Max Verstappen action uncovered as McLarens collide at Singapore GP

After yet another disappointing qualifying session, Lando Norris managed to recover the damage and even reduce his deficit in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

Using telemetry data, we analyse his race, his early battle with his teammate Oscar Piastri, and the fight with Max Verstappen.

Strong start keeps Lando Norris in the title hunt

Starting a race from P5, with your championship rival two places ahead and a solid points advantage, is never ideal — especially on the streets of Singapore. The race start was crucial here, as on a circuit where overtaking is so difficult, track position means everything.

The Briton has built a reputation as a driver who often struggles off the line, especially during his poor run last season and in several races this year. This time, however, things were different. Norris got a fantastic launch — exactly when he needed it most.

He was helped slightly by Kimi Antonelli ahead of him, who didn’t get the cleanest start. The graph below shows the difference — most likely the result of sub-optimal tyre temperatures on the Mercedes driver’s car. Just like in qualifying, in Singapore it’s critical to have a proper formation lap to bring the tyres into their ideal operating window.

By the time they reached Turn 1, Norris was already fully alongside Antonelli and preparing to attack his team-mate ahead.

Piastri, on the other hand, didn’t get an ideal line through Turns 1 and 2, which left both McLarens side-by-side going into Turn 3. But the main difference was that Norris had the inside line, which is a huge advantage in such a case.

Then came contact between the two, with Piastri coming off worse and losing the position. Replay footage shows that Norris had Verstappen directly in front of him and was forced either to alter his line or brake to avoid contact with the Red Bull.

Telemetry confirms that Norris entered Turn 3 at a much higher speed than Verstappen, who braked earlier, forcing Lando to change direction at the last moment.

It was a textbook racing incident — a view shared by the stewards, who quickly announced that there would be no further investigation.

McLaren also chose not to intervene, though Oscar Piastri disagreed, believing that the P3 spot should have been returned to him.

Given the nature of the Singapore circuit, there wasn’t much more on-track action until the pit-stop phase. In the meantime, Norris built a gap of 4.4 seconds.

Much like in Monza, Norris was asked by his race engineer whether he agreed for Piastri to pit first in order to cover off a potential attack from Leclerc. Although he initially agreed, he instantaneously changed his mind and decided he should stop first.

And this is something we’ve come to expect from McLaren — the driver ahead on track gets strategic priority.

On lap 27, Norris came in for his tyre change, while Piastri pitted one lap later. Much like what happened in Monza, only with the roles reversed, the team made a mistake on the left-rear tyre, extending the stop by around 3 to 3.5 seconds.

Adding to that the extra second Norris gained on fresh tyres, the gap had ballooned to nearly 10 seconds by the time Piastri rejoined the track.

In other words, his chance to fight for P3 was gone — unless something unexpected happened.

That didn’t stop the championship leader from driving superbly to the finish. In the second half of the race, Piastri was on average 0.25 seconds per lap quicker than Norris and 0.35 faster than Verstappen.

In fact, Max inadvertently helped him.

More key Singapore GP talking points from PlanetF1.com

👉 Lando Norris defiant after ‘aggressive’ move on title rival Piastri

👉 Fernando Alonso unleashes on Lewis Hamilton in fiery Singapore GP radio rant

On lap 35, Verstappen made an uncharacteristic mistake that cost him around two seconds, allowing Norris to appear in his mirrors and remain a real threat until the end. The Dutchman was struggling with brake balance and downshifts, which heavily impacted his race pace.

Holding position under those circumstances, while constantly working to solve the car’s issues, is incredibly difficult.

In the end, Norris couldn’t make up the difference, despite being faster throughout the second half of the race. On the other hand, the pit-stop error for Piastri spared him an additional headache.

Had the mechanics not made that mistake, Oscar would almost certainly have been in contention for P2 in the closing stages. Considering Max’s ongoing problems, the final order could easily have looked different with three drivers fighting.

This key moment will undoubtedly spark more debate and comparisons with the race in Italy — though this incident differs from what happened in Monza.

It remains to be seen whether McLaren’s approach to driver management will shift now that the team has secured the Constructors’ Championship, and whether this race will subtly change how their drivers behave on track. With a 22-point gap and six races remaining in the championship, there’s still plenty of action to come on track.

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