With Ricciardo finishing the fastest lap of the course at the last minute, Norris managed to achieve a pole-to-win in Singapore to win his third career race. However, the United Kingdom driver failed to achieve the first Grand Slam feat of his career (pole position, victory, leading every lap of the race, fastest lap of the race). Thanks to the help of his old teammate Ricciardo, Verstappen, who finished second in this race, expressed his gratitude to the Australia driver after the race.
When GP tells Verstappen in TR that your old friend Daniel has taken the fastest lap, Verstappen is grateful and says, "Thank you, Daniel!" ”
Ricciardo's fastest lap of the race means that even if Verstappen fails to win the remaining six races and three sprint races of the season (Verstappen is predicted to finish second), he will be guaranteed to win this year's World Championship regardless of who goes to the fastest lap points for the remainder of the race.
Although Ricciardo helped Verstappen in Singapore, from the current F1 environment, Verstappen's gratitude to Ricciardo for the fastest lap of 1 point actually does not make much sense.
With Norris comfortably winning Singapore, Verstappen's current lead in the drivers' championship is only 52 points, and with six races left in Formula 1 this season, the defending champions are not secure. The reason is simple, and that is that Red Bull's RB20 car is completely out of competition.
Especially after the Neuvy and Red Bull Racing breakways for good, the RB20 is no longer worth looking forward to. What is causing Red Bull's speed to plummet? Many people attribute the reason to the departure of the legendary designer Nuvey. When the reporter threw up the topic, Nuvey did not deny it, saying: "I suspect it may be so. In fact, Newey has said very bluntly, as the builder of Red Bull Racing, he will definitely be able to find out the crux of RB20, if he is still working for Red Bull, he must have a way to solve the problem, and now he can't help, it turns out that since April he has been completely excluded from the technical team of Red Bull Racing.
Verstappen has gone eight races without a win in a row and has lost his dominance in the paddock since winning his seventh race of the season at the Spain Grand Prix. In those eight winless races, Verstappen's best result was second place in the United Kingdom, the home stadium of the Netherlands and the Singapore Grand Prix. In the remaining races, Azerbaijan finished fifth, Italy finished sixth, Belgium finished fourth, Hungary finished fifth, and Austria finished fifth.
So if Verstappen can't finish on the podium in the next six races, his 52-point advantage in the standings may be eaten away by Norris. At least judging by the current form and performance on the track of McLaren and Norris, there is really a suspense in the WDC this season!!