Steely Hamilton stays in charge for Shanghai win

Lewis Hamilton put on a note-perfect display in tricky conditions in Shanghai to win the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix. It was a lights-to-flag victory for the three-time world champion.

Although rarely troubled by his rivals on track, Hamilton was nonetheless made to work hard for his 54th career victory in Formula 1. Tricky conditions at the start put a spanner in the works for everyone when it came to tyres and pit stops.

Unlike Australia, this week Mercedes calmly plotted a race-winning strategy for Hamilton that avoided potential stumbles. He finished the race six seconds ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, with the remaining place on the podium falling to Red Bull's Max Verstappen after a phenomenal recovery drive from 16th.

The result means that Hamilton and Vettel are now equal on points in the drivers championship. In the constructors battle, the advantage goes to Mercedes by a single point.

Tricky conditions at the start

With the track still damp from earlier rain, everyone had begun the race on intermediates with the exception of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz. Renault's Jolyon Palmer opted to pit for slicks at the end of the formation lap and started from pit lane. However, both drivers initially struggled to stay on track once the racing started.

Hamilton converted pole to a comfortable lead into turn 1. Vettel fended off Valtteri Bottas for second, but Kimi Raikkonen was unable to prevent a pass from Daniel Ricciardo. However the best start of anyone was from Ricciardo's team mate Verstappen who was up to seventh by the end of the first lap having started from 16th on the grid.

First lap contact between Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez put the Williams into the gravel on turn 10. That triggered a virtual safety car that saw all but the top five drivers dive into pit lane for slick tyres. The race had barely resumed when Sauber stand-in Antonio Giovinazzi hit a damp spot on the main straight and slammed into the pit wall to trigger a full safety car caution.

The incident allowed Hamilton, Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Verstappen to make their delayed pit stops and still come back out ahead of Vettel in sixth. The Red Bulls opted for supersofts, while Bottas dropped to fifth after being stacked in pit lane waiting for Hamilton's stop to be completed. Things went from bad to worse for the Finn when he spun off trying to warm up his tyres behind the safety car, dropping him to 12th.

Tyre life dominates mid-race action

When the race resumed on lap 8, Perez sparkled with rapid overtakes of Williams' Felipe Massa and the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat in successive corners, putting the Force India up to eighth place. Bottas also set about making up lost ground after his spin.

Further up the road Verstappen was able to pass Raikkonen, who was struggling with power and grip issues. The Red Bull driver then pulled off a neat move on Ricciardo to take second place from his team mate. It wasn't long before Vettel made impressive passes of his own on both Raikkonen and Ricciardo to assume third place. Meanwhile at the front, Hamilton was slowly building up a lead of more than ten seconds over Verstappen.

The central concern of many of the drivers was trying to make their current set of tyres last until the end of the race. Verstappen was soon clearly struggling for grip and locked up into the hairpin on lap 28, allowing Vettel to easily claim second place.

Verstappen pitted for fresh supersofts shortly afterwards, coming back out in sixth just behind Bottas. However his new tyres allowed him to make quick work of passing the Mercedes. Ricciardo was next to pit, coming in from third place and similarly resuming behind Bottas.

Vettel likewise concluded that he could not go full distance and pitted on lap 35, with Bottas in shortly afterwards. Having already voiced concerns about his own tyres going off, Hamilton made his own stop for fresh rubber on lap 37. His lead was such that he was able to keep his lead by three seconds from Raikkonen, who finally pitted three laps later.

With the final cards played in terms of tyre strategy, Hamilton now had a clear run to the chequered flag with up to ten seconds in hand over Vettel. The Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo were locked in a private battle a further 15 seconds back, both much more in the competitive mix than they had been in Melbourne.

Raikkonen spent the final stint circulating in fifth ahead of Bottas and Sainz, while a late pit stop forced Perez to surrender eighth place to Haas' Kevin Magnussen. A late pass on Massa by Esteban Ocon meant the Frenchman finished in the points in his second race for Force India.

Retirements

Following the initial retirements for Stroll and Giovinazzi in racing incidents, there was a premature exit for McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne with a fuel problem. Kvyat also dropped out early with a power steering issue on his Toro Rosso.

The second McLaren faltered on lap 34, this time with a driveshaft problem. It forced Fernando Alonso to retire just after a spirited encounter at the hairpin with compatriot Carlos Sainz.

Race results

GALLERY: All the pictures from Sunday in Shanghai

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