Lando Norris Controls Singapore GP From Pole, Cuts Further Into Verstappen WDC Lead

Lando Norris cuts further into the Max Verstappen WDC lead with his victory in the Singapore Grand Prix. Norris started on the pole and had control of the race through the 62 laps with Verstappen right behind; with the seven extra points earned, Norris moved to within 52 points of Verstappen with six races remaining.

Norris nearly scraped the wall twice and overshot a corner with less than 20 laps remaining in the Grand Prix; when asked by David Coulthard if he thought he was over-pushing, he said that he would still want a dominating win and sometimes it's just as bad to lie back.

"It’s not that you're necessarily over-pushing; sometimes it can be that you’re just chilling too much; maybe it’s a bit of both," Norris said.

I still pushed. I didn’t want to have a one-second lead; I wanted to have the biggest lead possible."

Norris's McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri secured the final spot on the podium; Piastri has finished on the podium in six of the last eight races and has only missed one position in the two outliers. This late success for Piastri gives him the best average finish in the field since the summer break.

Piastri stayed out on his first stint longer than any other driver in an attempt to make maximum use of new tires at the end. While waiting to pit, Piastri led over both Mercedes; his greatest threats for a podium finish were shortening the gap back.

Piastri could not stay far enough ahead to pit and come out ahead of the Mercedes. Instead, he had to overtake, which he did at the earliest possible opportunity for both British drivers.

VCARB's Daniel Ricciardo pitted heading into the final lap for fresh tires to steal away the fastest lap from Norris, a decision likely passed down through the Red Bull ranks to keep as much of a buffer as possible in the Verstappen/Norris points battle.

Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, told him, "Your old friend, Daniel, took the fastest lap there at the end."

"Thank you, Daniel," Verstappen responded.

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