Starting grid

After an amazing lap in Saturday’s qualifying Lando Norris began the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position, his rival and championship leader at this point, Max Verstappen, started right beside him from second place.

Mercedes drivers had the second row locked for themselves, while Ferrari drivers reserved only from row number 5 after a nightmare qualifying session yesterday. Charles Leclerc started from P9 after his time got deleted with Carlos Sainz right behind him after his big shunt in Q3. The Spanish driver was at risk of getting a penalty for a gearbox change but in the end, he didn’t need a new one.

Williams drivers, Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto, started from the sixth row after struggles in qualifying as well after looking strong in the practice sessions.

Sergio Perez managed to secure only P13 yesterday after a surprising Q2 exit due to brake problems.

Sauber drivers completed the grid all the way in the back in P19 and P20.

Race

After the start, Lando Norris managed to keep his first place and stay in the lead even after the first lap, breaking his (non)famous curse of losing the lead in lap 1 every time when starting from pole position.

The was no contact between any of the drivers in Turn 1, however, some cars, including Leclerc, Alonso and Albon, ran wide due to a layer of dust on the track and had to use the escape road.

Thanks to that, Alex Albon lost 4 positions, dropping from P11 to P15, while reporting: “Franco divebombed” on the radio. However, it was more of his fault as it looked like he forgot to use the escape road after running wide and had to go there last minute, costing him valuable time. Meanwhile, his teammate Franco Colapinto, managed to jump from P12 to P9.

Charles Leclerc for Ferrari gained one position after the start, while Carlos Sainz, for who it is the 200th Grand Prix, lost two.

The pace kind of settled there with Norris leading the field with a 4,5s gap to Verstappen on lap 10.

The first pit stop came on lap 11 as Daniel Ricciardo was called for an early tyre change, which took the mechanics 3.5 seconds. A bit more than the Australian driver would like.

Alex Albon reported problems and had to retire on lap 17 due to a suspected cooling issue, at the same time Norris was leading by 12 seconds.

On lap 21, Hamilton, in his Grand Prix number 350, reported hitting the wall around the pit entry, however, replays showed that he probably just assumed that after sliding on the curb just before entering the pits. 

After the pit stop, Hamilton complained multiple times about the struggles that the hard tyre was causing him but his engineer kept him calm.

On lap 30, the race leader Norris had a big moment resulting in contact with the wall in Turn 14, which damaged his front wing. However, he still kept the lead far ahead of Verstappen.

On lap 39, after waiting long for a safety car, which didn’t have a reason to come out, Oscar Piastri finally pits and rejoins in fifth place behind Hamilton on fresher tyres.

Ferrari implemented team orders on lap 43, as Leclerc was faster behind Sainz, who let the Monaqasque to go past as he was the one able to catch Hamilton in front and overtake him 7 laps later.

Piastri moved to the last podium place on lap 45, after a great move on Russell.

On lap 48, Norris had a big moment with the wall again, in the same place where George Russell crashed in the last lap of the race but the McLaren driver kept calm.

Just two laps before the end, Magnussen was forced to retire due to an unknown issue after setting the fastest lap which was later deleted. Ricciardo boxes for a new set of soft tyres to attempt a fastest lap, which he managed to do and stole the one point from Norris.

Lando Norris completely dominated the Singapore Grand Prix finishing more than 20 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. Oscar Piastri secured the 1-3 finish for McLaren.

George Russell managed to hold back Charles Leclerc for fourth place at the end, while Lewis Hamilton finished sixth, followed by second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in seventh.

Fernando Alonso claimed good 4 points for Aston Martin for eighth place in front of Nico Hulkenberg in ninth, who secured 2 valuable points for Haas. Struggling Sergio Perez completed the top 10.

2024 Singapore Grand Prix results: