lewis Hamilton profited from the chaos to win the Singapore Grand Prix and extend his championship lead on Sunday, while title rival Sebastian Vettel lost huge ground after crashing out on the first lap.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo prevented a Mercedes 1-2 by finishing ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who placed third.
Vettel can have little complaint as he seemed to cause the first-turn mayhem, despite starting from pole position. The crash caused a domino effect, taking out his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mclaren's Fernando Alonso.
Having started from fifth, on one of the toughest tracks in Formula One for overtaking, Hamilton could not believe his luck. The field opened up perfectly for the British driver to seal his third straight win, seventh of the season and 60th overall.
"I capitalized on the incident," Hamilton said. "Who could have known that would happenIJ"
He now has a commanding 28-point lead over Vettel with just six races remaining.
For the highly consistent Ricciardo, it was a seventh podium in the past 10 races.
Carlos Sainz Jr secured a career-best fourth place for Toro Rosso, with Force India's Sergio Perez in fifth.
Vettel took pole with a super performance in qualifying, but his form didn't translate to the race.
Following a massive downpour several hours beforehand, more heavy showers soaked the Marina Bay circuit just before the 8 pm race.
The treacherous conditions might have made Vettel a bit nervous, even on a track where he holds the record with four wins.
After making a hesitant start, the four-time F1 champion veered hastily left as he tried to counter Verstappen's strong start. It was a needless move, and squeezed Verstappen and Raikkonen for room, causing them to collide on the inside.
Raikkonen's wobbling car then tagged Vettel's before spinning across the track, careering spectacularly into Verstappen and Alonso — who was in the right place at the wrong time after making a superb start.
Hamilton picked his spot, avoiding any danger as he moved into the lead, with Ricciardo jumping up from third on the grid to second.
After a few laps behind the safety car, the race resumed on lap 7 with huge spray flying up from the cars.
Vettel, meanwhile, was back in the garage contemplating the heavily damaged front wing and left of his car.
"Sorry guys. Sorry," he said, contritely. "Really sorry."
In comments made to British broadcaster Sky, Vettel tried to explain his side of things.
"I didn't see that much," he said. "I saw Max and then next thing I see is Kimi hitting the side of me and Max somewhere there."
Perez extends contract
Perez will stay with Force India next year after the Formula One team announced a one-year contract extension on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Mexican driver will continue to partner Frenchman Esteban Ocon in 2018, the team said at the Singapore Grand Prix, where he finished fifth in the concluded race, while his French partner finished 10th.
Perez has seven F1 podiums in his career, four with Force India and the other three all during a breakthrough season with Sauber in 2012 that earned him a move to Mclaren in 2013.
He spent only one season at Mclaren as lewis Hamilton's replacement, driving alongside veteran Jenson Button in a partnership that proved largely disappointing.