F1 – Norris dominates to take crushing Singapore win ahead of Verstappen and Piastri
McLaren’s Lando Norris took a dominant Singapore Grand Prix win, beating Red Bull title rival Max Verstappen by more than 20 seconds as Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri took the final podium place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
“It was an amazing race,” said Norris after romping to his third win of the season. “A few too many close calls, I had a couple little moments in the middle, but it was well-controlled, I think, otherwise. And the car was mega, so I could push. We were flying the whole race, and yeah, at the end, I could just chill. So it was a nice race, still tough. I’m a bit out of breath, but a very fun one.”
When the lights went out at the start, Norris got away well from pole to take the lead. Verstappen also made a good start and he kept Soft-tyre starter Lewis Hamilton at bay as they went through the opening corners. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell slotted into fourth with Piastri holding his starting fifth place despite a nervous moment in Turn 1.
The leading pair quickly began to pull away from the pack and after five laps Norris was 1.8s ahead of Verstappen, while the Dutchman had built a three-second gap back to Hamilton.
The first stint then settled into something of a procession, with only the leading pair making any real headway, and by lap 13 Norris led Verstappen by seven seconds with the Dutchman five seconds clear of Hamilton.
Hamilton broke the deadlock on lap 18, pitting to shed his starting Softs. The Mercedes driver switched to Hard tyres and dropped back to 13th. That bumped Russell up third, though the Mercedes driver was being chased by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who was just over a second back in fourth.
The stops for the Medium tyre runners in the top 10 began with sixth-placed Fernando Alonso who switched tyres on lap 27. He was followed in by P7 Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg and then RFed Bull’s 10th-placed Sergio Pérez was called in on lap 29 as he tried to bypass Williams’ Franco Colapinto in the stops. The Mexican moved to Hard tyres and when Colapinto made his stop two laps later the undercut had paid off and Pérez found himself three seconds clear of the Argentine driver.
Eight-placed Charles Leclerc elected to stay on track, however, and initially it looked like the Ferrari’s driver’s choice of a long stint was a poor one as he struggled to make his way forward.
Verstappen made his sole stop a lap later than his team-mate and that boosted Piastri to second, though the McLaren driver had yet to pit. Norris, who locked up on fading mediums and almost hit the wall, then made his pit stop on lap 31 and he rejoined in the lead, seven seconds ahead of Piastri who was a little less than 14 clear of Verstappen.
Piastri made his stop on lap 39 and when he emerged he was fifth once again, but with a significant tyre advantage over the two Mercedes cars ahead of him. And over the following eight laps he reeled in Hamilton and Russell and climbed to third place. It also meant that Verstappen moved back to P2, though the championship leader was 23 seconds adrift of Norris.
Norris almost threw away the lead on lap 48 when he again tapped the wall, but the nervous moment seemed to galvanise the McLaren driver and he responded with a new fastest lap on the following tour.
Behind the leader, Leclerc, at lasdy benefiting from a late stop and clear air was able to close in on his rivals and after being promoted past team-mate Sainz he muscled his way past Hamilton on lap 51 to claim fifth place. The Ferrari driver then gradually reeled in Russell but there was no way past the Briton and with five laps to go the top-10 order froze.
After 62 gruelling laps, Norris took his third win of the season, with Verstappen cruising home in P2 to take his 11thpodium finish of the season. Piastri claimed third ahead of Russell and Leclerc with Hamilton taking sixth. Sainz crossed the line in seventh ahead of Alonso and Hülkenberg managed to keep Pérez at bay, with the Mexican taking the last point on offer.
Norris was denied the bonus point for fastest lap, however. RB’s Daniel Ricciardo made a late, late pit stop for Soft tyres and the Australian, whose drive is under threat, promptly went out and claimed a superb fastest lap, the 17th of his career.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix – Race
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 62 1:40’52.571
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 62 1:41’13.516 20.945
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 62 1:41’34.394 41.823
4 George Russell Mercedes 62 1:41’53.611 1’01.040
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 62 1:41’55.001 1’02.430
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 62 1:42’17.819 1’25.248
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 62 1:42’28.610 1’36.039
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 61 1:40’53.444 1 lap /0.873
9 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 61 1:40’55.711 1 lap /3.140
10 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 61 1:40’57.195 1 lap /4.624
11 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 61 1:40’58.855 1 lap /6.284
12 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 61 1:41’01.363 1 lap /8.792
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 61 1:41’36.576 1 lap /44.005
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 61 1:41’40.142 1 lap /47.571
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 61 1:41’49.791 1 lap /57.220
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 61 1:41’50.400 1 lap /57.829
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 61 1:41’51.630 1 lap /59.059
18 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 61 1:42’22.367 1 lap /1’29.796
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 57 1:36’51.906 Not running
Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 15 26’00.703 Retirement