Qualifying

What a qualifying session from Norris absolutely dominated through the lap shame the end came to a red flag for other drivers. LeClerc had his lap deleted which massively impacted his race position. Verstappen did well to put the car in second, especially considering how his practice sessions went. The stiffening of the car was definitely beneficial for the RedBull. Mercedes also did an excellent job to take the second row.

Start of the Race

For once Norris had a great start off pole position and absolutely blitzed it off the line, Verstappen however was not as quick off the mark getting early pressure from Hamilton on the soft. The first couple of laps were pretty close however the front two proceeded to increase the pace.

Stint 1

The first stint was a bit of a weird one. The top 10 all started on the medium tyre apart from Hamilton. I’m guessing this was to trying gain a position early doors given how hard it is to overtake. He didn’t succeed with that. This then put him at a disadvantage for the rest of the race.

Colapinto had a great start to the race getting into ninth early on. His teammate Albon wasn’t happy with the overtake saying that he div bombed him however Albon’s race came to an end any due to engine issues retiring the car.

A few drivers had concerns that Norris and Verstappen were pulling away so quickly setting an unachievable race pace. However it didn’t seem to impact their race at all. In fact it is the reason why the race was dominated. The engineers told them to focus on their race.

Hamilton was the first out of the top 5 that pitted. He was not happy with how he came in due to being vulnerable later on in the race. The soft compound wasn’t going to last anyway so Hamilton was always going to be at a disadvantage.

The medium tyre drivers came in a lot later around lap 27. By the end of the first stint in Lando had built up a gap so big that he essentially had a free pitstop anyway. The start of Verstappen second stint saw him come out just behind the Ferrari. This hold-up lasted for a couple laps which also allowed for Lando Norris to guarantee his buffer was enough. He pushed the medium tyre to Lap 30 a lap later than Verstappen.

Stint 2

On the second stint, all the cars went onto the hard compound. I’m gonna be quite honest the second stint was overall very very tame. Norris was so far in the lead that there was no competition for first. Norris did come very close to crashing into the wall a few times. He could’ve very well thrown the race and WDC aspirations away.

The competition for second was also lonely for Verstappen. The only potential we had was Piastri going for a late pitstop and gunning for Verstappen in the closing laps. That was not on the cards as after Piastri finally pitted on lap 38 he hit major traffic in the mid 40s.

Hulkenberg had a fantastic race and holding off Perez for considerable portion of the second stint. This definitely damaged Redbull’s competition for the constructors. For while it also looked like it was going to help Colapinto overtake Perez, however he couldn’t quite get the car in DRS of the RedBull.

LeClerc had a late push on George Russell for fourth place probably making the most interesting battle of the second stint with very close racing. The Ferrari was struggling in the first stint in with poor strategic decisions. This last push was Leclerc’s only real competition in the race. Russell defended brilliantly keeping his fourth place fighting until the very end.

Verstappen was having a lot of pushes later on in the lap however, that was not working. The Redbull and their baby team clearly colluded to take fastest lap off Norris. Ricciardo took the fastest lap on the last lap of Norris preventing the full 26 points for Norris.

Lando Norris crossed the line, winning the race 21 seconds ahead of Verstappen and 41 seconds ahead of his teammate. Pure domination. This hope he carries this one for the rest of the season.

Below are the pit strategies for the teams there is high variation which to me indicates the varied outcomes when it comes to a street races. The tyre life is even more sensitive to the driver style around Singapore and other street races.

Summary

Norris overall shown how dominant he and McLaren were this week? This is great especially with all the nonsense about McLaren legal within regulation wing that RedBull would not stop complaining about. I would say he just needs to work on his consistency week on week. Also Verstappen really needs to be in at least second place for the rest of the season in order to get the points that he wants and take that drivers championship.

Watch Highlights Here

Standings

The WDC is getting closer and closer however Max still has the lead. Norris does need a bit of a miracle but we are all hoping is comes down to the last race. McLaren nicely extend their lead in the constructors with McLaren taking 1st and 3rd and Redbull taking 2nd and 10th.

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