Lando Norris Dominates Singapore Grand Prix To Cut Max Verstappen's F1 Title Lead

Lando Norris led from pole to chequered flag Sunday to take a dominant Singapore Grand Prix win and narrow the gap to Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen, who was second, to 52 points. It was the McLaren driver's third career GP win and his first from pole position at his sixth attempt as he finished almost 30 seconds clear of his rival's Red Bull.  Teammate Oscar Piastri was third to extend McLaren's lead over Red Bull in the constructors' championship to 41 points with six races and three sprints to go. It was a uniquely incident-free 62 laps around the Marina Bay Street Circuit under lights, the first in its 15-race history not to see a safety car deployed.

Norris got away brilliantly from pole and was clear of Verstappen into the first bend as Lewis Hamilton, on softer tyres, tried to put pressure on the Dutchman.

But the three-time world champion repelled the Englishman and all the cars completed the opening lap safely.

Norris soon opened up a gap of more than a second over Verstappen, importantly keeping the Englishman out of DRS range.

Hamilton from third was the only front-runner to start on soft tyres and he paid a penalty for not managing to get past Verstappen when he had to pit early on lap 18. 

The aim was clearly to go all the way to the end but after just five laps on the new rubber he complained on team radio: "I'm already struggling with this tyre." 

Norris was in a league of his own up front as he stretched his lead over Verstappen to 20 seconds by lap 26.

Despite a few late brushes with the unforgiving Singapore street circuit walls, the Englishman secured a dominant victory.

"It was an amazing race," said Norris. 

"A few too many close calls, I had a couple of close moments in the middle