With a commanding victory in the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, Lando Norris narrowed the 52-point gap to second-place finisher Max Verstappen in the Formula One championship. Norris started the race from pole position. The McLaren driver finished nearly 30 seconds ahead of his rival’s Red Bull, marking his third career Grand Prix victory and his first from pole position in his sixth try.
Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri finished third to increase McLaren’s advantage over Red Bull in the constructors’ championship to 41 points with six races and three sprints to go. It was a uniquely incident-free 62 laps around the Marina Bay Street Circuit under lights, the first in its 15-race history not to see a safety car deployed.
With softer tires, Lewis Hamilton attempted to apply pressure on the Dutchman, but Norris skillfully avoided the pole and kept a safe distance behind Verstappen into the first corner. However, the three-time world champion pushed back against the Englishman, and every car finished the first lap without incident.
Less than a second later, Norris pulled ahead of Verstappen, crucially preventing the Englishman from coming within DRS range. As the only front-runner to start on soft tires, Hamilton, starting in third place, was penalized for needing to pit early on lap 18 because he was unable to pass Verstappen.
It was obvious that he wanted to finish the race, but after only five laps on the new rubber, he expressed his frustration over the team radio, saying, “I’m already struggling with this tire.” By lap 26, Norris had increased his advantage over Verstappen to 20 seconds, demonstrating that he was unmatched in the front.
The Englishman won handily, despite a couple of late collisions with the merciless Singapore street circuit walls. It was an amazing race. A few too many close calls; I had a couple of close moments in the middle, but it was well managed, I think, said Norris. The car was mega. I could push, we were flying the whole race, and at the end, I could just chill. So, it was a nice race, still tough; I’m a bit out of breath, but a fun one, he added.
Piastri started from fifth place, but in the closing stages, he was able to pass Hamilton and George Russell’s second Mercedes thanks to a stronger strategy. It was a good race, a good recovery from qualifying—it wasn’t my best afternoon yesterday. Big thank you to the team, as clearly the car was exceptional this weekend and some great points, said Piastri.
Verstappen’s only opportunity appeared to be a safety car or red light that never materialized, leaving him to spend the majority of the race alone, behind Norris by half a minute and comfortably ahead of the fight for third place behind him. I was by myself. I tried to do the best I could and manage my own pace to the end, said the defending champion Verstappen, who has never won in eight starts in Singapore.
The first stint was a bit difficult for us—quite a bit of tire degradation, said the 26-year-old Dutch driver. On a weekend we knew we were going to struggle. P2 is a good achievement. Of course, we are not happy with the second. Now we need to improve more and more, and that’s what we will try to do, he asserted.
In the end, Hamilton was a sitting duck because he was on older tires than the rest of the field. On lap 50, he lost another spot to Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, who had started from eighth on the grid. Leclerc came in first, ahead of Hamilton, with Carlos Sainz’s second Ferrari coming in eighth. Perez, Nico Hulkenberg, and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10. In what is probably going to be Norris’ final Formula One race, Daniel Ricciardo’s reserve driver stole the best lap point from him at the finish.
