Lewis Hamilton increased his championship lead to 28 points after claiming a potentially decisive victory at the Singapore Grand Prix as main rival Sebastian Vettel failed to finish for the first time this season.
The Briton would avoid the Turn 1 drama, which saw Vettel one of three drivers eliminated along with teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen, and have enough pace to beat the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo to earn a lights-to-flag victory.
Valtteri Bottas couldn’t match his teammate but ensured there was two Mercedes on the podium in third, as the Silver Arrows also took a big step towards retaining the Constructors’ crown.
Pre-race rain promised an eventful two hours of action under the lights and also marked the first ever wet night race in F1 and Hamilton, who was looking for damage limitation after only qualifying fifth, saw himself leading from the first lap after making an amazing start to overtake Ricciardo to claim second.
The major first corner incident was caused by the two Ferraris squeezing Verstappen in a pincer movement with Vettel coming across to defend and Raikkonen on the inside after his own blistering start, saw the Finn lose control and take out the Dutchman again and Fernando Alonso, who was well up after a strong start.
Vettel would still lead but then on the approach to Turn 5 would spin into the wall on the inside cause irreparable damage and gifting Hamilton the lead.
Ricciardo made a poorer start but would also avoid the trouble ahead to move up to second and though many anticipated him to attack the Mercedes in front, he would have to nurse his Red Bull home after being hit with gearbox trouble during the race.
Valtteri Bottas also slipped down initially but one less pitstop would move him back up to third as the midfield cars that did get ahead, including Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, started on the full wets in the unknown conditions.
Carlos Sainz started on the intermediates and was able to take full advantage of those ahead switching to the lighter rain tyre under a Safety Car, caused by his teammate Daniil Kvyat crashing at Turn 7, to score his best ever finish taking his Toro Rosso to fourth place.
The Spaniard battling his 2018 teammate Hulkenberg for that position before the German suffered hydraulic problems forcing him to pit before eventually retiring late in the race.
As mentioned, Perez was up to fourth at the start having started 12th and would only fall behind Sainz to claim fifth and continue his remarkable record of scoring every time he has raced in Singapore.
Jolyon Palmer produced a strong move on Valtteri Bottas early on but a decision to pit a lap later under the second Safety Car hurt the Briton, although he would recover to sixth, his best F1 result and first points of the season.
Another personal best finish was set by Stoffel Vandoorne in seventh for McLaren ahead of a recovering Lance Stroll in eighth, as the young Canadian again showed excellent pace in the wet.
Romain Grosjean was ninth as Esteban Ocon completed the top 10 and continued his run of scoring of all but one of the races so far. Only 12 cars would finish with Felipe Massa having a race to forget in 11th and beating Pascal Wehrlein in the Sauber.
The other retirees not mentioned include Kevin Magnussen, who suffered a late MGU-K problem in his Haas and Marcus Ericsson, who would hit the wall crossing the Anderson Bridge causing a third Safety Car.
