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Welcome back to Prime Tire, where we’re wondering why the Singapore GP broadcast didn’t show more of the moon racing around the planet.

I’m Patrick, and Madeline Coleman will be along shortly. Let’s dive in.

How This EndsSix scenarios for the drivers’ championship

The 2025 F1 season is hurtling toward one of the closest finishes in years, and we have no idea who’s going to win. There are six races left, and three sprint weekends. (Doesn’t sound like much, but that’s two whole months, folks.) The constructors’ championship is wrapped up, but the drivers’ title? Still anyone’s game:

Oscar Piastri, McLaren – 336 pts
Lando Norris, McLaren – 314 pts
Max Verstappen, Red Bull – 273 pts
George Russell, Mercedes – 237 pts

So, on this off-week Friday, let’s imagine how this plays out.

Scenario 1: Abu Dhabi showdown 

This is both what we’re likely headed for and what we all want, no? The teammates trade wins throughout the run-in, arriving at the early December finale separated by just seven points. Piastri leads going into that race and just holds off Norris to win in the closing laps.

Precedent: Hamilton vs. Verstappen to the final lap in 2021.
Pat Verdict™️: Absolutely. This is the dream.

Scenario 2: Piastri’s dominant coronation 

Piastri stays in the lead. Comfortably, even. Ho-hum. Boo.

Scenario 3: Norris’ redemption arc

Piastri suffers two DNFs due to mechanical failures and a collision. Norris capitalizes with five wins in six races plus two sprint wins. The championship swings dramatically in the final races as McLaren tries to remain neutral (this scenario could bleed into the next one).

Precedent: Kimi Räikkönen won in 2007 from 17 points back.
Pat Verdict™️: Would enjoy. Just good storytelling.

Scenario 4: Team-orders chaos

McLaren has deftly avoided team-orders drama so far, but Verstappen winning changes everything. After Verstappen rattles off three straight victories, the team gets nervous. In Las Vegas, the pit asks Norris to let Piastri through, causing internal tension and a media firestorm that lasts through the Abu Dhabi finale. Piastri wins the title amid a media firestorm. Norris leaves McLaren. Netflix gains 300,000 subscribers.

Precedent: Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes in 2013, though under very different (less silly) circumstances.
Pat Verdict™️: I do love a good Discourse in the morning.

Scenario 5: Verstappen’s miracle run

Verstappen has proven again this season that he can dominate when the car is hooked up. So here, Red Bull finds a breakthrough upgrade, and Verstappen wins all six remaining races and sprints while the McLarens split points and suffer reliability issues. Verstappen pulls off one of F1’s greatest comebacks.

Precedent: In 2012, Vettel was 44 points behind Alonso at midseason, then won four races to claim the title by three points.
Pat Verdict™️: Who doesn’t love seeing the best athletes doing magical, history-making things, leaving their rivals absolutely flummoxed in their wake? I’d be totally in.

Scenario Elmo Chaos GIF: Russell wins

Mercedes introduces a revolutionary floor upgrade to the United States GP, unlocking 0.5s per lap, which is later utilized by NASA to develop a Wormhole Ramp for inter-universe travel. Russell goes on an unprecedented winning streak while discovering his latent time-bending abilities, enabling him to win the Brazil sprint twice. Meanwhile, McLaren’s title fight implodes spectacularly. Piastri and Norris collide on every remaining first lap and leave the team after the Qatar race, retiring from the sport in fits of rage. Red Bull’s car performance tails off. Verstappen finishes second.

Final result: Russell ∞; Verstappen 402; Piastri/Norris 0.

Precedent: That one time in Mario Kart when everyone ahead of me got blue-shelled simultaneously on the final lap.
Pat Verdict™️: Yes.

Sainz of DiscontentThe F1 broadcast drama, explained

Carlos Sainz sparked debate over F1’s television coverage priorities, alleging the Singapore GP broadcast missed key moments, including his overtakes and Fernando Alonso’s late pursuit of Lewis Hamilton. Sainz also took issue with the “increasing trend” of shots of drivers’ partners and celebrities in the paddock.

