Chinese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton wins from Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen

When the race restarted on lap seven, the whole field was now on slicks, with Ricciardo stood Hamilton’s closest rival, after Vettel lost ground through the earlier stop and Bottas spun under the safety auto when trying to warm up his tires.

“It is going to be one of the closest if not the closest [title races] I have ever experienced”, said Hamilton who is now level on points with Vettel.

He called the situation “ridiculous” several times over the radio and asked his team to talk to race director Charlie Whiting, but was told nothing could be done.

Lewis Hamilton mastered Shanghai’s changing track conditions and stayed clear of duelling rivals to win the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday.

“I’m fighting up against a four-time world champion (and) he is at his best and he is phenomenally quick”. “Full stop. I think they did a good race, he did a good race, so to get into these kind of conversations, or discussions, usually there is no point”. “Ferrari have done a great job and it is great that we are both pushing. Because then when you come out on top, it’s so much more satisfying”.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel, who won the season-opening race for Ferrari at Melbourne, finished second in China.

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.

Vettel recovered from a mishap-filled start to finish in second place, 6.2 seconds behind the Mercedes driver, reports Sport24. Lance Stroll went off into the gravel immediately, causing a virtual safety auto, meaning many quickly took the option to change to slicks.

He won by 6.250 seconds after a chaotic start, reaping the rewards of the safety auto going through the pit lane following an early smash from Giovinazzi, who crashed out in qualifying on Saturday and hit the pit wall after losing control of his vehicle.

The leading drivers started on the intermediate tyre following rainfall in the lead-up to lights out, but the track dried enough to warrant an early switch to slicks.

Hamilton led away with Vettel holding off Bottas at Turn 1, with the Ferrari slow off the line despite being too far to the left of his grid slot – an error for which the stewards decided not to punish the German.

Vettel lined up on the front row alongside polesitter Lewis Hamilton and held his position early on, but pitted under the early virtual safety auto, as he sought to gain an advantage.

“Then inside turn two, another auto, outside turn three.always trying to go around the outside or inside and it worked. But generally Nikki Lauda is not happy about losing money overall”, Wolff said, prompting laughs. This year, as well. It was a good match.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t intentional, but I knew there was no harm done”. “Nine cars is quite a lot in one lap, but of course very happy that it worked”. “Ferrari are the best they have been in a decade”, Hamilton, the three-times world champion, said after his first victory of the year.

He was stuck behind Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen for the opening phase of the grand prix before he made his move on lap 20. “This race is so real and exciting and we were matching times so if there wasn’t [a] safety vehicle it would have been a lot closer”.

Seventh spot went to Sainz in the Toro Rosso, eighth to Magnussen in the Haas, and ninth and 10th to the Force Indias of Perez and Ocon. Daniil Kvyat also failed to finish.

Stoffel Vandoorne was the day’s third retirement, “fuel problem”, while Fernando Alonso made it a double DNF for McLaren-Honda with a drive shaft issue.