Hamilton storms to China Grand Prix win

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton captured his third straight Formula One race with ease, leading from start to finish to win the Chinese Grand Prix.

German team mate Nico Rosberg took the chequered flag 18 seconds behind the Briton to finish runner-up for the third race in a row but retaining the overall lead in the championship, four points ahead of Hamilton.

The 2008 world champion, Hamilton, made a clean getaway from pole position and immediately showed his car’s untouchable pace, the Briton extending his advantage over his nearest rival to a gaping 10.4 seconds by the end of the tenth lap.

Rosberg, however, was not as fortunate as his team mate and was on the back foot even before the start of the race with his engineers unable to view any telemetry information from his car. 

“I just can’t believe how amazing the car is. I was just really racing myself.” said Hamilton, who led from pole. “

The win was the 25th of Hamilton’s career and drew him level with British legend Jim Clark and his current Mercedes boss, triple world champion Niki Lauda, in the all-time winner’s list.

It is also the first time that Hamilton – who moved ahead of Clark to become the top British qualifier – has managed to win three races in a row. 

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, last year’s winner in Shanghai, finished third – his first podium of the year – in his team’s first race under new principal Marco Mattiacci and ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Rosberg, the winner of the season-opener in Australia, now has 79 points after four races, with Hamilton on 75 and Alonso third on 41.

Vettel moves aside

Red Bull’s four times world champion Sebastian Vettel, who was asked to move aside for his faster Australian team mate for the second race in a row, was fifth.

Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg was sixth for Force India, with Valtteri Bottas seventh for Williams despite making contact with Rosberg at the start.

His Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa had a nightmare, however, stuck in the pits for a minute as Williams struggled to change a rear left tyre.

Kimi Raikkonen was eighth for Ferrari with Mexican Sergio Perez ninth for Force India and Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat 10th for Toro Rosso.

McLaren failed to score a point for the second consecutive race, with Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen crossing the line eleventh and thirteenth, respectively.