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Formula 1

Rosberg continues perfect start of season

The German driver from Mercedes won his third race in-a-row and is yet to be beaten in 2016

Rosberg has won all three races since the start of the season

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 MercedesMercedes-BenzGermany, 1924 > present197 models
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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.

Check the Driver's and Consctructor's World Championship standings here.

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