Singapore Grand Prix: F1 Race Results

The teams headed to Singapore for round 18 of the 2024 Formula 1 campaign

Darius Needham 5 min read

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Formula 1 took to the streets of Singapore, as one of the most gruelling races of the year for the drivers saw intense battles across the field and one man dominate from start to finish.

Lando Norris, McLaren
Norris claimed pole position on the Saturday, but could he go on to win the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday? Credit: Clive Rose via Getty Images

Lando Norris claimed his third victory of the season as he dominated the Singapore Grand Prix. His championship rival Max Verstappen would finish in P2 and his team-mate Oscar Piastri completed the podium.

This now means that the gap between Verstappen and Norris in the Drivers’ Championship is down to just 52 points.

A recap of the weekend so far

Free Practice One saw an in-form Charles Leclerc top the classification with a 1:31.763. Norris was less than eight hundredths of a second slower than the Monegasque as he would set the second fastest time in the session. Leclerc’s team-mate Carlos Sainz completed the top three.

Norris would go one better in Free Practice Two as he topped the session with a 1:30.727 around the streets of Singapore. Ferrari’s duo made up the rest top three as in the most representative session before qualifying, both McLaren and Ferrari ended the day strongly.

Both RB and Williams also showed some great pace in FP2 as Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon’s fastest times were all good enough to feature in the top ten in the session.

However, the Singapore track proved to be a tricky one for both Red Bull and Mercedes who struggled throughout second practice. George Russell would find the wall at Turn 8 towards the end of the 60-minute session, as he crawled back to the pits having damaged the cars nose and front wing.

The final practice session in Singapore saw Norris top the timesheets once again with a 1:29.646. Russell finished FP3 behind the McLaren driver, but nearly five tenths of a second off the pace. Piastri found himself inside the top three for the first time this weekend.

In qualifying, Norris would claim pole position for the race on Sunday with a 1:29.525. The championship leader in Verstappen would line up on the front row alongside his main rival this season. Lewis Hamilton qualified in the top three with his team-mate just behind him, as both Mercedes drivers will start on the second row.

With practice and qualifying now over, everything was set for the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.

The starting grid

Lights out and away we go

Norris got a great start off the line as he held his lead into Turn 1. Some of the drivers further down the order went off the track going into the first corner.

Albon had lost four places on the opening lap, whereas his team-mate Franco Colapinto had gained three places and was up to ninth. Sainz also lost a couple of positions heading into lap two.

In the early laps, Norris was already nearly two seconds ahead of Verstappen and controlling the race from the front.

After five laps, Norris’ gap to the Dutchman remained the same, but his team were saying that he wasn’t managing his tyres as well as they would have liked him to in the early goings.

The McLaren team then came onto the radio to tell Norris that they wanted him to have a five second lead over Verstappen in the next seven laps or so. By lap 10, the British driver was already nearly four seconds ahead of the current world champion.

The first pitstops

Ricciardo was the first man to pit on lap 11 as he switched to a fresh pair of medium tyres. Albon would be the next driver to pit as he moved onto the hard compound.

However, Haas had reported over the radio that the hard tyres were not looking so great as Kevin Magnussen was complaining about the grip of them.

His other Haas team-mate was in a great position after 14 laps, as he was flying high in P6. Sainz then made his way into the pits a lap later as he re-joined the track in P18.

Norris continued to dominate the lead of the race as he extended his lead over Verstappen to nearly 10 seconds by lap 16. Albon appeared to be having some problems on his new hard tyres and on lap 17, he was told to retire his car by the team as he made his way back into the pits.В?We were told that this was due to his power unit overheating.

Hamilton was the first of the front runners to pit, as he came back out onto the track in P13. The seven-time world champion then told his team that he felt like he hit the wall when heading into the pits. Despite the Mercedes driver believing that he had some damage, it did not stop him getting past Esteban Ocon as he moved up into P11.

Norris continuing to dominate

After 25 laps, Norris’ lead continued to grow as he was looking to gain over a pitstop advantage to Verstappen. Hamilton was then back on the radio as he was complaining about the performance life of his tyres.

Verstappen would soon be saying the same thing on his team radio. A lap later, Russell pitted as he would re-enter the track in front of his team-mate in P8.

On lap 29, Norris told his team that he had damaged his front wing. He had a moment into Turn 14 that nearly saw him hit the wall. Luckily Norris was able to slow the car down enough to avoid the barrier.

At the same time, Verstappen made his stop and re-joined the track in P4. A lap later Norris would do the same as he would come back out still in the lead of the race.

Most of the drivers a part from Piastri and Leclerc had made what would likely be there one only pitstop in the race by lap 33. Both drivers were in desperate need of a Safety Car to help their races.

Leclerc would finally pit on lap 38 of the race. He would come back out in P8, but ended up behind his team-mate as Sainz had undercut his team-mate.

Piastri on a podium charge

Piastri would pit a lap later and found himself trailing both Mercedes’ in P5. It didn’t take the Australian long to overtake Hamilton as he made the move up into P4 on lap 40.

With 20 laps to go, Norris’ lead to Verstappen had improved to 24 seconds as he continued to show just how good that McLaren is. Piastri was also gaining on Russell for that final podium place.

On lap 45, Piastri got the move done on Russell as he moved up to third. Norris also hit the wall ever so slightly on the same lap, but it didn’t look like it had caused the car any damage or slowed down Norris in any way.

The closing stages

As we entered the closing stages of the race, Magnussen had a puncture on lap 51 but managed to limp his way back round to the pits a lap later. Magnussen would then set the fastest lap on new soft tyres before his time was deleted, meaning Norris still had the extra point intact.

Norris’ lead with five laps to go was at nearly 29 seconds. On the penultimate lap, Ricciardo who was down in P19 pitted once again in an attempt to go for the fastest lap, which he would get in the end on what could be his last F1 race.

Despite Verstappen cutting the gap down to 21 seconds in the final few laps, he could not do anything to change the inevitable in this race as a dominant Norris would cross the line to win the Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen would claim an important P2 finish and Piastri rounded off the podium places in third.

Full Classification

Feature Image Credit: Formula 1 via X/Twitter

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