Singapore GP as it happened

Three points. That's all the separates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

On the face of it, it's nothing with 150 still on the table. But this win, Hamilton's second on the bounce and seventh to Rosberg's four, was huge in terms of momentum.

Rosberg needs to respond by sticking his car on pole at Suzuka and taking a dominant victory. If Hamilton beats him again, the Briton could run away with it.

Thanks for your company, it's been a blast. Until next time, it's good afternoon from me. See ya.

Lewis Hamilton does his best Bruce Forsyth impression as he celebrates his seventh victory of the season.

Lewis Hamilton: "Awesome job lads. We've worked so hard and it's paying off."

1) Lewis Hamilton 2) Sebastian Vettel 3) Daniel Ricciardo 4) Fernando Alonso 5) Felipe Massa 6) Jean-Eric Vergne 7) Sergio Perez 8) Kimi Raikkonen 9) Nico Hulkenberg 10) Kevin Magnussen

11) Valtteri Bottas 12) Pastor Maldonado 13) Romain Grosjean 14) Daniil Kvyat 15) Marcus Ericsson 16) Jules Bianchi 17) Max Chilton

DNF: Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez, Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi.

We've switched to a time-limited race, because we're approaching the two-hour time limit.

Jean-Eric Vergne is having a stunner. He passes Kimi Raikkonen and then Valtteri Bottas to run sixth. He needs to now open up a five-second lead to ensure he'll definitely keep this position because of a five-second penalty.

We have three laps remaining - or three minutes, whichever is sooner. Meanwhile, Jean-Eric Vergne passes Nico Hulkenberg for eighth place, but he'll have a five-second penalty added to his time for exceeding track limits.

Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso are running in close proximity, but none of the trio look able to launch a pass. If it stays like this, it means Alonso's gamble to pit during the safety car hasn't worked out.

There are five laps - or six minutes - remaining, with Lewis Hamilton leading by six seconds with Sebastian Vettel second and Daniel Ricciardo third.

Pastor Maldonado's hopes of scoring his first point of the season look all but over as Kevin Magnussen passes him for 10th. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo puts pressure on Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel with Fernando Alonso in turn putting pressure on Ricciardo. That's the fight for second, third and fourth.

Fernando Alonso chases Daniel Ricciardo, the Spaniard is just 0.6 seconds behind, but he can't find a way through. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, is flying away at the front. If he stays where he is, Hamilton will take the lead of the drivers' championship for only the second time this year.

Nico Rosberg watches the race from the pit-wall as Lewis Hamilton sets off in pursuit of race leader Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton is on fresher tyres and is so much quicker than the German. You sense it's only a matter of time.

Lewis Hamilton: "My right rear is getting seriously worn. I'm not sure it will explode or not."

Lewis Hamilton's tyres may be going off, but he's still pulling away at the front. The Mercedes leads by 25.2 seconds from Sebastian Vettel with Daniel Ricciardo a further three seconds adrift.

Lewis Hamilton tells his team that his tyres are going off and they need to pit him. His race engineer tries to calm him down, telling him that things are going to plan.

Jenson Button, who is chasing Valtteri Bottas in the battle for sixth: "The Williams is so fast in a straight line."

Lewis Hamilton leads by 21.1 seconds with 12 laps to go.

Pastor Maldonado, who crashed on Friday, is currently 10th and on course to score his first point of the year.

Lewis Hamilton leads by 20.3 seconds now, with Sebastian Vettel second and Daniel Ricciardo third. Fernando Alonso is almost in the DRS window as he chases Ricciardo, the gap just 1.2 seconds.

Fernando Alonso is starting to close the gap on Daniel Ricciardo in the battle for third, while Lewis Hamilton extends his lead to 17 seconds. The Mercedes driver is two seconds quicker than anyone else. Super job.

Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat: "Sorry guys, but without the drink I'm dying here."

Lewis Hamilton leads by 15.6 seconds. He needs about 22 for a pit stop. If Hamilton doesn't get a big enough gap, he will likely rejoin in fourth, with Vettel, Ricciardo and Alonso all moving ahead of him and all trying not to stop again. So Hamilton will have to pass all three to win, albeit on fresher tyres.

