Red Bull admits its ongoing improvement of its 2025 Formula 1 car has come at the cost of some early work on next year's major rule changes.
A new front wing for the Singapore Grand Prix helped Max Verstappen and Red Bull beat chief rival McLaren on a maximum-downforce circuit for the first time this year, although it was not enough for Verstappen to claim his third win in a row.
Still, being George Russell's closest challenger in qualifying and the race was a significant moment for Red Bull as, although it was not quite on McLaren's level for race pace in Singapore, being genuinely faster in qualifying is what earned the track position that proved crucial.
This has not happened before at maximum-downforce circuits. Verstappen's early giant-killing feats against the McLarens this season, including winning at Suzuka back in April, have come from the four-time F1 world champion making a lower-drag set-up work on tracks with bigger aero compromises.
And it was only a couple of months ago, before the summer break, that Red Bull looked lost and Verstappen was speaking extremely forlornly about the rest of the season.
But after winning from pole when everyone was running low downforce at Monza and in Baku, Verstappen noted how promising it was for Red Bull to be quick in Singapore too, something team boss Laurent Mekies said "means a lot" because "what we have unlocked is not only low-downforce specific".
Even McLaren team boss Andrea Stella admitted this was "evidence" of Red Bull really getting on top of its car's main weaknesses, which is the result of sustained, intense development around the floor and in Singapore the addition of a new front wing.
That turnaround, which keeps Verstappen in long-shot championship contention but more importantly means he has higher hopes for each remaining weekend, has come at a potentially significant price.
Mekies admitted that pushing on for so long this year has to hurt Red Bull's preparations for F1's massive 2026 rule changes - which every other team, including McLaren, switched full focus to much earlier.
That's a surprising risk to have taken, but it's not happened just to make Verstappen happier this year. Red Bull's long been in a development funk, and getting to the bottom of its problems at low-downforce tracks last year and long-running weaknesses with kerb riding has been key.
"It was and it is very important that we get to understand if the [current] project has more performance," said Mekies.
"It's important we get to the bottom of it, because we will elaborate next year's project, even if next year's regulations are completely different, with the same tools and methodology.
"And it's very important that we validate with this year's car how we are looking at the data is correct, how we are developing the car is correct, [what it is] that produced that level of development, that will give us confidence in the winter for next year's car.
"Of course it comes at a cost undoubtedly for the '26 project but we feel it's the right trade-off for us, without judging what the other guys are doing."
With McLaren beaten again, Verstappen may smell blood, if not in the championship then the six remaining races.
It will take until next March to see how much Red Bull has suffered for delaying full focus on its 2026 car, but the ultimate short-term pay-off for Red Bull would be that Verstappen starts to make bigger inroads on his 63-point deficit to Oscar Piastri and steals the drivers' title.
Realistically, the gaps have not changed enough for Verstappen to be confident that's possible.
But he at least has a better chance now of beating the McLarens more often, and he felt Red Bull actually had more potential in Singapore after ending up unhappy with his car's balance in the race and having to manage his tyres more after an aggressive choice to start on softs did not pay off.
"Over the last few races we've definitely improved a lot," said Verstappen.
"A few things that we have done throughout the weekend, that's what we have to probably look at again for the coming races.
"But it's nothing shocking or that we are lost about why maybe some pace has disappeared compared to what we would have liked.
"It's just some stuff that we need to analyse, and hopefully next weekend we can do a little bit better."
