Lando Norris dominated the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. Battles for supremacy raged behind him, with high stakes on the line for multiple drivers. But with a month to the next race, one driver may not get another chance to save their seat. Here are the winners and losers of the intriguing 2024 Singapore GP.
Lando Norris: 9.0
Grid Position P1, Race Result P1
In Singapore, Norris emphatically defeated the statistic that has haunted him since he began taking poles and wins. He nailed his race start and controlled the race, finally leading the first lap. The pace Norris unleashed after a request from engineer Will Joseph in the early phases devastated the chasing pack. Pulling out an astonishing 19-second lead in 25 laps, it confirmed the McLaren as the new class of the field.
But the nearest title challenger to Max Verstappen almost threw away his most satisfying win to date not once, not twice, but three nerve-jangling times. Lightly brushing the wall throughout the race, Norris flirted with disaster far too easily. He wanted to win by a massive margin, but sometimes, controlling a race is better than risking it all to dominate your rivals.
The gap to Verstappen is now 52 points with six rounds to go. The Singapore GP acted as another statement of intent. Daniel Ricciardo’s late pit stop to take the fastest lap may have denied him the first grand slam of his career, but Norris delivered a near-flawless drive.
Oscar Piastri: 8
Grid Position P5 Race Result P3
While Piastri took a podium at the chequered flag, he finished 41 seconds behind his teammate in the sister car. The challenging nature of Marina Bay makes overtaking particularly difficult, and Piastri had to wait for his moment after a bad start.
Making a vital move on the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg on Lap 1, Piastri was able to stalk the two Mercedes for his first stint, carefully conserving his tyres. Not shy about making moves, the Australian used a tyre pace advantage from a long first stint to pass an ailing Lewis Hamilton, before repeating the move on Russell. A better qualifying could have secured a one-two Singapore GP finish for McLaren, but third place was still a strong recovery drive.
Max Verstappen: 9.5
Grid Position P2, Race Result P2
Verstappen was delighted to have walked away from the Singapore GP with the same points deficit to Norris as Miami back in May. Unable to challenge Norris in the opening laps, he settled into a lonely race. Comfortably pulling away from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, he saw the gap to Norris increase with every lap.
The reigning World Champion underlined his credentials and efforts with an unpredictable car by seeing off a late challenge from the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri. A 17-second gap became 21 seconds by the chequered flag.
On another weekend where only one Red Bull graced the top five, Verstappen extracted every ounce of performance from his RB20, to limit the points lost to Norris. His car may continue to be temperamental, but Verstappen refuses to give up on his title just yet.
Sergio Perez: 4.5
Grid Position P13, Race Result P10
Perez’s Singapore GP is another chapter in the all-too-familiar story of his terrible 2024 season. An inherent lack of pace prevented him from making any meaningful progress, and he once again finished far lower than his car is capable of. Passing three cars at the start became the highlight of his race. The Mexican spent almost the entire first stint stuck behind the Williams of Franco Colapinto, unable to pass him until undercutting him.
Climbing to P10 by the end of the race, he secured a solitary point but suffered the ignominy of being lapped by race winner Norris. The Mexican is quickly running out of time to save his career. Results need to turn around quickly, but many have said this for a while now.
George Russell: 7.5
Grid Position P4, Race Result P3
Russell had the better race of the two Mercedes drivers, finishing P4, but ultimately, the gap between McLaren and Red Bull has become a chasm. Verstappen was not catchable and had Ferrari not destroyed their qualifying; it is likely Russell would have been behind at least one of the scarlet cars. The pace of the W15 simply could not match Red Bull or McLaren.
Russell’s valiant efforts to keep a charging Piastri behind him ultimately proved futile as the Austrailian steamed past in the closing stages of the race. Despite what Team Principal Toto Wolff called a “very painful evening”, Russell used the tools at his disposal to hold off the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to salvage a fourth-placed finish. The team could not ask much else of him.
Lewis Hamilton: 5
Grid Position P3, Race Result P6
The seven-time world champion underwhelmed in Marina Bay. Attempting an aggressive first stint on soft tyres, his Singapore GP depended on a Safety Car that never materialised. Although he retained P3 at the start of the race, his failed move on Verstappen left him at the mercy of his team-mate. Seeing his tyres beginning to fall away, Mercedes pitted Hamilton early.
Unhappy with the decision, he knew his race was effectively run, as his hard tyres would lose performance from midway through the race. Slipping back to 24 seconds behind Russell, he also lost out to Piastri and Leclerc. His race ended in no-man’s land in another difficult afternoon.
Charles Leclerc: 7.5
Grid Position P9, Race Result P4
Leclerc’s race was compromised before he had turned a wheel. Qualifying a disastrous P9 despite having strong pace on the long runs during practice, the Monegasque would have to fight for points the hard way on Sunday.
Initially moving into P8, Leclerc spent an agonising first stint stuck behind Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, which in turn was following Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas. Once past the Haas after the pit stops, he quickly deployed his SF-24’s pace to begin moving up the order. That he finished less than a second behind Russell speaks volumes of the missed opportunity for Leclerc in Singapore.
Carlos Sainz: 6
Grid Position P10, Race Result P7
Sainz needed a strong recovery drive following his crash in qualifying. The Spaniard squandered the SF-24’s potentially race-winning pace, leaving him with an impossible task on Sunday. Losing two places at the start did not help this effort. A timely pit stop for fresh rubber after attempting to undercut Yuki Tsunoda helped him move up the order, he could not better P7 at the chequered flag.
