Norris (McLaren) wins the Singapore GP; Checo, tenth

Singapore., British McLaren driver Lando Norris won the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday and is tightening the fight for the title in the top category of motorsport, with championship leader Max Verstappen (Red Bull) second, while Mexican driver Sergio Pérez finished in tenth place.

In sweltering heat on the Marina Bay street circuit, Norris was far superior to all his rivals, leading Verstappen by more than 20 seconds, while McLaren’s second driver, young Australian Oscar Piastri, completed the podium.

It is the third victory of the season for Norris, who, for the first time in six attempts, achieved victory from pole position.

“It was an incredible race. I had a couple of scares, but overall I controlled well. The car was flying!” said Norris, 24.

Thanks to this result, the Briton is now 52 points behind Verstappen in the World Championship standings, which will now move to the American continent for the next four races (Austin in three weeks and then Mexico, Sao Paulo and Las Vegas), before closing the season with a double round in the Gulf (Qatar and Abu Dhabi).

McLaren distances itself from Red Bull

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“I did my best. After a difficult start to the weekend, second place is good, although I’m obviously not happy about not winning,” said Verstappen, who remains winless in Singapore.

In the constructors’ title, McLaren did make a big splash and consolidated its lead, leaving Red Bull 41 points behind.

At the foot of the podium was the British George Russell (Mercedes), followed by the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who made a great comeback in the second part of the race.

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) and Mexico’s Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) completed the Top 10.

The young Argentinian Franco Colapinto, in his third race at the wheel of a Williams, surprised again and came close to scoring again (11th).

Great start for Colapinto

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In an incident-free start, Norris was able to hold on to first place and Verstappen held off pressure from Hamilton to retain second position.

The best start was made by Colapinto, who gained four positions, provisionally getting into the points (ninth).

Norris set a strong pace from the start, taking advantage of the superiority of his McLaren, and gradually distanced himself from his pursuers: almost three seconds behind Verstappen on lap 9 and ten seconds seven laps later.

The Briton’s advantage was such that he did not even lose position after his first pit stop to change tyres, which turned out to be a mere formality.

Only an accident could have prevented Norris from winning, but on a street circuit like Marina Bay this is an option at any corner and the Briton narrowly avoided it on lap 34: he went wide on a turn and missed the wall by centimetres.

Plates complete the podium

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His McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri made another strong comeback to move into third place and put pressure on Verstappen.

Norris was once again saved from disaster with 13 laps to go: after setting the fastest lap, he hit the wall with his rear tyres, although miraculously the car suffered no apparent damage.

“Just relax and bring the car home,” the Briton was told over the radio, trying not to throw away all the work he had done over the weekend.

The Briton listened to his engineers and maintained his advantage to cross the finish line as the winner.