Norris ‘not doing very good job’ as Piastri fastest

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McLaren’s Lando Norris said he had a “bad day” in Friday practice at the Grand Prix of Singapore after setting fifth fastest time following a collision in the pit lane.

The Briton, who leads Norris by 25 points in the championship standings, was 0.483 seconds behind his team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri, who was the pace-setter.

A difficult day for me, according to Norris, who won Singapore last year from pole position. I’m not feeling particularly well with the car; I’m also missing the emotions I had last year. There are plenty of things to work on. Just a bad day, really.

Oscar does a good job, but I have nothing to complain about because he is “so quick.”

Before speaking to the media, Norris reportedly complained about how poorly he handled the car radio.

When asked about running strategy, Norris claimed that his lack of pace was brought on by “my driving.”

In a collision that caused the McLaren’s front wing to break before Norris’ fastest lap, Charles Leclerc hit him in the pit lane.

The damaged Mercedes of George Russell, minus a front wing, after he crashed during second practice for the Grand Prix of SingaporeImages courtesy of Getty

Norris blasted the incident, saying it “cost the team a little money, which is unfortunate.” Ferrari and Leclerc have been informed to the stewards, and their release is likely to result in fines.

Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls was second fastest, ahead of Max Verstappen from Red Bull and Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin, in a session that was interrupted by two red flag crashes.

Mercedes’ George Russell and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson both crashed, which produced two red flags.

Russell slammed into the barriers before Turn 16 and lost control, breaking his front wing. Because the car required a complete system reset, he missed the remainder of the session.

Lawson crashed into the pit lane entry after leaving the same chicane and breaking the wall out of Turn 17.

After crashing in practice and qualifying, jumping the start, and then colliding on the first lap of the race, Piastri appeared and sounded confident as he made his return to the track.

In the first session, he joked that Ferrari would eventually create mirrors. “I’m sure Ferrari will invent mirrors one day.

And he made a tongue-in-cheek comment about the cockpit’s issues caused by the driver cooling vest at the end of the second session.

Red Bull felt happy after a difficult start to their recent run in Singapore.

Verstappen, the previous two-time champion at Monza and Baku, said: “The car was not bad, a little like the last two weekends. There were no significant issues.

We just need to try and optimize that a little bit more, he said. “Tried a few things, some were good.” Overall, quite satisfied, but we will need a little more tempo tomorrow to battle it out front.

A clear indication of form didn’t show up because of the disrupted session, which meant that drivers had no time to complete their race-simulation runs at the end.

Alonso was quick all day driving an Aston Martin on a track where he has always been strong and where his flaws are hidden.

On Saturday, the team would be expected to slack off the field.

Alonso praised the performance, which he described as “a little better than the previous grand prix.” Let’s try to adjust the configuration. Even on the front axle, especially, it’s still not in a happy place. Still a little understeering a little bit. A good start, but there is still work tonight.

We were comfortable on the first lap and were able to locate the limits fairly quickly.

“Let’s see if we can win the Q3 on Sunday.” The best Friday so far, with both sessions in the top four, is probably tomorrow, but we occasionally use a different program or fuel on Friday.

His team-mate Lance Stroll was sixth fastest, 0.3445 seconds off the Spaniard, followed by Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Williams, and Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.

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Horner ‘ringing up pretty much every team owner’

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Christian Horner, the former Red Bull team’s manager, is “ringing up pretty much every team owner,” according to Aston Martin’s CEO Andy Cowell.

One of the teams linked to Horner is Aston Martin.

Cowell stated that he and the team’s owner Lawrence Stroll had checked the situation at the Grand Prix of Singapore on Friday.

Cowell noted that “Christian seems to be ringing up pretty much every team owner right now.”

Horner “approached” the US-based team, according to Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, adding that “nothing has gone any further.” It is finished.

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen claimed that Horner and the French team’s executive adviser and de facto boss Flavio Briatore were “old friends.”

Nielsen continued, “I don’t know what they talk about. Although I am aware that there are no plans for Christian to visit Alpine, it won’t change that.

James Vowles, the Williams team’s principal, claimed Horner had not approached them.

Vowles remarked, “We’re very pleased with the structure we have, and it’s working.” There is no reason to change that, I believe.

In August, Horner’s relationship with the Cadillac team’s boss, who is preparing for Formula One, was ruled out. There haven’t been any discussions with Christian Horner, according to Chief Executive Officer Dan Towriss.

After agreeing a severance package with Red Bull on September 22nd, Horner will be free to return to F1 by the middle of next year.

Following the British Grand Prix in July, the 51-year-old was fired as the team’s principal.

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Horner ‘ringing up pretty much every team owner’

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Former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is “ringing up pretty much every team owner” as he seeks a route back into Formula 1, says Aston Martin chief executive officer Andy Cowell.

Aston Martin are among the teams that have been linked with Horner.

Cowell said he had checked the situation with team owner Lawrence Stroll on Friday at the Singapore Grand Prix.

“It looks as though Christian is ringing up pretty much every team owner at the moment,” said Cowell.

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said Horner had “approached” the US-based team but added: “Nothing has gone any further. It is finished.”

