Wenslus Murape
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 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. – BBC Sport
Online Reporter