Max Verstappen retains an outside chance of finishing in the top three in the drivers’ championship following his second-place finish in the Singapore Grand Prix.

With six races to go the Red Bull driver is in fifth place overall, with 148 points, 26 fewer than Kimi Räikkönen and 23 behind Valtteri Bottas, the second-string drivers for Ferrari and Mercedes respectively.

Verstappen showed in Singapore that he has overcome the problems that beset the first six races of the season, when a series of reckless crashes led to a public rebuke from Red Bull’s motorsport boss Helmut Marko for being ‘impatient’.

The Dutchman owed his second-place finish to a piece of quick thinking as he emerged from a pit stop marginally ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Despite having a faster car, Vettel had to yield to Verstappen as he accelerated out of the pit lane and was unable to find a way past in the rest of the race.

At one point Verstappen looked to have a chance of snatching the lead from Lewis Hamilton as the world champion was held up in traffic, but Hamilton eventually pulled away to win by almost nine seconds. Bottas and Räikkönen finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Verstappen said he was satisfied with his second place, especially as Vettel had overtaken him on the opening lap. ‘It was a pity about the first lap,’ Verstappen said. ‘I didn’t have the best start. After that I got stuck behind the safety car. I also had trouble getting away after my pit stop. So we had a lot of problems, but in the end we saw the race through and I’m very pleased with second place.’