2016 Chinese GP: Rosberg wins amid chaos, Kvyat angers Vettel

Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Chinese GP at the Shanghai International Circuit from pole position. He crossed the line 37.776 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari and Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull. The race was effectively decided in the opening laps: behind Rosberg the two Ferraris collided, and leader Daniel Ricciardo lost the lead with a puncture. From then on the Mercedes driver was hardly ever under threat. According to grandprix.com, it was Rosberg's sixth win in a row since the 2015 Mexican GP and his 17th Grand Prix victory overall.

Daniel Ricciardo made the best start. From second on the grid, the Australian got past Rosberg and led the field into the first corner. The Ferraris, by contrast, got away poorly. In the first sequence of corners, Kvyat dived down the inside of Vettel. Vettel moved left to avoid him and hit his team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn half-spun and had to pit with damage. Vettel dropped to eighth.

It was tight further back too. Felipe Nasr avoided the mêlée and in doing so touched Lewis Hamilton, whose Mercedes lost its front wing. Romain Grosjean damaged the nose of his Haas on the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. According to our data, Hamilton, Räikkönen, Nasr and Grosjean all pitted after the very first lap.

After the race, Vettel and Kvyat clashed even before the podium ceremony. Vettel later backtracked and called it a “racing incident”. Kvyat defended his move: “It was a logical move: you see the gap and you go for it.” (formula1.com)

Ricciardo's lead didn't last long. On the third lap his left rear tyre lost air just as Rosberg was passing him. From lap 3 Rosberg was in front and did not give up the lead until the finish. Ricciardo had to pit and was down in 17th at the end of lap 4.

With debris all over the track, the Safety Car came out on lap 5, according to grandprix.com. Most drivers used the period to take on fresh tyres. That completely reshuffled the field: at the restart Rosberg led Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Pascal Wehrlein, none of whom had stopped yet. Alonso was back in action after his crash in Australia and his absence in Bahrain. At one point he ran fourth. With two stops, however, the McLaren driver could only manage 12th in the end.

Rosberg then gradually pulled away. On lap 10 he was two seconds ahead of Massa, according to grandprix.com; by around lap 29 he was already 23.3 seconds clear of the new second-placed driver, Kvyat. The Mercedes driver made do with two stops, on laps 20 and 36, and was never really in danger.

Behind him the fight was all the fiercer. Vettel battled his way through the field in his damaged Ferrari. Along the way he touched Valtteri Bottas and later lost part of his front wing. Kvyat ran second for a long time until Vettel went past him on the inside at Turn 14 after the final stops. Vettel held on to the position until the chequered flag. With third place, Kvyat secured the second podium of his career.

After his early setback, Ricciardo produced a strong recovery drive. He switched to medium tyres on lap 37 and still finished fourth, just ahead of Räikkönen. Following his off on the first lap, the Finn had already had to pit again on lap 14 and had rejoined in last place. Even so, he still took fifth.

The biggest climber of the day was Hamilton. In qualifying the MGU-H of his energy recovery system had failed, leaving him without a timed lap in Q1. On top of that came a gearbox change after damage sustained in Bahrain. As a result he started the race from last on the grid. With a damaged car and five pit stops in total, he gained 15 places and finished seventh. Massa kept him behind for a long time, and later Räikkönen got past him as well.

Massa took sixth for Williams from 10th on the grid. Max Verstappen dropped well back in the big rush to the pits under the Safety Car. He then overtook, among others, Sergio Pérez, his Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz and Bottas, and finished eighth, only around a second behind Hamilton. Esteban Gutiérrez also gained four places in the Haas and finished 14th.

On the losing side were Bottas and Grosjean, who each lost five places. Bottas still salvaged a point in tenth, while Grosjean could only finish 19th after the collision at the start. Pérez lost four places in the Force India and missed out on the points in eleventh. His team-mate Nico Hülkenberg received a five-second penalty for driving too slowly in the pit lane, according to grandprix.com. In 15th, he at least set the fastest lap of the race. Remarkably, all 22 cars made it to the finish.

With his third win in the third race of the season, after Australia and Bahrain, Rosberg moved to 75 points – the maximum possible haul. Hamilton remained second on 39 points, already 36 points adrift. Ricciardo followed on 36 points. Vettel moved up to fourth on 33 points, ahead of Räikkönen on 28. Kvyat gained three places and was now seventh with 21 points.

In the constructors' standings, Mercedes led clearly with 114 points, ahead of Ferrari on 61 and Red Bull on 57. You can find the full table in the 2016 standings. After this weekend Rosberg seemed to be in control of the title race, while Hamilton was already struggling with technical problems and a start incident for the second time in three races. Next up was the Russian GP.