So, Lewis Hamilton makes his way to the top of the podium in Shanghai. It’s a familiar feeling for him – his fourth win here, his second in three races this season, and the 35th race win of his career.
Hamilton won a race that was tactical and tight without great drama at the front of the field - but he will be very happy to have held off both his great rival Rosberg, and the challenge from Ferrari, to assert his dominance.
He opens a 13-point lead over Vettel in the drivers’ championships, and on today’s evidence, that heavyweight title bout may have to wait for another season. Thanks for joining me. Bye!
Updated
Full race result
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
- Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
- Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
- Felipe Massa (Williams)
- Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
- Sebastian Grosjean (Lotus)
- Felipe Nasr (Sauber)
- Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
- Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
- Sergio Perez (Force India)
- Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
- Jenson Button (McLaren)
- Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso)
- Will Stevens (Manor)
- Roberto Merhi (Manor)
Retired: Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso), Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India).
Lewis Hamilton wins the Chinese Grand Prix!
Hamilton rolls over the line with the safety car withdrawn on the final corner. Rosberg finishes second, with Ferrari’s Vettel in third. An anti-climactic conclusion, but another deserved win for Hamilton. First in practice, first in qualifying, first throughout the race. Bravo.
Lap 55: The race will finish behind the safety car, with marshals currently scratching their heads, trying to get Verstappen’s stricken Toro Rosso to move. Mechanics eventually have to remove the front wing to squeeze it through a gap in the track barrier. The field pootle past, shaking their heads in unison.
Lap 54: This is a shame. Max Verstappen, who had impressed hugely in his Toro Rosso, has been forced to stop on the pit straight, with engine failure locking his rear wheels! That also means it’s safety car time – a cakewalk for Hamilton to the chequered flag, in other words.
Lap 52: Hamilton continues his serene progress towards the finish line; he picked up a decisive advantage when holding off his rivals in the race’s middle act, forcing them to pit ahead of him.
Pastor Maldonado has had to give up, his car unable to recover from that collision. Here’s his day in pictorial form. Oh, Pastor...
Lap 51: The current top ten tells the story of the last eight laps – it’s the same as eight laps ago, with the action happening further down the field.
Current top ten: 1. Hamilton; 2. Rosberg; 3. Vettel; 4. Raikkonen; 5. Massa; 6. Bottas; 7. Grosjean; 8. Verstappen; 9. Nasr; 10. Ricciardo.
Lap 49: Damage to both Button’s McLaren and Maldonado’s Lotus after that incident. Maldonado has had, let’s say, an eventful race, but he was blameless there as Button missed his braking.
Out in front, Hamilton has maintained his lead, and is just seven trouble-free laps away from his second GP win this season, and his fourth in China.
Lap 48: Just eight laps to go, but with the top six looking well set, the drama is still most plentiful in the middle of the pack, with Button and Maldonado resuming hostilities – before Button clips his rival as he tries to overtake! Alonso, mooching around behind them, zooms past both and into 13th. Both Button and Maldonado are at least able to continue.
Lap 47: Button and Maldonado are scrapping furiously for the glory of 13th position, changing places before the British driver holds off his accident-prone rival. Fernando Alonso is also in pursuit as the two men ahead of him duke it out. It’s not worth much, but good to see the McLarens get involved.
Lap 46: Serene progress for the Mercedes drivers since those final pit stops, with a yawning gap of 16.1 seconds between Rosberg and Vettel. Hamilton remains four-and-a-half seconds ahead of Rosberg, with Raikkonen two seconds behind Vettel. It’s going to be another Mercedes one-two, unless something unfortunate happens.
Lap 44: If you’re wondering how the McLaren duo of Alonso and Button are getting on, they’re currently 15th and 13th respectively, and are serving only as a nuisance to the race leaders, with Raikkonen particularly frustrated as he weaves through the back markers.
Lap 43: Daniil Kvyat has spoken about his early retirement, saying he had problems before his car gave out altogether. “The other cars were faster than me”, said the Russian. That’s never good.
