If anyone still had doubts about Lando Norris’ pure talent, the long night at the Marina Bay Street Circuit surely cleared them. Best lap time on Friday, pole position on Saturday, and victory on Sunday—Lando Norris dominated the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.
Fast and mature, the Brit showed he had learned from previous mistakes. For the first time, he made full use of his pole position to blast ahead of Max Verstappen (second on the grid), who had Lewis almost alongside him going into Turn 1, but not close enough to challenge.
Once he took the lead, Lando simply dominated. For the first five laps, it looked like Red Bull had some margin to fight, as the gap stayed steady at 1.8s as he and Max traded fastest laps.
But then a key moment revealed McLaren’s clear superiority: “How’s the pace?” asked the pit wall on lap eight. “Fine,” Lando answered. “Okay, in that case, I’d like you to use some of that pace to get five seconds on Max.”
That’s when we saw what McLaren had in store. Lando responded without hesitation, extending his lead to 4.7 seconds by lap 10. He kept up the pace, eventually crossing the finish line with a 20-second margin over Max Verstappen in P2, and Oscar Piastri in P3.
Norris felt like he was literally “flying” throughout the 62-lap race, and indeed it was a dominant performance despite a couple of close brushes with the wall.
“The car was amazing. I could push, we were flying the whole race, and at the end, I could just chill, so it was an amazing race. Still tough—I’m a bit out of breath. It was very fun,” admitted an emotional Lando. “A few too many close calls. I had a couple of little moments in the middle, but it was all under control.”
Those “close calls” left the McLaren team with their hearts in their mouths as Norris brushed the walls of the spectacular Marina Bay Street Circuit a couple of times. On one of those occasions, Lando’s race engineer reminded him to stay fully focused and take a drink amid Singapore’s scorching and humid conditions.
Given the lead he had, there was no need to take additional risks: “I was definitely pushing. Probably too much, hence the mistakes I made with the wall, but that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily over-pushing,” Lando explained. “Sometimes it’s because you’re just too relaxed. Maybe it was a bit of both. I don’t know, but it was tricky. It was still tough out there, easy to lock the tires like I did. Despite the gap, I kept pushing.”
The Singapore night race has long been considered one of the most difficult on the F1 calendar, with the high heat and humidity, and an intense lap full of near-continuous corners pushing drivers to their limits lap after lap and Lando’s third victory in Formula 1 was physically one of his toughest: “Similar to Qatar last year, but I wasn’t taking it easy. I could have taken it a lot easier. I’m feeling a little dizzy right now, but it’s all good.”
Joining LN4 on the podium was a spectacular Oscar Piastri, who recovered two valuable positions from fifth on the grid. “It was a good race, and a great recovery from qualifying, so to get back on the podium is a fantastic result. We had a really quick car and a solid strategy to get past both Mercedes. It was a bit tight with George in Turn 1, but once I got into third place, I had a huge gap to close, so I didn’t want to take too many risks. The car’s been exceptional all weekend and we’ve got some great points for the team,” said the Australian.
With this amazing 1-3 finish, McLaren extends its lead in the Constructors’ Championship by 41 points. Thanks to this result, Lando has reignited the fight for the title. With six events remaining and 52 points behind the leader, the Brit believes in his chances for the championship.
Achieving back-to-back victories confirms the superiority of the MCL38, and on paper, the next circuits, starting with next round in Austin, Texas, look favorable for the Papaya team. However, on a tricky circuit like Marina Bay, Verstappen finished second and demonstrated that he is fully committed to managing the championship. Mathematically, he could win the title even by finishing second in every race.
For Lando and the team, there is no more room for mistakes in the race for the Drivers’ Championship. Team orders and strategy will become crucial.
“Singapore was probably one of our most dominant weekends. The car has been fantastic for quite some time now. I haven’t been able to capitalize on many of those opportunities when I felt I had the pace and ability. Some of that is my own fault for not executing well enough. So, I’ve paid the price for not doing a good enough job at times. But when I lead after Turn 1 and things are a bit more straightforward, we can have days like today”, admitted Norris.
The team will now have a month to plan their strategy until the next race on October 20 in Texas. It will be an intense period, and more upgrades are expected from the Papaya team as they continue to chase their dream.
Credit Photos: McLaren team
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