Lando Norris led from start to finish and dominating throughout to win the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday (September 22nd). Max Verstappen finished a distant second as Norris trimmed seven points from Verstappen’s point lead. Oscar Piastri finished third after starting fifth as McLaren extended their lead in the constructors standings.
Mercedes’ George Russell finished fourth, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fifth and Lewis Hamilton, making his 350th Formula 1 start, in sixth. Carlos Sainz was seventh, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso grabbed eight, Nico Hülkenberg drove his Haas to ninth, with Sergio Perez rounding out the top 10 after starting 13th.
In the driver standings, Verstappen leads Norris by 52 points, 331 to 279. Leclerc is in third, 34 behind Norris, with Piastri just eight behind Leclerc.
In the constructor standings, McLaren extended their lead over Red Bull from 20 points to 41 points, 516 to 475. Ferrari is third with 441, 34 behind Red Bull.
The Race
Norris finally had a good start and drove away clean at lights out, leaving Verstappen no chance for an overtake. Piastri snatched P5 from Hülkenberg into Turn 2, while Hamilton and Russell maintained third and fourth, respectively.
It took about three laps, but Norris distanced himself from Verstappen’s DRS range and had clean air and breathing room at the start of lap 4. It was early, but this was exactly the start Norris needed, and finally, to deliver.
Hamilton, starting on soft tires, was told by Mercedes to back off a bit to preserve them, which put the Mercedes team in a bit of a conundrum because Russell asked that Hamilton pick up his pace, which was holding Russell back.
Norris one-upped Verstappen’s fastest lap with one of his own and opened up a two-second lead by lap 7. With Hamilton almost four seconds behind Verstappen, it already looked like a two-driver race for the win.
Further back, Sainz was struggling in a car that was repaired after a crash in Q2 on Saturday (September 21st). His Ferrari was running 12th, two spots down from his starting spot of 10th.
McLaren radioed Norris that they would like to see him open a five-second gap to Verstappen, and Norris happily obliged. His lead over Red Bull reached the goal by lap 12. McLaren was looking for a sufficient gap to protect themselves from an undercut should Red Bull attempt it.
The gap to Verstappen was seven seconds by lap 13, and…
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