Christijan Albers hails ‘genius’ move from Red Bull to keep Max Verstappen ahead of Lando Norris in Singapore

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Former F1 driver Christijan Albers has applauded Red Bull for one “genius” move they made during the Singapore Grand Prix that aided Max Verstappen on his way to second place.

Verstappen’s second-place finish at the Singapore Grand Prix saw him take his fourth consecutive podium after previously failing to record back-to-back podiums during the 2025 Formula season.

The Dutchman went into the race weekend in need of a victory to keep himself within a chance of potentially stealing the F1 title away from the McLaren front-runners of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Despite coming up short in second, Verstappen finished ahead of both McLarens to eat into the deficit he is currently under and put more pressure on the shoulders of Piastri and Norris in the upcoming races.

It wasn’t plain sailing for the 28-year-old, though. Verstappen highlighted his difficulties in having to manage certain factors during the race, including an issue with downshifts and tyre wear.

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Christijan Albers found Red Bull’s strategy with Max Verstappen in Singapore to be “especially impressive”

One particular moment helped Verstappen greatly in his attempt to withstand the pressure of Norris behind.

Starting on the soft compound tyres, the reigning world champion was forced into tyre management in the opening stages, as George Russell disappeared into the night.

Former F1 driver Christijan Albers highlighted how Red Bull were able to service Verstappen’s RB21 in a fashion that was quick enough for him to get out of the pits ahead of Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard may have caused issues for Verstappen’s race due to the narrow nature of the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

“What I found especially impressive, and this is where you really see how brilliant Red Bull is compared to the other teams, is how they planned the timing of bringing a driver in and sending him back out,” Albers told journalist Erik van Haren.

“I actually thought that was the smartest part of the entire race. For example, Max kept monitoring his tyres, making sure he could maintain that connection. You might say, ‘Chris, he was nine or 10 seconds behind.’

“True, but if he pushes too hard, the gap can collapse like a pudding, and you suddenly lose even more time. Max was able to limit that damage to 10 seconds. Think about how carefully Red Bull planned the strategy; it was genius.

“They released him exactly at the right moment for Alonso, closing that gap perfectly. Then they could push toward Lewis Hamilton, and it was spot on. When Russell came out, the gap was only three seconds. That means over those six laps, he closed six, seven seconds.”

Verstappen pitted seven laps before Norris and was able to go to the end of the race on the 42-lap-old hard tyres. The British driver put up a fight in the closing laps, but was unable to get the job done.

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Laurent Mekies applauded Max Verstappen’s “amazing job” defending from Lando Norris

McLaren were expecting a much better result from their two star drivers in Singapore. Russell taking the chequered flag on Sunday marked the team’s third successive race without a win, their longest drought of the current campaign.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies applauded Verstappen’s racecraft, which saw him expertly defend the advances from his on-track rival, saying via Verstappen.com, “Max had a very strong race and was quick enough today to stay in contact with George and hold off the McLarens.

“We tried everything we could to win the race, we started on the Soft tyre to try our best chance at the start when the conditions were tricky. It was an aggressive decision and a risk we chose to take.

“After that, there was very little possibility to do anything else with the race. It was very tough out there and, after pitting early, Max did an amazing job defending from McLaren to keep the car in second place.”

Russell revealed how Red Bull made him nervous through their decision to start Verstappen on the soft compound tyres.

Despite their sub-optimal lifespan, the softer rubber can be paramount to gaining track positions at the start of races, which is what the British driver was worried about.