Thanks for joining us today, the title race is back on level terms and you get the feeling it’s going to be a few months yet before we get a real indication about whether Hamilton or Vettel is going to win the title.
We’ll see the next instalment in this rivalry next week. Stay tuned to our F1 coverage in the lead-up to the Bahrain race. For now, here’s your race report from Shanghai:
Updated
Here’s the official word on the placings:
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (LAP 56/56): After a frantic start, @LewisHamilton produces a flawless drive #ChineseGP 🇨🇳 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Em2zz7huhB
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2017
This is what the animated GIF was invented for:
It’s a P3 and a first podium of the season for Max! 🏆👏 A stunning drive sees our Dutchman gain 13 (😉) places from his P16 start 😱 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/4T0rjn3WEN
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 9, 2017
Our final race order:
1 - Hamilton
2 - Vettel
3 - Verstappen
4 - Ricciardo
5 - Raikkonen
6 - Bottas
7 - Sainz
8 - Magnussen
9 - Perez
10 - Ocon
11 - Grosjean
12 - Hulkenberg
13 - Palmer
14 - Massa
15 - Ericsson
The DNFs were Alonso, Kvyat, Vandoorne, Giovinazzi and Stroll.
Hamilton wins in China!
Lap 56 - Lewis Hamilton wins in China! He’s levelled the title race with Vettel at 44 points each, with what turned out to be a relatively comfortable victory. Vettel could consider himself unlucky to have come in under the Virtual Safety Car only for the Giovinazzi crash to bring out another safety car.
In the battle for third Verstappen holds off Ricciardo after a late scare when Dan had a big look in the last few corners. When he didn’t get through Ricciardo locked up his tires but stayed on the track and well in front of Raikkonnen to take fourth.
Lap 55 - The penultimate lap sees Hamilton successfully keep the lead at 6.8 seconds, and he’s on his way to victory. Meanwhile Verstappen might have done just enough to keep Ricciardo at bay and make the podium.
Lap 54 - The ongoing saga of Verstappen vs Grosjean and the blue flags continue. Max is irritated that the Haas is still sitting in front, but he’s not getting close enough to really challenge Grosjean. Ricciardo has a look but can’t take him.
Meanwhile Hamilton has successfully held back the challenge, he’s 6.7 seconds up.
Lap 53 - Hamilton’s gap is 6.5 seconds - and perhaps Vettel can get close enough to put some pressure on him but he’s definitely left his run too late.
Lap 52 - Vettel has reduced the gap to seven seconds, but unless they’re ordered to do another 100 laps he’s not going to catch Hamilton by Lap 56. Verstappen is still unhappy about Grosjean not being blue flagged in front of him.
Lap 51 - Ricciardo can’t get close enough to have a crack at Verstappen, but Max is starting to get tense at the looming overtaking manouevre on Roman Grosjean’s Haas. The gap at the front is still 7.5 seconds.
Lap 50 - Vettel is only making the slightest inroads, back to 7.8 seconds behind. He’s certainly not doing enough to get Hamilton within six laps. Meanwhile Ricciardo has closed to half a second behind Verstappen.
Lap 49 - As Hamilton continues to hold court at the front by just under eight seconds, Magnussen grabs 8th over Perez. Meanwhile Ocon is still 10th, while Massa has now also dropped behind Grosjean and down to 12th.
Lap 48 - Hamilton’s still 8.1 seconds in front, while we watch the battle between Perez and Magnussen for 8th. Verstappen is still holding Ricciardo by 1.2 seconds.
Lap 47 - The gap is 8.4 seconds, so unless something weird and wonderful happens here Hamilton and Mercedes are going to level the series with Vettel and Ferrari at 1-1 going to Bahrain next week.
Lap 46 - In the battle for the last point, experience stays in front of youth for much of the lap with Felipe Massa holding Esteban Ocon at bay. The Frenchman eventually nabs 10th place near the end of the lap.
