Lando Norris survived two wall scares to dominate the Singapore Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen by 20.9 seconds and reducing his championship lead to 52 points.

The Briton clipped the wall twice during his stunning victory. First, he damaged his front wing at Turn 14 after it locked up before his only pit stop, but he didn’t have to change it when switching to hard tyres.

Later, during his stint on hard tyres, Norris hit the wall with his right rear wheel at Turn 10, the same spot where he and George Russell hit it in the closing laps of the previous year’s final race.

Neither incident appeared to cause any major problems, although Verstappen’s lead over him had shrunk to 21 seconds in the overlap between stops by the first.

Norris was able to maintain his lead over Verstappen until the first corner and quickly built a one-second lead to ensure the Dutchman could not launch a DRS-equipped attack in the opening laps.

Norris was instructed to build a five-second lead “in the mid-teens” when counting laps and complied early on, extending that lead by lap 11. He then began to gain more than a second per lap ahead of his championship rival.

After his minor collisions with the wall, Norris coped better in the closing stages and his lead was just under 30 seconds before he was told to “bring the car home”.

After slowing down and fighting through traffic, Norris crossed the finish line to secure his third win of the year – but his fastest lap time was ultimately denied by Daniel Ricciardo’s drive on soft tyres.

Verstappen crossed the finish line 20.9 seconds behind, while Oscar Piastri’s third place ensured that both McLarens made it onto the podium.

Piastri had been on his medium tyres for a long time after being stuck behind the Mercedes duo in the early stages and had built up a large enough tyre advantage to overtake Lewis Hamilton and Russell one after the other.

Although the aim was to catch Verstappen at the end, the Red Bull driver’s pace was too high to secure a McLaren one-two.

Russell finished fourth after fending off the fast-approaching Charles Leclerc and taking the lead in the Mercedes with an undercut over the slow-starting Hamilton.

Leclerc had also overused his tyres and, although he was outpaced by Carlos Sainz during the pit stops, who was out of position, the two were asked to swap places, allowing the Monegasque to chase the Mercedes duo.

Hamilton had to use his hard tires for 45 laps, but he was still four laps behind Sainz, who stopped very early because the Spaniard lost positions at the start.

Fernando Alonso finished eighth, the first driver to finish a lap down, while Nico Hülkenberg kept Sergio Perez at bay throughout his hard-tyre stint, securing two valuable points for Haas. Franco Colapinto finished just 1.7 seconds behind Perez, having previously finished ahead of the Mexican driver.

Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon were the only two drivers to retire early. The Dane suffered permanent damage from his earlier puncture after hitting the wall, while Albon retired early due to engine overheating.