despite Lando Norris winning the race he found himself snubbed in the final moments and not by just anyone but by his former teammate Daniel Ricardo in what seems to be Ricardo's final race in F1 and with the racing Bulls he clocked the fastest lap potentially closing out his career in style but in doing so he snatched a crucial point from Norris who's on the hunt for the title against Max fappen and Red Bull could this very Point end up deciding who takes the championship this season Zack Brown certainly thinks so and he's not keeping quiet
about it Lando Norris has finally shaken off his turn one curse taking the lead after a strong start in a Grand Prix known for its safety cars Norris navigated a couple of close calls with the barriers and Cruis to an easy win of the Singapore Grand Prix chipping away at Max fen's lead in the F1 standings on Sunday starting on pole ahead of foren Norris steadily built a solid Gap there were two brief moments of Danger first when he locked his brakes and tapped the barriers raising concerns about potential front wi damage and later when
a rear tire brushed up against another but despite the scares Norris remained largely unfazed driving to victory for stappen came home in second for Red Bull after an otherwise uneventful race having held off Lewis Hamilton into the first corner Oscar piastri who won for McLaren in aaban last week climbed from fifth on the grid to finish third after overtaking both Mercedes drivers Hamilton and later George Russell to claim the last Podium spot for stappen didn't seem to rattled maintaining second and limiting the damage to his standings lead which shrank from 59 to 52 points with
six rounds left starting with the United States Grand Prix next month three of those races come with extra points due to Sprint events Daniel Ricardo's feature with Red Bull's second team RB might be in question but the Aussie still made a small yet possibly crucial contribution to the championship Ricardo after a late pit stop for fresh tires set the fastest lap of the race and finished 18th stealing what looked like a sure extra point from Norris for the fastest lap this point could be crucial for Norris as chases down for stappen for the championship with
the season heading into its final tightly contested races his former teammate Daniel Ricardo likely on the verge of ending his F1 career didn't leave much of an impression the two shared time at McLaren back when the team was still trying to build a championship winning car but Ricardo was eventually replaced by Oscar piastri and now in what could be his final moment in F1 Ricardo snatched the fastest lap at the Singapore ground round Prix potentially dealing a significant blow to Lando Norris Zack Brown McLaren's team boss suspects Foul Play Ricardo was driving for racing Bulls
Red Bull's sister team and brown believes Christian Herer orchestrated the fastest lap attempt with the only one benefiting being of course Max fappen and red ball Brown has taken his concerns to the stewards asking whether Horner was behind Ricardo's late pit stop for softs to grab at fastest lap Point McLaren suggests that if this is true it could be a violation of the FIA sporting code jerro lambiasi the sappan race engineer told the Dutchman after the race that his old mate Ricardo had secured the fastest lap as a result Norris took seven points off for
stappen in Singapore instead of eight Max for stappen on the other hand immediately after Ricardo took the fastest lap said thank you Daniel on the radio for stappen will owe a lot to Ricardo if he ends up winning the championship by just one point it means that even if Norris wins all the remaining races and Max finishes second no matter who takes the fastest lap for stappen would still secure the title there are still plenty of points up for grabs with three Sprint events on top of the six races left but Ricardo just did Max
a massive favor this is what Ricardo said after the Race part of me is I don't mean this against Lando but part of me is hoping Max wins by one point because I think I guaranteed myself a really nice Christmas present if so it's just I think obviously yeah it's with a little bit of Red Bull in mind but maybe just to have one last crack at doing a fast one if it is to be it the British driver reflected on Ricardo's lap in the press conference I know nothing I can do good on him
I did my best at trying to get the quickest lap when the tires were in good condition in the middle but I can't have them all if an investigation is launched and any wrongdoing is uncovered it could lead to major shakeups in the team standings a potential punishment like a point deduction would hit Red Bull the hardest especially with the tight race for the championship right now but let's leave that to the stewards despite Ricardo's ongoing struggles the eight-time race winner recently found himself in the surprising position of being a contender to replace Sergio Perez
at Red Bull where he had previously spent 5 years however with that door now closed as confirmed by team boss Christian Herer and no significant Improvement in his results with RB Ricardo has once again come under scrutiny it's now been revealed that this weekend's race at the Marina Bay Street circuit will likely be his last of the season with Reserve driver Liam Lawson set to step in speaking to Sky Sports Germany former Williams driver Ralph schumacker Orit confirmed the decision it's not a rumor anymore schumacker said well it's not officially conf confirmed yet but in
Formula 1 you hear things when chatting around the coffee machine unfortunately it seems like this will be Daniel Ricardo's last race in Singapore and after that Liam Lawson will take over this was apparently part of the contract as they would have lost him otherwise schumacker suggested that this decision was part of Ricardo's contract as the team risked losing lawon otherwise he pointed out that especially after recent events it's clear RB is committed to being a junior team a stance the management has consistently emphasized their focus remains on promoting young drivers from their development programs making
this move logical this is what most people won't understand it's not the fact that Ricardo is bad it's just the fact that he wasn't excellent either and in such a glamorous business F1 teams can't afford to gamble too much I mean let's just go back a bit if you guys remember Ricardo forced four-time world champion Sebastian vettle into retirement in his very first year at Red Bull Racing he outperformed Max for stappen in two out of their three seasons together he left Nico hulkenberg in the dust dominated EST ban oon and the only driver to
truly get the better of him was Lando Norris even then Ricardo was the only McLaren driver to win in years the British press have always had it out for Danny he's charismatic fast dependable and reliable when was the last time he crashed out in any session only after dodging a collision with you guessed it Lawson did he break his hand and yet Lawson is somehow painted as a savior despite not achieving anything significant since not saying anything bad about Lawson I'm pretty sure he'd be great in the future but right now I doubt that he'd
perform any better than Ricardo Dany snatching that final point from Norris and winning driver of the day was legendary and it will be remembered in history if he does indeed win by a single margin however not everyone is celebrating some have viewed the move as unsportsmanlike stirring debate over whether it crossed a line in the spirit of competition it's a travesty for him to go out like this especially with Carlos Slim's guaranteed Mexican sponsorship money keeping a struggling Sergio Perez in the seat Ricardo didn't deserve to be treated like this and if Lawson does end
up taking his place a big part of F1 after 36 long years might be over for some fans but if Red Bull wins the WD see by a single point true fans who appreciate great drivers regardless of their color nationality or Creed will celebrate it even in his postrace interview it was clear from his expression that a lot was going on beneath the surface Ricardo was asked if there's an announcement expected tomorrow or this week and whether he knows what it includes he was also questioned about how he reflects on his career and if he
feels at peace with it Ricardo replied that he's aware of what's coming and looks back on on his 13 years in Formula 1 with fondness noting he never imagined he would reach this level when he was carting as a kid he elaborated further expressing that he feels completely at peace with himself knowing he gave everything he had throughout his Formula 1 career he aimed to be the best driver in the world every day and while it didn't pan out that way he's okay with it because he truly gave his all and that was more than
enough to many this does seem to confirm that Daniel is stepping away what do you think will he make a comeback let us know what you think in the comments below
