F1 Chinese GP: Hamilton eases to victory for Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton led a commanding one-two finish for Mercedes at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, amid fears of a closer fight from Ferrari.

Hamilton controlled the proceedings from start to finish, despite a patchy second stint, to record his second win of the season and extend his lead at the top of the standings.

The race finished behind the safety car, only the seventh time in F1 history, as an engine failure for Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso on the main straight prompted caution with less than three laps remaining.

Nico Rosberg failed to mount a challenge to his teammate, and at one point complained to the Mercedes pitwall that Hamilton was driving too slow and compromising his race.

Sebastian Vettel completed the podium for Ferrari but was unable to mount a challenge for the win like he did in Malaysia as Mercedes mirrored the tyre strategy followed by their Italian rivals.

Cooler track temperatures as compared to Malaysia also did not grant Ferrari the advantage in stretching the life of the option tyres beyond what the Mercedes team was capable of.

Kimi Raikkonen passed the two Williams driver during a spirited opening lap and challenged Vettel towards the end of the race, before having to settle for fourth position due to the appearance of the safety car, which meant drivers had to hold position until the finish line.

Williams - after their early race tussle with the Scarlet cars - came home in fifth and sixth positions with Felipe Massa leading the charge for the Grove based outfit.

Romain Grosjean secured his firsts point of the season for Lotus, confirming the steps made by the team over the winter.

Both the Sauber drivers finished in the points with Nasr crossing the line in eighth and Ericsson bringing home the final championship point in 10th position.

Daniel Ricciardo salvaged two points after a disastrous start that put him firmly back in the rear of the field. His teammate, Daniil Kvyat retired with power unit problems.

Verstappen's engine blowout was a cruel blow to the Dutch teenager who had fought well into the top ten with some daring overtaking manoeuvres.

11th for Force India’s Perez

The Chinese Grand Prix highlighted the weakness of the Force India VJM08 in which Sergio Perez could only manage an 11th place finish, despite four drivers in superior/equal cars retiring from the race.

The list of non-finishers also included the other Force India of Nico Hulkenberg who retired with gearbox problems.

F1 Chinese Grand Prix - Results(Top 10)

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 56 laps
2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +0.7s
3. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) +2.9s
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +3.8s
5. Felipe Massa (Williams) +8.5s
6. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) +9.8s
7. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) +19.0s
8. Felipe Nasr (Sauber) +22.6s
9. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) +32.1s
10. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) +1 lap