Damon Hill questions McLaren message to Lando Norris during brilliant Singapore Grand Prix victory

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McLaren star Lando Norris did everything he could to try and reduce the gap to Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship by winning the Singapore Grand Prix.

After having a stat about his race starts thrown at him time and again, Lando Norris finally managed to cross the start/finish line ahead of the rest of the grid at the end of the first lap after starting from pole position.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from height and parents to celebration

He got a brilliant start to hold off Max Verstappen, and it was Franco Colapinto in the Williams who impressed the most going into turn one by overtaking three cars.

Norris then controlled the race from the seat of his unbeatable McLaren, opening up a gap over Verstappen with ease when asked to by the team.

The Brit had the equivalent of a pit stop advantage over his title rival for much of the race and his teammate Oscar Piastri could only recover to third after qualifying behind both Mercedes drivers.

It extended McLaren’s gap over the rest of the field in the Constructors’ Championship with six races to go as Andrea Stella’s team try to secure that title for the first time this century.

It was almost the perfect race for Norris but there were a couple of errors that crept into his driving.

He nearly lost his front wing locking up into one corner and hit the barriers at the same place where George Russell’s race ended last season.

Damon Hill puzzled by McLaren team radio message to Lando Norris during Singapore Grand Prix victory

Damon Hill wasn’t covering the race for Sky Sports on this occasion but was keeping a very close eye on what was going on at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on X.

During the final stint, Norris was a long way clear of Verstappen and had already set the fastest lap.

However, his race engineer Will Joseph had to tell Norris to ‘chill out’ as he was in a position to comfortably bring the race home.

He was told at one point, “Full concentration now, take a drink,” and when lapping cars, he was warned: “Just a reminder of how tricky the following effect is. Oscar’s struggled going through three cars, be careful.”

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Responding to the comments he heard on Norris’s team radio, Hill said: “When you tell a driver to chill out and just bring it home, they are more likely to get p—– off being told what to do and go faster! #f1.”

The message was pointed at Norris losing the fastest lap initially to Kevin Magnussen but then to Daniel Ricciardo right at the very end of the race.

That may prove pivotal as Norris can now no longer win the Drivers’ Championship by winning every race and securing every fastest lap.

Helmut Marko’s Lando Norris warning didn’t come to pass in Singapore

Before the race, there appeared to be only one way that Verstappen could win the Singapore Grand Prix.

He would need to get the better of Norris off the line and then hold him up on a track that proved to be very difficult to overtake on.

Helmut Marko said before the race that Norris’s starts had been a weak point but that didn’t prove to be the case on Sunday.

Norris was as quick as Verstappen heading into the first corner and the Dutchman even had to look over his shoulder at Lewis Hamilton who had opted to start on the soft tyres.

Once Norris got out of DRS range, the race was relatively straightforward and he’s gone into the second de facto break in the season in the best possible way.