Wolff Warns Mercedes of 'Full On' Red Bull Fight After Verstappen's Singapore Masterclass

Verstappen delivers a statement weekend in Singapore

Max Verstappen enjoyed a near-perfect weekend on the streets of Marina Bay, claiming a double pole and victory in both Saturday's Sprint and Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix. The Dutchman's commanding drive came just a week after he took his first win of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with Red Bull having made substantial performance gains in recent races.

The back-to-back wins — beating Mercedes in a straight fight each time — have sharpened the focus at Brackley, even as Mercedes sits on the cusp of the drivers' and teams' titles this season.

'You need to take your hat off for what Red Bull has done'

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted he is wary of the growing threat Red Bull could pose to his team, and believes next season could tell a completely different story.

"You need to take your hat off for what Red Bull has done this season, how they have developed the car and how it's all come together as a package," Wolff told media post-race in Singapore.

"And then you put Max Verstappen in the car, and when he feels that this thing is driving like he wants it to drive, then these are the results. He's been by far the quickest guy today, he's been the quickest guy in Kuala Lumpur."

Wolff was blunt about what lies ahead, adding: "Let's see when our upgrade hopefully starts to work and land in a place where we think it should be, whether we can be competitive against him, but one thing is for sure, next year it's full on the fight between the teams and Red Bull is part of that."

An inconclusive upgrade forces a back-to-back comparison

While Red Bull's latest upgrades appear to be making a difference, a major upgrade introduced by Mercedes for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia proved inconclusive. As a result, Mercedes chose to run back-to-back comparisons in Singapore, with Kimi Antonelli on the new specification and George Russell running the previous version — the car with which he won in Baku.

Antonelli was able to finish third at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, while Russell salvaged P9 after starting from the back of the grid due to power unit component changes. Wolff remained cautious about the potential of the newest upgrades.

"When we entered the weekend, we made the highly unusual, or let's say the unusual move in a cutting-edge technology business, to have two different cars because we felt we [needed] to accelerate our learning curve, and that was good," he explained.

"But fundamentally, looking back at the race now — the end of the weekend — I think that this new car needs a very different set-up philosophy than the previous car. And this is what we're learning at the moment.

"Was it an easy car today like the previous one? I don't think it was. 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. And in Austin we shall see whether we can continue to consolidate that and whether, in effect, it has more performance because it's crucial for the development direction for next year."

Mercedes' driver dynamic under the spotlight

Wolff's juggling of two specifications at once also put his driver line-up in the spotlight. The team boss has previously spoken about managing the rivalry between his two young charges, noting that Russell "found it difficult to cope" with Antonelli's rise earlier in the 2026 season (as reported on 2 October 2026). Wolff, who managed the fierce rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg between 2013 and 2016, said his experience helps him navigate the current dynamic.

"I'm 10 years older with 10 years more experience, with a different line-up. Today we have two proper Mercedes juniors," he said. "George has been with us since he was 17, Kimi since he was 11. That's very different to Nico and Lewis that joined the team pretty much before I did, so the difference is to really leave no situation not discussed."

What comes next

With Mercedes still on course for this season's titles but Red Bull surging, all eyes now turn to Austin, where Wolff hopes to confirm whether the team's new direction can be consolidated — and whether it will be enough to hold off Verstappen when the fight resumes next year.