F1 Daily: FIA's Second Straight Blunder, Verstappen's Momentum, and Mercedes' Upgrade Issues

The 2026 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix started with a bang on Friday, with George Russell topping Free Practice and Max Verstappen taking the first Sprint pole in the Marina Bay Street Circuit. 

However, Friday's show in Singapore was dented by another FIA system error, which drew the ire of several drivers on the grid, particularly Carlos Sainz Jr. They acknowledged their error, but it's unacceptable, and it's not enough this time around.

With that in mind, let's drive to today's F1 Daily at Roundtable.  

We're writing today's F1 Daily moments before the Sprint Race on Saturday, but Verstappen's pole lap in Sprint Qualifying confirmed Red Bull's improving pace. The Dutchman opted to have one fast lap in SQ3 to save his tyres for the main qualifying session, but as usual, he delivered under pressure. 

Verstappen set the fastest lap in SQ3 with a time of 1:31.156. Mercedes' George Russell and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc followed closely behind, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finished fourth and fifth, respectively. 

This is the first Sprint weekend in Singapore, with points given to the Top 8 finishers in the race on Saturday.

As if their system glitch in Malaysia wasn't enough, the FIA committed yet another blunder during the first session of Sprint Qualifying. The session was red-flagged to collect debris from Sergio Perez's crash, but upon the restart, the Overtake Mode didn't activate consistently. 

The FIA admitted that it was their "human error", but that error cost time for several drivers, including Sainz, Leclerc, and the two Aston Martin drivers. Sainz rued that the FIA is choosing when to integrate "sporting equity." 

True enough, the FIA should plan emergency procedures to ensure fair play even during software bugs and system errors.

George Russell, who ran the older specifications of the Mercedes car, finished five spots ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli. For Antonelli, the frustrating part of it is that he was running the new upgrades that the team brought for Singapore. 

Even before the qualifying session, Antonelli was already lacking in pace behind his teammate in Free Practice 1. Still, the current championship leader remains confident that the team can "find an answer" to make their Singapore upgrades work.

Along with the Overtake Mode error in SQ1, the start of SQ2 got delayed due to a timing system issue. It initially failed to register some lap times at the end of SQ1, which is why they wanted to fix it first before the second session.