Singapore - Race

Once again, the front row consisted of the driver's championship rivals. Norris started from the pole, the championship still within his grasp, if he could only push himself far enough to take it. Verstappen was breathing down his neck, set on defending his fourth title, no matter what. With only seven races to go every little point counted and neither of them could afford to slip up. 

Norris had a good launch off the line. He kept the lead at the very beginning and, for the first time in his F1 career, maintained the lead throughout the first lap. Hamilton tried to fight Verstappen but came just short of a proper fight and other of the top three remained unchanged. The same couldn't be said for the rest of the grid. Perez gained three places and jumped into the points. Both Ferrari and Williams saw their drivers go in opposite directions as Leclerc and Colapinto gained a few places, getting to 8th and 9th, while Sainz and Albon fell to 12th and 15th. 

All but one top car began the race on mediums. The exception was Hamilton, who had hoped to gain an advantage at the start. The strategy didn't work out in his favor, especially since even though the compound he was on was technically the quickest, he couldn't keep up with the top two. 

As it usually does, the race settled after the first lap, but not all fights ceased as the minutes ticked down. Perez was instructed to try to overtake Colapinto. On paper, the task should be relatively easy, given that Red Bull had the quicker car and the more experienced driver, but the rookie masterfully defended against his rival. The performance earned him praise from Perez himself as the man commented that the young Argentinian was doing a good job. 

The real star of the day was the McLaren of Lando Norris. From the very beginning of the race, the gap between the top two widened with every lap. Norris was asked to try and get the gap to five seconds and managed to do so by lap 11. 

As he proved to everyone watching just how fast he could be, some of the drivers decided to go in for an early change of tires. Ricciardo and Albon were the first to do so. The stop ended up being of little consequence to the William's driver who, just a few laps later, retired the car after his power unit temperatures rose dangerously high. 

Hamilton and Sainz also chose to pit rather early, choosing laps 18 and 20 respectively. The decision worked out for Sainz, who would go on to overtake multiple drivers on his fresh tires and climb a few places from where he started the race. Hamilton wasn't as happy. He questioned the logic behind pitting this early and complained about the possibility of his tires being completely worn out before the last lap. 

Norris, with a 13-second lead over Verstappen, was told to keep his tires going for as long as possible and continue steadily increasing the gap. A few cars behind him, Leclerc was getting increasingly frustrated with the situation he had found himself in. He was stuck behind Hulkenberg and Alonso, at the end of a mini DRS train. He was losing precious seconds with every lap, but since the Aston Martin in front of him could take full advantage of his DRS, he couldn't get close enough for a clean overtake. It took a few laps before he found a way past the two-time world champion. Having lost the position, Alonso immediately dove into the pits. Leclerc, determined to finish what he had started, overtook Hulkenberg. It wasn't the only ray of sunshine for Ferrari after a tough qualifying session: Sainz continued to slowly climb up the field, by that point driving in P12. 

Verstappen pitted on lap 30 and came out behind Leclerc. Norris, at that point with a lead of well over 20 seconds, changed his tires a lap later and kept his lead. Interestingly enough, right before he pitted, he complained about possible damage to his front wing after kissing a wall. McLaren decided not to waste any additional seconds on fitting a new wing and told him that if there was any damage it looked to be minimal. 

Russel, Leclerc, and Piastri all pitted within a few laps. With all the top cars having done the mandatory tire change, 'proper' order was restored, with Norris, Verstappen, and Russel on the provisional podium. 

Leclerc, yet again, overtook Alonso, putting the two Ferraris right by each other. Since the Monegasque was on much fresher tires, the quickly swapped positions. The same situation could be seen in VCARB where Tsunoda, on his new softs, was allowed to drive past his teammate. 

Piastri's late stop put him back behind Hamilton, however on his much fresher tires, the Australian overtook him rather quickly. He then set his sights on the man who stood between him and the podium, George Russel. The two fought up until lap 45 when the McLaren flew past the Mercedes. 

Leclerc was also rapid after his pit. He got closer and closer to his future teammate, Hamilton, and cought up to him by lap 54. While he was preparing to take on Russel, just like Piastri had done before him, we saw a scond retirement of the race. Kevin Megnussen drove to the pits and did not cross the finish line. 

The fight between the agressive Ferrari and defensive Russel was tense. The Brit had complained about suffering from both understeer and oversteer and after his last year's crash on that very track, he wanted redemption. And redemption he got. Even though leclerc put his all into the fight, he wasn't able to catch up to Russel. The finished fourth and fifth. 

And what about the top three? Norris delivered a truly phenomenal drive. He was rapid throughout the whole Grand Prix and did not lose his lead for even a second. With his pole position and fastest lap, he crossed the finish lap, tasting the Grand Chelem on the tip of his tongue. But, in the end, it was taken away from him by Daniel Ricciardo who pitted on one of his last laps and used his fresh softs to take one point off of the championship contender. The man who might not be returng to Formula One after the incoming break did all he could to help his old friend, Max Verstappen. 

Still, Grand Chelem or not, it was Norris' day. It was the British anthem that sounded out during the podium ceremony. For the thrid time this season, he took home the trophy. 

Order of the grid:

1. Lando Norris

2. Max Verstappen

3. Oscar Piastri

4. George Russel

5. Charles Leclerc

6. Lewis Hamilton

7. Carlos Sainz

8. Fernando Alonso

9. Nico Hulkenberg

10. Sergio Perez

11. Franco Colapinto

12. Yuki Tsunoda

13. Esteban Ocon

14. Lance Stroll

15. Zhou Guanyu

16. Valtteri Bottas

17. Pierre Gasly

18. Daniel Ricciardo

DNF: Kevin Magnussen, Alex Albon