MOTORSPORT: Mercedes have taken a stranglehold on F1 world title

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have taken a stranglehold on Formula 1's world titles after winning in Singapore, while Toyota has jumped ahead of Hyundai in the World Rally Championship after its third straight win – this time at the revived Rally Turkey.

Estonian driver Ott Tanak delivered the Japanese manufacturer its hat-trick, while his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala was second in another Yaris – the Finn's best finish of the year.

Driver after driver fell by the wayside in the gruelling Turkish conditions, including Hyundai's championship leader Thierry Neuville and five-time world champion Sebastien Ogier in his Ford Fiesta.

New Zealander Hayden Paddon claimed a season-best result – third in the third Hyundai i20, but more than 1¾ minutes behind Tanak.

Australia's Daniel Ricciardo was only sixth in the Singapore Grand Prix as the drivers in the top three teams finished in the order they qualified, with the carsales.com.au global ambassador's Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen second to Hamilton and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel third, ahead of Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).

"The race was a bit as we expected, but we hoped for some sort of ultimate strategy," Ricciardo said.

"We tried something different by going long on the hypersoft [tyres] and we had good pace, but a street circuit is only really great if you are on pole – otherwise it's not only hard to overtake but even to follow.

"I really had to hope for a mistake or that Kimi and Valtteri would start tangling and I could capitalise. I got close at turn 13 on the last lap, but it wasn't close enough.

"Street circuits are my favourite tracks to drive, but they can also be frustrating.

"I would have loved to fight for something more today but I couldn't.

"I hope in Russia [the next GP in Sochi on September 30] everything will fall into place. We'll keep fighting, try to get better and maybe we can get a win at a circuit where we don't expect it."

Ott Tanak has ignited the WRC with his three straight wins in his first season with the Tommi Makinen-run Toyota team after departing M-Sport Ford, where five-time world champion Sebastien Ogier is the clear No.1.

Tanak is now second in the drivers' championship with 164 points to Hyundai team leader Neuville's 177, and Ogier on 154.

Toyota has taken the lead in the manufacturer standings with 284 points to Hyundai's 279, with M-Sport Ford on 244 and Citroen 169.

Only three rounds remain, the next being Rally Great Britain in Wales on October 4-7. Then it's the Spanish round at the end of that month, with Rally Australia the finale at Coffs Harbour on November 15-18.

The key to Tanak's success in the searing heat on Turkey's rocky roads was caution.

He climbed from ninth midway through Friday's opening leg to win by 22.3sec from teammate Jari-Matti Latvala.

"It was so difficult," Tanak said. "On Friday we knew if we finished in the top five or six we would be happy. Since the start it wasn't a rally where the fastest would win, it would be the smartest. We did the whole rally without any stops and now the championship looks interesting."

Tanak moved into the lead of one of the most dramatic rounds in years on Saturday after Neuville and Ogier retired – the Belgian after a suspension failure on his i20 and the Frenchman after going off road and his Fiesta hitting a tree – although both returned later and topped the final power stage.

Neuville won that, collecting five bonus points, while Ogier – already back up to 10th after Welsh teammate Elfyn Evans deliberately incurred time penalties to drop behind him – was second, earning him four bonus points, and Tanak was third.

Lewis Hamilton's victory for Mercedes in Singapore on a street circuit that was expected to favour Ferrari and Red Bull was his seventh of the season, fourth on the Asian island-state and 69th of his career.

He's now 40 points clear of Sebastian Vettel (281-241) in their race to become a five-time world champion with six rounds left.

Hamilton had produced a stunning pole position lap on Saturday and then dominated on Sunday night as cockpit temperatures soared to around 55 degrees, which he said made it perhaps his hardest race, and Ferrari faltered again.

The only threat to the Brit came when he was stuck behind backmarkers and Max Verstappen closed on him, but at the chequered flag the young Dutchman was almost nine seconds behind him and Vettel almost 40.

Vettel said Ferrari's third and fifth places were "not where the speed of our car belongs".

"We didn't get everything out of ourselves. What we tried to do didn't work," he said.

"Lewis said he didn't expect to come here and gain 10 points and we probably didn't expect to lose 10."

However, Vettel said Ferrari had "no need to be afraid of what's coming" at the remaining six tracks, although Mercedes has won all four races in Sochi – Hamilton two of them – since Russia was added to the F1 calendar in 2014.

Mercedes leads the constructors' championship with 452 points to Ferrari on 415 and Red Bull on 274.

Daniel Ricciardo, who will switch to Renault's factory team next year, is sixth in the driver standings on 126 points – 22 behind Red Bull teammate Verstappen.

Kimi Raikkonen is third on 174, with Valtteri Bottas now just three behind him on 171.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso finished seventh in Singapore but Honda has refused to supply an engine for his expected IndyCar effort next season.

His Spanish countryman Carlos Sainz Junior and German Nico Hulkenberg were eighth and 10th last night for Renault, either side of the Sauber team's 20-year-old Charles Leclerc, who will swap places with Raikkonen next season.