Lando Norris dominates Singapore GP to cut Max Verstappen’s championship lead

Lando Norris cruised to victory at the Singapore Grand Prix, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by over 20 seconds beneath the Marina Bay lights to close the gap in the title race to 52 points.
There are six races of the season remaining, meaning Norris will have to beat Verstappen by an average of over eight points a race if he is to overhaul him.
Norris brushed the wall a couple of times, but led from lights to chequered flag. He looked as if he would take the bonus point for fastest lap, too, only for RB driver Daniel Ricciardo, who was running 18th out of 19, to nick it off him on the final lap. “Thank you, Daniel,” noted Verstappen when he was informed on his in-lap what Ricciardo had done. Every point counts given McLaren’s current superiority.
Norris’ McLaren team mate Piastri completed the podium, another 20 seconds behind Verstappen in what was a fairly uneventful race by Singapore’s standards.
Mercedes’ George Russell, who complained of understeer, oversteer and of feeling as if he was “in a sauna”, just about held off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for fourth. Russell’s team mate Lewis Hamilton was sixth, having started third.
That was never in doubt. Verstappen gave it his best shot but could never really lay a glove on him. Piastri with a good drive. Sidebar of minor interest is that Ricciardo picked up the point for fastest lap, which might or might not be significant when they tally it all up. Thanks for following.
“An amazing race. A few too many close calls. It was well controlled otherwise. Fun. Sometimes it is not that you are pushing too much but that you are chilling too much. Good day for the team.”
David Coulthard, interviewing, now pours a jug of water over the head of Lando Norris. Hard to see David Frost doing that.
“I was really racing by myself. First set of tires had degredation. We need to improve more and more. Yes my lead is ebbing away but a lot can happen. Always tough around here, warm and a long race,”
“It was warm. Good recovery from qualifying. Big thing for the team, the car was exceptional. Bit close with George at turn one but overall I didn’t take too many risks.”
goes to Daniel Ricciardo, in what might be his final race. Told of this news, Verstappen says “thank you Daniel”
 
Verstappen is second, Piastri is third, Russell four, Leclerc fifth, Hamilton sixth.
His third win of the season and he has bossed this from the word go.
There are at least three seconds between each of the above so this looks likely to be the finishing order.
Lando Norris is riding his luck, he has brushed the wall twice now. Still, he’s driven very well also. Impressive front-running display.
Oscar Piastri passes George Russell in P3. 

Blistering pace in all three sectors! 🦎😁#F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/n9GHaYx00Y
Sweet piece of driving from Piastri as he goes past Lewis Hamilton.
Norris is bossing this from the front, just keeps pulling away and away.
lando be like:#SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/N4tsMdTFYx
Colapinto off the track. Overtakes Ricciardo. That might earn him a slap on the wrist.
Norris is about nine seconds ahead, Verstappen has gone back into third
But the Norris car damage is not severe.
Norris has damaged the front wing of his car.
Lewis: “Something is definitely wrong with the car mate the tires are dropping off.”
Hamilton is grumbling about his tires to the team and he has bungled the overtake of Tsunoda.
McLaren are telling Lando Norris to go as long as he can on the mediums. It’s a 17 second gap as it stands.

Hamilton says “I think I might have clipped the wall.”
Lewis Hamilton is into the pits and he emerges with some new hard tires.
Alex Albon of Williams has retired.
Not a lot of overtaking to tell you about.
Nico Hulkenberg is sixth. He says on the team radio that but he is “sliding around like hell” now on his medium tyres.
Norris has increased his lead over Verstappen to four seconds.
1. Lando Norris (McLaren)
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
4. George Russell (Mercedes)
5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
Norris is about 1.8 seconds ahead from Max V and Hamilton, on soft tires, is getting further adrift in third.
The front two are pulling away here.
Colapinto with a good first lap. Norris increasing his lead.
Norris away well, and through the first turn ok. Quick start from Lewis Hamilton but he’s not besting Verstappen. 
Hukelnberg passes Piastri, but not for long.
 
Lando away well.
The tracks is clearing. Lando Norris is on pole but Verstappen, second, has the inside line coming to the first bend.
Four DRS zones, 62 laps.
“Super excited, very happy to be here.”
Brundle: “Ok that’s it, now time for the anthems.”
“Mega lap in qualifying, hopefully we can give the McLaren a harder time today.”
Martin has buttonholed Sir Mark Cavendish.
Jackie Stewart and Lando Norris ahead of the Singapore GP! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/7SCJPv1t5h
1 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1min 29.525secs
2 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:29.728
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:29.841
4 George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:29.867
5 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:29.953
6 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas F1 1:30.115
7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:30.214
8 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) RB 1:30.354
9 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari No Time Set
10 Carlos Sainz Jr (Spa) Ferrari No Time Set
11 Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:30.474
12 Franco Colapinto (Arg) Williams 1:30.481
13 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:30.579
14 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:30.653
15 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:30.769
16 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) RB 1:31.085
17 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:31.094
18 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:31.312
19 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Kick Sauber 1:31.572
20 Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Kick Sauber 1:32.054
Welcome to our live coverage for the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, from the Marina Bay Street Circuit. In qualifying yesterday Lando Norris took pole position for today’s race, however, his championship rival Max Verstappen will line up alongside him. That has not happened too much in the past couple of months with Red Bull’s struggles. This was a track where the RB20 was expected to struggle but Verstappen, naturally, pulled out a lap good enough to put him on the front row. 
The drivers’ championship is still definitely on for McLaren’s Norris but he needs to take bigger chunks out of Verstappen’s 59-point lead than he has been doing. Yes, he fought back from 15th on the grid last week in Baku to fourth (ahead of Verstappen) but that will not be enough. A win here would be a good start but it would be handy if the Dutchman finished down the field a little. That is not to say that will not happen, but Singapore is a track where overtaking comes at a premium so that is no guarantee. 
Another issue for Norris has been his opening laps which have, for want of a better word, have been appalling this year. Pole positions have been squandered and doing that here, to Verstappen, would mean McLaren would need to win the race strategically, most likely. Of course, this is a street circuit with the threat of crashes, yellow and red flags and the unexpected never far around the corner. 
Lining up in third and fourth will be the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who had a – perhaps unexpectedly – excellent qualifying session. Ferrari could only manage ninth and tenth after winning in Monza at the start of this month and challenging for victory in Baku last week. It will be a very long way back from them from there, with even a Haas, an Aston Martin and an RB ahead of them. 
The race begins at 1pm BST and we will be here for the build-up, live action and reaction from it.