SINGAPORE —
Lando Norris overcame a pair of wall scares to win the Singapore Grand Prix resoundingly on Sunday, but could only close the gap to Max Verstappen at the top of the Formula One championship by seven points.
Norris started from pole position ahead of Verstappen and gradually built up his lead until he crossed the line on the Marina Bay street circuit with a 21-second margin. It was the McLaren driver’s third career win — all this year.
From now on, however, the title is not exclusively in Norris’ hands. Even if he wins each of the remaining races, second place in each one will be enough for Verstappen to retain his title.
Norris started from pole for the sixth time in his career and, for a driver with a tendency to drop back at the start this season, his free start was flawless. It was the first time the Briton had won from pole without losing a place on the opening lap.
But Norris came close to disaster on two occasions. The first time was when he had to apply the brakes and hit the wall, fearing he had damaged the front wing. The other time a rear tyre touched another wall. But he came through as if nothing had happened on his way to victory.
“It was an incredible race, I touched the wall too many times,” said Norris. “But I controlled it well… we flew through the race and I was able to relax at the end.”
Verstappen finished second in his Red Bull after a race without any major incidents, except for having to contain Landon Hamilton’s attack on the first corner on the long track.
Oscar Piastri, who had just won in Azerbaijan last week with McLaren, finished third after starting fifth, overtaking the Mercedes of Hamilton and George Russell.
Verstappen looked relaxed on Sunday, clinging to second place to minimise the loss of his lead, which has been cut from 59 to 52 points.
There are six rounds left in the championship, starting with the United States Grand Prix next month. Three of those races offer additional points with sprints. Verstappen has not won since June.
The Dutchman’s best ally seems to be the calculator. If Norris scores the maximum number of points in each of the nine races, including the bonus point for the fastest lap, and Verstappen finishes second in each one, Norris will only be able to close the gap by 51 points, one behind the Dutchman.
“On a weekend where we knew we were going to struggle, second is fine,” said Verstappen. “But we are not happy. We have to do new things. At some point we will have to turn this around.”
Mexican Sergio Pérez finished tenth with his Red Bull to take the last point, followed by Argentine Franco Colapinto (Williams).
In his third F1 race, Colapinto started from 12th position and made a great start to move into the top ten. But Williams’ tyre strategy – they pushed the mediums too far – ended up taking him out of the points.
“I did well within my control,” Colapinto said. “The team stopped me late, it’s not something I can’t control. It was their decision and it went wrong.”
Daniel Ricciardo’s continuity in F1 with RB, RB’s second team, is in doubt. But the Australian ended up having an intervention that could be key in the definition of the championship.
Ricciardo switched to fresh tyres near the end and set the fastest lap of the race by finishing 18th. That prevented Norris from scoring the extra point for fastest lap that he seemed assured of.
“Thanks, Daniel,” Verstappen said over the radio.
