With the win, McLaren expanded its lead to 41 points over Red Bull in the Constructor’s race, as Norris cut seven points off Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ race. Norris trails Verstappen by 52 points with six races left in the season.
MARINA BAY, Singapore—Lando Norris made it look easy on Sunday in Singapore in a race with no safety car periods and yellow flags. The McLaren driver closed in on defending champion Max Verstappen with a flag-to-flag victory of just over 20 seconds Sunday evening over the Red Bull Racing Dutchman to win his third grand prix of the year. Oscar Piastri gave the Woking team a double podium, taking third.
Norris managed to get an excellent start over Verstappen and never looked back, even having a pit stop and a couple of incidents brushing the wall. However, considering those slight problems, there were still no difficulties as the Briton increased his lead and won the race by a considerable margin.
Lando Norris: It was an amazing race. I had a couple of moments in the middle, but I was well in control otherwise. The car was mega so that I could push, and we were flying the whole race. In the end, I could chill.
After finishing second, Verstappen was content with his championship lead of only 52 points, thanks to a gift from RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, who took the race’s fastest lap. In what he described as a lonely race, Verstappen realized he could do no more. “I think that’s pretty much my race just by myself,” Verstappen said. “Trying to do my best, trying to manage my pace. I think the first stint was difficult for us—quite a bit of tire degradation. The second stint was better, and I was also a bit more comfortable. On a weekend where we knew we would struggle, P2 is a good achievement. Of course, we are not happy with the second. We need to improve more and more, and that’s what we will try to do.”
In his Mercedes, George Russell fought the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc for most of the final half of the race and took fourth, while Lewis Hamilton finished in sixth in the second Mercedes. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was seventh, ahead of his compatriot Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Haas Nico Hulkenberg, who was as high as fourth at one point, finally took ninth. In the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez started the race from 15th on the grid and ended up taking the final point.
Formula One will take a four-week break until the 18th-20th of October when racing resumes at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, for the United States Grand Prix.
