Stalling on the start line in his rookie year, 2015 gave Max Verstappen his first indication that the Marina Bay Street Circuit may be his trickiest nut to crack in F1. A decade ago, the 18-year-old, driving for Red Bull’s sister team, Toro Rosso, stormed back to eighth from a lap down before defiantly screaming “No!” to his team when asked to let teammate Carlos Sainz past. It’s fair to say we’ve seen numerous instances of non-compliance a fair few times in the years since.
Two years on, Verstappen would be sandwiched between two Ferraris and powerless to a collision with Kimi Raikkonen, in F1’s first-ever wet race at night in 2017, which brought about one of the most chaotic start procedures in recent history. In 2022, a fuel quantity mishap in qualifying ruined the Dutchman’s weekend, while a year later, Singapore was the only race Red Bull failed to win amid an otherwise peerless F1 campaign. Verstappen couldn’t even finish on the podium, having to settle for fifth.
