Singapore GP: Lando Norris breaks pole position curse to land title blow against Max Verstappen

Lando Norris took more points out of Max Verstappen’s lead in the title race

On the sixth time of asking, Lando Norris started a race from pole position and led at the end of Lap 1 to set himself up to win the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen.

Clinching his third win of the championship as Verstappen’s winless streak was extended to eight, Norris closed the gap in the Drivers’ Championship to 52 points but it would’ve been 51 were it not for Daniel Ricciardo’s late charge for the fastest lap.

Lando Norris claims maiden lights-to-flag F1 victory

There was pre-race drama for Lance Stroll that had his mechanics working on a “precautionary” front brake change on the grid, the driver having complained about a “lot of vibrations” when he brakes. Tubes, wires and a lot of equipment were present 10 minutes before the formation lap. Aston Martin completed the job in time, Stroll taking his place on the grid in 17th.

At the front, pole sitter Lando Norris made a flying start to lead off the line and into Turn 1 as Max Verstappen was challenged by the soft-tyred Lewis Hamilton with George Russell up into fourth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, nope, Oscar Piastri was back in front. Charles Leclerc was up one place to eighth but Carlos Sainz lost ground to Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez.

Running behind Hamilton, Russell was already on the radio three laps in, telling Mercedes: “He needs to increase the pace a bit.” The reply from the Mercedes pitwall: “Yeah George, he’s just managing tyres where he needs to. Let’s think long term here.”

Settling in for the long haul, Norris was told to use his pace to build a “five-second gap” to Verstappen and he promptly laid down fastest laps, Hamilton was told “let’s not focus on chasing these guys down”, and Piastri got a “Plan B” notice.

Behind him, Alonso and Leclerc ran within DRS of Hulkenberg but struggled to overtake, Daniel Ricciardo in what could be his final F1 race, was the first to make a pit stop on lap 10, and Yuki Tsunoda told VCARB “too much information” when told of the Colapinto/Perez fight ahead of him.

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The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings after the Singapore Grand Prix

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Sainz, struggling to make up positions, pitted on lap 14 for hard tyres and came out just ahead of Alex Albon to ward off the Williams’ undercut – McLaren estimated it could be worth “two seconds”. But a cooling problem meant Albon retired shortly after.

Hamilton was in on Lap 18 and reported he “clipped the wall on the way into the pit lane”. Norris, with a 17s advantage over Verstappen, was told McLaren don’t want to pit first and Leclerc lamented “this is so frustrating” as he was stuck behind Hulkenberg and Alonso. He overtook Alonso, and Alonso pitted.

Russell was in on Lap 28 and came out ahead of Hamilton, Piastri was told “this is the race” as he had free air ahead of him after Russell’s stop, but for Leclerc the frustration continued as he sat on Hulkenberg’s rear wing… and finally, Lap 29 Turn 16 he pulled off a move to run fourth but he was 18s behind Piastri.

There was drama on Lap 30 as Norris clipped the wall at Turn 14 and reported “front wing damage”. Red Bull brought Verstappen in for a pit stop and he came out neck-and-neck with Leclerc, who had yet to stop. The Ferrari driver won the initial battle but lost the position a few corners later. Norris pitted, in from P1 and out in P1 ahead of Piastri with Verstappen 21s back.

Piastri and Leclerc ran long inside the top ten, Russell trying to pass the Ferrari only to run off the track. Leclerc finally pitted on lap 37 of 62 and came out just ahead of Hulkenberg, Piastri in two laps later.

The top ten lined up as Norris, Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Piastri, Sainz, Alonso, Leclerc, Hulkenberg and Perez. Piastri made short work of Hamilton for fourth before setting about chasing down Russell. Leclerc overtook Alonso for seventh.

Tsunoda and Ricciardo had a bit of team-mate rivalry as the Japanese driver raged at the team for his Aussie to move over. Ricciardo eventually did. And then it was Ferrari’s turn with Sainz moving over for Leclerc. Piastri though, was made to work for his overtake for third on Russell.

Heading into the final 15 laps, Perez bounced like a “kangaroo”, Norris clipped a wall for the second time, and then went purple. Leclerc overtook Hamilton for fifth, and Kevin Magnussen hit the wall at the exit of Turn 5, suffering a puncture.

Into the last five Norris had built up a whopping 29s lead, Leclerc was closing in on Russell, Perez was putting pressure on Hulkenberg and dragging Colapinto along with him. Norris made a mistake lapping Colapinto that cost him a few seconds, Leclerc closed right up on Russell but the Mercedes driver defended well.

Norris went on to clinch the race victory, his first lights-to-flag win, by 21 seconds ahead of Verstappen, closing the gap in the Drivers’ Championship from 59 to 52 points with 186 still in play. Piastri was third as McLaren extended their lead over Red Bull in the Constructors’ standings.

Russell was fourth ahead of Leclerc, Hamilton and Sainz with Alonso, Hulkenberg and Perez completing the top ten. Ricciardo made a late stop for soft tyres to steal the fastest lap point Norris.

Result

1 Lando Norris McLaren
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 20.945
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren + 41.823
4 George Russell Mercedes + 61.040
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 62.430
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 85.248
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari + 96.036
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin + 1 Lap
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas + 1 Lap
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull + 1 Lap

11 Franco Colapino Williams + 1 Lap
12 Yuki Tsunoda VCARB + 1 Lap
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine + 1 Lap
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 1 Lap
15 Guanyu Zhou Kick Sauber + 1 Lap
16 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber + 1 Lap
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine + 1 Lap
18 Daniel Ricciardo VCARB + 1 Lap

Did not finish

Kevin Magnussen Haas lap 60 – puncture damage
Alex Albon Williams lap 17 – cooling issue

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