Proceedings in Singapore were not quite as compelling compared to those in Azerbaijan a week ago. There was no battle for the lead, nor was there a real three-team battle at the front; instead, this was a championship big-picture race.
Lando Norris put the field to the sword, but Max Verstappen gamely mitigated the damage to his championship lead – and then said little about it afterwards as he staged an almost-silent protest during the official press conferences.
PLUS: How Norris shrugged off two touches with the wall to dominate in Singapore
But wait, there’s more! Red Bull’s presence on the podium came after a Friday night turnaround in fortunes thanks to Sebastien Buemi’s stint in the simulator, while Ferrari’s early pace seemed to descend significantly after the opening pair of practice sessions.
McLaren’s ‘mini-DRS’ story reached its crescendo, Mercedes struggled in the heat, and it also looked as though Daniel Ricciardo had completed his farewell tour to 18th (albeit with the fastest lap) as RB looks set to reinstate Liam Lawson to the seat.
Here are the key stories we picked up on during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.
1. Norris’ mission ‘is still on’ after Verstappen-esque rout (Jake Boxall-Legge)
Norris and McLaren “took the piss” with their opening stint radio messages before romping to victory, according to Christian Horner
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
A 20-second gap between first and second by the 25th lap rather evokes memories of most given races in 2023, when Verstappen happily cruised into the distance and built a variety of unassailable leads. Or Lewis Hamilton in the late 2010s. Or Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s.
Norris can do it too. The McLaren MCL38 had a very distinct pace advantage in Singapore, as team principal Andrea Stella reckoned that “in this [higher-downforce] configuration, I think it has the better aerodynamic efficiency across the grid”, but Norris still needed to make the most of the tools at his disposal. And, unlike his other pole position conversions of late, Norris nailed the start and held the lead into the first corner. He then kept it on lap one, and disappeared into the aether.
Race engineer Will Joseph asked Norris to build a five-second lead by “the mid-teens”, and the Briton over-delivered in managing that by the end of lap 10. Five laps later, his advantage had doubled. There was scarcely anything that Verstappen could really do to…
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