F1: McLaren’s Lando Norris cruises to win in Singapore GP to narrow title race

Lando Norris survived a couple of brushes with barriers as he won the Singapore Grand Prix with ease and cut into Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 standings lead Sunday.

Norris started on pole position ahead of Verstappen and steadily built a large lead.

There were two brief moments of jeopardy when the McLaren driver first locked his brakes and touched the barriers, prompting concern he’d damaged the front wing, and later when a rear tyre brushed another but Norris seemed largely unaffected as he cruised to the win.

“It was an amazing race. A few too many close calls,” Norris said.

Verstappen came in second for Red Bull after a race that was largely uneventful after he held off Lewis Hamilton into the first corner at the start.

Oscar Piastri, the winner for McLaren in Azerbaijan last week, moved up from fifth on the grid to finish third after passing Mercedes’ Hamilton and later George Russell for the final podium place.

Verstappen seemed relaxed Sunday, holding onto second and minimising the damage to his lead, which was trimmed from 59 to 52 points.

ALSO READ: Emilia-Romagna: Bastianini wins Emilia-Romagna MotoGP, Martin extends championship lead

Six rounds of the championship remain, starting with the United States Grand Prix next month, and three of those offer extra points with sprint races.

Daniel Ricciardo’s place in F1 with Red Bull’s second team RB could be under threat. Still, the Australian made a small but potentially vital intervention in the championship fight.

Ricciardo stopped for fresh tyres late on and set the fastest lap of the race on his way to finishing 18th. That deprived Norris of the extra point for the fastest lap that he seemed set to secure.

“Thank you, Daniel,” Verstappen said over the radio.