Max Verstappen says Red Bull 'way worse than expected' and surprised by Ferrari speed ahead of F1 Singapore GP

Max Verstappen cut a frustrated figure in Singapore on Friday after an underwhelming performance in practice at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Both Verstappen and Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez were well short of the leaders after the practice sessions and the Dutchman explained that the issues behind their less than stellar display are proving troublesome.

Verstappen said: "Just struggling a lot with the balance of the car. We tried quite a lot of things in FP2; some worked, some didn't. Never really got the car together. So quite a few things to figure out tonight, basically."

Verstappen leads the driver standings by a huge margin and the countdown to his crowning as world champion might as well have already begun, but neither he nor Perez were able to get the best out of their machines on a frustrating afternoon.

Perez explained: "I think there are some interesting bits going on that we need to figure out overnight. We seem to be struggling quite a bit with the rear end of the car, especially in FP2.

"So plenty of things to look at and hopefully we can come up with the best possible set-up because we know that qualifying is very important."

It was Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who topped the standings after the second free practice session, and both Red Bull drivers admitted they were surprised.

Verstappen said: "The Ferraris are very fast, but I think we’re just way worse than we expected."

Perez agreed: "We did expect the Ferraris to be very strong around here. I mean, we’re just too far away, so hopefully tomorrow we’re able to close the gap a bit more, but I do expect quite a challenge… I think the main thing is to make sure we’re able to improve the balance – but at the moment, we’re far off."

Sainz was leading the way again in FP3 on Saturday morning, while Mercedes' George Russell and McLaren driver Lando Norris completed the podium. Verstappen improved to fourth, but Perez slipped to eighth.

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso is not expecting Red Bull's troubles to continue into Sunday.

He said: "Red Bull will be fast when it counts, so yeah, it’s very tight. You can be P5 or P6, or you can be out of Q3 because within two tenths there are a lot of cars. It’s going to be tight. We have to be ready for anything and nail the lap in Q2 and Q3.”

Verstappen also took a moment in Singapore to hit back at Mercedes principal Toto Wolff.

Wolff has called the Dutchman's pursuit of 10 consecutive race wins "irrelevant".

Verstappen responded: "I mean, they [Mercedes] had a pretty s*** race, so he was probably still p***** off with their performance. He almost sounds like he’s an employee of our team, but luckily he is not. It’s just important that you focus on your own team."

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