Qualifying:

With three practice sessions completed around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the Qualifying hour began to tick away as the sun set and the floodlights illuminated the streets of Singapore.

Q1:

Soft tyres were the option across the board at the start of Q1 – with Verstappen and the Mercedes pair choosing to spend the first few minutes in the pits, whilst both sets of Ferrari and McLaren drivers immediately got down to business. Norris set the benchmark flying lap time of 1:30.724s, some 0.172s faster than Leclerc.

Sainz had a bad start to the Q1 session, with an error whilst braking into Turn 1, saw the Spaniard having to use the run-off area and lose the lap time over track limits. His off-track adventure saw him also be noted for failing to follow the Race Director’s instructions when rejoining the circuit.

With all 20 drivers having set a flying lap time, Norris still topped the leaderboard, however it was now Verstappen who was his nearest rival – only a tenth slower – followed by Leclerc, Piastri, Hulkenberg and Sainz, with Alonso, Ocon, Magnussen and Tsunoda all rounding out the top 10.

At the other end of the timing sheets, Alpine’s Gasly, the Kick Sauber duo of Bottas and Zhou, Williams rookie Colapinto and Aston Martin’s Stroll all filled the drop zone, meaning the pressure was mounting for the second set of runs.

With the clock ticking down on the session and the drivers completing their final efforts for Q1, Norris remained in P1 after improving on his fastest lap with a 1:30.002s, now placing him over a tenth-and-a-half clear of Verstappen, ahead of Piastri, Hamilton, Perez and Sainz.

Leclerc abandoned his final lap to finish the session in 12th, whilst Russell finished in P13 after complaining about a lack of grip over the radio. 

A difficult final lap for Ricciardo saw him missing out from progressing through to Q2, alongside Stroll, Gasly and the Kick Sauber pair.

Q2:

Norris again set the fastest opening lap time in the early stages of Q2, with a 1:30.007s, a few tenths up on Leclerc and his teammate Piastri, whilst Hamilton, Perez and Verstappen all had their respective lap times deleted for track limit infringements.

Hamilton was the first driver to break the 1:30 mark with a time of 1:29.929s, whilst Russell set a time to put him into third place – the two Mercedes cars beginning to find pace despite complaints from Russell over the radio.

Hulkenberg was sitting in sixth, from Tsunoda, Sainz, Perez and Magnussen, leaving Alonso, Albon, Colapinto, Ocon and Verstappen in the drop zone ahead of the second runs.

Onto the decisive second runs, Verstappen initially set the fastest lap before Piastri pipped him to top the session with a 1:29.640s, placing the pair ahead of Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris and Sainz, with Hulkenberg, Russell, Tsunoda and Alonso all securing the final spots to progress through to the pole position shootout.

It meant the drivers eliminated from qualifying included Red Bull’s Perez who struggled throughout to ultimately finish in P13 behind the Williams duo of Albon and Colapinto, with Magnussen P14 on his return after his race ban, and Ocon rounding out the Q2 order.

Q3:

With the pole position shootout starting, drama came almost immediately as Sainz spun at the final corner to slam into the wall backwards and bring out the red flags. Over the radio he was unsure as to what had happened, as he was moving over to let Piastri past before setting up to start a flying lap.

Only three drivers had been able to cross the line to set a flying lap, with Verstappen provisionally on pole before his lap time was deleted due to double yellow flags. Piastri, therefore, moved up into the provisional P1 position with a 1:30.037s, with Hulkeberg a tenth back.

With only eight minutes left on the clock, it was deemed effectively as a one-lap shootout when the session resumed.

With the entries to the corners and braking zones being pushed to the absolute limit at the end of Q3, the timing screens lit up with green and purple sector times, leading to McLaren’s Lando Norris setting a 1:29.525s to take pole position, ahead of Verstappen by two-tenths and another tenth clear of the Mercedes duo.

Piastri finished in fifth place, ahead of Hulkenberg, Alonso and Alonso. The Ferrari pair rounded out the top 10, with Leclerc receiving a deleted lap time and Sainz being sidelined after his crash.

