Mercedes AMG driver Lewis Hamilton (bottom) of Britain drives during the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China, April 12, 2015. Hamilton won the race in 1 hour 39 minutes 42.008 seconds. (Xinhua/Fan Jun)
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton took his second straight win in Shanghai as he led all the way through the 56-lap race to cruise to the top podium at the 2015 F1 Chinese Grand Prix here on Sunday.
Hamilton's winning time was one hour 39 minutes and 42.008 seconds. It was the second victory for the 30-year-old Briton of Mercedes in the current season and the fourth win in Shanghai.
"First of all, a fantastic job by the team. It was great to have a smooth weekend, getting the sessions and really dialling in the car. And today was kind of that effect of really putting the car in the place I wanted it and it was really just controlling the gap between myself and Nico and saving the tyres for when I needed to use them," said Hamilton who has been enjoying a perfect weekend after sitting on top in all the three practice sessions and lapping in one minute and 35.782 seconds to grab his third consecutive pole position so far this season.
Hamilton's teammate Nico Rosberg trailed 0.714s behind to finish second while Farrari's former world champion Sebastian Vettel came in third.
"We're happy with the gap to Ferrari, having beaten them here after they beat us in Malaysia. It was very important for us as a team, a good, important comeback, so more of that for sure," said Rosberg in the post-race press conference.
Starting from the sixth position, the other Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen of Finland showed his aggressiveness and great skills as he surpassed Williams duo Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas in the first lap to stay fourth. And since then the race had become a duel between Mercedes and Ferrari.
Both Mercedes drivers used two-pit strategy and they managed to hold up Vettel and Raikkonen with their two sets of softs. After Hamilton drove out of the pit lane with his news medium tyres in the 34th lap and remained in the leading place, with Rosberg right behind him, the victory in Shanghai was almost the sure thing for Mercedes.
Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen had his car broke down in the 54 lap and the safety car had to lead the way in the remaining two lap until the last turn.
"The safety car at the end wasn't helpful, I guess for anyone, because it's kind of an anti-climax when you have a good race like that. But naturally, as long as no-one was injured and all the cars got back safely that's what matters," said Hamilton. "I had lots left in my tyres at the end there and I was looking forward to eking out a gap but the safety car came out. But we've had such great fans here this weekend, thank you so much for the support everyone with all the big banners."
Raikkonen finished fourth while Massa and Bottas endured a relatively lonely afternoon en route to fifth and sixth places with Romain Grosjean took seventh for Lotus.
McLaren's Jenson Button has dropped from 13th to 14th after accepting blame for his late coming-together with Lotus's Pastor Maldonado, which caused Maldonado to retire. Button admitted his own error had caused the collision when he was summoned by the stewards. And the Briton five seconds added to his race time and was docked two penalty points for the misdemeanour.
After the Chinese GP, Hamilton is leading in the drivers standings with 68 points, 13 ahead of the second-placed Vettel. Team Mercedes was sitting on top of the constructors table with 119 points followed by Ferrari's 79 and Williams'48.
