Sun. Dec 22nd, 2024
Occasional Digest - a story for you

McLaren’s Lando Norris dominated the Singapore Grand Prix to take a further chunk out of Max Verstappen’s advantage in the championship.

Verstappen, who finished a distant second in his Red Bull, is now 52 points ahead of the Briton with a maximum of 180 available over the remaining six races.

But Norris was deprived of an extra point by Daniel Ricciardo, after Red Bull’s junior team RB fitted soft tyres with a lap to go so the Australian could take the fastest lap from the Briton on the final tour.

Despite Norris’ imperious win, the average points gain by which he needs to eat into Verstappen’s lead still went up slightly to 8.7 a race.

Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri finished third from fifth on the grid, passing both Mercedes drivers on track after a later pit stop.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc looked like he might do the same as he fought back from his ninth place on the grid, but after passing Lewis Hamilton, George Russell held off the Ferrari when it caught him in the closing laps to take fourth, from Leclerc and Hamilton.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was seventh, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso managed to pass Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg during the pit-stop period to lead ‘Division Two’, from the German and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

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