying we were just lacking pace,” Verstappen stated. “I was not too surprised and in Q3 when everything gets turned up then you lack even more.
“From my side, I think the car felt alright but there was just not enough grip. I wanted to go faster but had all four wheels sliding.
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“It’s always difficult to say [if we had a chance for pole],” he added. “On Friday people try different things and here many things can change from one day to another.
“I’m a little bit surprised that after a positive Monza, where normally we are very slow, then you would expect to be really competitive here but we weren’t. Something to look into.”
Normally, Red Bull is stronger over a race distance than it is in qualifying, but that brought little comfort to Verstappen.
“I don’t know,” he said on his expectation. “We are too slow but we will see tomorrow.”