Current top ten: 1. Hamilton; 2. Rosberg; 3. Vettel; 4. Raikkonen; 5. Massa; 6. Bottas; 7. Grosjean; 8. Verstappen; 9. Nasr; 10. Ricciardo.
Updated
Lap 42: Vettel loses another second to Rosberg, while Hamilton’s lead over his team-mate has been cut to 4.5 seconds. Not quite over yet, this. Raikkonen continues to impress – he’s now 3 seconds behind Vettel and is after his podium spot.
Lap 40: Poor Maldonado, down in 14th after his pit stop foul-up, has now spun in a cloud of smoke – but he continues. No need to update this yet, then.
Verstappen, who was born in 1997, overtakes Perez to move up to eighth. It gets worse for the Mexican, as Brazil’s Nasr overtakes him moments later to send him back down to 10th.
Lap 39: A reminder that all of the front four have completed their scheduled pit stops. It’s looking more and more like a battle between the two Mercedes, with Vettel and Raikkonen fighting for the final podium spot.
Lap 38: So, the question now is whether, with less than twenty laps to go, whether the rejuvenated Ferraris can really challenge the Mercedes front two. It’s looking unlikely, with the gap between Rosberg and Vettel growing.
Lap 36: A gap of 5.8 seconds between Hamilton and Rosberg, with the Ferraris a further five seconds back as the race stretches out. Hamilton may have more to contend with than it seems, though – he’s complained that his seat is getting uncomfortably hot. That happened in qualifying, too. That would be a bizarre way to lose a race...
Lap 35: Risible stuff from Maldonado, who had been going well in seventh, as the Lotus driver scoots up an escape round, missing his cue to enter the pits. That will drop him down the field, after he is forced to reverse hurriedly back into the pit lane. Embarrassing.
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Lap 34: Raikkonen goes in to pit, perhaps ahead of plan, which allows Hamilton to resume his strangehold on the race leaderboard. The Finn rejoins the race in fourth, after switching to medium tyres.
Lap 33: Hamilton comes in to pit, and glides back out behind Raikkonen, who is holding off on his second stop. Excellent race management by Hamilton though, who is now six seconds ahead of team-mate Rosberg.
Lap 32: Rosberg, making his final pit stop, re-emerges on Prime tyres ahead of Vettel, with the Ferrari man rejoining in fourth, just two seconds behind.
Current top ten: 1. Hamilton; 2. Raikonnen; 3. Rosberg; 4. Vettel; 5. Massa; 6. Bottas; 7. Maldonado; 8. Grosjean; 9. Verstappen; 10. Ricciardo.
Lap 31: Vettel comes in, and he’s followed by Rosberg rather than Hamilton. A chance for ‘Hammer Time’, or whatever it is he calls it, and the race leader sets a new personal best lap with his rivals in the pits! His tyres will likely be in a much better state than his pursuers after the cat-and-mouse of the last ten laps.
Lap 30: A new round of pits coming up, with Vettel telling his team he is ‘on the limit’. Vettel pitted first last time around, and has been on the same tyres for fifteen laps now. Terrific effort from Ferrari so far; their pace has clearly rattled the Mercedes front-runners.
Lap 29: Hamilton’s casual pace is starting to vex his team – they tell him again to put his foot down, otherwise they might let Nico Rosberg pit first. He won’t like that.
Lap 28: Halfway to the chequered flag already, and the top four, bar pit stops, have remained the same since the first corner – and they are still only separated by four seconds or so.
Lap 27: Ricciardo is trying to salvage something for Red Bull, and he overtakes Ericsson to move up to 11th. But then the Australian overshoots the hairpin, and he’s back to 12th. Drat.
Lap 26: The Mercedes battle heats up, with Rosberg setting a personal best on Lap 25, before Hamilton responds in kind on the following lap. Hamilton’s lead remains the same after that back-and-forth exchange.
Lap 24: Fernando Alonso, way down the field in 14th, is having issues with the fuel dash – or so his team tell him. Carlos Sainz is also in trouble, and heads to the pits to retire, before apparently getting back on track by switching his car on and then off again.
