Super Nico Rosberg dominates China as Hamilton and Ferrari falter

Nico Rosberg opened up a commanding 36 point lead at the top of the championship with an easy victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, as his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton struggled to seventh.

Rosberg lost his lead at the start but quickly got past Daniel Ricciardo and drove into the distance to record his sixth straight win.

However, he was helped by the drama behind as Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen tangled and needed new front wings.

Vettel recovered well to finish second, ahead of Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat, while Raikkonen took fifth at the end of another frustrating race for Mercedes' nearest challengers.

Hamilton may consider this race as six points gained, but Mercedes messed up his strategy early in the race, after he also pitted for a new front wing, and he limped across the line under pressure from Max Verstappen.

Starting last after a engine problem in qualifying, Hamilton was hit by a loose Sauber trying to avoid the carnage in front caused by the Ferraris.

Vettel, who started fourth, was sandwiched between Raikkonen and Kvyat into the first turn and slammed into the side of his team-mate, causing him severe damage.

A safety car, caused by debris on the track which gave race-leader Ricciardo a puncture, brought Vettel, Raikkonen and Hamilton back into play, but Mercedes attempted a clever strategy which didn't pay off.

He pitted twice under the safety car, once for super-soft tyres and then straight back to softs, so to get the softer compound out of the way.

But it was immediately ruled a mistake and he eventually pitted five times.

Vettel did the best job of coming through the field as he made his way up from 12th to third, before he muscled past Kvyat to complete the rescue job.

Ferrari got their strategy right with Raikkonen, who was on soft tyres at the end of the race, as he flew past both Williams drivers and a slow Hamilton.

Ricciardo recovered from his puncture to take fourth, while Felipe Massa impressively held on to sixth ahead of Hamilton.

It was only the sixth time in F1 history that no car has retired from the race.

✅ Check out more posts with related topics: