The Singapore Grand Prix brought together a number of events that, rather than pleasing fans, achieved the opposite.

The current Formula 1 has many problems.

The Marina Bay circuit was a prime example of the controversy that has long surrounded the sport. It does not seem that a solution will be found in the short term, as there are many interests behind the scenes that could be driving some of the rejection that is emerging among traditional racing fans. It was only a matter of time before this exploded.

In this article, I will give my opinion on the most relevant points that emerged from the Singapore Grand Prix.

The ‘Invisible Man’ is still out of contract

Photo: Mercedes-AMG F1 Team vía Instagram

George Russell proved once again, on the streets of Marina Bay, that he is at the peak of his career. It may come as a surprise to some, but he is currently the second-best driver of the year, just behind Verstappen. He is the best British driver in Formula 1.

The Mercedes driver had a sublime weekend, putting in a performance that deserves huge recognition, but which, as he is a driver without much marketing or press power, goes unnoticed.

In qualifying, to the surprise of many of us, he completed two laps in Q3 that were somewhat reminiscent of Lewis Hamilton's milestone in 2018. George left his mark on qualifying on his first attempt, grazing the wall on the exit of turn 17.

1:29.165 — a lap that looked like a circuit record.

No one could match it, not even Verstappen. He wasn’t happy with the result because he thought he had pole. The standout thing was the gap to the rest, especially to Max. Given the track, people expected McLaren to be much closer to the fight for pole. But both cars ended up four tenths off George’s time, which sparked talk that, for the first time this season, Woking might have lost their performance lead.

Russell managed to lower his time by seven thousandths of a second, setting a new track record: 1:29.158, a lap time that will probably not be beaten for several years.

After the second Q3 runs, nothing changed.

However, Verstappen and Norris were involved in a controversy that could have cost the Dutchman pole. Verstappen claimed Norris gave him dirty air while heading to the pit lane. At the entry to Turn 16 (the final chicane), Verstappen was two tenths up on pole pace and looked set to land an even bigger blow — which explains his anger with Lando.

Russell’s race was close to perfect.

He set a pace no one could match. The key came in the opening metres. Verstappen on softs was a real threat and could have made George’s race complicated. But Russell didn’t flinch. He executed cleanly, managed the race even one-handed at times, and took his fifth win of his career — another strong reason to believe in him.

It’s hard to understand why, even now, he still doesn’t have a new Mercedes deal signed. The British driver doesn’t seem the least bit worried about the uncertainty that’s surrounded him for weeks. Apparently, there’s no deal close with Toto Wolff to continue beyond 2026. Recent reports say Russell has rejected several offers from the team because they don’t meet his terms. According to RacingNews365, the sticking points are the length of the contract and a cut to his marketing days for the team.

Personally, I think this long saga comes down to Max Verstappen. His future at Red Bull isn’t fully secure, and Toto Wolff won’t pass up the chance to at least try to sign the Dutchman for 2027. Some reports in recent weeks mentioned a supposed 1+1 contract for Russell — which he’d be well within his rights to reject.

Russell’s situation is very unfair, but Formula 1 works like this: it’s not about fairness. Toto Wolff has a huge opportunity to sign the driver he’s always wanted after letting him go to Red Bull in 2014. It’s not great to see your teammate, Kimi Antonelli, with a level of performance well below the Briton’s, already locked in from 2026 onward. It’s not pleasant to deal with this while you’re proving on track that you have world-champion material.

Next year, all signs point to Mercedes as the dominant team, and that could be the Briton’s worst enemy. If Red Bull underperforms, the Verstappen camp will look for a way out — and their first stop will likely be Toto Wolff’s office.

McLaren: more defeated than victorious

Once again, the Woking team got caught up in a controversy that overshadowed their second straight Constructors’ Championship — something they hadn’t done since 1991.

The post-start incident at Turn 3 sparked a debate that, in my view, was overblown. Oscar Piastri, clearly angry on the radio, lashed out at his team and teammate over what was really a simple racing incident. After the race, the Australian delivered one of the moments of the season, kicking off what could be a shift in momentum for the rest of the year: he cut the radio feed while McLaren CEO Zak Brown was congratulating him on the constructors’ title. The “dark side” of Oscar Piastri has arrived at last. It’s time for him to show the malice I know he has.

The contact between the two McLaren drivers came after a slight touch between Lando and Verstappen, which made Lando lose control and led to a second hit — this time with his teammate. I don’t see Lando’s move as reckless; quite the opposite. It was a pure racing move from a driver fighting for a world title. Yes, he attacked the inside of Turn 3 very aggressively, but that doesn’t stop me from praising a move that, if done by someone else, would probably be widely applauded. These kinds of contacts are very common at race starts, especially on street tracks. There’s no reason to pile on Norris for a brilliant launch where he got ahead of his direct rival, who, in my view, lacked aggression.

I have to be honest: I didn’t like Oscar’s race. He lacked pace, especially in the first stint. He couldn’t close the gap to Norris and Verstappen to become a real undercut threat. In any case, McLaren wouldn’t have allowed it. I never felt Oscar was about to turn a two-way fight into a three-way one.

Oscar’s chances vanished with that 5.2s pit stop, which left him nine seconds behind his teammate. He was better in the second stint, managed to cut the gap, and finished just two seconds off the podium. Maybe without that slow stop, the ending would have been different.

As for Lando Norris, he couldn’t pass Max Verstappen, who struggled a lot in the race. Strategically, Lando was on the back foot after starting on softs and failing to do what he wanted at the start: get ahead of Russell. Max had performance issues with his car — specifically with the gearbox — and he wasn’t happy with the RB21’s balance during the race.

Lando had just one real lunge, around the outside of Turn 7, but it didn’t come off. You could say he needed a little extra to get past Verstappen — though to be fair, overtaking a Red Bull driven by Max is a huge challenge, and even more so in Singapore.

The Constructors’ Championship celebrations took a back seat after McLaren lost more points — again — to Max Verstappen, who now sits 63 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri. And images like the Australian waiting in the TV pen to speak to the media while the rest of the team celebrated the title could have been avoided. It was not a good look.

With the Constructors’ now fully wrapped up, it’s time for McLaren to let their drivers fight each other properly — no more “Papaya Rules.” We deserve a worthy end to the season, without silly team orders that deny us a tense battle between two drivers who both have a shot at their first Formula 1 title.

No more nonsense — I want a full-on fight. With or without Max.

Aston Martin does not deserve Fernando Alonso

The mega-million-euro project is still showing problems many of us can’t make sense of. Right now, they’re not ready to fight the top teams — they’re light-years away.

It’s a harsh take, but it’s the reality at the moment.

Aston Martin is that team that can inexplicably make the car slower after Friday. It happened at Zandvoort and it happened again in Singapore. This time it wasn’t about running less wing or a more aggressive engine mode. The top-speed data from Friday to Saturday showed the drop in performance wasn’t down to that — it was setup, again. Something changed on the car.

After qualifying P10, Fernando Alonso started banging his helmet and steering wheel — a clear sign of frustration. “Getting into Q3 was always going to be a strong target,” he said — a line that’s hard to believe after seeing his reaction in the cockpit. The car on Friday promised more than tenth place. If that was truly the max, you don’t react like that.

Sunday’s race was anything but calm for the Spaniard. A 9-second pit stop forced him to show his more rebellious side — toward his team and even other drivers. After a 28-lap stint on softs, he came in for his first and only stop. For some reason — mostly bad luck — the right-front wheel gun didn’t work as expected.

Fernando’s race was heavily compromised, and he had to fight back to recover eighth place, the best he could hope for. After gaining two positions at the start and pulling off a masterful move on Isack Hadjar at Turn 13, it was time to dig in again.

In a race with not much on-track action, Fernando was the main spark, pulling off a second brilliant overtake on Toro Rosso’s Isack Hadjar. It was a great scrap. Albon, Bearman, Sainz and Lawson were his other victims, although FOM only showed two of his overtakes on the broadcast…

Fernando’s race ended with a duel against Lewis Hamilton, who lost his brakes on lap 60 — specifically at Turn 16 — and had to survive for two laps, cutting corners as he pleased. We had to follow the fight through the F1 graphics because FOM didn’t think it necessary to air that dramatic finish, with just four tenths separating the two world champions at the flag. In the end, after a bit of justice, Lewis Hamilton received a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits on four occasions.

A team lucky enough to have a driver like Fernando Alonso has to deliver. They can’t keep relying on the magic in his hands — the team and the car must respond and reward. The frustration we saw from Fernando during the race is unacceptable.

Aston Martin must meet expectations for the 2026 rules. We can’t keep using the “young team” excuse. They have top-class facilities; they have Adrian Newey; and they have serious financial power — no excuses. They’re fighting Williams and RB (Red Bull’s sister team) for fifth in the Constructors’, and those teams are showing more solidity with fewer resources.

