Lando Norris won his third career race at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, September 22, edging out three-time World Drivers’ Champion and current championship leader Max Verstappen, who finished a whopping 20 seconds behind him. 

Norris, who led every lap until his victory, is slowly closing the championship title gap with Max Verstappen, now only 52 points behind. McLaren, Norris’ constructor, are leading the constructors championship battle at 516 points, 41 points ahead of Red Bull Racing, Verstappen’s constructor. Oscar Piastri also helped McLaren reinforce their constructors’ lead, coming third after starting the night race in fifth position. 

Franco Colapinto, who replaced Williams driver Logan Sargeant following the Dutch Grand Prix, finished tenth after a controversial “divebomb” which overtook Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, and his teammate Alex Albon. Albon retired on lap 16 due to his car overheating. 

Lewis Hamilton, who started the race in the third position, finished 6th due to a strategy error by Mercedes. The team opted for a soft tyre strategy, aiming for Hamilton to begin the race aggressively. However, an early pit stop because of tyre degradation on the hot Singaporean track caused Hamilton to fall to sixth, unable to regain his position. Hamilton will be departing Mercedes after a eleven-year long career with the British-based team and will be joining Ferrari for the 2025 season alongside Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc.  

Daniel Ricciardo, driver for RB Formula 1 Team (originally Toro Roso and then AlphaTauri), completed his final Formula 1 race of the 2024 season at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The Australian bid farewell to the track, for the time being, with the DHL Fastest Lap Time and Driver of the Day accolades. RB is set to replace Ricciardo with reserve driver Liam Lawson. 

With 6 races left of the 2024 season, Formula 1 heads to the Circuit of the Americas in Texas for the October 20th Grand Prix. 

Freshman Lavanya Seshasayee is a Contributing Writer. Her email is lseshasa@fandm.edu

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