Red Bull arrives in Singapore with renewed confidence after claiming its first victory of the 2026 season in Malaysia, with both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar highlighting the important contribution made by the team’s latest upgrade. The Milton Keynes squad has made significant progress after a difficult start to the year and a mid-season period in which its development appeared to stall.
Red Bull’s recovery is particularly notable given the difficulties several rivals have faced when attempting to convert updates into consistent performance. The team is still not fighting for the very front at every circuit, but recent progress has brought it much closer, helped by four-time World Champion Max Verstappen continuing to extract extra performance from the car.
Isack Hadjar has also become one of the notable surprises of the season, adding another encouraging element to Red Bull’s recent upward trajectory.
Max Verstappen targets another Red Bull victory in Singapore
The obvious question for Max Verstappen before the Singapore Grand Prix was whether Red Bull could immediately fight for another victory after its breakthrough in Malaysia.
“We’ll try, that’s for sure,” Max Verstappen said. “It’s always complicated to race on a street circuit. A lot of things have to go your way.”
Marina Bay remains one of the few circuits where the Dutch driver has never won, even during seasons in which Red Bull dominated Formula 1.
“Some things happen a little earlier than others. Unfortunately, for a number of different reasons, we haven’t won here yet, not even in the years when we dominated.”
“You always have to look at the strengths of the car, and Singapore was a circuit where our car was never really able to perform at its best. Hopefully this year it will be a little better, but there are no guarantees.”
The demands of the Marina Bay street circuit are very different from those of Baku or Monaco, another reason why Max Verstappen is reluctant to assume that Red Bull’s recent form will automatically transfer to Singapore.
Max Verstappen warns Red Bull must remain realistic
Looking at the competitive order this season, Max Verstappen stressed that several rivals are also particularly strong on street circuits and that no two urban venues present exactly the same challenge.
“There are many other teams that are just as strong on street circuits, and every street circuit is different from the others. This is not like Baku, for example, and it isn’t like Monaco either.”
For that reason, his expectations remain deliberately measured despite Malaysia having finally delivered Red Bull’s first victory of the year.
“We’ll see. I just want to try to see if we can maintain this momentum and put ourselves in a potentially winning position again. I don’t know whether that will happen here or at another race.”
“We finally won a race and now we need to keep our feet on the ground and continue working, because I’m sure it won’t always be like this until the end of the season.”
Max Verstappen also looked beyond the closing races of 2026.
“Step by step we are trying to improve, and next year will be a completely different story.”
Isack Hadjar says Malaysia battery investigation is still ongoing
Isack Hadjar’s Malaysian Grand Prix ended with disappointment despite Red Bull’s victory. The French driver lost a potential podium during the closing stages because of a battery problem, and the team has not yet completed its investigation.
“To be honest, it is still an ongoing analysis,” Isack Hadjar admitted. “But at the same time, I don’t think what happened in Malaysia will have an impact on our performance in Singapore.”
“In any case, I’m not the kind of person who simply turns the page and thinks, ‘Ah, the race is over.’ I want everything to be clear.”
“Even though I’m focused on Singapore now, I’ll be happy to come back to it afterwards and provide more details.”
Latest Red Bull upgrade ended mid-season plateau
Hadjar also reflected on the evolution of both his own season and Red Bull’s competitiveness. He recalled how large the gap to the leading cars had been at the beginning of the campaign.
“In Melbourne, I was around nine tenths away from Mercedes, which was third. Then things became a little worse, so at one point we were even further away from the leaders.”
“From there, we managed to achieve some decent results. We had a certain level of form, an average level of form.”
Red Bull then endured what Hadjar described as a period of stagnation during the European section of the season before one development package changed the direction of the campaign.
“I’d say there was a sort of plateau during the European period, then that latest upgrade put us back in contention, and then there’s Max in the car, so that helps.”
The improvement has given Red Bull a stronger platform heading into the closing races, although its position relative to rivals will continue to depend on circuit characteristics. The current Formula 1 drivers’ standings also underline how important continued progress will be through the remainder of the year.
Hadjar praises Red Bull power unit breakthrough
Hadjar also highlighted the significance of Red Bull securing a Formula 1 victory with its own power unit project so early in its development.
“It’s fantastic that a Red Bull power unit has won a race. They’ve only been doing it for four years and they’ve already won an F1 race, so it’s impressive.”
The result in Malaysia therefore represented more than Red Bull’s first win of the season. It also provided confirmation that the recent technical development direction has moved the team forward after a difficult middle portion of the campaign.
The next test comes during the Singapore Grand Prix Sprint weekend. Max Verstappen is refusing to guarantee that Red Bull can repeat its Malaysian success, but both drivers believe the car is now in a stronger position than it was earlier in 2026.
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