Thought McLaren might not intervene any more now that they've sealed the constructors' title? Think again. Zak Brown confirmed during FP1 in Austin that Lando Norris is carrying a "marginal sporting" handicap as a repercussion for his contact with Oscar Piastri in Singapore last time out. Sigh...

No, I don’t send out my F1 newsletter on Saturd- I stand corrected 👀

Developing story as Tim Mayer, who is still speaking in a press conference in Austin, confirms Mohammed ben Sulayem will run unopposed in December's FIA presidential election. He said he is "disappointed, but not surprised" that the election system has led to no-one being able to run against MBS 🗣

"There will only be one candidate – the incumbent. That is not democracy, that is the illusion of democracy." A strong opener from Tim Mayer as he begins his press conference in Austin, discussing the FIA presidential 'election' set to take place in December.

George Russell ends his new Players' Tribune essay with the six words: "I am ready to be champion." That's his next step after establishing himself as one of the bona fide stars of F1... and securing his Mercedes future with a new contract ✍

Details including salary with George Russell's new Mercedes F1 deal understood to be a multi-year agreement, making him the third-highest paid star on the grid behind only Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. A just reward for his outstanding form this season ✍

So that’s George Russell and Kimi Antonelli (finally) confirmed by Mercedes for 2026. Interestingly, nowhere in any of Mercedes’ comms on this does it specify anything about either of their futures beyond next year.

Tim Mayer will hold a press conference in Austin on Friday, regarding “the future of the FIA Forward Presidential campaign”. Comes after it emerged no-one will be able to make it onto the ballot other than incumbent Mohammed ben Sulayem. Could be an interesting one…

Luke Browning will get his second FP1 outing of the year, replacing Carlos Sainz for the first hour of running at the Mexican GP.

Mercedes F1 bosses are entirely unperturbed by the difficulties Kimi Antonelli has endured at times this year, and remain convinced of his massive potential 🌟 Sunday feature on the Italian teenager and the Singapore sign which impressed Mercedes more than his result 🏁

FIA presidential hopeful Laura Villars has told Mirror Sport she has "legitimate concerns of conformity with the FIA statutes", regarding December's election, with incumbent Mohammed ben Sulayem seemingly set to run unopposed because of a technical reality in the process.

Turns out it was only the one day away 👀

Good luck to Kalle Rovanpera in single-seater racing. How cool would it be if more elite racers tried their hand at other forms of motorsport after becoming champion in theirs?

The 25th edition of my free weekly F1 newsletter was sent out today, and at the current rate it’s days away from picking up its 1,000th subscriber (!). Huge thanks to everyone who has supported it so far. I don’t many any money from it, it’s just something different to my day job to keep me sane!

Five second time penalty confirmed for Lewis Hamilton, for "leaving the track without a justifiable reason, multiple times" in the final stint of the race with brake issues. Drops him below Fernando Alonso, who went on a furious rant about Hamilton over the radio when he crossed the finish line.

Statement issued by team principal James Vowles after Williams saw both their cars disqualified from Singapore Grand Prix qualifying 🗣️

Lando Norris has clapped back at Max Verstappen after the Dutchman said he will "remember" the McLaren man getting in his way at the end of qualifying, quipping: "They always complain. They complain about everything – that's Red Bull." All getting a bit feisty 👀

Lewis Hamilton being investigated for a red flag infringement during FP3 in Singapore. According to the penalty guidelines for F1 stewards, "failing to slow for red flags or lights on the track" in a practice session would lead to a 10-place grid penalty, if Hamilton is found guilty.

No penalty for Charles Leclerc for that pit lane crash with Lando Norris in FP2. Just a fine for Ferrari and a very sheepish Italian mechanic who told him to leave the garage when he did…

Column for the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, as Christian Horner racks up what will end up being an impressive phone bill as he rings anyone who will answer his calls about a potential return to F1 in 2026 📱

Interesting news this morning – McLaren have announced Formula 2 driver Alex Dunne has been released from their driver academy with immediate effect...

Every pet owner knows how painful it is to eventually lose the animals they have loved. With that in mind, this week’s F1 newsletter begins with best wishes sent to Lewis Hamilton ✍️

RIP Roscoe. 12/13 years old is amazing for a bulldog and he would certainly have never wanted for anything. But that won’t make it any easier for Lewis Hamilton, as any pet owner knows. Rest easy, big dog ❤️ www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formul...

It’s always great fun watching a Ryder Cup. It’s bloody brilliant fun when you’re watching a European performance like this on US soil. Every single one of them playing some special golf so far this weekend 🇪🇺

As an animal lover... damn. Lewis is right now going through what every pet owner dreads the most 💔

This is great in so many ways. My favourite part? "My kids had designed my helmet for what was meant to be my final Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi back in 2020 – I'm at last going to be able to give it a go in a Formula 1 car on Friday."

