Nico Rosberg is yet to be beaten in the 2016 Formula 1 season, as the German won his third consecutive race of the year in China. The Mercedes driver now has a 36 point lead in the championship standings over his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
It has been a dominant start of the season for Rosberg as he finished once again in first place, this time with a 37.7 seconds gap over runner-up Sebastian Vettel. Daniil Kvyat completed the podium in Shanghai bringing his
Red Bull up to third place.
Starting from last place after a power unit change overnight, due to a MGU-H failure during the first qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton didn't manage to go further than seventh place.
This however doesn't tell the story of a chaotic race in China. It all started with Daniel Ricciardo taking the lead into Turn 1 after beating Rosberg who was starting on pole-position. Behind them
Ferrari's Raikkonen and Vettel were fighting for 3rd and 4th place, but with Kvyat right behind the German ended up sending the Finn off the track and into the pits to repair damages.
As for Hamilton he managed to recover five places on the start but a piece of debris from Raikkonen caused him to be hit by Felipe Nasr, which caused damages to his
W07 and hampered his recovery.
Things would also go bad for early leader Ricciardo when the Aussie had a puncture caused by debris on the track. The shredded ruber forced the entrance of the safety car. After a crazy start some of the usual front runners were at the back of the pack, Vettel 15th, Ricciardo 17th, Raikkonen 19th and Hamilton 21st.
Rosberg was a very comfortable leader, but behind him positions started changing constantly after the safety car returned to the pits. Strategy and tyres meant everything for the rest of the race with predictions changing every second.
Vettel recovered to third position and got behind Kvyat after a great stint on super-softs. He would overtake the Russian after the final stops, with the German benefitting from running with softs while the Red Bull driver was driving on medium.
Williams' Felipe Massa was running fourth but eventually dropped to sixth behind Ricciardo and Raikkonen. Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr and Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10.
Results Chinese Grand Prix
Pos |
Driver |
Car |
Gap |
1 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes |
1h38m53.891s |
2 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari |
37.776s |
3 |
Daniil Kvyat |
Red Bull |
45.936s |
4 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull |
52.688s |
5 |
Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari |
1m05.872s |
6 |
Felipe Massa |
Williams |
1m15.511s |
7 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes |
1m18.230s |
8 |
Max Verstappen |
Toro Rosso |
1m19.268s |
9 |
Carlos Sainz |
Toro Rosso |
1m24.127s |
10 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Williams |
1m26.192s |
11 |
Sergio Perez |
Force India |
1m34.283s |
12 |
Fernando Alonso |
McLaren |
1m37.253s |
13 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren |
1m41.990s |
14 |
Esteban Gutierrez |
Haas |
1 Lap |
15 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India |
1 Lap |
16 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Sauber |
1 Lap |
17 |
Kevin Magnussen |
Renault |
1 Lap |
18 |
Pascal Wehrlein |
Manor |
1 Lap |
19 |
Romain Grosjean |
Haas |
1 Lap |
20 |
Felipe Nasr |
Sauber |
1 Lap |
21 |
Rio Haryanto |
Manor |
1 Lap |
22 |
Jolyon Palmer |
Renault |
1 Lap |