Max Verstappen has put together a terrifyingly fast return to domination over a recent triple-header of races, leaving Red Bull's rivals properly alarmed as RaceFans reports. The four-times world champion took maximum points at the Singapore Grand Prix, claiming the sprint race and the grand prix win from pole position. That performance followed a victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia just a week prior.
In fact, the Red Bull driver came agonizingly close to sweeping all three of the last races. During the trip to Azerbaijan, he was right in the hunt for pole position before a yellow flag forced him to abort his final run. Even starting from eighth on the grid, he sliced through the field to finish a close second behind George Russell, aided by a timely Safety Car period.
That kind of versatility has the paddock rattled. George Russell is deeply concerned by how competitive Red Bull has proven across three completely different tracks in as many weekends. As Russell pointed out, Max was right at his level in Baku, and then Red Bull dominated totally different layouts in Malaysia and Singapore. Mercedes brought an upgrade for their W17 machine with mixed results, leaving Russell to admit their current goal is trying to get on top of those updates while Red Bull remains exceptionally fast.
The four-time world champion's latest victory also rockets Red Bull to within just seven points of McLaren in the fight for third place in the championship standings. That progress has not gone unnoticed by Lando Norris, who voiced real concern over the pace of the Red Bull. Norris noted that Malaysia was an outlier and poor for them due to the tarmac, but Red Bull went well there anyway. Even in Singapore where the tarmac supposedly suits McLaren's car much more, the Red Bull machines were still the quickest on track.
According to Norris, his squad has slipped to the back of the top four and currently sits as the fourth-fastest team. While finishing fourth meant they overachieved relative to the car's true pace, Norris made it clear he wants podiums and wins, meaning they need to keep bringing upgrades. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc lined up alongside Verstappen on the front row in qualifying but simply had no answer for the leader's pace during the race.
Leclerc felt they maximized everything possible and praised the call to try a different strategy, but ultimately admitted that Red Bull and Max were just too quick. The Ferrari driver acknowledged they need to make progress in qualifying and find more upgrades to start at the front, even if they already possess a good race car once the lights go out.
