Formula 1 Focus: Norris & Verstappen deliver in Singapore, Red Bull ruthless with Ricciardo

The streets of Singapore tend to produce either one of the races of the season or one that you'll forget as soon as the weekend is over, and it's fair to say the 2024 edition falls into the latter category. 

There was precious little in the way of entertaining racing at Marina Bay, with the cars proving too big on the narrow circuit for drivers to pull off overtakes unless they had a huge pace advantage on the driver they were chasing. 

That being said, there's always something special about watching the very best drivers at the top of their game, and we did at least get to experience that all weekend.

Here are my main takeaways from the Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris is ready for the fight

Even when it became clear that his McLaren car had become the fastest on the grid this season, there was still a question mark over whether Lando Norris was ready to make the most of that and put together a title challenge, but after his win in Singapore, I think we can erase that question mark for good.

He was a class above the rest of the field all weekend, claiming pole position comfortably and then cruising to victory with a margin of just under 21 seconds, the second biggest of the season after the one he enjoyed at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Brit made things look easy in Singapore but they were anything but. The narrow circuit and the scorching temperatures make it one of the biggest challenges in motorsport, hence why many that win it opt to do so not by driving as fast as they can but by driving as slowly as they can get away with. To spend the entirety of the race driving on the limit to create as big a gap as possible is a serious achievement.

There is something to be said for the fact that all of Norris' wins have come when he's had a dominant car and that he's faltered when put under pressure in a tight battle with other drivers, but that weakness may not be a huge problem for the remainder of this season.

Norris has made it clear that he's capable of annihilating the rest of the field when in a dominant car, and if McLaren can give him one more often than not in the final six rounds, that may be enough for him to become a world champion.

Max gets the max out of his machinery

Finishing over 20 seconds behind your title rival is never ideal, but Max Verstappen still enjoyed an immensely impressive weekend in Singapore nonetheless. 

The Dutchman was fairly comfortably the best of the rest in both qualifying and the race which is some achievement given that Red Bull had given him arguably the fourth-best car on the grid, shown by the fact that teammate Sergio Perez qualified in 13th and finished the race in 10th. 

Granted, Perez has been relatively poor all season, but to beat him by such an extent on a street circuit - the one type of track where the Mexican has consistently been able to challenge Verstappen in their years together at Red Bull - is a real testament to just how well the reigning champion was driving.

An even bigger one is the fact that the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri wasn't able to come close to catching Verstappen once he got into clean air in third in the second half of the race, barely eating into the gap between them at all despite having a much faster car.

It was easy to forget when he was dominating with the best car on the grid just how good a driver Verstappen is, but it's showing again now, with him consistently getting the best result possible. 

He may have weaker machinery, but his talent alone gives him a genuine chance of winning his fourth title in a row nonetheless.

Ricciardo deserves better

Verstappen will win the title if he finishes second to Norris at each of the remaining races thanks to the fact that former teammate and good friend Daniel Ricciardo took the fastest lap from the McLaren man with what could turn out to be the final lap of his Formula 1 career, and the fact that nobody outside of Red Bull knows if it was indeed the Aussie's F1 farewell is a travesty.

It has been widely reported that they're going to give his seat at sister team RB to young talent Liam Lawson for the remainder of the 2024 season. That would most likely spell the end of Ricciardo's time in the sport given his age and the fact that he hasn't enjoyed an impressive campaign in a good four years now make him a fairly unappealing option to other teams.

It's hard to argue that he deserves a spot on the grid anymore given his poor performances, but at the very least he deserves a proper send-off for all he has given to Red Bull and to the sport over the last 13 years. Drop him by all means, but at least announce the decision beforehand so that he can bid farewell to his millions of adoring fans and to the life he's had for well over a decade now. 

Instead of allowing him that, the company that he's driven over 150 races for look to have shoved him out the back door in the most unceremonious manner possible, reminding us all how ruthless they can be.

Maybe this isn't the end of the road for Ricciardo, but the emotion he showed in his post-race interview heavily suggests that it is. If so, it's an unworthy ending for one of the best personalities - and one of the very best drivers at one point- in the sport.