Lando Norris says he hit the wall at Singapore's Turn 10 on the final lap of Sunday's epic race, but the McLaren driver fortunately escaped the terminal fate that befell George Russell moments later.
Norris went on to finish second behind race winner Carlos Sainz who fended off the McLaren charger and Lewis Hamilton who inherited third after Russell's mishap.
Norris had been running hot on the heels of Sainz in the closing stages of the race but was unable to reel in the Ferrari, while Russell and Hamilton – running on fresher medium tyres compared to the used hards of their rivals – were glued to the back of the McLaren and ready to mount an attack with one lap to go.
But on the approach to Turn 10, while Norris just grazed the outside wall, Russell properly clipped it and was sent down to escape road, into the barrier and out of contention.
It was a heartbreaking epilogue for the Mercedes driver who had tried so hard all evening to put himself in a winning position, but the blunder gave Norris some welcomed breathing space to complete the final corners of the race.
"I hit the wall on the last lap in the same place [as Russell], so I think he copied me and just did it even worse," said Norris after the race. "So I feel for him, he fought a tough race.
"It helped me a bit the last couple of corners, I could chill just a little bit more."
Sainz masterful tactics in the closing part of the 62 lap event consisted in maintaining a less than one-second gap to Norris to allow the McLaren driver to benefit from the DRS which in turn kept him just ahead of the faster Mercedes of Russell.
"Carlos was very generous trying to help me get DRS," acknowledged Norris. "He helped my race and I also helped his, so it was tough.
"We knew it was going to be tough as soon as the Mercedes boxed, especially with only a couple of cars for them to overtake.
"But we're on the podium, P2, we held them off. We did everything we needed to do and more. So super happy."
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