Singapore gave us a familiar late-night soap: Lewis Hamilton limping on fading brakes, Fernando Alonso raging on the radio, and the stewards deciding the final word.
Hamilton clung to seventh at the flag after a fraught final lap, only to be knocked back behind Alonso with a five-second penalty for repeatedly leaving the track without a justifiable reason. Both Ferraris were nursing brake trouble in the closing stages, and Hamilton was the one caught in the crosshairs as Alonso’s Aston Martin filled his mirrors.
The flashpoint followed a messy end to Ferrari’s evening. After Charles Leclerc was picked off by Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes, Ferrari tried a switch—Hamilton free to attack, Leclerc yielding. The plan didn’t bite; Hamilton couldn’t make progress, and the red cars swapped back. Then the brakes bit them instead. Hamilton’s pace fell away, Alonso pounced, and the seven-time champ crossed the line four-tenths ahead. Briefly.
Stewards immediately noted Hamilton for his off-track excursions in those final laps. The verdict: multiple breaches, penalty applied. Alonso, who’d spent the cooldown lap spitting fire, got what he wanted.
“I cannot believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it,” Alonso said on the radio as he rolled down. “Is it safe to drive with no brakes?” Later, when told Hamilton had exceeded the limit more than four times, he didn’t hesitate: “Five seconds, minimum.”
This was Hamilton’s second brush with the officials in Singapore, after he was cleared of wrongdoing in an FP3 red-flag investigation. Alonso, in full Fernando-mode, connected the dots regardless: “This should be P7. No respect [for] the red flag yesterday. Today, free track for them. Maybe too much.”
His safety gripe took on a broader edge, too. “You cannot drive when the car is not safe, you know. Sometimes, they try to disqualify me with no mirror, and now you have no brakes, and everything is fine? I doubt it.”
To be clear, the stewards didn’t penalize Ferrari for the brake issue itself; they punished Hamilton for the way the limits were managed while he wrestled the car home. But if you’re looking for the bigger conversation here, it’s the same one that keeps resurfacing in 2025: consistency on enforcement, and the uneasy balance between “let them race” and “draw the lines.” Hamilton has lived on both sides of that debate, and Alonso’s never been shy about calling it as he sees it.
The Ferrari switcheroo that preceded the drama was understandable in the moment and awkward in hindsight. Antonelli’s overtake on Leclerc opened a small tactical window, and Ferrari took a swing by freeing Hamilton to go hunting. Had the brakes held, we’re talking about an aggressive late push. Instead, it turned into damage limitation—and an Aston Martin with a point to prove.
In the end, Alonso gets P7, Hamilton P8. On paper, it’s a minor shuffle. In reality, it’s another entry in a long, sharp-edged rivalry that refuses to dull with age. Two greats, two teams with different agendas, and one city that seems to bring out the theatre.
What lingers is the feeling that, at Marina Bay, lines are both painted and blurred. Push too hard and you’re over them. Don’t push, and you’re a sitting duck. Hamilton tried to thread that needle on failing hardware and got nicked by the rulebook. Alonso, forever the prosecutor, made the case for the maximum.
And Singapore, as it tends to, gave us all just enough controversy to carry the paddock chatter into the next round.
