P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Lando Norris took a dominant lights-to-flag victory in the Singapore Grand Prix, further reducing Max Verstappen’s drivers’ championship lead after of the new Autumn calendar break.
Lando Norris achieved his first F1 career grand chelem at the Singapore Grand Prix, reducing the drivers’ championship deficit to 52 points with a superb victory. This win marked McLaren’s first grand slam since the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix and coincided with F1’s inaugural visit to the Marina Bay Street Circuit in the same year. Max Verstappen finished second over 20 seconds behind his title rival, with Oscar Piastri securing third place after smoothly overtaking the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Ferrari made progress through the pack but paid the price for a challenging qualifying session in Singapore. Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg had strong weekends, finishing in eighth and ninth place respectively, while Sergio Perez held off Franco Colapinto for the final point.
The Singapore Grand Prix started with the two main title contenders on the front row, raising tensions for the race ahead. There were hopes to avoid incidents like the infamous clashes between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in Suzuka. McLaren’s team principal’s main desire was for Norris to lead the first lap, a feat he had struggled with before. Norris succeeded in taking the lead with a solid start and built a comfortable gap to his rivals early on, eventually breaking DRS. Verstappen couldn’t challenge him, and the top seven drivers settled into their starting positions. Despite a poor start for Albon, Colapinto made his way into the top 10, drawing criticism for his aggressive maneuvers from his teammate. Norris and Verstappen dueled for the fastest laps, while McLaren strategized for Piastri and Albon retired due to overheating issues.
