Nico Rosberg has won the Singapore Grand Prix, taking his third win in a row and regaining the championship lead, with an eight point advantage over Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.

The German led the race from start to finish but faced a challenge from Daniel Ricciardo who came to within four tenths of a second of Rosberg on the final lap.

Lewis Hamilton was a distant third, ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen whom he was able to get by at the final round of pit stops after initially struggling behind the 2007 champion.

Raikkonen tried to regain the final podium position as the pair navigated through traffic in the closing stages of the race but had to settle for fourth.

Perhaps the revelation of the race was Sebastian Vettel who finished fifth. After starting last, the Ferrari driver raced a long stint on Pirelli's soft tyre at the start of the race, and carved his way through the field to break into the top five.

He finished ahead of Max Verstappen who triggered a dramatic accident at the start of the race when he made a poor getaway off of the grid. The incident saw  Nico Hulkenberg end up in the wall, and the race's only safety car period.

Verstappen past Fernando Alonso late in the race for sixth, while Sergio Perez took eighth, giving Force India vital points to move them ahead of William to fourth in the championship. Williams failed to score with Felipe Massa in 12th and Bottas failing to make the finish.

Verstappen's Red Bull Racing predecessor Daniil Kvyat was ninth after battling with the Dutch teenager earlier on in the race.

Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten, giving Renault their second points finish since returning as a works team at the start of the year. The Dane finished one spot ahead of Esteban Gutierrez who took his fifth 11th place finish of the season as his agonising wait for his first points for Haas continues.

Brake problems were an ongoing theme of the weekend with both Mercedes drivers being warned of brake problems throughout the race. Jenson Button also failed to finish because of brake issues, while a brake-by-wire failure meant that Romain Grosjean wasn't even able to start the race.

Valtteri Bottas was the other retirement from the race besides Hulkenberg at the start, after his engine overheated when he was forced to take an extended pit stop to fix a seat belt problem.

Rosberg's eighth win of season to Hamilton's six gives him an eight point lead over Hamilton in the championship with just six races remaining.