Singapore GP F1 race report: Charles Leclerc P5, Carlos Sainz P7 at Marina Bay circuit

Here is our full text transcript from the Singapore Grand Prix:

For the 18th time in 2024 we can say, it is Race Day in F1! The Singapore Grand Prix weekend has been dramatic on and off the track, and we haven’t had the actual race yet. Lando Norris starts on pole position from championship leader Max Verstappen, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on the second row.

It should be a thrilling opening lap, with the title protagonists at the front and the Mercedes drivers fully aware that neither Norris or Verstappen can afford damage. Oscar Piastri could play a key role for McLaren from fifth on the grid, whether it is helping Norris or beating Verstappen in the race.

Scuderia Ferrari unfortunately had a disastrous qualifying session on Saturday at the Marina Bay street circuit, with neither of their drivers setting laps so Charles Leclerc will start in ninth and Carlos Sainz in 10th. Sergio Perez has ground to make up from 13th and Daniel Ricciardo will be a driver to keep an eye on in 16th, in what might be his last F1 race.

Martin Brundle reflects on ‘brutal’ Saturday for Ferrari: “Carlos was waiting to start his lap and clearly everything wasn’t up to the right temperature, and he put too much power demand going to start the lap. That’s a very, very expensive crash, that’s wrecked the gearbox as well. Charles – that was brutal. I think the key there is that he would have only been seventh on the grid even if he hadn’t have lost that lap time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen F1 cars on the knife-edge as much as this. One minute it looked like Ferrari were the dominant team and Mercedes looked all over the show, but then they nailed it when it mattered in Q3.”

The reason for the top teams not saving more mediums and hards is because they think it will be a simple one-stop strategy for the Singapore Grand Prix. Medium-Hard or Hard-Medium is the way to go according to Pirelli. As expected, most of the front-runners are on the medium tyres apart from Lewis Hamilton who is on the softs! Everyone else in the top 13 is on the mediums. Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are on the hards. Daniel Ricciardo from 16th is on the softs.

Lap 1/62: We are racing in Singapore! Lando Norris get a great launch and retains the lead! Max Verstappen holds off Lewis Hamilton as the pair go side by side into Turn One, with George Russell in fourth. Nico Hulkenberg gets by Oscar Piastri and is in the top five. That could be crucial.

Lap 1/62: A big move to immediately gain that position back from the Haas for Piastri. He’s back into fifth. Fernando Alonso was one of the drivers to run wide over the run-off area. Charles Leclerc up one into eighth, with Tsunoda down to 11th. Carlos Sainz has dropped to 12th.

Lap 2/62: Norris leads by 1.1 seconds and Verstappen doesn’t have DRS. That’s very important for this race. Hamilton and Russell are close to each other in the battle for third.

Lap 3/62: Norris sets the fastest lap of the race and is two seconds ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton is dropping back and Russell wants to get by as he asks his team-mate to increase the pace.

Lap 5/62: Hamilton’s decision to start on the softs looks like it is hurting. Norris leads by two seconds, with Hamilton now five seconds off the lead and has Russell close behind.

Lap 7/62: Verstappen set the fastest lap on the previous lap but Norris goes even quicker on the next lap. Norris is just ramping things up here and we will see if Verstappen can live with it.

Lap 9/62: Lando Norris is asked about his pace and he’s happy with it, so McLaren tell him to open up a five-second lead over Max Verstappen. Norris is three seconds ahead of Verstappen right now.

Lap 11/62: Just two laps after that radio call to increase his lead, Norris is five seconds in front of Verstappen. This is a brilliant start to the Singapore Grand Prix for Norris.

Lap 12/62: Alex Albon responds to Daniel Ricciardo’s pit stop and boxes for the hard tyres. Albon comes out ahead of Ricciardo, with both drivers currently at the back of the field.

Lap 14/62: On go the hard tyres during a fairly sluggish 2.6-second service from the Scuderia’s crew.But it’s just enough to avoid being undercut by Albon’s Williams, with Sainz returning to the track JUST in front of his rival. There had been three cars between them a few laps ago. He runs 18th for now with others to pit ahead.

Lap 14/62: This is just tremendous pace from Lando Norris. He’s one second per lap quicker than the rest of the field. The lead is up to eight seconds, with Hamilton five seconds adrift of Verstappen in third. Russell is two seconds behind his team-mate, with Piastri another two seconds back in fifth.

Lap 18/62: Lewis Hamilton pits for a set of hard tyres. It’s a decent stop at 2.5 seconds and Hamilton emerges in 13th place behind Kevin Magnussen.

Lap 20/62: Lando Norris is still one second per lap quicker than everyone else. He leads Max Verstappen by 14 seconds at one-third distance of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Lap 21/62: How it looks in the battle for what stands as fifth place, currently being led impressively by Nico Hulkenberg. Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc are right on the Haas’ tail. Who will opt to pit first?

Lap 22/62: A couple times now the McLaren mechanics have looked like they were about to get ready for an Oscar Piastri pit stop. Instead, they run out and back into the garage. McLaren want to trick Mercedes into pitting George Russell.