Mercedes says they are targeting another seven laps on these tyres for Lewis Hamilton. "Isn't that a bit risky if a safety car comes out?" asks Hamilton. "No," comes the reply. "We'll be straight in if that's the case."

1) Ham 2) Vet 3) Ric 4) Alo 5) Mas 6) Bot 7) But 8) Rai 9) Ver 10) Mag

Sebastian Vettel is told that they want to try to get to the end of the race, but the German says he doesn't think it'll be possible. His race engineer tells him that he needs to find a way, because that's what Daniel Ricciardo and others around him are doing and he'll have to pass to many cars if he pits.

Twenty laps to go.

Felipe Massa is told the team want to try and get to the end of the race without stopping. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race to extend his advantage to 6.2 seconds. This is brilliant from the 2008 world champion. The stuff of champions.

Stunning pace from Lewis Hamilton, who opens up a lead of 3.3 seconds after just one lap. That'll do nicely.

Williams' Valtteri Bottas: "Steering feels a bit weird. It's a bit sticky."

1) Ham 2) Vet 3) Ric 4) Alo 5) Mas 6) Bot 7) But 8) Rai 9) Ver 10) Mag

Sebastian Vettel: "Let's go as long as we can on primes and do 12 laps on options."

Lewis Hamilton: "Hey man, that was a little bit late there. I was literally going over the stuff [Perez's debris] as you told me."

Sergio Perez's front wing breaks off, after getting squeezed by Adrian Sutil. Half of it becomes lodged underneath the car, the rest of sprays across the circuit Surely there's going to be a safety car.

We're half-way through the race, with one hour of the two-hour time limit remaining. Felipe Massa is coming under pressure from the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in the battle for sixth.

Another fastest lap from Lewis Hamilton to extend his advantage over Fernando Alonso to 5.2 seconds.

Daniel Ricciardo: "Loss of power and I've just lost some gears."

Lewis Hamilton responds to Fernando Alonso's pace with a fastest lap of his own. The Mercedes driver extends his lead to 4.4 seconds, with Sebastian Vettel 5.9 seconds further adrift in third. Good performance from Ferrari here with Kimi Raikkonen having a decent drive, too, in seventh.

Daniel Ricciardo pits from the lead, allowing Lewis Hamilton to regain control. But it's Fernando Alonso who is flying right now, the Spaniard setting the fastest lap and is now just 3.9 seconds behind Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso is flying, the Spaniard now just 1.6 seconds behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. Lewis Hamilton continues to cruise at the front, his lead now 9.2 seconds.

Sauber report that Esteban Gutierrez had an electrical problem with the power unit so they decided to take him out of the race. Meanwhile, Max Chilton pits with a front right puncture.

New fastest lap from Fernando Alonso, who is just 2.7 seconds behind Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull. Could we have another tasty battle between these two world champions for second coming up shortly? Lewis Hamilton leads by 7.5 seconds.

This was the scene at the start of the race, when Nico Rosberg failed to get away for the formation lap and was pushed into the pits. He did get going, but retired on lap 14.

Jenson Button is doing a decent job on the soft tyres in eighth, managing to match those around him who are on the super-softs. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race.

Lewis Hamilton is told he is doing a good job as he leads Sebastian Vettel by 7.7 seconds with 44 laps remaining. Fernando Alonso is third, with Daniel Ricciardo fourth and Felipe Massa fifth, having jumped ahead of Kimi Raikkonen during the stops.

Nico Rosberg's wife manages to draw a smile from a husband, who has decided to leave his helmet on as he stands in the garage, watching his mechanics work on the car.

Felipe Massa passes Sergio Perez for sixth place, the Brazilian now 7.6 seconds behind Daniel Ricciardo. Meanwhile, Tom Clarkson reports that the reason why Nico Rosberg was so slow on his last lap before pitting is because his car was stuck in the lowest engine mode.

Sebastian Vettel's race engineer: "You're not going to undercut Hamilton so save tyres and fuel."

Rosberg's race engineer: "We will be changing the steering wheel so will drop you off the jacks."

It was a cracker of the start, with Fernando Alonso cutting the corner and giving a place back to Sebastian Vettel. Lewis Hamilton leads by 3.8 seconds, with Vettel second and Alonso third.

