Verstappen: Front row like a victory with engine issues

Max Verstappen has compared securing a front-row start for the Singapore Grand Prix to a victory in qualifying having been blighted by engine problems with his Red Bull F1 car.

The Dutch driver jumped into second place in the top ten shootout with his opening Q3 lap of 1m 36.334s but was powerless to resist Lewis Hamilton storming to pole positon for Mercedes.

Despite his frustrations, which were largely aimed at Renault engine issues after having his progress hampered in FP3 and the early qualifying sessions, Verstappen feels reaching the front row was a special achievement having beaten both Ferrari cars, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and his own Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

“Honestly this feels like a victory,” Verstappen said. “The amount of problems I’ve had today even in qualifying with the engine just not having a smooth run and cutting in torque so to be second in unbelievable but it shows that we have an amazing car.

“We just have to make sure we have a clean start and then from there on everything is possible. We do still have to sort the engine for tomorrow but at least I am very happy with the car.”

Verstappen remains confident Red Bull can cure its engine issues ahead of tomorrow's race as the core problems have occured when pushing the power unit to its optimum performance and he feels in race trim it is much more manageable.

“This is my best qualifying in F1 so far, it was a good lap, one I can be happy with,” he said. “In the race, you have to turn down the power, it’s just when you go to the limit of the engine that we struggle.

“Yesterday in the long runs, I didn’t have the problem but if it breaks, it breaks. You can’t change it.”

Verstappen started from the front row in Singapore 12 months ago but was involved in the dramatic start crash with both Ferrari drivers which took all three out of the race plus McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who also got tangled in the crash.