Lap 27/62: Fernando Alonso comes into the pits from sixth place and is back out in 13th. Let’s see if Nico Hulkenberg of Charles Leclerc respond in that little battle.

Lap 29/62: An overtake for position in the top 10! A nice move from Charles Leclerc on Nico Hulkenberg into Turn 16, but both may be eventually undercut by Alonso.

Lap 30/62: Lando Norris reports he might have front wing damage and replays show he kissed the wall at Turn 14. It looks like his car is fine though.

Lap 31/62: Halfway through the race and the race leader is in for what should be his only pit stop. Crucally for him, McLaren don’t feel his front wing needs to be changed – which would have cost him 12 seconds or so were it to have sustained significant damage. Norris rejoins still in the lead from Piastri, who hasn’t stopped in the sister car.

Lap 31/62: Verstappen loses a little bit of time behind Leclerc but goes down the inside into Turn 14 and is into third place. Oscar Piastri is 19 seconds ahead of him but yet to pit.

Lap 33/62: McLaren tell Lando Norris his front wing isn’t affecting his performance. They say: “We see a small issue with the front wing, nothing serious.”

Lap 35/62: Still no pit stop for what stands as the fourth-placed Ferrari, with George Russell bottled up behind Charles Leclerc on his fresher hard tyres. Hamilton is 5s behind Russell having been overcut by stopping earlier.

Lap 37/62: Leclerc pits after that battle with Russell and is ahead of Hulkenberg. That’s played out nicely for the Ferrari driver.

Lap 39/62: A quick 2.2-second pit stop from Oscar Piastri as he comes out one second behind Lewis Hamilton. Piastri has 20-lap fresher hard tyres than Hamilton.

Lap 41/62: Charles Leclerc goes around the outside of Fernando Alonso into Turn 14 to take seventh place. He is just three seconds behind Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz now.

Fresher tyres and a faster car make Oscar Piastri’s life rather easy when he gets up to the back of Lewis Hamilton, although it’s still a nice move around the outside to take fourth away from the Mercedes. Piastri into fourth and now just under four seconds behind the other Mercedes of Russell.

Lap 43/62: On far fresher tyres than his team-mate, Charles Leclerc is allowed through on a compliant Carlos Sainz for sixth place. He’s 14 seconds behind Hamilton. “If you keep this pace, you’ll catch Hamilton at the end,” Leclerc is told by his race engineer.

Lap 45/62: Oscar Piastri is into the podium positions! He goes around the outside of George Russell at Turn Seven to take third place. Max Verstappen is 18 seconds ahead of him. Surely that’s too big of an ask to make up.

Lap 47/52: “Tyres are looking very good Nico, very good,” Hulkenberg is told over Haas team radio as he bids to stay ahead of a close-following Sergio Perez in ninth.

Lap 47/62: Lando Norris has a close call for the second time in this Singapore Grand Prix. He glances the wall into Turn 10. That’s the corner which put George Russell out of the race 12 months ago. A lucky moment.

Lap 50/62: Rather like when Oscar Piastri came steaming up behind the Mercedes with DRS into Turn Seven, Charles Leclerc makes easy work of Lewis Hamilton’s car with the Ferrari’s big tyre advantage. Leclerc is now fifth and has seven seconds to try and make up on the other Mercedes of George Russell in the final 10-or-so laps.

54/62: Kevin Magnussen did have the fastest lap – but then he didn’t. The Dane on his fresh soft tyres lapped 0.2s quicker than Norris’ previous benchmark but soon had the effort deleted by Race Control for a track limits infringement at Turn Two. The bonus point remains with Lando.

Lap 55/62: Sergio Perez is trying to get by Nico Hulkenberg but can’t find a way past. They are fighting for ninth place and every point Perez can score will be important for the Constructors’ Championship.

Lap 57/62: Charles Leclerc finally gets DRS on George Russell in the battle for fourth. Catching is one thing but overtaking is another though…

Lap 58/62: From ninth to fifth so far for Charles Leclerc. Can he take one more place in these closing laps from George Russell?

Lap 59/62: Lando Norris overtakes Franco Colapinto into Turn 16 but nearly goes deep. He’s 24 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen.

Lap 61/62: Charles Leclerc just can’t get close enough to George Russell to make a move. Leclerc says Russell has really good traction out of the corners.

Lap 62/62: A late third stop from the RB driver has seen him take on soft tyres and he’s inevitably lapping very, very quickly on his new tyres.

Chequered flag: Three races after beating Max Verstappen by 22 seconds at Zandvoort, Lando Norris has defeated his title rival by 21 seconds on the streets of Singapore.

The championship battle is very much on.

25 points for the win for Lando, although he misses out on the bonus point after Daniel Ricciardo took away that fastest lap. Verstappen’s lead is down to 52 points with six grands prix – plus two Sprints – to go. Oscar Piastri takes third on another stellar weekend for McLaren. George Russell holds off Leclerc for fourth.