Lando Norris wins Singapore F1 Grand Prix, intensifies title fight with Max Verstappen
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Lando Norris wins his third Formula 1 race of the season, finishing the Singapore Grand Prix 20 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen.
This reduces the lead in the championship to 52 points, with Verstappen still in the lead.
Norris still led at the end of lap 1 and started to build a gap to Verstappen, with a lead of over 11.5 seconds by lap 17. But behind the leaders at the start, it was a messy turn 1, as many cars went wide. Franco Colapinto dive-bombed into the top 10, a position he held until he pitted on lap 30. Sergio Pérez struggled to pass him for a while.
“He’s very good,” the Red Bull driver said over the radio on lap 16. “Difficult to overtake, Colapinto.”
It was clear early on in the Singapore GP that the undercut was looking strong. This is when a car pits ahead of the car in front to gain an advantage.
Lewis Hamilton was one of the first front-runners to pit, changing from his soft tyres to hards on lap 19. But he later radioed that he thought they would struggle later, adding that he was already struggling with the hard tyre on lap 23. The Singapore GP is traditionally a one-stop race, unless the race is neutralised.
It looked like it would be a way out for Norris, who built up a significant lead. But around lap 30 he radioed in that he had front wing damage and was starting to slow. When he pulled into the pits, however, McLaren didn’t change his front wing – they simply adjusted the set-up and swapped the medium tyres for the hard compound. Norris was later told over the radio that it was a “minor issue but nothing serious.”
All eyes were on Oscar Piastri as the race reached the midway point. George Russell pitted on lap 29 with the McLaren driver lurking behind him. Piastri began to make up time from Verstappen’s laps and moved up to second place when the Dutchman pitted. But the McLaren driver felt his tyres starting to wear out and eventually pitted for hard tyres on lap 39. It was a late pit stop, a bold move by McLaren on a track where overtaking can be difficult. But he had a noticeable tyre offset.
Piastri emerged from the pits behind the Mercedes duo and wasted no time in overtaking Hamilton. He began to chase down Russell for the final podium spot, overtaking him on lap 45 at Turn 4 as he took the long way around the Silver Arrow.
From that point on, the race was evenly matched. Norris had a tricky situation when he hit the wall, the same spot where Russell crashed last year, but he soon set a fastest lap, almost two seconds faster than Verstappen’s previous lap. Meanwhile, Perez radioed that he had no grip and was “bouncing like a kangaroo.”
Colapinto was hot on his heels and put pressure on the Red Bull, but the Williams driver ultimately finished outside the points and never got past Pérez.
In a twist at the end, Daniel Ricciardo pitted for the third time in the final few laps, swapping for a set of soft tyres. He flew, and at that point Norris had the fastest lap of the race. Ricciardo took the fastest lap instead, ruining Norris’ chance of his first grand slam.
📻 GP: “Your old mate Daniel also drove the fastest lap there.”
📻 Verstappen: “Thanks, Daniel.”#F1 #SingaporeGP
—Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) September 22, 2024
This is how the top 10 ended:
- Lando Norris
- Max Verstappen
- Oscar Piastri
- George Russel
- Charles Leclerc
- Lewis Hamilton
- Carlos Sainz
- Fernando Alonso
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Sergio Perez
This is a developing story.
Top photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
