SINGAPORE GP – Lando Norris takes a dominating twenty-second win ahead of Max Verstappen
Lando Norris won the Singapore Grand Prix with a dominating twenty-second win as he beat his championship rival Max Verstappen. Norris took control of the race after defending off an attack from the Red Bull at the first corner from where he took total control and closed the gap to fifty-one points with five races to go.
Norris looked unstoppable as he took his third win of the season ahead of Verstappen in the first race in Singapore not to feature a yellow flag or a safety car. The Englishman drove a controlled race with only one minor moment when he touched the wall on lap twenty-nine damaging his front wing before damaging his right rear tyre on lap forty-five.
Norris had failed to hold the lead at the end of the first lap in all five of his previous grand prix starts from pole, but on this occasion made a superb getaway to pull comfortably clear on the approach to the first corner. The McLaren driver then opened a twenty-five second lead in the opening stint.
Then showed measured pace so not to overwork the car before creating a five-second lead by the halfway point when he made his pit stop. Verstappen meanwhile was left in no man’s land as he couldn’t catch Norris and was comfortably ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Piastri who was a further twenty-one seconds behind Verstappen in third. Piastri made a later pit stop from fifth which gave him the tyre advantage allowing him to pass Charles Leclerc and both Mercedes. Leclerc fought his way from ninth with some impressive overtakes, finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Piastri had been fifth until he overcut both Mercedes, he stopped after them on lap thirty-eight and came back to pass both around the outside of Turn Seven, Hamilton on lap forty and Russell five laps later. Hamilton was then overcut by Leclerc who stopped on lap thirty-six before passing fourteen laps later.
However, Norris was deprived of an extra point by Daniel Ricciardo, after Red Bull’s junior team RB fitted soft tyres with a lap to go so the Australian could take the fastest lap from the Briton on the final tour. Despite his win his challenge for the title was made slightly harder as he needs to be nine points ahead at each race.
Norris cuts Verstappen’s championship led to fifty-two points with five races and three sprints remaining after the break and McLaren increased its lead over Red Bull to forty-one in the constructors. Maybe this title challenge is genuine with five races to go after the break.
His only error came at half distance when he clipped the barrier on lap twenty-nine, shortly before his pit stop to cause minor front-wing damage, before once more bumping a barrier with his right rear tyre on lap.
The lack of that on Sunday, along with the dominant nature of Norris’ performance, meant the action generally failed to match the stunning views the track offers. The previous fourteen races have all featured a safety car, but it was a remarkably clean race with not even a yellow flag
Norris said “It was an amazing race. A few too many close calls. I had a couple of moments in the middle but I was well in control otherwise. The car was mega so I could push and we were flying the whole race. At the end I could just chill. It was still a tough race.”
Verstappen’s race was equally lonely, not able to do anything about Norris, but well clear of everyone else. The Dutchman edged away from the pursuing Mercedes Russell in the opening laps and consolidated his second place.
Verstappen said: “On a weekend where we knew we would struggle, P2 is a good achievement. Of course we are not happy with second. Now we need to improve more and more and that’s what we will try to do.”
Russell used the overcut strategy in the battle for fourth after starting the race on the medium tyre and that allowed him to go longer into the race before he switched to softs which then allowed him to rapidly close in on Leclerc. Ferrari had looked to have the edge over both Mercedes who just had the edge on traction.
Hamilton managed to split the two Ferraris as he finished ten seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz, they were the final two cars on the lead lap when the chequered flag dropped. Fernando Alonso was eighth as he finished two seconds ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who fended off his former teammate Sergio Perez to complete the point finishers.
Franco Colapinto missed out on points as he was a second and a half behind Perez and ahead of Yuki Tsunoda by two and a half seconds. Esteban Ocon was thirteenth ahead of Lance Stroll and the two Sauber’s, with Guanyu Zhou six-tenths ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Pierre Gasly.
Ricciardo finished what could be his final race in eighteenth the final finisher thirty seconds behind Gasly. There is speculation that Ricciardo might be dropped in favour of Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson before the next race in Austin. Kevin Magnussen was nineteenth on his return following his Baku ban, but retired late on after a puncher.
Alex Albon was the only classified retirement, the Williams drivers race started badly when his teammate Colapinto forced him wide before overheating forced him to retire.
Related
- Singapore GP – Qualifying Result 2024
- SINGAPORE GP – Lando Norris beats Max Verstappen to pole by two-tenths
- SINGAPORE GP – Lando Norris fastest by half a second in third practice
- SINGAPORE GP – Lando Norris fastest six hundredths ahead of Charles Leclerc in second practice
- SINGAPORE GP – Charles Leclerc fastest by three quarters of a tenth ahead of Lando Norris in first practice
- Welcome to the Singapore Grand Prix
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