Our top 10:
1 - Hamilton
2 - Vettel
3 - Verstappen
4 - Ricciardo
5 - Raikkonen
6 - Bottas
7 - Sainz
8 - Perez
9 - Magnussen
10 - Ocon
Lap 45 - Hamilton has got the pace to keep Vettel at bay, still 8.3 seconds in the lead. Verstappen has still got two seconds on Ricciardo.
Lap 44 - The Vettel challenge has been stamped out, the lead is now 8.3 seconds. In the battle for third Ricciardo is now two seconds behind Verstappen.
Massa has passed Ocon for 10th and the last point scoring position.
Lap 43 - Raikkonen is still trying to get past Ricciardo, three seconds down at the end of the lap. Hamilton’s lead is now 7.7 seconds and he still should be ok unless there’s mechanical issues.
Lap 42 - Raikkonen gets past Sainz and into fifth, with a 15 second gap to fourth placed Ricciardo. Hamilton is now holding firm at the front, just under eight seconds ahead.
Lap 41 - It’s eight seconds at the front, with a further nine from Vettel to Verstappen. The big battle in the top 10 at the moment is currently Raikkonen vs Sainz for 5th. They’ve got Bottas four seconds behind them.
Lap 40 - Raikkonen finally pits, if only for his own sanity. He rejoins the race in sixth. The gap between Hamilton and Vettel is 8.2 seconds, and the German is starting to catch up with 15 laps to go.
Down the field Magnussen has passed Ocon for 10th.
Lap 39 - Raikkonen is not happy at all with his car, and even the lapped Roman Grosjean in 12th is catching him. He’s now eight seconds behind Hamilton, with Vettel a further 1.4 behind him.
Lap 38 - Hamilton extends his lead to 5.5 seconds, and our current top 10 is:
1 - Hamilton
2 - Raikkonen
3 - Vettel
4 - Verstappen
5 - Ricciardo
6 - Sainz
7 - Bottas
8 - Perez
9 - Ocon
10 - Magnussen
Out of the points are Massa, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Palmer and Ericsson. Out of the race are Alonso, Kvyat, Vandoorne, Giovinazzi and Stroll.
Lap 37 - In comes Hamilton for his second stop. He’s out in 3.2 seconds, and rejoins the race in the lead by three seconds. They didn’t need to get him through to the end on the original tires, and it’s Lewis’ race to lose now. Vettel is six seconds behind Raikkonen in third.
Lap 36 - We’ve got 15 drivers left, with Jolyon Palmer the last man on track. And in comes Bottas. Hamilton is going to be next in.
Lap 35 - And after all that hard work to duel with Sainz, Alonso is out of the race. He’s pulled off the track and retired with mechanical issues. Early day for McLaren. Vettel has pitted, and he’s back out in third behind Raikkonen and Hamilton.
Lap 34 - Sainz and Alonso have a ding-dong all-Spaniard battle which ends with the Toro Rosso man grabbing 7th. Hamilton leads by 12 seconds.
Lap 33 - Raikkonen is continuing to fight his car, reporting that he’s having problems with a tire. Meanwhile Verstappen has snatched fifth back from Bottas.
Lap 32 - Hamilton reports that his tires “don’t feel good”, which is not good news if he’s hoping to get through to Lap 56. Nevertheless he’s opened a 12.6 second lead and has just ripped out the fastest lap of the race at 1:36:71.
Lap 31 - Now Vettel is starting to move, with the gap down to less than 11 seconds. He’ll need to pick up time quicker than that if he’s going to challenge.
Lap 30 - The gap is still 11.7 seconds, and Vettel hasn’t made any ground on Hamilton since getting in front of Verstappen. Max is down to sixth after his stop, now behind Raikkonen and Bottas.
Lap 29 - Now Vettel is clear of traffic, and has an 11.3 second gap to overhaul in the next 27 laps. Verstappen remains third, just in front of Ricciardo but is pitting to get that tire looked at.
Lap 28 - The best action of the lap was in the battle for 13th between Grosjean and Palmer, as the Haas man locked up his breaks and slid past the Renault.
