Autosport has reported:

Max Verstappen said Red Bull needs to understand what went wrong with his start at the Singapore Grand Prix, where he held his position despite an engine issue before releasing the clutch. He also raced with radio problems that made his replies unintelligible, while Red Bull used an improvised method to get his input late in the event. The team confirmed Tom Hart will serve as Verstappen’s race engineer in Austin, Brazil and Las Vegas, stepping in for Gianpiero Lambiase during those weekends.

Singapore had long been a difficult circuit for Red Bull, but Verstappen dominated there in 2026, taking two pole positions and two victories over the sprint weekend. He had still not won at two venues on the current Formula 1 calendar: the Madring and Marina Bay Street Circuit. The Madring had only hosted its first F1 race this year, while Singapore had been a persistent weakness for Red Bull.

The main concern on Sunday was the start, which had been a major headache for Red Bull this season. Verstappen held his position, but said the launch was only just sufficient. “The start was critical, and it was just good enough. Again, something was not particularly right at the start, so I need to understand what went wrong there”, he said.

He described a problem before the clutch was released, followed by deployment trouble that allowed Charles Leclerc to close in. “Before releasing the clutch, it didn't feel good. Then we had a few laps with some deployment issues, so that's where Charles almost got me into Turn 7. Once we had cleared the deployment problems, it was fine.”

Verstappen said the start issue differed from the problems he had experienced in recent weeks. Previously, the trouble had occurred when he released the clutch; this time he believed it had begun earlier. “I need to understand what went on with the engine before even dropping the clutch, because I think that did hurt my start. It was again not fantastic, you can say that.”

After braking late on the outside line, he survived the deployment issues and the immediate threat from his rivals. The radio then became another difficulty for the rest of the race. Verstappen could hear the team, but his responses could not be understood clearly.

“Maybe GP was happy that it was not working!” Verstappen joked during the post-race press conference, referring to Lambiase, his race engineer. He said he could not communicate properly and that Lambiase tried asking him questions in code. “I couldn't really say anything. He did try at one point to ask me a few things in code, and I think he understood well what I meant or what I didn’t want! But it's never nice. I've been having difficulties with my radio already the whole season, and this weekend has been particularly bad.”

In the closing stages, Lambiase set up a simple way to get Verstappen’s decision if a safety car appeared. He asked the Dutch driver to stay silent if he wanted to make another pit stop, and to press the radio button if he wanted to keep track position. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said the fault was with the team and was not caused by broader technical problems in Singapore.

“I don’t think it’s the circumstances, no, I think it’s on our side”, Mekies said on Sunday night. “It was not the same issue as in FP1, but it was a little bit painful. These cars are complicated and there is a huge amount of dialogue that needs to happen between the drivers and engineers. But as you have seen, GP found his ways to communicate with Max and vice versa when it mattered.”

Mekies said Red Bull took the issue seriously and expected to find a strong fix, because communication failures could cost decisive time at critical moments. The team’s radio problem was distinct from the issue it had experienced in FP1, he said, although he did not provide further technical details.

Red Bull sent Lambiase onto the podium alongside Verstappen after the victory, a gesture that surprised the driver. Verstappen recalled Lambiase telling him in Las Vegas the previous year, “This might be the last time I'm on the podium.” Verstappen had replied, “Don't be silly, we're going to win much more.” He joked that the prediction had nearly jinxed him.

“It was just super nice that they sent him up. We all know that he is leaving, but I think it was very special to share the podium on a track that we had not won together. So yeah, very nice to see him up there,” Verstappen said. The four-time world champion described the moment as special because Red Bull and Lambiase had not previously won together at Singapore.

Red Bull is now planning for Hart to succeed Lambiase as Verstappen’s race engineer. Hart had initially been due to join Williams as Alexander Albon’s race engineer. After Verstappen made his preference for Lambiase’s successor known internally, Red Bull worked to reverse that move and retain Hart, a plan that succeeded.

The team has not announced when Hart will permanently take over. Red Bull is discussing Lambiase’s start date and gardening leave with McLaren, where he is due to move, and those arrangements will affect the timing. A transition in 2027 is a theoretical possibility.

Before any permanent change, Hart and Verstappen will have several race weekends to get used to working together. Red Bull confirmed to Autosport that Hart will be Verstappen’s race engineer in Austin, Brazil and Las Vegas, replacing Lambiase in that role for those events. Lambiase will still attend each circuit during those weekends and continue his duties as Head of Racing.