Di Resta finishes career-best 4th at Singapore GP

Di Resta, for whom a sixth place result was best so far, was helped by Lewis Hamilton's retirement, whose MacLaren had a mechanical failure in lap 23.

Hulkenberg finished 14th after starting from 12th but set the fastest lap of the race with 1min 51.033secs.

Hamilton was leading the race smoothly from pole position before his gearbox stopped responding. It helped Di Resta move up to fifth from sixth.

It was a blow to Hamilton's championship chances as a no-point show has now pushed him to fourth place with 142 points.

Hamilton's crashing out handed the race lead to Sebastian Vettel, who kept it till the end won the only night Formula One race, which was completed under two-hour time restriction.

Jenson Button was second in the second McLaren and was followed by championship leader Fernando Alonso, who leads Vettel by 24 points.

With this result, Force India have consolidated their seventh position in the constructors' championship as they have extended their lead over Williams by 21 points.

Willams' Pastor Maldando, who was going strong fourth after starting from second on the grid, had to retire due to a hydraulic failure and it crushed their hopes of catching up Force India.

Nico Rosberg was fifth, followed by Raikonnen and Romain Grosjean in two Lotus cars. Felipe Massa was eighth in the second Ferrari, followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Mark Webber.

India's Narain Karthikeyan retired after crashing into the walls in the tunnel under the Grand Stand in lap 34 and was one of the six drivers who did not finish the race.

Michael Schumacher hit Toro Rosso's Jean Eric-Vergne from behind in lap 37, ending the race for both of them.