Race report
Victory for Lando Norris in the Singapore Grand Prix, a result that allows the McLaren driver to close the gap in the general standings on Verstappen to 52 points, with the Dutchman crossing the finish line in 2nd place today at the end of a very tough race from a physical point of view for the drivers. There was no shortage of risks for the British #4, twice very close to the barriers, with a slight contact, but without suffering damage sufficient to compromise his race. At McLaren there was also the satisfaction of 3rd place for Oscar Piastri, author of two nice overtaking moves on the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, both of which took place at turn 7. The top-3 therefore eluded the Brackley team, as well as Ferrari, despite the good strategies and race pace of Charles Leclerc. Starting from ninth on the grid, the Monegasque climbed up to fifth, getting into Russell’s exhausts at the end but without overtaking for fourth place. 7th, instead, for Carlos Sainz, while Perez closes the top 10 behind Nico Hülkenberg.
Lando Norris (1st, McLaren): “It was a fantastic race. Maybe I took a few too many risks and had a few scares towards the middle of the race, but I think I controlled it quite well beyond that, and the car was great. I was able to push, we were flying all the way through and towards the end I was able to relax. I’m a bit out of breath because it was a tough race, but I enjoyed it. I wasn’t pushing too hard, but sometimes you relax too much. Maybe it was both because of the contact with the walls, I don’t know exactly what happened, but the important thing is that I didn’t have too much damage. I pushed, I wanted to win well and bring home the maximum points, and I’m also happy for Oscar on the podium. A great day for the team. This was a race similar to Qatar 2023 from a physical point of view. Maybe I could have been more relaxed, now I feel a bit dizzy but everything is fine.”
Max Verstappen (2nd, Red Bull): “I was always alone, I tried to do my best and keep up the pace until the end. The first stint was difficult for us because there was quite a lot of degradation, while the second was better and I was more comfortable too. I think that in a weekend where we knew we would struggle to get to 2nd place it is a good result. Obviously we are not happy, but we have to try to improve more and more and that is what we will try to do. We have to keep pushing to turn the situation around, I cannot always finish behind, let’s see how things go. Here it is very hot and it is always tough. It is also a very long race, so I can’t wait to rest”.
Oscar Plates (3rd, McLaren): “It was hot, that’s for sure, but it was a good comeback after yesterday’s qualifying. It wasn’t my best afternoon, so to get on the podium is a great result. We had a great car and we had a good strategy to overtake the Mercedes. Thanks to the team, the car was great this weekend and we brought home a good haul of points. This time I kept the car away from the wall, I don’t think I ever hit it. It was a bit of a tricky moment with George in Turn 1, but in the end I tried to stay calm because I had a huge gap to cover, so I didn’t want to take too many risks. I hope I didn’t leave too much work for the mechanics, because in the past few weeks I’ve had them work quite a bit after contacts with the walls.”
#Norris #fears #risks
