Verstappen completed a near-perfect weekend at Marina Bay, securing pole position and victory in Saturday’s Sprint before repeating the result in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
The victory followed Verstappen’s first win of the season at the Malaysian Grand Prix, where Red Bull demonstrated substantial performance gains from recent upgrades. “You need to take your hat off to what Red Bull has done this season, how they have developed the car and how it has all come together as a package,” Wolff said.
“When you put Max Verstappen in the car, and Verstappen feels that the car is driving the way Verstappen wants it to drive, then these are the results.”
Mercedes remains close to securing the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, but Wolff expects Red Bull to become a stronger challenger next season. “Verstappen has been by far the quickest guy today and was the quickest guy in Kuala Lumpur,” Wolff said.
“One thing is for sure, next year it’s full-on competition between the teams, and Red Bull is part of that.”
Mercedes introduced a major upgrade at Sepang, but the initial results were inconclusive.
The team conducted back-to-back comparisons in Singapore, with Kimi Antonelli driving the upgraded specification while George Russell used the previous version.
Antonelli finished third, while Russell recovered to ninth after starting at the back of the grid because of power-unit component changes.
Wolff said testing two specifications had accelerated Mercedes’ understanding of the upgraded car.
“This new car needs a very different set-up philosophy from the previous car,” Wolff said. “This is what we’re learning at the moment.”
Wolff acknowledged that the latest package had not yet produced the expected performance or the handling characteristics of the older specification. “Was it an easy car today like the previous one? I don’t think it was,” Wolff said.
“Does it have the performance that we were hoping the upgrade would bring? I don’t think so yet. But it was a step in the right direction.”
–F1/ChannelAfrica–
