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China: Lewis wins three in a row

SHANGHAI, China - Team Mercedes is leading the standings with its dominant 1-2 finish from the 2014 Chinese Formula 1 GP on Sunday with Lewis Hamilton taking his third win in a row and team mate Nico Rosberg in second.

Hamilton made sure he held on to pole as he dashed off the start line to stay ahead of the Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel and kept his lead right to the end.

EASY WIN

And it looked as if he hardly had to fight for it as he did during the 2014 Malaysia and Bahrain GP. It was also his third win in China - the others were in in 2008 and 2011.

There was quite a bit of car contact during the first lap but there were no serious incidents or reported damage.

For a moment it looked as if the reigning champion was back to his dominant self as he held second for a while, fighting off Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who finished third.

The race started with everybody on fresh softs except for McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen who chose the harder prime tyres. After wet qualifying on Saturday the racers faced
a dry, two-stop, 56-lap race.

It was refreshing to see McLaren’s Jenson Button fighting at the front of the field after a dismal 2013 in which he was too often among the tail-enders.

Alonso, winner of the 2013 Chinese GP, kept up his dominance in second and steadily crept up to Hamilton with only 5.8sec between them early in the race but by the end the gap grew to 18.6sec.

The Williams team had reportedly put some bits on their cars to look after the rear tyres and it seemed to be working as Felipe Massa was fifth, for while… and then he pitted.

OH, DEAR!

The pit crew stumbled with his left rear tyre; it should have come on the right hand side when Massa stopped for a tyre change on Lap 12. The error dropped him to the back of the field.

Sauber’s Adrian Sutil was out of the race rather early on, his third DNF of 2014 from only four races so far.

Hamilton’s team mate Nico Rosberg was pushed to midfield to about seventh at the start of the race and it appeared that he had a fuel issue. But by Lap 23 he was up to third and then made second by lap 42. A Mercedes 1-2 looked to be in the bag.

Vettel and Ricciardo also appeared to be having a one-on-one battle to make podium, fourth and fifth respectively on Lap 24, until the younger driver made a remarkable pass on lap 26 to go ahead.

Ricciardo, after losing the appeal and his 18 points for his first podium with Red Bull during the season-opening race due to a fuel-flow issue,was determined to fight for the podium until the end as he held on to fourth.

WHERE WAS KIMI?

Hamilton reported on Lap 30 that the softer tyres were better, and they were considering he had done 18 laps on his first set. Rosberg was told to push hard on Lap 33 to pass Alonso. By lap 42 the race leader had used less fuel than any other driver.

It was quite strange going through an entire race and hardly hearing Ferrari’s other driver mentioned. Kimi Raikkonen’s name came up when he passed Torro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne to get to seventh.

Caterham’s Kamui Kobayshi was told to get out of Vettel’s way after he had annoyed him with his fresh tyres.

McLaren had a tricky race but has some new parts for Barcelona.

Hamilton just cruised to finish his untroubled race, his 25th win and a first podium finish for Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Nico Rosberg, however, still leads the 2014 Drivers' championship.

Result from the 2014 Chinese F1 GP
1 Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1h36min52.810
2 Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes) +18.686
3 Fernando Alonso (ESP/Scuderia Ferrari) +25.765
4 Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull Racing) +26.978
5 Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull Racing) +51.012
6 Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Force India) +57.581
7 Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Williams) +58.145
8 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Scuderia Ferrari) +1min23.990
9 Sergio Perez (MEX/Force India) +1mn26.489
10 Daniil Kvyat (RUS/Toro Rosso) +1 lap
11 Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren Mercedes) +1 lap
12 Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA/Toro Rosso) +1 lap
13 Kevin Magnussen (DEN/McLaren Mercedes) +1 lap
14 Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Lotus) +1 lap
15 Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams) +1 lap
16 Esteban Gutierrez (MEX/Sauber) +1 lap
17 Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Caterham) +1 lap
18. Jules Bianchi (FRA/Marussia) at +lap
19 Max Chilton (GBR/Marussia) +2 laps
20 Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Caterham) +2 laps

Driver's and Constructors' championship points standings

Drivers
1 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes - 79
2 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes - 75
3 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari - 41
4 Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India - 36
5 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull - 33
6 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull - 24
7 Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams - 24
8 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren - 23
9 Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) McLaren - 20
10 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - 18
11 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams - 12
12 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari - 11
13 Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso - 4
14 Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso - 4
15 Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - 0
16 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Sauber - 0
17 Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber - 0
18 Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia - 0
19 Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Caterham - 0
20 Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - 0
21 Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Caterham - 0
22 Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia - 0

Constructors
1 Mercedes - 154
2 Red Bull -57
3 Force India - 54
4 Ferrari - 52
5 McLaren - 43
6 Williams 36
7 Toro Rosso - 8
8 Lotus - 0
9 Sauber - 0
10 Marussia - 0
11 Caterham - 0
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