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen said the French team’s executive adviser and de facto boss Flavio Briatore was “old friends” with Horner.

Nielsen added: “I don’t know what they talk about. Everything I know is there are no plans for Christian to come to Alpine but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

Williams team principal James Vowles said Horner had not approached them.

“We’re very happy with the structure we have and it’s working,” Vowles said. “I don’t see any reason to change from that.”

The boss of the Cadillac team that is entering F1 ruled out any connection with Horner in August. Chief executive officer Dan Towriss said: “There have been no talks with Christian Horner and there are no plans to do that.”

Horner is free to return to F1 by the middle of next year after finalising a severance package with Red Bull on 22 September.

The 51-year-old was fired as Red Bull team principal after the British Grand Prix in July.

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Nepal’s leaderless Gen-Z revolution has changed the rules of power

One question persisted in the nation during the 48 hours that Nepal’s Gen-Z revolution took place: “Where is their Lenin?” However, perhaps the purpose of that question was missed. Every Nepali revolution has been undone by those who claimed to be in charge of it for decades, not by its enemies. The movement’s greatest strength was not the lack of a single figurehead at this time; it was rather its greatest strength.

One name, Sudan Gurung, the head of the youth-led organization Hami Nepal, started to appear after the protests. Gurung, however, did not take the lead in the uprising; he only emerged after the event was over acting more as a spokesperson than as a commander. His precarious standing served as evidence of how this revolt differed. Nepal’s young protesters resisted giving anoint to a leader, breaking with a pre-existing system where the majority of power was largely concentrated in the hands of the elite. They demonstrated that charismatic behavior could lead to change in the individual rather than the group.

The enormous human cost of regaining power was also revealed by the same revolution that reimagined leadership. It was among Nepal’s worst 48 hours in the country, both in terms of human life and economics. In the clashes, at least 74 people were killed and roughly 2, 113 were hurt. The Parliament Building, the Supreme Court, and the Singha Durbar, three of democracy’s three pillars, were torched. At least 300 local government offices were hacked, and the violence did not just stop in the capital. The media, Nepal’s largest private outlet, the Kantipur Media House, was the target of fire, as well as the fourth pillar of democracy, the media. According to preliminary government estimates, Nepal’s public infrastructure has lost close to one trillion rupees, nearly half of Nepal’s annual gross domestic product, accounting for the economic damage of up to three trillion rupees (roughly $21 billion).

The state apparatus was completely destroyed by September 10. The army was the only institution keeping things order, parliament was inruins, and the prime minister had resigned. The decentralized nature of the revolution expanded even more in this political vacuum. The “Youths Against Corruption” Discord channel was used as an impromptu public square by protest organizers to make their decision. Thousands of people debating during the so-called “Discord Election.” A “marathon session” more appropriate for a Twitch stream was described as “a struggle for moderators to manage a slew of opinions from users with unidentified anime avatars and handles.” Over 7,500 people cast their ballots on the platform, ultimately choosing Sushila Karki as their interim prime minister.

However, it would be unfair to history to simply interpret these events as the defining factor for this revolution. The uprising was a response, not a plan. Simply put, we were protesting in high schools and universities. The initial stage of the massacre of 19 protesters, some of whom were still wearing uniforms, turned into racial unrest. The targets were unavoidably those of a state that would murder its own citizens.

The physical chaos has dissipated right now. Nepalis are now regaining hope thanks to a new interim government with technocratic ministers. But there is a problem: Will we abandon the practice of limiting leadership to leaders, or will we adopt a new standard for them? The Nepalese people held the notion that the public was in charge for 48 hours. The general public discovered this truth through chaos, not just a belief.

The challenge for Nepalis, Gen-Z and beyond, is to never forget the lessons of this revolution. We must also inquire as to how and why it happened, but history will not forget what took place on September 8 and 9.

Nepal’s political history must be understood as a continuous pattern rather than a collection of episodic events. The uprising of 2025 was the most recent example of a long line of betrayal and revolt. Not as ideology as as a framework, but as a Marxist analytical lens can be helpful. The terms “base” and “superstructure” can be used in political terms as well. The “political base” is understood as Nepal’s firmly established system of power, a network of patronage, corruption, and governance that maintains the status quo. The “political superstructure” is the opposition’s “decentralized public,” sometimes an organized party, or another force. This framework exposes a tragic cycle: each succeeding superstructure in Nepal simply becomes the new base.

Consider the first revolution of the century in Nepal in 1951. From this perspective, the Rana regime’s old autocratic foundation was being viewed as the political superstructure. The revolution’s heroes included actors like B.P. Koirala, King Tribhuvan, and the five martyrs, but one cannot deny the roles that the exiled parties, the aspirant bourgeoisie, and a restored monarchy played. Koirala, who became Nepal’s first democratically elected prime minister, was a face of those hopes.

However, those dreams never materialized. Almost ten years later, King Mahendra dissolved parliament, abolished the parties, and established the Panchayat system, granting the monarchy itself the power to exercise its power. Although some claim that this time period was a golden age, protests there in 1980 and, in the end, the People’s Movement I, Nepal’s second great revolution, are what resulted.

