Hamilton happy to increase lead

The Briton, who arrived in Singapore with a one-point lead over Ferrari's Felipe Massa, left the Asian country seven points ahead after the Brazilian and his team had a day to forget when he was dominating the race.

With just three races left, Hamilton welcomed the increased gap.

"I honestly can't complain," said Hamilton. "We were competitive in the first stint, and with the safety car we were fortunate to get out.

"It was just a bit unfortunate to be stuck in traffic. Nevertheless to have a podium finish in first Singapore night race is a great result. I can't complain, seven points I am quite happy with."

The McLaren driver, who was right behind Nico Rosberg after the second restart, said he did not want to take any risks, seeing that both the Ferraris were out of the points.

"Obviously I was trying to get as close to Nico (Rosberg) as possible and see if there was an opportunity there," said Hamilton of the final laps. "I did not need to take any risks with both Ferrari out of the points.

"I pushed as much as I could but when you get close to someone it is impossible to overtake. It's not great circuit to overtake. I anticipated it would be hardest circuit to drive on but it was nowhere near so I am pretty happy.

"The first few laps I behind Felipe, and I was quite quick compared to him. Unfortunately my rear tyres dropped away a little bit. They (Ferrari) are great at using their tyres but we came through a tough weekend and got some good points so I am very, very happy."

He added: "For sure, it is all about scoring points. We came here with a one-point lead and I could see Ferrari were very competitive. I knew it would be very tough to beat them and especially after the start I could see I was behind."

Hamilton also insisted his championship lead will not make him change his approach in the remaining three races.

"We are going to approach the next few races exactly the same. I have no doubts we have a competitive package to compete with them but I have no doubt it will be a very tough battle."