Lando Norris crushed Max Verstappen at the 2024 Singapore GP on his way to a 20-second victory at the Marina Bay Circuit as Oscar Piastri joined his McLaren teammate on the podium, but who are Total-Motorsport.com’s winners and losers?
The 24-year-old is chasing his first ever F1 title and managed to cut the gap to the defending world champion down to 52 points, although the Red Bull star will be happy enough with that after maximising his result in the middle of their dramatic slump in form.
And now that Daniel Ricciardo claimed the fastest lap from McLaren and his old teammate, it means that Verstappen now only has to finish second in all of the events to claim his fourth consecutive title – even if Norris wins all of the races.
Elsewhere, it was a tough weekend for Mercedes and Ferrari for polar opposite reasons whilst Haas and Fernando Alonso leave with their heads held high, so without further ado, here are the winners and the losers from the 2024 Singapore GP on September 22.
2024 Singapore GP Winners and Losers
Check out the F1 Winners and Losers from 2024 Singapore GP below!
Winner: Max Verstappen
Verstappen was well-beaten by Norris in Singapore and lost further ground to his title rival, so why does he feature as a winner?
More from the Singapore GP
Catch up with Total Motorsport's latest Singapore GP coverage, including Max Verstappen's victory at Marina Bay, Ferrari's costly strategy gamble, the full race classification, and the updated 2026 Formula 1 Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings.
The Dutchman finished 20 seconds behind Norris in the grand prix, but crucially no other cars were in that gap as the nearest driver was Oscar Piastri another 20 seconds behind, while Daniel Ricciardo‘s last-lap heroics meant Verstappen only ceded seven points overall.
Verstappen has only lost 26 points to Norris since the summer break, either an impressive achievement or a massive failure by McLaren – you decided – and the gap at the top of the drivers’ standings was the same after the Miami GP as it is right now.
Verstappen is far from home and hosed, but McLaren have enjoyed a vastly superior car over the last month and he can now afford to finish second behind Norris in every single race until the end of the season and still win a fourth crown.
However, Red Bull‘s upgrades must bear fruit at the United States GP – at least pushing them clearly ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes.
Loser: Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo had a 2024 Singapore GP to forget under normal conditions but with the added factor that it was very likely his final race in F1, he’s an easy pick for top of the losers’ pile in this week’s edition.
The Australian qualified seven tenths behind his RB teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, and made no impression around the Marina Bay Circuit either, although to be fair to him it isn’t the easiest place to make a move stick.
His weekend summed up his post-2020 form really, and although he claimed the fastest lap and won driver of the day, it was a sombre mood for the 35-year-old as he all but confirmed his time in the sport is coming to an end.
If that was his final race, he leaves 10 points behind Tsunoda in the standings, with a failed attempt to claim Sergio Perez’s Red Bull seat the main thing of note from another tough season in F1.
Winner: Franco Colapinto
Did his burgeoning reputation no harm in Singapore, in fact Franco Colapinto inflated it still further.
Virtually inseparable from Alex Albon in qualifying – the veteran had an aggregate advantage of 0.031 seconds across two sessions – and certainly put his name on the map with that ballsiest of divebombs at the first corner.
Colapinto was unlucky that his first experience of the Marina Bay Street Circuit featured one of the least destructive Singapore GPs we’ve seen or he would’ve added to his championship tally, but he’s making a stronger and stronger case to become a permanent addition to the F1 grid in 2025.
Loser: Lewis Hamilton
The Brit delivered his strongest qualifying result since the summer break when he put his Mercedes third on Saturday but he got next to nothing out of it after sliding backwards, though it wasn’t really his fault.
The Silver Arrows chose to pit the 39-year-old 10 laps before his teammate and any other rivals meaning when he finally got back up to the front end of the field, he had been overcut by George Russell and had no tyres to defend from Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.
It should have been a fairly routine weekend strategy-wise but a failed chance on the softs put him on the backfoot and despite his 350 races’ of experience, even he couldn’t rescue the situation for his team.
He gained over Carlos Sainz in the F1 2024 standings but fourth should have been the minimum outcome for him. However, conspiracy theorists will argue Mercedes wanted to invert their out-going driver with his colleague anyway.
Winner: Nico Hulkenberg
Dragging that Haas to sixth was one of the qualifying performances of the season after Nico Hulkenberg had clocked in half a second ahead of Kevin Magnussen in Q2, the German is a serious contender for Mr Saturday outside of the top four teams.
He defended excellently to score his sixth points finish of the season – too often this season a Q3 appearance hasn’t translated to the top 10 on Sunday for Hulkenberg.
Haas are now just three points behind RB for sixth in the constructors’ championship and hold the tiebreaker – aided by Oliver Bearman‘s point last time out – but RB‘s own super sub may give them the shot in the arm that’s so desperately needed.
Loser: Sergio Perez
Perez hit the track with a rare spring in his step following very impressive pace at the 2024 Azerbaijan GP where he beat Verstappen in qualifying and had a clear advantage over the reigning champion in the race prior to his late crash.
That pace vanished in Singapore from the moment he hit the track on Friday, despite looking like the driver who won his Red Bull drive in 2020 in Baku. FP1 and FP2 saw him finish 14th and eighth and qualifying didn’t get much better.
The 34-year-old was dumped out in Q2 by over a tenth and he lined-up for the 62-lap race in 13th, converting it to a measly one point in the Grand Prix leaving him 11 points behind Russell in the standings.
He will be praying Red Bull’s United States GP upgrade gives him the chance to get back to his early-season form again otherwise chatter concerning his spot at the time won’t be long off based on his showing in Singapore.
