Hamilton takes crucial Singapore win as Vettel crashes out

Lewis Hamilton extended his points lead in the Formula 1 drivers' championship to 28 points after winning a dramatic Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday as title rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out early.

In the first wet night race in F1 history, Hamilton was able to dodge a chaotic first lap incident to take the lead before leading the remainder of the race, fending off Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo despite heavy pressure throughout and three safety car periods.

Vettel's hopes of a fifth victory in Singapore were dashed on the run to Turn 1 when he tangled with Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull racer Max Verstappen, squeezing together and all sustaining damage in a bizarre incident.

Raikkonen and Verstappen were eliminated on the spot, while Vettel tried to get back to the pits, only to spin in the spray due to the damage caused to his Ferrari car.

Hamilton was able to pick his way through the minefield of incidents unfolding ahead and take the lead of the race, with Daniel Ricciardo sitting second and Nico Hulkenberg third for Renault behind the safety car that was deployed to clear the mess at Turn 1.

With the rain easing, Hamilton and Ricciardo were able to find good grip on the intermediate tyres at the front, with the Mercedes driver forging a solid lead through the opening stages, only for a second safety car period to wipe it away when Daniil Kvyat crashed out.

Red Bull made a snap decision to bring Ricciardo in for fresh intermediates, while Hamilton stayed out, leaving the Briton concerned when his rival was able to regain second place after Hulkenberg pitted one lap later.

Hamilton quickly put the hammer down when the race returned to green flag running, opening up an eight-second lead over Ricciardo in the laps that followed as the track continued to dry out, prompting many of the midfielders to make the switch to slicks just before half-distance.

Red Bull tried to get the undercut on Hamilton by bringing Ricciardo in first, making the switch to ultra-soft tyres at the end of Lap 28. A slow fitting cost Ricciardo a second or two, meaning that when Hamilton made his tyre swap one lap later, his lead remained as healthy as before.

Hamilton put the hammer down through the dry with lap times getting faster and faster, sitting 10 seconds clear of Ricciardo before a third safety car - this time after Marcus Ericsson spun his Sauber and stopped on-track - wiped it away, bunching the field again.

The race now running to time, Hamilton was able to quickly pull away from Ricciardo again on the restart, but was told by Mercedes to drop back and keep the field together just in case of another safety car. Hamilton was unhappy to do so, with Mercedes allowing him to dictate the pace as he wished to the end instead.

Hamilton was able to pull out a gap to Ricciardo once again, eventually taking the chequered flag with 58 laps complete to win the Singapore Grand Prix and take a huge step towards the world title in the process.

Ricciardo crossed the line 4.5 seconds behind to take P2 in Singapore for the third year in a row, while Valtteri Bottas completed the podium for Mercedes, extending its lead by 40 points in the constructors' championship over Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz Jr. celebrated his Renault move for 2018 by charging to his best-ever F1 finish in P4, while the man he will replace, Jolyon Palmer, also recorded his best result in sixth, the pair split by Sergio Perez.

Stoffel Vandoorne was another driver to hit new heights in P7, while Lance Stroll and Romain Grosjean were P8 and P9 respectively. Esteban Ocon rounded out the points for Force India ahead of Felipe Massa and Pascal Wehrlein, who were the only classified drivers not to score points.