Verstappen feels he ‘has a shot’ at victory in Singapore after impressive qualifying recovery

Max Verstappen was pleased with the progress he and Red Bull managed to make after practice at the Singapore Grand Prix, having finished second to McLaren rival Lando Norris in qualifying.

Verstappen and team mate Sergio Perez bemoaned a general lack of grip following Friday’s FP1 and FP2 sessions at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with the pair appearing to be significantly off the pace.

READ MORE: Norris beats Verstappen to pole for Singapore GP after Sainz crashes out

While Perez’s struggles continued on Saturday, leading to a Q2 exit, reigning world champion Verstappen enjoyed a stronger run and managed to emerge as Norris’s nearest challenger in the grid-deciding hour.

Speaking afterwards, Verstappen said: “I think the whole of qualifying actually went quite well, we managed to improve the car run after run. I’m happy to be on the front row if you look at where we came from yesterday.

“Q3 was tough [after Carlos Sainz’s crash], your lap gets cancelled with a double yellow, then everyone only has one run and you don’t want to overdo it so you want to stay within the limit. I’ll take second, I’m happy with that.”

READ MORE: ‘That wasn’t fun’ – Ricciardo reflects on painful Q1 exit in Singapore amid speculation over his future

Asked about the challenge of getting the tyres into the right window for that final, decisive lap, the Dutchman added: “It’s always quite difficult.

“Tyres can give you a lot of lap time or lose you a lot of lap time. I think today for us in qualifying it worked quite well, so I was happy with that.

“Here we are, second. Tomorrow, of course, [it’s] a bit difficult to say – a lot of things can happen, but at least we have a shot at it like this.”

Verstappen heads into the race with a 59-point advantage over Norris in the drivers’ standings, while Red Bull are looking to fight back in the constructors’ battle after falling 20 points behind McLaren last time out in Azerbaijan.

WATCH: Sainz slides into the barriers to bring out red flags during qualifying in Singapore

Perez is set to start 13th in his Red Bull following that Q2 elimination, with the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri lining up fifth, having also been out-paced by Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in Q3.