The McLaren driver eased it back once he extended a 30-second advantage over Max Verstappen, cruising to his third win of the season by 20.9 seconds.

A patient drive, but aggressive when he needed to be, saw Oscar Piastri rise from fifth to third, while Daniel Ricciardo had a race to forget.

The Australian was never in contention, stopping three times, including with three laps remaining, to see the flag 18th and the last car running.

At the race start, Norris got the jump off pole and held the lead while in the pack a handful ran wide at the opening corner.

Verstappen slotted into second from Lewis Hamilton, with George Russell fourth, Nico Hulkenberg finding a way through on Piastri into the first corner.

The McLaren driver quickly recovered, taking the place back at the end of Raffles Boulevard, Turn 7.

By the end of the opening lap, the front of the race had already begun to open up, with Norris holding an almost second advantage over Verstappen, who was 1.3s ahead of Hamilton.

After easing out to a 2.6s lead after seven laps, McLaren asked race leader Norris to begin pushing a little harder to open that margin to five seconds.

He immediately reacted, extending his advantage by 1.2s next time around, and nine-tenths the lap after.

After 10 laps, Ricciardo pitted, swapping onto the hard compound tyre from the soft.

He’d been running 16th, where he started, but had lost touch with Alex Albon’s Williams ahead.

The Australian rejoined well off the back of the pack, leaving him clear air with his fresh hard tyres to try and gain track position.

Though he’d started on the medium rubber, Albon reacted on the following lap, holding position ahead of Ricciardo.

The opening stint had been a procession; the front of the race slowly elongating while the midfield was stuck in various queues, the fourth DRS zone not offering the overtaking opportunity hoped for.

After 17 laps, Hamilton swapped his used soft tyres for a new set of hards, slipping from third to 13th in the process, slotting into a small gap behind Kevin Magnussen.

In the lead, Norris was dominating.

He’d extended a 17s lead after 22 laps, circulating a second per lap faster than Verstappen in second.

In third, Russell was maintaining a 12s gap to Verstappen ahead, with Piastri just outside DRS range in fourth.

The Australian was stuck there, finally being released when Russell boxed after 27 laps.

He filtered out ahead of Hamilton, who’d been forced to navigate his way through traffic following his stop and, on at least one occasion, ran-off the road as he struggled in the hard compound tyres.

Released, Piastri immediately began to push, his times quickly matching those of his race-leading team-mate.

At the end of Lap 30, and soon after Norris had reported potential front wing damage, Verstappen was in front second.

As he stopped, he was 30.7s down in second, and was fed out just behind Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, the Monegasque yet to stop.

Norris was in at the end of the lap, a smooth stop let him pull out of the lane still in the lead, and just as Verstappen passed Leclerc.

McLaren continued to extend Piastri, who sat comfortably behind Norris despite being one of the few yet to stop.

Running fourth, Leclerc finally stopped after 36 laps, releasing Russell as the Ferrari driver fell to eighth.

Piastri finally stopped after 38 laps, the last driver to take to the lane, emerging behind the two Mercedes, where he’d started.

And so, with the pit cycle complete, the order ran as it started, with the exception of the two Mercedes drivers, who’d reversed positions.

Norris led from Verstappen by a comfortable 23 seconds, with Russell almost 15 seconds further back.

A bold move from Piastri into Turn 7 on Lap 40 saw the Australian steal away fourth from the fading Mercedes driver.

In the pack, the RB pair found themselves together on track, Tsunoda having pitted much later than Ricciardo leaving him with a strong tyre advantage.

That saw the team move Ricciardo aside on Lap 42.

Ferrari pulled the same trick with its drivers, Leclerc enjoying much stronger pace than Sainz as they ran sixth and seventh, the Spaniard opening the door into the final complex.

Having cleared Hamilton, Piastri soon reeled in Russell in third.

On Lap 45, the McLaren eased around the outside into Turn 7 and quickly skipped clear.

Hamilton in the other Mercedes continued to fade, falling victim to Leclerc on Lap 51 as he dropped to sixth.

From there, the race stagnated to the flag.

With three laps remaining, Ricciardo boxed for a third time, a sly move to steal fastest lap away from Norris for the greater good of Red Bull – a mission that proved successful.

Norris was untouchable, slowing in the final stages such that he only won by little more than 20 seconds.

It could easily have been much more over Verstappen, with Piastri completing a one-three for McLaren.

Russell was fourth, holding on from Leclerc, with Hamilton sixth, then came Sainz, Alonso, Hulkenberg, and Sergio Perez.