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• Ricciardo to leave RB with Lawson named as replacement

  Daniel Ricciardo will leave RB with Liam Lawson replacing him for the remainder of the Formula One season.

  Speculation surrounding Ricciardo's future has been confirmed as the Australian's second F1 stint was brought to an end after he lost his seat at RB.

  Ricciardo is 14th in the drivers' championship standings, while he recorded the fastest lap during last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix - the 258th and final race of his F1 career.

  The 35-year-old has chalked up eight wins and 32 podiums along the way, notably finishing third in the drivers' championship in 2014 and 2016.

  Lawson, who deputised for the injured Ricciardo in five races last season, will step up from his reserve role to partner Yuki Tsunoda for the final six races of the 2024 campaign, starting at next month's United States Grand Prix in Austin.

  The 22-year-old recorded an impressive ninth-place finish in Singapore during his short stint, and RB boss Laurent Mekies feels it will be "a natural transition" for him.

  "Everyone would like to thank Daniel for his hard work across the last two seasons with us," Mekies said.

  "He has brought a lot of experience and talent to the team with a fantastic attitude, which has helped everyone to develop and foster a tight team spirit.

  "Daniel has been a true gentleman both on and off the track, and never without that smile. He will be missed, but will always hold a special place within the Red Bull family.

  "I'd also like to take this opportunity to welcome Liam. He already knows the team well. He drove for us last season, and coped well under difficult circumstances, so it'll be a natural transition.

  "It's great to see young talent from within the Red Bull family make the next step. We're looking forward to getting our heads down and focusing on the rest of the season together."

• Norris: Overhauling Verstappen for F1 championship 'definitely possible'

  Lando Norris believes overhauling Max Verstappen to win the Formula One driver's championship is "definitely possible", though he knows McLaren have no room for error.

  Norris produced a magnificent performance at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, leading from the front and finishing some 20 seconds clear of Verstappen.

  That victory – his third of the year – lifted him to within 52 points of Verstappen at the top of the drivers' standings, while McLaren lead Red Bull by 41 points in the battle for the constructors' crown.

  Norris has now won from pole in two of the last four races (Singapore and the Netherlands), becoming the 49th driver to achieve that feat on at least two occasions in F1.

  In the last 30 grands prix in which Norris has scored points, he has averaged 15.3 points (460 in total), having only averaged 6.8 across his previous 66 (452 in total).

  With Verstappen now winless in eight races, Norris does not see ending his three-year reign as an impossible objective, if McLaren can maintain their pace.

  "This is what I've got to do, this is what I need, this is what we need to do as a team," Norris told Sky Sports F1.

  "We've executed things perfectly as a team, especially to get Oscar [Piastri] into P3, but we need to do it at every race until the end of the year if I want to have a chance to get Max.

  "We're working hard and if I keep doing what I've done this weekend, then it's definitely possible."

  Verstappen won 19 of 22 races in the 2023 season – the most dominant campaign ever witnessed in F1 – but Norris hopes he can take this year's title battle to the final race, set for Abu Dhabi on December 8.

  "I hope so. I still have a lot of points I've got to catch up and it's not going to be easy to do it," Norris added.

  "It's against Red Bull and it's against Max, the most dominant pairing you've ever seen in Formula One, from last year.

  "That's not necessarily changed in terms of… It's the same team and it's the same driver. So, I have some of the toughest competition that Formula One has ever seen.

  "I'm working my heart out, I'm working my butt off, to try and make sure that happens. He's trying to make sure it doesn't happen. So we'll have to wait and find out."

• Hamilton and Russell lament 'frustrating' Singapore showing

  Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton endured a "frustrating" Singapore Grand Prix having failed to build on their impressive showing in qualifying.  

  Hamilton started one place ahead of his team-mate in third, but the Silver Arrows' split strategy proved costly during the gruelling 62-lap race. 

  The seven-time world champion gambled by starting on the soft tyres but was unable to get away with the runaway front two of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. 

  Russell, however, elected to start on the favoured medium tyre, but Hamilton's decision arguably held up his Mercedes team-mate in the opening stint. 

  The pair finished fourth and sixth respectively, with Hamilton overtaking the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc late on to move to 174 points in the drivers' championship. 

  “After a very difficult Friday, we would have likely taken P4 in the Grand Prix,” Russell said.

  “Our pace in qualifying, however, made us believe we could achieve more.

  "Today was no doubt a difficult race for us, both challenging in terms of our pace but also physically.

  “The McLarens were very impressive and in another league to us, whilst Max [Verstappen] had the legs on us.

  We were able to hold off the Ferrari of Charles [Leclerc] in the closing stages, so it was very much an evening of damage limitation.

  "Given the pace of the car, that was the very best we could have achieved.”

  Hamilton further relayed his frustrations about the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit but is confident the Silver Arrows can bounce back in Austin next month. 

  “It is hard to describe the range of emotions you feel when we have a difficult race like that,” Hamilton said.

  “This year continues to be a testing one for everyone, but we are all pushing as hard as we can.

  "We don’t always get things right and that was the case today with our strategy.

  “We have lost some form to the leaders in the past few races and we’re working hard to figure out why that is.”

  Mercedes had won three of the last four races before the summer break but have since managed just one podium since after Russell benefitted from Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez's crash on the penultimate lap of proceedings. 

  But up next is a track Hamilton has relished over the years, with the Briton winning the American Grand Prix in Austin more times than anyone else (five), though he has not prevailed around the Texas circuit since 2017.