At the front the gap is nearly 10 seconds, but Vettel is no less than a second behind Verstappen and will be looking to have a go at him any minute now. And Verstappen locks up to put his tires onto the grass, allowing Vettel to pass! Verstappen tells the garage his left front wheel is “not good”.
Lap 27 - Hamilton is consistently extending the gap, now out to about 8.5 seconds as Verstappen starts to look behind rather than in front. We’ve got 16 cars on track approaching the halfway mark of the Grand Prix.
Lap 26 - There’s plenty of racing to go, but unless Vettel can get past Verstappen and start putting pressure on Hamilton soon the Mercedes man is in the box seat in Shanghai.
Surprisingly we haven’t had a steward’s enquiry for a while. They must be getting itchy fingers.
Lewis Hamilton is now hoping that Murray Walker, watching on TV, doesn't say something like "Lewis surely has this one in the bag now".
— Grand Prix Diary (@GrandPrixDiary) April 9, 2017
Lap 25 - Raikkonen suggests he doesn’t think his tires can last until the end of the race, which would be great news for Sainz who is in sixth place behind him.
The gap at the front is now 7.6 seconds, and Vettel has closed to 2.5 behind Verstappen in the battle for second.
Lap 24 - Lewis is running away from Verstappen now, and Max is going to see Vettel in his mirrors very quickly because the Ferrari is going a second a lap quicker.
Lap 23 - It’s 5.8 secnds at the front, and a further 4.1 back from Verstappen to Vettel. The Ferrari has already cleared out 1.8 seconds on Ricciardo in third.
We’ve got 16 cars still in the race
1 - Hamilton
2 - Verstappen
3 - Vettel
4 - Ricciardo
5 - Raikkonen
6 - Sainz
7 - Alonso
8 - Bottas
9 - Magnussen
10 - Perez
11 - Ocon
12 - Hulkenberg (pending 15 seconds of penalties)
13 - Massa
14 - Palmer
15 - Grosjean
16 - Ericsson
Lap 22 - Vettel is all over Ricciardo, and he’s clearly the faster car. The two touch wheels into turn seven and the Ferrari finally grabs third place.
The lead at the front is 4.6 seconds, but here comes the German ace!
Lap 21 - Vettel has a look at Ricciardo but can’t get close enough. At the front Hamilton says he thinks he’s ok to get to the end on these tires.
Meanwhile Magnussen has escaped sanction for allegedly driving unnecesarily slow behind the safety car.
Lap 20 - Vettel has finally got in front of Raikkonen for 4th with a pass at turn six, finally giving him a look at Ricciardo. Elsewhere Kvyat’s Toro Rosso is off the track and out of the race.
Verstappen isn’t getting any closer at the front, and if Hamilton can go to the end it’s going to take a heroic drive from Vettel to catch him.
Lap 19 - Hamilton has Verstappen comfortably out of DRS range, and he’s casually pulling away to a bigger lead. It’s 3.5 seconds now.
Lap 18 - The gap is out to 3.4 seconds, with a further five to Ricciardo in third. Bottas is now up to 9th.
Vandoorne, who was dubbed ‘The Flying Waffle’ by a sign in the crowd, is now The Retired Waffle as his fuel issue proved terminal.
Lap 17 - Its now 3.2 seconds at the front, and the hardest working people in Shanghai today are the stewards as they investigate Kevin Magnussen for the frankly novelty charge of driving too slowly under the safety car.
Meanwhile Vandoorne has a fuel problem and is heading into the pits from 17th.
Lap 16 - Raikkonen is having more engine problems, calling in to his garage to ask “what the hell is going on?” His issues are subsequently holding up Vettel, stopping him from having a ping at Ricciardo. Hamilton retains a comfortable lead at the front.
Hulkenberg’s day gets even worse, he’s now been given a 10 second penalty for passing under the real safety car as well. Roman Grosjean is also under investigation for the same thing.
Lap 15 - Hamilton grabs the fastest lap of the race, extending his lead.
There’s bad news for Hulkenberg. He’s been given a five second penalty for overtaking under the virtual safety car. He’s already had a bad day dropping seventh to 13th.
