Hamilton wins Singapore Grand Prix after Ferrari disaster

Lewis Hamilton claimed victory in a rain-hit 2017 Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay, following a dramatic start in which Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were wiped out in a first corner accident with Max Verstappen. As a result, Hamilton now has a 28 point lead over Vettel in the world championship

Verstappen's team mate Daniel Ricciardo held on to take second place for Red Bull, after successfully resisting pressure from Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas for over half the race.

Singapore Grand Prix - Race results

Vettel, Raikkonen and Verstappen crash out

The rain that had been teasing the circuit during the build up to the race started in earnest just minutes before the cars pulled off the grid. It forced the field onto a mixture of intermediate and wet tyres for the start. On the front row, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen were at least unencumbered by water spray as they pulled away when the lights went out.

Even so, it was Vettel's team mate Kimi Raikkonen who got the best start from fourth on the grid. He powered down the inside of Verstappen, trapping the Red Bull in a Ferrari sandwich. With Vettel protecting his position by squeezing the Dutch teenager from the other side, the trio quickly ran out of room. Raikkonen connected with Verstappen and the impact then hurled him into the side of Vettel's car.

No longer in control of his car, Raikkonen then slid across the path of the traffic through turn 1. He suffered a second impact with Verstappen for good measure before coming to a halt. He also collided with the fast-starting McLaren of Fernando Alonso. Raikkonen and Verstappen were out on the spot, while Vettel limped around a few more corners. However his car was leaking fluid and he spun after which the team ordered him to park. It's unquestionably a body blow for his title hopes.

"Not ideal is it?" he told reporters when he got back to the pit lane. "I didn't see that much. I saw Max and then next thing I see is Max and Kimi hitting me somewhere."

"Sebastian started squeezing me. Maybe he didn't see Kimi but that's not an excuse," Verstappen said. "If you are fighting for a world championship you shouldn't take those risks."

"I don't think I could have done anything differently to avoid it," was Raikkonen's view, adding that it was pointless to lay blame. "Obviously our race is done. A shame."

Hamilton takes charge as race resumes

The carnage had left Hamilton in charge of the race under the ensuing safety car. Ricciardo was running in second ahead of Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, followed by Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas and Jolyon Palmer. Stoffel Vandoorne had made his way up to seventh place, while his team mate was technically still in the race in 12th despite massive damage to the MCL32.

When the race resumed on lap 5, Hamilton quickly pulled out a four second lead over Ricciardo. Meanwhile Palmer caught Bottas napping and picked up fifth place. However Alonso was haemorrhaging positions and finally yielded to the inevitable, retiring on lap 9. Two laps later, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat passed the Haas of Kevin Magnussen for tenth place but then snatched a brake into turn 7 and planted his nose into the barrier to join the growing list of retirees.

Kvyat's crash brought out the second safety car. Hamilton and Bottas stayed out while Ricciardo took the opportunity to pit for fresh inters. Perez, Hulkenberg and Palmer also stopped, changing their original wet weather tyres for inters. When the race got back underway on lap 15, Hamilton and Ricciardo were still leading with the pit stops having promoted Bottas and Sainz ahead of Hulkenberg and Perez.

The top car still left running on wets was Williams' Felipe Massa in tenth place. However he was soon going backwards, losing out in a series of bruising encounters with Force India's Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen in the Haas. Massa wisely gave in and pitted for inters shortly thereafter.

Drivers switch to slick tyres for second half

By now the rain had stopped, and no more precipitation was forecast. That left teams calculating when the track would have dried sufficiently for slick ultrasoft tyres. With little to lose at the back of the lead lap, Magnussen and Massa were the first to make the attempt on lap 25. Initially they were very tentative, but they didn't crash and soon picked up speed. The rest of the field took notice and Ricciardo, Bottas, Hulkenberg and Perez all pitted on lap 29. Hamilton stayed out a lap longer before making the switch just shy of mid-race distance.

After the pit stops, Hamilton's lead over Ricciardo remained over eight seconds. They were followed by Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz (on supersofts) and Perez. Behind them, Palmer and Vandoorne were engaged in a spirited duel over seventh place. Williams' Lance Stroll was up to ninth. The early tyre call had promoted Magnussen into the top ten ahead of team mate Romain Grosjean, but the Dane was struggling. He soon lost positions to Grosjean and Ocon in quick succession.

The racing was paused once again by a third safety car, this time because of Marcus Ericsson's Sauber spinning on the Anderson Bridge. Having built up a safe lead at the front, Hamilton was less than pleased to have the field closed back up. There was also bad news for Hulkenberg who was forced to pit from fourth to have his hydraulic system filled up, dropping him to tenth for the restart on lap 42.

Countdown to the finish

After so many delays the race was now on the clock, with under half an hour remaining. Hamilton once again drove away from Ricciardo, who had his hands full with Bottas as DRS was made available to the drivers for the first time. Sainz also had to work hard to successfully fend off Perez for fourth to the finish.

Palmer had won his battle with Vandoorne, with Stroll dropping off in eighth place. Grosjean and Ocon filled out the final points position after Hulkenberg was finally forced to retire on lap 49. It means the German now holds the record for the most races started - 129 - without a podium finish.

Magnussen retired a lap later with MGU-K issues, which left Massa and Pascal Wehrlein the last cars on track. The Sauber finished two laps off the leaders at the chequered flag which came at the end of lap 58.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter