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General F1 Discussion / 2026 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix Heroes and Zeroes
« Last post by Jericoke on October 11, 2026, 06:04:20 PM »A sprint weekend, on the tail end of a triple header of three race weekends, after an impromptu race in Malaysia with some rough conditions. There was room for a lot to go wrong this weekend, and while it was far from flawless, I think things went generally well.
Heroes
Max Verstappen. The Marina Bay race win had eluded him his entire career, to finally get both the sprint win and race win must feel like getting one of the last monkeys off his back. Red Bull the Team, Red Bull the Engine Supplier have both gotten their best work to provide a solid race car, and Verstappen is easily up to the task of making the whole outfit look perfect, even if they can't hear him over the radio.
Charles LeClerc. Second place, how else can he be anything but a hero? The Ferrari programme seems to struggle in multiple ways, and putting a red car on the podium is worthy of praise. Should he be doing better? Yes. Does he have the team to do better? Not even close.
Kimi Antonelli. A rough weekend leads to third place? If there are racing gods, surely they're smiling on Kimi. We expect 'kids' like 20 year old Kimi to race recklessly, to put everything on the line every second of the race to prove how amazing they are. Sure, he still struggles with track limits, meaning he is keeping close to the edge, but he also drove like someone who understand that finishing the race is the goal. Driving smart, driving patient, the race came to him. You've got to be lucky to be good, and Kimi is both. He's very much a deserving champion-in-waiting.
Liam Lawson. Racing Bulls as a B team aren't as strong as Red Bull, but Liam has proved he still belongs at the sharp end of the sport with a solid race
George Russell. Starting near the end and earning points on a one stop difficult to pass street track, even with the 'best' car is pretty good.
Isack Hadjar. Ditto what I said for Russell. I'm really enjoying Hadjar as a racer. He's got the passion that some of the other young drivers seem to have suppressed. He's media trained, like all of them, but still we get to see the 'real' Hadjar from time to time, and I hope we never lose that.
Zeros
Lewis Hamilton. Hard to say if we're blaming the driver or the team, but clearly whatever luck they had at Bahrain in Malaysia was used up. They took a chance, but I don't think everyone understood the chance they took, or agreed, or something. Hamilton is better than what we saw today.
Alex Albon. He's been my favourite 'non Hamilton' driver since he joined the sport. He showed promise, he brought joy and knowledge along with his skill, but I think he's lost whatever made him an F1 driver. I hope I'm wrong, and just the Williams team is letting him down, and there's still a corner to be turned, but he just isn't bringing anything to a team that NEEDS something brought.
McLaren. Fourth and Fifth for the defending champs doesn't feel like enough when their competitors were giving them opportunities all weekend. I don't know if it's driver management, strategy, lack of focus over all. They were lucky.
Heroes
Max Verstappen. The Marina Bay race win had eluded him his entire career, to finally get both the sprint win and race win must feel like getting one of the last monkeys off his back. Red Bull the Team, Red Bull the Engine Supplier have both gotten their best work to provide a solid race car, and Verstappen is easily up to the task of making the whole outfit look perfect, even if they can't hear him over the radio.
Charles LeClerc. Second place, how else can he be anything but a hero? The Ferrari programme seems to struggle in multiple ways, and putting a red car on the podium is worthy of praise. Should he be doing better? Yes. Does he have the team to do better? Not even close.
Kimi Antonelli. A rough weekend leads to third place? If there are racing gods, surely they're smiling on Kimi. We expect 'kids' like 20 year old Kimi to race recklessly, to put everything on the line every second of the race to prove how amazing they are. Sure, he still struggles with track limits, meaning he is keeping close to the edge, but he also drove like someone who understand that finishing the race is the goal. Driving smart, driving patient, the race came to him. You've got to be lucky to be good, and Kimi is both. He's very much a deserving champion-in-waiting.
Liam Lawson. Racing Bulls as a B team aren't as strong as Red Bull, but Liam has proved he still belongs at the sharp end of the sport with a solid race
George Russell. Starting near the end and earning points on a one stop difficult to pass street track, even with the 'best' car is pretty good.
Isack Hadjar. Ditto what I said for Russell. I'm really enjoying Hadjar as a racer. He's got the passion that some of the other young drivers seem to have suppressed. He's media trained, like all of them, but still we get to see the 'real' Hadjar from time to time, and I hope we never lose that.
Zeros
Lewis Hamilton. Hard to say if we're blaming the driver or the team, but clearly whatever luck they had at Bahrain in Malaysia was used up. They took a chance, but I don't think everyone understood the chance they took, or agreed, or something. Hamilton is better than what we saw today.
Alex Albon. He's been my favourite 'non Hamilton' driver since he joined the sport. He showed promise, he brought joy and knowledge along with his skill, but I think he's lost whatever made him an F1 driver. I hope I'm wrong, and just the Williams team is letting him down, and there's still a corner to be turned, but he just isn't bringing anything to a team that NEEDS something brought.
McLaren. Fourth and Fifth for the defending champs doesn't feel like enough when their competitors were giving them opportunities all weekend. I don't know if it's driver management, strategy, lack of focus over all. They were lucky.
