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Lewis Hamilton wins Chinese GP ahead of Sebastian Vettel
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
With his win, Hamilton now sits tied for the points lead with Vettel heading into next week’s race in Bahrain.
Conditions were damp at the start of the race with almost every car starting on intermediate tires. Carlos Sainz was an exception as was Jolyon Palmer who came in to switch to slicks at the end of the formation lap.
Lewis Hamilton led the field away for the first of 56 laps and it was a rather clean start for the front-runners.
However, a Virtual Safety Car was deployed at the end of the first lap following an incident between Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll that led to the rookie retiring from the race.
Many drivers, including Sebastian Vettel, elected to pit under the Virtual Safety Car for dries, but it ended up not working in their favor as - as soon as the Virtual Safety Car was lifted - a full Safety Car period was deployed after Antonio Giovinazzi spun into the wall on the front straight.
Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas were the only drivers who had yet to pit, and they were able to pit under the Safety Car and still lead the field back to green on Lap 7 on dry tires. However, Bottas spun under the Safety Car and dropped to 12th.
Max Verstappen soon disposed of his Red Bull Racing teammate Daniel Ricciardo for second. This meant that Verstappen had moved up 14 spots in the opening 11 laps.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel was also on a charge, passing teammate Kimi Raikkonen with an inside-dive and then former teammate Ricciardo with an amazing move around the outside, moving him up to third.
Vettel was then gifted second when Verstappen locked up and overshot the hairpin. Verstappen had a flat-spot on the left-front and so had to pit for a new set of supersofts, dropping him back to sixth.
However, Verstappen then began setting fast laps and moving up through the field, forcing those ahead of him to pit too.
After the round of stops, Hamilton led Vettel, Verstappen and Ricciardo while Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz found himself in fifth ahead of Raikkonen and Bottas. Raikkonen used his fresh tires to blast by Sainz en route to a fifth-place finish.
Ricciardo closed in on his Red Bull teammate for Verstappen in the closing laps of the race but could not find a way by.
"Today was very, very tough for us all," said Hamilton on the podium. "We went out on the inters initially on the laps to the grid and then I tried the slick which was impossible and then we all started on inters and it was very, very hard because there was a lot of dry patches but a couple of corners that were wet, so trying to keep the car on the track and take care of the tires at the same time was very tough.
"I just want to say a big thank you to this team, I'm so tremendously proud of everyone on my own personal team but also in terms of my own race staff and that, my team who worked so hard back at the factory to make this possible."
Unofficial race results:
1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
3. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
4. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull
5. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
6. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes
7. Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso
8. Kevin Magnussen - Haas
9. Sergio Perez - Force India
10. Esteban Ocon - Force India
11. Romain Grosjean - Haas
12. Nico Hulkenberg - Renault
13. Jolyon Palmer - Renault
14. Felipe Massa - Williams
15. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber
16. Fernando Alonso - McLaren (DNF)
17. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso (DNF)
18. Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren (DNF)
19. Antonio Giovinazzi - Sauber (DNF)
20. Lance Stroll - Williams (DNF)
