SINGAPORE - It was a circuit he dreaded, but it hardly mattered. Nico Rosberg broke his Singapore Grand Prix duck when he took the chequered flag on Sunday (Sept 18) night.

The occasion was extra sweet for the 31-year-old German, who was competing in his 200th race. He ousted Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who finished just 0.488sec behind in second place.

Teammate Lewis Hamilton finished in third, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Four-time Singapore GP winner Sebastian Vettel, who started behind the grid, had an astounding race and finished fifth.

At the finish, Rosberg could hardly conceal his joy, shouting "Yes guys, come on" into his radio set. "Finally, in Singapore."

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The race got off to a chaotic start, when Force India's Nico Hulkenberg crashed into a wall less than 20 metres into the race. The safety car was deployed - as it has been in all editions of the Singapore GP.

A race marshal then narrowly got out of Rosberg's way after the safety car restart.

Despite the drama, Rosberg's win saw him leapfrog Hamilton in the drivers standings into first place. He has 273 points after 15 races, ahead of Hamilton (265) and Ricciardo (179).

"It's been an awesome weekend in Singapore for me...of course Daniel tried to pull one on me at the end, but we managed to hold him off," Rosberg said after the race.

"I'm really, really happy."