Lap 23: So Hamilton is struggling to get away from the chasing pack, but Rosberg has more immediate problems, with Vettel just 1.5 seconds behind him. Impressive pace from both Ferraris so far, with Raikkonen setting a new fastest lap mark.
Lap 22: 3.8 seconds between Hamilton in first, and Raikkonen in fourth. Competitive. Mercedes ask Hamilton to pick up the pace, so that may well change shortly. Rosberg is complaining that getting any closer to his colleague will do too much damage to his tyres, hence the calls for him to speed up.
Updated
Lap 21: Impressive stuff from 17-year-old Verstappen, overtaking Nasr’s Sauber to move up to ninth. Also worthy of a shout is Will Stevens, the Briton making his Grand Prix debut. He’s down in 17th place for Manor, ahead of team-mate Roberto Merhi.
Lap 20: Strange scenes at the front of the field, with Rosberg complaining over the radio that Hamilton is driving too slowly – despite the British driver being over 2.5 seconds ahead. I thought he wanted to reduce the conversation? The Mercedes drivers are still in first and second, although both Ferraris are making light work of the Shanghai circuit.
Lap 18: Raikkonen sets a new fastest lap, and continues to chase down team-mate Vettel. Hamilton holds off Rosberg, extending his lead by 0.1 seconds, with Rosberg telling his team to “reduce the conversation” over his radio. He seems a spiky fellow.
Lap 17: Daniil Kvyat continues a pretty dreadful weekend for Red Bull, retiring with his car smoking on the side of the track. Christian Horner has a thousand-yard stare on in the pit lane. At the front, Rosberg has shaved 0.8 seconds off Hamilton’s lead.
Current top ten: 1. Hamilton; 2. Rosberg; 3. Vettel; 4. Raikkonen; 5. Massa; 6. Bottas; 7. Maldonado; 8. Grosjean; 9. Nasr; 10. Verstappen.
Updated
Lap 16: Vettel sets a new fastest lap on his fancy new soft tyres, and is now two seconds behind Rosberg, with a three-second gap to leader Hamilton. Raikkonen, in fourth, has pitted.
Lap 15: Hamilton comes in on Lap 14, with Rosberg following suit on the following lap. Solid work in the pits to get both Mercedes men out ahead of Vettel, who had set off in hot pursuit of both drivers.
Lap 13: Plenty of drivers flying into the pits, most notably Sebastien Vettel, who is six seconds behind Rosberg in third. Hamilton is ready to come in on the next lap, and will switch to the soft compound Option tyres. He’s told the team over the radio that things feel fine in the car, but they’re not listening.
Lap 12: Hamilton clocks a new fastest lap, extending his lead over Rosberg. He needs a little breathing space, simply to earn the right to choose whether to pit ahead of his team-mate. Mind games, always, with these two...
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Lap 10: The first retirement of the race, as Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg pulls onto the gravel. The German tells his crew his gearbox had given out on him, or words to that effect. Still that solitary second between Hamilton and Rosberg, with pit stops imminent.
Updated
Lap 9: Young Dutch buck Max Verstappen tears past Marcus Ericsson on the back straight, and into the top ten. Grosjean, Maldonado and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr fill spots six through nine.
Lap 8: Still no movement among the top six, although this graphic shows that the contenders are tearing around the circuit at a similar rate... still Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen at the front of the field.
Lap 7: It’s as you were, although you can expect things to change after Lap 10, when the first round of pit stops kick off. There’s tension in the Red Bull camp, as Daniil Kvyat has to be told to back away from team-mate Ricciardo, with the two Red Bulls locked together in 14th and 15th.
Lap 6: The front of the field remains tightly bunched, although Rosberg has built a lead of two seconds over Vettel in third. The action is currently happening further down the field, with Ricciardo overtaking Fernando Alonso on the outside, round turns six and seven.
Lap 5: Hamilton sets a new fastest lap as he continues to fend off Rosberg. Ricciardo’s start was apparently caused by his car switching to anti-stall mode moments before the lights went out. I hate it when that happens.
