Norris finished second to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz at the Marina Bay circuit after a tense end to the 62-lap race, as fresher medium tyres brought Russell and Lewis Hamilton onto the tail of the two leaders struggling on older hard compound rubber.
In his efforts to keep Russell at bay on the final tour, Norris grazed the wall with his right-rear tyre at the Turn 10 left-hander but was able to continue while Russell's similar contact fired him into the barriers to lift Hamilton onto the podium.
Speaking immediately after the race, the McLaren driver explained: "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.
"So I feel for him, he fought a tough race."
Norris, who had run behind Russell in third prior to the Mercedes driver making a second stop under a virtual safety car, opined that Russell "was the quickest" driver in the race and revealed that his demise had made the end to his race more straightforward.
"It helped me a bit the last couple of corners, I could chill just a little bit more," he said.
Sainz remarked after the race that he felt "under control" on his way to becoming the first non-Red Bull driver to win a race in 2023, and Norris praised his former team-mate for allowing him within a second to fend off the Mercedes duo with DRS.
"Carlos was very generous trying to help me get DRS," said Norris, whose second place was his third podium of the season after identical results at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.
"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."
