Lewis Hamilton rolled to a third consecutive Formula 1 win on Saturday, taking out the Chinese GP 18.6 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton and Rosberg, who recovered from a lacklustre start to finish third ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, have now combined to win all four of the 2014 Formula 1 season’s opening Grand Prix’s and lead the driver table by 97 points ahead of Red Bull Racing.
The former McLaren driver raced out of pole position to establish an early lead before stretching his tyres until the 17th lap to jump further in front. Rosberg fell to seventh out of the gate, but clawed his way back and eventually passed Alonso on the 42 lap.
“I just can’t believe how amazing the car is,” said Hamilton.
“I was just really racing myself. This team is on a roll, that’s for sure.”
Hamilton now has 25 career victories- good for equal eighth on the all-time wins list alongside Jim Clark and Niki Lauda- and trails teammate Rosberg by four points on the drivers table.
Red Bull have another headache on their hands after four-time world champ Sebastian Vettel (5th, +51.0s) failed to maintain pace with rookie teammate Daniel Ricciardo (4th, +26.9s) and appeared to ignore team orders after being told to allow Ricciardo, running on the fresher tyres, to pass for the second race in a row. “Tough luck” was Vettel’s initial response, however he eventually left the 24-year-old Aussie enough space to later pull ahead.
Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) rounded out the top eight.
Chinse GP Results
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes GP 1hr 36mins 52.810secs
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:37:11.496
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:37:18.575
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:37:19.788
5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:37:43.822
6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:37:50.391
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:37:50.955
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:38:16.800
9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:38:19.299
10 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap
11 Jenson Button McLaren at 1 Lap
12 Jean-Eric Vergne Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap
13 Kevin Magnussen McLaren at 1 Lap
14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus F1 Team at 1 Lap
15 Felipe Massa Williams at 1 Lap
16 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap
17 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham at 1 Lap
18 Jules Bianchi Marussia at 1 Lap
19 Max Chilton Marussia at 2 Laps
20 Marcus Ericsson Caterham at 2 Laps
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Photo: Lars Baron: Getty Images
