Pink Bull Group Principal Laurent Mekies admits that “with the ability to combat for the win” through the Singapore Grand Prix “means rather a lot” after Max Verstappen completed second in Sunday’s race.
The four-time and reigning World Champion entered the race in Singapore having claimed two wins on the bounce after Red Bull discovered further efficiency from its RB21.
Whereas Verstappen was unable to win at Singapore – nonetheless the one venue on the present F1 calendar the place he has but to face on the highest step – the Dutchman pushed winner George Russell throughout at a observe the place Pink Bull has struggled the previous couple of seasons.
“With the ability to combat for the win right here, it means rather a lot,” mentioned Mekies concerning the crew’s efficiency. “After Monza, Baku, it was very completely different. You by no means know till you’re coming.
“We have been capable of be in the fitting rhythms from Friday. We had been in the fitting rhythm in Qualifying. It was very, very near name, and we had been in the fitting rhythm within the race.
“If you happen to look, we completed just a few seconds away from George. That is excellent news. It signifies that what we’ve got unlocked just isn’t solely low downforce particular.
“We won’t change our method. We’ll proceed to take it race by race. We’ll proceed to take the learnings.”
Pink Bull’s elevated efficiency within the final three Grands Prix has crucially come on very completely different circuits, with Monza and Baku requiring a low downforce set-up whereas Singapore required the next downforce configuration.
Regardless of lacking out on a hat-trick of victories, Verstappen outscored Drivers’ Championship chief Oscar Piastri and McLaren crew mate Lando Norris for the third consecutive race, and now sits 63 and 41 factors behind respectively with six Grands Prix and three Sprints remaining.
“I feel everyone has been working extraordinarily laborious in Milton Keynes, from race one to now, and by no means giving up on attempting to unlock the potential of that automotive. It’s truthful to say that the progress in the previous couple of weeks have been fairly spectacular,” added Mekies.
“And it is credit score to everybody, once more, again at house, which have by no means given up. It is credit score to Max, that has been, along with his sensitivity, pushing us to discover completely different avenues. And at last, we discovered an avenue that unlocked a little bit of efficiency.
“There is no such thing as a single silver bullet. So, there have been an excellent movement of updates. There have been other ways to run the automotive.”
