Max Verstappen cools title talk after Singapore: “Lando was faster—this track just hid it”
Max Verstappen left Singapore with another solid points haul and a fresh dose of realism. He outscored both McLarens for the third race on the bounce, but he wasn’t dressing it up as a championship turning point. Not here, not after 62 laps of managing a stroppy gearbox and a car that—by his own admission—wasn’t the quickest on the night.
Verstappen’s late-summer grind has pulled him back into view of the orange cars. Across the last three rounds he’s banked 68 points, taking chunks out of both championship leader Oscar Piastri and his team-mate Lando Norris. The gap to Piastri is down to 63 points, with Norris 41 up the road. That’s momentum you can measure—but it wasn’t enough to make Verstappen suddenly bullish.
“I think too many things didn’t go well,” he said afterwards. “We had too many issues with the shift—upshift, downshift—and the balance was a bit too difficult to manage. So it was really 62 laps of management. But nevertheless, second is very good.”
It was also deeply Singapore. Marina Bay remains the one venue on the calendar where Verstappen has never won a grand prix, a stat that often has less to do with raw pace and more to do with street-circuit physics. Track position is almighty here. If you can hold it, you can hide. Verstappen didn’t pretend otherwise.
“Lando was much faster,” he admitted. “As soon as I pitted in the first stint he was a lot faster, and that kind of pace I would not have been able to do. If it would have been a normal layout, he would have just passed me and took off.”
That honesty is why Red Bull’s recent uptick still sits in a grey area. Yes, the new floor introduced on the RB21 at Monza has tidied up the car and steadied the scoreboard, and yes, Verstappen beating both McLarens at the only track he hasn’t conquered is no bad sign. But Singapore distorts form. It rewards discipline as much as downforce, and the Dutchman’s car was again temperamental in the one place you can’t afford it.
Those gearbox gremlins that have dogged his season popped up again, forcing him to nurse the car in and out of corners while keeping Norris boxed in his mirrors. It’s a scenario Verstappen has mastered over the years, but it’s not a repeatable title strategy.
“I think for that, we need to catch up more in a race weekend,” he said of the championship fight. “You can’t judge the real performances here. They [McLaren] are still the benchmark. We still have a few things that we need to work on, but it was already a bit better around.”
That will be the crux of the run-in. The narrative of a three-way fight has heat—Red Bull’s floor has delivered, Verstappen’s scoring curve has turned—and the deficit is shrinking. But Verstappen’s not mistaking the view for the summit. He needs the RB21 to be quick everywhere, for a full weekend, not just clever on Sundays or compliant on tight circuits.
He also saved a word for the team Red Bull is chasing. McLaren’s rise has been one of the sport’s sharper pivots in recent years, and Verstappen, ever the straight shooter, gave them their due as they wrapped up the Constructors’ Championship.
“Fantastic,” he said. “They did an amazing job all year so they fully deserve that title. Very happy for them. They’ve worked hard—had some tough seasons—and how they recovered is remarkable. It’s a lesson for everyone in this paddock that everything is possible.”
So where does that leave us? Somewhere between hype and hard truth. Red Bull has made gains. Verstappen is back landing heavy punches when it counts. But even he says he’s still chasing a McLaren that sets the pace when the fences drop away and the layouts get honest.
Singapore flattered Red Bull’s resolve. The next tracks will test its speed. And Verstappen knows which one wins championships.
