Max Verstappen escapes further punishment as FIA announce no further penalty for the Red Bull F1 driver

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen had a wretched qualifying session in the Singapore GP as he was knocked out in the Q2 session. He was also involved in a myriad of incidents while on track at Marina Bay on Saturday evening.

The Stewards noted the first incident in the Q1 session when Verstappen blocked the Mercedes duo at the pit exit. The Red Bull driver had parked his car on the exit, holding up George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. The incident was investigated but only resulted in a reprimand for Verstappen.

Max Verstappen and several other drivers were also noted for alleged impeding in the final minutes of the Q1 session, as many drivers queued up before starting their lap. While the Stewards noted Verstappen for impeding Logan Sargeant, they deemed that no further action was required on the incident.

The third incident unfolded in the Q2 session when Verstappen impeded Yuki Tsunoda, who was on a fast lap. The Dutchman was trudging along slowly on the racing line, exiting Turn 3 when Tsunoda was forced to abandon his efforts. The Japanese driver failed to set a time in session and was hence eliminated.

For this particular infraction, the Dutchman received his second reprimand while Red Bull Racing was fined €5,000. Hence Verstappen will keep his 11th place starting position.

Verstappen was on the cusp of making it to Q3 until AlphaTauri driver Liam Lawson knocked out the two-time champion by less than one-hundredths of a second.

Sergio Perez had a clean session comparatively but also lacked the pace and spun around during his final qualifying attempt. He was also knocked out in the session with his first lap time putting him 13th on the charts.

Max Verstappen has escaped a grid penalty but his and Red Bull's record win streak is under serious threat as a new winner for the 2023 season will most likely emerge on Sunday.

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Max Verstappen rules out winning the Singapore GP as he gears up for a "long afternoon"

As he will be starting 11th on the grid, Max Verstappen has admitted that his chances of continuing his winning streak at Singapore are very slim. He is anticipating a tough and long race ahead of him on Sunday.

"You can forget about that," he was quoted by RacingNews365.com. "In general, normally, our car is always a bit better on tyre degradation, maybe to some people around us, but I don't think that matters a lot in Singapore where it's very hard to pass."

He continued:

"You need to be one and a half, two, three seconds faster, which we're not clearly. Also, now with the car performance and balance we have. It will be a very tough long afternoon."

With Verstappen himself ruling out a Red Bull victory, the 2023 Singapore GP will provide a breath of fresh air for the F1 fans rooting for a new winner this season.