Singapore: Britain's Lewis Hamilton eased to victory from pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday as the Mercedes driver extended his championship lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to 40 points with six rounds remaining.

Hamilton held off a mid-race challenge from Red Bull's Max Verstappen to register a record-equalling fourth triumph at the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit track, while Vettel finished third to slip further behind in the title race.

"Great job everyone, what a weekend... keep pushing, keep pushing, we've got this," Hamilton told his team over the radio soon after crossing the line. Hamilton's 69th overall victory was his seventh of the season and it was built on the foundations of a stunning qualifying lap on Saturday, when he stormed to pole in a car deemed inferior to the Ferraris and Red Bulls on this circuit.

For Vettel and Ferrari, it was another disappointing weekend after the car showed plenty of pace through all three practice sessions, the German's cause not helped by a questionable strategy and a poor pitstop.

Hamilton won this race from the third row a year ago when Vettel, Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen collided on the opening lap but there was no repeat of such drama this time after the drivers got off to a clean start at the head of the field.

There has, however, been a safety car period in all 10 races in Singapore since it joined Formula One in 2008 and it was deployed on the opening lap after Sergio Perez pushed his Force India teammate Esteban Ocon into a wall after Turn Three. "Sorry guys there was no room," Perez told his team over the radio.

Vettel got past Verstappen before the safety car emerged and slotted in behind Hamilton, but his race unravelled when the German pitted first on the 14th lap but got stuck in traffic and overtaken by the Dutchman when he made his stop for fresh tyres.

Hamilton was cruising up front but suffered a mini-crisis on the 38th lap when he got stuck in a queue of tail-enders, which allowed Verstappen to get right up behind him.

The Dutchman had a look up the inside as Hamilton struggled to pass the back markers but the Briton just stayed ahead and was able to pull clear all the way to the chequered flag once he had a clear track ahead of him.

Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas held off a prolonged late challenge from Raikkonen in the other Ferrari to claim fourth place, the pair finishing just ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who was closing in on them in the final laps.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso came home in seventh, with Renault's Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg claiming eighth and 10th respectively, either side of Sauber's Charles Leclerc. "It definitely got a little bit interesting towards the end with the back markers as you could already feel the draft from the cars when you were five and six seconds behind," Hamilton added.

"And you can't really see the blue flags (telling back markers to move aside), they are quite dark."Overall we had a very strong package, both Kimi and myself looked very competitive throughout practice, but in the end, the race result, we finished third and fifth," Vettel said. "Like yesterday, not where the speed of our car belongs."

At the front, there was a distinct lack of tension, as the drivers spent the vast majority of the race lapping seconds off their maximum potential to ensure they made the appropriate stint lengths.

It was a similar story to Monaco in May, when the hyper-soft tyre was also used and teams were similarly trying to eke their tyres out to do a one-stop strategy.

Once he had fended off Verstappen's attack, Hamilton cruised to victory, the Dutchman held at arm's length, and Vettel cruising similarly behind. Their teammates Bottas, Raikkonen and Ricciardo were playing a similar game of cat and mouse as they took the remaining positions in the top six.

There is a two-week break before the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, with the Japanese Grand Prix at superlative Suzuka a week later. Vettel needs to start beating Hamilton fast, but it is looking more and more like the Englishman's season.<"><">Verstappen was delighted to claim a hard-fought second place. The Dutch started on the front row next to pole-sitter Hamilton and after getting passed by Vettel on the opening lap, a perfectly timed pitstop put him back out ahead of the German and he maintained that position to the chequered flag.

"Yeah, it was not bad. A shame from the first lap, but you can clearly see we missed top speed. But from there on, the team had a great strategy so we could get back into second," Verstappen said.

"Basically we did our own race, tried to follow Lewis a little bit and at the end we knew second was going to be result so you just bring it home."

Agencies

SINGAPORE GP

Results

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:51:11.611; 2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +8.961s; 3. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) +39.945s; 4. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +51.930s; 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +53.001s; 6. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) +53.982s; 7. Fernando Alonso (Renault) +103.011s; 8. Carlos Sainz (Renault) +1 lap; 9. Charles Leclerc (Sauber) +1 lap; 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) +1 lap; 11. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) +1 lap; 12. Stoffel Vandoorne (Mclaren) +1 lap; 13. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) +1 lap; 14. Lance Stroll (Williams) +1 lap; 15. Romain Grosjean (Haas) +1 lap; 16. Sergio Perez (Force India) +1 lap; 17. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso) +1 lap; 18. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +2 laps; 19. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) +2 laps.
Did not finish:  Esteban Ocon (Force India).  

Standings

Drivers: 1. Lewis Hamilton 281; 2.Sebastian Vettel 241; 3. Kimi Raikkonen 174; 4. Valtteri Bottas 171; 5. Max Verstappen 148; 6. Daniel Ricciardo 126; 7. Nico Hulkenberg 53; 8. Fernando Alonso 50; 9. Kevin Magnussen 49; 10. Sergio Perez 46; 11. Esteban Ocon 45; 12. Carlos Sainz 38; 13. Pierre Gasly 28; 14. Romain Grosjean 27; 15. Charles Leclerc 15; 16. Stoffel Vandoorne 8; 17. Lance Stroll 6; 18. Marcus Ericsson 6; 19. Brendon Hartley 2; 20. Sergey Sirotkin 1. 
Constructors: 1. Mercedes 452; 2. Ferrari 415; 3. Red Bull 274; 4. Renault 91; 5. Haas 76; 6. Mclaren 58; 7. Force India 32; 8. Toro Rosso 30; 9. Sauber 21; 10. Williams 7.