Red Bull’s need to add performance in 2024 has become urgent, team advisor Dr Helmut Marko admits.
Even though Max Verstappen managed to qualify and finish P2 in Singapore, Lando Norris utterly dominated the Singapore GP in his McLaren.
"It’s crazy how he pulled away," Marko said. "Our deficit is alarming. We urgently need performance.
"Thank God we now have four weeks to work on it. There should be a lot to come."
So desperate was Red Bull to minimise the points loss to Norris in the drivers’ championship that Daniel Ricciardo, in probably his last-ever grand prix, pitted late in the race to prevent Norris from scoring the extra point for fastest lap.
"Thankyou Daniel," Verstappen said on the radio, enraging Ricciardo’s former team McLaren.
"It is disappointing from a sporting point of view," McLaren CEO Zak Brown told ORF. "There should be no A and B teams or sporting cooperation on the track. And that is exactly what it was.
"Hopefully this point will not make the difference in the end."
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher scoffed at Brown’s attitude. "What does he mean unfair? It’s just the way it is, and what they did was fine."
Red Bull, however, has even written off the constructors’ championship, with team boss Christian Horner calling McLaren "unbeatable in this form".