Red Bull chief ‘disappointed’ with one Max Verstappen decision at the Singapore Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen equalled his career-best result for the Singapore Grand Prix in P2 on Sunday, but Red Bull director Pierre Wache still left Marina Bay slightly disappointed.

The Singapore GP remains the only race on the current F1 calendar that Verstappen is yet to win after nine visits to Marina Bay to date. He came closest to securing that elusive first win in Singapore last weekend, as the 27-year-old finished the race 5.430 seconds off the lead.

But Verstappen was never a genuine threat for glory as Mercedes driver George Russell won the Singapore GP from pole position. The Dutchman had to accept back-to-back P2 finishes at Marina Bay after he and Red Bull agreed to start the 2025 race on the soft C5 Pirelli tyres.

Verstappen was the only driver inside the top seven to start on the soft tyres in a bid to pass Russell on the medium C4 compound after the brief pre-race rain shower, yet the racing line offered the Mercedes racer more grip. But Wache would come to regret a different decision.

Pierre Wache thinks Red Bull were not ‘aggressive enough’ with Max Verstappen’s Singapore Grand Prix set-up

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said Verstappen’s decision to start the Singapore GP on soft tyres was an “aggressive” but “necessary” choice if he wanted to win Sunday’s race. But Wache thinks Red Bull could have been even more aggressive with Verstappen’s set-up.

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Verstappen used Red Bull’s upgraded front wing in Singapore, as the Milton Keynes crew are continuing to develop their car to help his chances of retaining the F1 drivers’ championship again. But Red Bull did not get Verstappen’s set-up for the Singapore GP in the right window.

Wache told RacingNews365: “I’m happy with the car’s potential. Maybe we didn’t fully utilise it. I’m a little disappointed with what we did, with what I personally did.

“But the car has gotten better. The drivers can use it more. I think we might have missed an opportunity here, but it does give me a good feeling heading into the end of the year.

“We might not have been aggressive enough with the set-up to really get the maximum potential out of the car. That’s what I mean. I hope it continues like this. You never know what the others have in terms of performance. We just have to wait and see.”

What has Max Verstappen said about his 2025 F1 Singapore GP set-up after finishing P2?

Verstappen trimmed his deficit in the 2025 drivers’ standings to championship-leader Oscar Piastri to 63 points with his P2 in the Singapore GP, while the McLaren ace sealed P4. Lando Norris took the chequered flag at Marina Bay in P3 to lead Verstappen by 41 points, as well.

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But while McLaren have stopped developing their car, as the Woking crew focus on the 2026 F1 regulations, Red Bull are still bringing new parts for Verstappen’s 2025 machine. Red Bull might have also found more pace if Verstappen used a different set-up for the Singapore GP.

Verstappen admitted after finishing the Singapore GP in P2, just 0.636s ahead of Norris, that he did not enjoy his Red Bull RB21’s balance at Marina Bay. The four-time reigning champion also believes Red Bull made a slight mistake by not completing a race simulation in practice.

“The car was not where I wanted it to be, unfortunately,” Verstappen said, via quotes by the official F1 website, after the Singapore GP. “A few things of course to learn from that, I think, from some decisions that we made throughout the weekend in terms of the set-up.

“We didn’t do a proper long run, so that doesn’t help. But it’s not like it’s a mystery why it didn’t go so well in the race, so we just need to analyse that… Even if the balance would have been perfect, I think second was still the best possible.”