‘Awesome’ to fight Verstappen and Hamilton – Norris

McLaren’s Lando Norris says it is “pretty cool” that he is facing a battle for victory in the Singapore Grand Prix with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

Norris, who has taken pole for the race ahead of title rival Verstappen and Hamilton, is 59 points behind the Red Bull driver in the championship and aiming to close the gap.

Briton Norris said it was “awesome” to be “trying to fight against them”.

“There’s World Championships, I mean, there’s 150 wins or something between them,” Norris said.

“So, yeah, I’ve got nothing on them and nothing comparing to them. Respect them a lot. I’ve looked up to both of them for a long time, both literally and mentally, you know, so it doesn’t change what I do and how I go out and drive.”

Hamilton has an all-time record 105 grand prix victories and Verstappen is third in the list with 61.

Norris needs to close on Verstappen by just over eight points a race – more than the gap between the points for first and second place – to beat the Dutchman to the title. He is going for his third career victory, following wins in Miami and the Netherlands this season.

“I probably know what to expect a bit more from them because I’ve seen them drive and I think they both drive with respect and they both want to drive as clean racing drivers,” he said.

“That’s something I always look forward to.

“I just know that they’ll try and play more tricks, or you know they’re just smarter than probably the other drivers and know how to play the longer game or the shorter game more than probably other drivers too.

“I probably just respect it more and enjoy being here with two greats of the sport.”

Englishman Norris has not converted any of his four previous pole positions this year into a lead at the end of the first lap, something that could be crucial on Sunday as overtaking is notoriously difficult at the Marina Bay track.

Norris beat Verstappen to pole by 0.203 seconds in a dramatic qualifying session, with the Mercedes of Hamilton and George Russell in third and fourth places.

Their times came in a one-lap shootout after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz forced the session to be stopped with a crash early on at the start of his first flying lap.

Verstappen was pleased with a strong performance on a track where Red Bull struggled last season and were expecting to do so again in 2024.

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri, winner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend, could manage only fifth.

And it was a poor session for Ferrari, for whom Sainz won in Singapore last year.

In addition to the Spaniard’s crash, team-mate Charles Leclerc had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits and will start ninth.

Leclerc had in any case only managed to set seventh fastest time, slower than the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, who took an impressive sixth place ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Norris said: “I was finding it tough to progress much and the guys around me were getting quicker and quicker putting me under pressure. But it was good enough for pole. I felt confident all weekend. Maybe not so much in qualifying, but we got the job done.”

Verstappen, who had been unhappy with his car in Friday practice, said: “The whole of qualifying went quite well. We managed to improve the car.

“I am happy to be on the front row if you look at where we came from yesterday. Everyone only has one lap so you don’t want to overdo it. I take second, I’m happy with that.”

Hamilton’s third place is his best qualifying since he was second on the grid at the British Grand Prix.

He said: “Qualifying has been a disaster for me all year long and I have just been working and working and working trying to get myself back up there and all of a sudden the car came to me for the first time in a long time in qualifying.

“We have been moving up and down on balance. We have changed everything and the mechanics have been faultless and I hope we are in a good position to fight for the front tomorrow.”

Hamilton edged out Russell by just 0.026secs, while Piastri ended up 0.428secs slower than Norris.

The Australian has promised to help Norris in his title fight with Verstappen if he can, but starting three places behind the Red Bull will make that difficult.

Leclerc had vied with Norris for fastest time throughout Friday but said that Ferrari had a problem with the blankets which are used to heat the tyres to the correct temperature.

“A very bad job is our result today,” Leclerc said. “For whatever reason, I don’t know if it is our mistake or a component mistake but the blanket was not working properly.

“We had completely cold tyres on the fronts and never really recovered the temperature. Got into Turn One, braked, locked the front wheels, did track limits and that was it.

“Considering how important it is in Singapore, all the work we have done to be ready in Q3, I consider it quite crazy we do something like this.”

Sainz, meanwhile, was fined 25,000 euros (£21,000) for crossing the track and pit lane without permission after his crash.