Singapore GP Takeaways: Norris gives Verstappen a taste of his own medicine

Wednesday, 25 September 2024 at 07:30

Lando Norris took a dominant victory at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, driving in class of his own and giving Max Verstappen a taste of his own medicine.

Norris won from Verstappen by a gap of 20 seconds, which could have been more had it not been for some pace management towards the end of the race.

No one has an answer to McLaren's devastating form right now, as their MCL38 was the class of the field in Singapore with Norris cruising towards his third Formula 1 career victory.

The Briton is slowly chipping away at the points' gap between him and Verstappen with every race, the latter yet to capture the form he enjoyed at the start of the season as Red Bull are still working on sorting out their deteriorating RB20.

A back-to-back race with Baku, the Singapore GP would have been a great opportunity for Ferrari to challenge McLaren, but they failed spectacularly to do so.

Mercedes, on the other hand, were lost as usual, unable to understand their W15 as they still tried to decipher the tyres and how to get them into their operating window.

Daniel Ricciardo and the Verstappen-FIA-Mohammed Ben Sulayem saga, made for a more interesting weekend, since apart from qualifying, which was interesting, the race was somehow boring.

So let's get on with our Takeaways from the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris had a great yet not perfect weekend

After a tough weekend in Baku, when Norris was knocked out of qualifying in Q1, and after he saw his teammate Oscar Piastri take a sensational win, the Briton bounced back with style in Singapore.

After exchanging blows with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in practice on Friday, Norris went on to reign the weekend with pole on Saturday and a presiding drive from lights to flag.

The first step was to keep his lead at the start, with Verstappen starting beside him, while Lewis Hamilton in the Soft-shod Mercedes fancied a go at the top two.

But it was a clean start for the McLaren driver while Verstappen made sure Hamilton's plans did not come to fruition, and from there on, the #4 MCL38 controlled the proceedings.

However, Norris did give his team a couple of scares, getting too close to the walls but miraculously surviving to go on and win the race.

On the first instance, he hit the barriers with his front wing, while on the second time, his rear right tyre kissed the walls at the same place where George Russell infamously crashed in the 2023 Singapore GP when he was in contention for victory.

The Singapore GP is quite a punishing race with the high temperatures and extreme humidity, and being a street circuit, any small touch with the walls could be race-ending, so full focus is required from the drivers.

The headlines praising Norris for his win in Singapore could've easily been condemning ones had he not survived any of those two incidents, but he survived to joke about them.

Verstappen's eventful weekend

Verstappen had quite an action-packed weekend in Singapore, but mind you, most of that action was not on the track.

First, the racing part. The RB20 was clearly unwilling to run properly around the Marina Bay Circuit, as Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and the whole Red Bull team were left scratching their heads trying to understand what was wrong.

But some overnight work at Red Bull's Milton Keynes headquarters by their reserve driver, Sebastien Buemi, meant the RB20's setup was turned around.

Verstappen was much happier with the car on Saturday and drove the wheels off to qualify second behind Norris. The gap was still substantial to pole, but it was a monumental effort from the Dutchman nevertheless.

In the race, Verstappen drove wisely, not going for any banzai moves on Norris at the start, and made sure he kept Hamilton at bay. He knew that second was the best he could achieve and made sure he delivered just that. Damage limitation at its best.

Off track though, Verstappen had an eventful weekend, as he found himself in hot waters after swearing in the FIA press conference, something currently frowned upon by the F1 governing body's president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

After a meeting with the stewards, the defending champion was ordered to do community service. After that, he expressed his dismay by giving brief responses to answers in the FIA post qualifying and race press conferences while giving the journalists all the time they needed to answer their questions outside the room.

The clampdown on swearing seems one of those crusades by Ben Sulayem as he tries to manage the easy instead of addressing more pressing matters in the sport these days.

The jewelry ban back in 2022 had some foundation related to driver safety, but that is not the case now with the swearing saga.

Farewell Daniel Ricciardo?

The Singapore GP weekend started with reports that it would be Ricciardo's last race in F1 as he would be replaced at VCARB by Liam Lawson for the upcoming race in Austin.

Ricciardo has not been the same driver we have enjoyed watching racing since he left Red Bull at the end of the 2018 F1 season.

His two-year stint at Renault (2019, 2020) was disappointing, but he was not to blame for that. It was more down to the mess Cyril Abiteboul was running at the time.

Things did not improve for Ricciardo when he joined McLaren in 2021, as he could not get his head around driving the papaya machinery produced at Woking and was totally obliterated by Norris.

The Honey Badger did win with McLaren in 2021 at Monza, but truth be told, the team ordered Norris not to attack for the lead; otherwise, the outcome would've been different.

After being fired and replaced by Oscar Piastri, Ricciardo spent time on the sidelines as a Red Bull reserve until he was given a second chance in the top flight at AlphaTauri, now VCARB, replacing the disappointing Nyck de Vries.

Sadly, the Ricciardo of old did not show up to the party and did not manage to own Yuki Tsunoda who is hardly a benchmark.

It was painful to watch Ricciardo over the Singapore weekend, facing tough questions about his future, questions he knew the answers to but was not allowed to reveal them - probably for contractual reasons.

That doesn't mean he should not go. He should, but it would have been the decent thing for Red Bull to confirm his departure and put him out of his misery. He deserved at least that.

While it is all but confirmed that Singapore will be his last race, Ricciardo may end up having an impact on the title fight after taking the fastest lap from Norris in what can only be explained as a Red Bull-VCARB strategic collaboration.

Singapore GP Quick hits

A disappointing weekend for Ferrari, who started strongly but faded from Friday to Saturday as they lost their way with the car while both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc went on to mess up their qualifying. The former crashed; the latter lost his best lap for a track limits breach.
A disappointing weekend for Mercedes as well. Their form was up and down as usual. Hamilton qualified third and Russell fourth after a tough qualifying, but they were AWOL in the race.
A plan to start the Hamilton on Soft tyres, aiming at making up places at the start, backfired after the seven-time F1 champion failed to execute and then had to pit for tyres earlier than ideal, which left him on the back foot. He finished the race in sixth, while Russell was fourth.
What was interesting though was that both Mercedes drivers were too tired to take part in their post-race media duties... Those Mercedes seats, both Hamilton and Russell usually complain about, must have been extra hot in Singapore.
Another solid weekend for Franco Colapinto, who was less than a tenth off Alex Albon's pace in qualifying. With Albon retiring with an overheating car, Colapinto finished just outside the points in 11th.
The highlight of the race for the Argentine was the hard time he gave Perez in the Red Bull as the Mexican attempted to pass and only managed to do so after the pit stop.
Perez went on to hail his rival: "He's very good; very difficult to pass Colapinto."
Or maybe he was just saying that to justify why he couldn't pass.
A superb qualifying by Nico Hulkenberg yet again.