Fernando Alonso won today’s inaugural Grand Prix of Singapore and unleashed a cavalcade of firsts: the first Formula 1 race in Singapore, the first ever Formula 1 race to be held under lights at night and the first win for Alonso and Renault this year.

Alonso was fortunate to pit just before his teammate Nelson Piquet crashed into the wall, bringing out the safety car and closing the pits. When the pits reopened the rest of the field either had to pit or serve a penalty for pitting while the pits were closed and Alonso collected the lead. While Alonso’s win was unexpected it was not entirely down to luck as the Renaults were fast all weekend and Alonso thought they had a good chance of victory before he was let down by an engine problem during qualifying.

Unlike the street race in Valencia this event was quite entertaining and the lighting really showed off the paint schemes on the cars. Some of the drivers complained about the height of the curbs and some bumpy patches but the crowd seemed to have a great time and no doubt much money was spent by all.

Lewis Hamilton finished third but was probably not too upset as neither of the Ferraris scored any points at all. He now has a seven point lead with just three races to go. McLaren passed Ferrari to take a single point lead in the constructors’ championship.

Kimi Raikkonen finished 15th after hitting the wall while running in fifth place with three laps to go. Felipe Massa finished just two places ahead of him after a disastrous pit stop… first he drove away with the fuel hose still attached, ripping it from its connection and knocking a crewman to the ground. Then he had to wait at the end of pit lane until his mechanics could reach him to remove the hose and send him on his way. To add to his problems he almost hit Adrian Sutil (again!) when he left his pit and so he received a drive-through penalty.

The instant-replay showed that Massa had been released by his team and so it wasn’t his fault. While Ferrari’s automated traffic-light pit release system is innovative, it apparently doesn’t work very well as this is the second such mistake and they really should either get it right or go back to the old lollipop system before someone is seriously hurt.

Complete GP of Singapore results.