Lando Norris prevailed on an evening his title dreams demanded he had to, taking a commanding but occasionally nerve-rattling win in the Singapore Grand Prix.

The British driver mostly dominated from pole, never surrendering the lead in 62 laps despite two heart-stopping brushes with the wall, with title rival Max Verstappen runner-up for Red Bull.

Verstappen’s lead is trimmed from 59 to 52 points with 180 remaining across six grands prix and three sprint races.

The established view among motor racing’s cognoscenti was that Verstappen would hold on to his title lead all the way to Abu Dhabi on December 12. After all, the Dutchman’s margin stood at 78 points at the summer break. 

Norris has now nibbled away at the rate of 27 in the last four races – and it should have been a bigger-sized bite but for his own tentative starts and his team’s slowness at realising the drivers’ title was within firing distance. 

He could conceivably be 17 points closer just over the post-break races, never mind the other points squandered earlier in the campaign

Now, Norris cannot be rated an outsider for the title, given that here he was driving a McLaren so far ahead of the field it was reminiscent of the dominance displayed by Red Bull when the season started. 

He finished a huge 20.9sec in front, and it could have been more had he wished.

This was exemplified by the instruction Norris was given on lap eight to open up a lead of five seconds by the mid-teens. 

That was the margin of lead he needed to remain in front if Verstappen, starting as well as finishing a place back, were to undercut him.

Norris, with plenty of poke under his bonnet, achieved the five-second gap by the end of lap 11. He was a second a lap quicker, and merely cantering.

By lap 25, Norris’s lead stood at 20sec. Again, cantering.

Verstappen came in after 29 laps. It was a slightly slow stop at 3.0sec by the usually adroit Red Bull pit crew.

It was now that Norris grazed the wall for the first time, at Turn 14, having taken too much speed into the right-hander. 

He radioed his concerns hat there may be damage. There was a touch but not much, he was told. And when he came in at the end of lap 30, he was not furnished with a new wing. 

There was time enough to fit one – a job lasting 12sec or so – and still emerge in front. That was the measure of his authority.

Only his own wandering concentration in humid 30C heat could defeat him, and on lap 45 he again scratched his rear rights tyres along the wall. 

‘Full concentration now,’ implored race engineer Will Joseph. ‘Take a drink.’

Jospeh later said: ‘Just chill out. Just bring this car home.’

As well as the victory itself, a fillip for Norris was the alacrity of his start. 

The 24-year-old had not completed a first lap he had started on pole on five previous occasions in the lead, but he was very quickly away this time. All were sucking up his fumes by the first corner, a short sprint from the line.

The combination of a lethally quick car and a driver gaining self-belief is a potent one. 

Chances to win the title come around so rarely he will need to draw heavily on those positives. 

Fighting at the front suddenly asks questions of drivers that that they have never faced before. How will they stand up to internal and external scrutiny?

Verstappen, from his perspective, at least managed to limit the damage, holding off third-placed Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton started second but finished sixth, leapfrogged by his Mercedes team-mate George Russell (fourth) and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (fifth). 

The seven-time world champion was unhappy with his strategy, having been summoned early to be reshod. ‘

We will be in trouble later,’ he predicted. ‘Way too short.’

It was not the smoothest afternoons for him all round. 

He nicked the wall on the way into the pits and then ran wide tying to pass Yuki Tsunoda’s RB. Toto Wolff, his boss watching on from the Mercedes garage, put his hands to his mouth. 

Hamilton survived that, but it was a bad day for him after his impressive third in qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo, in what may be his final race in Formula One, deprived Norris of the fastest-lap bonus point at the eleventh hour. 

‘Thank you Daniel,’ said Verstappen, for every point counts now.

Lando Norris has qualified on pole for Sunday’s Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, while world championship leader Max Verstappen will start alongside his British challenger.

The McLaren driver, who enters the race 59 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, produced a blistering 1:29.525 at the end of qualifying to snatch pole. 

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start third alongside his teammate George Russell, while Australian Oscar Piastri will start from fifth.

Norris has been slowly reducing the deficit to Verstappen over the past 10 races as McLaren continues to prove it is the fastest car in F1 currently. 

“It was tough, especially through qualifying I was finding it a little difficult to progress much and find lap time,” Norris said.

“It got the heart rate going, it was good fun. There was more in it but the car is feeling good, which makes you confident to go out and push.”

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After a horrid day in practice on Friday, Verstappen produced a champion’s driver to make it onto the front row.

Despite holding a 59-point lead in the championship with seven grands prix left in the year, Verstappen has been on the backfoot for several months. 

“I think the whole of qualifying went quite well, we managed to improve the car run after run. I’m happy to be on the front row when you look at where we were yesterday. I’ll take second, I’m happy with that,” Verstappen said.

“In Singapore a lot of things can happen but at least we have a shot at it starting like this.”

Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez struggled again, qualifying 13th as the team’s grip on the constructors’ championship continues to weaken.

McLaren heads into the Singapore Grand Prix with a 20-point lead over Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, with Ferrari a further 31 points adrift.

Ferrari will be on the backfoot on Sunday, with Carlos Sainz crashing out of Q3, finishing qualifying 10th fastest while teammate Charles Leclerc was ninth fastest as he time in Q3 was deleted.

Ricciardo knocked out in Q1 as rumours about future swirl

Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo qualified 16th for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix as speculation mounts that his future in the sport in in jeopardy.

The RB driver was knocked out in Q1 during Saturday’s qualifying session, while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda was able to be ninth fastest. 

“Every soft [tyre] I used today I was not competitive at all — not much to say,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1.

There have been rumours around the F1 paddock that this weekend could be Ricciardo’s last for RB as the team considers Kiwi Liam Lawson, who filled in for Ricciardo last season when the Australian broke his wrist. 

The rumours have been strong enough for Ricciardo to openly talk about his future during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, telling reporters he could not say with confidence if he would drive in F1 next season or at the next race in Austin, Texas. 

“I obviously don’t say it with confidence because nothing’s signed on the dotted line yet and I know until it is, I’m not going to say ‘yay I’ve got one’ because that could be silly,” he said on Thursday

“I know my season, I hoped for more from myself but I also think that around Montreal when the pressure was definitely building and ramping up, I think since then it’s actually been certainly more positive than not.

“That’s what I’ll keep trying to do, and if it’s enough it is. If not then that’s obviously up to Red Bull.”