Max Verstappen has described his first F1 victory in Singapore as a “really special” achievement.
Having failed to win around the streets of Marina Bay, Singapore in his first nine visits as a F1 driver, Verstappen dominated both the sprint and Grand Prix to clinch victories on his 10th trip there on his 250th race weekend in the category.
The results also marked three consecutive wins for Verstappen in all race formats this season after he took his first win of the campaign at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia, and the 29-year-old is proud to have broken his Singaporean hoodoo.
“It’s an amazing feeling to finally win here in Singapore. We’ve raced here many times and there have been a few missed opportunities, so to finally stand on the top step is really special.”
Verstappen also praised Red Bull for giving him a strong car to showcase his ability after recent improvements, and in particular praised Gianpiero Lambiase for handling his team radio communications issue with confidence and trust.
“The car has been working well all weekend and I’ve felt really comfortable. We had strong pace throughout the race and although I had to push at times to maintain the gap, once I was in clean air I could really get into a rhythm.
“We had a few issues to manage, including the radio not working, but GP did a great job and seemed to know what I wanted to ask him most of the time!
“It’s been an incredible weekend and really nice to share another win with him and the Team.”
Although Verstappen now sits 17 points off second-placed George Russell in the race for the vice-champion honour, he isn’t getting drawn on that topic as he explained that his priority is to just enjoy himself for the rest of this season and continue the form.
“Now, we’re just taking it race by race and trying to maximise every opportunity. The most important thing is that we keep having fun, and hopefully we can carry this momentum as a Team into the next few races. Austin is a very different circuit, and a very bumpy one, so we’ll see how we get on when we arrive there.”