“Dissatisfaction” revealed: Max Verstappen used social media and sent direct messages to McLaren after the race, which caused internal unrest. Zak Brown had to make an urgent decision after the Singapore Grand Prix, which led to unrest in the Formula 1 community because of his rare response.
The Formula 1 world is sharp after the Grand Prix of Singapore, where a storm of emotions and accusations have heated the minds. Max Verstappen, the four -fold world champion of Red Bull, expressed his frustration in a way that is unprecedented in the polished paddock of the royal class of motor sport. After the qualification on Friday evening, where he narrowly grabbed a pole position, the Dutchman McLaren driver Lando Norris accused him of having hindered him. “This moment will be remembered,” Verstappen about the team radio, a warning that hit like a bomb. But the real scandal only unfolded after the race on Sunday, when Verstappen opened the attack against McLaren via social media and direct messages. This unveiling, which caused internal unrest in the British team, forced CEO Zak Brown to a rare and urgent response, with repercussions that cause the entire community.
Let’s go back to the start of the weekend in Marina Bay. The lights flashed for the qualification, and the tension was palpable. George Russell surprised everyone by taking pole for Mercedes, an achievement reminiscent of the glory days of the silver arrow team. Verstappen, started from the second place, had put everything at stake in his last round. But in the slots sector, in the infamous last chicane, Norris appeared like an obstacle. The McLaren driver was on his way to the pits after his own flying round, but according to Verstappen he drove too slow and created ‘dirty air’ that brought the Red Bull driver out of balance. Replays showed that Norris did indeed drive for him, but experts such as Jenson Button, the former world champion, ruled that there was no question of deliberately blocking. Norris himself waved the criticism away: “I just did my thing. Max exaggerates a bit.”
The race itself was a dominant performance by McLaren. Lando Norris led to finish and finished with a convincing lead of 21 seconds on Verstappen, which came in second. Oscar Piastri completed the stage for the team, which increased the gap in the Constructors’ Championship to 41 points in favor of McLaren. For Verstappen it was a bittersweet affair: his Red Bull RB20 was struggling with balance problems and tire wear, but he clawed back to a solid result. “I did what I could do with what we had,” he said afterwards, after the moist heat in Singapore. But it cooked behind the scenes. Sources within Red Bull report that Verstappen, hurt by what he saw as unfair treatment, grabbed his phone immediately after the checkered flag. First he posted a cryptic tweet on X (formerly Twitter): you don’t forget a photo of his helmet with the caption “some moments. #Singaporegp”. Fans interpreted it like a sneer to Norris, and the likes and retweets came in – more than 500,000 in an hour.
But it went beyond a public post. According to insiders, Verstappen sent private messages to multiple McLaren employees, including team boss Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown himself. The content of those messages is not public, but they would be loaded with frustration about the qualifying incident and wider rivalry. “It felt like a personal attack,” said a source close to the team. At McLaren this led to immediate unrest. Stella, normally the quiet strategist, would have called in an emergency meeting that “this undermines the team spirit”. Boys like Norris and Piastri, who form a harmonious tandem, felt overwhelmed. Norris later responded in an interview: “I respect Max, but if he thinks I was blocking him, then that is his perception. We racing hard, not dirty.” Piastri, who grabbed his first stage of the season in Singapore, added: “We let them race, but no one helps this kind of drama.”
Zak Brown, the flamboyant American that McLaren has been leading since 2018, was confronted with a crisis that he had not seen coming. Brown is no stranger in verbal sparring – he repeatedly challenged Christian Horner from Red Bull about budget caps and team structures – but this was at the heart of his team. Immediately after the race, even before the bubbles of the Champagne dried up, Brown had to make an urgent decision. Did he have to respond to the public, what the flame could make in the pan, or keep it intern to prevent escalation? In the end he opted for a rare mix: a firm, but diplomatic explanation during the post-race press conference. “This is a non-issue,” said Brown Koeltjes at Viaplay, discussing the qualification replays. “I watched it, and Lando did nothing wrong. But if Max sends messages, then that is his way to ventilate. We focus on the title, not on drama.” Behind the scenes, he instructed his team not to respond to social media, an order that was experienced internally as ‘code red’. It led to rumors about a possible warning to Norris: “Stay away from personal fighting.”
Brown’s reaction was unusually sharp for his do. Normally the marketer that McLaren profiles as the world’s coolest team, he showed here the teeth of a CEO that feels the pressure. After all, McLaren not only leads in the constructors ‘, but Norris also hunts Verstappen in the drivers’ Championship, with a backlog of 52 points. Brown’s words called on unrest in the F1 community. Competitors like Toto Wolff from Mercedes joked about it in the paddock: “Bag that loses his cool? That’s news.” Fans on social media exploded: hashtags such as #verstappenvsmclaren and #singapored drama trends worldwide, with memes about Verstappen’s ‘Ghost Messages’. Even Helmut Marko, the tough adviser of Red Bull, mixed in: “Max says it as it is. McLaren now dominates, but that is a” whole new world “for us.” Critics fear that this escalates the rivalry, right now that the title fight is getting more intense to go with six races, including sprints in Austin and Qatar.
The aftermath gets deeper than superficial argument. At McLaren, where the harmony between Norris and Piastri is crucial for the title ambitions, this threatens to cause internal cracks. Piastri, who had Norris passed in Singapore after a touch on the opening round, emphasized: “We racing as a team, but personal messages? That’s not our game.” Brown himself admitted in a Bloomberg interview that increases the pressure: “We want to disable Max as quickly as possible, but Fair Play above everything else.” For Verstappen, who pursues his fourth title, this is a wake-up call. His father Jos already warned of Red Bull’s internal problems, and this incident reinforces the speculation about a possible switch – Mercedes is looking.
In the wider F1 context, this feeds the discussion about etiquette in digital times. Social media and DMs make drivers more vulnerable than ever; An impulsive post can generate weeks -long headlines. The FIA, which is already strictly acting against curses (Verstappen was fined in Singapore), is now considering guidelines for online behavior. Brown’s urgent decision – silence where necessary, speaking where it counts – marks a turning point. It shows a McLaren that is growing up, but also vulnerable to the chaotic dynamics of Verstappen, the inexorable champion.
While the caravan goes to Austin, the dissatisfaction lingers like an unsolved pit stop. Will Verstappen regret his messages, or see as fuel for his yacht? Brown’s rare eruption reminds us: in F1 winning is not only speed, but also control of the chaos. The fans enjoy it, the teams suffer. Singapore was not just a race; It was a catalytic converter for a season that will last a long time.
