Lando Norris drove his heart out in hot and exhausting weather to win the Singapore Grand Prix last Sunday.
He did what I call another Jim Clark by winning the race by more than 20 seconds clear of the second man, who was Max Verstappen in this case.
Verstappen raced hard and consistently but could not make any impression on the Londoner’s flying McLaren.
Since Red Bull have been banned from using their trick left/right braking system, they don’t have the pace to lead the race.
In third spot after another good drive was the cool Australian Oscar Piastri, who was 20 seconds behind Verstappen at the finish.
He did well to bring his car onto the podium from being further down in the field initially.
George Russell was also 20 seconds behind Oscar, hounded by Charles Leclerc, a second behind him at the flag.
It was another 20-odd second gap to Lewis Hamilton in sixth position after a difficult race, although he did hold off the challenge from the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
Fernando Alonso was next up in eighth place in the Aston Martin, while Nico Hulkenberg was ninth in the Haas.
Sergio Perez brought up the last point-scoring position in tenth place in the second Red Bull.
It had been a tough race for all concerned, and a number of drivers were watered down after the race for heat exhaustion.
There is now a four-week gap until the next Grand Prix, which is in the USA.
All teams will be back at base to bring upgraded packages to the other side of the pond.
With six races to go, unless Red Bull can pull something out of the hat, McLaren will extend the team lead, and Norris will continue to close the gap on Verstappen for the championship.
The races are United States (October 27), Mexico (November 3), Brazil (November 23), Las Vegas (December 1), Qatar (December 8), Abu Dhabi (December 15).
DRIVERS
1 Max Verstappen 331 pts
2 Lando Norris 279 pts
3 Charles Leclerc 245 pts
4 Oscar Piastri 237 pts
5 Carlos Sainz 190 pts
6 Lewis Hamilton 174 pts
7 George Russell 155 pts
8 Sergio Perez 144 pts
9 Fernando Alonso 62 pts
10 Nico Hulkenberg 24 pts
TEAM
1 McLaren 516 pts
2 Red Bull 475 pts
3 Ferrari 441 pts
4 Mercedes 329 pts
5 Aston Martin 86 pts
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