Hamilton storms to victory in Shanghai

Lewis Hamilton deprived Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel from a third win in a row, on Sunday, winning an epic Chinese Grand Prix.

Different tyre strategies from the front-runners, combined with the KERS and DRS systems, made for an unpredictable and thrilling race in Shanghai. Hamilton came out on top of it, thanks to a three-stop strategy, while Vettel – on a two stop strategy – took second place.

The performance of the day was Webber’s: the Australian stormed from P18 on the grid to a superb third place under the chequered flag. This was the Red Bull driver’s first podium of the season after two difficult opening races.

Button finished fourth, despite taking the lead at the start and setting the early pace. Rosberg took a good fifth place for Mercedes.

How the race unfolded:

Sebastian Vettel didn’t have so good a start and couldn’t hold off the McLarens. He was third after Turn 1 and had to fend off the assaults of Mercedes’ Rosberg. He managed to do so and settled for third behind race leader Button and Lewis Hamilton.

Rosberg in the meantime had to deal with the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso. Further down the order, Mark Webber started his long recovery through the field but had only gained three places after the three opening laps.

He soon found himself in a six-car scrap for 12th place. Alguersuari was leading this group but was slowing his rivals down and pitted on lap 10. The Spaniard had just rejoined the track when he lost his rear right wheel. He was forced to pull off track to retire.

Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber pitted on lap 11. Up front, the three leading cars were covered by less than two seconds as Hamilton and Vettel shadowed Button.

Fourth-placed Rosberg pitted on lap 13, so as Toro Rosso’s Buemi.

Vettel then piled up the pressure on Hamilton and made a move on lap 14. He made it stick and took P2, just before pitting. Button also came in the pits and made a mistake which allowed the Red Bull driver to jump him in the pitlane.

Still on track, Hamilton came under attack from the Ferraris and stopped on the next lap. Massa also pitted and rejoined ahead of the McLaren driver. They found themselves behind Renault’s Heidfeld and lost some time overtaking him.

Alonso then pitted from the lead as Vettel tried to pass Petrov, who was yet to stop. The German did so on lap 17 and was closely followed by Button. The Russian eventually pitted on lap 18.

Rosberg was now in the lead – having stopped on lap 13 – with a five second cushion over Vettel. Button was third with Massa fourth and Hamilton fifth. Schumacher was sixth right in front of Alonso. The Ferrari driver was all over the rear wheel of the seven-time World Champion but couldn’t find a way past.

On lap 22, Mercedes advised Rosberg to try and conserve his tyres has they considered a switch from a three-stop to a two stop strategy.

Button came in for his second tyre change on lap 25. Both Rosberg and Hamilton stopped at the end of this same lap. In the meantime, Alonso finally managed to pass Schumacher for what was now third place. The German stopped on lap 27 anyway.

Vettel was now leading from Massa and Alonso, with the three of them looking for a two-stop strategy. Alonso was soon attacked by Rosberg as the German made the most of his fresher soft tyres. Button and Hamilton also passed the Spaniard.

Massa and Vettel were next on the list but were ten seconds clear of the chasing drivers. The Brazilian closed the gap on the Red Bull driver who pitted at the end of lap 31. He took on hard tyres and rejoined in P6. Massa stopped at the end of lap 34 and rejoined behind Vettel.

Hamilton put a rather aggressive move on teammate Button on lap 36 to claim P2. Button stopped two laps later and rejoined ahead of the duo Schumacher-Webber. Hamilton pitted one lap later as Webber passer Schumacher for P6.

Rosberg pitted from the lead at the end of lap 39 and rejoined right in front of Hamilton. The British driver tried to pass him immediately but the Mercedes defended well and held onto P3. Hamilton hadn’t said his last word though and attacked him again a couple of laps later. He made it stick this time and then set on to chase Massa. His cause was further helped by the Mercedes team warning Rosberg he was critical on fuel.

Hamilton closed in on Massa on lap 45 and passed him for P2. As the McLaren set his target on race leader Vettel, Massa had to deal with both Button and Rosberg.

Vettel, meanwhile, reacted to Hamilton’s return and upped his pace to try to preserve his lead. Further down the order, there was a contact between Sutil and Perez. The Force India driver subsequently pitted. Perez was handed a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.

On lap 50, Hamilton had closed within a second of Vettel… but was told by his team to look after his tyres. Behind them, Button passed Massa for P3. Hamilton soon attacked Vettel but the German defended well and kept him at bay for a couple of laps – despite apparently not using his KERS.

Hamilton eventually took the lead on lap 52. Vettel didn’t try to counter attack and focused on keeping his second place as Button was told to push to try to make it a McLaren one-two. Behind the top three, Webber was hot on the heels of Rosberg for P4. The Australian made his move stick on lap 54 and tried his best to snatch third place away from Button.

He did so on the penultimate lap, without KERS, and scored an amazing podium… having started the race in 18th position!

Hamilton took his first win of the season ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Button was fourth with Rosberg fifth. Massa, Alonso, Schumacher, Petrov and Kobayashi scored points.

Race classification: