Fernando Alonso scored his first victory in a year after an early safety car period turned the first-ever night race on its head.
The double world champion, who had been left distraught on Saturday when a fuel linkage problem hampered his chances of pole position, had pitted just before the safety car came out, so he was in a perfect position to leapfrog the majority of the pack.
From there on he drove a typically aggressive but flawless race to secure victory for Renault, their first since Alonso's return.
In a bizarre set of circumstances, Nico Rosberg finished in second place after he also benefited from the safety car period.
He did initially pit when the pit-lane was closed due to the fact that he would have run of out fuel, but after serving a 10-second stop-and-go penalty he came out in second place.
Rosberg drove phenomenally to build up a 20-second lead over Alonso to give himself an outside chance of victory, but Alonso was too dominant.
Lewis Hamilton took a major step towards winning the world championship by finishing in third place on a night (seems weird writing that) that Ferrari scored no points at all, increasing his lead from one point to seven.
That margin is now critical at this stage in the race as it means that Hamilton can finish second to Felipe Massa in every race from now on and still win the world title. It was Massa who suffered the most heartbreak from the race despite dominating the very early stages of the race from pole position.
He looked set for the win before the safety car period, but it was yet another calamitous pit-stop that caused him to plummet from first to the very back of the field.
In the grueling heat and humidity of the Singaporean night and the bumpy track surface, the race ran right up to its two-hour limit, which meant unlimited excitement and drama for the fans.
At the start of the race, Massa and Hamilton got away from the grid in formation style, with Kimi Raikkonen slotting in behind in third place as they filed through the extremely tight three-corner complex.
Heikki Kovalainen tried and failed with a bold move on the outside line of that complex on fourth-place Robert Kubica, which then dropped him down to seventh place. He was hit by Kubica, and then had to deal with Sebastian Vettel and Timo Glock.
Massa steadily built a comfortable lead over Hamilton, taking the gap to three seconds after six laps. Meanwhile Raikkonen, on what seemed like a heavier fuel load than the front two, was falling away slowly from the front two.
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But, he then found his stride and began to haul in Hamilton, who was then falling away from Massa. The gap had fallen to less than two seconds from more than eight, and Ferrari were beginning to maul the McLarens.
Lap 14 seemed to be the point in the race where Massa's lead flat-lined, but then all hell broke loose.
Nelson Piquet crashed heavily on the next lap when he lost control of the car, which of course brought out the safety car, just as the window opened for the two-stoppers, and turned the race upside-down.
Ironically, it played beautifully into his team-mate Fernando Alonso's hands, who had pitted two laps earlier after a very short first stint, which vaulted him up the grid from 15th place
Meanwhile chaos had erupted in the crowded pit-lane, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the driver's and constructor's championships.
First, the distance between Raikkonen and Massa meant that the Finn had to queue behind Massa in the pits.
That was a disaster for the Maranello outfit, which had hoped to get Raikkonen ahead of Hamilton in the first round of pit-stops. Unfortunately for the Tifosi, that was mild in comparison the disaster that was yet to unfold.
As in Valencia, it was Ferrari's controversial pit-stop traffic light system (a semi-automated system the team uses instead of the conventional system involving the lollipop man) that was the root of the problem.
Massa was given the green light to leave his pit box while the fuel hose was still attached, with the result that the hose was wrenched away from the rig as he accelerated, knocking over the mechanic in the process.
Massa had to stop at the end of the pits to allow for his mechanics to take part in the first ever 500-meter sprint to reach his car. After the crew detached the hose, he fell all the way down to last place.
To make matters worse, in a virtual replay of Valenica, Massa was released directly into the path of Force India's Adrian Sutil...only this time he did not escape without a penalty.
He had to serve a drive-through penalty soon after the restart, and in the space of a few minutes, Ferrari had gone from a potential one-two finish to nothing at all.
And as on previous occasions this season, it seemed to lead to one mistake after another, with Massa losing interest in the race and spinning at turn 18, and Raikkonen crashing before the end of the race.
Meanwhile a fascinating race had played out following the mayhem ensued by Piquet's crash. The timing had initially looked bad for Rosberg and Kubica, who both had to serve stop-and-go penalties due to the lack of fuel they had.
But the stewards took a long time to confirm these penalties and that gave them the chance to pull out a big lead their respective rivals.
Rosberg, who was now leading ahead of a one-stopping Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella, took full advantage and pulled out a massive lead.
He was helped by the fact that his two followers were holding up the rest of the pack, and that Hamilton was now stuck behind the Red Bull duo, who like Alonso had come in at the perfect time.
Mark Webber soon retired with a gearbox problem, wrecking his chance of a likely podium finish, but David Coulthard remained as an immovable object for Hamilton until the closing stages of the race.
By the time Rosberg took his penalty he had pulled out a massive lead over his rivals and rejoined in third place, just ahead of Hamilton and Coulthard, which then became second when Trulli pitted.
The script was set for the remaining laps, Alonso had an unexpected lead but was the quickest out there, and Rosberg was tightening his grip on second with every lap that Hamilton spent behind Coulthard.
Alonso grew quicker and was close to the fastest lap, set by, as ever, the hapless Raikkonen. Alonso came in for his final stop on lap 41 and rejoined just in-front of the Hamilton/Coulthard battle.
His presence was enough to distract the retiring Scot and allowed Hamilton through at turn seven.
Alonso's only concern was the second safety car period triggered by a crash from Fisichella. He got a great run at the restart and comfortably took victory by three seconds over Rosberg and Hamilton.
Glock had one of his best races yet as he finished in fourth place, holding off Vettel after passing the Toro Rosso driver in the second round of stops. Nick Heidfeld was quiet down in sixth and Coulthard took seventh while Nakajima got eighth place.
Driver of the day award goes to Nico Rosberg for building such a huge lead after the safety car period and holding second right until the end. Brilliant, and well done to Alonso too.
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about 1 month ago
Nice recap.
I feel bad for Kimi though after having to queue for petrol. And then not being able to correct his car while it was in the air.
Even F1 mechanics can't defy the laws of physics...
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for the pick, and I did feel for Kimi, even my mum did and she supports DC, not that she has had much to shout about over the last few years.
about 1 month ago
good recap michael. it was a fantastic grand prix, i'm glad i missed my football match to watch it!
from about 1 month ago
I have missed many footy games for f1, nothing beats it.
about 1 month ago
It was a great race.
Singapore is by the best addition to the calendar since I start watching F1 in 1997.
There was definitely some luck involved in Alonso's victory but he drove superbly and its great to see him back on the top step again where he belongs.
I really hope we see Alonso back in a competitive car next season.
from about 1 month ago
Great race indeed, and what a great addition too.
Let's hope we get a night race in Europe, say in Monaco. Footy starts near 8 and finishes at 10 so there is an audience for it.
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