Andrea Stella isn’t one for hyperbole, but even he couldn’t downplay what’s become obvious over the last month: Red Bull and Max Verstappen are back in this title fight.
Verstappen’s deficit to championship leader Oscar Piastri has shrunk from almost triple digits to 63 points thanks to a four-race run that reads like a statement: wins at Monza and Baku, second at Zandvoort, and another second on Sunday night in Singapore. And that last one mattered. Marina Bay has been a Red Bull bogey for years; this time, Verstappen chased George Russell to the flag and beat both McLarens on outright pace.
“They were competitive in Monza, very competitive. And then they were competitive in Baku,” McLaren team principal Stella said in Singapore. “We thought, let’s see if that depends on low drag and small rear wings, and if it can be repeated with big wings at high downforce. Here in Singapore, where they’ve struggled in the past, the evidence is they might have resolved both of these factors.
“But this is not a surprise. It’s Red Bull. Max is Max Verstappen. It’s tight and interesting — you have to accept the fight, and that’s what we’re doing.”
The timing is not subtle. Red Bull has fed a steady stream of upgrades onto the RB21 across these last races, ironing out the balance quirks that left Verstappen fighting the car through the first half of the season. Early spikes of form — think Suzuka and Imola — have become a consistent platform. Meanwhile, McLaren’s MCL39 has been relatively static as Woking’s gaze shifts increasingly to 2026. That’s not a criticism; it’s a championship reality. But it has given Verstappen a foothold with only six race weekends to go.
Singapore was the litmus test. If Red Bull’s recent surge was only a low-downforce party trick, Marina Bay would have exposed it. Instead, the RB21 looked hooked up from Friday. Team boss Laurent Mekies called it a “genuine” step.
“For us, being able to fight for the win means a lot after Monza and Baku, which are very different,” Mekies said. “You never know until you come to a high-downforce track. We were in the right rhythm from Friday, in qualifying we were very close to pole, and in the race we finished only a few seconds away from George. That’s good news. It means what we have unlocked is not only low-downforce specific.
“We won’t change our approach. Race by race. There are learnings from this race, small pockets of performance we can still unlock. Austin will be a different equation — those mid-speed corners where McLaren has been strong. Same in Mexico.”
The car isn’t the only thing that’s changed. Red Bull’s leadership did, too. After Silverstone, Christian Horner exited as team principal and CEO, with Mekies stepping in to fill both roles. Most of the upgrades now bearing fruit were already in the pipeline — development lead times see to that — but there’s been an unmistakable sharpening around the edges. Helmut Marko has credited Mekies’ methodical touch for a shift in approach; long-time chief engineer Paul Monaghan, for his part, says the on-the-ground engineering hasn’t been upended.
“In terms of the actual engineering process around the car, not really,” Monaghan said. “Laurent is open. You can talk to him — he lets us do what we think is right. So not much has changed in that respect.”
So where does this leave the title picture? Piastri still owns the high ground, and Lando Norris remains parked between him and Verstappen on most days. McLaren’s car is gold in the mid-speed stuff, which is exactly what’s coming in Austin and Mexico. But the psychological tide has shifted. Red Bull has neutralized its weak tracks and given Verstappen a car he can lean on, not wrestle, when it counts. That’s how you win in October and November.
Is 63 points too steep with six to go? It’s a mountain, but the path is clear: keep the podium streak alive, pounce on any McLaren misstep, and make the sprint weekends count. McLaren, meanwhile, needs to decide how much to spend in-season to protect what Piastri has built without compromising the long game. It’s the classic championship squeeze.
One thing’s certain: the fight Red Bull couldn’t buy in Singapore last year, they’ve found this time around. And when Verstappen smells blood this late in the season, the paddock tends to notice.
