SINGAPORE: Highs and lows.

NUMBER EIGHTEEN

A rather hot and sweaty Singapore.

An exciting win for one driver, and what might well be a very sad loss for another.

Win number 3 for Norris this season and it’s textbook. A great start sees him launch off into the distance and cross the line 20 seconds ahead of the rest. There is no battle, the win is his from lights out.

But Norris is not our driver of the day today. In fact, our driver of the day comes in at P18. An emotional Daniel Ricciardo climbs out the cockpit of his RB following, what is rumoured to be, his final race for the team, and perhaps for the sport as a whole. A Formula 1 legend who will be sorely missed by the entire paddock. Thank you, Daniel.

Promise I’m not crying. But Verstappen’s final thank you to Ricciardo over the radio for nabbing the fastest lap off Norris for the team, COME ON.

Okay, moving on. I want to talk points…

So we’ve got the usual suspects up at the top. Verstappen is nowhere near Norris at P1, but is comfortably ahead of Piastri at P3, and takes P2. Perez scrapes into the points at P10. Result: 19 points for Red Bull. Mercedes qualify just below at P3 and P4, with Russell maintaining a P4 finish and Hamilton dropping to P6. Result: 20 points. Ferrari climb up from their P9 and P10 starts; Leclerc takes P5 and Sainz P7. Result: 16 points.

3 teams finishing with just a four point difference. Then we take a look at McLaren. 40 points. More than double their closest competitor. Are we about to see McLaren run away with the Championship?

Exciting.

We have 3 additional drivers qualifying in the top 10: Alonso, Hülkenberg, and Tsunoda. Alonso spends most of his race holding up Leclerc, and does well to take P8. Hülkenberg puts in a great race for Haas, at one point holding on to P6 with Albon, Leclerc and Colapinto chasing in DRS range behind. He also manages to fend off the Red Bull of Perez right through to the chequered flag, taking P9. Tsunoda is initially competing with the likes of Sainz and Perez, but eventually drops to P12. These guys are flying, but their teammates come in lower down – with Stroll at P14, Magnussen P19, and Ricciardo P18.

It's an interesting day for Williams. Colapinto has a successful start and jumps up four places in the opening laps. He sits in the running for top 10 for a while, but doesn’t quite have the pace and comes in just outside at P11. Impressive to see Colapinto sitting his Williams comfortably in midfield after just 2 races. His teammate Albon is not in the same boat, having to retire his car in Lap 15.

Ocon manages to drag his Alpine into midfield at P13, while Gasly remains down at P17. The Saubers take P15 and P16. One day I’ll have more to say about Zhou and Bottas. I hope.

A little break now before the final six of the season. It’s getting close.