FACTS AND STATS: Norris becomes fifth winner in five years at first Safety Car-free Singapore Grand Prix

Lando Norris finally nailed a start from pole at Marina Bay on Sunday, as he dominated the 2024 edition of Formula 1’s original night race. Behind him, Max Verstappen served up a masterclass in damage limitation, as their championship fight edges towards its climax. An amazingly accident-free street fight also gave us some fascinating numbers to chew on. Here’s just a selection…

• Today’s was the first-ever Safety Car-free Singapore Grand Prix, and the first without a yellow flag.

• The race was led from start to finish by a single driver for the third consecutive year.

• It was Norris’s third career Grand Prix victory.

REPORT: Norris dominates Singapore GP to cut Verstappen’s title lead again

• He is the fifth different winner in the last five Singapore Grands Prix, the others being Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.

• Norris is the only driver to win from pole in the last 10 Grands Prix, having done it in the Netherlands as well as Singapore.

• Today Norris led the first lap when starting from pole for the first time in his F1 career.

• He has finished progressively higher in each Marina Bay appearance in his career (seventh, fourth, second, first).

• Norris has the largest winning margin of the season (22.946s in the Netherlands) and the second largest winning margin (20.945s tonight).

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 22: Second placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red — Another winless weekend, but an impressive drive to second for Max Verstappen

• Verstappen finished in P2 for Red Bull, meaning Marina Bay remains the only circuit on the calendar on which he has never won.

• Verstappen has only led three laps in Singapore in his F1 career.

• The reigning world champion is now winless in the last eight races, with Singapore being his second podium finish in the last six races.

• Oscar Piastri’s P3 for McLaren was his seventh podium finish of the season.

• Piastri is now within eight points of third-placed Charles Leclerc in the championship.

• McLaren had both cars on the podium in Singapore for the first time.

• Piastri has completed every racing lap in Grands Prix this season (1,083 laps).

RACE START: Watch the getaway in Singapore as Norris holds the lead while others battle it out behind

• And he is the top scorer in the last nine Grands Prix (156 points).

• With P4 for Mercedes, George Russell scored points in Singapore for the first time in his career.

• Russell reduced the championship gap between himself and team mate Hamilton to 19 points.

• With P5 for Ferrari, Leclerc ended a run of four consecutive podium finishes.

• Ferrari missed the podium in Singapore for the first time since 2017.

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 22: Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Haas F1 VF-24 — P9 for Nico Hulkenberg matched the best-ever Singapore result for Haas

• Tonight’s was Hamilton’s 350th Grand Prix, moving him into second on the all-time list (Fernando Alonso leads with 395).

• Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took P7 on his 200th Grand Prix start tonight. He won the race in 2023.

• With P8 for Aston Martin, Alonso took his first Singapore points since 2018.

• It was his fourth points finish in the last five Grands Prix.

• With P9 for Haas, Nico Hulkenberg secured his sixth points finish of the season, and his first points since Silverstone.

• That P9 matches Haas’ best-ever Singapore result, with Romain Grosjean in 2017.

DRIVER OF THE DAY: Ricciardo gets your vote to add to fastest lap honours in Singapore

• Sergio Perez finished in P10 for Red Bull and has only scored one point in the last two Grands Prix.

• With P12 for RB, Yuki Tsunoda finishes a Singapore Grand Prix for the first time in his career.

• Esteban Ocon’s P13 for Alpine was his best finish since before the summer break (Belgium).

• Daniel Ricciardo was P18 for RB as he took the fastest lap away from his former employers McLaren in the race’s dying stages. It was his first fastest lap since winning the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

• Ricciardo’s fastest lap means Verstappen will be champion if he finishes second to Norris in remaining Grands Prix and Sprints, regardless of fastest lap bonuses.

• Had he kept the fastest lap, Norris would have been the first McLaren driver to take a ‘grand slam’ win from pole with the fastest lap and leading every lap since Mika Hakkinen at the 1998 Monaco Grand Prix.