Chinese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton wins in Shanghai

Race result: Top three

1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1hr 37mins 36.160secs

2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:37:42.410

3 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:38:21.352

Full race results to below

Race report

A dominant Lewis Hamilton delivered a crushing victory at the Chinese Grand Prix to join title rival Sebastian Vettel at the summit of the Formula One championship.

Hamilton claimed his fifth victory in Shanghai with a lights-to-flag win while Vettel recovered from fifth to finish in second place.

Max Verstappen, who started 16th, completed the podium following a scintillating display in the early wet-dry conditions before fending off a challenge from his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages.

"It is going to be one of the closest if not the closest [title races] I have ever experienced," said Hamilton who is now level on points with Vettel.

"I am looking forward to this fight, not only with Sebastian, but the other guys as well who are in amongst it. Ferrari have done a fantastic job. We were both pushing and those last 20 laps we were really exchanging times. He [Vettel] was closing the gap but I managed to stay ahead."

Vettel added: "I tried to chase Lewis down as much as possible but I had the feeling every time I put a lap in he was able to respond. We were a good match. It could have been a different race, but it was a good recovery.

The poor weather which wreaked havoc with Friday's practice schedule, and forced the sport's new owners to consider moving the race forward by 24 hours, returned overnight. But despite a damp track the grand prix went ahead as scheduled.

And pole-sitter Hamilton, for the second race in succession, made no mistake at the start as he nailed the 380-yard dash down to turn one to retain the lead with Vettel following in behind.

Canadian rookie Lance Stroll was the first casualty of the inclement conditions after he was punted from behind by the Force India of Sergio Perez. The Williams ended up in the gravel and the virtual safety car was deployed.

While Hamilton remained out on track, Vettel led a number of drivers down the pit lane to take on the slick rubber with track conditions rapidly improving under overcast but dry skies.

Antonio Giovinazzi, who has replaced the unfit Pascal Wehrlein here, was among them, but after crashing in qualifying on Saturday, the Italian was at it again, losing control of his Sauber on a damp patch of the track and crashing into the pit wall.

His Sauber was in bits and the safety car for real was sent on to the circuit. Hamilton took the opportunity to take on the dry tyres and it worked out perfectly for the Briton as he emerged from the pit lane still in the lead.

When the safety car pitted at the end of lap seven, Hamilton led from Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Verstappen, who had made up an astonishing 11 places on the opening lap, with Vettel now down in fifth.

Hamilton struggled to get his new rubber up to temperature, and looked to be under threat from the majestic Verstappen, who had passed Raikkonen at the re-start before diving underneath his Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo at turn six, to move into second.

But as the laps ticked by, Hamilton began to extend his lead and by the end of lap 16 he was three seconds clear of the 19-year-old Dutchman.

Behind him, Vettel was on the move, too. The four-time champion took to the inside of his team-mate Raikkonen at turn six on lap 20 and moments later he made his pass on Ricciardo. And what a move it was, too.

Ricciardo attempted to defend his position as Vettel moved to the outside at turn six and the pair banged wheels before the gutsy Ferrari man made the pass stick at the next corner.

Verstappen was next on Vettel's hit list, but with the Red Bull man losing grip on his ageing tyres, he made a mistake at the penultimate turn allowing Vettel to cruise through.

By now though Hamilton was nearly 12 seconds up the road. The leaders all pitted in and around the half-distance mark, but Vettel was unable to do anything about Hamilton as the Briton took the chequered flag a comfortable six seconds clear of his title rival.

Ricciardo, despite harassing Verstappen for the final part of the race, finished fourth with Raikkonen fifth and Valtteri Bottas, who spun under the safety car, recovering to sixth.

Fernando Alonso had spent most of the race in a sterling seventh, but was forced to retire with a driveshaft problem. His team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne also failed to make it to the end after suffering a mechanical failure to cap another miserable weekend for McLaren.

Briton's Jolyon Palmer started last after being penalised for ignoring yellow flags in qualifying and he crossed the line 13th of the 15 classified finishers.

Final positions after Race (56 Laps): 

1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1hr 37mins 36.160secs

2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:37:42.410

3 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:38:21.352

4 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:38:22.195

5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:38:24.236

6 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:38:24.968

7 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:38:49.053

8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 at 1 lap

9 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India at 1 lap

10 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India at 1 lap

11 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 at 1 lap

12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault at 1 lap

13 Jolyon Palmer (Gbr) Renault at 1 lap

14 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams at 1 lap

15 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 lap

Not Classified: 

16 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 33 laps completed

17 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 18 laps completed

18 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 17 laps completed

19 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Sauber-Ferrari 33 laps completed

20 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 0 Laps completed

Fastest Lap: 

Lewis Hamilton 1min 35.378secs on lap 44

World Championship Standings:

Drivers: 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 43pts

2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 43

3 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 25

4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 23

5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 22

6 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 12

7 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 10

8 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams 8

9 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 8

10 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 4

11 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2

12 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 2

13 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 0

14 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 0

15 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Sauber-Ferrari 0

16 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 0

17 Jolyon Palmer (Gbr) Renault 0

18 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 0

19 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 0

20 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 0

Manufacturers: 

1 Mercedes GP 66pts

2 Ferrari 65

3 Red Bull 37

4 Scuderia Toro Rosso 12

5 Force India 10

6 Williams 8

7 Haas F1 4

8 Renault 0

9 Sauber-Ferrari 0

10 McLaren 0