Understand Felipe Drugovich is set to leave his role as Aston Martin F1 reserve driver later this year, having signed with Andretti Global to race in Formula E. Team owned by TWG Motorsports which also runs the Cadillac F1 project. Aston told me they will announce 2026 drivers "in due course".

There are 80 million reasons why you should read this week’s F1 newsletter. Or that may be the number of pounds Christian Horner has just made by sitting on his backside. One of the two.

Spent a good chunk of that race looking through the FIA sporting regulations and F1 stewards' guidelines to confirm that Oscar Piastri WON'T carry a grid penalty into the Singapore GP, despite being unable to serve a five-second time penalty because of his crash in Baku. Here's the explanation why 👇

This note at the bottom of the F1 stewards' guidelines explains why Oscar Piastri won't carry a grid penalty into Singapore: "In cases where there is a single 5s penalty which a driver is unable to serve due to retirement, the Stewards won't convert that into a grid penalty for a subsequent race."

So the official risk of rain for the Azerbaijan GP, according to race control, is 10%. But James Vowles sounded pretty confident that there's a "rain storm" coming in around an hour's time. Let's see who's right... 🌧

Man I love the Azerbaijani anthem. Certified banger.

As expected, Esteban Ocon is disqualified from qualifying in Baku. Haas say a problem with the assembly of his rear wing led to the car failing post-session technical checks. He had qualified 18th anyway so not a massive difference in terms of his chances of scoring points.

Actual footage of me begging my print editor for more than 400 words to sum up this qualifying session...

Sunset in Baku is one hour and 40-ish minutes away. We're an hour into quali and we've barely begun Q2...

Bit of a shocker there for Franco Colapinto, clearly distracted by Pierre Gasly using the run-off and ends up smacking the left side of his Alpine into the wall. Shouldn't have been pushing anyway as the yellow flags were out. Q1 exit and a likely penalty incoming there, you'd assume.

Interview with Laura Villars, who surprised the motorsport world this week with her FIA presidency election candidate announcement. The 28-year-old on her ideas for the FIA's future, who she is away from racing and why she is running against Mohammed ben Sulayem ✍

Go home Google AI, you're drunk.

There was only one true star of media day in Baku – the paddock cat!

Also, @abigailnicholson.bsky.social and I finally got round to putting up some shelving to house some of the trinkets I’ve picked up over the years. More to add and, yes, the weirdest by far are the Mercedes-branded ping pong paddles… 🏓

A little job update - following a restructuring of sports desks across Reach PLC, I am now Senior Formula 1 Correspondent working across all the company’s titles. But that's nowhere near as exciting as the fact the latest edition of my free newsletter is live! 🙌

Breaking: The 2026 F1 Sprint calendar has been confirmed. They’re sticking to six Sprint events for now, but it’s understood the idea of increasing that number for 2027 is being discussed. The format is also being reviewed and reverse grids is among the ideas under consideration.

F1 monitoring after Israeli strikes on Doha this week but, as it stands, no threat to Qatar GP in November. Chief executive Stefano Domenicali said he hopes a global sport like F1 can “unify the world that we are living in” 🇶🇦

At least now we know what Adrian Newey has been up to for the last few months 👶

An extra dose of sarcasm in this week’s Formula 1 newsletter, leading on McLaren’s team orders controversy at Monza and also featuring Monaco’s contract extension, Max Verstappen’s extra-curricular racing outside of F1 and the man caught driving a GP2 chassis on the motorway! 🏎

Putting the final touches to tomorrow’s F1 newsletter, and I think it’s going to be a good one! All the fallout from Monza and more, straight into your inbox 📥

I felt like I needed to write down some feelings about McLaren's team orders at Monza. I keep arriving at the conclusion that, although Andrea Stella insists it was "fair" to tell Oscar Piastri to move aside for Lando Norris, there was no need at all for them to get involved in this one.

Wow, that is a controversial team order. I would be furious if I was Oscar Piastri, being told to move aside for my championship rival. Lando Norris had a slow pit stop and that would have been tough to take... but that's racing! Imagine that will be a contentious one.

Because I’m apparently a glutton for punishment, I’ve predicted what the 2027 F1 grid could look like if Lewis Hamilton retires after next season and Max Verstappen leaves Red Bull. Feedback/abuse/uncontrollable laughter welcome. www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formul...

Paul Aron is waiting in the wings for his chance to drive in F1, but there is still time for Franco Colapinto to save himself. He has raced in F1 before on all nine tracks remaining this season and how he uses that experience will define his career 🇦🇷