Singapore Grand Prix: Max Verstappen’s late-season surge faces ‘bloody hot’ test
Red Bull driver, who has won at past 2 Formula 1 stops, hopes to turn title chase into 3-horse race but has poor form in Southeast Asian city
Max Verstappen’s recent resurgence will be put to the test at the Singapore Grand Prix this week as the Red Bull driver tries to turn the Formula One world championship into a three-horse race.
Back-to-back wins in Monza and Baku have left third-placed Verstappen 69 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri with seven grands prix and three sprints remaining.
Lando Norris sits between the two, 25 points, or one race win, behind his McLaren teammate Piastri and 44 ahead of Verstappen.
Dutchman Verstappen is not getting carried away by the growing talk of a fifth consecutive world title, especially because Red Bull have a poor recent record under the lights in Singapore.
Verstappen has 67 GP wins but he has never taken the chequered flag at the bumpy Marina Bay Street Circuit, where extremes of heat, humidity and weather all play a part in a physically demanding examination.
Drivers can shed up to 3kg (more than six pounds) during the longest outing on the calendar, where completing the 62 laps often lasts the maximum two hours' race time allowed.