Lap 4: Hamilton, by the way, has led throughout the first lap in each of the three Grands Prix so far. Not much of a stat, given there’s only been three races, but still. Less impressive from Danny Ricciardo, who has plummeted from seventh on the grid down to 16th in the first three laps.
Lap 3: One second between the two Mercedes, with around 1.3 seconds between Rosberg and Vettel. Way down the field, Carlos Sainz runs wide and spins his Toro Rosso, but he’s able to continue. He’s in 19th, ahead of back marker Will Stevens.
Lap 2 of 56: Rosberg is not having any of this Hamilton/Vettel battle – he sets the fastest lap, and is gaining on Hamilton in first place.
Updated
Go, go, go
Here we go... Hamilton holds off Rosberg around the opening corners, with Kimi Raikkonen zipping past both Williams to move into fourth! It’s Mercedes, Mercedes, Ferrari, Ferrari as they settle into the first lap.
The race will be underway shortly. There’s already been a bit of needle on the way out of the pits, with Lewis Hamilton annoyed by Vettel getting too close to him. It’s on!
Preamble
Between them, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have snaffled six of the last seven world titles. There hasn’t been a conversation since mid-2009 about a world championship that hasn’t involved one or the other. And yet, think of Formula 1’s great rivalries, and you’ll pass through Hunt and Lauda, Prost and Senna, even Nigel Mansell, before you would pit these two together.
Both drivers have had their mortal enemies - sadly, in an iniquitous era, they have also been their team-mates. For Hamilton, ruthless Mercedes colleague Rosberg; for Vettel, the perennially frustrated Mark Webber. Now, as if from nowhere, there’s the merest hint of a heavyweight battle.
It’s not much more than that, despite Vettel’s dramatic first Ferrari win in Malaysia, with Lewis Hamilton back in cruise control on a track that qualifies as His Turf. Hamilton dominated practice and qualifying to take pole for the fifth time in Shanghai, with only a puce Rosberg in close pursuit, kept on the leash by team orders.
Vettel’s win has at least put the four-time champion back in the thoughts of his rivals, after a dispiriting farewell tour with Red Bull last year. If Hamilton and Vettel finally stop dancing and go mano-a-mano, it would be about time. Neither driver has even graced the podium in a season when the other has snared the title, and that’s unacceptable.
Vettel starts third on the grid; a win, or even coming second to Hamilton, would set up a long-overdue title fight nicely. It’s on. Maybe. The race starts at 7am GMT, 2pm Shanghai time.
We’ll bring you the latest from Shanghai shortly. In the meantime, here’s Richard Williams on Ferrari:
There were tears in the drivers’ weighing room after last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, and tears in the paddock, too. Sebastian Vettel wept as he prepared to celebrate his first win for Ferrari, and the eyes of the team’s technical director, James Allison, moistened as he spoke of the significance of the day’s events. “Every team works hard,” he told the Sky Sports F1 team, “but Ferrari works hard with the weight of history on its shoulders.”
Hence the mass release of emotion not only at the Sepang circuit but back in Maranello, where the bells of the parish church are traditionally rung to celebrate victories for the local team. This was the first call for the bellringers since May 2013, when Fernando Alonso won his home race at the Circuit de Catalunya. The winless run of 34 races was the Scuderia’s longest in 21 years.
Technical directors don’t usually show their feelings so openly. Nor, once upon a time, did drivers. It’s hard to imagine Juan Manuel Fangio crying with joy when he drove to victory in his first race for Ferrari in Buenos Aires in 1956. A man of his generation had seen too much of life and death to feel that tears were an appropriate response to something as essentially frivolous as success in a motor race.
But last Sunday there was no denying the importance of a win. First to Vettel, who had switched at the end of last season from Red Bull, where he captured four titles in a row between 2010 and 2013 but suddenly found himself needing to prove, after one very lacklustre season, that his talent was both intact and transferable. And then to the men who pull the strings at Ferrari and reacted to the prolonged slump with a Godfather-style bloodletting that resulted in new people being installed in each of the team’s most senior positions ...