I’m not demanding wins or podiums, but I do expect them to prove they’re ready so that, when the moment comes, they can fight the biggest teams. Slow pit stops and wrong setup changes while others consistently find extra performance are not a good sign for next year’s hopes. The pressure then will be far higher than it is now. They need to work and deliver. No more excuses.

The FIA stole the spotlight

Lewis Hamilton was at the heart of a controversy in the final two laps, and it sparked plenty of debate.

The 5-second penalty for the Briton was insufficient. It’s understandable that Lewis tried to survive to the finish and score points, but he went too far in how he did it. Cutting five corners with clear intent to gain an advantage over his pursuer, Fernando Alonso, couldn’t go unpunished. We all agree bad luck struck Hamilton—he didn’t deserve to suffer the SF-25’s problems in the worst possible way. However, having no brakes is not an excuse to do whatever you want on track.

The FIA recorded only four “track limits” incidents instead of the five that were logged:

Lap 59: Turn 17
Lap 60: Turns 16 and 17
Lap 61: Turns 5 and 16

Source: Víctor Abad via X

The penalty should have been ten seconds, given that the official regulations state an extra five seconds for each additional infringement. From the fourth infringement, the first five seconds are applied. For some reason the FIA did not take the fifth infringement into account.

Even the stewards got the type of incident wrong. It wasn’t about track limits; it was leaving the track to gain an advantage. The base penalty for that is 10 seconds, and it can escalate to a drive-through. In Hamilton’s case, under the regulations, 20 seconds should have been added to his race time.

At the last Monaco Grand Prix, Haas driver Ollie Bearman received a 10-place grid penalty after, purely by momentum, overtaking Carlos Sainz at Rascasse under a red flag. Do you think that’s fair?

Lewis was the least to blame, but he went too far and deserved a harsher penalty. This isn’t about having anything against the British driver — I’d say the same if it were Fernando or Max.

The FIA and Ferrari were most at fault for allowing an unsafe car to stay on track for two full laps. The stewards leave a lot to be desired; decisions aren’t applied equally to everyone. The debate over “different” treatment for British drivers is more alive than ever.

Let’s talk about FOM: it was embarrassing

I’ve felt for a while that F1 broadcasts have lost quality. It’s not just what we saw in Singapore — which was awful — but recent changes overall.

I blame the Drive to Survive effect (no proof, but no doubts either). Drivers’ partners are getting way too much airtime. Most fans don’t care. It’s fine to cut to the garage now and then, but doing it constantly is embarrassing.

Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz were basically the only drivers who livened up the final phase with big comebacks in a race with little on-track action. Of the eight overtakes by the Williams driver, the broadcast showed zero; of the six by the Aston Martin driver, only two made it to air.

The X account “Cytrus” posted a video showing all the overtakes FOM missed because they were busy in the McLaren and Williams garages, cutting to the driver’s partners. At what point does that take priority over on-track action? That’s F1 today — and it’s sad.

Fernando Alonso pulled off a brutal overtake on Isack Hadjar at Turn 13, one of the trickiest spots on the track — one of the best moves of the season. FOM didn’t think it was worth showing live.

We had to piece it together on social media and via the on-screen graphics to follow both Spaniards’ fightbacks. The TV crew chose to focus for more than twenty laps on a mostly non-battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. There are 18 other drivers out there, not just them. Another victim of the poor broadcast was Alpine’s Argentine driver, Franco Colapinto. After yet another sublime start, gaining three places, he still wasn’t deemed “motivational” enough to show — despite all the talk around his future.

The most surreal part was that they didn’t think it relevant to show Lewis Hamilton with no brakes while Fernando Alonso was reeling him in at high speed. They didn’t show the Briton’s onboard either as he tried to survive by cutting five corners to stay ahead of the Spaniard. Two of the biggest stars on the grid were locked in a nail-biting finish — and we had to follow it through timing graphics and the delta. FOM didn’t even have the decency to show the final few metres of a flat-out chase.

I guess this is the new Formula 1 — a show that gradually pushes the real protagonists into the background. It focuses more on people with nothing to do with racing, and on drivers’ girlfriends, who, to me, should have very little relevance.

F1 is heading down the wrong path. It’s turning off the true racing fans who’ve followed this sport all our lives. And yet, they don’t seem to notice — or don’t want to — perhaps for financial or social reasons.

See you next time.

Mario Martínez.

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