Lando Norris’ Singapore GP Wins Eats Into Max Verstappen’s Championship Lead

Pole to flag, Lando Norris managed to have a near-flawless win at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. Finishing the race 20 seconds ahead of defending World Champion and current championship leader, Max Verstappen, Norris is sure to give a tough run to the end of the season. While Max still holds the lead with 331 points, Norris has cut into the deficit, now amassing 279 points. A determined Oscar Piastri ensured that McLaren stays at the top of the Constructors’ Championship table with a positive third place finish. 

The McLarens ran the longest on their opening stint, with Lando streaking away before the round of pit stops from Verstappen. Piastri was among the last cars to pit for new tyres, thus, managing to get past the Mercedes cars with fresher tyres towards the latter half of the race. 

Mercedes boys, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were split by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who nearly had the better of Russell at the end. From a disastrous spin out on Saturday that wrecked his car, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz followed up in seventh. He fended off the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso while the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez rounded up the top 10.

While McLaren were super dominant, Red Bull did spoil the party a bit by using its junior team to stop Lando getting the solitary point for the fastest lap. The Visa Cash App RB team’s Daniel Ricciardo pitted with three laps to go to steal the fastest lap away from Norris, which he did successfully. This was potentially Ricciardo’s last race as he might be replaced with Kiwi Liam Lawson for the remainder of the season.

With just six races left and Verstappen’s lead constantly being eaten into, the driver’s championship is just getting spicier by the minute. McLaren clearly has the fastest car and Red Bull is not able to find the answers to keep Max’s lead alive. There’s nearly a month to go for the next race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. It will give the teams time to rest, recuperate and time to figure out the final run in for the end of the season.