“The other stuff is fine, but as long as you don’t miss what’s essential,” Sainz told Spanish radio, suggesting F1 is “exaggerating a bit showing famous people and girlfriends.”

F1 pushed back, insisting it will “never compromise the key focus — the racing on track” while it’s providing “great context moments of the grandstands, high-profile guests and the locations we race at.”

Sainz was picking up on a fan concern, as comments and social media buzzed with it. I didn’t realize some viewers think they’re missing key racing because broadcasts cut to garage or pit wall shots.

This also shows F1’s growing pains as it balances traditional racing fans with newer ones attracted by Netflix’s “Drive to Survive.” The series has expanded F1’s reach, emphasizing personalities and paddock drama alongside racing. I’m not surprised that the sport’s diehard followers, already upset by the encroachment, don’t appreciate cutaways from the racing action.

Carlos Sainz climbed from 13th to 10th in Singapore over the final 10 laps (Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)

As I wrote in a column this week, I’m not sure this was the race to complain about.

(I joked to a colleague that this wasn’t my first column for The Athletic. Newsletter counts for 200.)

My argument was that while Sainz’s concerns about broadcast priorities are valid in principle, the Singapore GP wasn’t actually an example of the problem. The broadcast correctly prioritized the championship battle, and the shots of partners/celebrities were minimal over 62 laps.

I can’t believe I’ve spilled so many words on this.

If you’re looking for an even more nuanced take, I highly encourage reading Madeline’s first answer in today’s mailbag. I thought she wrapped the whole saga up perfectly. And now to her in the paddock!

Inside the Paddock with Madeline ColemanSo much for that FIA election drama?

Rumblings about the FIA presidential election surfaced in recent days as the list of eligible candidates for the World Motor Sport Council became public. Each candidate must compile a Presidential List, which must be drawn from the list of eligible individuals.

The seven vice-presidents must come from six specific regions (including two from Europe), and include the president of the senate, the deputy president for automobile mobility and tourism and the deputy president for sport.

Based on the document published on the FIA’s website, only one person is listed from South America: Fabiana Ecclestone, from Brazil. She’s held the position of FIA Vice President for Sport – South America since December 2021, as part of the current president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s administration. Given that an individual can only appear on one candidate’s list, it looked unlikely that the other hopefuls — Tim Mayer, Laura Villars and Virginie Philippot — would be able to put together a complete Presidential List.

Villars confirmed that “formal exchanges are currently ongoing between my legal team and the FIA Administration, as the current electoral procedure raises legitimate concerns of conformity with the FIA Statutes.” Additionally, her team obtained “independent legal opinions” that “also confirm that several recent procedural changes are inconsistent with the Statutes and must be corrected.”

She added that, under Article 1.3 of the FIA Statutes, the FIA is obligated to maintain the highest standards of governance, transparency and democracy. Villars said that, to ensure these principles are fully upheld consistent with the FIA’s designation as a non-profit association under French law, “all options — including legal and judicial ones — therefore remain under consideration.”

Along with these comments, Villars released her official programme, and the course she aims to set is “to make the FIA more participative, more accountable, and more united.” We’ll cover more about her manifesto in the coming days and weeks.

ICYMI: Here is our exclusive Q&A with her.

Helm of HadjarWhy one F1 rookie’s helmet features math equations

While most F1 drivers decorate their helmets with flashy graphics, Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar took a different approach: He covered his with physics equations: E=mc². Newton’s laws. Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Planck, and, most fittingly, Bernoulli’s equation for fluid mechanics (that’s the one that actually explains how air flows around an F1 car).

The 21-year-old designed the helmet with his father, Yassine, a physicist.

“It’s because of them that we actually get to race, you know?” Hadjar explains.

I loved this story.

Outside the points

This week, IndyCar champion Alex Palou told a U.K. court that McLaren CEO Zak Brown sold him a false dream “based on lies and false impressions”, which caused him to withdraw from a deal to join the team. Read on here.

Let’s end with two pieces you might have missed from us this week:

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