Red Bull sound warning over F1 form after breakthrough Malaysia victory

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has suggested his squad's recent uptick in performance may not solely be down to its upgrades.

The Milton Keynes-based squad unveiled a batch of new components in Baku last month at the start of the sport's triple header.

Having achieved a double podium in Azerbaijan, it finally snagged its first win of the year last time out in Bahrain, with Max Verstappen scoring his 72nd career victory.

While Mekies admitted the upgrades have proven to be a step forward, he suggested more factors could have been in play in Sepang.

"On one side, it's confirming the positive trend with Monza, with Madrid, with Baku, with Bahrain," Mekies told select media including RacingNews365.

"We seem to be adding a little bit of performance at every race, which is great.

"On the other side, is there another factor that has influenced what we have seen in Bahrain, or several other factors? Possibly.

"With the extreme heat and the track roughness and the layout of the track, I'm sure most of the cars out there were out of their ideal operating window.

"Did that affect the pecking order? It's possible. Does it change anything in the way we approach the next race? Not really."

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Mekies hopeful over Red Bull's Singapore chances

Mekies acknowledged that on paper, the team anticipated Singapore's track layout to suit it better than Bahrain ahead of both rounds.

That analysis, in theory, places Red Bull in a strong position as it heads into the Singapore round this season.

While Max Verstappen sounded a note of caution over that possibility, Mekies is hopeful Red Bull can once again be in the mix.

"We will try to adapt as best as we can next, and we'll see," he said.

"We still think Singapore hopefully will be suiting us, as we felt it would, in terms of slow-speed corner performance.

"What competition we'll do, it's very difficult to understand."