Verstappen denies "rush" to secure F1 title

Max Verstappen has conceded he is in "no rush" to secure his second F1 world title at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Dutchman will secure back-to-back crowns if he outscores Charles Leclerc by 22 points and Sergio Perez fails to feature on Sunday's podium.

But Verstappen maintains he is not thinking of the title and is instead continuing to take the season race by race.

"I don’t really think about the championship," said Verstappen.

"I just want to have a positive weekend on track and take it race by race, there’s no rush."

Singapore has not featured on the calendar since 2019 with the last two runnings cancelled as a result of the Covid pandemic.

Verstappen's best result at the Marina Bay Circuit came in 2018 when he finished second, a result he backed up by finishing third in the following year.

Despite his recent success at the venue, however, the Dutchman has urged Red Bull to be "ready for anything" given the high probability of safety cars and crashes.

"We haven’t been to Singapore for a while so it will be interesting to see how the track has evolved," he added.

"It’s definitely one of the best races of the year and it's a beautiful place to be. It’s important to have a good qualifying lap here so we’ll be focussing on that.

"During the race, we just have to be ready for anything as there’s usually a lot of safety cars.

"In general, it’s a challenging circuit, the humidity is tough on the body and it’s very difficult to do a perfect lap because of tight turns and how close the walls are."

Related

F1 News & Gossip

Ricciardo makes five-race admission in bid to survive F1 axe

• Yesterday 21:57

F1 News & Gossip

Red Bull is 'burning' after Horner and Marko display

• Yesterday 20:57