Hamilton wins thrilling Chinese GP
By Matt Beer Sunday, April 17th 2011, 08:44 GMT
Lewis Hamilton ended Sebastian Vettel's run of wins with an incredible charge to victory in the Chinese Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver's three-stop strategy proved a better bet than Vettel's two stops, allowing Hamilton to hunt down and pass the tyre-hampered Red Bull in the final laps.
Mark Webber drove an outstanding race to come from 18th on the grid to third in the second Red Bull, ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg - both of whom led for long spells in an utterly absorbing race.
Vettel's afternoon began to get complicated with a poor start that allowed both McLarens to get past him into Turn 1 and gave him a few headaches resisting Rosberg through the opening corners.
The top three then ran in a queue covered by 2s through the first stint, with Rosberg a few seconds behind, fending off the Ferraris, which were led by Felipe Massa.
Mercedes then pulled a masterstroke by bringing Rosberg in on lap 12. The German emerged in clear air and made the most of his fresh tyres, but was also helped by a chaotic few laps for the top three. As Hamilton's tyre performance faded, Vettel surged past him using the DRS wing on the back straight.
Button and Vettel then pitted nose to tail, but bizarrely Button pulled into the Red Bull pit stall rather than McLaren's, and was frantically waved on to the correct pit, slightly slowing both stops, although Red Bull reacted fast and still got Vettel out ahead.
With Hamilton losing pace dramatically on his in-lap and being caught and passed by Massa, Rosberg's new-tyre pace and uncomplicated out-laps really paid dividends. As the second stint started, Rosberg led Vettel by 5s, with Button, Massa and Hamilton giving chase.
But while Rosberg and the McLarens were committed to three-stop strategies, Vettel and Massa had decided to go for just two. The latter looked like the best plan once everyone had made their second stops just after half-distance, for though that put Vettel and Massa fourth and fifth behind Rosberg and the McLarens, they were matching the leaders' pace and not allowing the top three to pull out a sufficient margin to stay ahead when they made their additional stops.
Hamilton was now on a charge, slicing down the inside of Button to take second on lap 35, and then quickly catching Rosberg after their third stops and diving past him into Turn 6.
He then hunted down the two-stopping Massa and passed the Ferrari with ease on the pits straight with 12 laps to go.
Next in his sights was Vettel and by lap 50 Hamilton was right with the Red Bull and attacking with the DRS wing on the back straight, though the championship leader doggedly hugged the inside line at the hairpin every time the McLaren drew alongside.
Hamilton had to try something different, and on lap 52 he got much better traction out of Turn 6 and swept through on the inside into the fast Turn 7, before quickly scampering away to take a breakthrough victory in a race that proved Formula 1's 2011 rules package is achieving everything the rule-makers could have hoped for.
Rosberg fell behind Button when he ran wide trying to pass Massa. With his tyres just too old to resist the three-stoppers, Massa was swiftly overtaken by Button, Rosberg and even Webber - who also became a factor in the podium battle in the enthralling final stages.
The Australian had made little impression in his first stint on hard tyres, but like Sepang a week ago, stopping three times gave him plenty of opportunity to gain ground in clear air - and saving the much quicker softs for the final stint when everyone else was on hards gave him a huge pace advantage, as he proved by grabbing fourth from Rosberg with a Turn 6 dive three laps from the end. Lapping 2s quicker than anyone else, Webber then caught Button at the end of the penultimate lap and grabbed a sensational podium finish.
Massa had to settle for sixth, but could take satisfaction from outpacing team-mate Fernando Alonso, who both lacked Massa's speed and lost ground emerging into traffic after pitstops. He just beat Michael Schumacher to seventh, the Mercedes having got clear of the midfield by making a very early first of three stops.
Renault's podium run ended with Vitaly Petrov only able to take ninth place ahead of Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber. Paul di Resta was looking good for more points until fading in the final few laps, leaving him 11th ahead of Nick Heidfeld's Renault. Adrian Sutil's race in the second Force India was spoiled by contact with Sergio Perez, for which the Sauber driver was penalised.
Toro Rosso's great qualifying effort turned to nothing, with both drivers soon falling down the order - Sebastien Buemi finishing only 14th behind Rubens Barrichello's Williams, and Jaime Alguersuari retiring when a wheel fell off after his pitstop. Behind Sutil, Heikki Kovalainen gave Lotus plenty to cheer by beating Perez and Pastor Maldonado's Williams to 16th.
Chinese GP result inside
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