For Mercedes, it was the third consecutive 1-2 finish, which ties a record from 1992.
SHANGHAI, China—April 14th—It was the 1000th Grand Prix race in the history of the sport on Sunday at the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit, and Lewis Hamilton made sure it was something to remember.
Hamilton drove a flag-to-flag finish with a final 6.5-second win over Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished in third.
For Hamilton, it is his 75th career victory and his sixth at this track. The win also put Hamilton into the lead in the world drivers’ championship. He leads by six points over Bottas after three of the 21 rounds.
“It was not the most straight forward of weekends, but what a fantastic result for the team, who worked so hard,” said Hamilton afterward. “When we came here, we did not know where we would stand with the Ferrari’s who were so quick in this race. But we turned up, and me and Valtteri (Bottas) did a great job today. To have a 1-2 together is special from the 1000th Grand Prix, but the start was demonstrated today.”
Hamilton got off to a great beginning when Bottas spun his wheels and did not get off to a good start. That enabled the Briton to extend his lead quite quickly even after the second lap when, further back in the grid on turn six, Dani Kvyat was sandwiched between the two McLaren’s of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris and struck Norris’ right side, tilting the McLaren before it came back down.
That situation brought out a virtual safety car for one lap because of debris while Norris came into the pits and fixed the damaged front wing. Kvyat eventually was issued a drive-through penalty and later retired from the race. He was the second driver to do so, along with Nico Hulkenberg. Norris later joined them laps from the end to become the last of the three drivers who didn’t finish the race.
Hamilton continued with no threats, even with an amazing double pit stop with himself and Bottas on lap 37. Hamilton widened his gap to six seconds before finishing five tenths more at the finish.
Max Verstappen finished in fourth, just ahead of Charles Leclerc, who had at one time let Vettel through by team orders. He never fully recovered, taking fifth. Pierre Gasly was sixth in his Red Bull, while Daniel Ricciardo finished a lonely seventh for the first time this season in his Renault.
Sergio Perez followed in eighth with his Racing Point entry, with Kimi Raikkonen ninth. Alex Albon, who began the race from the pit lane, fought hard and earned a fine tenth.
Despite the domination by both Mercedes drivers, Hamilton feels that his rivals can still be competitive. “It is still really close between us all,” Hamilton replied, “And I have no idea what the next race is going to turn out, but I am super excited.”
The next race is two weeks away in the streets of Baku, Azerbaijan.
