Author Archives: PressBox

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff dismissed conspiracy theories that the team is favoring Kimi Antonelli over George Russell, calling them “brainless.” Wolff said Mercedes has always given both drivers equal material and equal opportunity, and he denied any political motive behind the team’s upgrade choices, noting that both drivers have long ties to Mercedes through its junior program.

The comments came after Russell’s engine failure in Malaysia and as Mercedes split specifications at the Singapore Grand Prix. Russell is using the team’s older aerodynamic package because he is already taking an engine penalty, while Antonelli kept the newer floor and sidepods introduced at Sepang. Wolff said the back-to-back comparison of old and new packages in Singapore was a technical evaluation, not a political move.

Antonelli leads Russell by 84 points heading into the final seven races and appears on course to become Formula 1’s youngest-ever world champion. Russell’s title bid has been hurt by technical problems, but Wolff said Mercedes will continue to treat both drivers fairly even if Antonelli’s title chances look stronger mathematically.

Ferrari issued a playful apology after Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton briefly took over the team’s official social media accounts during media day ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend. The stunt included reels, photos and other playful content on Ferrari’s accounts, and the team’s profile image was बदल changed to a selfie of the two drivers. Leclerc and Hamilton also appeared in multiple Instagram Lives during the takeover.

The posts included behind-the-scenes photos and videos from Ferrari, as Hamilton toured the garage and hospitality area. The pair were shown interrupting meetings and using filters on each other, and Leclerc asked fans about his hair in one post. Fans responded positively to the stunt.

Ferrari said two people had gained unauthorized control of its accounts, that full control had been restored and that the two suspects had been identified. On track, Hamilton entered the weekend third in the standings with 214 points, and Leclerc was fourth with 191.

George Russell topped first practice for the Singapore Grand Prix with a 1 minute, 32.274-second lap, edging Charles Leclerc by 0.198 seconds as Max Verstappen also showed strong pace. Russell set his best time on soft tires in the final five minutes of the session, after briefly losing top spot to Lewis Hamilton, and he had said earlier that his car felt very stiff.

The session was run in 53C track temperatures and was the only practice hour before Sprint Qualifying later on Friday. Most cars began on hard tires before switching to softs late, while Verstappen was the fastest driver on medium tires with a 1:33.006 lap, about half a second quicker than Kimi Antonelli on the same compound.

Lando Norris was third, 0.273 seconds off Russell’s pace, with Hamilton fourth and Oscar Piastri fifth. Verstappen finished sixth in the overall classification, Antonelli was seventh, and Nico Hülkenberg triggered a brief Virtual Safety Car after stopping with a gearbox problem.

Red Bull’s RB22 upgrade package, including new sidepods, floor geometry and flow-conditioning changes, made a clear step in Baku. Oscar Piastri said Red Bull had joined Mercedes as “the class of the field” after the update, and the package helped Max Verstappen run strongly in Azerbaijan, where he and Isack Hadjar finished on the podium and Verstappen also pressured George Russell. The same upgrades also helped Verstappen win in Malaysia.

The renewed pace has put Mercedes on alert. Juan Pablo Montoya said Mercedes are now “terrified” of Red Bull after Verstappen dominated Kimi Antonelli and Russell at the Bahrain GP, and he said Mercedes struggled to match Verstappen’s pace. Mercedes plans to run an A/B test of aero parts at the Singapore GP.

Piastri said Mercedes had been strong all season, but Red Bull’s Baku package was clearly significant. He also said McLaren and Ferrari had been trading pace while McLaren continued to underperform. Lando Norris said McLaren still needed to solve straight-line speed and car-balance issues and was not matching its earlier form. McLaren introduced updates in Baku after slipping behind following Norris’s wins in Hungary and Zandvoort, and both McLaren drivers finished outside the top five in Sepang. McLaren expects to bring a fix for recent fuel-injection problems to Singapore, and Piastri kept his expectations modest for the race.