Lando Norris emerged victorious in his third Formula One race of the season at the Singapore Grand Prix, finishing 20 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. Verstappen still resides in the lead in the driver championship, however, his lead has been reduced to 52 points. Norris was able to establish an early lead, with a 11.5 seconds gap between him and Verstappen by lap 17. The race started off tumultuously with numerous cars running wide at the first turn, but Norris prevailed.
During the pack, Franco Colapinto made a noticeable rise to the top 10, holding his position until pitting on Lap 30. Sergio Pérez found it challenging to surpass him, with the Red Bull driver expressing his difficulties over the radio in lap 16. Meanwhile, the race saw Lewis Hamilton among the first frontrunners to swap his soft tires for hard ones in an undercut attempt, even though Hamilton later reported that he was having difficulties with the hard tires.
Lando Norris faced a slowdown around lap 30, reporting potential front wing damage over the radio. However, upon pulling into the pits, McLaren chose not to change his front wing, instead opting for a medium to hard compound tire swap along with some setup adjustments. A “small issue but nothing serious” is what was inferred over the radio.
Mid-race, all eyes shifted towards Oscar Piastri. George Russell had pitted on lap 29, leaving Piastri behind him. Piastri managed to move into second while Verstappen was pitting, slowly eroding his lap times. However, Piastri’s tires began to wear off, leading to him making a late pit stop for hard tires on lap 39, a significantly risky move on a track where overtaking is a challenge.
Following the pit stop, Piastri exited behind the Mercedes duo but was quick to pass Hamilton, eventually overtaking Russell for the final podium position on Lap 45 at Turn 4. The race continued smoothly from there, with Norris having a minor skirmish with the wall – the same spot Russell crashed into last year – but quickly regained form with a lap time almost two seconds faster than Verstappen’s previous lap.
In the final few laps, a sudden twist emerged as Daniel Ricciardo pitted for the third time, opting for a set of softer tires. Despite Norris holding the fastest lap time at that point, Ricciardo outpaced him, depriving Norris of his first grand slam. The top 10 finishers in the race are Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Nico Hülkenberg, and Sergio Pérez. This victory signifies an emerging trend in Formula One, with the McLaren team rising in ranks.
