Lando Norris put in a dominant performance to comfortably win the Singapore Grand Prix, only just missing out on a grand slam victory.
It was a clean start throughout the grid, though some drivers were forced off the track at turn 1 given how tight it is. As drivers jostled for position, Piastri briefly fell to 6th behind Hulkenberg before getting back ahead, a couple of corners later, Carlos Sainz fell back a couple of places whilst Perez gained a few, and Franco Colapinto made an excellent dive into turn 1 from the start to gain four places.
The race quickly became a procession, as the conditions in Singapore are always brutal, and make car management a necessary process to keep everything working. However, at the front Lando Norris was already running away with things, building a significant gap to Verstappen from an early stage.
Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton were the only two drivers to start the race on softs, and as a result the two were some of the earliest to pit. Ricciardo was put onto mediums, and Hamilton was put onto hards. Whilst the former would be guaranteed to make another stop, the latter would not, though it soon became apparent that the hards were wearing quickly for Hamilton, and he would effectively become a sitting duck later in the race, even if in the short term he was able to gain an advantage through the undercut.
Alex Albon would become this race’s one and only retirement on lap 16, after an overheating issue for his engine, further emphasising the need to manage temperatures for the others in this race.
Piastri was sticking close to Russell, and began to look as though he could target an undercut to take third, and potentially chase down Verstappen. However, it would be Russell who would be the first to pit, though now with free air Piastri did appear rather quick.
Lando Norris had a scare on lap 30 when he locked up coming into turn 14, and grazed the wall on the exit. He felt that he had wing damage, though there did not seem to be any visually, and his front wing was not changed in his pit stop just one lap later.
Piastri was kept out for a good while longer after Norris pit, and any good pace in free air initially was now being caught up by those on fresh tyres, though the threat of a safety car coming to bail him out was always present. However, a safety car never came, and McLaren finally pulled the trigger on pitting Piastri on lap 39. When he came back out, he was behind both Russell and Hamilton, even as Russell had been held up by a Leclerc who had also yet to stop until a couple laps prior.
Despite being down a couple of positions, Piastri made light work of the struggling Hamilton on lap 40, and would a few laps later overtake Russell. Now with an 18 second gap to Verstappen, it appeared for a few laps that the Australian could make a charge for 2nd, though quickly the pace tapered off as that became an unrealistic goal, and he would begin to take the car home until the end of the race. Meanwhile, further ahead, Norris was 24 seconds ahead of Verstappen.
Despite his comfortable lead, Norris once again had a brush with race retirement after scraping the wall on the outside of turn 10, the same corner where Russell took himself out at this race last year.
Leclerc was making his own small charge back through the field after having come back out behind his teammate following his pit stop. After getting past Sainz easily, he chased down Hamilton before passing on lap 50. He would continue to chase down Russell until the end of the race, and despite getting close, he was unable to overtake, and would have to settle for 5th.
Ricciardo’s race strategy was already poor by having to do a two stop when everyone else was doing one stops, but then was asked to come in once more to take the fastest lap away from Norris and deny him that extra championship point. Ricciardo was able to do so, and would save a shred of dignity for what could turn out to be his final race in Formula 1, if rumours are to be believed.
This race was the first Singapore Grand Prix to ever be ran without any interventions from the safety car, and the result means that Norris is now 53 points behind Verstappen in the standings, and McLaren extend their lead at the top of the Constructor’s Standings.
