Norris takes dominant Singapore win from Verstappen
· BBC SportAndrew Benson
F1 Correspondent in Singapore
McLaren’s Lando Norris dominated the Singapore Grand Prix to take a further chunk out of Max Verstappen’s advantage in the championship.
Verstappen, who finished a distant second in his Red Bull, is now 52 points ahead of the Briton with a maximum of 180 available over the remaining six races.
But Norris was deprived of an extra point by Daniel Ricciardo, after Red Bull’s junior team RB fitted soft tyres with a lap to go so the Australian could take the fastest lap from the Briton on the final tour.
Despite Norris’ imperious win, the average points gain by which he needs to eat into Verstappen’s lead still went up slightly to 8.7 a race.
Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri finished third from fifth on the grid, passing both Mercedes drivers on track after a later pit stop.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc looked like he might do the same as he fought back from his ninth place on the grid, but after passing Lewis Hamilton, George Russell held off the Ferrari when it caught him in the closing laps to take fourth, from Leclerc and Hamilton.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was seventh, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso managed to pass Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg during the pit-stop period to lead ‘Division Two’, from the German and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Norris in total control
Norris produced the most commanding victory of the season. He converted pole position into a lead at the end of the first lap for the first time in five attempts this season, and after measuring his pace in the first laps to ensure he did not overwork his tyres, reeled off a string of fastest laps to bolt into the distance.
He was told by his engineer Will Joseph that McLaren ideally wanted him to have at least a five-second lead over Verstappen to protect him during a pit-stop period.
Norris made that gap easily and then continued to pull away, building a lead of 25 seconds before Verstappen made his first pit stop on lap 29, the McLaren following him in a lap later.
Despite a couple of scary moments when he brushed the wall first at Turn 14 and then at Turn Eight, he was in total control as he completed his third career victory.
"It was an amazing race. A few too many close calls. I had a couple of moments in the middle but I was well in control otherwise," Norris said.
"The car was mega so I could push and we were flying the whole race. At the end I could just chill. It was still a tough race."
Verstappen’s race was equally lonely, not able to do anything about Norris, but well clear of everyone else.
The Dutchman edged away from the pursuing Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the opening laps and consolidated his second place.
Verstappen said: "On a weekend where we knew we would struggle, P2 is a good achievement. Of course we are not happy with second. Now we need to improve more and more and that's what we will try to do."
Fightbacks from Piastri and Leclerc
The action was all behind the two leaders, as Piastri from fifth on the grid and Leclerc from ninth sought to make up ground.
Both did so by running long to their pit stops.
Piastri, who was fifth behind Hamilton and Russell in the opening laps, stopped after them on lap 38 and came back to pass both around the outside of Turn Seven, Hamilton on lap 40 and Russell five laps later.
His podium finish extended McLaren’s lead over Red Bull in the constructors’ championship to 42 points.
Hamilton then suffered the same fate at the hands of Leclerc, who stopped on lap 36 and passed him on lap 49.
The Briton had started on the soft tyre, hoping he might be able to jump Verstappen at the start. But the Dutchman held him off as Hamilton attacked at the first corner, and the Red Bull soon began to pull away.
Hamilton made an early stop to change his soft tyres for hards on lap 17, and feared he might not make it to the end of the race. He did, but his aged tyres meant he could do nothing to hold back Piastri and Leclerc.
Russell, starting on the medium tyres like all the other drivers in the top 10 bar Hamilton, ran to lap 27 before stopping.
His tyres were nine laps older than Leclerc’s when the Ferrari caught him, but the better traction of the Mercedes saved him, and Leclerc could not get close enough to pass.
Ricciardo’s fastest lap not only helped out Verstappen in the championship, but may have been a last hurrah for the popular eight-time winner.
There is speculation that Ricciardo might be dropped in favour of Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson before the next race, the United States Grand Prix, in Austin, Texas, from 18-20 October.