Nico Rosberg is really struggling, the German forced to avoid using fourth gear as he flicks through the gears. The German is lapping five seconds slower than his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who leads Sebastian Vettel at the front of the field by 3.1 seconds.

Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne: "What are we waiting for [Kvyat] is losing ground."

Lewis Hamilton doing a good job on fuel consumption while also stretching out a bit of a lead over Sebastian Vettel. He now heads the German by 2.3 seconds, with Fernando Alonso 2.6 seconds further back.

Nico Rosberg is stuck behind the Caterham of Marcus Ericsson. That's not something the German would have imagined encountering when he woke up this morning. He's currently 20th, more than 40 seconds adrift of Mercedes team-mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton

Daniil Kvyat's race engineer: "Attack Magnussen. Attack Magnussen."

Sebastian Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race to keep the gap at 1.6 seconds. The German is doing a great job of hanging on to leader Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg passes Max Chilton for 20th.

Kevin Magnussen is under investigation by the stewards - not for the first time this season - after exceeding track limits at Turn Seven. He's currently ninth, one place behind Williams' Valtteri Bottas.

Sebastian Vettel is just 1.6 seconds behind race leader Lewis Hamilton, with Fernando Alonso two seconds adrift. The top two are lapping in the mid 1m53s.

1) Hamilton 2) Vettel 3) Alonso 4) Ricciardo 5) Raikkonen 6) Massa 7) Button 8) Bottas 9) Magnussen 10) Kvyat

The stewards say that there will be no further action with regards Fernando Alonso cutting the first corner. Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg has got going and is on the same lap, but he's struggling to keep up with the Marussia of Max Chilton.

Nico Rosberg's race engineer: "The only thing working on your dash is the gear shift paddles."

So Lewis Hamilton leads the field through the first lap, with Sebastian Vettel in second. It's a super start for Kevin Magnussen, moving up to sixth, but he makes a mistake, slipping back down to ninth. The incident involving Fernando Alonso with regards track limits is under investigation.

Lewis Hamilton leads the field away but Nico Rosberg is not going anywhere!

Formula 1 broke new ground in 2008 when Singapore hosted the sport's first ever night race - and it turned out to be an event no one would ever forget.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa had looked set to dominate, leading from pole position and pulling away from title rival Hamilton early on.

But during his first pit stop, he was given the green light to leave before the team had removed the refuelling hose.

The Brazilian pulled away, knocking over a mechanic and dragging the hose down the pit-lane. He stopped at the exit and was forced to wait while his mechanics ran after him to remove it.

His afternoon was made worse when he was given a drive-through penalty for leaving the pit dangerously and ultimately finished 13th.

Lewis Hamilton: "[Practice] start was good."

1) Lewis Hamilton 2) Nico Rosberg 3) Daniel Ricciardo 4) Sebastian Vettel 5) Fernando Alonso 6) Felipe Massa 7) Kimi Raikkonen 8) Valtteri Bottas 9) Kevin Magnussen 10) Daniil Kvyat

11) Jenson Button 12) Jean-Eric Vergne 13) Nico Hulkenberg 14) Esteban Gutierrez 15) Sergio Perez 16) Romain Grosjean

17) Adrian Sutil 18) Pastor Maldonado 19) Jules Bianchi 20) Kamui Kobayashi 21) Max Chilton 22) Marcus Ericsson

The pit lane has opened its doors, which means drivers are free to leave their garages and head out on track to take their place on the grid.

So Nico Rosberg leads the way in the drivers' standings, 22 points clear of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton with six races - including today - and 175 points remaining. Daniel Ricciardo is the nearest challenger, but he's 50 points adrift in third.

Venue: Marina Bay Circuit length: 5.065km Laps: 61 Race distance: 308.828km Lap record: 1min 48.574secs (Sebastian Vettel, 2013) Number of corners: 23 (14 left/9 right)

2013 pole position: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1min 42.841secs 2013 winner: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 2013 fastest lap: Sebastian Vettel 1min 48.574secs

No of safety cars deployed since 2008: 9 2013 winning strategy: 2 stops (laps 17, 44) 2013 total race pit stops: 54 2013 total 'normal' overtakes: 22 2013 DRS-aided overtakes: 14