In the first ever night race in the Formula One history, Renault's Fernando Alonso took the chequered flag at the Singapore Grand Prix, after he started 15 place on the grid at the Marina Bay Area Street Circuit. The Spaniard driver who clinched his 20th win of career, attained his first factory since last year's Italian Grand Prix. The 27- year old driver scored his first win of the season with a winning time of 1 hour 57 minutes 16.304 seconds for the 61 laps of the 5.067 kilometres for a race distance of 309.087 kilometres.

Williams' Nico Rosberg of Germany came second (his best-ever grand prix finish) and was 2.95 seconds behind the winner, and Maclaren's Lewis Hamilton was third. Toyota driver Timo Glock was fourth with Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel coming fifth. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld took the sixth position.

Lewis Hamilton extends his championship lead to 7 points after Felipe Massa of Ferrari finished down in 13th spot after a pit stop disaster.

Points continued to elude Force India in the current Formula One season with Ginacarlo Fisichella finishing 14th and Adrian Sutil failing to complete the race as he Sutil crashed out after having a brush with the wall on lap 49 when running behind Felipe Massa.

On Sunday night in Singapore, a city state of 4.8 million people, the glamorous skyline of Singapore provided the backdrop as a visual treat for television watchers. The only hitch for the drivers was the sinuous, bumpy, dusty and narrow track that acted as an obstacle and the hot and humid climate adding to their woes. The race was the 15th round of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship and the timing of the night event meant that it could be broadcast live at a convenient time for European TV audiences. The track was also illuminated by a series of projectors which adapt their output to match the shape of the course. Around 110,000 tickets were made available for the country's first Formula One race.

Comments By The Readers