Wolff expects Red Bull to challenge Mercedes in 2027

Max Verstappen’s dominant Singapore Grand Prix victory made it two wins in a row for Red Bull, both in direct contests with Mercedes. After the race, Toto Wolff said Red Bull would be part of an intense fight between the teams in 2027.

The forecast comes even as Mercedes remains on the cusp of both the 2026 drivers’ and constructors’ titles. Wolff praised Red Bull’s recent development and how its car had come together, and said Verstappen had been the quickest driver in Singapore and at the previous round.

A major Mercedes upgrade introduced for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia had proved inconclusive. Wolff said the team compared two specifications in Singapore to accelerate its learning: Kimi Antonelli drove the new version, while George Russell used the previous one he had taken to victory in Baku. Antonelli finished third; Russell was ninth after starting from the back because of power-unit component changes.

Wolff said the new car needed a different set-up philosophy. In his view, it was not yet as easy to drive as the previous version and did not yet have the performance Mercedes hoped the upgrade would bring, although he called it a step in the right direction. At Austin, Wolff said, Mercedes would see whether it could build on that progress and whether the upgrade offered more performance—a question he called crucial to the team’s development direction for 2027.