Toto Wolff believes an in-form Red Bull will be central to the “total fight” he expects to see on the Formula 1 circuit in 2027.
Wolff’s Mercedes team are closing in on a world championship double in the closing races of this season, with Kimi Antonelli set to win the drivers’ title at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix if results go his way.
The strength of Mercedes’ fight in both championship races was built on a fast start to the season – the first of the sport’s new regulatory era – with eight wins from the first 10 rounds of the campaign.
However, the win rate has since slowed, with Ferrari, McLaren and most recently Red Bull showing their ability to challenge the Silver Arrows on race weekends, with three wins in the last seven.
Red Bull in particular have been off the pace for the season, but Max Verstappen has now won the last two races and it’s a return to form that Mercedes boss Wolff has been impressed with.
“I really think you have to take your hat off to Red Bull for what they’ve done this season,” Wolff said after Verstappen’s dominant win in Singapore.
“How they’ve developed the car and how it all comes together as a package, then you put Max Verstappen in the car and he feels something that wants him to drive, then those are the results.
“Fastest guy ever [in Singapore]He’s the fastest guy in Kuala Lumpur and let’s see when our improvement hopefully starts to work and get down to where it needs to be, if we can compete against him, but one thing’s for sure, it’s going to be an all-out battle between the teams next year and Red Bull is part of that.”
Wolff also believes Red Bull’s first-ever power unit delivered a strong performance.
“I haven’t seen the data from Singapore yet, but you can’t see it lagging behind,” Wolff added.
“They did it well. ICE [Internal Combustion Unit] looks very competitive. Obviously, you can see this with ADUO [ranking, which Red Bull have found to be leading] they’re also pretty good in terms of energy recovery and energy placement.”
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Karun Chandhok discusses how Red Bull have made their cars some of the fastest this season, particularly in Baku, Bahrain and Singapore.
Will Red Bull maintain their winning form until the end of 2026?
Red Bull now head to Austin’s Circuit of the Americas this weekend chasing a third straight win to overhaul McLaren for third in the Constructors’ Championship.
The performance and, most importantly, the stability of their RB22 was improved thanks to a significant aerodynamic upgrade at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last month.
However, this update provided the final focus for this season, with the team’s development focus on the 2027 car.
With six rounds to go, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies admits that “the pecking order could change very quickly recently if a few or many of our rivals make improvements”, although they still have a lot to learn and improve with their current package.
Mekies added: “There won’t be any other significant improvements to the car. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean we won’t continue to work hard to improve, we’ll continue to work hard to learn this year and use every race we have left to learn next year.
“That’s what we have to say to each other. The first win is the goal, but the other goal is to take all the learnings. So the development program will not change. We are focused on 2027.
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Verstappen reacts to winning the Singapore Grand Prix
“In 2026, we think there is still a lot of learning that we can use in 2027. I would like to take the time to say a big congratulations to Pierre. [Wache]team, to me [Hodgkinson]’s team, they did to be in this position to fight for the win in different ways for the job in Milton Keynes.
“Like I said, even a weekend where you have two poles and two wins [Singapore] weekend, we’re still very honest with each other, there were a number of things we wanted to see better, even on a weekend like this one. That is the spirit of this team and we will go with that spirit and rebuild and solve the next race.”
Sky Sports F1 USA schedule
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from the United States Grand Prix
Thursday, October 22
18.25: F1 Academy Practice
20:00: Drivers’ press conference
22:30: F1 Academy Qualifying round
11.10pm: Uncut Paddock
Friday, October 23
18:00: US Grand Prix First Practice (session starts at 18:30)*
20:00: The F1 Show
21:45: United States Grand Prix Second Practice (session starts at 22:00)*
23.50: F1 Academy Race 1*
Saturday, October 24
18.15: United States Grand Prix Third Practice (session starts at 18.30)
20:30: US Grand Prix Qualifying round*
22:00: UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX SET*
12:00: F1 Academy Race 2*
12.45: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday, October 25
17:00: F1 Academy Race 3
18:30: Grand Prix Sunday: US GP Wrap-up*
20:00: US GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Checkered Flag: United States GP reaction
11:00 p.m.: Ted’s notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 heads to America for another triple-header with the United States Grand Prix in Austin this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports NOW – no contract, cancel whenever you want