Max Verstappen did not have the best race this weekend. The Red Bull star who is used to soaring ahead and winning over and over had a bad end to a bad start. Throughout the qualifications and free practice, the driver was left behind struggling and could only secure a P11 start for the race.
However, throughout the race, Verstappen did something that went completely unnoticed. While everyone celebrated the Ferrari’s victory and no Red Bull podium, Verstappen was completely unnoticed. It seemed everyone had forgotten the champion was around.
The driver first seemed to be not putting up any fight at all. As drivers passed by him, he just drove like he was not in a rush. However, it was when he did start his race that he proved his brilliance yet again. The driver made up to 18 seconds to catch up to Charles Leclerc.
Nonetheless, the Ferrari star did not let the driver pass by without a fight and held on to his position till the very end. What started as him seeming like he gave up to suddenly reaching close to Leclerc.
Max Verstappen made up 18 seconds in 5 laps on Charles Leclerc. The car wasn’t there today, but he was. Unreal drive which won’t get spoken about.
— Wionel Wessi (@formulawessi) September 17, 2023
And while Charles Leclerc struggled with the race and could not get past Lewis Hamilton, his teammate enjoyed a race victory. Carlos Sainz became the only non-Red Bull driver until now to win a race. Lando Norris was the runner-up and Lewis Hamilton took the third place. However, for George Russell, his nightmares came to haunt him as he crashed into the wall right before finishing the race and ending completely out of the race.
Max Verstappen gives up at the Singapore Grand Prix allowing drivers to pass by
Max Verstappen seemed quite off his element this weekend. With a low-performance car and struggles at the Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen seemed to be done for the weekend. In the beginning, the Dutchman could even be seen letting everyone pass by him and not put up a fight.
He admitted in one of the interviews too that he had accepted he was not going to win. And while Lewis Hamilton and every other driver started passing by him, he just let them through. Although he caught on by the end of the race, Red Bull’s element seemed missing.
Max Verstappen then was seen with Lando Norris. Norris was giving his interview when the Dutchman appeared to congratulate his friend for the podium. The driver then told Norris he had no plans of defending him so he just let him pass through. To this, Lando Norris replied, “I was like thank you so much”. It seemed the driver came into acceptance with the situation.
max: “i didn’t want to defend”
lando: “i know”
max: “i was like🤷🏼♂️”
lando: “i was like thank you so much”max didn’t care anymore😭💀pic.twitter.com/XGKpHXLxYW
— conni (@VERCAPLESS) September 17, 2023
However, with the Suzuka Grand Prix not too far away, Red Bull will now be pulling every single thing possible in their power to bring themselves back to the top. But with the new technical directives, the team will have a lot more to scope out.
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