Verstappen wins Singapore Sprint but warns of start problem blighting his whole 2026 season

Max Verstappen secured his first-ever win at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Saturday, taking the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint after pole-sitter George Russell spun and crashed into the pitwall at the end of lap one. The result, however, did little to ease the Red Bull Racing driver’s concerns ahead of Sunday’s main event.

A 30-minute weather delay pushed the grid onto intermediate tyres, and Verstappen made a poor launch from pole, allowing Russell to snatch the lead into Turn 1. Only the Mercedes driver’s retirement handed the Dutchman the victory — a sequence that laid bare a weakness Verstappen says has persisted throughout the 2026 campaign.

“Yeah, I mean, the whole year my starts have been terrible,” Verstappen said after the race. “So we need to really do something different and try to understand what our issues are.”

The four-time world champion pointed to Red Bull’s sister team, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, as evidence that the factory squad is missing something critical in its launch procedure. “Racing Bulls, sometimes they do have good starts,” he explained. “So we are clearly doing something wrong. And that’s what we need to try and do better for sure tomorrow.”

Having already described Saturday’s getaway as “horrendous,” Verstappen is acutely aware that a repeat on Sunday could prove fatal to his race chances. Overtaking on the narrow Marina Bay circuit is notoriously difficult, meaning a clean start from the front row is close to essential for a race win.

On the prospect of claiming pole for the Grand Prix itself, Verstappen was measured. He took pole during Friday’s Sprint Shootout but cautioned that the sprint format — which restricts tyre usage and compresses the session into a single soft-compound run — does not always translate to the main qualifying session.

“It’s a target, but for sure it will be a tough battle,” he said. “Because in sprint, qualifying is sometimes a bit hit and miss. When you do medium, medium and then only one run on the soft, sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don’t.”

The admission underlines a broader tension at Red Bull: a driver capable of winning despite a flawed launch, but one who knows that fortune cannot be relied upon twice on one of Formula 1’s most unforgiving street circuits.