Lando Norris grilled on Daniel Ricciardo fastest lap snatch as Red Bull F1 model questioned

Lando Norris of McLaren was close to scoring a grand chelem at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Lando Norris was close to securing a grand chelem at the Singapore Grand Prix  — pole, win, and fastest lap — only to have the latter snatched from him at the last moment by VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo.

As the 2024 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship heats up, Norris will be desperate to secure as many points as he humanly can in order to narrow the gap to leader Max Verstappen. But is it ethically sound for a Red Bull-affiliated team to steal away that last point?

Lando Norris on Daniel Ricciardo point snatch: ‘That’s just life’

Lando Norris was finally able to put together a beautiful launch from pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix, leading the field all the way from the first corner to the final lap — and it looked like the polesitter would be able to take a grand chelem by sneaking in a fastest lap as well.

That is, until the final lap of the race, when Daniel Ricciardo put some new shoes on his VCARB machine and hit the track in an attempt to snatch that fastest lap away.

The Australian succeeded, depriving Norris of a point that could very well become critical later this year when it comes time to tally up the WDC points totals.

When grilled on that late-race fastest lap snatch, Norris said, “Well done, Daniel. Nothing I can do, so good on him.

“Yeah, I did my best to try and get quickest lap when the tires are in a good condition in the middle. But I can’t have them all.

“You know, I’ve done my best like trying to get quickest laps over the last few weekends, and I’ve been able to get them more often than not.

“But I can’t on a hard tire at the end of a stint beat a guy on a new soft so, yeah. That’s just life.”

Second-place finisher Max Verstappen then chimed in to add: “I mean, everyone can decide when they want to do a fast lap or not.”

Another reporter followed up with Norris, pressing him on whether or not it should be fair for VCARB — a sister team to the Red Bull organization battling for top honors in F1 2024 — to deprive a rival driver of a critical point.

But Norris wouldn’t take the bait.

“That’s how it’s been in Formula 1 for, I don’t know, probably since before I was born,” he said. “So, nothing to complain about.

“Like, there’s been races in the past when other people have been racing, [and] we try to take it away from others. So yes, the logical thing to do, the smart play by them. Happy for Daniel.”

Breaking down Lando Norris’ Singapore GP win:

 What Lando Norris said to Max Verstappen in Singapore cooldown room as Piastri lands FIA quip

 Max Verstappen ‘thank you Daniel’ message after huge title favour in potential F1 last stand

Daniel Ricciardo had a rough race in Singapore, with his battles primarily taking place at the very rear of the field. If VCARB’s intention truly was to steal that point from Norris, Ricciardo was a good driver to try to grab it, since he wouldn’t be losing critical track position.

But according to VCARB team boss Laurent Mekies, the intention was less about stealing points from the competition, and more about giving Ricciardo a strong send-off.

“Given this may have been Daniel’s last race, we wanted to give him the chance to savour it and go out with the fastest lap,” Mekies said.

Ricciardo’s last race? The rumor picked up steam in the build-up to the Singapore event; Daniel Ricciardo may very well be bidding adieu to the team during this break before the United States Grand Prix… but nothing has been confirmed yet.

A similar situation transpired with Sergio Perez earlier this year. The F1 future of the Red Bull Racing driver was called into question ahead of the summer break, and many people expected RBR to drop the Mexican driver during that time off. Instead, the opposite happened, and Checo’s seat at the team was affirmed — at least until the end of 2024.

In the aftermath, the spotlight instead turned to Ricciardo. Helmut Marko admitted that VCARB shareholders were hoping the team would return to one that builds junior talent, which would perhaps involve replacing Ricciardo with Liam Lawson.

Ricciardo’s fate is still up in the air — but whatever the case, we’ll have to see just how important that one point will be for Norris coming into these last six races of the season.

Read next: Christian Horner provides fresh Daniel Ricciardo F1 future update after rough Singapore GP