F1 2026: The Most Disappointing Moments From The Asian Triple-Header

Formula 1's triple-header in Baku, Sepang, and Singapore gave us some of the best moments this season. But looking at the other side, there were also disappointing scenes that left drivers and their fans frustrated. 

Let's start things off with the infamous divebomb from Franco Colapinto in the streets of Baku.

Things were going well for Alpine in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, up until Alex Albon's accident brought out the Safety Car. Pierre Gasly was running seventh in the restart when Franco Colapinto made an uncalculated risk of approaching Turn 1 too quickly. He locked up, overshot the corner, struck Gasly, who knocked into McLaren's Lando Norris.

What could've been a productive haul of points for Alpine turned out to be a nightmare. It would foreshadow their fate in the next two races, where they also came away with zero points.

Unfortunately, Alpine now trails the Racing Bulls for fifth place by 32 points. 

Norris was an innocent casualty in the domino effect of Colapinto's multi-car crash in Baku. It forced him to retire his McLaren and come away from that race without a single point. The reigning World Champion would go on a tirade of comments against Colapinto, which he eventually rescinded and apologized for.

Still, the DNF in Baku cost Norris a lot of points. He has now tumbled from P4 to P6 in the Drivers' Standings.

A software glitch in Sepang delayed the start of the race for more than an hour. Then, a "human error" resulted in a loss of performance for some drivers during the first session of Sprint Qualifying in Singapore. 

It was a successful triple-header for F1 drivers and teams. As for the FIA? Not so much.

After the win in Baku, Russell had a miserable afternoon in Malaysia. With five laps to go behind the Safety Car, everyone was surprised when the Mercedes driver suddenly pulled over. He was running third, but the power unit issue forced him to retire that late in the race. 

Norris and Oscar Piastri were sizing each other up for more than a handful of laps in the Singapore Sprint. They finally came to blows on the final lap, when Norris lunged down the inside of Turn 5, and Piastri made contact. Both spun dramatically, with Piastri hitting the wall and exiting the race. Norris finished P8 to salvage a point, but the damage was already done.

As if his DNF in Malaysia wasn't enough, Russell crashed into the barriers late in the first lap of the Singapore Sprint Race. This time, though, it was driver's error. 

The grid navigated wet conditions during the Sprint, with Russell getting a better start and overtaking Verstappen into Turn 1. But the Mercedes driver committed a costly mistake when he dipped his wheels on the white line of the kerbs, which might still have plenty of standing water. 

Russell spun his car, hit the barriers, and DNF'd in the Sprint. He lost another boatload of championship points to teammate Kimi Antonelli.

Ferrari had Hamilton start on mediums to run a longer first stint in Singapore, but the tyre didn't perform as expected. He called for a two-stop strategy, pitting early to change to the soft tyres. But everyone was surprised when Hamilton opted not to pit again under the Virtual Safety Car. 

Instead, Hamilton, who was running third, was forced to nurse his soft tyres for 44 laps. Eventually, cars with fresher tyres overtook him, and he tumbled down to a sixth-place finish.

Hamilton later apologized to the team for his self-inflicted strategy failure.