Lewis Hamilton was delighted to make the most of his good fortune at the Singapore Grand Prix after Formula One world championship title rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out in a dramatic race.

Vettel and Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen both collided with Max Verstappen before the first corner and all three ultimately retired at a rainy Yas Marina Circuit.

Hamilton was the beneficiary, moving to the front and remaining there to stretch his lead in the standings to 28 points after fending off Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

"I want to congratulate the team. It's amazing points," said Hamilton after Sunday's success, his seventh of the season. "Yesterday we struggled and had no idea what was going to happen today.

"It was very fortunate with the Ferraris at the beginning. I'm really thankful.

"God blessed me for sure. I capitalised on the incident. Who would've known that would happen? It's really unfortunate for Ferraris, but great for the team.

"Daniel put up a great fight. I hoped I would be fighting Sebastian. It's better the way it is and I'm glad we got it home.

"You are just focused on winning. I needed it to rain and as soon as it did I knew where I was going to finish. I knew I had the pace when it rains, just not in the dry."

Second-placed Ricciardo claimed a podium in Singapore for the fourth time, but he has never stood on the top step and it is starting to bother the Australian.

"I can't win the bloody thing! I am trying," said the Red Bull driver. "We didn't have the Friday pace, little disappointed to miss out on a win, but I am still grateful with another podium.

"I watched the chaos unfold in front of me. It was probably good that I had a bad start. It looked like three tried to go into one. I don't know whose fault it was."