SINGAPORE — In Formula One's first night race, Renault's Fernando Alonso captured the Singapore Grand Prix after starting 15th on the grid Sunday while McLaren's Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead.

Alonso won for the 20th time in his career, his first victory since last year's Italian Grand Prix. Williams' Nico Rosberg was second, his best Grand Prix finish, and Hamilton was third.

Aloson was way back on the grid after a fuel pump failed during qualifying. On Sunday, the Spaniard benefited from an early safety car period that turned the race around.

"After qualifying, our hopes were gone already," Alonso said. "It was nearly over, but it shows that Formula One is unpredictable on Sunday."

Hamilton extended his championship lead to seven points because of a turn of events that cost title rival Felipe Massa of Ferrari any points. The Brazilian led early from the pole, but his race was ruined when he pitted after the end of a safety car period at the start of the 20th lap.

Massa pulled away from his stop prematurely, taking the fuel rig and hose with him up the pit lane. He knocked over one of his mechanics, who needed medical treatment, and almost collided with another car.

By the time the crew sprinted the length of pit lane and got the rig out of the car, Massa had dropped from the lead to 18th and last. He then incurred a drive-through penalty for an "unsafe release from a pit stop." Massa finished in 13th place.

That was not the end of Ferrari's trouble, with reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen crashing out on the 58th of 61 laps. The Italian team's pointless finish and Hamilton's third place lifted McLaren to the top of the constructors' standings by one point.

Toyota's Timo Glock was fourth and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel took fifth. In sixth was BMW's Nick Heidfeld, ahead of Red Bull's David Coulthard and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima.

Alonso has been considering leaving Renault during what was until Sunday a very disappointing year. Asked if the Singapore victory would keep him with the French team, Alonso said: "It's not changing the decision about next year. Renault will be my first priority because I feel at home in this team."

Rosberg led the race and BMW's Robert Kubica was fourth after the first set of stops and safety-car period. But they were subsequently penalized with stop-go penalties for pitting under safety car conditions before clearance was given. They had to stop because of lack of fuel.

Rosberg got the benefit of delaying his stop-go penalty for a few laps at the front of the field. Even after his penalty he emerged only just behind Alonso.

Red Bull's Mark Webber was running in second place, a second behind Alonso, when gear trouble forced him to quit in the middle of the race.

The safety car was deployed again on the 52nd lap after Force India's Adrian Sutil hit a barrier and blocked turn 18. That stacked the field together, negating the 23.5-second lead Alonso built. The Spaniard, however, immediately sprinted away from the field upon resumption of racing and won by 2.9 seconds.