Red Bull’s 2026 car was more than a full second off Mercedes on representative race pace at the opening round of the year. Seventeen rounds in, Formula 1’s own data has the team as the quickest package on the grid.
Max Verstappen’s statement arrived in Singapore on 11 October, where he controlled the Marina Bay race from pole and crossed the line seven seconds clear of Charles Leclerc for his first career win at the circuit.
“The last few races have been really positive for us,” Verstappen said. “It’s just great to see and we have a lot of motivation in the team to deliver even more results.”
Mercedes still own the big numbers
The championship arithmetic has not moved with the pace swing. Racing News 365’s post-Singapore table has Andrea Kimi Antonelli on 340 points to George Russell’s 238, with Mercedes on 578 constructors’ points to Ferrari’s 444.
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Formula 1’s analysis credits Mercedes with 11 of the 17 pole positions on offer this year, split six to Antonelli and five to Russell, and the same team has also taken 11 of the 17 wins. Ferrari’s only victories came at Barcelona and the British Grand Prix.
Alpine lead the development table
The development table is where the ground has shifted most dramatically. Formula 1’s engineers compared each team’s representative lap at Round 1 with their representative lap now:
- Alpine: +1.03s
- Red Bull: +0.62s
- Aston Martin: +0.50s
- Ferrari: +0.43s
- McLaren: +0.43s
- Cadillac: +0.37s
- Audi: around +0.20s
- Racing Bulls: around +0.20s
- Williams: +0.18s
- Haas: -0.21s
Haas is the only team on the grid to have gone backwards in absolute terms since the season opener. Alpine’s gain has not translated into podium hardware, but the team has moved from backmarker to midfield fighter inside a single campaign.
Baku was the tipping point
Red Bull’s switch from mid-pack to pace leader can be traced to one weekend. At Round 15 in Azerbaijan, George Russell held Verstappen off by 0.196 seconds for a Mercedes win, with Isack Hadjar completing a double Red Bull podium behind them.
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Planet F1 described Red Bull as “arguably the in-form team as the F1 2026 campaign enters its final stanza” after Singapore. The gap has only widened in Red Bull’s favour since Baku, with Verstappen’s Marina Bay walkover the clearest evidence.
The United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas on 25 October is the next test of the pace order, with Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi still on the calendar after that.
