McLaren's Lando Norris dominated at the Marina Bay street circuit to take the third win of his career at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday. Norris went from pole position to race victory as he blistered the opposition, as he beat his championship rival Max Verstappen to a victory by over 20 seconds and it will give him a good confidence boost and it will be viewed as big statement made by the man second in the championship. British talent Norris, who is second in the championship, won from championship leader Max Verstappen who would finish second in the race and would limit the damage caused to his championship lead. Oscar Piastri made it a double McLaren podium in third place. Verstappen's championship lead has been shrunk to 52 points over Lando Norris, whereas in the Constructors Championship, McLaren have extended their lead to 41 points. How the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix unfoldedIt was Grand Prix Sunday which meant race day under the night skies of the Marina Bay street circuit for the Singapore Grand Prix. The race that would play host to round 18 of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship. After an entertaining qualifying session in the evening of Saturday, it would be McLaren's Lando Norris who would take pole position, for the sixth time in his Formula One career. Norris set a 1:29.525 and would have the chance to close the championship lead. Norris would take pole ahead of Max Verstappen who would qualify in second despite the Red Bull struggling for pace. The championship leader would join Norris on the front row and the top two in the championship would go at it in battle. Starting behind them on the second row would be the Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton would start third with his teammate George Russell alongside him in fourth. All 20 drivers would make the grid with no grid penalties implemented from qualifying the grid would be as the qualifying classification. It would be time for the Singapore Grand Prix. The lights would go out and it would be a clean start for all of the top four as they maintained position through the first few corners with Norris ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton and Russell. Russell did receive pressure from Piastri but maintained position, as Piastri lost out to Nico Hulkenberg of Haas. Franco Colapinto would make a bold move on Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon into turn 1 at the start. It made him move up to ninth but it made Alex Albon less than impressed with his Williams teammate. Hulkenberg would not stay ahead of Piastri for long as the power of the Australian's McLaren was just too fast for the Haas of Hulkenberg. Lando Norris was stretching his legs out in front and was pulling a big gap over Max Verstappen. The British driver, who was second in the standings, was enjoying life in clean air and in the lead of the Grand Prix. The Red Bull of Verstappen was struggling to keep with the McLaren's sheer performance and speed. Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon would be the first drivers who would make their way into the pit lane for a change of tyres first and would put fresh hard tyres on and they would join Danile Ricciardo in being the first three drivers to come into the pit lane. Lap 16 and Albon looked to have an issue. He was on fresh tyres but just seemed to lose performance and the Williams driver was forced to come into the pits and would become the first driver to retire from the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. A couple of laps later and Lewis Hamilton would make an early stop in comparison from the soft tyres and would mve onto the C3 hard compound. It would be an attempt to go to the end on the hard tyres but there would still be a long way to go. Sainz would be using his fresh tyres to his advantage and would make a move on Lance Stroll to make his way up a position and the Ferrari driver would be looking to recover from the difficult Q3. Russell would be in on lap 24 and the Mercedes driver would be overcut Lewis Hamilton and it would prove Hamilton's opinion that it had been a mistake for his race to pit him so early on in the race. Hamilton had made good progress and had made his way through the field. Passing Esteban Ocon was a significant pass for him to complete if he was to make the strategy work. Lap 30 and Verstappen would be into the pits for his mandatory tyre change. WIth an over 20 seconds worth of an advantage in favour of Lando Norris. Red Bull would have to try and do something different and would have to try and catch McLaren off guard. When Verstappen exited the pits he would come out behind Charles Leclerc and therefore the championship leader would have an overtake to make. The following lap would see Lando Norris make a trip to the pit lane without front wing damage like he was suggesting. He would come out in the lead of the race. Norris had clipped the wall after locking up at turn 14 but amazingly he did not pick up any front wing damage and got away with unscathed. A huge let off for Norris but one that could be critical by the end of the season, in relation to the World Drivers Championship. Verstappen would eventually, before this, get ahead of Leclerc with a good, precise and clean move on his old go-karting rival and he would be up a position. It would be a McLaren 1-2 with Verstappen in third on lap 33, but Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri would be still yet to serve his mandatory pit stop. Lap 35 and George Russell had closed up to the back of Charles Leclerc on the run towards turn 16. Russell would try around the outside but would be defended well by the Ferrari of Leclerc. Leclerc would be called into the pit lane on the following