Lap 14 - It’s 1.6 seconds at the front, as Ricciardo reports he is struggling with understeer. Unless Raikkonen and Vettel can get past him soon they’ll lose too much ground on Hamilton to launch a challenge.
Bottas sets the fastest lap from 10th.
Updated
Lap 13 - Ricciardo is holding the two Ferraris up, allowing Verstappen to maintain a three season lead over his teammate and the two challengers. Max is now 1.2 seconds behind.
Lap 12 - The cars currently on track, with Hamilton maintaining a lead of around 1.5 seconds.
1 - Hamilton
2 - Verstappen
3 - Ricciardo
4 - Raikkonen
5 - Vettel
6 - Sainz
7 - Alonso
8 - Perez
9 - Magnussen
10 - Bottas
11 - Kvyat
12 - Ocon
13 - Hulkenberg
14 - Massa
15 - Vandoorne
16 - Palmer
17 - Grojean
18 - Ericsson
Lap 11 - Hulkenberg (13th) and Ericsson (18th) are being investigated for passing under the safety car. This will be an especially bitter and ironic blow to Ericsson given that he’s the last man on track.
Verstappen puts in the fastest lap of the race, but he’s not making up much time on Hamilton. Ricciardo continues to hold third.
Lap 10 - Verstappen has passed Ricciardo to go into second. He’s up from 17th to second and has Hamilton 1.5 seconds ahead.
Lap 9 - The top five are in close proximity, with Hamilton around 1.2 seconds in front. His garage tells him he can get to the end of the race on his tires, while they believe Red Bull can’t. Raikkonen’s torque issues have been fixed and he’s pulled out the fastest lap of the race.
The stewards say no further action required on Perez vs Stroll. That’s great news for Perez, who has recovered from his disastrous start to be into sixth place.
Lap 8 - Hamilton leads from Ricciardo by 1.2 seconds, but the best on track in the first lap again was Sergio Perez, who jumped up to 8th with a double pass of Massa and Kvyat. Verstappen also picked up a place into third, while Raikkonen is reporting that he’s suffering from a lack of torque in his engine.
Updated
Lap 7 - We’re still under the safety car, with Hamilton reporting he’s finding it hard to keep his tire temperatures up. Meanwhile the stewards are investigating the Perez vs Stroll coming together. Bottas spins! He’s down to 12th. The green flag is out.
Our top 10 as it stands:
1- Hamilton
2 - Ricciardo
3 - Raikkonen
4 - Verstappen
5 - Vettel
6 - Alonso
7 - Sainz
8 - Kvyat
9 - Massa
10 - Perez
Lap 6 - Here’s the aftermath of the accident.
Also the steward’s report is back on Vettel, and there will be no more action taken against him for his wonky positioning at the start.
Meanwhile it looks like Ricciardo didn’t actually change tires the first time after all and there was just confusion in all the changes. He has made the change now though.
LAP 4/56: GIO loses grip and crashes into barriers on pit straight. Italian is OK #ChineseGP 🇨🇳 #F1 pic.twitter.com/9tp0uagRX9
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2017
Lap 5 - Ricciardo has pitted and come back out with another pair of intermediates. The screens are showing softs, but the commentators report seeing intermediates. We’re still under the real, non-virtual safety car while crews work to shift the debris of Giovinazzi’s collision.
Lap 4 - Big hit. Giovinazzi has had a heavy crash on the home strait and the safety car is out again. He’s seemingly hit the end of the pit wall but despite serious damage to the wheels and front of his car he’s ok. All cars are being ordered to go through the pit lane due to the location of the incident. The top five who hadn’t yet pitted are all coming in now.
Lap 3 - A cavalcade of pit stops for tire changes, with Vettel coming in but Hamilton staying out on the track as we wait for the safety car to virtually come in and the race to resume. The safety car is ending after this lap and we’re ready to go again. Hamilton leads from Bottas and Ricciardo.
Lap 2 - Stroll’s car is deemed too close to the track, so the Virtual Safety Car has been deployed until it can be cleared. It might have been the Force India of Perez that hit Stroll, as he’s been asked to pit with possible tire damage. The replay shows Perez hit him as he entered the corner. No doubt each man will have a differing view of who was at fault.
