Lando Norris Keeps Heat on Max Verstappen with F1 Singapore Grand Prix Win

Lando Norris dominated Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix, but Max Verstappen limited the damage in the title race by finishing a distant second, in a soporific encounter under the lights around the streets of Marina Bay.

Just seven cars finished on the lead lap, and only two challengers finished within one minute of race-winner Norris.

Norris Triumphs, Verstappen Second

Lando Norris was head and shoulders above the rest of the field throughout the weekend at Marina Bay, a tricky street track which had been partially resurfaced since last season.

Several teams and drivers struggled to get the notoriously capricious tires into the correct operating window, sometimes lap-by-lap falling out of the narrow band in which they work, showing pace in one session before tumbling down the order the next.

But Norris was a constant atop the timesheets and he claimed pole position, before finally converting it into a Turn 1 lead on Sunday night, following his previous failures to maintain the coveted grid position.

Norris pulled away from the opposition at a rate of a second a lap and quickly built a sizeable buffer, completing a one-stop strategy, and leading all 61 laps, which ran yellow-free throughout for the first time in Singapore Grand Prix history.

There were a couple of scares, most notably when Norris went deep into Turn 14 at mid-distance, put he pulled the MCL38 to a stop just in time, only lightly brushing the barriers.

“I was flat out,” Norris said. “I was pushing a bit too hard. It was definitely not like I was cruising.

“The car was not easy to drive, especially on the hard tires. I struggled a lot more than what I did on the medium, and especially just with the traffic and things. It was a bit harder to manage the second half of the stint compared to the first, but I was pushing. Let me tell you, I was definitely pushing probably too much, hence the mistakes I was making. But otherwise things were going well.”

Norris’ well-deserved victory enabled him to take another bite out of Max Verstappen’s advantage in the championship, but the reigning world champion limited the damage with a lonely drive to second.

Verstappen struggled for performance throughout practice but turned it around in time for the crucial qualifying session, netting a space on the front row of the grid, which he duly converted on Sunday.

Verstappen still leads the championship by 52 points with six rounds—three of the weekends include Sprint races—left to run.

“We improved quite nicely,” Verstappen said. “I think that’s been great for us as a team on a track that we know we’re not performing normally the best. So I’m happy with second today.”

Piastri Recovers to Podium

Oscar Piastri started fifth and ran a long first stint and emerged in the same position, but on fresher tires was able to overhaul the Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

First and third for McLaren enabled the team to extend its advantage in the Constructors’ Championship to 41 points, with Red Bull again hindered by a difficult weekend for Checo Perez.

Perez dropped out in Q2 on Saturday, restricting him to 13th place on the grid, and he was able to recover to only 10th in the race.

Ferrari had a compromised weekend as its drivers were thwarted in Saturday’s qualifying session. Tire warm-up issues meant Charles Leclerc went wide at Turn 1 on his sole hot lap, leaving him ninth on the grid, while Carlos Sainz crashed as he began his Q3 effort.

Leclerc made gains on Sunday to take fifth, with Sainz clawing back a few positions from 10th to seventh, but it was a frustrating outcome for the team.

Fernando Alonso executed a superb weekend to score eighth for the struggling Aston Martin team while Nico Hulkenberg boosted Haas’ chances of overhauling RB in the constructors’ championship by taking ninth.

Results

F1 Singapore Grand Prix

Lando Norris, McLaren, 62 laps

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +20.9 seconds

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +41.8

George Russell, Mercedes, +1:01.0

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +1:02.4

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +1:25.2

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +1:36.0

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +1 lap

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, +1 lap

Sergio Perez, Red Bull, + 1 lap

Franco Colapinto, Williams, +1 lap

Yuki Tsunoda, RB, +1 lap

Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1 lap

Lawrence Stroll, Aston Martin, +1 lap

Zhou Guanyu, Kick Sauber, +1 lap

Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber, +1 lap

Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +1 lap

Daniel Ricciardo, RB, +1 lap

Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +5 laps

Alex Albon, Williams, +47 laps

Constructors' Championship Standings

McLaren 516

Red Bull 475

Ferrari 441

Mercedes 329

Aston Martin 86

RB 34

Haas 31

Williams 16

Alpine 13

Kick Sauber 0

Drivers' Championship

Max Verstappen 331

Lando Norris 279

Charles Leclerc 245

Oscar Piastri 237

Carlos Sainz 190

Lewis Hamilton 174

George Russell 155

Carlos Perez 144

Fernando Alonso 62

Nico Hulkenberg 24

Lance Stroll 24

Yuki Tsunoda 22

Alex Albon 12

Daniel Ricciardo 12

Pierre Gasly 8

Oliver Bearman 7

Kevin Magnussen 6

Esteban Ocon 5

Franco Colapinto 4

Zhou Guanyu 0

Logan Sargeant 0

Valtteri Bottas 0