{"id":3826,"date":"2026-10-11T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=3826"},"modified":"2026-10-11T11:30:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:30:06","slug":"red-bull-stunned-by-verstappens-back-to-back-domination-another-layer-of-max-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/red-bull-stunned-by-verstappens-back-to-back-domination-another-layer-of-max-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull stunned by Verstappen’s back-to-back domination: “Another layer of Max magic”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Laurent Mekies admitted that Red Bull had not expected Max Verstappen’s dominance to continue at the Singapore Grand Prix, after the Dutchman followed his victory in Malaysia with another commanding weekend at Marina Bay on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verstappen secured pole position and victory in both the sprint and the Grand Prix, completing a remarkable sequence of results at a circuit where he had never previously won a Formula 1 race. The performance was particularly significant because Singapore presented a very different technical challenge from Sepang, where Red Bull had already surprised its rivals with its pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Look, it’s an incredible feeling right now, you know, the way the team and Max have been dominating the weekend,” Mekies said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Coming from Malaysia, where it was already domination there unexpectedly, and you cannot think of a more different track to Malaysia, and then Singapore. The guys did it again.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Bull team principal reserved particular praise for Verstappen, whose performance helped turn the team’s late-season improvements into another victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Max… another layer of Max magic on top of the one we know of him. And it has produced this incredible weekend, with, you know, the two poles, two wins, on a track he had never won before. So, as always with him, he has done it in style.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"F1
Laurent Mekies (Photo: Red Bull Content Pool)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Singapore answers Red Bull’s biggest question after Sepang<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Red Bull arrived in Singapore facing an important test of its recent development programme. The team had introduced its final major upgrade of the 2026 season ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix, where Verstappen secured pole position and delivered the first victory for the Red Bull-Ford power-unit partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Sepang’s characteristics left an important question unanswered: whether the improvement was specific to that circuit or represented a broader change in the competitiveness of the RB22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As GRANDE PR\u00caMIO examined before the Singapore weekend<\/a>, Marina Bay offered a particularly revealing comparison. Its slower corners, street-circuit layout and different surface placed demands on areas where Red Bull had previously struggled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results provided a compelling answer. Verstappen claimed his 50th career pole position on Saturday, having already won the sprint, and then converted the Grand Prix pole into another victory on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also his first Grand Prix win in Singapore, achieved on his 250th Formula 1 race start. The Dutchman finished ahead of Charles Leclerc and championship leader Kimi Antonelli, demonstrating that Red Bull’s improvement could translate into results at two contrasting circuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consecutive victories suggest that the latest development package has delivered a more versatile car. However, the results alone do not establish how much of the improvement comes from aerodynamics, mechanical setup, power-unit performance or Verstappen’s driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mekies’ comments underline that even within Red Bull, the scale of the turnaround was not anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verstappen delivers Red Bull’s strongest weekends of 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The recent results represent a significant change from the difficulties Red Bull experienced during the earlier stages of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Sepang, Verstappen ended Ford’s 23-year wait for a Formula 1 victory<\/a> through the manufacturer’s partnership with Red Bull Powertrains. The achievement was followed by a Singapore weekend in which the Dutchman controlled the decisive sessions despite the pressure of Ferrari and Mercedes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory at Marina Bay also came after Verstappen had secured pole position by a narrow margin over Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. His ability to convert that qualifying advantage into victory reinforced Red Bull’s improved competitiveness across both single-lap performance and race distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Verstappen remains well behind Antonelli in the Drivers’ Championship, his recent results have transformed the competitive picture at the front of the grid. He now has 221 points and occupies fourth place, while Antonelli leads on 340.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Italian’s third place in Singapore increased his advantage over George Russell to 102 points, leaving the Mercedes driver with an opportunity to secure the title at the next round. Verstappen’s recovery is therefore unlikely to change the identity of the championship favourite, but it could influence the results of the remaining races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red Bull’s resurgence also adds another dimension to the final part of the season. Ferrari remains competitive, Mercedes leads both championships, and McLaren continues to fight for podium positions. Verstappen’s return to winning form gives the leading teams another direct rival as they prepare for the final rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formula 1 returns for the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin on October 23\u201325, where Red Bull will have another opportunity to test whether its recent improvement can be sustained. GRANDE PR\u00caMIO continues its Formula 1 coverage<\/a> as the championship approaches its final stages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laurent Mekies praised Max Verstappen’s extraordinary form after consecutive dominant weekends in Malaysia and Singapore, admitting Red Bull had not expected its resurgence to continue across such different circuits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020318062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Max Verstappen","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Red Bull Content Pool","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":31,"location":""}],"footnotes":"","42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[516,64,66,248],"42wp_author":[31],"class_list":["post-3826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-laurent-mekies","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull","tag-singapore-gp","42wp_author-bernardo-castro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3827,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions\/3827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020318062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=3826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}