SINGAPORE (AP) Max Verstappen is back at the front of the Formula 1 field but will need to improve on some horrendous recent starts from pole position in Sundays Singapore Grand Prix.
An upgraded Red Bull car has catapulted Verstappen back into the fight for wins, and the four-time champion was dominant in Singapore on Saturday , winning the sprint race before qualifying on pole. That backed up his first win of the season last week in Malaysia .
Overtaking is almost impossible on the streets of Singapore, as indicated Saturday when Lando Norris collided with his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri , so Verstappen will have to be wary of the fast-starting Ferraris of Charles Leclerc in second and Lewis Hamilton in third.
Verstappen has called on Red Bull to sort out an issue which led to him losing positions at the start in Malaysia and in Saturdays sprint.
The start was horrendous again, he said after the sprint. Thats definitely something that we need to improve on because if you have something like that tomorrow, thats your race over, if nothing crazy happens.
Kimi Antonelli starts fourth with a chance to further extend his standings lead over Mercedes teammate George Russell, who is at the back with a penalty after his engine failure last week.
If Antonelli outscores Russell on Sunday by 11 points or more, that would make it possible for the Italian to become F1s youngest-ever champion at the next race. Thats the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 25.
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新加坡（美联社）——马克斯·维斯塔潘重返一级方程式赛车（F1）赛场前列，但在周日的新加坡大奖赛中，他需要改善近期从杆位发车时“糟糕透顶”的表现。
升级后的红牛赛车让维斯塔潘重新回到争冠行列，这位四届世界冠军周六在新加坡表现出色，先赢下冲刺赛，再夺得排位赛杆位。这为他上周在马来西亚赢得的赛季首胜提供了有力佐证。
在新加坡的街道赛道上，超车几乎是不可能的，周六的情况就证明了这一点——兰多·诺里斯与他的迈凯伦队友奥斯卡·皮亚斯特里发生碰撞。因此，维斯塔潘必须警惕发车迅速的法拉利车手，查尔斯·勒克莱尔位列第二，刘易斯·汉密尔顿位列第三。
维斯塔潘呼吁红牛车队解决一个导致他在马来西亚站和周六冲刺赛起步时丢失位置的问题。
“起步阶段再次糟透了，”他在冲刺赛后说道。“这绝对是我们需要改进的地方，因为如果明天再出现类似情况，除非有奇迹发生，否则比赛就提前结束了。”
基米·安东内利从第四位发车，有机会进一步扩大在积分榜上对梅赛德斯队友乔治·拉塞尔的领先优势。拉塞尔因上周引擎故障受罚，将从最后一位起步。
如果安东内利在周日的比赛中领先拉塞尔11分或更多，那么这位意大利车手就有可能在下一站比赛中成为F1历史上最年轻的世界冠军。下一站比赛是10月25日在得克萨斯州奥斯汀举行的美国大奖赛。
