THE BIG PICTURE: With the soon to be announced decision on the final two races in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia airport is getting bombed), and a 2027 schedule that thinks world events will be hunky-dory, Liberty Media is dancing in the realm between reality and the Twilight Zone.

EVENT: More fans enduring the rain with smiles on their faces.

TRACK: The Singapore Sling portion may have been fun, but it is no lose to not return it as it simply added more no passing zones.

SPRINT SHOOTOUT: Verstappen continues his newfound streak with a one lapper pole run, Russell likes the oldies while Antonelli is way behind him with the new setup, Ferraris are looking strong, and Alonso enjoys SQ2 again.

SPRINT: Well, that's one way to create some chaos in a sprint race on a street circuit -- do a rain dance. Monaco, start planning.

SPRINT START: Once again, Mercedes gets a great start in the wet as Russell leaps into the lead, though couldn't finish the second lap, while Hamilton does even better, jumping three positions.

QUALIFYING: Verstappen proves it was no fluke continuing to continue his newfound streak with another Singapore pole, Ferraris again looking strong, Russell continues to like the downgrades, though has to deal with penalties, and Hadjar has a heartbreak.

RACE: Not as bad as Monaco, as there is some passing in some of the positions in some parts of the race. But, that's not saying much.

START: Leclerc by far got the better start, pulled alongside Verstappen on the inside, but Max braked extremely late and simply would not relent, as Leclerc blinked.

VERSTAPPEN: Max solved the one track he was unable to win at in his career (well, Madrid now, too), in emphatic fashion, claiming both poles and leading every lap but one of the Sprint and Grand Prix.

HADJAR: Never could prove himself, as an engine problem in the Sprint and a gearbox problem in main qualifying left him helpless. Nonetheless, a nice drive to 10th place to get into the points.

RED BULL: The removal of some high curbing from the Singapore track no doubt helped the main problem the RB chassis have around this street circuit. Upgrades and Verstappen took it from there.

HORNER: Say what you want about Christian, but he was the one who pushed very hard with the corporate to setup their own engine program. Because he knew, they would not be able to win as a customer. With two wins in a row, he's been proven correct and setup Red Bull for continuous success.

LECLERC: Got the good strategy.

HAMILTON: Was Ferrari's willingness to allow Lewis to call his own strategy due to Hamilton's lack of confidence in Ferrari? Or, Ferrari throwing up their hands and saying, fine Lewis, do what you want, see what happens. Because in the past, Hamilton has been way more wrong than right throughout his career when questioning strategy. And he really boned himself on this call. At least he owned it.

FERRARI: Communication issues with their drivers. Again. And Fred Vasseur is pissed at Hamilton.

ANTONELLI: The magic number is 24 (assuming, and most likely wrongly, there are six races left).

RUSSELL: Threw eight points away on Saturday. Suffered with penalties on Sunday. Could not take full advantage of the VSC due to timing. Worked his way back to ninth place and two points. A microcosm of his season.

MERCEDES: An upgrade which correlates on the computers but not on the track and requires a very narrow setup sweet spot to work. Gee, when have we seen this before...?

MCLAREN: Ummm, about those papaya rules... At least the drivers made up for it on Sunday.

LAWSON: Liam's second consecutive best of rest finish. This time, his second short stint at Red Bull did him some good and has massively improved. It's going to be tough not to bring him back next year.

HULKENBERG: Held off Russell.

GASLY: Just out of the points.

HAAS: Looked decent, all things considered.

BEARMAN: Ollie never got the memo that you can't pass at Singapore. It's a shame Bearman, who held his own against Antonelli in the junior formula series, is not on a top team.

ASTON MARTIN: Back to being invisible.

CADILLAC: Continue to being slow.

BOTTAS: Valtteri's cycling adventures are a lot more interesting than his racing adventures.

STROLL: What? Lance had a mechanical DNF? Never saw that coming...

FIA: So now we find out the FIA can turn on and off, at their will, power settings (overtake mode) for the teams at times where it can be an advantage or disadvantage for certain teams. Wow!

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Communication.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 14 -- The number of finishers in the Sprint, the fewest in history.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Lost in all the controversary from Malaysia is the fact Ford engines have returned to the winner's circle. After Singapore, Ford now has 178 wins (176 with Ford Cosworth and the last two as Red Bull Ford), tied for third most with Renault (counting their engines in Red Bull when they were "called" TAG Heuer). They are behind leading Mercedes with 252 (including engines built by Ilmor and the one win by a rebadged Mercedes called BWT Mercedes) and Ferrari with 251. Fifth in that list is Honda at 148 when counting their rebadged engines (Honda RBPT and Red Bull Powertrains) as well as Mugen-Honda. Those five are the only manufacturers with triple digit wins.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: From @FormulaDirecta

Norris and Bearman, partying last night after the Singapore GP

*A sign pops up aimed at the best F1 driver*

Norris: "Where's Lance (Stroll)?"

#F1

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Toto Wolff on his advice to Kimi Antonelli to help him prevent track limit violations, "I have a good strategy, I'm going to put a pillow from the hotel under his butt so he can actually see the road because I think it's like this, he can't see it."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: When Ferrari gave the advice to seek out wet spots to cool his rain tires which any novice amateur driver knows to do, Charles Leclerc "politely" responded, "Please leave me alone."

SCHEDULE: A week break as we end the first triple-header just so we can go into another triple-header which will prepare us for the (phantom) triple triple-header.

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