Live: F1 Singapore GP commentary and updates

Piastri ticks off part one of his Singapore evening to do list: Overtaking Hamilton for fourth. The McLaren driver charges around the outside of the Mercedes on his out-lap after his stop. Piastri now has 4.2s to catch Russell next.

McLaren duly pits Piastri at the end of lap 38, a smart 2.2s stop to take on hards, and he comes out in fifth behind Verstappen and both Mercedes drivers. That massive tyre advantage means Piastri will be attacking Russell and Hamilton for the rest of the race.

Colapinto has been noted for leaving the track at T16 and gaining an advantage, but that too has been thrown out.

Piastri is two seconds per lap slower than Norris, such is the life of his tyres. Surely it is time to call it.

Norris pops in a fastest lap of 1m36.216s to remind us he is still leading comfortably. He's 11s clear of Piastri, who is yet to pit, and 22.5s clear of Verstappen who has pitted.

Another on-the-road overtake comes from Ricciardo on Gasly, who is yet to stop, comes at T7.

Piastri is hanging on to his medium tyres with McLaren now hoping for a safety car to give him a cheap stop. The same can be said for Leclerc and Ferrari, as the Monegasque defends stoutly from Russell who is forced into the run-off.

"Target lap will be the Plan C target lap," Piastri is told over team radio. The Australian obligies and says his front-right tyre is starting to suffer. From A to B to C. 

Tsunoda finally pits and releases Sainz into seventh, Alonso into eighth, Hulkenberg ninth and Perez 10th.

There's an incident between Gasly and Hulkenberg that's been noted for forcing another driver off the road, but that is quickly ignored.

"We see a small issue with the front wing. Nothing serious," Norris is told over team radio, having glanced the wall very gently before his pitstop.

Verstappen clears Leclerc on his out-lap, having initially thought he'd been undercut by the Ferrari driver only to find out he was yet to pit. The result of it is Verstappen is third, behind Norris, who has pitted, and Piastri, who has not pitted.

A lap later than Verstappen, McLaren calls in Norris, with his front wing looking OK as the team doesn't change it during the pitstops. Norris returns to action on fresh hards and still in the lead.

This is the sweet spot for stops as Hulkenberg, Colapinto and Ocon pit. 

Perez has at least jumped the Williams driver.

"I've got front wing damage maybe," Norris reports on team radio, just as Verstappen pits at the end of lap 29. The Dutch driver takes on hards and comes out right behind Leclerc in fourth.

Perez makes his stop but he is going to rejoin well behind Alonso - with Gasly in between.

Leclerc has finally got by Hulkenberg to move up to fourth but he is 18.5s behind Piastri in front of him.

Piastri is given the hurry up by McLaren to press on and look for an overcut on Russell. He's got clean air for the first time in the race so let's see if he can produce Norris-like lap times.

Ah, no. Russell pits at the end of lap 27 to release Piastri. The British driver takes on fresh hards and comes out in eighth, right in front of Hamilton.

Is this slow burner starting to come alive? Piastri has reeled in Russell and is within DRS range in the fight for third.

Leclerc finally gets past Alonso, just before the Spaniard pits. He is at least six seconds down on Sainz when he emerges.

Our resident statistic guru Ben Vinel informs me that Norris's 14s gap is the largest lead after 20 laps since the 2023 Hungarian GP (Verstappen led Perez by 22s then). Norris with 2023 Verstappen levels of dominance.

"You're killing me with this offset mate," Hamilton is still complaining and tries to get past Tsunoda at T16. But he runs wide and has to start all over again.

Leclerc will be even happier when he eventually does pit and finds team-mate Sainz has jumped him with a major undercut. I'll take one ticket for Ferrari's post-race debrief, please.

Worth an honorary mention for Hulkenberg and the job he has done so far, keeping those behind him and frustrating the likes of Alonso and Leclerc.

Leclerc is also getting frustrated, stuck behind Alonso and Hulkenberg.

"Keep calm," is what he has been told by his Ferrari team.

Or maybe Verstappen just has no answer to Norris, as the Brit continues to build his lead at almost a second per lap. The gap is now 18.2s at the start of lap 24.

"I'm already struggling with this tyre." Hamilton is not happy with his strategy, already questioning why he has stopped so much earlier than others.

We've not heard from Verstappen over team radio at all in this race. Maybe he's just staying silent to avoid swearing.

The tyre delta with fresh tyres is aiding overtaking - Sainz is past Stroll for P15 and Hamilton is all over the back of Ocon in the race for P11. That move is done into T7.

Norris is told McLaren wants him to go as long as possible to make sure Verstappen is the first to pit out of those two. Given how hard it is to overtake around the Singapore street track, that'd cover off Verstappen gaining a freebie pitstop under a safety car, if one was come after Norris pitted.

Norris has built his pitstop window, because if he pitted now he'd come out comfortably ahead of Hulkenberg and clear of midfield traffic. The Brit leads by 15s over Verstappen at the start of lap 21.

There's been an overtake! Like candy from a baby as Sainz powers past Zhou with the help of DRS.

Hamilton does the same into T16 to get by on Magnussen.

From Williams: "We have had to retire Alex’s car from the Singapore GP due to a suspected PU/cooling issue. This will be investigated further post-race."

Verstappen isn't under threat from the Mercedes pair behind him, as Hamilton pits to ditch his aging softs which releases Russell into third. Hamilton takes on hards and comes out in 13th.

"Car is overheating."

That's day done for Albon.

At the mid-teens lap target, Norris has delivered a gap double to what McLaren requested. Norris leads by 11s over Verstappen and is only building more on to it.

Albon's got an issue. He's dropped right back from Sainz, has been overtaken by Ricciardo. It looks like a retirement is on its way.

"Undercut looks strong, maybe two seconds," Norris is warned over McLaren team radio. That means fresh tyres are worth a two-second gain during the pitstop crossover against a rival who pits a lap later.

Now Sainz pits and switches to the hard tyres. The undercut looks strong as Albon almost beats the Ferrari out of the pits. That's crucial.