Nicholas says Verstappen’s first win for Red Bull Ford Powertrains rewarded his confidence

Max Verstappen’s first win for Red Bull Ford Powertrains felt like vindication for Calum Nicholas, who had spent months backing the new power-unit project. On the Talking Bull podcast, the former Red Bull mechanic said his confidence had been rewarded.

Nicholas worked on Red Bull’s engines for 15 seasons before becoming a team ambassador in the year before the win. He recalled people calling him crazy for arguing that the new power unit could make a major difference.

Verstappen had been fastest from the first practice session in Malaysia, taken pole and recovered from a poor start to pass both Mercedes drivers before winning by a large margin.

Nicholas credited Red Bull’s pace from day one and the team’s decisions during the race. He singled out the opening tyre choice as crucial, saying it had determined the race for a number of rivals.

The win had been Red Bull’s top priority, team principal Laurent Mekies said. The team had come close in Baku but needed 16 race weekends to secure its first win of the season. Mekies said the next priority was to learn as much as possible from the current package by continuing to experiment and take risks.

Ahead of Singapore, Mekies expected Red Bull to fight for podiums but said it was impossible to know whether the team could contend for wins at every circuit. Mercedes had always been in the victory fight and was hard to match consistently on race pace, he said; McLaren and Ferrari had also had strong spells.