Oscar Piastri makes bold claim about soaring Red Bull in F1 fight with Mercedes

Oscar Piastri believes Red Bull has elevated itself into the same F1 bracket as Mercedes following its performances in the last two grands prix.

Verstappen finally ended his winless drought on Sunday in the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, converting pole into a comfortable victory ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes. The second W17 of George Russell retired with a PU issue a few laps from the chequered flag.

The four-time F1 champion's triumph capped a weekend that underlined how quickly the competitive order has shifted, with Red Bull now matching Mercedes for raw pace on multiple circuit types.

In the Azerbaijan GP the previous weekend, Verstappen could only qualify eighth after a battery charging failure compromised his final Q3 lap, but he still fought through to finish second, just 0.196 seconds behind race winner Russell.

Ahead of this weekend's race in Singapore, McLaren driver Piastri said the timing and scale of Red Bull's improvement had taken him by surprise, pointing to Sepang's string of long straights as the clearest evidence yet of the team's new-found pace.

Discussing the shift in competitive order ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Piastri said: "Mercedes has been very strong the whole season, obviously. Baku, with the long straights there, it wasn't a big surprise that they were so quick.

"Considering how many straights there were in Malaysia, it was surprising they weren't faster. Whatever Red Bull put on their car in Baku clearly was big because Baku went under the radar for them with where they qualified and Max's engine problem.

"He put George under a lot of pressure at the end of the race, but I think if he had started at the front in Baku, he would have put George under a lot of pressure for the whole race.

"In Malaysia, he was definitely the quickest car and driver combination, so I definitely think the others around us are making progress.

"Us and Ferrari seem to go to and fro a little bit, but Mercedes has always been the class of the field, and I think Red Bull has kind of joined them in the last couple of weeks."

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Slow street circuit corners could again undo McLaren

By contrast, McLaren arrives in Singapore having scored just 10 points across the last two rounds, with Lando Norris retiring in Baku and finishing ninth in Bahrain.

Piastri was candid about his own team's prospects around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, which is dominated by slow corners where the Woking-based squad has struggled this year.

Asked how he expected McLaren to fare this weekend, Piastri said: "We'll see what we're like.

"Slow corners have not been our strongest point this year, and street circuits neither really, so I'm not going to set my expectations super high.

"But again, being a sprint weekend, it gives a few opportunities to pull something out of the bag.

"The track surface is quite smooth; it got resurfaced a few years ago, for the most part, so maybe we'll be able to pull something forward.

"But again, it's always pretty close, so if we are ahead of the other teams, it's never going to be by much."