Lap 1 - Hamilton and Vettel are clearing out already, and Lance Stroll is our first victim of the day. After his surprising 10th place qualifying finish he’s off the track and retired.
Meanwhile Vettel is under investigation for his not quite right placement on the grid, Hulkenberg is in for new tires and Verstappen has stormed up to seventh.
Away we go!
Vettel was unusually out of place on the start line, but the race was allowed to start. Hamilton takes the lead into the first corner, while Ricciardo dives through into fourth place. Carlos Sainz’s tire gamble has surprisingly backfired, and he’s found himself in front of only Palmer.
Almost ready to go here, the cars are filling the grid now.
Carlos Sainz will be the only starter on dry weather tires, so we’ll be looking for him to barrel off the line at the start. Everyone else has got intermediates on as we head off for the parade lap. There’s plenty of spray on the home strait, but the rest of the track is looking relatively dry.
Updated
Less than five minutes until lights out. Just time to read Giles Richards’ profile on Jolyon Palmer. He says he wants to be world champion (Jolyon that is), but will have plenty of work in front of him if he wants to start today. He’s off the back of the grid, and will probably need attrition in front of him if he’s to nudge into the points.
McLaren will be on wets, while Mercedes are on slicks. The rain radar is predicting that no rain is going to fall during the race, which will make for a fascinating tactical battle in the pits.
What price these conditions delivering a surprise winner from outside the big two today? Give me any excuse to talk about Olivier Panis winning Monaco in a Ligier and I’ll take it.
Nothing between them in Shanghai
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2017
FERRARI WINS = 4️⃣
MERCEDES WINS = 4️⃣#ChineseGP 🇨🇳 #F1 pic.twitter.com/0BOIvLhpDa
Looks like despite the conditions we’re going to have a traditional start rather than a safety car start. Staffel Vandoorne has suggested the track is not as wet as you might think and that he might be going out on slicks, while Felipe Massa says he’ll be going out in intermediates but doesn’t know whether he’ll be back in for slicks 10 minutes later. We could be set for an exciting one here.
Here’s the grid for today. Antonio Giovinazzi has been whacked with a grid penalty for a gearbox change, but he’ll still start in front of Roman Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer who were both penalised five places yesterday for yellow flag violations in qualifying.
- - Hamilton (Mercedes)
- - Vettel (Ferrari)
- - Bottas (Mercedes)
- - Raikkonen (Ferrari)
- - Ricciardo (Red Bull)
- - Massa (Williams)
- - Hulkenberg (Renault)
- - Perez (Force India)
- - Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
- - Stroll (Williams)
- - Sainz (Toro Rosso)
- - Magnussen (Haas)
- - Alonso (McLaren)
- - Ericsson (Sauber)
- - Vandoorne (McLaren)
- - Verstappen (Red Bull)
- - Ocon (Force India)
- - Giovinazzi (Sauber)
- - Grosjean (Haas)
- - Palmer (Renault)
Wherever you’re joining us from today I hope you’re warm. Because Daniel Ricciardo isn’t.
RIC: "I can feel my nose running 🤧 it's damn cold!" #ChineseGP 🇨🇳 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6gw4TzOSFI
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2017
The pitlane is open, and cars are heading out onto the track as we head towards a start in about 30 minutes. Cars are doing practice starts on their way onto the track, except for Kimi Raikkonen who just took off as if there’s nothing out of the ordinary with the conditions. This grand prix has been well know for reliability and almost the entire field making it to the finish line, but chances are the wet conditions will change that in 2017.
Welcome to our coverage of the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix from Shanghai. Hamilton is on pole, Vettel is just behind him and after one race the race for the championship is the other way around. There’s a lot of ground to cover before we crown a king of F1 this year, but a win will be crucial for either of the frontrunners here to get up some early momentum.
Adam will be here shortly. But first, have a read of how Lewis Hamilton claimed his second pole position in as many weeks, and his sixth in succession:
Updated
