Red Bull braced for Singapore reality check after Verstappen’s bruising wins
Max Verstappen has been in that familiar, ominous groove again — two straight wins, and both of them with a little swagger. But Red Bull aren’t kidding themselves about what’s next. Singapore’s Marina Bay isn’t Monza or Baku, and Laurent Mekies knows it.
After banking back-to-back victories on low-downforce layouts, Red Bull head to a venue that has bitten them more than once in recent years. One win in the last nine trips doesn’t exactly scream comfort zone, and Mekies expects the RB21’s sweet spot to shift under the floodlights.
“You go to Singapore, you move a bit your equations,” the team principal said after Baku. “You keep the slow speed corners, but you go to maximum downforce… and it’s a much hotter track. We know how sensitive not only us, but the whole field is to that, so we take it step by step.”
The step change is stark. Monza and Baku let Red Bull stretch the car’s legs; Marina Bay demands traction, precision and a heap of downforce — the kind of environment where setup compromises and tyre temps can punish the greedy. Red Bull have been open about struggling in those windows earlier this season, pointing to Budapest as a cautionary tale, and they’re treating Singapore as an audit of everything they’ve fixed since.
Much of the momentum swing has been hung on a new floor package introduced at Monza, which helped Verstappen flip the form book right when McLaren looked comfortable. But Mekies is pushing back on the easy headline.
“We don’t think there is a silver bullet,” he insisted. “There’s a combination of a lot of small details that have extracted more performance, and of course part of that is the Monza floor. We’ve made changes that let us be competitive again on different setups.”
That matters, because McLaren aren’t going away. On medium-speed, aero‑loaded tracks — Zandvoort, for example — the orange cars made life difficult. “We were killed by McLaren in Zandvoort,” Mekies admitted. “The gap was very significant. Also in Spa, we left thinking they were half a second faster than us, even though Max won the sprint. That’s the next set of answers we’ll be chasing.”
In the bigger picture, Verstappen’s two wins have tightened the narrative, if not the maths. The Red Bull driver has cut into the deficit but still trails championship leader Oscar Piastri, so this isn’t quite a title tilt yet — more a reminder that if Red Bull find the window, they can still control a Sunday. Singapore will tell us whether that window holds at maximum downforce, in higher ambient temperatures, on a surface that tends to evolve dramatically through the weekend.
It’s also where driver confidence over kerbs and exits can hide or expose weaknesses. Verstappen has historically been magnificent around Marina Bay when the car lets him lean on it. If the upgraded RB21 carries its Baku slow‑corner authority into Singapore — same corner speeds, very different aero load — Red Bull’s Friday will be about confirming trends rather than firefighting. If it doesn’t, Mekies and his crew will be busy unwinding assumptions.
“We take the challenge of Singapore,” he said. “It’s been challenging for the team for many, many years. In the context of what we are trying to see, it’s important to learn what suddenly doesn’t work there anymore.”
That line is doing a lot of work. Red Bull believe they’ve broadened the car’s operating range, but the team knows this season’s balance story has been circuit-specific. The floor upgrade, tweaks to mechanical platform, and a calmer rear in slow corners have combined nicely on low‑drag tracks. The real test — the one that decides whether Verstappen can keep leaning on this late-season surge — comes on the twisty stuff where tyre energy and downforce are king.
For their rivals, Singapore is a flashing opportunity light. McLaren will fancy this layout. Ferrari usually turn up with one-lap punch in their pocket. And Marina Bay, by its nature, invites Safety Cars, strategy gambles and concentration tax. Red Bull have put themselves back in the fight; now they have to prove the gains travel.
The tone in Milton Keynes remains measured, bordering on clinical. No giant declarations, no talk of miracles. Just a sense that the car is responding again — and a clear understanding that Marina Bay is where the “equations” change. If Red Bull can solve them quickly, the championship narrative gets a little louder. If not, Singapore might just remind everyone that this year’s balance of power still depends on the postcode.