lap a fresh change of tyres and he would come out just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and in eighth place. Oscar Piastri would then be left to make a mandatory pit stop and would go quite a while into the race but would do so and come out behind the two Mercedes but Piastri would come out right behind Lewis Hamilton who was ahead of him in fourth. It would be a no contest and Hamilton was indefensible and Piastri would breeze past the seven-time world champion and it had been a nightmare strategy for Lewis and Piastri was now hunting down the other Mercedes of George Russell - for the final place on the podium. There would be a bit of a scare for his teammate Lando Norris, who was comfy out in the lead of the race. The race leader had a clip of the wall at turn 10, where Russell lost his third place finish in 2023. Thankfully for Lando he did not incur any damage and this would show on the following lap and he would set the new fastest lap of the race to demonstrate his dominant form. Lap 50 and Leclerc after being let through by his teammate Carlos Sainz a few laps prior, Charles Leclerc was making a charge through the field and would be putting pressure on Lewis Hamilton who had tyres that were falling off and the Brit had zero grip. Hamilton was next to no challenge for Leclerc as on the following lap it would be a comfy pass for the Ferrari man and despite qualifying ninth, he would be up to fifth and would be picking up a decent amount of points. Lap 57 and Kevin Magnussen following on from a puncture that he suffered a few laps previous. He had made a trip to the pits with the puncture on lap 52 and he was just unable to carry on going and he would call it the end of his race. Leclerc was showing great pace on the hard compound tyres and had caught up to George Russell and was hounding the Mercedes driver for fourth place but could he make the move or would he be taking too much out of his tyres in the early part of the stint. Daniel Ricciardo was rumoured to be potentially leaving his seat at Visa RB after the Singapore Grand Prix after there were heavy rumours suggesting he would be being replaced by New Zealander Liam Lawson, who is a young prospect and shined in his cameo in 2023, that was given to him as Ricciardo had a broken wrist. Ricciardo was not going to go out without a fight and he would choose to pit to try and end his final race with the fastest lap by using a fresh set of soft tyres he had saved spare from qualifying. Remarkably, the Australian would get it and he would set the fastest lap of the race where he could race his last ever Formula 1 Grand Prix. On top of this he would be given driver of the day, a nice moment for the Australian and a moment where the fans could show him some support if this was to be his final appearance in a Grand Prix. Out front however, Lando Norris had blown away any thought of a challenge to his first place position that he had started the race from on the grid. The McLaren driver had a difficult round one week prior where he could have thought the win may have been on the cards at Baku but ultimately he just never had the opportunity or things to fall into place. He would shrink the lead in the championship to leader Max Verstappen to 52 points and it would therefore be an important win with six more rounds to go and just who knows what could happen in them rounds. With a 20+ second advantage at the chequered flag, Lando Norris would take his third career Formula 1 victory ahead of Max Verstappen, who limited the damage caused by the sheer brilliance of the McLaren of Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri would put in an amazing effort to take third and complete the podium. George Russell and Charles Leclerc would complete the top five for Mercedes and Ferrari respectively, with Russell fourth and Leclerc fifth. Lewis Hamilton would finish a miserable day is sixth ahead of Carlos Sainz who also suffered from pitting early. Fernando Alonso would drive a splendid effort for Aston Martin by finishing in eighth place and ahead of Haas' Nico Hulkenberg in ninth. Sergio Perez for Red Bull would complete the top 10. All three drivers would finish the race a lap down. At the end of round 18 of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship, the standings in both respective championships have taken interesting shapes with just six rounds to go as the 2024 season heads into its final quarter. The drivers championship lead for Max Verstappen has once again come down but the reigning world champion has limited the damage caused by Lando Norris and McLaren and the gap is at 52 points with just the six rounds that remain. Charles Leclerc has fallen to 86 points off the lead of the championship.and it would take an almighty effort from him to become this year's champion. As for the Constructors, McLaren have extended their lead to 41 points over Red Bull with a double podium score and now Ferrari are closing the gap on Red Bull to just 34 points. With Hulkenberg's ninth place, Haas are just three points behind Visa RB's total in the battle for sixth. Formula 1 action will take a break from racing for a few weeks after a relentless five weeks where there has been four rounds and three different winners. The World Championships are both still up for grabs and there will be excitement when Formula 1 returns. The next round will be at the Circuit of the Americas for the fourth sprint weekend of the season in Austin, Texas for the United States Grand Prix. Free Practice 1, the only practice session will commence on October 18. 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship: Round 18 - Singapore Grand Prix race result
Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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