Chinese GP 2014: Hamilton cruises to victory, Alonso secures Ferrari podium

Lewis Hamilton started from pole in his Mercedes and never gave up the lead at the 2014 Chinese GP. He won by around 18 seconds from team-mate Nico Rosberg, who fought his way from 4th to 2nd despite a botched start. Fernando Alonso finished third, securing Ferrari's first podium of the season.

The race at the Shanghai International Circuit was effectively decided at the first corner. After that, the main talking points were team orders at Red Bull and a mix-up with the chequered flag.

Hamilton got away cleanly from pole. According to grandprix.com, it was his 34th pole position in Formula 1. Behind him, chaos broke out. Daniel Ricciardo had lined up second in the Red Bull but, on the slippery side of the starting grid, bogged down with spinning wheels. Sebastian Vettel and Alonso both went past him.

Rosberg had it even tougher. His car had no telemetry, so his engineers could not set up the clutch properly for the start. Rosberg dropped well back and made contact with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas at Turn 1. Alonso and Felipe Massa also clashed at the first corner, banging wheels. Both were able to continue.

Up front, Hamilton then pulled away unchallenged. According to grandprix.com, he was at times a second a lap quicker than the rest of the field. Rosberg worked his way forward despite the missing data. According to grandprix.com, he passed Ricciardo as early as lap 4.

Shortly before half-distance, Ricciardo caught Vettel on fresher tyres. The pit wall asked the world champion to let his new team-mate through. Vettel's radio reply went around the world: “Tough luck” (according to the FIA). He only moved aside after the team had explained the different tyre strategies to him. Team principal Christian Horner justified the swap with Vettel's higher tyre wear, which was why the team had considered switching him to a three-stop strategy (according to grandprix.com). Vettel said he had moved over as soon as he knew the two of them were on different strategies.

Ricciardo then went after Alonso but could not find a way past. In the end he finished just behind the Ferrari in 4th, with Vettel fifth. Both Red Bulls therefore lost two places each compared with their grid positions of 2 and 3.

Almost the entire field made two stops. Hamilton did not pit until lap 17 and lap 38, keeping the lead each time. According to the FIA, he ran the longest of the front-runners. Alonso stopped as early as lap 11 and lap 33. According to the FIA, he got past Vettel at the first tyre change. Vettel had pitted from 2nd on lap 12 and found himself 4th three laps later.

Rosberg stopped on lap 13 and lap 37 and then gradually closed in on the leading group. In the closing stages he overtook Alonso, sealing the Mercedes one-two. He also set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:40.402 on lap 39 (lap time according to Wikipedia).

Massa endured the most bitter afternoon. At his first stop on lap 10, the left-rear wheel jammed. According to our data, he needed 78.3 seconds to get through the pit lane, while the others took only around 23 seconds. Before the stop he was 6th; three laps later he was down in 21st. After that, 15th was the best he could manage.

There were only two retirements:

• Adrian Sutil (Sauber) was out after 5 laps with an engine failure.
• Romain Grosjean (Lotus F1) had started 10th and had to retire after 28 laps with a gearbox failure.

Things got strange at the end. The race was scheduled for 56 laps, but according to Autosport Hamilton was shown the chequered flag after lap 55, one lap too early. For such cases, the FIA Sporting Regulations state that the order counts from when the leader last crossed the line before the flag signal. The race was therefore classified after 54 laps. That changed nothing at the front, but it was bad luck for Kamui Kobayashi in the Caterham. His late pass on Jules Bianchi in the Marussia no longer counted. As a result, Bianchi stayed seventeenth and Kobayashi was classified eighteenth.

Winners:

• Pastor Maldonado: Pastor Maldonado gained the most places. He started last in 22nd and finished fourteenth, eight places better off.
• Sergio Pérez: Sergio Pérez drove his Force India from 16th on the grid to 9th and scored two points.
• Nico Hülkenberg: Nico Hülkenberg won a close duel with Bottas to finish sixth, putting Force India ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' standings.
• Daniil Kvyat: Rookie Daniil Kvyat came out on top in the Toro Rosso battle against Jean-Éric Vergne and, in tenth, scored points for the third time in his fourth race.
• Kimi Räikkönen: Kimi Räikkönen went from 11th on the grid to 8th, but he himself spoke of a difficult weekend.

Losers:

• Romain Grosjean: His retirement cost him eleven places. Lotus were still without a point after four races.
• Felipe Massa: After the botched pit stop, he finished the race nine places behind his grid position.
• McLaren: McLaren had a poor day. Jenson Button was eleventh and Kevin Magnussen thirteenth. Both were a lap down.

Despite Hamilton's win, Rosberg stayed top of the 2014 drivers' championship with 79 points to Hamilton's 75. Alonso moved up to 3rd on 41 points, ahead of Hülkenberg (36) and Vettel (33). Ricciardo gained four places and was sixth on 24 points. In the constructors' standings, Mercedes already had 154 points, almost three times as many as Red Bull (57). Force India (54) and Ferrari (52) followed behind.

The race confirmed what had been clear since the start of the season: in the first season of the V6 turbo hybrids, the Silver Arrows were the benchmark. It was Mercedes' third consecutive one-two. After the Malaysian GP and the Bahrain GP, Hamilton won three races in a row for the first time in his career. For Ferrari, the podium was a small bright spot in troubled times. Alonso dedicated it to Stefano Domenicali, who had stepped down as team principal shortly before. And at Red Bull, the radio duel between the four-time world champion and his new team-mate gave everyone plenty to talk about.