Fernando Alonso: 7
Grid Position P7 Race Result P8
After the race, Alonso said securing P8 was more than he could have hoped for. The AMR24’s slide down the order into mediocrity has been spectacularly difficult to watch. The two-time world champion had no answer to Hulkenberg’s Haas in the early stages of the race. Pitting on Lap 25, he jumped German during the stops, but could not catch Sainz’s Ferrari by the end of the race. Four points were secured, but the top four teams now seem impossible to reach.
Lance Stroll: 3
Grid Position P17, Race Result P14
One word describes Lance Stroll’s Singapore GP: unacceptable. While team-mate Alonso finished in the points, Stroll ended up in the lower order, a result of his appalling qualifying. His mechanics worked frantically to replace a set of brakes of the AMR24 on the grid, but this did not improve his speed. Never looking like challenging for points, he finished ahead of the Saubers, but could not catch Ocon. Such was Stroll’s absence from proceedings, one could argue if he actually turned up?
Nico Hulkenberg: 9.5
Grid Position P5 Race Result P9
With several top drivers out of position, keeping P5 was always going to be a tall order for Hulkenberg. His aggressive start saw him maintain position, acting as a cork in the bottle for several rivals behind him. Although both Ferraris and Alonso jumped him by the end of the race, P9 in a car that has, on average, been the seventh fastest car this year underlines why the German is seen as a safe pair of hands.
The two points scored by Hulkenberg could prove crucial by the end of the season in the battle for P7 in the constructors’ championship. His excellent performance in Singapore has moved the team to within three points of P6, which only highlights what a good weekend the Sauber-bound driver delivered for Haas.
Kevin Magnussen: 3
Grid Position P14 Race Result DNF
In terms of keeping his head down after his one-race ban, Magnussen did that a little too well. He did not feature in the Singapore GP action at all, other than tagging on to an overtake from Esteban Ocon. Hitting the wall on Lap 50, Magnussen attempted to take the fastest lap away from Norris, only for his effort to be deleted due to track limits violations. But he retired the car just eight laps later, and his underwhelming afternoon ended as badly as it started. As far as making a good impression on his racing return to secure a drive for 2025 goes, Singapore did not aid that cause.
Franco Colapinto: 9
Grid Position P12, Race Result P11
The decision to replace the underperforming Logan Sargeant with Franco Colapinto was justified once again in Singapore. The Argentine enjoyed an aggressive, attacking race that included a bold move on team-mate Alex Albon at the first corner. Running in the points in the opening stages, he held up the likes of Sergio Perez, while also keeping within striking distance of Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Undercut by Perez during the stops, he dropped to P11 by the chequered flag, a frustrating two seconds behind the 10th-placed Red Bull. But by out-racing experienced drivers and far faster machinery, Colapinto is beginning to turn heads in the sport.
Alex Albon: 5
Grid Position P11 Race Result DNF
Albon raged over the radio at teammate Colapinto’s antics going into the first corner. Compromised, he had a hard task to move back up the order. But an overheating issue curtailed his afternoon on Lap 16, ending any hopes for points at his ‘home’ event. A scant reward after qualifying a driver that urgently needs points in 2024’s cutthroat battle at the bottom of the championship.
Yuki Tsunoda: 6
Grid Position P8, Race Result P12
Tsuonda had a fairly average Singapore GP in Marina Bay. Losing multiple places at the start of the race, his trademark frustration once again reared its head during the opening stint over the radio. Forced to manage his medium tyres until Lap 33, securing points became nigh-on impossible. Another victim of the Safety Car that never materialised, Tsunoda comfortably outperformed team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. But that’s not a special achievement.
Daniel Ricciardo: 3
Grid Position P16 Race Result P18
If Singapore was indeed Ricciardo’s swansong in F1, this was far from the Australian’s deserved send-off. Ricciardo’s race never really got going, suffering from a lack of pace throughout, culminating in the embarrassment of a double overtake by Ocon and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen. Taking the fastest lap away from Norris acted like a golden goodbye from his team, and Ricciardo himself seemed to know his time in the sport was over after the race.
Esteban Ocon: 6
Grid Position P15, Race Result P13
The Alpine reverted to being the ninth fastest car in Singapore, with the shortcomings of the A524 painfully exposed in the race. Ocon took advantage of a good start, and ran in the points by midway through the race. But his pace spectacularly dropped off, and he quickly fell back into the midfield. He did, however, provide one of the race’s few overtakes by unconventionally diving down the inside of Ricciardo at Turn 10.
Pierre Gasly: 4.5
Grid Position P18 Race Result P17
Pierre Gasly endured a disastrous race. Although able to make ground up in the early stages, the Frenchman rapidly fell back towards the back of the pack. He cut an angry figure in the media pen after the race, praying the updates due in Austin to the A524 will unlock performance and end the cycle of misery for him and the team.
Zhou Guanyu: 7
Grid Position P20 Race Result P15
It may not look it, but Zhou Guanyu enjoyed one of his best races of the year in Singapore. Capitalising on a bad start for his rivals, he moved up the order, passing team-mate Valtteri Bottas and staying ahead until the chequered flag, despite the best efforts of the Finn. The Sauber is still the worst car on the grid, so for Zhou to finish ahead of him, an Alpine, a Haas, and an RB shows that if the team can get its act together, we could see more competitive performances from the Chinese driver. His time in F1 does seem to be coming to end sadly, however.
Valtteri Bottas: 5
Grid Position P19 Race Result P16
Stuck behind his team-mate, Bottas fell into incognito mode in the Singapore GP. The team utilised a good strategy to keep him away from the very back of the order, but that’s about it. Not passing Zhou Guanyu while rumours swirl about your future is not the best way to answer your critics. The terrible performance of the Sauber saves a lower rating, but one could again easily forget Bottas raced in Marina Bay.
READ MORE: McLaren’s Lando Norris untouchable in F1 Singapore GP victory
