Lewis Hamilton grabs a hat–trick win of the season with Chinese Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) took a perfect start from pole and managed a perfect race to take victory at the Chinese Grand Prix with no threat from team mate Rosberg.
At the start, Hamilton got away perfectly with the Red Bulls behind but it was Massa and Alonso getting superb starts and also bumping each other while Rosberg had a bad start and was also tagged by the Williams of Bottas into C1, luckily for all to get away without damage.
Vettel went ahead of team mate Ricciardo for 2nd and soon did Alonso into 3rd. The Ferrari showed some pace right from Friday and were stubborn to beat the RedBulls this weekend after some major change in the management. Rosberg salvaged a bad start and a hit from Bottas to play calm to get back in the race.
Hamilton pulled away with a clear track ahead and managed a hefty lead lapping more than a second ahead of the following pack while team mate Rosberg started to gain some places. Massa who was fighting for 6th got stuck in the pits due to tyre change problem due to extreme heat.
No major drama or action took place for any safety car or yellow flag action. Alonso went into the pits early and gained track position from Vettel while he went for a change. Later Rosberg managed to outbrake Vettel and went into 3rd in a superb overtaking action for the next few corners.
Lewis was on big lead and extending his stint on his tyres while all other pitted for new tyres, but suddenly Lewis went off track losing grip and had to come into the pits for new tyres losing the gap he gained. When Hamilton got back into the track he just was 4secs ahead of Alonso in 2nd but the Mercedes driver slowly gained the gap a second a lap.
While most of the drivers went for a second stop, Rosberg who was running without telemetry suddenly lost grip and went off track, pitting immediately for a tyre change, Soon the Mercedes team called in Hamilton for a tyre change without taking much risk.
From then on Hamilton looked cool to extend his lead while Alonso in second had to give in to the faster Mercedes of Rosberg. Ricciardo who got ahead of his team mate Vettel was challenging the Ferrari driver for the podium.
Hamilton took the chequered flag 18.6 secs ahead of team mate Rosberg without compromising on race pace during the final stages of the race. Alonso managed to outpace Ricciardo´s RedBull to take a much needed podium for the Ferrari. Vettel finished 5th ahead of Hulkenberg´s Force India and Bottas´s Williams. Raikkonen (Ferrari) finished 8th, Perez (Force India) 9th and Kyvat (Torro Rosso) completed in 10th.
2014 Chinese Grand Prix – Race Results
Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired |
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 56 | Winner |
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 56 | +18.6 secs |
3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 56 | +25.7 secs |
4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 56 | +26.9 secs |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 56 | +51.0 secs |
6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 56 | +57.5 secs |
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 56 | +58.1 secs |
8 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 56 | +83.9 secs |
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 56 | +86.4 secs |
10 | Daniil Kvyat | STR | 55 | +1 Lap |
11 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 55 | +1 Lap |
12 | Jean–Eric Vergne | STR | 55 | +1 Lap |
13 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 55 | +1 Lap |
14 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 55 | +1 Lap |
15 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 55 | +1 Lap |
16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 55 | +1 Lap |
17 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | 55 | +1 Lap |
18 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 55 | +1 Lap |
19 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 54 | +2 Laps |
20 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | 54 | +2 Laps |
Ret | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 28 | Gearbox |
Ret | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | 5 | Engine |