Third time's the charm for Lando Norris
- pitwallstories
- Sep 23, 2024
- 5 min read
Formula 1 races are an absolutely magical show to see. What makes them even more beautiful are night races. Night races are probably what attracts the public more because of their amazing atmosphere and the stunning painting they create on track. The colors are more vivid, the liveries are made specifically for a specific Grand Prix and the sparks the cars make fly even higher, resembling fireworks.
One of the most awaited night races on the calendar is exactly the Singapore GP that this year as well did not fail in terms of its beauty and also entertainment for the enthusiasts of this sport.
One papaya on top on Saturday
After a pretty promising start of race week from the McLaren drivers, topping the last session of free practice, we entered qualifying day with a clear bet on who the pole sitter for this grand prix could’ve been.
Lando Norris was the papaya driver who came out victorious from the fight for pole, with Max Verstappen not that far behind in P2.
As if redeeming themselves, both Mercedes cars made it to the top 10 starters for Sunday’s race and not just any placement on the grid, because Lewis Hamilton secured P3 and George Russell followed after him. They spoke about some adjustments they made on the car that brought them a lot more confidence than the last race in Baku, ready to give it all the next day.
Other McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri, only managed to set his time in P5, surprising everyone and himself too because the car seemed a lot quicker during free practice. But Piastri and the entire team knew that the race on Sunday was what mattered and he was going to try everything to set foot on the podium.
Another pleasant surprise was given to us by Nico Hulkenberg who did an amazing job securing himself the sixth position for Sunday, managing his tyres wonderfully on such a warm track.
What seemed like it could’ve been another great race weekend for Ferrari was brutally interrupted during the qualifying session, when Carlos Sainz drove his car into the wall and Charles Leclerc’s laptime was deleted, allowing Norris to get pole position. The Ferrari drivers later complained about their difficulties in putting the tyres in the right window in terms of temperature and Sainz shared his worry on a small brake problem he had on Friday.
Completing the top 10 starters for Sunday’s race were Alonso and Tsunoda, respectively in P7 and P8, doing an amazing job managing the tyres and race pace, allowing the car to not get too stressed ahead of Sunday.
A beautiful Sunday
So after coming out victorious from Saturday, Norris was all set and ready to drive on this beautiful circuit in one of the most awaited night races of the season.
Everyone knew the importance and how crucial it was for his personal race to do well in the first lap and not lose the position of leader. Contrary to all the other bad starts Lando has had in the course of the season, after ‘lights out’ he started extremely well, managing to immediately set a gap between him and Verstappen.
The first lap went surprisingly smoothly, without any collisions but with the exception of Sainz and Russell going wide in the first corner. Alonso was seventh with Leclerc, Perez and Colapinto all fighting for the last spots in the point zone after Tsunoda and Sainz had dropped down a few positions.
Disappointedly, Alex Albon fell all the way down to 15th position after he claimed that his rookie teammate ‘divebombed’ him, forcing him to brake. Nonetheless there was no need for the safety car to come out, a possibility that was 100% in the air, given that we’ve never had a clean race in Singapore since the first race that was held there in 2008.
But as we’ve seen from the start of this 2024 season, we were witnessing a lot of changes.
Not even 20 laps went by and some of the drivers were already stopping, others debating with their teams whether or not to do a one-stop strategy. What was truly surprising to see though was the gap that Norris had set between him and the driver in second position, Verstappen, as it was almost more than 16 seconds. Worries started to cloud the McLaren garage as they questioned Norris’ abilities in being able to maintain the right race pace given that he was pushing so hard and it was merely the beginning. Almost as if it was expected, Norris later reported to his team an alleged damage to his front wing and after analyzing the replay video, we saw Lando slightly touching the wall in turn 14.
In the meantime Leclerc managed to overtake Hulkenberg’s Haas on a circuit where it is quite difficult to pass someone. He wasn’t the only driver giving us a show with amazingly good overtakes. Piastri, in fact, did very well on Hamilton a few laps later and Leclerc again in overtaking Alonso.
The Aussie McLaren driver decided to pit on lap 39, choosing a new set of hards while his teammate had secured a gap from Verstappen of more than 20 seconds.
Only 10 laps remained for this beautiful race to come to an end and many things were still happening on track. Leclerc came close to Hamilton on lap 51, maintaining his electric pace that somehow showed the real Ferrari that was supposed to be there in qualifying as he successfully overtook the Briton for fifth place.
It couldn’t have been a Formula One race if also negative things happened such as Russell’s struggles with the heat, arriving to compare the cockpit to a ‘sauna’ and a puncture Magnussen had that forced him to limp out and into the pits, giving back the title for Fastest Lap to Norris.
Eventually the papaya driver in the lead brought his car to the finish line well clear of second-place Verstappen and third-place Piastri, adding a third victory to his 2024 season.
Leclerc did everything he could to try and get Russell but in the end he had to settle for fifth place but with the knowledge and pride of having done amazing overtakes during the entire race.
Rookie Franco Colapinto finished 11th, never failing to show his true potential after replacing driver Logan Sargeant. For his teammate Albon, celebrations never came because of the early retirement of his car due to overheating in the first half of the race.
Eventually the Singapore Grand Prix confirmed to be one of the best races on the calendar, gifting Lando Norris the third win in his career and allowing the rest of the grid to be proud of all their achievements during a race as difficult as this one.
“It was an amazing race,” said winner Norris. “A few too many close calls, a couple of little moments in the middle, but it was well controlled I think otherwise. The car was mega. I could push, we were flying the whole race and at the end could just chill, so it was a nice race. Still tough, I’m a bit out of breath. A very fun one!”
