Max Verstappen finishes P8 after early engine stall and pit lane restart - Singapore 2015

[u/anthn885]

https://streamain.com/en/2QxlBl4enN7arzq/watch

[u/Kaggles_N533PA]

Weird to think rookie Max finished P8 after an engine stall and pitlane restart in Singapore. If we consider he finished P5 in 2023 Singapore GP. The year Max won 19 of 22 races

[u/queerhedgehog → u/Kaggles_N533PA]

Agreed! But it’s not that he’s bad in Singapore, he’s just had some bad luck there on top of the recent versions of the Red Bull not being suited to it well at all. In 2022 he had a fuel issue in quali, in 2023 he got screwed a bit by safety car timings, last year he did very well there but the McLaren was just too good.

[u/rhitzz2198 → u/queerhedgehog]

He'd have won the race in '22 if not for that fuel issue. I was there, and he was on a blistering lap, pole was right there. And the next day it rained so much that it became a shortened race. So yeah, chances are high he'd have won through all of that. And I would've witnessed one of my favs win at my absolute favourite track for the first time. Instead I got to see The King of "some" Streets win it 🥲. But hey, still a Redbull win ig...

[u/Kingslayer1526 → u/rhitzz2198]

What a lucky bastard you are, got to see Checo win in one of his greatest performances ever and a fantastic race in general

If Max won, it would just be 1 of his bazillion wins. But Checo only has 6 and Singapore was one of his best, maybe the best at Red Bull

Ofc urm ehm there might be some bias here

[u/rhitzz2198 → u/Kingslayer1526]

Hahaha you're right it was a great race either way. And I still got to see the team I support win. I was mainly there to watch Seb race live once before he retired.

[u/deadmanslouching → u/queerhedgehog]

Was the issue the safety car in 2023? I recall the Red Bull genuinely being crap that race because they had to raise the floor and put the car out of the sweet spot setup-wise.

Like I think Lawson in an AlphaTauri knocked out Max in Q2.

[u/Browneskiii → u/deadmanslouching]

If he got the luck Merc had in 23 he definitely could have won. All he needed to do was stay out a few more laps. Sainz probably still wins but seeing how close Russell was (and he was utterly dreadful in 23) before choking it into the wall, Verstappen would have been closer.

[u/Kingslayer1526 → u/Browneskiii]

This is bizarre

"If he got lucky". If Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri had waited one more lap in the 2024 Miami GP to pit, they would have been the ones winning

And that is actually a more fair comparison because Lando also got lucky to win. In singapore however, the actual race winner never got lucky. He led from start to finish. Max would've needed extremely fortuitous luck to even stand a chance of winning

[u/queerhedgehog → u/deadmanslouching]

They definitely had setup issues that had Max out in Q2, but Max was still making a lot of progress during the race and could have finished higher without some unlucky timing. Iirc he didn’t pit under the first safety car when everyone else did, was overtaken by several cars because he had much older tires, and then ended up pitting two laps before a VSC was called, so lost out there.

[u/Accomplished_Bug4099 → u/deadmanslouching]

Max qualified p11, but he did make a mistake that run so he could've been in q3 and starting 8th or something maybe, and then in the race they went for the alternative strategy (hard medium) and the first VSC came at the perfect window for the mediums so he lost out in that, and for his actual pitstop he pitted lap 40 or something and then 2/3 laps later there was a VSC again. In terms of overtaking he made quite some progress but the timing of the VSC's made for quite some double work in that regard. The race pace was still really good, they just couldn't get the car into the working window for qualy.

[u/tomhanks95 → u/Kaggles_N533PA]

Something something car performance being way more important than driver skill, you can only do so much if the car doesn't suit the track

[u/queerhedgehog]

17 year old Max was already such an icon! Great race. And I also find it hilarious that afterwards his TP said Max was right to ignore the team order, and for Max’s birthday a week later his mechanics got him a cake that said “Say “No!!” more”

[u/Hot_College_1343]

Total boss mode on. “No”!

[u/Rosieu → u/Hot_College_1343]

Yeah these highlights really miss this iconic moment

[u/Fred_Murdock]

The only track in this year's calendar where Max has never won. Probably his worst track along with Monaco. 3/8 podiums not even 50% podium rate.

[u/Sandulacheu → u/Fred_Murdock]

Baku is also not his best hunting ground all things considered,them 90 degree corners.

[u/Fred_Murdock → u/Sandulacheu]

Baku is also not his best hunting ground all things considered,them 90 degree corners.

Yeah although he has 2-3 DNF there but that 1 win and 2 podiums is good enough.

[u/Kingslayer1526 → u/Fred_Murdock]

He had a horrendous performance there last year. Was on track to finish P7 when his teammate could've won (if not for Lando backing him up during the first pitstop period)

Then well Checo and Carlos crashed and Max ended up p5. But Max was absolutely nowhere last year, he got overtaken by Lando who started at the back

[u/Fred_Murdock → u/Kingslayer1526]

Then well Checo and Carlos crashed and Max ended up p5. But Max was absolutely nowhere last year, he got overtaken by Lando who started at the back

The RB20 was the 4th/5th fastest car in that race behind the McLaren, Ferrari and Mercs. The crash was an unfortunate one between Checo and Carlos but Baku, Singapore and Monaco are Redbull's weakest tracks- 3/8 wins in Baku, the last win for RB in Singapore was 2013, 4/11 wins since 2014.

[u/Bitter-Rattata]

Waiting for his maiden win in my home country, Singapore, later this October.

[u/charlierc]

Tell you what, a few came uncomfortably close to slamming into him when he had the initial stall

[u/sadicarnot]

Without hindsight of how good Max would later become, I remember the USA broadcast at least, felt Max was a good driver but immature and prone to mistakes.

[u/KraZe_2012 → u/sadicarnot]

What 17yo isn’t?