Race:

With the lights out and the Singapore Grand Prix underway, Norris had a good launch off the line to retain his pole position advantage into the first corner over Verstappen, who briefly battled with Hamilton in a wheel-to-wheel exchange.

Behind, Piastri found himself in difficulty whilst trying to make a move on Russell going into Turn 1, allowing Hulkenberg to pass and take fifth position. The McLaren didn’t let up however, gaining pace along Raffles Boulevard to reclaim the position under braking at Turn 7.

Albon was one of the biggest losers of the opening few corners as he dropped down to 15th place whilst claiming he was “divebombed” by his rookie teammate at Turn 1 and forced to go wide.

Whilst the Mercedes pair battled between themselves, Norris and Verstappen were in clear air up ahead, with the race leader out of the Championship leader’s DRS range throughout all four zones.

With Norris increasing his gap to Verstappen to around five seconds, Ricciardo was the first driver to pit on Lap 11, to switch from softs to mediums, with Albon doing so a lap later, switching from mediums to hards to try to recover from his compromised start.

Sainz was the next driver to pit to change tyres on Lap 14, rejoining the track in 18th just ahead of early-stopper Albon. Elsewhere, Perez was struggling to make a move on the Argentinian rookie Colapinto, before disaster struck for the other Williams of Albon as he had to retire the car due to it overheating.

By Lap 18, Norris’s advantage over Verstappen had now increased to over 13 seconds, allowing him plenty of room to guide the McLaren through the narrow streets of Singapore, whilst also giving the Briton breathing space for the approaching round of pit stops.

Leclerc finally made his way past Alonso on Lap 26 before the Aston Martin came into the pits for a fresh set of hard tyres. Russell pitted from third place a couple of laps later, with Verstappen beginning to struggle with his rear tyres as he was now sitting some 25 seconds behind race leader Norris.

Verstappen pitted from second place to switch from mediums to hard tyres, rejoining behind Charles Leclerc who had yet to bit, although the Red Bull driver displayed his frustrations over the radio, believing he had just been undercut by the Ferrari, although he soon managed to pass thanks to his newer tyres.

Norris responded to Verstappen’s stop a lap later, opting against changing his front wing after he locked up a couple laps previously at Turn 14 and brushing the wall, rejoining the track to begin his second stint.

Leclerc finally pitted his Ferrari for a fresh set of tyres on Lap 37, meaning Piastri was the final driver still on the track on his starting set of tyres, however, he was soon called into the pits on Lap 39.

After all the stops were conducted, Norris led Verstappen by over 20 seconds, with Russell in third place a further 15 seconds behind the Dutchman. Hamilton was running in fourth before being passed by Piastri on his fresher set of tyres. Piastri continued on his charge to close on Russell before making a move on the outside of the Mercedes at Turn 7.

Despite his large advantage, Norris continued to push his McLaren to the limits, experiencing another scare on Lap 45 when he brushed the wall at Turn 10, although he seemingly escaped the encounter without damaging his McLaren. Norris went on to claim the fastest lap once again, now sitting at almost half a minute advantage over Verstappen, as he looked to breeze his way through the final 10 laps to the chequered flag.

Leclerc continued to push on, making a move on Hamilton on Lap 51 for fifth place, however faced a large gap now to catch up to Russell.

Magnussen made contact with the wall in the first sector before picking up a puncture, meaning he had to slowly move around most of the track before pitting for the soft tyres. With fresh rubber, Magnussen set the fastest lap of the race, before Norris picked up the pace once more to reclaim the extra point. The fastest lap point at the conclusion of the race went in the way of Ricciardo after his own respective late stop.

Norris saw out the final few laps on his own to secure his third win of the season – adding on to his Miami and Netherlands victories – finishing ahead of Verstappen in second and teammate Piastri, making it two McLarens in the top three.

Leclerc eventually had to settle for fifth place behind Russell, with Hamilton and Sainz the final drivers to cross the line still on the lead lap, whilst Alonso, Hulkenberg and Perez took the final points of the race.

Colapinto claimed 11th ahead of Tsunoda, Ocon, Stroll, the Kick Saubers of Zhou and Bottas, Gasly and the final finisher Ricciardo. Magnussen was called back into the pits after his late stop for softs, with Albon also the other non-finisher of the day.