The same pattern was followed by that revolution. It brought back multi-party democracy and once more altered the political landscape. The underlying structures of patronage and feudalism were not dismantled by the democratic elite, which was made up of the same parties that had fought the Panchayat. They instead established a new political elite, perfecting a kleptocratic system that would entail a bloody civil war. Another dark chapter was opened by the Maoist insurgency, which had been brewing for years before its initial attack.

The Maoist movement, which culminated in People’s Movement II, seems to perfectly fit this Marxist lens, given its roots in communist theory. However, it too repeated Nepal’s tragic cycle despite its ideological undertones. The political base was simply replaced by the Maoist elites, who were the only ones who did so. Commanders assumed the same corrupt structures they once criticized as ministers. They ignored the economic contradictions at the heart of their revolution and continued to perpetuate the same kleptocracy through the old patronage networks. The structures remained the same despite the slogan changes.

In retrospect, their leadership may be the decisive factor in all these revolutions. Leaders on all political parties turned into opportunists, supporting a kleptocratic regime hailed as democracy-declared and referred to as “People’s Movements.” The people’s expectations were never fulfilled. In this context, Nepal’s recent Gen-Z revolution’s lack of leadership was not its greatest strategic advantage but rather its greatest weakness.

This historical pattern demonstrates that the Gen-Z revolution of 2025 was not the result of a quick burst but rather the detonation of a bomb that had been developing for decades. The only thing that caught the attention was the social media ban. Each “failed” revolution added pressure on a politically divided Nepali electorate who had long believed in the need for uprising.

Nepal’s revolutionary youth is now faced with the daunting task of breaking the vicious cycle of betrayal perpetrated by the government itself. Change of who has power is no longer the goal, but rather how it is defined. We must never confide in any self-declared savior for the sake of mankind. Our only hope is ourselves, as taught in September. We have always been the same as ourselves, not the king, the prime minister, the president, or the mayor. Another leader cannot allow the people’s agency to be hijacked. Nepal’s civic DNA needs to include accountability in order to maintain a vigilant, organized, and alert citizenry. September 8 and 9 will never be forgotten and will never be the same. With the people, the power must continue to exist where it was first discovered.

Djokovic ‘suffered’ during Shanghai win over Cilic

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Novak Djokovic claims that during the second round of the Shanghai Masters, Marin Cilic, his compatriot, “suffered a lot”

The 38-year-old Serb won 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 over his 37-year-old opponent in his first one hour and 54 minute first tournament since the US Open and his first non-grand Slam contest since May.

The oldest ATP Masters 1000 main draw match between Djokovic and Cilic was between them when the pair were 75 years and 139 days apart.

As both players served before Djokovic took the tie-break, little could separate the pair in the first set.

In the third game of the second set, Cilic’s serve was broken, and world number five Djokovic was able to hold his own to advance to the third round.

Djokovic said, “I did enjoy it, but I also suffered a lot on the court.”

“It was a very close match,” he said. He probably gave me more breathing space during the first set than he did for the first set.

I believe I managed to avoid trouble by doing good serving, which is obviously cheering me up.

In the third round, Djokovic will face German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann, who is already a big-time champion.

Ben Shelton, the sixth seeded, looked rusty as he lost to Belgium’s David Goffin, 6-2, 6-4.

The 22-year-old American has been recovering from a shoulder injury from the US Open and lost his serve in the third and seventh games.

The world number 83 ended the match with a second-half penalty for Shelton’s error in the ninth game, which gave Goffin the lead.

Goffin will face 31-seed Gabriel Diallo in a third-round match against Canada’s Gabriel Diallo.

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Djokovic ‘suffered’ during Shanghai win over Cilic

Images courtesy of Getty

Novak Djokovic claims that during the second round of the Shanghai Masters, Marin Cilic, his compatriot, “suffered a lot”

The 38-year-old Serb won 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 over his 37-year-old opponent in his first one hour and 54 minute first tournament since the US Open and his first non-grand Slam contest since May.

The oldest ATP Masters 1000 main draw match between Djokovic and Cilic was between them when the pair were 75 years and 139 days apart.

As both players served before Djokovic took the tie-break, little could separate the pair in the first set.

In the third game of the second set, Cilic’s serve was broken, and world number five Djokovic was able to hold his own to advance to the third round.

Djokovic said, “I did enjoy it, but I also suffered a lot on the court.”

“It was a very close match,” he said. He probably gave me more breathing space during the first set than he did for the first set.

I believe I managed to avoid trouble by doing good serving, which is obviously cheering me up.

In the third round, Djokovic will face German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann, who is already a big-time champion.

Ben Shelton, the sixth seeded, looked rusty as he lost to Belgium’s David Goffin, 6-2, 6-4.

The 22-year-old American has been recovering from a shoulder injury from the US Open and lost his serve in the third and seventh games.

The world number 83 ended the match with a second-half penalty for Shelton’s error in the ninth game, which gave Goffin the lead.

Goffin will face 31-seed Gabriel Diallo in a third-round match against Canada’s Gabriel Diallo.

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