Chinese Grand Prix result: Lewis Hamilton leads home Mercedes one-two as Ferrari struggle again
Mercedes' dominant start to the season continued as Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix to secure back-to-back victories.
As Formula One celebrated its 1,000th race, it was fitting that the Briton was the one coming home to take the chequered flag with team-mate Valtteri Bottas in second.
Hamilton passed team-mate Bottas at the first turn after the Finn paid the price for a poor start and the two Mercedes quickly moved clear of the rest of the pack.
Charles Leclerc, who has impressed since joining Ferrari, passed his senior colleague Sebastian Vettel up the inside on Lap 1.
But after Ferrari enforced team orders, telling the Monegasque driver to let Vettel past, Leclerc was furious to find himself stuck behind the German.
Vettel faced pressure from Max Verstappen after the first round of pit stops and after the Dutchman's brave move down the main straight, Vettel narrowly held onto third place with Leclerc slipping down to fifth.
The Scuderia tried to force Red Bull's hand by pitting Leclerc for a second time on fresh tyres but the 21-year-old struggled to catch Verstappen as the Italian team endured another disappointing race.
The two McLarens, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, were victims of a first-lap collision with Daniil Kvyat and the Russian was penalised with a drive through penalty for his blunder.
Nico Hulkenberg's rotten luck in the unreliable Renault continued as he was forced to retire with a mechanical problem on Lap 18 and Kvyat capped a miserable race when he retired on Lap 44.
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After sustaining heavy floor damage, Norris was forced to retire with just three laps to go as the 19-year-old retired for the first time in his F1 career.
Lap 37: Mercedes are double-stacking their drivers with Hamilton coming in first, with Bottas around 5.5 seconds behind.
Absolutely superb job from the pit crew as Bottas doesn't even need to slow down. But what else would you expect from the team which has won the championship for each of the last six years?
Photo: Reuters
Lap 36: Vettel IS coming into the pits and this could be tight...
It's a 2.2 second stop for Ferrari and he's way out in front of Verstappen. Leclerc now up into the podium places.
Lap 35: Verstappen is coming in for a second pit stop!
That means Leclerc goes into fourth and will Ferrari attempt to cover off the undercut from Red Bull?
Lap 34: Leclerc is catching Verstappen at a rate of knots and has got the gap down to just three seconds now.
This should be an intriguing battle...
Lap 32: It almost feels like we're waiting for something to happen now as the drivers settle into the next phase of the Grand Prix.
With so many drivers on one-stop strategies, a safety car could change everything.
Lap 28: Gasly is having a bit of a lonely race; the Frenchman is 11 seconds behind Leclerc and 24 seconds ahead of Ricciardo in seventh.
He won't mind that though after disappointing in the first two races of the season.
Lap 26: Vettel has fallen eight seconds behind Bottas now and it just shows once again how superior the Mercedes is at the moment.
Hamilton is only 2.2 seconds ahead of his team-mate but it seems unlikely Mercedes will risk ruining the one-two by letting the pair race each other.
Photo: Reuters
Lap 23: It's almost like clockwork for the constructors champions as Hamilton's stop looks so routine. He comes out two seconds in front of his team-mate and the top four are now very well-bunched.
Leclerc has also stopped and finds himself down in fifth now. It's not worked well for him after the team orders.
Lap 22: Bottas is in for his first pit stop and it's a rapid stop - 2.3s from Mercedes. On goes the hard tyre and they're matching Vettel and Verstappen's strategy.
Lap 20: Verstappen goes lunging down the inside of Vettel after getting DRS on the main straight and locks up! He just can't make it stick but fair play, that was a brave move!
The 21-year-old was shoved onto the grass there and you just wonder if that was a bit naughty from Vettel.
Photo: Getty