"This was pretty surprising"- 2-time F1 champion explains what cost Max Verstappen win at Singapore GP

Two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen reckons Max Verstappen's weekend in Singapore was ruined by the fuel issue faced by the Red Bull driver in qualifying.

The 25-year-old was on course to secure pole but had to abort his last flying lap. That was done by the team, as Verstappen did not have enough fuel to complete another lap and provide a sample for qualifying.

In his blog on Unibet, Hakkinen said that he was surprised to see Red Bull make an operational mistake like that. The team is renowned for keeping things perfect operationally, so it was surprising to see them make that error. Hakkinen said:

“This was a weekend when Max could have won the World Championship, but the mistake by the team in qualifying on Saturday really cost him."

He continued:

"It is quite unusual for a team to ask a driver to abort a qualifying lap, especially one which was actually looking pretty good, but to then discover you don’t have enough fuel to complete another lap was embarrassing. Red Bull has been operationally very strong all season, so this was pretty surprising.”

Hakkinen did cut Verstappen some slack, as he said that these mistakes happen from time to time, but Red Bull need to make sure they don't happen again. He said:

“I think a lot of people expected Max to recover well from 8th place on the grid but the conditions meant he made a poor start and then lost time fighting in the midfield. This was a weekend to forget."

He continued:

"These kinds of races happen, even in a season where you are extremely competitive, and you just have to move on and focus on making sure the next weekend goes much better. I have no doubt the Red Bull will suit the Suzuka circuit in Japan this weekend and that Max can claim the title. The team just needs to make sure they don’t make any more mistakes.”

Verstappen finished seventh in Singapore. However, he enjoys a 104-point lead over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the driver standings going into the Japanese GP this weekend.

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Max Verstappen on tyre lockup at Turn 7

Max Verstappen was on the verge of registering a podium in Singapore but a mistake at the safety car restart where he locked up his tyres while trying to overtake McLaren's Lando Norris cost him dearly.

Explaining what happened, the Red Bull driver said that his car bottomed out as he was trying to overtake, so his tyres locked, and he went straight on. Verstappen said:

"I tried to go for a move on Lando but somehow I completely bottomed out as soon as I hit the brakes so the front wheels went in the air and I must have really locked up because I had massive flatspots. So I had to pit again and put new tyres on. I got back in the points, but it is of course not what we wanted and after yesterday [in qualifying] we cannot ask for miracles."

Max Verstappen will become a two-time world champion this weekend in Suzuka if he wins and scores the fastest lap as well.