The one with the funny hats. (USGP Austin TX.)

As seems to be the norm this year, Singapore offered a lot of off track intrigue without really being that interesting on track. Of course, had the TV director been paying any attention to what was happening on the track instead of playing "Which driver's girlfriend would I like to snog?" we might have had on-track action to match the off track drama.

And, of course, most of the drama was artificially created by McLaren's lack of commitment to winning the driver's championship. After months of languishing in the background, whinging about luck and self confidence, Lando Norris woke up and realized he's in contention for the World Drivers' title. This prompted an ambitious first lap move by the Brit which left his teammate apoplectic on the team radio. (Or, what I assume is apoplectic for Piastri. I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel emotions like the rest of us. But, rest assured, he was very cross. AND, he expressed that through a measured and carefully phrased radio message to the pit wall. Whereupon, he was told to shut up and drive. But not in a good way like the Riahnna song.)

All squabbling and papaya rules aside, Max did Max things and took some more points out of Oscar's championship lead. His deficit is now 63 points with 6 races left to go. The Red Bull's competiveness at the street course was unexpected and a lot of people are changing their tune about whether the championship is back on. I'm not one of them. Max is too far down and, as dumb as the McLaren "PaPaYa RuLeS" are, they aren't going to leave the drivers' crown laying around for some Dutch kid to pick up and take home. Still, as long as it is mathematically possible, we're going to be hearing everyone juice up the possibility.

Notable performances-
-George Russel. Where the hell did that come from? Props to the Merc boys for putting it together and the human airplane for executing flawlessly. A great drive all around and the kind of thing we've all been expecting from Lewis' heir apparent.
-Lando Norris woke up and chose violence. Hopefully, we'll see this side of him for the rest of the season.
-Fernando Alonso. Once again, the sport's elder statesman showed us what can be done with wit, nerve and a tire advantage. Too bad we didn't get to see any of it during the broadcast.
(Honourable mention- Lewis. He peddled that Ferrari around with no brakes for at least three laps. Another elder statesman showing us what can be done with wit, nerve and sheer force of will.)

Notable misses-
-Yuki. The Japanese driver is showing up here more than I'd like. But when your teammate is qualifying on the front row and finishing on the podium, we expect more than 12th.
-Lance Stroll. Dude, your teammate is a hundred and three. He's carving through the field like a hot knife through butter and you're not even close to the points.
-Nico Hulkenberg. who?

The circus comes to Austin this week. We'll be meeting at Chow Pizza in Raleigh. Hope to see you all there!